Making Appearances – Grace
Listening to Regina’s February 27, 2022, Clarifying the Teachings talk again, three key things occurred to me:
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Robert Adams gives an instruction in the I Am meditation that as soon as the mind sees an upset or begins to think about a problem, no matter how big or important it seems to be, to turn the mind away from the problem and focus on the I Am. Meditate on the I Am. Doing this will begin to break the addiction to ego thoughts and their belief that I need to think about a problem in order to solve it. As I listened to Regina, I also saw that by my thinking about a problem, I am fueling the problem, causing it to grow and remain unresolved. The best course of action is to rest the mind in the I Am meditation. If there is any emotional upset, doing inquiry on the upset would be most helpful, seeing what beliefs need to be released and offering my willingness to surrender the upset for peace.
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Another thing recognized is I am unwittingly contributing to the disharmony in the world when I place my attention with ego beliefs. My healing really is for the benefit of the whole, as I stop playing my part, I stop contributing to humanities suffering.
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What really has me excited is what Regina said about Grace. Whenever I remove my attention from ego and place it on awareness, I am creating an opportunity for Grace to enter the world. This reminds me of something Jeshua said in ACIM about miracles having effects on people we have never met. Just as I have helped create manifestations of suffering in the world, done through ignorance, by devotion to the practices, I am also contributing to the occurrences of Grace in the world. Perhaps, helping to make Grace available for someone who is now ready to receive it, just as others have helped to make it available for me. This is so beautiful; it has my heart wide open and full and willing to contribute to making space for Grace to touch humanity by making room within me.
The solution to every “problematic” appearance truly is accomplished by letting go of the ego and returning to Love. And my continued devotion to the practices is the way. This is why “the only role of a miracle worker is to accept the atonement for herself.” (ACIM)