Chapter 37: How Do I Know?
How do I know all of these teachings are Divine Truth? Because I have applied them to my daily life, and I am experiencing a deeply real and continually growing peace. I have discovered the beauty of living in the now. My ego wants me to be living in the past and concerned over the countless mistakes I made, and more importantly desires me to be very worried about the future. If I’m living in the past or worried about the future, I’m not talking to the Holy Spirit now. When we live in the moment, absolutely nothing can harm us. Put this into practice and you will understand by personal experience. ACIM calls this the Holy Instant.
So how do we eliminate our ego? It’s like an onion, peeling away a layer, and it still looks and smells like an onion; eventually the last layer will be eliminated and the onion vanishes. The beauty of God’s Grace informs us we eliminate our ego by the simplicity of forgiveness. Every time we forgive, we shred another layer. One of Jesus’s very last statements before dying was, “Father forgive them, they know no what they do.” He said this to put into the collective human consciousness, the supreme importance of forgiveness. Jesus knew God does not forgive because He/She sees nothing to forgive, we’re dreaming. This certainly didn’t happen overnight, but I started forgiving the guy blaring on his car horn, the cashier talking on the phone, different friends who stole from me, the two ladies who broke off our separate marriage agreements, the manager who fired me because I intimidated him for knowing more about his job than he did. The heroin addicts I lived with for over a decade that cost me everything I owned because I was an enabler. By constantly forgiving, I was systematically and permanently eliminating another of my ego’s layers. Another very important tactic to guarantee its elimination is never talk or listen to it. Whenever you’re sorrowful, depressed, indulging in self-pity, angry, worried, anxious, hating, jealous or fearful; you’re listening to your screaming and lying ego that wants you absolutely miserable. Forgive all and pay it no mind, always.
I don’t know when it became unimportant to me if it’s raining or sunny or what time it is. The day of the week means nothing, and I couldn't care less what month it is. Politics, inflation, the state of the economy, relations between countries, the drug explosion, the healthcare system is simply of no consequence to me anymore. It no longer matters if I sleep a lot or very little. I do not worry about money, as it’s always there when I need it. I haven't owned a car in years. I rent and all I own is a T.V., cell-phone and clothes. I’ve lost over a half million dollars in real estate, and wasn’t upset at all. I find I have a grateful attitude for good health and my cup is half-full. I no longer worry about anything and fear nothing. I have no guilt. I never argue. I have no enemies and many friends. I’m perfectly fine being totally alone and am never lonely. I love that one. It doesn’t matter if folks read my writings or not. I still write. If friends call, great. If they don’t, great also. I smile a lot. These writings are what I dwell on and if you read with an open attitude the growing positive attributes I’m experiencing will happen to you as well. By living and applying these words to your life, you become awake in your dream. When you finally achieve perfection in forgiveness, God will awaken you from your dream. This is a guaranteed fact.
I pray we begin to see the attributes of Christ in everyone we meet. As Gandhi said, “Be the peace you want to see in the world.” We decide it and bring it to our experience. It just “seems” to be the other way around. When I integrate the goal of peace into my everyday life, it soon becomes a beacon of light making the way clear. For me, this journey is a cleansing of the window to the Soul. We arethe Infinite Peace of God. The Truth of us is like a pure and beautiful screen of Love. It is always innocent and peaceful and shines out from the mind embracing everything it sees. It brings me back to the Home I've never really left. When I think of the many attractions of the world and all of its temptations. Peace is now the only one that draws me in. Nothing else makes any sense to me anymore. Peace brings with it the awareness of the Love of God. I am the perfect, loving, and unlimited extension of God. Only my thoughts and beliefs would convince me otherwise. I need only to stay in the peace and silence of this present moment. Everything else disappears from my awareness, and only the Peace and Love of God remain. They were always there shining brightly in the background of my mind and are no longer hidden by the meaningless thoughts and beliefs of a delusional egoistic mind. Don't let the clouds of delusion mask the Light of your Being. Just be the Light, for you are the Light that you seek. The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always, and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described and cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but the experience is of God. Truth will dawn upon you of itself, for God Is.
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