by Beverly McNeff
Filmmaker Andrew Stanton once said he was inspired by a card that children’s television legend Mr. Rogers always carried in his wallet which read, “Frankly there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.”
Certainly Mr. Rogers was a man who affected the lives of millions of children with his loving heart. He surely didn’t know the story of all those children, or adults for that matter, who were drawn to his show, but you could feel his care and concern as if he did. Stanton said that’s what affected him and was a driving force behind his storytelling in such Pixar movie hits as Finding Nemo, the Toy Story movies, and Wall-E. We love Stanton’s characters because we know their stories. We can relate.
We are all seeking to find common ground. We resonate with movies that inspire us and people like Mr. Rogers who make us feel accepted and meet us where we are. I remember when our son Jeffrey was almost three years old and struggling with idea of the toilet. It was sort of scary for this little guy to sit on something so big that made such a big flushing noise. As unrealistic as it may seem to an adult, little children often think if their poop can go down the toilet, so can they!
Mr. Rogers actually did a segment on one of his television shows about the toilet and how it worked, so kids could understand that there was no way they could be flushed down the toilet. He didn’t do it by making fun of them, but by understanding their fear and helping them to see what was the truth. Jeffrey really enjoyed that show and so did I. Mr. Rogers may have been talking about the toilet, but he was sharing another lesson as well. He was helping us to look at our fears (in a gentle, non-threatening way) and not be stopped by them.
Getting to know our stories and those of others can give us a bond of understanding and begin to take away the separating ideas of fear and attack that have pervaded our minds for so long. The perennial question of mankind is: “Who am I?” A Course in Miracles tells us that answering this question is our salvation, but it doesn’t wait for us to come up with the answer. It gives us the answer all throughout the books but most specifically in three workbook lessons which are each entitled: “I am as God created me.”
These lessons are the story of all of us. It is the realization that our Father has created us eternally, with strength, love, light and holiness. We are complete, with nothing missing, nothing that has sinned or could have made an image to replace reality. God’s loving answer stands beside us and gently helps us look at our fear of going “down the toilet” of the world and invites us to instead affirm “I am as God created me. His Son can suffer nothing. And I am His Son.”
The Course asks us to lay aside the images we hold of God, others, and ourselves, so the truth of our being might be known to us. Illusions cannot stop the mighty power of God. We are asked to look clearly at the illusions of fear and separation, holding the hand of God, and move past them. This process the Course says “is the birthplace of miracles, the great restorer of the truth to the awareness of the world.” (L110.5:2)
But how do we live this truth in our world? There certainly are people who do not know they are as God created them living in this world. Those who attack and murder are not aware of Who they are. When we attack or judge others, we clearly believe another story than the truth God knows about us.
The Course is uncompromising. It tells us this entire world of form (and that includes our bodies) is not real.
The Course is uncompromising. It tells us this entire world of form (and that includes our bodies) is not real. In fact, it says it simply does not exist. For most of us, though, this illusion (and our bodies) still seems very real. I always chuckle a little when earnest Course students tell other students “you are not a body and you have to stop making the body real” while they are hunting for the most comfortable chair to put their “unreal” bottoms into.
Frankly, if you are taking a breath right now, you believe you are a body. We are not asked to deny what we still value, but to begin the process of looking at it with the help of the Holy Spirit. He knows how to help us release the illusions so that truth may prevail. We will never release anything as long as we value it. The purpose of the presence of God in our minds is to help us see how much more peaceful our lives will be when we are willing to withdraw our value from fear in favor of love.
I remember when Jeffrey was about six years old and he could not fall sleep without his favorite blanket. This blanket went everywhere with us. One time on a beach trip, I must have accidentally left the blanket in the bed sheets in the motel room. The blanket had gotten so worn it looked like an old sheet.
When we got home, I panicked. I didn’t tell Jeffrey about the missing blanket. I just hunted for it, called the motel and even warned Paul that he might have to drive back to the beach for the blanket – this comment was not a welcomed idea!
Finally, I sat down with Jeffrey and told him what happened and that it looked like the blanket was lost. Instead of the tears I thought I would see, he simply said okay and went on playing. He ended up finding another blanket that night, but no blanket was ever needed again the way that old blanket was.
The Course keeps reminding us that truth is working even if we can’t see the results. How could it be otherwise? There is only the loving Will of God. We will awaken to our oneness with each other; we will know our Home in God. As the Course tells us, “God is inevitable, and you cannot avoid Him any more than He can avoid you.” (T4.I.9) How much we delay, however, does not change the real story about us. We’ll get there and the Course offers us help.
The question is: How long will we allow an “alien will” (which is how the Course refers to our mistaken ego mind) to oppose God’s Will? By calmly looking at what frightens us, makes us angry or seems to be the thing we can’t live without, we can begin the process of taking the value away from what no longer serves us. This process, combined with our willingness to stay focused on God’s Will for us, allows us to experience the miracles we are entitled to.
Hugh Prather once wrote, “Letting the day dictate our mood is a decision.” It is now time for us to stop our passive-aggressive attitudes. We feel frustrated because we think we are victims of our circumstances, but we are allowing those circumstances to control us by our decision to act powerless.
We may not be able to change the circumstance in which we find ourselves, but we can and must take responsibility for our thoughts and how we think about those circumstances if we ever hope to escape them. We have the power to choose how we will respond in every situation. If everything is our decision either to take charge or give up, which one makes more sense to do?
The following are three suggestions to help you experience your real story by taking charge in a way that allows you to detach from illusions and focus on the truth.
1. “Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.” (T6.V.C) This might sound pretty hard to do given our undisciplined nature, but the longest journey begins with the first step. The process is really more about turning in the direction of truth and not allowing distractions to divert you. For example, make every effort to do a workbook lesson every day; even if you don’t think you did it well enough, it worked. It’s not so much about how well you do something but that you begin to set a pattern in your mind.
Have you ever driven the Autopia at Disneyland? They are small cars on a very loose track. If you steer straight and keep vigilant the ride is smooth, but if you don’t pay attention or take your hands off the wheel, while you don’t crash, it’s a jerky ride. That’s like us. We think we are independent, but we are really on God’s track and we can’t crash. When we go with His flow and steer ourselves with vigilance toward His Will and our place in His kingdom, it’s a smooth ride. We may occasionally veer off course but we can never lose our way.
We think we are independent, but we are really on God’s track and we can’t crash. When we go with His flow and steer ourselves with vigilance toward His Will and our place in His kingdom, it’s a smooth ride.
2. “Creation’s gentleness is all I see.” (L265) It is a complete mind reversal to realize that the world is a projection of our thinking, and it can be somewhat guilt-inducing to our untrained minds. Our egos love to say, “Look at the mess you’ve made!” But Spirit asks us to see this illusion with gentleness and say, “What I see is a mistaken thought in my mind, and I choose to “let no appearance of my mistakes obscure the light of Heaven shining on the world. The images I see reflect my thoughts. Yet is my mind at one with God’s. And so I can perceive creation’s gentleness.” (ibid)
This way of thinking allows us grace to look at the world and not be stopped by its fearful, distorted images. We see clearly that beyond this “call for love” is love. Our focus then moves from the guilt or disgust that we may have initially felt to compassion and gentleness for ourselves and all of God’s children.
3. “…to heal and comfort and to bless.” (T31.VI.1:8) The Course tells us that salvation is the undoing of the world of form; when we remove the blocks to the awareness of love, then there is love. The question is: how do we undo the world of form while it still has value to us?
“Salvation does not ask that you behold the spirit and perceive the body not. It merely asks that this should be your choice.” (ibid)
As we hold this choice in mind, the Course continues with this practical advice,
“…choose the sprit, and all Heaven bends to touch your eyes and bless your holy sight, that you may see the world of flesh no more except to heal and comfort and to bless.” (ibid)
In order to transcend this world we must be fully present in this world so that we may be the hands to heal, the heart to comfort, and the eyes to bless.
In order to transcend this world we must be fully present in this world so that we may be the hands to heal, the heart to comfort, and the eyes to bless. We are asked to be in the world, but not of the world; to be a teacher of God who is cognizant of his mission of healing wherever he might find himself. What greater purpose could we have than to heal, comfort, and to bless?
As this year continues, we’ll get plenty of opportunities to see fear, guilt and attack in a world of illusions, but illusions can’t stop us because they are illusions. We are children of God; that’s our common ground, that’s our story. And, in the end, that’s our inevitable salvation.