Have You Accepted Atonement for Yourself?

In our spiritual study of “A Course In Miracles,” there is a hurdle that we have to go beyond. This hurdle is a deep-seated sense of guilt and unworthiness. Recently, I was watching a movie on near-death experience and the testimonies given were witnessing to a deep guilt in the people that found themselves before God. They thought that they would have a negative life review and that they had been sinners. However, God does not judge and as they conversed with God that is what they ultimately learned.

In our own lives we have to look at those feelings of guilt and unworthiness because they are blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence. In your quiet moments if you look within and observe your thoughts you will most likely be surprised to find a lot of thoughts on the subject of not being worthy. This unworthiness is the core foundation of the ego mind. It will tell you things like, “you’ll never make it,” “you’ll never be good enough,” “everything you do is wrong.” Perhaps you had parents or teachers in your early years whose ego mirrored these thoughts to you as well.

It is exceedingly useful on the spiritual path to let these thoughts rise to the surface of our awareness so that we can correct them. This is the mind training of “A Course In Miracles.” Does “A Course In Miracles,” not give us 365 thoughts to replace the ego mind’s thoughts and overwhelming sense of unworthiness and fear?  Indeed it does!

In the text of “A Course In Miracles,” Jesus tells us that we have to accept Atonement for ourselves. What does this mean? Very simply stated we accept that, “I and my Father are One.” We accept the unity state of consciousness. We accept the non-dual state of consciousness. To be able to accept that you are one with your creator, God, you must overcome your sense of unworthiness.

Thoughts come up like “how can I be the same as Jesus?,”  “I am not worthy to be the same as God,” “I will never be good enough.” Again, what we do with these thoughts is observe them. We let them rise in our awareness, so that we can forgive them. Remember that forgiveness means giving them to the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness does not mean pardoning sins. It actually means surrendering these negative thoughts to a Higher Power so that we can eliminate them from our conscious and subconscious mind so that the Light that we truly are may shine through.

Have you accepted Atonement for yourself? When you ask yourself that question what thoughts rise to mind? Anything other than a resounding, “Yes!” means there are more negative thoughts to clear from your consciousness. That’s okay, that’s normal. That is the work we are doing. You don’t have to clear that negativity from your mind to say yes, but you do have to be willing to let it go enough to say yes, to invite the Light in.

Try this very simple exercise. Close your eyes. And say to yourself, “I accept that I and my father are one. I accept Atonement for myself.”  How does that feel to you? Observe your reaction and surrender any guilt or unworthiness to the Holy Spirit. Observe any resistance. Observe how your body feels.  There is no right or wrong way to do this exercise.  Simply say the words and see how they make you feel.  You can repeat it until you feel clear of any negativity.

We are told by Jesus that all we need is, “a little willingness.” Our goal in “A Course In Miracles,” is to be peaceful in any circumstance. Being peaceful in any circumstance comes from the deep conviction that you are as God created you. This goes beyond perception, beyond belief and straight into the knowledge of experience, similar to a near-death experience, that I am that Light that God created and not this physical body that I have created in my mind to replace God’s perception of me.

So without hesitation and delay accept Atonement for yourself. Atonement is At-one-ment, allow the thought to penetrate your mind, that perhaps you are mistaken about what you are and that you remain as God created you. It is impossible to be anything different than what God created. You can only dream up a different reality, and that is the meaning of this world being an illusion. It’s a dream, a diversion from your True Self because what God created does not change or die, has no form and does not exist in time and space.

The world being illusion does not mean that it disappears.  What changes is your perception of what it real and true. The universe disappears from your mistaken perception that you are separate and alone in the world. Your perception shifts to the awareness and knowledge that All is One. This is the miracle.  The miracle is a shift in perception.  Nothing changes, except that you now understand who you really are. There is no loss. There is nothing that you have to sacrifice. There is only a state of mind in which you are peaceful.

One of my favorite thoughts from the lessons of “A Course In Miracles,” is, “I rest in God.“ For indeed, this is our True Mind, our Real True Mind rests continually in the peace and the presence of God. And and it is our job here on earth to realize this peace, this heaven while in physical form so that it extends to all those on this planet that suffer in fear and loss and the idea of sacrifice.

So accept Atonement for yourself. Right now. There is no reason to delay. You are entirely worthy in this very moment because your past is an illusion. Accepting Atonement has nothing to do with your life in physical form. It has everything to do with the fact that you are the “Light of the World” as God created you, and we are all this Light without exception!

Amen.