Weeding our garden: Remembering who we are

Standard

Fota Gardens

Imagine a beautiful garden with magnificent flowers, majestic trees, a shining sun, a gentle breeze, and a subtle fragrance floating through the air…

The garden is immense, it doesn’t have any fence or boundaries, it is unlimited and in this short story it will be the representation of your Higher Self or Holy Self.

Now picture this garden invaded by unwanted weeds growing everywhere between the flowers, like a cancer attacking and spreading to healthy cells: these weeds are your ego or lower self.

The garden and the weeds together symbolize our split mind.

Split mind

As you can foretell, it’s not going to be an easy job to remove all the weeds and keep the garden clean and tidy but it can be done by constantly uprooting them, one at the time and making sure they don’t grow back. That’s how the work needs to be done: we correct one idea at the time on a constant basis. The word “constant” here is important because without persistence and perseverance, the weeds will grow back: we will go back to our old way of thinking and undo the good work.

To our delight, we will notice that once we have corrected an erroneous concept, not only one weed has disappeared from the garden but a whole lot of them. That’s because they were all connected in the first place and by removing the root of an idea, you destroyed a whole string of weeds in the process.

When you eradicate some weeds, not only does it vanish but its consequences dissolve as well. This is the concept of cause and effect. By getting rid of erroneous old beliefs we also cancel out the consequences they could have had in our lives: that’s encouraging!!!

This process of weeding in my story represents the practise of “Remembering who we are”. By extracting the wrong beliefs, we unveil the Truth, by remembering who we are, we rediscover our beautiful garden (Holy Self) and we also reconnect with its magnitude, its wholeness, its Oneness with its Source and its unlimited splendour.

Don’t believe that all these years or even lifetimes of negligence have damaged your garden, as what God has created is eternal, everlasting and unalterable. Under the weeds, the garden remains the same as it was (before the illusion of separation) and always will be.

Roses

I can nearly hear you asking: “how long is it going to take and what if…” let’s not entertain these types of questions, that’s the ego talking, spreading doubt in your mind…some of the weeds growing back. Let’s get back to the work as it is the only important task: undoing the ego no matter of how much it is going to protest, complain or tell us that it is a mistake.

You see, the ego doesn’t want to disappear, it wants to survive. It wants to continue doing the same thing over and over again, pretending that everything will be alright at the end, that it can sort out the problems. But weeds don’t grow flowers, our ego is destructive and maleficent, it doesn’t want us any good and it is definitely not our friend. It is the obstacle stopping us from experiencing our glory, from remembering who we are.

The ego keeps doing the same thing, over and over again, it wants to think it can solve problems or it wants us to believe it but deep down, let’s be honest, it has never solved any and never will, its motto is “Seek and do not find” as stated in the following paragraph of the Lesson 287 of the Course:

…“If we listen to the ego’s thought system, we will search for a false identity in all kinds of meaningless forms that never satisfy because the ego’s motto is, “seek and do not find.” The ego knows that when we do find and accept our true Identity, it will be the ego’s end. By the grace of God, we have another Voice in our mind that directs us truly to where we will find our hearts desire. We will find Love. We will find our Self”…

It is time now to stop procrastinating and get to work, the sooner we start, the better. Time now to wake up from the illusion of separation, back to Oneness, it is time now to return to Love and forgive and forget all that never was.

Happy weeding!!!

weeding

Nathalie

God’s Will for you is Perfect Happiness

Standard

 

Jon Mundy & Nathalie Lorre

Few weeks ago I attended “A Course in Miracles” conference in Dublin. It is my second time going there & it’s always such a pleasure to meet up with like-minded people & amazing teachers.

This year, I had the privilege to meet Jon Mundy, author of 9 books, lecturer; minister, and publisher of Miracles Magazine.

Jon Mundy met Helen Schucman (the scribe), William Thetford & Kenneth Wapnick in the 70’s; that’s when they introduced him to “A Course in Miracles”.

Jon is a powerful & insightful God’s teacher but also a lovely man, funny & down to earth.

IMG_20140602_200008I am currently reading “Lesson 101: Perfect Happiness: A Path to Joy from A Course in Miracles” & I would highly recommend it for both advanced students of the Course and for those who are only starting their journey towards Awakening & remembering who they are.

I love the way Jon recounts little anecdotes with his unique style which makes this book truly special.

In the lesson 101 of “A Course in Miracles”, Jesus explain that there are no sins, there are not real and pain isn’t necessary. Suffering is a consequence of our feelings of guilt & fear. By understanding that sins are not real, guilt disappear leaving place to Perfect Happiness which is God’s Will for all His children.

Happy Awakening Red heart

Nathalie

Perfect happiness

Our new Facebook Group: “A Shift in Perception”

Standard

 

31739c8cfc0253dd0d0a6dba74576681

Christy & I have just created a new Facebook Group called “A Shift in Perception”.

This group is “A Course in Miracles” Study Group intended for those who want to apply Jesus’ teachings into their lives.

We will be posting videos, audios (meditations, etc.…) and will be discussing chapters & lessons from the book.

If you have read the book or are interested in learning more about it, why not come to join us on this journey towards Awakening & remembering who we truly are.

To join, click on the image below

a shift in perception

 

Below is a short video of Christy & I talking about the course

Christy & Nathalie talk about “A Course in Miracles”

How the quest ended for me

Standard

 

69581faa4472cd0485b68b46a82dd1bfThroughout my life I have been actively searching for the Truth. Trying to understand why the world was created & why we suffer. The reasons why nothing lasts & happiness is so hard to maintain. I searched for my answers in books, through different religions, shamanism, paganism, Wicca etc.… but couldn’t find satisfactory answers. Please, don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot on my spiritual journey & met some lovely like-minded people on my path but I still felt incomplete inside.

When I first discovered the book “A Course in Miracles” I still didn’t realise that it contained all the answers I had been looking for. And it’s only after practising Jesus’ teachings for some time that I finally understood that there was no need for me to be looking any further: my quest had ended.

First, the world was not created by God as I had been taught, that explained the fact that God didn’t create all the sufferings that came with it.

The reason why I suffer is caused by my thinking; it’s a consequence of my thoughts. So if I want to stop suffering, I need to change the way I think. Ok, that says it all, no one is out there to get me, I am doing this to myself: some kind of self-punishing act if you like for separating from my Creator in the first place. The book “The Secret” talked about that: your thoughts create your reality, but reality isn’t what it seems…

gandhi

Actually only Love is real & when I am talking about Love, I don’t mean the conditional ego-love, “I will love you if…” that the Course refers to as the “special relationship”. When I talk about Love, I mean God’s Love, that’s ALL is real. Not this world I live in, not even my body… This concept might appear unconceivable for the mind constantly conditioned by an ego-based world but it is the ultimate & only Truth.

The French philosopher Blaise Pascal said: “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the Truth, we cannot know it” only now do I deeply understand the meaning of it. Don’t let others dictate you who you need to be, don’t let the medias tell you how you need to look, nothing of this is real & if you want to find the Truth, then one day, you will. I wish you the very best of luck on your journey.

To view our next “A Course in Miracles” study group meeting on Facebook, click on the picture below

a shift in perception

“Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God” A Course in Miracles

The book that will change your life

Standard

 

If you had asked me few years ago if a book can actually change someone’s life, I am not A Course in Miraclestoo sure if I would have answered “yes” to this question. Yet, I can honestly say now that the book “A Course in Miracles” changed my life!

For those who never heard of it, “A Course in Miracles” is a self-study course intended to offer its readers a spiritual transformation. It was written in the 60’s by a lady named Helen Schucman, a psychologist who heard one day an “inner voice” telling her: “This is a Course in Miracles, please take notes”. The “inner voice” was later identified as being Jesus.

When I heard how the course came to be, I have to admit, I was a bit dubious. But because I was curious, I went & bought the book.

The book was expensive, huge & not an easy read by any means (to adJesusd to the challenge, my first language is not English). As I started reading it, my inner knowing recognised this book as being “true” but yet, as I was progressing through the book, I started to feel really uncomfortable but I couldn’t identify back then, the reason behind it.

Now I know that the part of me that was uncomfortable was my ego, as one of the purposes of this course is to “un-do” it. Please note, that I didn’t use the word “destroy” or “annihilate” but “un-do” as the ego doesn’t like to be threatened Winking smile

I think that after that I left the book aside for a while but I was regularly going back to it for more insights. This went on for few years; I just didn’t seem to be able to just read it in one go.

When I met Christy, years later, he told me one day that he was a student of “A Course in Miracles” & also that he had read “The Disappearance of the Universe” by Gary Renard” (a book that reflects the teachings of the Course). We started discussing the principles of the book: the non-dualistic philosophy, the practical lessons, the forgiveness process, etc…

At the beginning of this year, I went to “A Course in Miracles” conference & that’s when the shift finally took place. It was if suddenly, all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. I realised that the answers to all the questions I had for so many years were actually in the book. The first miracle had happened…

Of course my life has changed since that event, but that is only a normal consequence of the shift.

Christy & I decided to start “A Course in Miracles” study group in Cork called “A Shift in Perception” for more information you can visit our Facebook page at: facebook.com/shiftinperception.

A Shift in Perception

Because we both know how difficult it might be to study the Course alone, we are organising these monthly meetings to help people to get a better understanding of what the book is about but more importantly to show them how to apply it to their daily life.

These meetings are open to anybody on their spiritual path, with or without previous knowledge of “A Course in Miracles”.

If you want to join us on this amazing journey please contact us through Facebook, email, phone or text: Christy 085 2799146 or Nathalie 089 9635267 or email: nathcork@gmail.com

Next meeting: Tuesday 5th of November

To see the event on Facebook, click on the logo below

Facebook event

I would like to share with you on this blog the lesson 155 of “A Course in Miracles”: “I will step back and let Him lead the way.”

There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own. Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before.

The world is an illusion. Those who choose to come to it are seeking for a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their own reality. Yet when they find their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way. What other choice is really theirs to make? To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity.

This is the simple choice we make today. The mad illusion will remain awhile in evidence, for those to look upon who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced to find they were mistaken in their choice. They cannot learn directly from the truth, because they have denied that it is so. And so they need a Teacher Who perceives their madness, but Who still can look beyond illusion to the simple truth in them.

If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it asked the sacrifice of something that is real. Many have chosen to renounce the world while still believing its reality. And they have suffered from a sense of loss, and have not been released accordingly. Others have chosen nothing but the world, and they have suffered from a sense of loss still deeper, which they did not understand.

Between these paths there is another road that leads away from loss of every kind, for sacrifice and deprivation both are quickly left behind. This is the way appointed for you now. You walk this path as others walk, nor do you seem to be distinct from them, although you are indeed. Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself, and set their footsteps on the way that God has opened up to you, and them through you.

Illusion still appears to cling to you, that you may reach them. Yet it has stepped back. And it is not illusion that they hear you speak of, nor illusion that you bring their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp. Nor can the truth, which walks ahead of you, speak to them through illusions, for the road leads past illusion now, while on the way you call to them, that they may follow you.

All roads will lead to this one in the end. For sacrifice and deprivation are paths that lead nowhere, choices for defeat, and aims that will remain impossible. All this steps back as truth comes forth in you, to lead your brothers from the ways of death, and set them on the way to happiness. Their suffering is but illusion. Yet they need a guide to lead them out of it, for they mistake illusion for the truth.

Such is salvation’s call, and nothing more. It asks that you accept the truth, and let it go before you, lighting up the path of ransom from illusion. It is not a ransom with a price. There is no cost, but only gain. Illusion can but seem to hold in chains the holy Son of God. It is but from illusions he is saved. As they step back, he finds himself again.

Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide. Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk with certainty of purpose to the truth. It goes before you now, that they may see something with which they can identify; something they understand to lead the way.

Yet at the journey’s ending there will be no gap, no distance between truth and you. And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God’s completion, holy as Himself. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest.

When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass and miracles are purposeless, the holy Son of God will make no journeys. There will be no wish to be illusion rather than the truth. And we step forth toward this, as we progress along the way that truth points out to us. This is our final journey, which we make for everyone. We must not lose our way. For as truth goes before us, so it goes before our brothers who will follow us.

We walk to God. Pause and reflect on this. Could any way be holier, or more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? What way could give you more than everything, or offer less and still content the holy Son of God? We walk to God. The truth that walks before us now is one with Him, and leads us to where He has always been. What way but this could be a path that you would choose instead?

Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God. Look not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere. Dreams are not a worthy guide for you who are God’s Son. Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you. He cannot be deceived. His trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure. You will not fail your brothers nor your Self.

And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His trust; how limitless His Love. In your Name and His Own, which are the same, we practice gladly with this thought today:

I will step back and let Him lead the way, For I would walk along the road to Him


Thanks for visiting my blog. Namaste _/|\_

Nathalie