Spiritual Tools from A Course in Miracles

The Holy Instant

In ACIM we learn time is an illusion and the present moment is all there is. Yet our minds are forever in the past or in the future. This is hell because we live in a moment that no longer exists or one that is yet to exist. In this trap of time we live in doubt, fear and anxiety. When we are caught in this trap, we become aware of who we are allowing to be our teacher: the ego. This is the crazy making of the ego. In this Holy Instant we can remember that there is another Teacher within, and in this Holy Instant we can call on the Holy Spirit to guide this pristine moment in the present now, where our gift lies. This is how we invite a miraculous solution. In the Holy Instant we ask for a miracle. In the Holy Instant we ask for forgiveness, forgiveness for forgetting we have never left God.

In the Holy Instant we invite our Highest Self, the Holy Spirit, to dawn upon our mind and remind us of who we are. We believe that our peace, our life, takes place somewhere far outside ourselves in a distant future. “Over in another country, thats where I will find everything, the people Im looking for, the experiences Im trying to have, the reason for my life.” But the truth is that everything is found here and now or it is not found at all. And this is what the Holy Instant teaches us. It is always available to us whenever we need it, wherever we need it and for free, always.

In ACIM we learn that this course is simple because its tools are simple, and it is simple because the truth is simple. We are Love. Period. In the Holy Instant, which is every present moment you remember to unite with Spirit, you are undoing the falsity of ego and becoming aware of the truth of eternal love which is your natural inheritance as a child of the Creator.

We were not left alone. In this instant you can call on your Highest Most Divine Self, and that is your Holy Relationship with the Holy Spirit. When you use the Holy Instant you are accepting and no longer analyzing, you are opening yourself up and no longer spinning needlessly. You are not trying to change anything, but only aware of the solution within you available always.

Do not deceive yourself thinking that you can only ask for a Holy Instant when your thoughts are pure. You are not the purifier. Every thought and every moment is useful for the Holy Spirit and the Holy Instant is for you. It is precisely for all those moments in which you feel you do not deserve your pure birthright. Every instant can be used to free you from a self imposed fearful thought based system.

“The holy instant is this instant and every instant. The one you want it to be it is. The one you would not have it be is lost to you. You must decide when it is. Delay it not. For beyond the past and future, where you will not find it, it stands in shimmering readiness for your acceptance.”
(ACIM, T-15.IV.1:3-8)

True Forgiveness

The things that hurt us, including the body, our relationships, difficult situations; are the very things that we can use to undue illusions by the process of True Forgiveness. For this reason we should be grateful to our brothers, because without them we would never be able to undue illusions and experience our Truth as Christed Beings / One in God. It is in changing the way we look at them, that we free ourselves.

The practice of forgiveness in A Course in Miracles is one of the most radical yet effective spiritual practices I have ever experienced. Forgiveness finally makes sense to me. The forgiveness of the world is very superficial. It says, I am better than you and more evolved than you so I will forgive your despicable actions. In A Course in Miracles, we actually do nothing and say nothing, except to invite the Holy Spirit to give us His Vision in place of our sight.

The ego would have us judging the situation, analyzing it, over and over again. The ego would have us dead set on what is right and what is wrong and on twisting and turning the situation to fit its goal of demonstrating how unfair the world is and everyone in it.

A Course in Miracles can be said to be a path of forgiveness. Forgiveness as taught in A Course in Miracles is radically different from the forgiveness we are accustomed to in the world. You are not forgiving anyone for their actions, because their actions are within the illusion, and only the mind that sees separation experiences attack. In A Course in Miracles, you are actually forgiving yourself for forgetting that you have never left God and that none of this could hurt your eternal Spirit. You can decide to unite with your right mind, which is to ask the Holy Spirit or your Highest Self for the truth and you will be shown through miracles and the feeling of inner peace, that you could never be hurt.

True Forgiveness sets you free. Free from any ideas that you may know what is really happening. You don’t. But the Holy Spirit does and the Holy Spirit will always guide you back home to God. True Forgiveness quietly undoes any hurtful situation by taking it straight to where healing is and this is your gift. Peace, eternal peace, is your gift.

“As you see him you will see yourself. ”
(ACIM, T-8.III.4:2)

We remove unconscious guilt from the mind through forgiveness. Forgiveness is a deprogramming of the ego. The truth is our Identity is a shared one. We are literally ONE! I cannot be who I am in Christ if my brothers and sisters are not also Christ Light with me. We are light! And if I deny Christ in them I am also denying it in myself.

We cannot forgive any other way because we did not create forgiveness. It was created for us. If we think we can forgive with our egos we are mistaken, or we would have forgiven already. We need to ask our Guide for help always, but thats all we need to do. If we knew how to forgive, we would already experience inner peace and often that is why we are seeking a path. For The Way. Everything we give to the Holy Spirit is cancelled out and we learn that mistakes can have no effect on God’s eternal peace.

Forgiveness was a weird concept to me. If we are love, why do we need to forgive each other? What did that mean? We are forgiving the experience of the separated self, the ego, because in truth there is not separation and nothing to forgive.

ACIM shares the key to happiness is forgiveness, true forgiveness. But we need to ask our Teacher to teach us to forgive, to help us, because we previously were lead astray by the ego who was our teacher. The ego knows nothing but the past and judges everything on this illusion. The Holy Spirit teaches you the only time is now and at this very moment you and your brother are the light of Christ. Even if one or both are dreaming. You are choosing to wake up, to know the truth. And the truth will set you free.

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness. I will awaken from the dream that I am mortal, fallible and full of sin, and know I am the perfect Son of God.”

I invite you to work with this Spiritual Tool for the entire day and apply it to all areas of your life. Even the ones you think to be, quote on quote, good. Just forgive it knowing you have learned a limited perception of yourself and others and the Holy Spirit can take what you are forgiving and give you vision, true vision of yourself and others in exchange. And that does not mean that what you see on the outside changes, but you will definitely see how the feeling inside you changes.

A great practice I shared in the Spiritual Rituals chapter is to take inventory every night and forgive anything and everything that day. If you think your salvation comes from something great you have going on, forgive yourself for that too. You don’t have to stop enjoying it in this life experience. Just forgive it knowing that anything that does not last forever is really fear.

Further, I invite you to make a huge list of negative experiences you want to forgive. Set aside a day of the week where you sit down with your Forgiveness Journal and go through the process of forgiving the person, place, situation you believe is causing you harm. Ask for a miracle, for vision, and state that you are willing to see things differently. Trust and have faith. Your treasures are being stored in Heaven. The person or situation might not change but your feelings within yourself and about them will. You will know when you have forgiven, when the person or situation comes to mind and you no longer experience anger within but can quickly extend light and know they are light through the Holy Spirit Who reminds you. You will experience a miracle. And that miracle will bless you first and then them.

The Atonement

In the beginning of ACIM we learn that the course can be easily summed up in this way:

“Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.” 

When we practice the Atonement, we choose to remember that only Love is Real because our Creator is only Love. Our experience of fear comes from our decision to see and experience ourselves as separate. Our decision to use the past to guide our future and listen to the egoic thoughts of the world. Do not believe what you see with your eyes. Use the tools of forgiveness, asking for miracles, uniting with the Holy Spirit, in every Holy Instant and you will be Accepting the Atonement for yourSelf. When you accept the atonement, you are accepting who you really are. You are declaring that you are exactly as God created you.

You are Love.

The Atonement is the remembrance of your perfect union with Creator. You are not truly remembering this if you are still afraid of anything. Any fear or doubt means that you should ask the Holy Spirit to help you. When you atone, you know, you remember and there is no questioning God because there is nothing to question. This is what the Bible means when it says “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding”. You will not know how or when, but you will trust in your relationship with Creator, knowing that you are Spirit first and foremost and that Spirit could never be hurt, but your ego can try to mislead you to believe you are alone, helpless and hopeless.

The Atonement is a form of protection. You have free will. That is the way you were created. You can believe whatever you want, including that you are alone and separated from your Creator, or worse you have no Creator! But remembering the truth, atoning, truly, with no doubt, is your protection in this physical realm. When you practice the atonement, you open up to your inner light, letting it shine and guide you. Atoning is a choice to accept the Creation of God as it was created.

The simple choice of choosing the Atonement is your certainty in this life. There is nothing to doubt or to fear, just a life to live, guided moment by moment by your Highest Self, the Holy Spirit if you so choose. When you allow yourself to be guided in this way, in communication with Creator, you will know who you are and will never believe you are separate again. You came here to know this, to know yourself first. When you remember who you are in your Creator, you remember this for everyone, because all minds are one, and so you are truly the salvation of the world. Do not forget your holy mission. It is not small at all.

If you are experiencing anxiety, depression, reliving past trauma, know this need not be. You have an Inner Teacher, that heals everything and anything if you but ask for help. You will be guided to the right people, places, books, practices… but most of all you will be guided within and you will remember that you are Love.

These posts are best experienced in order, the next post is titled Miracle Thoughts

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