There Is Nothing To Fear

The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength.

I remember when I first left my parent's home to go to college. I had grown up around eight siblings and two parents, and the support system was intact. Although it was a chaotic household, I spent a good deal of time in my room, away from the noise, practicing my clarinet and reading. I loved books and loved quiet time. But when I arrived at the university and sat in my room and my friend left me there to return home, I was stricken with an intense anxiety attack.

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what was happening to me. I just knew I was deeply afraid. But where did this fear come from? Why did it suddenly just occur out of nowhere? It was so strange, yet I had no answer for it. I was all alone.

There was nobody around that knew me or loved me. I'll never forget that feeling, because it was the beginning of my awakening. My question was: why am I so afraid? I tried to find the answer in the church where I grew up. But it didn't help. I felt lost and didn't know where to go for the answer. It was terrible, and I could only pour myself into school work.

I was so deeply affected by everything. I fell in love in my freshman year, moved in with my boyfriend, and then after a year, it was over. I went into a deep depression. I kept reading philosophy, existentialism. This helped. I knew I was not the only one who had felt the impossibility of this human existence.

I had to live my life, move to New York, get married, try to find a career that suited me. Then, I got pregnant and had two boys. I was always looking for a way out of this situation, because having what I wanted, a house, money, children....wasn't really fulfilling me. I still felt that deep fear underneath everything.

I didn't know what to do. I begged for help.

That fear never left me until I found the Course. It answered every question I had. You are in an insane situation. You think you are a body, in a world where everything dies. You are the problem. You are separate from your Creator. Yet, it is just a mistake, and it has already been corrected.

I realized I needed help and was willing to do anything to resolve this inner dilemma. Jesus started speaking to me. I listened. I did what he told me to do. I did the lessons of the Course diligently, exactly as it specified. I started teaching in a church and giving myself to this Course entirely. This terrified me too, but I couldn't say no. I had to experience my own awakening by doing all the things that terrified me. Speaking in front of a group was a big one.

I had to learn how to rely on God for everything! And it was so good to go through these fear points with my brothers in the class, with my own imagery. I wanted to know! I wanted to be able to reason, use my mind to release the fear. That is what the Course taught me and what my brothers continue to teach me. I am not alone!

Fear is illusion. All fear is merely an idea that is not true. Communication is sharing ideas, and lighting each others' way. It is so important not to try to solve this on your own. You don't need to, because you are not alone. You need your brother in this. You need someone to reflect your mind to you. It is not a conceptual teaching. It is an experience of joining.

I cannot wait to release my mind, or extend light into anyone's mind. I love it! I love being free and releasing fear. It isn't really important how it gets released, I cannot figure it out. I just want love now. This awakening is a joining with brothers in light, in the truth of love. It is not conceptual at all.

You use the concepts until you let go, and let God in. Let this light change you! Don't stay stuck in an idea, in a judgment thought, in an idea that you already know it. No! Let go entirely into "I don't know, God will show me if I let Him". Then let Him. Let Him tell you of your Self. You are the light of the world. Let this light shine before men. Be the answer that everyone is seeking, and don't ever think it's over. It just keeps extending, broadening, including everything into Itself.

There is indeed, nothing to fear.

I love you!

God is my Source, I cannot see apart from Him.

God is my Source, I cannot see apart from Him. This answers all problems I could ever imagine for myself. I did not create myself. God did. I am a thought in His Mind. Mind is singular. There are not two minds!

Can you accept this? From a split perspective, this makes absolutely no sense. So the problem is that you have a split mind. If you think you can make a world of bodies, of fear, of death and something unlike God in every way, you are in hell! The opposite of Heaven is hell, right? Hell is where you are because you have split your mind. I can rage at the world, I can rage at my brother, but I will still be insane.

Guess what? You are hallucinating! God didn't make this world, God didn't make you into a body...you did.

So, here you are in a body, reading this. Thank you. I just want to thank you for taking the time to read that there might possibly be a solution to all this insanity. And that this solution is here and is available to you right now. It doesn't take a lot of time to accept a new thought, does it? I can just release my idea that God wanted all this for me. And accept a new idea, that God knows nothing of it, and has already solved this problem for me.

Because you are in a dilemma, a made up image of yourself, you can now turn in another direction. You can now look with new eyes. But you need help in doing so. You need help because you really do think all this is real, don't you? Be honest. You do think you are a body. You really think you are separate from your brother.

So, the mind in separation needs a miracle. A new perspective. Ask for one! Right now! And do the lesson. God is my Source! God is love! I am free! I cannot see apart from Him. I am His thought. Every idea I have that denies this is simply not true.

I am healed and I can heal. If I accept the truth about myself, I am useful. I was recently on an airplane going to visit my Dad and as I was flying up there a voice came into my mind and it said to me, "You are extremely useful!"

Wow. It was so loud and clear and I felt so lighted up inside! I had to admit, I wasn't feeling all that useful in that moment, so it was good to hear. I realized suddenly that I don't value myself very much. I have doubts about myself. I had been wondering how I could be useful, because that is all I really want now. If I really am the Holy Son of God Himself, I am extremely useful. OK. That's not hard to accept.

But if I am denying it, I am not useful at all. I am nothing.

I can be of help, because my mind is different. I don't think fear thoughts all day long. I think with the Mind of God. Love is my reality. I know this works because I experience it every day. I get really excited about this. My mind is different from what it used to be. I know I cannot die. I know there is a God who loves me. And this is a dream that is already over. It is very exciting.

I used to be so depressed. For years, I felt like life was so intolerable. It was such a burden just being here and it all changed when I found the Course. It really affected me on all levels. I am free today. I am honest with myself and others. I don't hang onto resentments. I make amends, I let them go.

Everyone is taking medication for depression now and I just laugh. A pill is not going to solve this problem, dear ones. You have to go through the fear, and release your pitiful ideas about being separate, lost and alone. Underneath all this fear, is just one idea. And it simply isn't true. You are not separate from God. You made a simple mistake, and that mistake has been corrected for you! Isn't that exciting?

Religion won't solve it, drugs won't solve it, endless meditation and yoga won't solve it. It's far too slow. Taking total responsibility for your thoughts is the fastest way out. Because you caused them. You made them up. So you can release them. You have all power! Read the Course, read Christian Science. It all says the same thing. You can see with God's Mind. In fact, you cannot see apart from Him. It is impossible. Use Jesus! He is really here assisting you with all this. He didn't desert you! Let Him into your mind and use Him!

He is the way shower, but not in the way you think. He can't take your fear from you. You have to do it yourself. You have to get totally fed up with it and let it go! True Christianity teaches that you have all power. You can hallucinate, but you can't make your separation real. Just get to the bottom of it. It was just a mistake. And it is not true! Come on! I get so passionate about this, because it worked for me. It healed me of all my errors. And believe me, I had lots of them. I had a total human life with kids and houses and relationships....just like you. And now I am free of the bondage of this death trap.

How did it happen? By doing this Course and accepting it as true. I made no exceptions. I still make no exceptions. Any time something is off, I can feel it. I ask for help, I ask a brother to help me see it differently. I reach out and I accept the help. It can come from anyone. Your worst enemy is your savior! Let Him save you! Mine did. And now I see I made it all up and none of it is true. Thank God!

Blessings!

My Mind is Part of God's, I am Very Holy

This is a real kicker! Have you ever done this lesson?

You will believe that you are part of where you think you are. You surround yourself with the environment you want. And you want it to protect the image of yourself that you have made. The image is part of the environment. What you see while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image. This is not vision. Images cannot see.

This brings me to a sudden realization that my body is an image and I'm trying to protect it. Everything I see in the environment I have surrounded myself with is still just an image. I cannot see anything if I am an image. I am just seeing my own imagery. How can I protect an image? If it is just an image, why would I want to?

The idea is to let go of my image, and let God's idea of me replace that image I have made up.

One time, I let go of an obligation that I thought I had to fulfill where I was playing music in a band and I had grown tired of it. I just let go and refused to participate any more. It was scary, because all the other members let me know that I had let them down. However, when I walked into the session room with the Master Teacher, he looked at me and said "Congratulations! You let go of your imagery!"

The whole point of awakening is to really take a stand for the fact that I am constructing the entire environment I'm in. Including my job, my children, my house, my family, my groups of friends. All of it is my imagery. And I am in no way obligated to stay in it. I am actually required to accept that first, I made it up. Second, decide that I don't want to be in it any more. Third, release it.

I have to release my own need to stay in it, let go of the idea that someone else will be upset if I do so. That is possible, but, the line that keeps going through my head is "you would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew you were dreaming." Let them be as viscious as they may be, you would not react at all! I think of Jesus carrying the cross, "Behold, I make all things new!" he said as he walked. He knew it was all illusory and was totally willing to demonstrate it for me.

The awakening is a demand I make upon myself--a demand that I will not be tricked by my own imagery, or my own constructed ego identity any longer. I am not an image. I am the Holy Son of God Himself. But when I am suffering, I am an image, and I am not even real.

I am not a body, I am free. There is no obligation in Heaven. There is nothing missing! There is no lack, no sense of having to do anything!

I do want to be free and to set all my imagery free. Because the universe is holographic, when I set myself free, everything is set free. Everything I see then reflects this freedom. When I am healed, I am not healed alone. It's very simple. But you have to apply it.

So, the lesson goes on to have you list all the attributes of your self-identity or self-image you have made up. I see myself as imposed upon, depressed, failing, endangered, helpless, victorious, losing out, charitable, virtuous. Any attribute will work. I look within my mind, I see myself as lacking, doubting, mistrustful, in pain, small, unworthy. Use anything that comes to you.

Just do it right now! Really, it doesn't take more than a couple of minutes. You might be amazed what comes up. Then let go of the ideas, and state, after each one, but my mind is part of God's. I am very holy.

Holy? Can you accept this? Well, it's true, and because it is the opposite of your own self-constructed image of yourself, it might be hard to accept at first. But, I have to use reason at this point: God isn't wrong about me, after all, He created me in His image. And God is Holy!

I am the Holy Son of God Himself.

A declaration of truth. I cannot be anything but perfect and whole, whether I like it or not. My opinion of myself is wrong. How I see myself in all its positive and negative aspects, is still just simply wrong. I have learned to use breathing a lot to release the energy of false ideas.

I breathe out the false imagery.... and just let go. Try it. It's so simple, but you have to do it. Let me know how it goes!

Blessings!

I have invented the world I see

This lesson is amazing. It continues in the theme of not being a victim of the world and brings you into the realization that you are responsible for the whole thing. The lesson states that "you can give it up as easily as you made it up. You will see it or not see it, as you wish. While you want it, you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see." Wow, it won't even be there?

I look at that idea and feel the possibility of being entirely released from my perception of the world. I have to want to be released and I have to make a decision to do so. The decision not to rely on my past learning to guide me. I stop, take a moment, let go of my fear or anger, or any form of upset. It is a constant practice. But the lesson is uncompromising and tells me when I no longer want it, it will not even be there. Why? Because I put it there. I made up al of it, the entire world I see, and I am the Savior of the world.

Master Teacher reminds me this is really not a big deal...but it is the only deal in town. There isn't anything else going on here. It really is illusory. Any fear about what is happening or not happening, fear about my kids, my finances, my possessions...my preoccupation with this world...must be released.

I spoke with a brother about this yesterday who was voicing a concern about insane behavior in others. Her fear of certain brothers was very real to her. Well, I realized that if you want to entertain your fears and hang onto them, and project them onto your brother, go ahead. But if you want to be free, you must learn how to release fear. You are afraid, of a brother, of what they say or do, and this is just misperception.

The habitual thinking of the human mind is to be afraid of everyone, make the fears real, tell everyone about them, or keep them buried deep within yourself...but never let them go. This is how you constructed the world you see.

At some point it becomes truly excruciating to stay in fear. I couldn't make sense of my fear. I always sensed there was something terribly wrong with me when I was so afraid of everyone and everything. I would walk down the streets of New York, where I lived, and be in a state of mild fear of everyone. I didn't like it and I couldn't accept it as normal. I tried psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, meditation, yoga, and nothing really worked. Finally, it got so bad, I couldn't sleep. For five months I was very depressed. I begged for help and was given the Course.

Right away, I found that it dealt with my problem...Chapter 2 is all about fear and why I experience it all the time. It states "All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that you have the ability to usurp the power of God. Of course, you neither can nor have been able to do this. Here is the real basis of your escape from fear."

So, I simply have to admit I did not make myself, and there is hope. I can be free after all from my fear. The lesson states it beautifully. I have invented it all...therefore, I can stop! It's really simple!

I must stop making up scenarios of fear...this is whenever I complain about something, or accuse someone of something, or get angry over how someone treated me badly, or dread the future or you name it! It is really sticky sometimes because in these moments, I really do think my brother is attacking me. But, if I accept today's lesson, I have to admit it. I am inventing the entire thing. I am making a world of bodies, of attack and defense, ...and ultimately, it just doesn't make me happy.

So the only appropriate response to fear is what? Release it! It only takes a moment of decision... I don't like the way I feel now, therefore, I am wrong! I can let it all go right now! Salvation is immediate. Get tough with yourself on this matter and don't accept excuses.

I really like being happy and free. My best moments are when I tell myself...hey, that's a grievance, hey, I'm afraid right now...let it go! No one is guilty...they are all perfect and whole and I'm just making this up.

It is so simple I just want to tell everyone how easy this is and how incredible I feel when I do let go. My fear disappears, this world disappears, and I am ecstatic that I can experience freedom right here and now. Salvation is not in the future, it is in that moment when I choose to be happy and let go of my stupid insane ideas.

Have fun with this lesson...it is kick ass!

Blessings!