LESSONS LEARNED from my Puppy, Benjamin Honey...

Everyone is our Teacher when we approach life with an open mind and a receptive heart, when our eyes are open wide to SEE and our ears are open wide to Hear, when we live in constant prayer, Thy will be done, not mine. 

Puppies are a lot of work, but you get so much joy and love in return. Benji is a great teacher. Here are some lessons learned from my puppy:

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Patient. Loving. Kind

1. Benji says, "What? You didn't want your sock chewed on? Then why did you leave it on the floor, right near my mouth?"

2. Benji says, "It's not my fault. I'm just a puppy. Don't blame me. If you don't want your slippers chewed on, put them away."

__________

Patient. Loving. Kind.

Yes, the mind likes to go outward and blame someone else for what goes wrong with our life. Especially, when you share a home with someone, that's where the mind often goes, "My pain is someone else's fault. They should change."

3. Benji says, "What? I should change? I'm a puppy. Puppies chew. Puppies pee sometimes in the wrong places, until they are trained. I'm a puppy. Don't blame me for being a puppy. I am a perfect puppy. You change. I will grow up."

___________

Patient. Loving. Kind.

Yes, we must be patient, loving, and kind to all the puppies in our lives. It is well-known that puppies learn best from loving kindness and positive reinforcement, not from shouts, hits, anger, or cruelty. A dog may obey you because it fears you, but it will not love you. it will not be happy. It will live in fear and pain.

___________

Patient. Loving. Kind.

Be patient, loving, and kind to the puppy who lives within you. When you are harsh and critical towards yourself, that will be reflected in all aspects of your life. 

Benjamin Honey "Benji"

Benji is a happy joyful little being. He is cuddled next to me now, having had his breakfast, gone outside, and played and run around the house. He feels safe. He loves everyone. He greets everyone with a wide open heart, ready to love and be loved. Benji is a rescue dog who has found his Forever Home. 

If you want a certain breed there is probably a rescue for that breed. Benji happens to be a “Designer Dog” — that is, he is a cross between a Beagle and a Yorkie — a Borkie — a relatively new mix, first bred in the 90’s. But that is not why I chose him. I didn’t even know he was a special “designer” dog.

He was rescued from a breeder in Ohio, along with his brothers and sisters and cousins, and brought to a shelter in NYS. Unethical Breeders do horrible things, like keeping a mom in a cage, using her only to breed puppies. 

So if you use a “breeder” make sure the breeder is responsible and gives a loving family life to all their dogs and puppies. Better yet, rescue a dog or a puppy or a cat or a rabbit who needs a home. There are too many dogs already without homes, languishing in shelters, or "euthanized."

I was a foster mom to Benji, who was 6 months old when he was rescued. I had no intention of getting a dog for keeps, but I fell in love with him. He has brought so much laughter and joy to my life. It takes work, training a puppy, but Benji is very smart. He learns quickly.

Dogs want to please us. They want to fit in. They want to live in harmony with us. They want a forever home. 

When we teach with love, puppies and dogs feel safe. They learn. They grow. And we receive so much. Puppies are great Spiritual Teachers when we are willing to learn. 

A Story of love and learning

Here is a story, created this moment, just for you. It happens to be about a little girl. She could have been anyone’s child. She could have been you.

A BOUQUET OF LOVE

One bright sunny day, this little girl was picking wild flowers in a meadow. Feeling like she was the warmth of the sun, she gathered her bouquet of purple and gold brightness and ran to her father, offering him this bundle of spontaneous love. Her father saw only miserable weeds that set off his miserable hay fever. He shouted at her to get them out of the house, asking how could she be such a stupid little girl, and where was her consideration?

The little girl did not know what consideration was, so she had no idea where hers could be, and she was afraid to ask. She was sure that if she had any, she would not be stupid. She ran outside, no longer feeling like she was the warm yellow sun. Her brightness faded, she sat under a tree with her flowers, consoling them, assuring them they were in no way stupid, or else how could they be so beautiful? Then she planted each one in the earth again, telling them she was sorry she had taken them from their homes, and promised never to do so again. 

The little girl pondered this event as the years passed and somewhere in the angels’ singing, since angels are always singing to little girls and big girls and people of all ages, she heard a song of wisdom: You are not the doer. The fruits of your actions belong not to you, but to God. And the little girl, who by now lived in a bigger body, hugged that song to her, and it comforted her way back to the time when her father had shouted at her and into the future when her own and other people's songs would be shouts.

As the years passed, she learned from these shouts. Sometimes people shouted loudly, sometimes silently. Deep within the angels’ whispers, she discovered that all shouts came from fear and ignorance. People were afraid to feel, so they shouted. People were afraid to tell the truth, so they shouted. People were afraid to love and be loved, so they shouted. People were afraid, so they hid behind shouts that were loud and shouts that were silent, wearing the disguises that pass for love, life, and intimacy. 

Time passed, as time has a way of doing, teaching what it teaches to those able to listen with their hearts. Time taught her to sing gentle songs, giving them away like candy. Once they were gone from her, she never looked back, knowing that gifts with strings attached were no gifts at all. 

One day, when the little girl lived in a body with skin that showed the passage of many lessons learned, she found she had become the bouquet of flowers. And people came from everywhere to catch the scent of her love. 

The angels will leave you to gather your own bouquet from this story, the way the little girl did. The joy of stories comes from listening with your heart. In this way, the story awakens the truth that lives inside you and that truth becomes your own. 

meditation on taking yourself as lightly as angels do

Is there anyone in your life who says “mean” things to you, “pushes your buttons,”? If so, you are invited to visualize that person standing before you right now, saying the things that usually upset you.

Where does that person’s power over you—the power to make you feel bad—come from? Can you see that you are the one who gives power to that person’s words? You are the one who gives that person power over your state of being.

Observe your breathing. Observe your thoughts and your emotions. Do you really see the person—or do you see your thoughts about the person?

Imagine yourself fully involved in the drama, the way you sometimes are with this person. Give yourself the starring role. Put yourself at center stage—and watch the drama unfold . . . 

The person slings arrows at you in the form of words. You glare and open your mouth to shoot an arrow back—when suddenly—you hear laughter emanating from somewhere. You stop, mouth still open, and look around you.  

You gaze in amazement! You are surrounded by angels. An audience of angels. Laughing angels. Why not? Angels know you are not the drama you take yourself to be.

You look back at your friend/enemy and realize that he (or she) cannot see the angels. He hurls another insult at you. It hits you square in the solar plexus and instantly you feel heavy and serious again. You glance sideways at the angels. They are still laughing! You scowl indignantly. How can anyone laugh at a time like this?

You feel stress and tension building in your shoulders and in the room. You scowl harder. The harder you scowl, the harder the angels laugh. Soon the angels are rolling on the floor, bubbling over with angelic laughter. You gaze with wonder at the laughing angels. You see love beaming from their eyes. You see endless patience. You see light. 

You turn to the person you have been arguing with. You are astonished to see that he looks just like you! You move your hand and he moves his. You scowl and he scowls. As you gaze at this person who looks like you, he begins to metamorphose right before your eyes... 

He is turning green—lime-green! He is turning into jello. Before your astonished eyes, he turns into lime-green jello, talking, gesturing, and scowling—a quivering sparkling blob of lime-green jello, translucent, that the light shines through—like a halo!

You look down at your own body. It has also become a blob of lime-green jello, translucent, that the light shines through—like a halo!

You peek at the angels. They are standing still and serene. They encompass you in a circle of light. Smiles quiver on their faces. Suddenly you understand their laughter. You turn your attention back to the blob of jello wobbling before you, talking very seriously, unaware of the angels. All you see is light shining like a halo through sparkling lime-green jello.

You can breathe again! You can take a deep breath of fresh air and let it go. You see what the angels have always seen—you are free! You have always been free. The light shines, radiates, and sparkles around you. The light shines, radiates, and sparkles around the other person.

 Words continue to come out of his mouth, only now everything is moving in slow motion. You can see each word. You can grasp each word and hold onto it, if you like. Or you can let the words go, let them flow into the atmosphere, and dissolve somewhere in space. You are that free!

You smile upon the person. You breathe deeply. You are that free! You always have been. You turn toward the angels. You wink at these heavenly messengers. The angels dissolve into laughter. Or maybe jello—jello of all colors—strawberry, lime, grape, and cherry, translucent, that the light shines through, like a halo!

With love, light, and laughter,

your teacher & the angels

A safe haven

The world stands out on either side no wider than the heart is wide. —Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Good Morning Nearest & Dearest,

You really are nearest & dearest to my heart and soul—because we can commune Together with One Heart—at the Soul level. In speaking to those who live only at the level of the world, have you noticed that at times it is as if you are speaking another language? 

You may remember this from the angels: Although angels speak another language from humans, they understand the language of the heart, so they can converse with anyone. The only language that really matters is the only language angels care about: The Language of the Heart. The language of the heart is the universal language of peace.

Some of you may know or remember that in January 2021, a Tuxedo Cat found me in a parking lot one icy cold night as I stepped out of the woods, where I had been walking (yes, I sometimes walk alone at night in the dark woods). I heard a cat crying and there he was, huddled in a ball of cold, as if he was waiting for me. He moved away each time I came near, and I gently followed him, pausing each time he did, around the entire parking lot, till we ended at my car and I was able to pick him up.

I stopped at a store to buy him food. He was nervous and slept somewhere in the living room when I went to bed. I was very aware of another presence in my house. And determined that I did not want a cat.

I tried very hard to find his home, but no one answered my posts, and I could not find him in any lost posts. And I fell in love with him. He had found a home where he would be loved and cared for—my home, which became his home.

He was very shy and would run and hide when anyone else came to my house. But he always trusted me. It was as if we were two souls who had reunited. I named him Emerson Charm. He was about 1 year or so old.

When dear sweet Emerson Charm came to me, he was at first afraid. He didn’t know how to respond to loving touch. His claws automatically came out and my hands suffered many scratches. I made a conscious determination to never be harsh with him. I continued to be soft and gentle and he transformed—or rather, he melted into his true being.

I wanted to give him a chance to be as he was, not confine him in a box of my definitions. I did it imperfectly because I am imperfect, but I did it. We had a close and loving relationship. He had the freedom to come and go and roam the woods and he always had a safe haven to return to. His home held no hostility or anger. I never spoke harshly to him. He died only a year and half later, from a fatal disease, though I tried hard to save his life.

I miss him greatly. He was so young, and so wise and true.

Can we create this same gentle loving home within ourselves, which I created for Emerson? Even when the world outside is not so loving? Even when people speak harshly to us? Even when it seems the world is speaking another language from us? Then you always have a safe haven to return to, no matter how harsh the world is. 

Much love, as always,

CHRISTMAS 2022

For those of you who take a moment to visit, here is a Christmas Angel I made.

This Christmas season in the states has been very cold ... something called a cyclone bomb. Blowing frigid air and snow. 

Where I live, we didn't get so much snow, but the temperatures have been as much as 30 below zero. I have never experienced such cold before.

It makes me more grateful for a warm home and enough food. My power did go out for a while, which means no heat. And I thought of people in Ukraine who are going through winter with no heat, no water, not enough food. I wish them well from afar. War is a horrible thing.

We must widen our circle of acceptance to include all the suffering there is ... and so allow it to be transformed into love. In this way, we serve as angels serve, by being positive transformers. 

We can only accept our limitations, our inability to change what is beyond our control ... especially in a country far away where insanity has taken over. The cruelty and greed of one man ... only one man ... is enough to send human beings to be killed and kill other human beings in a terrible useless war.

There has always been war, for as long as human memory can remember. While we cannot stop the wars outside of us ... we can see the wars we fight within. What we See ... become aware of ... can be changed. Something Higher than our small will can enter into us and transform darkness into light.

So be of good cheer. It is of no use to become depressed over things you cannot control. As the angels always say ... Be of Good Cheer. Goodness and Cheerfulness have a power to help heal and transform ... while depression and hopelessness can only duplicate themselves over and over. 

With love on this Christmas Day.

Walking in the Magic

Walking silently through the forest, I encountered this Being. It turned its face away and froze like a deer, pretending I could not see it. I froze also, pretending I was not looking. We both stood like that for a long time, gazing at each other, pretending we were not. As usual, I gave up first, turned, and walked away, pretending I did not hear the rustle of leaves as it, too, moved on.

Worry Rosary

Daniel in the Lions Den, painting by African American, 

painter Henry Ossawa Tanner (1857-1937).

Worry is a way that some people mull over problems and arrive at solutions. Some people think worry is the same as love. They think if they are not worried about you, it means they do not love you; conversely, if you are not worried about them, it means you do not love them. Worry is a habit many people have, a way to fill up time and space until a problem is resolved, a way to connect with someone they love, especially when they feel helpless. 

Nevertheless, long-term, excessive worry, with no end in sight, creates stress and the hormones released with stress. If you are in the habit of worrying excessively, you may want to ask yourself this question, “Is this worry serving or hurting me and those I love?”

worry rosary

When you are worried, you can ask God to give you faith. You can ask the angels to protect and guide your loved ones. You can remind yourself to relax. Breathe in love. Breathe out love. Visualize love as a soft golden light in your heart. Visualize love as a soft golden light surrounding the person or situation you are concerned about. Energy is real and energy is shared, even when you are physically absent from someone; so do your best to share the energy of love that supports and nourishes.

A Loveliness

A swarm of ladybugs is called a loveliness. A loveliness of ladybugs. What if we replaced the idea of loneliness with loveliness? What if we were so in love with the purity of our own soul that we were never alone? What if we loved our aloneness? A loveliness of aloneness. What if sometimes we just laughed right out loud, all alone by ourselves, for no reason the mind can figure out. What if we laughed with the pure loveliness of being here now?

Bear Hugs

 

we are all interconnected

 

A Little Story

Here is a story just for you. It happens to be about a little girl. She could have been anyone’s child. She could have been you.

A BOUQUET OF LOVE

One bright sunny day, this little girl was picking wild flowers in a meadow. Feeling like she was the warmth of the sun, she gathered her bouquet of purple and gold brightness and ran to her father, offering him this bundle of spontaneous love. Her father saw only miserable weeds that set off his miserable hay fever. He shouted at her to get them out of the house, asking how could she be such a stupid little girl, and where was her consideration?

The little girl did not know what consideration was, so she had no idea where hers could be, and she was afraid to ask. She was sure that if she had any, she would not be stupid. She ran outside, no longer feeling like she was the warm yellow sun. Her brightness faded, she sat under a tree with her flowers, consoling them, assuring them they were in no way stupid, or else how could they be so beautiful? Then she planted each one in the earth again, telling them she was sorry she had taken them from their homes, and promised never to do so again. 

The little girl pondered this event as the years passed and somewhere in the angels’ singing, since angels are always singing to little girls and big girls and people of all ages, she heard a song of wisdom: You are not the doer. The fruits of your actions belong not to you, but to God. And the little girl, who by now lived in a bigger body, hugged that song to her, and it comforted her way back to the time when her father had shouted at her and into the future when her own and other people's songs would be shouts.

As the years passed, she learned from these shouts. Sometimes people shouted loudly, sometimes silently. Deep within the angels’ whispers, she discovered that all shouts come from fear and ignorance. People were afraid to feel, so they shouted. People were afraid to tell the truth, so they shouted. People were afraid to love and be loved, so they shouted. People were afraid, so they hid behind shouts that were loud and shouts that were silent, wearing the disguises that pass for love and intimacy. 

Time passed, as time has a way of doing, teaching what it teaches to those able to listen with their hearts. Time taught her to sing gentle songs, giving them away like candy. Once they were gone from her, she never looked back, knowing that gifts with strings attached were no gifts at all. 

One day, when the little girl lived in a body with skin that showed the passage of many lessons learned, she found she had become the bouquet of flowers. And people came from everywhere to catch the scent of her love. 

The angels will leave you to gather your own bouquet from this story, the way the little girl did. The joy of stories comes from listening with your heart. In this way, the story awakens the truth that lives inside you and that truth becomes your own. 

Be kind, gentle, and compassionate with yourself. Give to yourself that which you wish others would give to you. Remember that others are only mirrors, reflections of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, you will see this reflected in beautiful shining mirrors all around you. 

Song of Solomon, Poetry for the Soul

 

Book of Hebrews

1. Song of Solomon 2:8-14
   Look! Listen! There’s my lover! Do you see him coming? Vaulting the mountains, leaping the hills. My lover is like a gazelle, graceful; like a young stag, virile. Look at him there, on tiptoe at the gate, all ears, all eyes—ready! My lover has arrived and he’s speaking to me! 

   The Man

   Get up, my dear friend, fair and beautiful lover—come to me! Look around you: Winter is over; the winter rains are over, gone! Spring flowers are in blossom all over. The whole world’s a choir—and singing! Spring warblers are filling the forest with sweet strains. Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed, and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms. Oh, get up, dear friend, my fair and beautiful lover—come to me! Come, my shy and modest dove— leave your seclusion, come out in the open. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice. For your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing.

Susanne Sundfør songs

Susanne Sundfør - Reincarnation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4cpyFAHEmI

Do you believe in reincarnation? 'Cause I thought I saw your soul Flashing and dancing on the horizon Shades of jade and emerald Oh, I'm a bad girl 'cause I turned the bad world Into a crystal pearl And we were loveless, oh, it was pure bliss Something I've never felt before I might be crazy, but baby, lately I don't believe the news They say it's ending to stop pretending To start looking for the clues A glass cylinder where we can linger Let me take us to the stars I won't be missing your tender kissing 'Cause the light will wipe out all the scars.

Susanne Sundfør - No One Believes In Love Anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSRUxacE9nU

No one believes in love anymore They throw away the keys, no one knocked on the door No one knocked on the door, knocked on the door You reap what you sow, no one knocked on the door Pain is pleasure and then just pain Chasing the thunder and lost in the rain You are lost in the rain, lost in the rain Yourself to blame, you are lost in the rain The skin so enticing, the thrill of the sting Then drops the stinger and the spinning begins Oh, yes, the spinning begins, the spinning begins The world has gone off the hinges, and the spinning begins A downwards spiral, punctured balloon Disfigured and pale looking up at the Moon Looking up at the Moon, up at the Moon We’ll all get there soon, looking up at the Moon.

Susanne Sundfør - Undercover (Live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uRyOu4YV4

Don't trust the ones who love you 'Cause if you love them back They'll always disappoint you It's just a matter of fact Don't love the ones who trust you It's just not in your heart You're a teasing little twister and They're dancers in the dark, oh, but I wish I had a lover who'd keep it undercover We could live our dreams, we'd sail on golden wings I wish I had a lover, someone who wouldn't bother To tell me what to feel, to tell me what is real It's not a lot I'm asking for They'll kiss you in the evening, devils in disguise, and Love you till the morning then vanish before your eyes A walking disaster can also master A graceful posture, but where's the dignity when...? I wish I had a lover who'd keep it undercover We could live our dreams, we'd sail on golden wings I wish I had a lover, someone who wouldn't bother To tell me what to feel, to tell me what is real It wouldn't even matter If you didn't even bother To be more than a lover It wouldn't even matter If I didn't even bother To believe in a forever, no It wouldn't even matter If you didn't even bother To be more than a lover It wouldn't even matter If you didn't even bother To be more than a lover, no, no, no.

transmuting negativity into the Gold of God

Dearest & Nearest,

Even as Mother Earth is undergoing traumatic changes because human beings have populated it for so many eons, without  caring for  her—even so, Mother Earth remains in love—she is IN Love—not outside of love.

Only humans are outside of love. Humans have thus  far failed in their responsibility to care for Mother Earth and all of her children. This did not happen suddenly. It happened over eons of time. 

Just as a drop of water dripping slowly over eons can create a  cavern—so has the unconsciousness of human beings as a whole created the crisis that we are now  experiencing. 

What is the answer? The first and most important answer is—YOU become conscious. YOU practice awareness in each moment. 

YOU be intelligent. YOU live with awareness. YOU know what is happening in your body, mind and feelings. YOU be conscious so that the negative aspects of your being can be transmuted into gold—the Gold of God.

Just as the great artist, Vincent van Gogh, devoted himself to creating beauty upon canvas—using paint to turn his pain into love upon the canvas—transmuting negativity into the Gold of  God—so can you.

with love & devotion, as always...

The larger tree leaned close to the smaller tree, protecting and guiding it on its journey upward.

A’ziem, the dearest Companion of our classmate, Johanna, passed over last night to the other side, where angels and beings of light greeted him, as they always do. He will be missed, but the sparkle in his eye, the warmth of his love, remain…within the hearts of those who knew and loved him. Fare thee well, dear A’ziem.

BE OF GOOD CHEER

Be of good cheer. There is a way to be free. Use this lifetime to remember your commitment to LOVE. Realize that the people in your life are here to remind you to return to love. Forget if anyone else returns to love. You do it. This is how you fulfill your soul commitment. This is how you become free from unhealthy human dependence. This is how you break free of the wheel of karma.

Love

“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we see in them.” 
—Thomas Merton (1915-1968) Trappist Monk

PRECIOUS FRIEND

I am posting this complete lesson, which some of you may—or may not—have read. As the years roll by I sometimes modify how I send the lessons. This was first written in 2017. I have made some changes. The lessons are always evolving.

Lesson 99
PRECIOUS FRIEND

God is here and God is not what you thought. God has come and God is not what you thought. God has never been your thoughts. God is a fire burning away your ideas of who you think God is. God is a fire burning away your ideas of who you think you are. Wake up!

Lesson 99
PRECIOUS FRIEND 

God is here and God is not what you thought. God has come and God is not what you thought. God has never been your thoughts. God is a fire burning away your ideas of who you think God is. God is a fire burning away your ideas of who you think you are. Wake up!

“Oh Happy Day!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a37bBm8pXSk

Precious Friend,

Today I address you as precious because you are. You will recall this definition of precious from your last lesson: Precious: of great value; not to be wasted or treated carelessly: greatly loved or treasured by someone.

Your life on earth is precious. Your life is not to be wasted or treated carelessly. You have come to this earth for a reason. You have come to your school for a reason. You and I are connected for a reason. You are connected to all the people in your life for a reason. That reason is Love.

LOVE

Love is the reason souls incarnate together upon Mother Earth. Incarnation gives souls a chance to work on themselves, to come into complete love, into Light. The Great Light is without darkness. Can you imagine this? Think of the sun. Is there darkness in the sun? No, but there is darkness in our vision. If we look at the sun too long our eyes cannot bear it. If we look too long we can damage our eyes and even become blind.

The True Light, the Great Light of God, is like this. We cannot enter into it completely until we ourselves are without darkness—until we have evolved from darkness into light. From love, souls agree to come to earth to help each other evolve into love. This is why you and I are together in the School of Angels, why each of you is here with your classmates. You have a soul commitment to each other. Even if you never see each other, you still have this commitment; otherwise, you cannot be here. When we finally fulfill our soul commitments, we are free. Free of karma. Free of the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Each soul has an equal opportunity to use the Schoolroom of Earth to evolve into love. You must not wait for someone else to make this great change from darkness to light. You must make it. Only as your light becomes brighter do you have the possibility to brighten the path for others. You can be a beacon of light in the dark forest of ego, but you cannot do this if your own lamp is not lit.

“Brighten the Corner Where You Are” 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I4ZRHVpEo

You do not do someone else or yourself a favor by staying in the darkness. Each time you make an agreement with yourself to stay in a negative reaction, you are making a choice to stay in darkness. You are making a choice to hurt yourself. You are not treating yourself like a precious friend. You are violating your soul agreement, the reason you came to earth. This is what causes the wheel of karma, the cycle of rebirth or reincarnation, to keep on spinning, lifetime after lifetime. I have written about reincarnation in past lessons. The three that come to mind are Being Whole, Courage To Be You, and Transforming the Past, should you care to review them.

Speaking of darkness, what does this verse say to you" 20 ¶ Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)

What it says to me is that we live from our wrong nature. Ego calls what is bad for us—good for us. A woman who smokes, for example, will call that cigarette good. It relaxes and soothes her, she will say. You may not smoke, but what else do you call good for you, when it is really bad for you?

Instant Homework: You are invited to stop reading now and think about this question: What do I call good for me, that is really bad for me? Make a list of things you believe are good for you, which are actually harmful. When you are done, go on to the next page in your lesson. No peeking till you try it for yourself! Go on an enchanted walk inside your own psyche and find out what is true for you.

What are some of the things the average human being believes are good for them which are not? Here are some examples that apply to everyone:

Anger -  “Yes! It is good for me to be angry! I have a right to be angry! I should be angry! I must defend myself!”

Blame - “Yes! It is that other person’s fault I feel this way! I have a right to be angry at that person. If I am not angry, that means I have no self-respect.”

The right to be hurt - “Yes! That person insulted me. Of course I am insulted. I am hurt. Very hurt. And the other person is to blame! I am so hurt and angry.”

Indignation - “Yes! I am indignant because I have received unfair treatment. The world should treat me with the respect I deserve. How could he or she or they not see who I am? How could anyone not treat me the way I deserve to be treated?  I am hurt, angry, and the world is to blame!”

I am above rules and laws - “Why did that policemen give me a ticket? I have a right to park in a no parking zone because I was in a hurry and there was no other place to park. I should not have to obey the rules everyone else obeys. That cop is wrong to give me a ticket. He is to blame. The stupid rules are to blame. I am a victim! I am angry and hurt and indignant and it is not my fault!”

These are some of the ways we fool ourselves, or that we are fooled, into calling darkness light. Over the course of our life, because we are surrounded by other unconscious people, we become convinced of false beliefs, which then begin to rule our lives. Even when we don’t know that we harbor secret negative beliefs, we do. You can see that the ideas in the list above can only hurt you. But when we are angry or upset, we don’t care. Right? Be honest with yourself. You don’t care, or else you’d let it go. Right?

No one holds onto anger and bitterness consciously. A conscious being would never hold on. He’d let go. She’d let it pass through her, without attaching to the negativity. The whole range of emotions might still exist, but there’d be no attachment, no false thrill from identifying with a negative emotion and holding on to it.

What’s another reason that we call things, feelings, and situations that are bad for us good for us? I know you know the answer. Please think about this and find your own answer before going on to the next paragraph.

What answer did you arrive at? I am sure your answer is right, even if it is different from mine. There can be different answers to the same question! The angelic answer is that we call what is bad for us good for us because it makes the ego stronger. It causes a feeling of separation. A feeling of superiority—or inferiority; it’s all the same to the ego. It separates us from each other, which separates us from love. Or, you could say, it separates us from love, which separates us from each other. It keeps us from completing our soul commitments, which keeps us from completing our soul journey.

Ego likes this. It is ego’s way of keeping to its own nature, which is negativity; darkness; separation; lack, loss, fear, and endless limitation.

Our soul journey—and our sole journey—is love. Love is the reason we are here. We don’t talk so much about love in our school because the ego is so quick to latch onto that word and claim it. The ego is always quick to claim itself as love, to claim that it knows everything about love. To rise above ego, we must have the humility to admit we know very little about love.

It’s okay, though, that we know so little about love. Love knows everything about us. We can count on this. It is one thing we can count on for sure. We can also count on the idea that we know so little about love. The ego does not like to hear that. The ego will get indignant, hurt, and angry at such a thought. This is because ego thinks it is above the laws of the universe. Ego wants to make its own laws. The ego is an outlaw! It exists outside the laws of the Universe: God’s laws.

God’s laws create a beautiful and perfect universe that is always in harmony and balance. Everything works right in God’s creation. Gravity holds us all in place on earth. The earth revolves around the sun. The sun gives us light. The stars give us beauty. The moon gives us magic in the night. Yes, everything is right in God’s perfect sight.

The ego has imperfect sight. Since we are still, sigh, mostly run by ego, then so do we have imperfect sight. We see things not as they are, but as we are.

The main purpose of this lesson has been to awaken you to the fact of how precious your life on earth is. To help you understand—and perhaps remember—that love is what brings you here. Your soul arrives here as Spirit and enters into a physical body, in the form of a brand new baby. You come here to return to love.

If you truly honestly knew what love was, the angelic definition, the heavenly definition, you'd be living there every minute. And you could never be unhappy or negative. You'd be living the Realization of Love. You'd be the Realization of Love.
 

Let yourself know that you have many ideas about love, most of them limiting and false, loaded with expectations and resentments. Let it be okay that you don't really know what love is. This will assist you greatly on your path. When you understand how little you know of love, you become innocent and pure. You open yourself to receiving true love, not the false definition of love that the world gives.

Isn’t it a relief to know that you don’t know what love is? Isn’t it a relief to realize that your attempts to love and be loved have led mostly to frustration? Can you say you are truly fulfilled in love? With your partner? Your child? Your parent? Your friend? Hasn’t everyone failed to live up to your expectations? Let you down?

If you answer honestly, the answer must be yes.

An honest answer can help you take a good look at the ego, which is always disgruntled and dissatisfied. It can help you look into the darkness. It can help you see where you are calling darkness light and bad good.

The more that you can see yourself as you are, not with rose-colored glasses, but really as you are, the more chance you have to become free. You cannot change direction on your path unless you first understand that you are headed in the wrong direction. (I wrote about rose-colored glasses in your past lesson, Darkness and Light: Light and Darkness.)

You came here from love. Love guides you. You are returning to love. Give up your ideas about love. Love is not an idea. Just know that you are traveling into love. You can know this, even when you do not know what love is. You can know you are traveling into the mountains, even if you have never been to the mountains. You can know because the map or GPS tells you so. Because others have been there before you. Because the very atmosphere begins to change as you move closer to the mountains, even when you can’t yet see them. You can feel an inner excitement, a right excitement.

It is such a relief not to know—to give up being the knower, thinking you have to know, telling other people how much you know. Not knowing is a kind of surrender. A surrender to Truth. To Love. You get so tired of having to know, trying to know, that you just give in. You give into love. And then you find that love holds you up. It always has. The illusion was that you were holding yourself up. 

Study this lesson for the next month and apply it to your life and affairs. Let it Guide you. Give up trying to guide yourself on the path to True Love. Give it up a thousand times a day. When you do, love will come and hold you, Guide you. Love you. Be you. A thousand times a day. Forever. In this perfect and eternal Now. 

¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.  
-Psalms 139:12 ESC

In the Great Unknowing of Love

Your unknowing teacher