Time & A Meaningful Encounter With the Truth

The Course says time itself is a product of the ego, that sin, guilt and fear equate to past, present and future – we chose for the ego and its dichotomy in the past, feel guilty about that choice now, in the present, and fear the future because we’re afraid spirit will punish us in the future for our mistaken choice in the past. The remedy is in the here and now, to choose spirit and our oneness with it and the continuum. The Course calls that, the “holy instant.”

“In the holy instant I choose against the ego’s sin, guilt, and ear, and therefore against time…. And tho my attention returns to the world of time and space, where my body seems to be, it is without the burden of sin, guilt and fear.” I have no need to plan on my own and become an “empty vessel” through which spirit’s love and guidance pours. It’s not that I don’t plan, but do so connected to my reality as spirit and with spirit’s guidance.

“What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?” If I am worried, fearful, angry and upset, it is not spirit’s plan I follow, but the ego/dichotomy’s plan. Feeling those emotions is my cue to return to spirit, to shift from the ego/dichotomy to the spirit/continuum. Learning to understand and accept these cues and then make the shift is a process and takes time. I am not to beat myself up or blame others, but choose again – the real meaning of the word ‘repent.’ The more I do this, the more I am able to do this and the more health, less sickness I will experience.

This does not mean, I don’t plan. Normal people do. But when spirit is my identity, the planning is carried out without effort, anxiety or tension. I will be guided to do the most loving thing, what is best for all concerned. Since I believe I inhabit a world of time and space, I must plan, yet the source of those plans is the guiltless world of the holy instant. When my attention returns to the world, it is with spirit’s light-filled, loving presence beside me. Ahhh….. Big sigh of relief! This light and love inform everything I do, present and future, and my planning is not to alleviated anxiety or solve specific problems, but the natural extension of love and spirit as it expresses Itself in a world of time and space; and my life becomes “a meaningful encounter with the truth.”