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.
Oh, I guess I want to whack him because I must think attacking works.
You, Nina, probably did not thump him with the book, because you are more actively aware that attack is not what you want to do. I think we sort of established before that it may not be physically safe to engage this ‘dof’. You just relocated.
So, is the message in your head to relocate, even though it is accompanied with feelings of malice, still the ‘angel assisted’ kindest thing to do? As well as your not having the urge to smack him with the book — that seems nice to not have, as least from my point of view.
Sorry to always keep bringing up my ego driven response system. But in juxtaposition to it, your actions do look guided by angels.
Nina,Sorry to hear you had a bad experience on the bus. Katrina made a lot of snse to me with er feedback. I found this while looking at some ACIM sights I hadn’t visited in a long time and I think it may help you some.
T-2.II.1.
You can do anything I ask. 2 I have asked you to perform miracles, and have
made it clear that miracles are natural, corrective, healing and universal. 3 There is nothing they cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt or fear. 4 When you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you. 5 Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. 6 You believe in what you value. 7 If you
are afraid, you are valuing wrongly. 8 Your understanding will then inevitably value wrongly, and by endowing all thoughts with equal power will inevitably destroy peace. 9 That is why the Bible speaks of “the peace of God which passeth understanding.”
10 This peace is totally incapable of being shaken by errors of any kind. 11 It denies the ability of anything not of God to affect you. 12 This is the proper use of denial. 13 It is not used to hide anything, but to correct error. 14 It brings all error into the light, and since error and
darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically.
Good night dear friend and you as well my dear friend Katrina
My Love and Hugs to All, I got a full day but will check in tomorrow evening, or night.
God bless us every one
Nina, I wrote a little (??) response to your great sharing on the home page. Sorry if it’s a bit long – the other Villagers will give the ‘quick, wise and simple’ version, I’m sure, and I thank them in advance.
Nina, Why didn’t it seem to work? Why did I yell and scream and screech at Cory the other day for leaving the bath mat on the floor instead of picking it up and draping it on the side of the tub? Because if we had no blocks to loves awareness and could work the Course perfectly we wouldn’t need the Course. Might not seem to be here either. HUGS
“What scares us in actual fact is the pure lack of consequence. Nothing ever happened.”
You needed to go on Mr. Mayor to get to the line I quoted above.
How many times must I hear that before its meaning sinks in?
I loved everyones perception of the incident. All of you coming from kindness and love.
Thank you Nina you are always so brave in sharing your daily encounters of the right and wrong mind. You are literally still on the Monastery Bus. I like that it came over to the Village.
BTW can you thank the man on the bus for me the next time you see him? Let him know that the “Village People” so appreciated this exchange of ponderings that he inspired. Well, you needn’t say a word to him; I’m guessing the next time you see him on the bus you won’t be able to hold back a chuckle. We will let Spirit do the rest.
That was a good ride.
Papa Lawrence today is the 15th and your posts this last week have been incredibly loving. Thank you for the extra effort you have put forth these last few days. Now tell us what’s your favorite cake? I’m gonna tell Winnie she’s in charge of picking it up from the Baker.
Have a great day my friends, I love you all.
10 This peace is totally incapable of being shaken by errors of any kind. 11 It denies the ability of anything not of God to affect you. 12 This is the proper use of denial. 13 It is not used to hide anything, but to correct error. 14 It brings all error into the light, and since error and
darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically.
Dear Villagers, thanks for the lovingwise ponderings. So much to see and recognize and learn and allow to sink in. I am already seeing this trait in the guy – the urge to reach out for communication – and when i see that, i wonder if that is not forgiveness to destroy? that makes it real, yes?
see, this is what I have difficulties with, to understand in the Course; that when friendly thoughts come about this man, they are” forgiveness to destroy ” ( they make him real)and I am doing the Course wrong. Sigh. And I still like those thoughts so much, they make it easier to not hate him – and that must be a good step, right? doublesigh
By the way, I am currently enjoying Carol Howe’s book about Bill Thetford – and I see how different he practices from Ken – which shown me that there are different ways to practice the Course, even in the inner circle.
I find that I like Bill immensly. Both Helen and Ken scare me somehow – but Bill – he sneaks obtrusively right into my heart and smiles.
Oh I know very well that this guy has helped me a lot already, getting in touch with overwhelmingly awful feelings and the beliefs they made – so I can at least thank him for playing that role and bless him for that. AND allow myself to feel what i feel when i see him again – but hopwefully remember that it is a set up in my mind to make the world real.
Annie, I love spice cake with chocolate icing. Extra love you say, no such thing, love is, what it is, and we all wear it well! I am already missing you all in the Village and the Monastery both!
God bless us every one
Spice cake for a spicy dude. Sounds delicious with the chocolate frosting. Oh it’s almost midnight in your neck of the woods. Happy Un-Birthday for now…(I’m watching Alice in Wonderland as I’m typing) Tomorrow Winnie will bring some yummy cake. Now better get to bed so Sharon can wrap your present. BTW will you get presents for Fathers Day too?
So much to know so little time!
The catepillar is upside now and is ready for his transformation.
Hello again Annie, when your kids are grown and all working and going to school, you normally get together on the weekend. So when the four not so little buggers come out, if I get two gifts from each, I never know if I would have gotten two even if it wasn’t Fathers Day. But, I always get two cards from each no matter what and I get a kick out of that as they are all creative folks.
It is kind of like being born on Christmas, if your not Jesus where everyday can be Christmas, you can get cheated. lol I hope you enjoy the movie.
I had a root-experience today….trying to write it out here to see if i can see what happened… I was experiencing an strong ego-attack, recognizing the energy as something that uses to last at least 24 hours. It feels like some alien entity is occupying my brain/mind – this “something” feels like something that has been miscreated by believing in its reality for thousands of years – in short, it feels like it has its own power.
Now, this something has clearly come into “being” by my choice to push Love away – and then by my belief in what I have made. I have always before been afraid of it, felt powerless toward it – it tells me that I am in its power – but lately, I have been reading Ken’s little book about The resistance to Love, and feel more sure that I am giving it all the power it seem to have.
So I felt so fed up with being in this pattern and having to wait it out. I knew I was responsible by my choice, but chose also to see myself as innocent: it was a mistake, not a sin. I was doing this to myself.
Then I read Ken’s answer today in the Monastery:
The best place to start is not to judge yourself for choosing the wrong mind, and then be glad that you realize you have done so and are not in denial. This means you can effectively apply what A Course in Miracles asks us to do: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. It is not necessary to seek for what is true, but it is necessary to seek for what is false. Every illusion is one of fear, whatever form it takes”(T.16.IV.6:1-3).
This “whatever form it takes” helped me. This seemingly “overpowering spirit” was just an illusion, and the form intimidating me was NOT a proof that it was real.
And just realizing that I was doing this to myself, to escape from Love, made me realize again how immensely scared I must be, deep down there.
And since that realization I have felt a tenderness toward that scared part. It needs time, and i see that all efforts to speed things up
is so inefficient. Slow is really the rocket, as Jamie says in his last class.
Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that that attack came as I was listening to Jamie’s class… I did not feel fear at all consciously: but WHAM there came the attack so the fear was there for sure.
Seek and find the blockages so they can be removed. Thanks Nina, I needed that reminder right now also.
I can feel you softening up on yourself Nina. You have always mined your thoughts and experiences with such intensity that sometimes I would wish I could reach across the ocean and slow you down. My ego would have me believe I was doing it to comfort you and extend some kindness but if I were to be honest and I am trying to do so right now in our Forgiveness Column; I would have to say this concept of speed is an interesting example of how I judge my own progress or more accurately lack of progress …there I go again judging.
So taking the time to write down your root experience was very beneficial to me. Prior to coming to the Village I was reading the Lighthouse Newsletter where Ken was I’m sure for the gazillionth time trying to bring home that concept of tenderness that you were experiencing Nina. Here’s the line that struck a cord with me this morning.
“In A Course in Miracles, magic refers to anything external that we employ to bring us pleasure or alleviate pain. Magic, therefore, ranges from our pursuit of the absolute necessities of physical life such as oxygen, water, and food, without which, of course, the body would per- ish, to our need for special relationships with people, sub- stances, and material objects, without which our psychological bodies would perish.”
It’s my psychological body that scares me and I go through these fits and spurts of feeding it then neglecting it. I would liken it to bulemia; I binge then purge through Spiritual concepts and materials. Well, I used to. Now I just stick to the Course as its the most concise and I am on the “hurry up” to get home. So there it is again that concept of time and thinking I can rush something. Forgetting how massive this fear is and what is this need to keep running up to fear and keep measuring it to see how much progress I’ve made? Sort of like that story…I forget how it goes but I’m sure you’ve all heard it where the guy is so amazed at how the carrot grows that he keeps pulling it up from the garden to see its progress. Kinda interrupts the flow of progress, needing to know every two minutes where I stand; yet I’m constantly distracting myself with these sort of questions.
I better head on over to the tavern and binge on some peanuts and watch the World Cup.
USA is out …today its Mexico vs. Argentina. Gotta root for my friends across the border.
(Hello Lisi) Special Relationships are alive and well this Sunday.
I love you guys !
Great thoughts, everyone. Nina, I’m (re)working through that same little booklet. What I love about them is that they are such a wonderful condensation of Ken’s principal thoughts, and so simple. And I’ve been having similar feelings too. Something big and heavy that seems to try to make itself real by being so big and heavy, but as you say, “The form intimidating me was NOT a proof that it was real.” That’s it, for me. Spot on. And that’s where I come back to a fundamental principle I forget so easily – the Smile. No matter how big and heavy and meaning-laden my thoughts about myself might seem, there stands right in front of me this joyful quiet smile that tickles me with its mirth and playfulness and it’s so hard to take any of this heaviness so seriously.
I’ve been reminded lately of something I read in Resistance (I think), that ACIM students are as ‘guilty’ as everyone else except they feel guilty about feeling guilty! So they do a double whammy on themselves and end up being more messed up and serious about everything than everyone else. Just don’t take the guilt seriously! I’ve been a classic ACIM student in the sense that I have judged myself for not being able to ‘do it right’, although it has taken a long time to realize that’s what I’ve doing. So now my practice for the past few days has been to have less fear about looking at my feelings of ‘not doing it right, not being where I think I should be’, and to chuckle lightheartedly at the whole thing. It’s just more of the same. EBAU – Ego Business As Usual. That suddenly seemed to take off a big burden and remove some more images of what I thought it meant to walk this path.
Thanks for your sharing, dear Villagers. Hope you have a great week.
Lots of love, Bernard
I LOVE YOU GUYS TOOO
I have been working with finding the blockages and identifing them this last week. Not as in “this chunk of fear was caused by this incident and that guilt was caused by that one” but just a plain ol’ “Yup that feels like fear and that is a blockage to my awarness of Love. I’m willing to let it go now. Thank you J/HS for helping my mind heal”.
Alot has gotten stirred up because there is another lump in my “good” breast and a biopsy has been done and I will find out the results at 3:30 this afternoon. Lots of guilt comming up in the form of fear. What has helped is that I finally remembered something from my 12 step days… Fear is just an acronym for: False Evidence Appearing Real. If what I’m seeing and hearing is false no need to feel guilty. Whew!
I will be with you @ 3:30 this afternoon and together we will know that we are love and we are loved; no matter what the world has to say.
Thanks Annie {{{{hugs}}}
Pammie, let us know whatever seems to happen. I suddenly recall Ruth-Anne’s reaction in her latest post: You gotta be kidding me.
With you, Pam. Counting down till 3.30, holding hands with the big Guy. And he looks over and smiles at us. All’s really well.
{{{Pam}}}
All is well. It Is. Even when it doesn’t “seem” to be, It Is.
It Is….
Love Is. We are Loved beyond what we can imagine.
“The Truth in you is as radiant as a star
As pure as Light
And as Innocent as Love Itself”
Not sure if that is exact but it just came to me.
Love to you.
{{{{Pam}}}}
Thinking of you today.
Hugs! Laura
{{{{Pam}}}} Waiting for hearing from you. Much love, Lisi
{{{Pam}}} sitting here on the couch with you and Jesus.
Thanks and hugs everyone, It is more cancer. So Friday I go in and have a mastectomy.
The weird thing is that for the last three days I’ve been so fearful at points I felt like I might throw-up. I kept releasing and looking then I would feel very calm then back to the fear. Pray for my mind to be healed sitting with the fear and not running/stuffing it as best I could. Even in the waiting room, fear, and up to the point he said I’m sorry but it is more cancer. Then all the fear went poof and we talked about the surgery and everything and still no fear. I even started smiling at points and he looked at me a bit askew at one point cause for me now we could just as well of been making plans to order cake and ice cream for a party. My mom might have been looking askew also but she was behind me so I’m not sure what she was doing. I feel O.K. even… dare I say… happy. For the moment I feel no fear. This is amazing.
What a weird and wonderful and wacky Course this is. And what a wonderful bunch of amazing friends all of you are walking this path to “no where” with me. Thank you just ain’t big enough to say how much I am grateful to each of you for your sharing and caring of each other and me. oxoxoxox
Pam, thank you for being my companion in this journey, and thank you for teaching me so much. The experience I just had reading your sharing was one of love and union. Thanks so much for this. We are just one and the same. Much love and fat hugs my brave sister. Lisi
I’m glad your mom was with you. I wish it was a different result.
I’m sure you are taking the right action and I’m impressed that the surgery will be scheduled so quickly. Thank you for keeping us posted and allowing us to observe your feelings along with our own. I can’t say I feel O.K. but I so want to. I pray for the peace of mind that sees no need to run and hide. Together I feel we can do this. Goodnight Pam and Cory and we’ll talk some more tomorrow.
Pam,I am amazed at what you are showing us: that that fear let go the moment you knew it WAS cancer. I felt your peace. When I had breast cancer, they just took a peace out of it, and through the whole ordeal I felt supported and lifted into light.May it be so for you too.
And yes to an ice-cream-party: the Taverna has the the most delicious ice-creams, and please bring Cory too. Maybe we could sing together today?
Good Morning. Lisi, You and everyone are showing me how to let go more and more so I can see the “Life” that the words point to.
Annie,”I pray for the peace of mind that sees no need to run and hide”. I just put that on a sticky note.
Nina,You’re right I hadn’t looked at it that way. According to the world that should of been the point that the fear should of escalated. Also If this was the first lump found and it wasn’t in other places they would just do a lumpectomy. My left breast is gone so now I’m looking at the removal of the right one in the light of now I won’t be lop-sided anymore.(-:
I can feel some of the fear creeping back in but I also can feel the calm center of strength more clearly now that I can draw upon also.
“To heal is to make happy.” T5,I,1,1
“Healing is a thought by which two minds perceive their oneness and become glad. This gladness calls to every part of the Sonship to rejoice with them, and lets God go out into them and through them.” T5,II,1,1-2
“Thoughts increase by being given away. The more who believe in them the stronger they become.” T5,II,2,3-4
heading to the tavern now to sing and eat ice cream 🙂
Oh Pam you are a g l o w i n g b e a m o f l i g h t.
I join with you in gladness that you and I are One.
May your eyes see only beauty today.
Hugs Annie and links arms with her to go skipping home.
Hi Villagers, I don’t know if motivated for what Pam shared yesterday, last night I had a dream that I liked at the end. At the beginning it was terrifying, but the outcome was good, really good.
I live in the country and in summertime is not unusual that some fields catch fire due to someone being careless.
Well, in the dream I was driving home from the city that is about 15 miles away, and when I was about 2 miles from home I saw a huge fire, lots of flames and a deep black smoke escaping toward the sky. I arrived home and my daughter was at the car entrance. From the entrance to the garage there is a road, a wide one, with no bushes, or anything, just soil. I got down the car and she was really afraid looking at the fire (when she was a child about 6, she saw a big fire that almost reaches our field. I told her not to be afraid because it was about 2 miles away and I just saw the firemen and police cars there.
In that moment she opened her eyes enormously and shouting to me she asked me to look toward the fire direction. It was as if a zigzag flash of fire bursted toward us. When it was close enough, we were not afraid, we were panicked. We saw that the beginning of the flash was like a horrible head with a long peak. It arrived, but when it reached our road it thrust its long peak in the soil, and instantly disappeared. In that moment, we were tightly embraced and heard a sweet voice that said: “Don´t be afraid. That is the ego. It´s a thought that contaminates and devours everything it touches, but if you look at it from a place in which there is nothing it can contaminate, it just disappear. Don´t worry and look where you are standing up. In that moment my daughter looked at me and peacefully smiled. All the striking terror we felt the minute before just have disappeared.
Lots of hugs and much love, Lisi
Lisi, awesome! I have these dreams so often, and often I get caught in the belief that these are spirits and evil and real.
I have a couple of awesome experiences that can resemble yours: the first i think was about 30 years ago, in a period of utter terror…I was witnessing and being devoured by this complete absence of good, it was filling my childhood room in my mind – and i don’t know how, but suddenly Something in me said “YES” and all became Light. The peace was indescribable.
The second time was about 10 years ago …it resembled that same absence of good, and I said yes again – this time, much more identified with the yes-voice – and again, the darkness melted into light.
And a great sign the same morning: a child had drawn a big sun and put it in my mailbox!
It was great for me to read what your Voice said: this is simply ego. Thank you and bless you.
The support of “Be not afraid.” in these dreams is wonderful.
With ya Pam … honouring you, cheering you on, loving you, giggling gleefully at your progress and process. Hell girl, who needs tits at our age? You are never titless for the reason you think. And I could see peace instead of tits. You go girl … ego aint got nothing on you! Ego who? Is that a real word?
Sorry I didn’t respond earlier, Lisi. Wonderful dream. So vivid and perfect. I just love the sweet voice that says, “Don’t be afraid…” What more is there to say?
Al,Good thing I’m on pain meds or laughing that hard would of hurt real bad. Thats how I’ve been looking at it now I’m not lopsided and best of all I never have to wear a bra again! Whoo Hoo!
By the way where have you been I’ve missed you.
Pam, so good to hear from you – and to hear your laughter! the best medicine ever! Showering you with blessings, and with quite an amount of pixie dust too( I have saved up a lot from Winnie’s out-pourings from the Monastery( -and the Tree-house, which now is in the Village.) There! voila! – nice, eh?
Thanks Nina, Glad you still had some pixie dust left. It helped me sleep better and is much better than the oxycodone for the pain. Hope Winnie gets her computer fixed soon. going to checkout the treehouse and take another nap. luvs to all
pam – hope the pain lifts soon, and get some deep rest. love, a
Pam…
As a gentle rain and down comforter sky blankets the Mid-West, this Independence Day symbolizes a lullaby for you to know how much you are loved.
Hugs!
Pam, so glad to hear you in that mood. You are an example to all of us. Sending you big fat hugs and much, much love. Lisi
P.S. Did you visit the new Village Galleries? I think you will love them.
Good Morning Everyone,
It’s the Fourth of July and there are overcast skies here in Los Angeles as well. No rain predictions but it feels like a cloud burst could happen at any moment. I like the lullaby metaphor knowing that our true freedom comes from a choice; the love is always there and waiting for us. So until we are ready the blankie is always available.
Pam so good of you to check in and drop a line. Glad to hear you are home. Does your mother live nearby or is she staying with you and Cory for a while?
Much love to you and all.
Just returned from my Sunday Brunch with hubby and realized I didn’t hit the submit button with this post waiting to be sent…well the good news is the fog has lifted now and the skies are sunny; wish I could say the same for my mind. So grateful you all love me despite my absent mindedness. Sometimes I feel like the Village idiot. Hey every village has one.
Not to worry, I know I’m just a forgiveness lesson for you and me.
oooh look over there some pretty sparklers….
I like it! We’re all just a bunch of Village idiots – the most wonderful kind, the kind you love to love because they make you LAUGH! Glad your heavy skies have lifted, Annie.
Thanks for the great inspiration, Pam.
Glad to see you popping by, Laura, Lisi, Anil… Hugs all round.
Hey, about village idiots…remember the guy I told about at the bus with the disgusting behavior? I saw him again on the bus yesterday- and did not react at all. For the first time I have seen him he did NOT get in his nabour’s face, he was just like anybody else…miracle it is –
I’ve put up contributions from Nina (Libera – Going Home) and from Annie (Embrace Life) in the Inspiration Gallery. The seatbelt clip I found spoke to me of my Brother who is the background safety net in my life. Very moving. Also something in the ‘You’re kiddin’ gallery from Pam that will make you think about checking your water bills. Enjoy.
I’ll post this here: a most beautiful recipe for forgiveness: Mr Mayor gave it to me yesterday. I Love it, and hope it will make y’all happy too –
“You are a beautiful and holy Child of God, and you reside there in your perfect right mind.
The best way of accessing your wonderful right mind is by forgiving your wrong mind.
The best way of forgiving your wrong mind is by not being afraid of it.
The best way of not being afraid of it is by learning to look at all its aspects
together with a smiling, happy companion who doesn’t take it seriously.
The best way of looking with this companion is by addressing him personally and saying,
“Is all this stuff really so bad?” And he will, of course, say,
“No, my friend, it’s not bad. It’s just a little silly and maybe unnecessary.”
And then he’ll give an even bigger smile.”
Sharing happiness: Thanks Nina and Bernard
sharing happiness is like sharing a cherished family recipe
its a win win and a yum yum
with no calorie counting required
i like the idea of healing being equated to food
bakers follow exact recipes
chefs don’t necessarily use measuring utensils
mothers know what to make to bring us comfort
but the secret ingredient is digesting only Truth
It’s never about form only about content every cook knows that much
But true joy comes when Truth is shared
Its about Family style dining and no one is excluded
no matter where you sit JC is always next to you with that big grin and knowing smile.
Bon Appetite!
Thanks Nina and Annie, so beautiful, both of them. And thanks Bernard to put them in the Inspiration Gallery for us to have them at hand. Mmmm, sharing happiness, like it.
Lots of hugs to all and much love, Lisi