I just finished teaching a short course called "A Course in MIracles and World Peace". (You can download audios and handouts on my Web site if you're interested.) Every time I teach the Course, I am, of course, reminded that the central practice of the Course is forgiveness. This time, I devoted my entire final class to this important topic.

 

As you know if you're familiar with the Course, it means something different by the word "forgiveness" from what we mean when we use the word in everyday speech. To students of the Course, forgiveness has nothing to do with releasing others from guilt or responsibility for acts they have committed that have injure or offended you. In fact, the Course says such acts are never real because they are of a nature that is inimical to God's inability to conceive of what we commonly call "sin."

 

Rather, the Course teaches us that all of us make only one mistake. We forget who we are. We don't remember that we are divine, eternal spiritual beings having for a time a physical experience. If we remembered that about our true nature, we would not engage in any of the behavior we and others perceive as "sin."

 

It follows, then, that the only thing that demands our forgiveness is the act of forgetting. This is a particularly powerful concept because in order to forgive someone else for forgetting who they are, we are inevitably reminded ourselves of who we are and thus are forgiving ourselves every time we extend that forgiveness to others.

 

Every problem we think we have in the world of appearances can be solved by this shift in consciousness, from perceiving certain behaviors not as sins requiring guilt and punishment but as errors requiring correction and forgiveness. That's a strong statement and I'm generally wary of any sentence that begins with or includes an absolute term like "every" or "always". But in this case, I believe it is true.

 

I was astonished when I went to my favorite bookstores and found there were literally dozens of books written about forgiveness. Two or three at least <em>seemed</em> to be approaching the subject from a Course in Miracles' perspective. 

 

So how does this sit with you?

I was watching one of Spiritual Cinema Circle's better offerings last night and was taken by a statement one of its participants made. The movie is "Living Luminaries: On the Serious Business of Happiness" (I may have the sub-title slightly wrong). Rev. Michael Beckwith, who is one of my favorite visionaries, said, "So many people are so caught up in their search for success that they forget the search for significance."

 

Wow.

 

Exactly.

 

If the work I do isn't *significant*, does it ultimately matter if I'm successful at it? I don't think so. But what if the work I'm doing is significant without bringing me worldly success? Is that a better outcome? Yes, at least to some degree. Ideally, of course, I achieve both. 

 

Beckwith's observation is in keeping with the teachings of other luminaries, including one with whom I have the fortune to be personally acquainted, James L. White. Jim is passionate about helping people find and pursue their purpose in life.He's written a book called What's My Purpose? and offers courses and seminars and coaching along those lines. Like others in the world of self-help who are convinced that the key to happiness lies in finding and living your true purpose, Jim would probably agree with Beckwith.

 

If your purpose in life is to be successful according to the world's definition -- i.e., materially or in terms of power and fame -- then you're going to make a whole different set of choices than you'll make if your purpose in life is to be of significant value to others and to yourself.

 

The two are not necessarily in conflict but it does seem to me it would be supremely difficult to pursue them both with equal passion. When you choose where to focus, you opt out of a whole list of choices on the other side of the list.

 

But how does one measure significance? Does it, e.g., demand that you achieve some measure of fame or notoriety or audience? Is significance a matter of how many people find you significant? Or is it sufficient for you to feel that your work is significant? Is significance even subject to measurement? Are there degrees of significance?

 

This feels on some level like an extension of the learning I gleaned from my all-time best spiritual friend, the late Rev. Rory Elder. He taught me that life isn't about what you accomplish, it's about how you show up. May be these are two branches of the same plant.

A good friend who is not particularly spiritual but is very astute and political sent me a link today to this interview of astrologer Caroline Casey by Sally Quinn, who apparently has a program called "On Faith." This is just the highlights and it is amazing. At one point, Casey says of the current U.S. Presidential campaign, "We are electing a story. We're electing ourselves. This is the most mythologically potent election...probably ever, or at least since the Founding Fathers." She also tells a couple of marvelous stories about her encounters with scientists and their delight and joy at being freed from strict rationalism to the spontaneity of mysitc experience.

That's exciting in itself. But when you get to that page, you'll notice that there are dozens and dozens of these interviews available. Most have highlights and the full interview separately. What an immense treasure trove of wisdom and insight. I feel like I've just stumbled into yet another new library of insight and wisdom.

I wonder, have other people here previusly discovered this and I've just missed references to it? Does anyone else know of this work? Any background?

I was invited to be on a panel for an interfaith discussion of world peace today at California State University at Monterey Bay. The host, Steve "Quazar" Goings, founder of the campus organization called "The Gathering", started things off by showing this movie, which I had heard of but not seen before:

Here's the URL in case the movie isn't displayed above for some reason (movie links don't seem to work well here  unless they're from one of the major services):

The Shift Movie

This promises to be an outstanding movie. I don't know if/when it will be produced and released but I hope it's soon.

"Without faith we confine ourselves to continuing to live in a world dominated by fear and greed. Without faith we cling desperately to the cloak of cynicism to protect ourselves from being hurt by others. And most importantly, without faith we undermine our own ability to really get onto our life path and BE who we want to BE and DO what we want to DO. Instead, we put ourselves in a situation where our own fears and doubts consume our passions and kill our dreams."

(A. C. Ping in Faith, p. 25)

A dear friend and being of light and joy, Donna Briley, made her transition on March 26. Her Celebration of Life Service was held yesterday at her (and my) home church, Unity of Monterey Bay. I was blessed to be asked by the family to deliver her eulogy.

Donna was a close friend of Marianne Williamson and an accomplished student of A Course in Miracles whom I had the pleasure of serving as a teacher for the past several years.

But she was so much more than that. Donna had a positive impact on every life she touched and she touched thousands of us. She had a ready -- and gorgeous -- smile for everyone. She always put others first, encourgaging them in their dreams and passions, lightening everyplace she was and every moment of her life. She could be going through a temporary difficult time but you'd never know it unless you were close enough for her to share it with you.

She led a rich life which ended far too soon for all of us left behind but I know she is now taking on a new role as a project leader for the world. Here, she labored for the Department of Peace initiative. Now she labors for world peace effortlessly and tirelessly. Here, she encouraged each of our dreams. Now she is part of the One Mind directing Universal Energy in our direction. Here she loved all she touched. Now she can touch all she loves.

The world could do with more Donna Brileys. Now Heaven has the full-time attention of the authentic one.

Peace on your journey, dear one.

I'm sure you've probably seen this before, but it never grows old and the message is as fresh and valuable today as it was when it was created.

Check out the Make A Difference movie. And then send it to someone who makes a difference in your life.

Namaste

One of the problems with all of the world histories I know about is that they are human-centric to the near exclusion of all other species, forms of life, or planetary eras. While archaeology and  anthropology texts frequently delve with what they term "pre-history," it is difficult if not impossible to find a definitive story of how the cosmos and this particular universe within that cosmos came to be. In other words, it is hard to find a way to put the eye-blink history of a single species of being, of which we happen ot be members, into the broad context of not just the planet but the entire cosmos of which we are a part. And not only a part, but in many ways a consequence or result of cosmic forces.

The price we pay for such ignorance is that we make choices without the benefit of a big-picture view of their impact on our co-inhabitants of the grand cosmos. Such ignorance of our history can only, in the long run, have deleterious consequences.

The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry represents the best effort I've seen to help us to spin a new story about ourselves, where we came from, our place in the grand scheme of things, where we're headed. Subtitled "From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era," this book is almost poetic in its description of the birth of the cosmos, the emergence of our own universe and its if not unique then at least highly unusual formulation, and the development of our physical surroundings. Swimme and his mentor have created a fluid, readable, exciting take on the new story humanity needs to escape from the dark ignorance and deliberate blind spots of past efforts.

I've never been a big fan of Tony Snow. First as a Fox broadcaster and then as spokesman for a president who has failed ot inspire in me any sense of pride, loyalty or support, Snow has been a veritable symbol of all in politics that I have found distasteful. I could not believe that he could bring himself to believe all of the apparent lies he told in his White House role.

Still, I have a bedrock belief that there are no evil people and that most people believe that what they are doing is right. They don't set out to become bad people and they don't have a belief that they are bad.

Today, my good friend and minister, Vicky Elder, sent me this essay Snow wrote for Christianity Today.After reading it, I sent this note to Rev. Vicky:

That was moving and intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

It made me more aware than I have been that when you flake off the paint of politics and rub away the patina of religious dogma, we are all, at core, lovely and eternal creations of a living God. That realization, in turn, brought into stark relief the Truth that every one of us wants the same ultimate consummation of life: a death with dignity in the certainty of eternity. While we may disagree on the best way to get there -- as we disagree on the "how" of so much in our daily lives -- there truly is only one of us here when it comes to the things that matter.

I am a tiny bit better person today for having read and reflected on that essay.

I found this beautiful Hopi message of peace for humanity on the Culture Collective site and couldn't resist sharing:

(For some reason, that movie won't embed here.)