KENNETH
My wife and I have just been informed of the passing away of our beloved teacher. We dedicate this page to all those who wish to share their thoughts and commune in the quiet of the silence he taught us all to cherish. Our thoughts with him, always. 28th December, 2013
“Those who have laid the body down merely to extend their helpfulness to those remaining behind are few indeed. And they need helpers who are still in bondage and still asleep, so that by their awakening can God’s Voice be heard.”
(M-26.3)
“Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you.”
(T-11.VI.7:3-4)
Resources for comfort and understanding:
Article “Timeless Love” on the home page, 20th September, 2013
Article “Timeless Life” on the home page, 14th January, 2013
Recording (MP3 – 15 minutes) of the article “Timeless Life” here.
From Kenneth:
The Golden Thread of Hope (CD)
Other quotes and thoughts:
“It is a joke to think that time can come to circumvent eternity, which means there is no time.” (T-27.VIII.6:1-5)
It is a joke to think that bodies can come to circumvent our perfect formlessness…
It’s a joke to think that death can come to circumvent timeless Life…
Kenneth Wapnick, August 2012 Academy: “It’s an insane idea to think we can lose what we love.”
“In one of those stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night. And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend…I shall not leave you.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
(Kenneth quoted from The Little Prince in his last newsletter)
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep—
He hath awakened from the dream of life—
’Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife,
And in mad trance, strike with our spirit’s knife
Invulnerable nothings…
He lives, he wakes—’tis Death is dead, not he;
Mourn not for Adonais.—Thou young Dawn,
Turn all thy dew to splendour, for from thee
The spirit thou lamentest is not gone…
Pass, till the Spirit of the spot shall lead
Thy footsteps to a slope of green access
Where, like an infant’s smile, over the dead
A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread.
A few lines from the poem, Adonais, by Shelly that Kenneth quoted in his talk, The Light of Laughing Flowers
To me, Kenneth’s is very much a “light of laughing flowers”, reminiscent of the one in these lines from the workbook:
It is here that miracles are laid; to be returned by you from holy instants you receive, through grace in your experience, to all who see the light that lingers in your face. What is the face of Christ but his who went a moment into timelessness, and brought a clear reflection of the unity he felt an instant back to bless the world?
(W-pI.169.13:2-3)
“Relate only with what will never leave you, and what you can never leave. The loneliness of God’s Son is the loneliness of his Father. Refuse not the awareness of your completion, and seek not to restore it to yourself. Fear not to give redemption ovcr to your Redeemer’s Love. He will not fail you, for He comes from One Who cannot fail. Accept your sense of failure as nothing more than a mistake in who you are. For the holy host of God is beyond failure, and nothing that he wills can be denied. You are forever in a relationship so holy that it calls to everyone to escape from loneliness, and join you in your love. And where you are must everyone seek and find you there.”
(T-15.VIII.3)
St Teresa of Avila’s prayer:
Let nothing
disturb thee;
Let nothing
frighten thee
All things are passing;
God is everything.
Patience obtains
all things;
Nothing is wanting
to the one
who possesses God;
God alone suffices
(Many thanks to the anonymous giver of this lovely gift)
From the Gifts of God, Helen Schucman
There is no death. But there is quietness
Beyond the reaches of the world; a peace
Which only life can give. It is the life
That is the gift of God. All conflicts cease
Within this life. It beats in harmony
With all creation, beyond any sound
The world can hear. It sings a different song,
And where it reaches, there is holy ground.
(Excerpt from ‘Good Friday’)
There is an alter that I seek. For there
And only there can certain peace be found.
The light of holiness shines white upon
Its cooling stillness wreathed with lilies round.
Here is the place where those who thought that death
Was lord of life must come, to learn of One
Who seemed to die, that life is lord of death.
(Excerpt from ‘The Place of Resurrection’)
‘Requiem’, p 111, which I’ll simply ask you to take a moment to read from your copy of Helen’s poems.
I found a lot of peace listening to him and watching his videos. I regret not having called Ken to say hello. I don’t know what I would have said other than that, I’m certain he wouldn’t had had use for my admiration.
I hope I get to meet him someday but I also hope he’s done with his lessons.
Please forgive me, dear friends. I was hoping to make this a page with photos but I’m not currently skilled enough to know how to set up the page to properly receive images, despite several attempts. I shall have to try again in a few days when I have more time.
I still don’t feel quite able to write something appropriate for this occasion of Ken’s passing. I made one attempt but the words seemed strained, so I’m putting it to the side for the moment. In the meantime I would like to share with you a tribute I received by email which captures many of the thoughts I would also like to express.
A Humble Tribute to Dr. Kenneth Wapnick
By M. Lucia Espinosa (Author of Spoken Miracles, a Companion to the Disappearance of the Universe)
If you ever met Ken Wapnick, if you ever talked to him, if you ever attended one of his workshops, if you ever listened to one of his CD’s, watched one of his videos, read one of his books, or came in contact with him at all, you may have experienced him the way I did: clear, unassuming, unaffected, warm, kind, scholarly, wise, brilliant, and any other superb human attribute you can think of for a man who was one of a kind and who taught so many thousands of people the message of A Course in Miracles in its purest and only true form.
Above all of that, beyond who he was as a man, Ken Wapnick was pure love, and that is very hard to describe because in this world that is very hard to come by. By pure love I mean an unconditional acceptance that covers you like the most comforting and softest of blankets you could ever imagine, enveloping you until all your childish fears just fall away. He tickled you in the back of the neck if you looked too serious -until you giggled; he wiped away your tears like a loving mother would; he gently, almost imperceptibly corrected your ego ways and put you back on track with non-judgment; he made the path clear.
“To teach is to demonstrate. There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. From your demonstration others learn, and so do you.” (M-Int.)
I guess he finally had learned enough, taught enough, and in a matter of a few weeks he was simply done. As I write this and think about him really being gone, the same feelings come back as when my father passed away so many years ago. Ken Wapnick was my spiritual father, and I would venture to say he had thousands of spiritual children out there whom like me, looked to him for guidance and reassurance as we took our first clumsy steps in truly practicing the teachings of A Course in Miracles, the greatest spiritual master piece of the 20th Century, and as far as I’m concerned probably of the last two millenniums.
The tears cannot be helped, even though I can almost hear him saying: “In no single instant does the body exist” or something to that effect. I cannot help the sense of loss, the feeling that my heart is being squeezed and made smaller than it is, and though he would probably not want us to mourn Ken Wapnick, to miss him, to make this a big deal, he also taught us not to deny our experience but to let them be and learn to look beyond them to the greater meaning, to the lessons they bring, to the content hidden in their form.
I cannot put into words what it’s like to spend your whole life seeking truth and finding it, seeing it smiling back at you and letting you know that everything is going to be all right., that is for each of us to experience, each in our own way. But I can certainly try to put into words what this man meant to us as a teacher, a friend, a mentor and gentle guide in this very difficult spiritual path called A Course In Miracles.
“All differences among the Sons of God are temporary. Nevertheless, in time it can be said that the advanced teachers of God have the following characteristics…” (M-4).
A Course In Miracles offers us a set of ten Characteristics of the Advanced Teachers of God: Trust, Honesty, Tolerance, Gentleness, Joy, Defenselessness, Generosity, Patience, Faithfulness, and ultimately Open-mindedness. As with everything else, the Course has its own definition of what each of these entail. For example, honesty doesn’t necessarily mean what we in general mean by honesty. The Course’s Honesty is based on consistency, consistency between your thoughts, words, and deeds. When you are in honesty, there is nothing in you that is in conflict with any other part of you. Your words don’t contradict your thoughts, and your actions do not belie your thoughts.
“ Therefore it is impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone or anything.” (M-4.II)
I don’t think there was a time, a day, or a moment whether by phone or in person when Ken did not exude Trust, Honesty, Tolerance, Gentleness, Joy, Defenselessness, Generosity, Patience, Faithfulness, and Open-mindedness.
Granted, I met Ken during the latter part of his life, his last thirteen years, and we are always learning. In fact I did not meet him in person until 2005, even though I had already been reading and listening to him for five years. In 2005 I had the blessing of enjoying a private dinner with him, his wife Gloria and my friend Gary Renard, who had authored the Disappearance of the Universe.
Among other things we talked about the workshop that Ken had presented earlier in the day. The event had been setup as a sort of friendly dialog about the teachings of Edgar Cayce and the teachings of a Course in Miracles, with Ken representing the Course and a relative of Edgar Cayce representing his message. I remember an ever-so gentle pat on the hand from Ken to Gary and me when we clumsily slipped into judgment and made a comment about the other presenter, which perhaps, was not very complimentary of him. I think we were recalling his nervousness or something like that. Ken softly reached out and patted us both on our hands and said something like “… oh, but he is such a nice man,” with the sweetest smile as if saying “Now, now children…”. But it wasn’t the words, it was how he said it. We were judging our brother, we were separating, making differences among these beautiful children of God who had stood on stage lovingly sharing all that they knew, honest in their heart of hearts, each with what he himself could bring to the table at that moment in their lives.
Ken’s smile was corrective and his manner firm, but at the same time gentle. It was also a very brief correction, and no one dwelled on it. The conversation moved onto another topic and that was that. A very tiny moment in time, but eight years later it is still as fresh in my memory as that day, and the lesson lives on: Thou shall not separate the children of God, thou shall not make differences.
On another occasion, two years later while he was teaching a workshop in Atlanta, his teaching about Jesus touched me so deeply that tears started pouring down my face and I could not contain them. They were tears of understanding, of clarity and of joy to finally arrive at the core of who Jesus had been, and still was. The clarity and the perfect joy that clarity elicited in me were overwhelming and my eyes began to overflow. Ken stopped talking, stepped off the stage, and came directly to where I was sitting. He put his hands around my face and asked me if I was ok. I told him to keep going, he was cleansing me, he was bringing me back to myself. He wiped my tears with his hand and held my face for just one brief moment more before returning to the stage. I will never forget that instant.
Several years later I was attending one of his workshops in Temecula, and after the workshop I asked if we could speak privately. I wanted his help dealing with a particular problem, with one of my children. He told me to not try to ‘fix her.’ He advised me to practice forgiveness in the clearest way possible. He held my face in his hands again and looked me in the eyes saying: “Listen to Me,” and I knew he didn’t mean listen to Ken Wapnick. I knew he meant for me to listen to Him, who was there with us at that moment, and of course all other moments. For the next few years I practiced what he taught me that day and my life took a 360 degree turn. The issues I was dealing with went away, and so did many other issues.
Sometimes I think he knew how to unfold time, because he always had time. I don’t think there is a person in the world that was as busy and as productive and prolific as Ken, not even heads of state, or business magnates, or anyone for that matter.
On December 27th, in the company of his lovely and loving wife Gloria and of his family, he gently laid his body down. I will always love him and be grateful for his answer to my childhood prayers. I knew Jesus was real, I knew God was good and I set out to prove it. Ken gave me the proof I needed and the path to come home to Them. We shall meet there my dear brother. We shall meet there.
“Those who have laid the body down merely to extend their helpfulness to those remaining behind are few indeed. And they need helpers who are still in bondage and still asleep, so that by their awakening can God’s Voice be heard.” (M-26.3)
In loving memory of Kenneth Wapnick, Ph. D., RIP
Love,
Lu
You might also want to visit Susan Dugan’s tribute page to Kenneth at http://www.foraysinforgiveness.com/in-loving-memory-of-ken-wapnick.
Like you, Bernard, and so many of us, I think, I am shallow breathing this transition. I feel the peace, and then I think of no more retreats to Temecula and i feel confused. I have to have some time to move with it. Jamie, my thoughts have been with you from the moment I read of it.
I really recognized much of Lucia’s memories. There was an amazing time thing with Ken. He was able to completely connect in a brief 3 minutes, then sometimes in 3 seconds.
Anyway, until I can write and in the spirit of healing and denial of the separation, here is a sweet and kind note from the Circle of Atonement:
Kenneth Wapnick, 2/25/1942 — 12/27/2013
Ken Wapnick has passed away at age 71. The Foundation for A Course in Miracles released this announcement: “It is with the utmost sorrow that we inform you of the death of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick on Friday December 27, 2013. . . .
“Ken devoted his life completely to the Course. After Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, he played the largest role in its genesis, after which he became its most influential interpreter. With his passing, we have lost our most significant living link with that story. Our deepest condolences go to his family, friends and students.
From all at the Circle of Atonement.”
Lu, thank you for your words symbolizing the essence of Ken. Like you, Katrina, my first thought was of Jamie and I tried to reach out to him. When I am off center, as Ken taught Jamie, I sit on the couch with Jesus and ask for help. It always works. How nice it is we have been given so many tools to remove the blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence. Jamie once talked about returning to the heart of God. Ken was a true way-shower and in truth we all are already there.
Love to all
Anne
Anne in TN and anyone else I know from past history in this our Village Home…I have Jamie’s snail mail address. If you ask Bernard for my email address I will send it to you. I think he and Bonnie would appreciate a loving card in the mail from those who have had relationship with him. Anne in TN nice to see you here again and I loved what you wrote in Ken’s Tribute page here.
Love,
Michele
PS Bernard…I realize I should not ask your time in passing along my email address. Perhaps you might have Anne’s in TN for me? Most Villagers already have my email address that affirms i am indeed a “oneLMichele” and a few can text me for it as well.
Thanks Michele my address is an933dcl at (@) mac com. This morning I happened to stumble across the file I kept from the Marchn2011 Academy on death and dying. (Coincidence : no!!) they are in the workshop file here.
Thank you all for your tributes to Ken. They are a source of comfort. I wonder why Jamie stopped his beautiful website The Remembered Song.
Nancy – Ken told him to. How could Jamie do all the work with the website and at the same time be do his work and have time to be silent?
Dear friends,
Check out the new home page of ACIM dot ORG. It has been redesigned to celebrate a great human being, Dr. Kenneth.
I hope they leave it up for a while.
Love,
Anil
Thanks Anil and I also read this announcement today at the Foundation.
Kenneth Wapnick Tributes
After much contemplation and discussion, Gloria Wapnick and the Foundation Staff have decided that a public memorial would not be in keeping with Kenneth’s wishes. Those of you who knew him well know that he was a very unassuming man. He would want people’s focus to be on living and practicing A Course in Miracles rather than on memorializing him. In addition, the Foundation is restricted in the number of people it can accommodate, so limiting attendance or holding the memorial at a location other than Kenneth’s “home” is unthinkable.
At the same time, we understand the need a person has to be able to express their gratitude and respect to someone they admired and loved. To this end, we invite you to write a tribute to Kenneth in your own way, with the express understanding that all or part of your tribute may be printed in the March 2014 Lighthouse newsletter and/or posted on an upcoming Kenneth Wapnick Tributes page on our Website. If you do not want to be named as the author of your tribute, please indicate so in your typed letter.
In order to meet our publishing deadline, please have your letters mailed (no emails, please) to the Foundation no later than February 14, 2014. You may send your tribute (typed only) to:
Kenneth Wapnick Tributes • Foundation for A Course in Miracles • 41397 Buecking Dr • Temecula CA 92590-5668
Thank you Nina for your answer – that Ken asked Jamie to stop. That makes sense. You must be a friend of Jamie. Please thank him for the loving work he did on that website. I’ll never forget all the care he put into the music portion, especially with some of the old footage. It would be wonderful to still have access to the material on The Remembered Song.
My first tribute to Dr. Kenneth came in the form of the home page of acim dot org, redesigned to honor the passing from form to formlessness, my second today, which I wanted to upon first reading Lucia’s tribute, but could not at that time, so powerful her evocation of this splendid person gone by.
So, dear Bernard, please convey to Lucia, if you are in touch with her how much at least two of the a villagers here loved what she wrote, and how she wrote about Ken,
I want to end by quoting from the home page of Acim dot Org, ….
“This world thanks you, Ken. God blesses you and extends His light through you. We all acknowledge your Lessons of Love.”
Peace.
Nancy, Jamie cut out his mailadress too. If you feel you have to mail him, you may google his wife, Bonnie Romkey and do it through her website:)
I made this MP3 recording of the article recently posted here on Kenneth, on the suggestion of someone here at the ACIMVillage. Please feel free to use it, if you feel it might be comforting or useful:
http://cfucem.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/recording-timeless-life-mp3.mp3
Many thanks for this audio, Bernard ! I would love to hear the sound of your friendly loving voice again ! and with that superb content, it’s definitely going to be very beneficial.
I can’t wait to download and listen…
Thanks again,
Anil
And Katrina – that picture of Ken – how lovely! There is not just an Angel, but lilies – the gift of lilies! White lilies – and purple. And some one’s hands… very symbolic!
And now just to confirm my membership in the 3-in-1 club (welcome Katrina!), I have just one more thing to add. This came to me recently while trying to find an image to help someone understand how it’s possible for something to be true and exist, but without being able to see it. Again, it was about this whole Ken thing.
“There’s only one way to resolve this that brings us closer to Ken, and that way is to consider that he’s not dead, that there is no real death, but that our perception is too fixed still on form to be able to see that this is true. There’s lots and lots of life out there, but it’s not in form. That’s where Jesus wrote the Course from. It seems that it must be a pretty vital and living place to me out there!
“That’s where Life really is, not here. But how’s it really possible we don’t see it, if it’s so big? I think it’s like looking through binoculars. We have these binoculars held to our eyes and we’ve focused them on some objects really close by like some stalks of grass, so that’s all we can see and they look absolutely huge in our vision. Everything else in the background is just vague and misty shapes that we don’t pay any attention to, but the background is actually much bigger than the foreground.
“If someone next to us has adjusted his binoculars and suddenly sees the whole countryside behind him, huge and immense and going on and on with millions of stalks of grass everywhere waving in the sun, he’ll try to tell us to look again. We hear him and think what he’s talking about sounds really nice and all, but we’re terrified to actually do what he says because to do it we have to stop focusing exclusively on the three stalks of grass in front of us – and I’m one of those three stalks of grass!!
“So it’s going to take me some time, but it’ll come, it’ll come. The day I can start to take my little stalk of grass just a little less seriously, I might start to adjust the lenses of my binoculars and bring into focus the gigantic dimension of Life just behind these immediate appearances. The day I really want to consider the possibility that this world is not THE reality, then I will start to re-focus my binoculars and will be able to see another aspect to reality.
In the meantime, we continue with our tiny steps, which is not to see that this world is not real, but to see that my judgments are not true and my reactions are not justified. That’s how we get our decision-maker turning consistently in the right direction. That’s how a shift to level-one (big-time metaphysical picture) begins by practicing on level two (the world of duality).
Thank you for a warm gathering place for we who would learn to love all.
As I dry tears of grieving, I feel a gentle hand upon my shoulder.
I hear again that clear voice, resonant with truth, echoing the Father’s eternal song.
I see again that smiling face, radiant with blessed invitation to join.
I take the proffered hand as we walk the path onward across the Bridge to Forever.
He walks with me always.
Jack – welcome
Come sit by the Great Tree and have cup of tea
How good to meet you
Welcome, Jack, i so recognize each of your warm and joyful memories with Ken. I’ve probably seen you in Temecula where he freely shared his smiles and hugs and lighthearted jokes. I don’t know if you read in the site description that this place is dedicated to Ken’s teachings, so please feel free to contribute your thoughts and any other cajoling. Your love for Ken is apparent, and he lives in your thoughts. So, please share his living with us. In a way, i don’t feel that Ken is gone. It feels more like he is spread out!
That is a wonderful poem, Jack. You let the HS whisper through you. The hand upon your shoulder may have been Ken’s gift he came to give. Such a loving gesture, so kind and about me. He just showed us how to do that. He could be so subtle, downright funny.
Sorry if I wax on. Anil, I believe I have hit 3 in a row again. I will now back away from the keyboard. I’ve never thought to gather my thoughts before I write.
Wax on – wax off, grasshopper!
=)
Hello Jack – glad you are here!
Hi, Jack. Thank you for your wonderful contribution. You managed to capture his gift in so few words, he would be proud. Might I say, he is proud. It’s our goal here to help each other sense his presence over and above his seeming departure. A love like his does not just disappear. As Katrina said, please feel free to share your thoughts.
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep—
He hath awakened from the dream of life—
’Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife,
And in mad trance, strike with our spirit’s knife
Invulnerable nothings…
He lives, he wakes—’tis Death is dead, not he;
Mourn not for Adonais.—Thou young Dawn,
Turn all thy dew to splendour, for from thee
The spirit thou lamentest is not gone…
Lines from the poem, Adonais, by Shelly, quoted by Kenneth in his talk, The Light of Laughing Flowers
The “definitive version,” as published by The Times and The Sunday Times in Frye’s obituary, 5 November 2004:[2]
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star-shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
Hi Jaanette, nice to meet you. Thanks for your contribution to Kenneth’s page. He would appreciate it. Well, actually , he does appreciate it. Hope you can drop in another time. We’re going through the workbook on the ‘Village Square’ page, if you care to join in.
Thank you Bernard!Nice to meet you.Thank you for inviting me.
Welcome to the Village Family Jack Brooks and jaanette.
I would have greeted you earlier but I had some computer issues.
And FYI, the {{{ }}} triple brackets around someones name signifies a cyber hug.
This is a carry over from our days at the Monastery.
Did either of you every participate on the Monks site?
No matter-if ever something doesn’t make sense or you want to clarify please just ask.
Lingering Light, a tribute to Kenneth Wapnick
During my first trip to the Foundation (Roscoe) I remember now being very excited, and at the same time a little wary. There was definitely some of that desire in me to prove this great teacher wrong, not that I recognized the feeling at the time. But as the week-long academy progressed it seemed that Kenneth wove a spell in which my doubts were put further and further to the side. I continued to try to see that he was not right on all accounts, but the effort seemed tiring and pointless. Then I asked to see him for a personal interview, to which he agreed. As I approached the door to the little meeting room on the set time and day, I remember feeling a wave of apprehension. Something was about to happen.
As I sat before him I knew somehow that this was no ordinary encounter. I tried discussing a couple of questions, but there was no commitment or clarity behind my words. I found it very difficult to concentrate and soon became totally lost. I hoped he didn’t see, and it appeared that he wasn’t bothered. As I looked at him, I couldn’t take my attention off his eyes. Or at least, that was the spot where I was focusing, but my sight went far past that place on his kind and smiling face. To say that I seemed to enter a different world would be putting it mildly. Nothing seemed to matter except that experience of pure gentleness and knowing. He saw all my faults and intentions, and brushed them away to lead me as if by the hand to a far more peaceful, happy place. I seemed to stay there a while, just a few minutes, in that land of freedom to which he had invited me, and my life has not been the same since.
I write this tribute to the one who has led me, and so many others, to that happy and peaceful place, far beyond this world. That place is there; it has not passed. That’s where we first met him, and where he waits for us. He lives permanently now in that special, timeless place, the memory of which he brought to us, as these lines from A Course In Miracles capture so beautifully:
It is here that miracles are laid;
to be returned by you from holy instants
you receive, through grace
in your experience, to all who see the light
that lingers in your face.
What is the face of Christ
but his who went a moment into timelessness,
and brought a clear reflection of the unity
he felt an instant back to bless the world?
(W-pI.169.13:2-3)
His light still lingers and shall certainly never fade nor die.
Thank you, dearest bernard
what a treat
Today marks one year since our beloved teacher passed away and dropped the illusion of his physical self. He became once more what he always was, and what we always are.
Love knows no limits or barriers, the body cannot define what we are. Our Self remains in a state of perfect abstraction, holy and completely safe in that splendid, timeless place. And while we play our games on earth for a while, we can start to feel our true safety by remembering that not one dies here who is not still living in that other, perfect place. We are there, and here at the same time. Timelessness is our home, but we can feel completely comfortable within the world of time. These extracts from lesson 193 show us how:
Lesson 193: All things are lessons God would have me learn.
These are the lessons God would have you learn. His Will reflects them all, and they reflect His loving kindness to the Son He loves. Each lesson has a central thought, the same in all of them. The form alone is changed, with different circumstances and events; with different characters and different themes, apparent but not real. They are the same in fundamental content. 6 It is this:
Forgive, and you will see this differently.
Shall we not learn to say these words when we are tempted to believe that pain is real, and death becomes our choice instead of life? Shall we not learn to say these words when we have understood their power to release all minds from bondage? These are words which give you power over all events that seem to have been given power over you. You see them rightly when you hold these words in full awareness, and do not forget these words apply to everything you see or any brother looks upon amiss.
God would not have you suffer thus. He would help you forgive yourself. His Son does not remember who he is. And God would have him not forget His Love, and all the gifts His Love brings with it. Would you now renounce your own salvation? Would you fail to learn the simple lessons Heaven’s Teacher sets before you, that all pain may disappear and God may be remembered by His Son?
All things are lessons God would have you learn. He would not leave an unforgiving thought without correction, nor one thorn or nail to hurt His holy Son in any way. He would ensure his holy rest remain untroubled and serene, without a care, in an eternal home which cares for him. And He would have all tears be wiped away, with none remaining yet unshed, and none but waiting their appointed time to fall. For God has willed that laughter should replace each one, and that His Son be free again.
Each hour, spend a little time today, and in the days to come, in practicing the lesson in forgiveness in the form established for the day. And try to give it application to the happenings the hour brought, so that the next one is free of the one before. The chains of time are easily unloosened in this way. Let no one hour cast its shadow on the one that follows, and when that one goes, let everything that happened in its course go with it. Thus will you remain unbound, in peace eternal in the world of time.
This is the lesson God would have you learn: There is a way to look on everything that lets it be to you another step to Him, and to salvation of the world. To all that speaks of terror, answer thus:
I will forgive, and this will disappear.
To every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering, repeat these selfsame words. And then you hold the key that opens Heaven’s gate, and brings the Love of God the Father down to earth at last, to raise it up to Heaven. God will take this final step Himself. Do not deny the little steps He asks you take to Him.
Wonderful Bernard, many thanks for this perfectly timed post. So much to love in it, I drank it all in.
Love,
Anil
In relation to Ken’s passing, I do feel I see things differently. The shock has dissipated.
The written words he has left us seem to speak to me more clearly.
I recall Ninja Nun aka Jean sharing with me a question that she had asked of Ken at the end of an Academy: To set the stage so to speak, Ken always ended his Academy with a prayer followed by silence. Jean noticed the serenity on his face and questioned him, curious to know what he was seeing as he looked out over the audience…his reply was; I see minds loosened and a little more unbound. (I’m paraphrasing-so I hope I recalled that correctly-feel free to edit Jean)
His purpose made clear: to remind us that forgiveness is the key to seeing things differently.
I’m equating it with the familiar glass half empty-glass half full question.
His life work was to get us to shuffle over that proverbial line …
dividing the right/wrong mind.
And the quickest way to get me over that line – was his one liner…
Nothing Happened!
And with that I shall take a stroll to the Village Square to post the final Lessons of the Year.
From the JTTWB:
We therefore undo the original error when we chose against the Holy Spirit and in the unholy instant asked the ego to be in charge. The world, then, is nothing but a projection of that original unholy instant. Now we happily change our minds, glad to have been wrong and grateful to be living in the Holy Spirit’s holy instant of forgiveness.
Yes, Annie, Ken did say at that time he saw ‘minds less defended’
and though I have been quiet.. now I say thanks to you and Katrina and all who posted the lessons throughout this year. And to Bernard and Patricia, and those who speak or do not, hugs from Temecula.
And there is a lovely youtube video with the title…the final lessons.
<3 hugs to everyone!