I actually feel that for those of you that are practicing A Course in Miracles,
many of you have experienced the same thing.
I've heard many people tell me,
"Life wasn't so bad for me.
But then, I started studying A Course in Miracles,
and the wheels came off!
David!...
I started practicing sincerely A Course in Miracles,
and my life went much worse!"
And here's a passage now that Jesus has.
This is from the section
in the Manual for Teachers called The Development of Trust.
The Development of Trust.
This is at the beginning.
This is the first stage.
The very beginning of developing your faith and trust.
And here's what Jesus says:
First, they - meaning us miracle workers
That's us! - They!
First they must go through
what might be called a period of undoing.
Are you ready? Are are you with me?
I went through this - it was hell!
I can tell you, my ego's said it was hell.
Jesus said, good, good, good!
You're taking your first step in waking up,
But he says, first they must go through what might be called
a "period of undoing" - in quotes.
This need not be painful,
but it usually is so experienced.
This is coming from Jesus.
This is the wayshower.
Oh, he knows.
He knows what it takes to let go of the ego.
This is one who's done it.
This isn't a theory.
This is an actual wayshower, who's been through it all
and knows the way.
He says, it seems
as if things are being taken away
and it is rarely understood initially
that their lack of value
is merely being recognized.
Oh my gosh!
That's what all this seeming loss is about?
I'm starting to change my value system
from the value of the ego's things of the world,
to the value of faith and connection with the Holy Spirit.
You see, Jesus knows what's going on here.
This is not anything going wrong.
The ego says, "Wait! Whoa! Whoa!"
It seems as if things are being taken away,
and it is rarely understood initially that
their lack of value is being recognized.
How can lack of value be perceived
unless the perceiver is in a position
where he must see things in a different light?
He is not yet at a point
at which he can make the shift entirely internally.
And so the plan
will sometimes call for changes in
what seem to be external circumstances.
These changes are always helpful
when the teacher of God has learned that much,
he goes on to the second stage.
So this is just the first stage.
And Jesus is simply saying,
it seems as if things are being taken away.
And really it's just a shift.
Your mind starts to devalue the things of the world.
You value the Light!
You value your connection with God
more than you do the things of this world.
So, the ego said, look, you're losing everything.
You're starting to serve God, and now it's all falling away.
But all the mystics and saints tell you the same thing.
You can read what they say.
They say, they had to go through dark night of the soul.
They had to face their greatest fears.
All of us have to do what Jesus did.
We just have to simply face whatever we're most afraid of.
And what are we most afraid of?
Love.
Jesus says you're terrified of love
because you're addicted to the ego.
That's where the the terror of love is coming in.
He's saying, if you don't believe in the ego anymore, you'll realize love is...
loving!
Love is wonderful!
Love is everything!
You see the difference?
In reality, love is...
We know we've had little glimmers of it.
We know just even little glimmers are powerful.
But he's just saying, just keep opening your faith because love is...
God's love...
God loves you so much! You have no idea
in this world, in your experiences, how much God loves you.
In fact,
Jesus says if you had
the faintest glimmering of what
love means today, you would be traveling a distance
without measure and time beyond the count of years.
And then Jesus says, if you remembered the
song of prayer, if you remembered the song of Heaven,
and all those that are with you, you would weep.
You would cry.
Tears would pour from your face if you remembered how loved you are.
But, if you believe in the ego, you've pushed all this unconscious.
You put love out of awareness, and you also push the darkness -
that's the unconscious mind - you've pushed it out of awareness.
It has to come up for healing.
So, what I'm really saying here
is every thing that ever seems to happen to us is for our own good.
We may interpret that things are being taken away,
but Jesus is letting us know, no, you should...
You should actually see what's really happening.
You're just changing your value system.
You're going from valuing fear, in all of it's unrecognized
forms, to valuing God's love.
It's all working together for good, like it says even in the Bible,
All things work together for good for them who love the Lord.
That's a real true idea.
It's just that when we believe in the ego, we don't always know our best interests.
We're quick, you know, to say...
to shake our fists and say, "Why are you doing this to me?!"
But really, it's for our own benefit.
It's so we can heal.