Garden
The Quiet Garden of Forgiveness
Love, too, would set a feast before you, on a table covered with a spotless cloth, set in a quiet garden where no sound but singing and a softly joyous whispering is ever heard. T-19.IV.A.16:1
“There is a garden at the foot of this lovely statue with masses and masses of soft white lilies and little paths between to slowly walk and talk with Jesus. There is a fountain nearby and the forever trickling sound of water reminds us to leave the desert of wrong-minded thinking.” (Winnie)
Forgiveness is truly at the heart of the practice of A Course In Miracles. All of us have had moments of shifting our perception of a difficult situation, and finding peace. On this page I offer you the space to tell us about the stories that have stayed in your mind, times when you felt a real change occur in the way you were looking at a problem or upset. Maybe you were encountering aggressiveness in somone, or were being judged and belittled. Perhaps it was a loved one who had left you, or even a pet that had died. Or maybe there was fear, a threat in your life to you or to a loved one. In all these situations, at one time or another you have found peace beyond the pain, release from shame and sadness, and comfort and freedom in their place. There was always a presence there with you, the company of one who loves you and guides you to see differently. If you have had moments of finding that clear presence, please share it with us here.
A little more technically speaking, these would be moments when you reversed the projection and saw that the problem was not outside you, but with you, your perceptions and thoughts. A sudden moment of clarity perhaps when you saw that the upset was having pushed Love away, and not really what was happening outside you. Or perhaps it was just a moment when despite the upset or problem, you felt safely accompanied and that helped you remain unaffected by the problem, to get a little distance from it.
Please try to write concisely if your story requires a lot of explaining (and teach me something about brevity!). Also, please try to share from the heart and not from the head. It is always nice to hear the simple sincerity behind these inspiring stories.
Anil ~
Did you ever see the TV commercial of two identical twins announcing…..
“”Two Two Two mints in one….not really..they are two separately sent just today to your dreaded to open, easier to do so in HK….dare I say it…..private email address await you.
no need to reply to either….no to do list….no hurry no worry
I love you,
Michele
Lesson 365.
The last lesson of the year, in the Garden. I’ve always been a fan of gardens. My favorite hotels in the world have beautiful gardens on the property… The Chinzan-so in Tokyo with it’s beautiful garden in the middle, the Oberoi in Bangalore, but let me not distract myself from the Lesson for the day….
This holy instant I give to you.
Be You in charge.
For I would follow you,
Certain that your direction gives me peace.
——-
Coupled with
“Never approach the holy instant after you have tried to remove all fear and hatred from your mind.
That is its function”
Lesson 365 has taken a new life in my mind these last few days.
I am grateful, as I look at the sinking sun, 6:35 pm in Singapore, dusk enveloped, night-approaching, the last illusory night of an illusory 2014.
Into timelessness and the arms of sleep, for a short nap, before I awake to play with Lucas and wish him good night.
Love to you all as you greet the beginnings of day 365…
Anil
2015 in the Garden, 12 days in….
I love the fact time is illusory, yet I keep such meticulous time. (: of course, that is a self-loathing comment in disguise, or perhaps not so well-disguised (;
92 minutes into the day, and I am absorbing that “I am upset because I see a meaningless world”.
So true. I don’t need to debate that one. Definitely, I am upset (and I have always felt this, even long before the Course in my life) that the world is meaningless – nothing in it makes any sense, so what is the point ???
Actually, what I used to say was that life seemed meaningless, not just the world.
And I am grateful that the Course has taught me the distinction between the “world” and “life”. There is, at least in my experience, a very, *big* difference between the two words/concepts/experiences.
The world is increasingly meaningless, but this does not mean I am increasingly depressed. Quite the contrary, in my experience, the depths of the depression were back in Oct 2012, when waking up was a problem, and hours passed debating on whether I should even bother getting out of bed.
Because I travel so much, and my work is so flexible, and I am not on call, as long as I get my work done in general, I can pretty much keep to myself, and my own timings. So those hotels all around the world where I went were the places I could examine my depression.
And it was useful, to see the extent of it, and the paralysis of it, and how the mind can keep spinning around thought by thought.
But always, something was able to get me out of the hotel bed, sometimes something I looked forward to, and sometimes just the irritation of someone or something.
I owe Arten and Pursah a big bowl of gratitude…. “The world thinks that because you are depressed you have depressing thoughts, but actually you are depressed because you have depressing thoughts”. (that thought from one of them just sums it up so cleanly)
The thought comes first.
And I have been watching my thoughts, for over two decades now (long before the Course really), and for the last decade even more vigiliantly under the tutelage of the Course. It is paying off.
So I am upset today, now, because I see a meaningless world. So what am I going to do about it ? Just sitting with that thought will not lessen the upset.
Well, coming to the Garden and writing about it has helped. A re-affirming of my ego-self. Yes, I am a person, and I can do something. Something that pushes the upset to one side.
(If anyone is reading this, please know that it is *not* a really deep upset…. just a mild tremor, and nothing that I cannot handle… anytime, I compare levels of upset, the thought immediately comes to mind that all upsets are equal, there is nothing small or big about it… another one of the Miracle principles/thoughts…. this truly is a brilliant Course).
So what am I going to do about it, aside from blathering on about it in the Garden ? (:
Nothing, really !
Just let it be.
It is a meaningless to be upset about a meaningless world. (:
All is well.
Ciao, bambinas and bambinos….
I know – a meaningless world… I think I see a mean world… a meaningful world…
Sitting here in the Garden.. I like A & P too…
Good to see you here in the Garden, Tex. The Village is timeless, and I hope it always stays that way.
/although I’m not quite sure that I want to see the time-stamps *not* there… there are some sites I go to where the posts are without dates, and I always feel incomplete there… I seem to need to know the time, guilt-bound as I am/
A&P are fun. Each reading of DU opens me up at a deeper level. I think I must have gone through it x times, although nowadays I just dip into it, or read a chapter. /Perhaps I should start reading it again from scratch…hmmm/
I don’t think I am really doing the Lessons, but I’m certainly reading them very deeply each day /and perhaps I do one of the 3-4 practice periods it asks for…/
And Lesson 19 says…Today we are again emphasizing the idea that minds are joined. This is rarely a wholly welcome idea at first…..
I had to burst out laughing. That would have to be the understatement of the day/the month/the year whatever…
I certainly don’t like the idea that minds are joined.
What ???? I am responsible for every thought, and for every thought affecting every person in this world ??? And I can’t decide what is worse… “this enormous sense of responsibility” /direct quote from the Lesson/ or the my feeling of my privacy being opened up without my consent.
/I’m actually more open about my thoughts and feelings than many I know, and don’t actually value keeping my thoughts private that much, but still… I would like to give my consent to know which thought I share with whom…../
Well, whatever… this Garden is for forgiveness /thank you, Winnie, thank you, Bernard/, and I forgive myself for my thoughts. They are meaningless, because they are not my real thoughts, which are only the Thoughts that I think with God.
I tell ya…. this Course….. (:
Ciao, Tex, I’m off to ramble along in my mind….(:
Love this – yes … I “had” such a crazy year last year… I did all the lessons and I “got” them… now I am kinda reviewing them…especially the first 200 or so…. (lol)…
Timeless
Forgiveness
Love
Thoughts
I do love it here as well!
My blog is up again – it has been an indescribable emotional roller coaster – connecting me with a deep dissociated part – this happened at the same time when my WordPress-helpers told me that I did not own that blog account, – another Leelotchka44 did – this brought me in contact with old age old beliefs in attacks and stealing of identity – until I saw that she is me – I made her up for a reason –
I connected us with the rays of the HS and felt the love flowing – and after some days of utter turmoil felt a deep love permeating this whole “theme”, whatever it was. Today I can post again – a Miracle – and I will delete the Leelotchka44 account and go back to the old Ninotchka-one –
i prefer to be in charge of that account and that blog, and this feels like wiping the slate clean –
and the most important and wonderful is the feeling that I have reconnected with this this dissociated part
lol – I stopped blogging too…. my job was pretty rough toward the end of the year and I had little time for anything but work….
Now I feel back on track and am reviewing the early lessons like a soldier in the trenches would pull out a tattered and torn love letter, and read it over and over again… just to hear the words!
<3
Ha ha, the lessons as tattered and torn love letters. So they are!
Today was one of my all time favs. I can escape from the world I see by giving up my attack thoughts.
I love this whole series of the lessons. As you mentioned, Anil, just reading through the titles is an unfolding lesson. I’m reading the Text one paragraph a day. It should take a little under a year, just perusing it slowly and intensely, along with the daily lesson. I have Ken’s JTTT now, and when I finish a chapter, I hope to go read his lovely thoughts.
Nina, it’s a relief to me that your blog is back. I missed it, reading about your experiences, thinking about you, and thinking about us, the relationship that you and I have.
I wonder why I didn’t go check it out on the 22nd, when it was back, only just now, three days later. (Three days is a long time for me, wish I could have been reconnected three days ago, I suppose I can add that regret as one more regret to add to a long list of regrets that add upto 45 years of living ! (:
Yes, I’m feeling low, but no cause for worry. Depression is inevitable for anyone who experiences living in this world.
Until the Atonment. The realization that only the acceptance of guiltlessness can save me. Nothing else.
Katrina, not quite sure I mentioned reading through just the titles alone, am reading the whole lesson too ! (:
This time around, they make sense, clarity like I have never had before. No more just the rote doing /well, “attempted” doing is more accurate, I average one practice period a day, if that, when our wise guy big bro asks for 6 ! (:/
Of course, my attack thoughts attack my invulnerability.
/Thus, they have attacked my perception of myself. And because I believe in them, I can no longer believe in myself. A false image of myself has come to take the place of what I really am/
I am not this solid three-dimensional image of a body, sitting in front of this comptuer in the library of the British Club.
This image is a false image that has taken the place of what I really am.
And what might that be ? (:
Strange.
I think I will go and take a nap. If I can. (:
Take care, my friends. and have fun ! (:
Pre-Course, it would have taken about a decade to come to terms with some things (usually someone else’s junk)…. Then with the Course, it still took a good couple of years to settle myself down. Now, after *finally* doing the WB (like a good student, eh? 😉 ) I found it still took months to find the rights things to remember… the right way to look at situations…. and finally give up my junk – but still with a sigh! Now it seems I have reached that happy place where I can stop beating myself up in just days, usually… and even hours (in some cases) … AND NOW- I can sometimes see a situation kinda layed out – and I don’t even have to go down that street and fall into that wide, huge gaping obvious hole!
So this time in the garden, I am planting some pretty flowers!
Sniffing them out with you, Tex. This IS such a beautiful garden. LOVE LOVE LOVE the sounds of the trickling fountain. And have you seen that Verbena-bush over there? one of my favorite scents –
hm… did you change your hairdo, Anne?
went out to pet the dogs today – I think they are so hungry from lc of food – they tried to bit me! Imagine – biting the hand that feeds ya! Bad doggies. lol. What can you expect!!
Back to the Garden and that lovely spread – for me!
warm hugs, Anne 🙂
♡☀☽☆♥☼Tomorrow is Anil’s 46th Birthday♥☼☆☼☽♡
All manner of yummy treats and libations in the Village Square will await our celebration gathering tomorrow. I’m planning on using my Asia calling card tonight to reach Anil on his birthday while it’s still his birthday.
Thanks, Michele.
Will wait for your call, or happy to call you as well, if you like 🙂
Love,
Anil
Michele ma belle (:
Apologies I haven’t called you back. After the best birthday in 46 years, things slid downhill like a mudslide (;
just good ol’fashioned duality (:
will call/write later (this week hopefully (:
love n kisses,
anil
YAY – IU hope you had a very happy birthday! ♥☼☆☼☽♡!!!! And Many More to come!
Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Anil! Miss you!
Prayers please for Nepal friends … Wish we could send tents and blankets. She is a young nurse my niece knows from her internship there a couple years ago.
Her Facebook page said:
Safe but homeless ….. feeling scared.
I’ve been on facebook to talk to family. And found Bernard there, and Tex. Look for Cathy Rider.
(I don’t get to use my soul name Katrina with my sisters, nieces and nephews!)
I vacuously babble from time to time on ‘What Does A Course In Miracles Mean When It Says …?”
I’ll watch for you.
So nice to see some of you here again! We should try to get together every so often, don’t you think? maybe at the end of every month with an even number?
Belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Anil!! So glad that part of the day was a happy occasion, and as for the rest, well, that’s normal! Just as long as we can learn to laugh and smile a little more at all the silliness, we’re doing very well.
Kindest thoughts toward all those in Nepal, and all those suffering everywhere… May we all remember eternal kindness and safety above and beyond our circumstances. And may we be moved to help in any way we can. Thanks Michele for the links!
Yes, I’m on facebook if anyone would like to become a FB friend (‘Bernard Groom’). Our French organisation is also on FB: Un cours en miracles en France.
Thanks, Tex.. I do think there will be many more to come. I feel the happy dream towards me (;
Thanks, Katrina. Miss you too ! Sorry to hear of your loss with Nepal.
Thanks, Bernard. That formula to meet up here is too complicated for me to figure out this holiday afternoon in Singapore… (: Still wooly headed from too much sleep (finally….. !)
(:
It’s all good (: the duality, the non-duality and everything in-between.
Miss my brothers, who are one with me! hugs to all!
I miss you guys too, Tex. The days are long and the gaps in our connections here longer…
Bernard, I am ready now to follow your lead on trying to meet here on a set time each month or two…. I miss you all too much to not have something that might work (:
Every 2nd month ? So June 30th, would be the next date, if you’re still in that frame of mind (:
love (is always the answer)
a
Oh JOY! Yes, let’s get together end June. I’ll send a message round to everyone about that time so we can have a picnic and trade stories over a glass of sparkling cold apple cider. It will be summer in the northern countries, so cider will be good. I’m sure Nina will agree.
Looking forward to our meeting!
Love
Cider is good 🙂
Will you still have me even though I am now following The Jewel of the Christ mind with Jayem – and feeling very much at home there?
Yay, Bernard, Nina —
Look forward to the 30th of June… (:
Love,
A
I have put Villagr Picnic on my calendar for Just ne 30!
Hmm … The print was too small for me to proofread.
Village Picnic for June 30!!
Hugs and anticipation, Katrina
I’m in for the June Picnic under the trees in the Garden
Hugs and anticipation too,
Michele
Looks like we’ll at least have five of us under the shady trees of the Garden on June 30th. Hope none of us forget ! (:
Reading these lessons these last 10 days of how “My mind holds only what I think with God” makes me understand how much mind holds that has *nothing* to do with God. It’s a veritable dumpster, a trash can of irrelevant thoughts, unncessary worries, needless to-dos and a bunch of other even nastier things ! (:
A good thing that I am told this is all a dream, but if I don’t remember that there is more to it *beyond* the dream, I am likely to continue to feel as depressed as I currently feel.
The world continues to be a sucky place as long as I am in my wrong mind – and the ego’s hold is way, way much stronger than I ever thought before — and the world will be nothing when I get into my right mind.
Just that the journey without distance seems too long right now.
It’s a good thing I have an old saying from my father to fall back on…
“This too shall pass”.
Love to all.
A
I am leaving home at 3pm oslo time tomorrow – for a Master Evening at the Opera – its a long bus drive – will probably be too tired to talk when i return at about 11)pm –
Hi dear Nina,
Hope you had a wonderful evening at the Opera. The event is for next month, June 30th, so hope to see you there ! (:
ps. I still come to the Village (and your site) every day. Old habits die hard ! (: I liked very much your Blue Balloon poem.
See you June 30th ?
Love,
Anil
Oh!thanks.
Yes, I had a WONDERFUL time – I was sitting beside 2 chinese students of fashion – they studies in New York and had scholarship til travel Europe – wow, think about the talent it takes for a Chinese to have a scholarship like that! so we talked about – in the two long breaks – how we loved the art of making costumes and high fashion, and how these costumes we put on shape us and the way we feel and are seen – and I found myself going into a good groove, telling them how important it is to do everything with the heart…they were talking about how you have to be commercial in NY in order to find jobs – and the words just came right from source, that this is a test we all have to deal with – to not follow dictates from the “others” but our own inner guidance. When I spoke, the world and everything was radiating a big listening and the love between us was growing. We changed email addresses and will share our art – and it pleases my heart so much:these two young Chinese are such a radiant examples of the Christ incarnating as we more and more dare to listen to the heart.
As for that – I have started to stitch and embroider lately, and have rarely felt so blissful. It is a sweet meditative state of mind to sit there and sew one stitch at a time and really not have big plans about the work – following the hands and the something
Dear Family , I will show up at the party June 30th !!
Hugs !!!
Hedda
Hi Nina – nice reading about your trip to the Opera. and the sweet meditative space of stitching and embroidering. My sweet meditative space has been fleeting lately, like a disappearing sunbeam on a suddenly cloudy day.
But reading about you reminds me that it still is within me, and i must let the blocks fall away (:
Hello Hedda — good to know that you will be joining us too on June 30th. I hope to make it as well, my travel plans to the US are getting firmed up, and I will leave Singapore no later than the 12th, this week. Hope I’m not on a flight on the 30th ! ):
Love to all the Village family,
A
Tomorrow is Pap Lawrence’s B Birthday!!! Let the preparations begin!!!
Papa Lawrence that is…tho is some old time movies and books…Pappy is often used pr Paps
Michele, the birthday fairy ! (:
Thanks, dear.
Happy birthday, Pops ! (:
(Lawrence bro – I miss ya !)
Michele, mah belle –
am leaving for SFO tonight. Will call you from my US number. (Hope it’s still working (: – my US number that is, it’s been 10 months long since I last visited…. very excited to see my dad (and mum)….
love ya all,
A
♡☽☆☀Dearest Papa Lawrence~♡☽☆☀
Just thinking of you, and your wife and family and all you’ve shared with us in this village, fills my heart with Love for all of you. I hope I have the date correct. I wish you every contentment and celebration of life, along with the continued gift of deep inner peace I associate with your perception and choice of inner teacher I feel you continually make with devotion to the truth of who we are.
Anil ~
Yay!!! Wishing you a happy and safe journey!
Lots of Love,
Michele
Hi Michele,
Yes, indeed, am in the Bay Area now. Burlingame to be precise at the Hyatt hotel here. (: ’twas a good flight, I slept through it all, all twelve hours of it (:
And my cell phone number you just texted about half an hour ago is also working, but its out of credit, being a prepaid card, so I can’t call you yet until I recharge the phone with some $$. (Should be able to do that online after I finish writing this message to you).
An still on bed, just finished my reading of Lesson 168. (Your grace is given me. I claim it now) these days the lessons have no instructions on how many times a day to practice, etc, etc. its liberating ! (:
Big J giving me a break. (:
Even if I just read it in the morning when I wake, that’s enough for the day ! (:
This course is now living within me every day. And everything, even the darkest moments, rarely last long. Things that seem to have been planned long ago all seem to be drifting into place.
Is today a full working day for you ? (I read your detailed emails on the subject, and we will talk later on that when we meet). Any particular time I shouldn’t call ?
I should be able to recharge the mobile shortly, but lets have the Vllage garden as our backup place to meet ?
Love you,
anil
Over here it’s June the 30th, less 15 minutes… and counting!
Hope you all come with a nice meal to share.
Looking forward to hearing your stories.
Much love, B.
Dear Bernard, 100 hot degrees in Temecula today. And currently FACIM weekly class is on Ken’s article Living the Course as wrong minds, right minds and teachers of God with focus on magic and magic thoughts. Hugs all around.
Hi Jean! Well, guess what, we’re living Temecula temps over here in France right now! And it looks like it’s going to stay that way for another two weeks. We’ve never had a month of June so hot and dry. We had one brief rain shower in the past month, very unseasonal. But we’ve been enjoying it so far. We’ll see how we feel in another few weeks!
I can’t quite work out your new gravatar, is that a hot or cold setting you’re in? Hot, I’m guessing.
Wish we were there, as usual, sharing a class and coffee. Tell Craig we’ll be back for a Jamaica brew at Starbucks over the road. We should be joining you in the next live streaming.
Much love.
That you still Love me as I you is my miracle. I think of the brave ones we have lost for a time, and am humbled by their strength. I am still in and out of the hospital. I am up, and it is four something in the morning and I found an email from Bernard, a gentle soul if ever there was one. I found out today that I must make some decision concerning the discs in my neck.
I had an operation that they told me was touch and go but it worked for awhile. I will no doubt need another. I couldn’t sleep because of neck pain and ended up here much to my own surprise. I haven’t been back since I left, and the thought of each and every one of you, is like a night light that is ever on, dispelling the darkness and who’s source will ever be a Light that shows the way.
I wish you Peace, Love and understanding, and I ask your forgiveness for any concern I may have caused you, I am deeply sorry and have no excuse except being human, at least for the time being.
God Bless Us Every One
Papa Lawrence
Bernard – I haven’t seen a time to meet up at Skype yet?
Lawrence – I haven’t been her for a ling while either – so good to be in touch again. All my love and best wishes for the neck – I have had that for several years, but it is not there all the time, so for me it is a sign of some old grievance. from me to me i think – well, best thing is to embrace it, and I do, when I am able – I also curse a lot 🙂 hope to see you later today, and to know where
hugs to all
nina
Hi everyone, I’m sorry if there was some confusion about the nature of this informal get-together. I thought that setting a date would just enable us to be present here in the Garden at some point during the day of the 30th, whenever that might be convenient for someone to check-in. I didn’t think about setting a specific time (eg noon Pacific Time), and didn’t think about a Skype meeting either, perhaps because of the complication of time zones and the quality problems we had in the past with Skype. But maybe we can have a good time anyway! Or maybe we can suggest 12 o’clock Pacific Time (9pm here in Europe). I can try, but can’t guarantee I’ll be very available. Hope to get your news, luv, B.
Just to share some news on my side…
Life rolls on smoothly with just the ‘normal’ lessons (in a crazy world!). There are still expectations that things should be ‘otherwise’, still that gnawing feeling that I’m missing something important, still the hope that I can yet make this darned illusion work for me! And yet there are more and more moments of just quietly giving up, and allowing this present moment to be quiet and simple, just what it is. So the classroom is still a classroom, a few more aches and pains,, some other questions, and still the same old wonderful, beautiful spirituality that keeps me good company. I do make an effort to feel the presence of Ken, and sometimes it actually works! And I manage to sense that Life is, indeed, eternal, and there is no death. But it does take work, since the mind slips back so easily into automatic ego-madness. So there’s still work to do, but it seems to happen a little more easily, with a little more patience, or perhaps I’m just getting tired of taking myself so seriously! 🙂 That’s certainly true! And other people are, as well. 🙂
Th French Association for A Course In Miracles is keeping us very busy. The teaching activity continues nicely. We offer workshops in different parts of the county to which people do come, and they seem very happy, so that’s good. We post articles, free recordings of some sessions, and paying downloads for others. The website is looking nicer, and we are just in the process of loading up the Foundation’s Q&A database, which is slowly being translated into French. We would like to offer talks over the internet, but still need to find the right technology, but that day will come. I’m thinking of using part of the summer to start another book, this time a non-fiction on the Course, perhaps ‘Forgiveness and Healing’, or ‘The Choice for Inner Peace’. But there’s still lots around the house here that needs fixing, so we’ll see how the time gets spent!
That’s my news for now. Hope you’re all well. Looking forward to getting your news.
Love,
B.