Everyone comes to this world- all who come to this world come for death
and sorrow- that’s the definition of coming. You can call it whatever you want to: an incarnation
or arriving in a hologram or holding on to a hologram, but it’s:
All, who come, come for one purpose and that’s death and sorrow. And their joys are so fleeing,
that they cannot be possessed nor even grasped. You might take the fingers,
just trying to get a wisp of joy and joy eludes- the mind that believes it is in this world.
You know- all these compromise ideas- as long as you are still here,
you are not enlightened and so forth and Jesus says, in his Manual for Teachers,
he says that there is one teacher needed to save the world and that one is not
a body or in a body- he makes it very clear- the distinction of who is the savior of the world.
So when people say: You have to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ
is my personal savior- that doesn’t cut it, that doesn’t cut it, because the Christ is not a body
or in a body. It’s a symbol that is being used. Christel was saying today how grateful she is for
the symbol, because it’s like the Holy Spirit doesn’t take a form, the Holy Spirit is
literally- like we can’t see the wind and the Holy Spirit is really unmanifest. You know,
Jesus seemed to be- of all the cosmic images, he seemed to be an image that
was a reflection of the Holy Spirit. Even though the Holy Spirit, Jesus says: You cannot… The
word of God was made flesh- strictly speaking, Jesus says in the Course- This is impossible,
because the word is Spirit and the word can never be made flesh.
... there is no mind and matter, there’s no life, truth,
substance and intelligence. So, I think- one of the glorious opportunities we have today, to
go beyond the tiny incident to the experience of joy. To again, you know,
look at anything that seems to be an obstacle to the awareness of love’s presence. Or an attachment
or something in form that seems valuable, because any of these things mean the same thing. Anything
that’s valued in and of itself. Even that fly, that has been going around for the last 2 days.
He is joining us. (Laughs). Anything that is seen in and of itself and valued in and of itself,
is by definition an idol. Made to take the place of the living Christ. And so, that’s what our
joy is- living in the experience of being free of attachments, free of ambitions, free of pursuits,
free of reciprocity, free of exchange, free of: I will scratch your back, if you scratch my back,
free of bargains, free of everything that would limit the mind to believe that it’s in time and
space and soar into an experience of pure joy, which is transcendent, which is mystical and
which is our whole purpose. To see and experience ourselves as beyond this world. So with all the
metaphors. I like this song...that is a good kick- off song: Only an instant does this world endure-
not something we generally heard at the kitchen table, growing up from mom and dad.
Only an instance does this world endure. It was always about the future or the past.
There was always deflecting away from the holy instant. All of our conditioning, everything we
were raised with, the whole thing.(Inaudible) A complete illusion that has nothing to do with
reality whatsoever. And then, we have to go into the holy instant, we have to have an experience
of the holy instant to know that the separation never happened. It’s just one instance, but to
know that the separation never happened- and then: What is it going to be? And then:
(Folds hands and shows both sides): What is it going to be? Holiness or Sin & Death?
Which phase of the moment are we going to accept? It’s not two moments really- they
are not even side by side. Because the Holy Spirit answered the belief in separation simultaneously,
as the belief arose. There wasn’t (snaps fingers with both hands- one after the other)- it was
(snaps fingers with both hands simultaneously): It was that fast- where we have to decide which
of those two interpretations we value more. Innocence or guilt. And it’s one instant.
The section where the Course is coming, reminds us about the immediacy of salvation.
Where Jesus is saying:
Why would the good? He asked a question. He asked a direct question to the Mind:”Why should the good
appear in evil’s form? Why should the good appear in evil’s form? We watched this movie “God’s not
dead” and there is a black man from South Africa who is always saying: God is good and always.
All the time- always. God is good and always. It’s becoming into a non- dualistic: Goodness being
love. God is love, God is love, God is love- all the time. Why should the love appear in evil’s
form? Why should the good appear in evil’s form? This is from the immediacy of salvation section-
late in the textbook in the Course. Why should it take time to experience what you already are?
Why should the good appear in evil’s form? Why are there perceived difficulties around
health or around finances or around the world or around relationships or around anything?
Why should the good appear in evil’s form? And then he follows up this question with
another question: And is it not deception if it does? It’s so deep. He is just saying:
Why should the good appear in evil’s form? And is it not deception if it does?
No wonder he has lesson 135: He alone can lead- the belief that he must plan.
No wonder he put the: I need do nothing section in the book- a much misinterpreted piece in the book,
because it’s interpreted from the ego lens of doing as if the doer is a fact: and now this doer
need do nothing. This doer need only be; well this doer is a denial. Well, what did Shakespeare teach
us: To be or not to be, that is the question. And I was saying that only an hour ago, and there was
questions whether there’d be a wedding or not. To be or not to be that is the only question. This is
not a question of wedding or no wedding. We have not come here to discuss such silly matters. We
have not come for ceremonies. We have not come to play with little ideas, children’s toys and tinker
around. It’s to be, Shakespeare’s question- is the question: To be or not to be- is the question. And
then Jesus is saying: Why should the good appear in evil’s form. He is sending towards the to be.
He is not wanting to be content with the “not to be”. Isn't it lesson 139:
I will accept atonement for myself? In the Course workbook lesson:He says: You are yourself- of
that there is no doubt and yet- you doubt it. The only thing in the universe, the only thing in the
universe that you cannot doubt, is your identity, is who you are. That’s the absolute only thing in
the universe that is beyond doubt. And yet- you doubt it. Self doubt is fear, self doubt is guilt-
to deny who you are is the only thing. That’s how the song ends: When we go beyond this instance
to eternity. To Identity, Identity, Identity (sings)- Eternity, Eternity, Eternity (sings).
You know it’s an intense song, because it’s like: Eternity is sending out a plea,
saying: Remember me! Remember me! That’s all- the lion king- that’s what Simba’s father says
from the clouds: Remember, remember- we have an identity. Don’t get caught in the prime land,
don’t get caught in Hakuna Matata eating bugs. You know it's not; you may think it’s a good life-
you are not working when you are eating bugs, but still: Remember, don't be content with the bugs.