This instant is the only time there is.
I love this lesson. THIS INSTANT IS THE ONLY TIME THERE IS.
Perfect timing as my mind all last night and this morning has been going as far out as January 2010. I’ve been thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas and a trip to Philadelphia and a trip to New Hampshire and a family of 5 who is booking the B & B for 9 days for the Christmas holiday, and my mind is out there in the future (which is actually the past), planning, organizing, “thinking about,” 2 months out … which is nowhere.
I’m thinking about nothing.
I love Lesson 8 “My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts” — which says your mind is actually BLANK when you are thinking about the past or future. BLANK!
“Very few minds have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything. The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless “ideas” preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.”
Amazing, right?
This instant is the only time there is.
“The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless “ideas” preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked.”
Would you have any problems if this instant is the only time there is?
The only way you can possibly have any problems is if you have organized a past and a future. Even if you think you are sick in this instant, it’s only because you have organized a past with a body identity. It’s impossible to be sick when you are in the present. It’s impossible to be in pain in this moment.
If you feel pain, then you are feeling a memory of pain.
Pain is impossible.
Limitation is impossible.
Sickness is impossible.
You could do anything you wanted, starting today, if you recognized this instant is the only time there is.
There is nothing stopping you.
The birth of Christ is now, without a past or future.
Whatever addictions or limitations you have are based purely on memory and identity. They have nothing – zero – to do with the way you are in this instant. You are whole and perfect as God created you. You can call addiction a disease and say you have no power over it – but that argument won’t work with me – a recovered alcoholic with over 8 years sobriety.
The term “recovered alcoholic” is not even appropriate because there was no recovery process. The desire to drink was simply lifted from me one day. I had tried to quit drinking hundreds of times before and failed. I wasn’t just a social drinker, I was an alcoholic – somebody whose life was unmanageable because of alcohol. I was someone who couldn’t quit no matter how much I tried.
And thus comes in the term disease. Big bad monster. As if something grips you and holds you and won’t let you go.
But it was still just a memory in me that I was dragging along like heavy luggage. I must have liked being unmanageable and powerless. It sure didn’t seem like it in the moment of praying to God and howling like the wind in fits of tears and dumping vodka down the toilet in disgust, but it must have been true that I liked being an addict, otherwise I would have given up the story and the addiction would have automatically disappeared.
And finally, it happened just like that. A miracle given to me.
The weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders by angels.
Finally, I had enough of my story. I had enough of my tears. I had enough of waking up hung-over. I had enough of unanswered prayers. I finally just said: Okay, that’s enough. I’m done with this segment of my life. Take it!
And then next day I woke up in my bed, and I proceeded with my day from morning to night. It was like any other day, with one huge difference: I didn’t think about drinking. I didn’t even think about not thinking about not drinking. It simply wasn’t there. I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner, probably hung out with friends, read a book, drove in my car, sat outside in the sun, took a bath, read some more, went to bed. It was a typical ordinary day. The sky did not part. Trumpets were not blown. Angels did not appear. Voices did not speak to me. There were no balloons or flowers.
And the next day, it was the same thing: no desire to drink. A typical ordinary day: the same in every way but different in every way. There was no longer a struggle. I wasn’t fighting against myself because there was nothing to fight against. I was quite literally … a new person … but exactly the same!
How to explain it!
You could say it was a miracle, but back then it didn’t even feel like a miracle. It didn’t feel like anything. It wasn’t spectacular or magnificent. I simply was now a person who did not drink. The story had been erased.
I was not a person who counted the days of my sobriety because I didn’t even notice that I didn’t drink anymore till about a month after the fact.
I know everyone says it’s a disease – as if it’s something out of your control – and I’m not buying it, because I’m living proof that you have all power over your mind.
So today’s lesson is: THIS INSTANT IS THE ONLY TIME THERE IS.
Where are you without your story?
Where are you without your memories?
What would life be like for you if you could not remember ideas of failed relationships, money problems, defeat, and disappointment?
What if you couldn’t remember the way you do things? What if you developed amnesia and today was the first day in the new world?
It would be a whole new adventure. Life would begin this moment! You would be shown what to do.
“I have conceived of time in such a way that I defeat my aim.”
So, what is your aim?
My aim is to remember that I am the light of the world, that I am the Love of God, that my brother is the Love of God along with me, and that we are One joined in purpose, and that I love him in all circumstances. My aim is to remember my perfection.
Can I remember my aim if I am carrying judgments and grievances?
Can I remember my aim if I am worrying about the future?
WHAT IS TIME FOR?
Time is to help me remember my aim: I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love.
“Time’s purpose cannot be to keep the past and future one. The only interval I can be saved from time is now.”
For in this instant has forgiveness come to set me free. The birth of Christ is now, without a past or future.
How can you be an alcoholic or an addict if all your mistakes are forgiven and you are reborn as the Christ, with no past or future?
Think about it logically.
It’s impossible.
The only way you can continue as limited or sick or weak is if you decide you want to drag your sad past story into the present. But WHY in God’s Name would you do that??
There is no need to sequence time.
You can rise from the ashes today, and walk away from the devastation that you made.
If the house is falling down, why not walk away from it?
If your life is in pieces, why not just walk away. You can’t be put back together again by picking up the shattered pieces.
Christ can make you whole.
How is this accomplished?
Forget everything you have learned before this moment. Forget anything you learned from me. Forget every single thing A Course in Miracles has taught you, and simply come into the present moment which is now.
How simple!
“Christ has come to give His present blessing to the world, restoring it to timelessness and love. And love is ever-present, here and now.
“Thanks for this instant, Father. it is now I am redeemed. This instant is the time You have appointed for Your Son’s release, and for the salvation of the world in him.
If you forget, what’s the best way to remember? Keep your aim in mind. Make it your god. Keep remembering your aim throughout the day.
My aim is to remember the Light and Love that I am, and to extend it.
Posted by Lisa Natoli 
Posted by Lisa Natoli 
Posted by Lisa Natoli 
