Lesson 254

Let every voice but God's be still in me.

 

If we are to hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit then we have to look past the constantly babbling voice of the ego that does not tell us anything that is true. We have to choose no longer to listen to it or pursue the goals it sets up for us. The ego is constantly sending us out on a search for happiness and peace that can't be found in the world. It can only be found when we turn to the quiet Voice within, which is the Voice of truth. Jesus says that it is the Voice of our true Will.

It is not about trying to silence our distracting thoughts as much as it is to make the decision that we don't want to go where these thoughts are taking us. The ego demands retaliation, defense, attack, revenge anything at all that will accumulate more guilt and more suffering for us. When we notice what the ego is up to, we will voluntarily choose no longer to listen to its demands. When we want only to return to sanity and to find peace, our motivation to ignore the ego, and instead choose to forgive will be increased. Forgiveness is the only way to sanity. It is to recognize that nothing here has meaning, nothing here is real, and therefore what you believe your brother has done to you has not really happened. It is all a dream of our own making. Everyone who has been called into our lives is simply playing out the roles that we have assigned to them.

When I am angry or upset about something that my brother seems to have done to me, I can choose to remember that I can see the situation differently. I have interpreted it incorrectly if I am not at peace. I can give my thoughts to the Holy Spirit, Who can show me another way of seeing. He will show me that everything is either love or an expression of a deep call for love. There is nothing else. If I see my brother as guilty then I am making his error real. I am seeing something that is truly not there. When I realize that forgiveness is all that I want, because guilt only brings me more suffering, then I will turn to the quiet Voice within for His help.

If we fight our ego thoughts or try very hard to silence the ego, we will meet with frustration. Instead we can distance ourselves from these thoughts when we look at them and realize we can ask for help in recognizing that these thoughts need not be taken seriously. The first step in this process is to identify the ego thoughts, then be willing to let them go. This is where the Holy Spirit replaces them for us when we give them over to Him. That is how the miracle shows up. Our part is to look at our anger and pain and see that our own minds are the cause of all of our suffering. No one has done anything to hurt us. When we see it this way, we can give it over to the Holy Spirit. It is His presence in our minds that brings about the substitution of peace for the suffering that we give over to Him. It is all about the choice that we make when we decide that we no longer want to turn to the ego as our guide. We no longer want its offerings.

We spend our days attending to all kinds of pursuits that we think will meet our needs. The hopes, needs, wants and desires that I think I have are just ego distortions of my real desire, which is to know my Christ Self, to know God's Love that is in me. All of the frenetic activity comes from thoughts in my monkey mind. It is these thoughts that can be replaced with stillness when we give them over to the Holy Spirit. By now we know that this takes a great amount of practice.

Silence is a rare commodity in the rush of events in our lives. When I was in Sedona, in the year 2000 studying the Course and spending lots of time in nature, climbing mountains and meditating, it was easier to be still. I did not have as many distractions as I seem to have in my daily life here. After becoming acclimatized to my life in Sedona, I took a trip to Scottsdale and went to a busy mall, something I had not done for the previous six months. It was such an assault to my senses! I couldn't wait to return to the quiet life I had led for many months in Sedona and the many hours of stillness that were offered in that setting. Then on my return to Edmonton, I initially felt overwhelmed by the demands of life, yet fairly quickly resumed what was in comparison, a fairly fast pace once again.

It was interesting to see how much and how quickly I got acclimatized to a fast-paced and demanding lifestyle. Taking the time for stillness can seem like just one more demand to add to the day. Yet the importance of finding time for stillness is to find time to spend in the quiet that is within. It is to connect with the Child in us. "He desires to go home so deeply, so unceasingly, His voice cries unto you to let Him rest a while. He does not ask for more than just a few instants of respite; just an interval in which He can return to breathe again the holy air that fills His Father's house. You are His home as well. He will return. But give Him just a little time to be Himself, within the peace that is His home, resting in silence and in peace and love." (W.PI.182.5)
 
A couple of days ago I was waiting for Don to finish what he was doing so we could go home. I started to notice thoughts of impatience in my mind when he was delayed. Why was he taking so long? I have lots to do. There are groceries to get. We have company for dinner. My time is important! Then I was reminded of the lesson and asked for help to use this time for healing. It could be such a gift to choose peace instead of this, and the time was given to me for this purpose! No one but me is responsible for how I choose to feel. So as I looked into my own mind to uncover the blocks that I had placed there to the awareness of love's presence, I recognized again that I could choose to release them to the Holy Spirit. In doing so, I was able to remind myself again that the happiness that I experience, or not, has nothing to do with anything outside of my own mind. It has only to do with my own decision to let the ego or the Holy Spirit be my guide.

In turning our thoughts over to the Holy Spirit we are simply agreeing that they don't make us happy. We are seeing our own minds as the cause and the world as the effect not the other way around. We are seeing that no one can take our peace away from us. If we don't have it, we have chosen to throw it away. When we are willing to have our thoughts reinterpreted from a higher source, we will experience a touch of Heaven.

In finding our way to the stillness today, through forgiveness we are reminded that our will is not separate from God's Will. Today I remember not to engage in the thoughts that disturb my peace, but simply to step back, look at these thoughts, be willing to have them replaced and allow the Holy Spirit to do the rest. No it is not easy. Yes it does take practice. We need to be gentle yet firm with ourselves in this process. The ego will retaliate because it does not want to give up its independence and its need to be right about the way it sets things up in the illusion. Just be grateful for your willingness to do this work. That is all that is asked of us. We need to be gentle and patient with ourselves and just trust in the process. It is a gradual process of learning about the conditions of our natural state.
 
"Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now." (W.254.2. 1-5) Our minds never stop the chatter and when we get upset thoughts really dig in, creating such a seemingly deep rut in the mind that we find it hard to disengage. But with mind watching, we can enhance our ability to catch our thoughts. The sooner we do this the better. When the story sets in, it is harder to rewind it. So as the thoughts arise, instead of judging them or turning them into a story that justifies our anger, we can simply remember to stop, step back from them and release them to the Holy Spirit. He will do the rest. We can't change ourselves. We need His help to bring about the miracle.
 
Stepping back means we look at these thoughts from the perspective of a non-attached observer. We don't judge. We don't evaluate. We don't examine the thoughts, nor analyze them. We merely quietly step back and look. We identify the cause and "then let go, so that it can be replaced." (W. P.I. 23.5.2). That can seem difficult, when we are obsessing about a situation. It is all about willingness to detach from the thoughts. Our willingness to do so is based on the determination that we don't want what these thoughts bring with them. In other words we don't want to experience the guilt and suffering that are a result of these thoughts.
 
The work is all about releasing thoughts in whatever form they arise. We think we like some thoughts, but that is just the way that the ego keeps us engaged in the world. The world of the ego is not where we will ever know the deep peace and joy that comes from connecting with the holy Child within. We need to get honest with ourselves as to whether we want what our idea is of what will bring us happiness or whether we are willing to release our own ideas and allow God to work in our lives through the Voice of the Holy Spirit.

When we invest in ego thoughts, they direct our words and our actions. When we step back from the thoughts, look at them and realize we don't want the effects of these thoughts, we can let them go instead of expressing them or taking some kind of action based on those thoughts. The Truth is in our right minds. God's Will is not an alien will but, in fact, is our own. While it may seem threatening to us because it is not in keeping with our personal choices, it serves our best interests. Our own choices never do. So today we do not let our ego thoughts guide our actions. We affirm, "I do not want this thought." "Let every voice but God's be still in me."