Sickness

I had never heard of the swine flu before last week. This new strain of flu appeared to spring out of nowhere into the heart of Mexico, resulting in the deaths of 80 plus and growing. Then within hours the virus was found in a number of random US states, followed by Canada, and now Europe.

Am I the only one who finds this rapid spread bazaar? How do health officials account for the faster than lightening-speed in which this virus has encircled the globe? They can't explain it.

Why isn't someone asking, "Is there something about illness, or even disease, that we've overlooked until now? Something we've not understood, that this rapid spread of swine flu is revealing?"

What I see happening would not be, perhaps could not even be, accepted by such authorities or even 99.9% of humanity. I do not see this illness spreading person to person, nose to nose, or even in the circulating air currents. I see the swine flu spreading by way of the mind; not as a fearful thought, for almost all of us who become fearful of it, will not even experience the flu.

We are manifesting the swine flu from a mental level, a mental level much higher than on the level of personal mind. The thoughts that run through my personal mind are insignificant, no more powerful than the clouds that float by in the sky. It's what I believe about those clouds/thoughts that make the difference. I can enjoy the clouds/thoughts, be oblivious to them, or be afraid of them; it simply hinges upon my interpretation of their meaning.

It is not the actual individual fear thoughts that are manifesting this virus. It's bigger than that. This manifestation comes from the level of our "one mind," the level of higher mind that we all share. It is at a level where the choice has been made to experience individuality... to split off a segment of our one Divine Mind and break it up into little mind fragments. Why? Curiosity maybe, it was just an idea that got out of hand.

Mind could be symbolized as being one big beautiful mirror. As a consequence of that idea of separation, over in one corner of the great mirror there appears to be a very tiny shattered area. Those shattered pieces represent our individualized minds. They aren't really the problem. The problem is the belief that the big beautiful mirror, representing the Omnipotent Mind of God, could ever be fragmented in any way, becoming individualized in little sections, and apart from the One, and apart from each other, too. We can believe anything, justify it by any number of "proofs," but that does not make the belief true.

Blinded by that belief of being apart, we looked at a shattered self: "Oops! We split Oneness into two-ness. Not only did we destroy Oneness to make this two-ness, this two-ness is a mess! " And the problem has continued down through the ages, because we have failed to question the belief in apartness. But not any more!

Is it even possible for OMNIPOTENT ONENESS, Divine Mind, to be split asunder by any little erroneous concept? Not to my reasoning. Then how do I account for the misunderstanding? I can't with any degree of absolutivity. But it makes sense to me that as the One Mind played with different concepts, as if mental toys, a tiny segment of Mind perceived apartness as being "apart from" rather than "apart of." Of course, that's not what really happened. But everything within me tells me that the problem, actually every problem from then on, began with one innocent error in perception.

So what does that have to do with the swine flu? A split mind is not a Natural state. And because it is not a Natural state it does not reflect truly. It images truly AND un-truly, it images duality, good and bad, innocent and guilty, etc. Playing in our production of duality or two-ness, we cannot help but feel guilty for destroying the Oneness to do so. And the mind that feels guilty consequentially projects guilt onto the screen of duality, making a movie of disease and disaster. The "bad" characters, spawned from projected guilt, appear to wage war with the "good" characters, the bodies that we identify as ourselves. But we are not those bodies, we are eternal Spirit, same as our Creator, only we have temporarily forgotten because we're functioning from a confused split mind.

So in this state of forgetfulness, what do we do as this war wages around us, the war of the swine flu virus against the human body's immune system? "Be in the world but not of it."

Yes, we inadvertently wrote the script of the war movie now playing out, and a few characters will perish, but almost all will not. Neither you nor I nor those we love ARE those characters. We have simply loved the characters and, therefore, identified with them. You and I and those we love are actually at another mental level watching our mess of a movie, mesmerized into forgetfulness. THE MOVIE HAS NO POWER IN ITSELF. Every character has a beginning and an end, lest we get totally hypnotized by it and never remember What we are.

There is a Still Small Voice for Love, our true Self, within our mind, that knows the truth about everything: that the Omnipotent One Mind cannot be divided, that we are stuck in a misperception, and that we cannot be less than as we were created. That Still Small Voice for Love within our mind, guides us through every dark movie and out into the light. Be not afraid of the movie, it has no power to do anything. Listen to the reassurance and guidance of the Still Small Voice for Love within you. Follow it. It remembers everything!

Forgiveness, a Gift

Within sixty seconds of opening my eyes this morning, I heard something that will surely impact me the rest of my life. Our call to a new day is a clock radio, tuned to the NPR station. And as I was coming into a state of wakefulness, it is amazing how quickly my mind began to pick up the ideas streaming from the radio and to kick-in to its job of interpreting those ideas.

Even before my eyelids lifted, I surmised that a talk show was being aired, and the guest was an author. The commentator, asked about the author's mother's death. The author replied that during her emergency surgery, his mother died on the operating table. And he added that he felt it was a blessing, as his mother would not have wanted to continue living with the consequences of the surgery.

"What were the last words that you had with your mother?" the commentator asked.

The author replied, "It was just before her surgery. She was in a comatose state. Standing by her bedside, I took her hand, leaned toward her ear, and told her I forgave her. She had done many hurtful things to me in her lifetime. We both knew that. But being the proud woman she was, she could never bring herself to apologize for them. I never heard her say 'I'm sorry' to anyone. And she could never have asked for my forgiveness, even on her deathbed. But I forgave her, for me as much as for her. I wanted us both to be free. And I hope that some day, when I'm dying, someone will do the same for me... tell me that I am forgiven of all the wrongs I committed throughout my life. "

Lying on my back, I still had not yet opened my eyes. Tear drops seeped through my eye lashes and trickled down toward my ears. I knew that I had just heard a message meant for me.

What greater gift can I receive at the conclusion of this earthly journey than forgiveness for my lifetime of errors? Forgiveness for hurtful things I've said and done, intentional and unintentional. Forgiveness for things I could have done to help another and didn't do, because I didn't want to or because I was clueless.

The beautiful thing about forgiveness is that it is a gift for any moment, not just special occasions like counseling sessions, church, or deathbed scenes. We can ask for forgiveness any time along the way.

Forgiveness may be the greatest gift possible on this planet, greater even than the gift of birth. It is the gift that exponentially blesses and frees the receiver and the giver. Forgiveness is the open door to change everything, forever, for both. Forgiveness occurs in a simple moment of choice in the giver's mind, and that choice is between forgiveness and freedom on the one hand, or the poison of judgment and resentment on the other hand. And whichever I choose remains in my mind.

So, I ask you, you reading this post, will you please forgive me? I'm serious here. For every stupid thing or hurtful thing, that I have ever done to you or said to you or that you are even aware of my doing, please forgive me. For every disappointment I have caused you, please forgive me. For every thought of me that has ever caused you any feeling less than joy or peace, please forgive me.

Please do not let your knee-jerk-denial get in the way here... thinking, "But I have nothing to forgive you for." We all share the same ego mind which is enmeshed in duality thinking, we all have loving and unloving thoughts about one another. Please, will you forgive me my unloving thoughts? All I ask from you is three little words... I forgive you.

Pain

I awoke this morning with a full blown migraine: severe headache, draining sinuses, intense nausea, diarrhea, sound intolerance, and light sensitivity. I've been here many times, and know that nothing will calm the body's tumultuous storms at this stage. It's like being in the path of my own personal hurricane.

But today, the migraine ride had some new scenery as my mind went different places than usual. Aud seemed a little less enmeshed in the journey, and was a little more objective. At one point, her old inner nurse came forward and asked to have the headache graded on the pain scale, 1 being "barely perceptible" to 10 being "better off dead." Even in the throes of the storm, I was amused at her drama. I ranked it 8. I heard nothing more from her, apparently because no heroic measures were needed for an 8.

In the past I have tried affirmations, visualizations, prayer, denial, spiritual reasoning, becoming one with the pain, floating on top of the pain, and various metaphysical techniques to escape migraine misery. Today, during the storm, I found myself bouncing back and forth from observer to victim to commentator of the unfolding story. One thing was apparent, my mind is becoming more ingrained with the principles of A Course In Miracles.

At one point as I held my throbbing head between my palms, I silently uttered, "Oh, dear God." And this thought popped into my awareness: "This is my projection of suffering, my dream, not God's." Immediately, I forgave my body for doing my bidding, and I called upon Jesus to help me remember that I'm still as God created me.

Then the inner commentator offered these thoughts: "There was a time when she did all she could to just make it stop hurting. But today, instead of reaching for a remedy, she reaches for... enlightenment! Did she make it?" Instantaneously, a responsive thought arose in my mind: "Enlightenment does not guarantee the script will change. Some times it has to play out. " And from another corner of my mind came an awareness, an awareness that "death is mental, not physical. The physical level does nothing but mirror a mental decision."

Like every storm, after several hours this one passed, too. I am in the aftermath now, assessing what has been gained. And I am still ruminating on "death is mental, a mental decision."

I chose death.... I chose death?... I chose death... meaning, I chose death over Life. Meaning, I chose the birth & death of individuality rather than the eternal Life of God's Oneness. How is that possible? Do I even have the capacity to deny eternal Life?

No, I do not have the power to overpower Omnipotence... eternal Life is! But I can imagine that I have that power, and what a hell of an imaginative ride that can be! I can imagine that I split off from the Oneness that is God, and pretend I am a super-duper individuation, off doing my own thing. Fantasy does come with a price, however. When I pretend too convincingly, I can forget Who and What I am. And in the depths of my dreaming, I am asleep to my own Reality.

Thank You, God, that I cannot leave You. Thank You that Your Memory whispers to me, persistently, gently, lovingly, "Wake up, Beloved, it's just a dream. You're still here, and nothing has changed." Peace.

WELCOME

Welcome to my heart. What I share here is my process, my mystic seasoned thoughts on the pathway home. And what is home? Home is a tranquil mind that gently pulses with eternal peace and love, no matter what. Welcome to my journey, and it can become yours, too.