Soul Installment 30
Sunday 7 December 2025
Volume One
Chapter Nine — The Doors and Pathways to Understanding
Sunday, August 28, 2022, 4:45 am
Introduction
1. This is the last chapter of Soul in the Driver's Seat: A Course in Miracles for Today, Volume One. It is a collection of short essays on various topics from the viewpoint of the soul.
Prayer
2. What is prayer? Is it begging and pleading with God to help with whatever situation you find yourself in? Is it the bowed-head confessional, asking for forgiveness? Is it the ritual of communion or sacred rights? Do you have to use an intermediary to communicate with God? Does God pay attention more if you get on your hands and knees, while tears and screams pierce the air? These are legitimate questions as they are all common practices, but they are all based on false beliefs. You don't have to look far for God because it is inside you in the form of a soul, and everyone has full and completely free access. Your soul is all knowing. It knows everything about you. It knows more about you than you do. You don't have to go to a church or a confessional booth because God isn't there unless you are. God goes where you go. If you want to speak to the Divine, quiet your mind and speak. It hears every word whether silent or said aloud. It will answer you with love and clarity and a simple request to keep talking in unity and relationship. God has waited for this day for a long time. God wants to walk forward with you as a full partner, until the day comes when you are ready to blend and become God, walking the earth as the Divine and the mortal. What is prayer? There is only one. It asks the soul, "What should I do next?"
Sin
3. What is sin? Is it a transgression against God? Who can transgress against God? The resistance to God comes from the ego, which is designed to resist the soul. Characters can choose their own egos over their own souls. Does this mean they have sinned against God? Since God is the soul and the totality of all souls, does it judge and condemn characters it sees as being in opposition to it? Do souls judge and condemn their mind-body vehicles? Characters are free to choose ego over soul, but does that imply that they have sinned? In fact, it only means that they have acted naturally, according to their natural programming. So, no, characters cannot sin or commit any act that God sees as requiring forgiveness. You know enough about God by now to know that it is only loving and supportive of its host characters. It is never judgmental. Characters are quite capable of committing unloving acts that are not in accordance with love, with their own souls, with God. This just means, however, that they still have a long way to go before their souls can emerge from the darkness of the ego and come to the forefront. Characters make mistakes when they choose ego over soul or fear over love, but all mistakes are learning opportunities. God does not forgive because it doesn't condemn in the first place. Therefore, sin is a man-made concept, not a spiritual truth.
Healing
4. There is a point in the transformation from being entirely ego-led to being entirely soul-led, when there is simply nothing left to be healed. There are no more effects stemming from the ego's separation from the soul and arrogant attitude about it. There is no more disease. There is no more pain or depression or anger. There is nothing that wants to be numbed by drugs or alcohol. There is no regret. There is no living in the past. There are no lingering questions about why this happened or that happened. There is only acceptance. There is only peace. There is only joy. If there is a reward at the end of the transformation, at the point that you the butterfly is ready to fly, it is this. You are healed and you are free. You are ready to experience life in a brand-new way, as love incarnate.
Sanity vs. Insanity
5. In the original A Course in Miracles, all ego-led characters were described as being insane. This was inaccurate, especially since mental illness is such a big concern in your society. There are healthy, functional egos in the world, who listen to their souls on Easter and Christmas. And there are dysfunctional egos with a host of problematic behavioral and thought-related problems who are self-destructive in nature. They can even become destructive towards others. This is the truth of the human world. One could argue that the ratio of functional to dysfunctional has changed over time, and that the dysfunctional group has grown to astronomical proportions. My point is that all fear-based thoughts and behavior is insane when it is compared with love-based thoughts and behavior which is sane. The degree to which a character is listening to their soul is the true measure of sanity.
Presence vs. Image
6. Image is everywhere in the material world. It is used to sell products. It is used by the ego to sell itself to others but mostly to itself. The ego believes tooth and nail that it is a body, so body image is of paramount importance to the ego. The soul, on the other hand, always feels good. This feeling or state of being is what is known as presence. Presence doesn't want anything from anyone. It doesn't care if someone doesn't like the way they style their hair or if they wear the most fashionable clothes or even if they wear clean clothes or no clothes. Presence feels good, and this is the element that is projected. Presence doesn't try to do anything. It just is. It does not care one iota about what anyone thinks. It just says "hello" without a care in the world. Image is composed of attached thoughts. Presence is unattached Being. It just is.
Acceptance vs. Resistance
7. The soul accepts things the character can't or won't accept. It accepts the unacceptable. The ego gets on its high horse and raises a clenched fist at the unfairness and unacceptableness of any situation, but the soul just looks for the silver lining. Egos can get upset over tiny upsets in life. The spilled milk on the new dress can make a character's blood boil. But it really isn't the spilled milk that is causing the anger. It's the cumulative effect of a lifetime of spilled-milk incidents. Characters are never angry about that which they express anger about. Repressed anger can be even more dangerous to the body and to the character's frame of mind. The soul just smiles about whatever life is serving up. It resists nothing because it knows that its control is only in its response. The soul only chooses how to love difficult situations or difficult people. The ego only reacts and resists. Acceptance and resistance are two different ways of being from two different ways of being.
Innocence vs. Guilt
8. Souls are one hundred percent innocent, one hundred percent of the time. They never promote anything that would produce guilt in the character. As you know from your experience, guilt is a built-in mechanism. It is a wayshower. It tells you what not to do. Once it has done its job it needs to be released. Guilt is part of a healthy ego. Unhealthy egos do not have significant amounts of guilt and are said to be unconscionable or psychotic. The term you are innocent from A Course in Miracles refers to you, the soul. Egos are anything but innocent. They accidentally and intentionally inflict harm on themselves and on others. They can be self-destructive or destructive, period. Know the difference. In this world, you are an ego and are susceptible to guilt, until you have transformed to soul. Guilt is released through understanding and forgiveness.
Response vs. Reaction
9. Love responds and fear reacts. Fear wants to endlessly talk about what happened and who is to blame. Love is just concerned about what needs are there and possible ways to help. These are very different approaches, as are all dilemmas between the ego and the soul. Fear wants to prevent difficult things from happening again. Love knows it doesn't have that kind of power, and that it would be a waste of energy to focus on possible negative future outcomes. Love is always present in the now aspect of time, which is the only time there is. Love only responds now. Fear is seldom present now and focuses mostly on the past or on the future. Reaction is about self-protection. Reaction is about being offended. Response is concerned with extending love to love. Response is how the soul supports other souls, strengthening them in the process.
Relationships Empowered
10. Nothing will empower a relationship like love will — pure unconditional love between souls. Like won't do it, and human love has an expiration date on it. Unconditional love binds two or more souls together eternally. There is nothing that can destroy it. Outside stressors only strengthen unconditional love. Remember, this is what a soul is, pure unadulterated love. It is the same love that comprises God. It is the same knowing. It is the same level of concern. Unconditional love between soul-dominant ones is at the highest level of creativity. Unconditional love emanating from a soul-dominant one to a soul-emergent one is like a mother taking care of her young. It is nurturing and restorative. Ego-dominant relationships are recipes for disaster as there is no creativity there. It is just individuals making it up as they go, while looking out for number one first and foremost. Relationships empowered by soul are happening now and will be the new way moving forward.
Letting Go
11. What should we let go of? Let go of everything that enslaves you, everything that holds you back from freedom. Start with your human identity because what you are is not wholly human. You are just trying it on for size. You are just visiting the earth for a period of time. Enjoy it. Let it show you the ropes. Let it challenge you, but don't let it fool you into believing you are something you are not. Let go of control. You have very little, and what you do have is in your response or reaction to whatever life throws your way. Life wants to give your soul every opportunity to grow, by helping the character to choose love over fear. Let it. Let go of judgment and be honest in all things, brutally honest. There isn't anything that anyone has done that you haven't at least entertained the thought of, so get real and love everyone unconditionally. This is the real reason why you are here.
Living a Life of Love
12. This is your life's purpose. Can you love the things that are easy to love and those that are not? If you can't love something or someone, can you wipe the slate clean and get back on track? You see, love is the track. If you aren't on it, you have derailed and need to get back on the track. It is both that simplistic and that complex. If you are in sync with love, you are simply Being. You will know when a response is being asked of you. And if it isn't, you are simply to model being love for all to see. No cares or worries, just trust in your own soul and in its power to inform you and keep you safe. Your soul wants you to trust it until the day comes when that is no longer necessary because you have fully merged with it. It will no longer be a separate thing or a separate part of you.
Miracles
13. What is a miracle? It is a change in perception from fear to love. In other words, it is any time you listen to your soul over the voice of the ego. You have just spent a year exploring your own ego and a second year exploring your own soul. With all of this knowledge and insight about very specific topics, you are more equipped to understand your own inner workings. You can now more easily choose love and, therefore, create a miracle. Miracles are like raindrops during a drought. They have the potential to soak the parched ground that has been so thirsty for them. One miracle can lead to another, which leads to another, which eventually leads to an entirely new way of being. Love will open your eyes and lead you to a greater understanding of yourself and your true identity as an aspect of God. You are a soul from the God collective of love energy.
End Time: Friday, September 9, 2022, 5:16 am
|
