Viewing Political Candidates with Clear Vision
Republicans Mitt Romney and Ron Paul say there are some things that are simply not right. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would tell you those same things are right. Since our news media these days inundates us with election cycle coverage, we have come to expect hearing of differences between political leaders of different parties. But such differences beg a much deeper question: Just exactly what is right and what is wrong? In other words, how do we know what is really right and wrong?
It would be simple to say: if it has to be justified, it is wrong. Because in our innermost being we do know what is right and wrong, and what is right needs no justification. But the world finds simple answers hard to believe in. Human beings, in particular, seem to be addicted to complexity. So Jesus Christ, instead of saying "God is! I am!" and letting it go at that, gives us a Textbook, a Workbook, and a Manual for Teachers all combined into one course, A Course in Miracles, as a clarification of our very human interpretations of the Holy Bible.
"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." (Gen 1:31)
How hard can that be to grasp? Everything that God creates is good! End of story.
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4)
The woman obviously is Eve, our receptive nature. The serpent is our ego, our human identification. And our ego, our human mind, simply cannot stand that all we know is good. So it says to our being, "Come on, have a little taste of evil as well as good. You won't die!"
Can that be hard to understand? Everything the ego makes up is evil.
We know the story. We eat the fruit and we no longer live in the Garden, where everything is very good and the fruit of the tree of eternal life is available to us. As the ego promises, we don't die right away. But we live in pain much of the time and find it very difficult to rise beyond the belief that death is inevitable.
All this is corrected by A Course in Miracles, but look how the ego fights: "A Course in Miracles is a cult. It is not true Christianity!" And obviously rejecting Jesus Christ's Course is the same as saying, "Give me pain and death. I'm sure as hell not going back into the Garden I banished myself from."
But hey, we are talking human beings. So just out of the earth-wandering human curiosity we have gained by eating the forbidden fruit, let's take a peek and see what A Course in Miracles says about good and evil, right and wrong. We won't step back into the Garden, we'll just take a peek, okay?
"God's Word assures you that He loves the world; your judgment says it is unlovable. Who is right? For one of you is wrong. It must be so." (ACIM Manual for Teachers)
Oops, here is the idea of right and wrong being used by none other than Jesus Christ. But for Jesus it's all about judgment, isn't it? If, like a little child, you hadn't yet decided there was evil as well as good, you wouldn't even have a judgment ... would you?
"The mind can be right or wrong, depending on the voice to which it listens. Right-mindedness listens to the Holy Spirit, forgives the world, and through Christ's vision sees the real world in its place. This is the final vision, the last perception, the condition in which God takes the final step Himself. Here time and illusions end together.
"Wrong-mindedness listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real." (ACIM Clarification of Terms)
"Hold on a minute! Let me get this straight! If I see through Christ's vision, I will see an altogether different world? I will see only a world of good?"
Wallah! Not a bad start, wouldn't you say? But then how do we decide practical everyday matters? For example, which candidate is right and which candidate wrong? Who do we vote for?
Is the answer once again too simple for us? Can we handle such an easy solution as simply asking the Holy Spirit and listening for the Holy Spirit's reply?
A Course in Miracles tells us that every instance of wrong (including wrong positions on political issues) starts with wrong perception, and the Holy Spirit is given us to correct perception. We cannot make wrong decisions if we are clearly listening to the Holy Spirit and clearly saying to our ego: "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
"His Voice will direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to know." (ACIM Text page 1)
Of course to develop such clarity it is necessary to release our previously held ideas picked up in government schools and other unreliable sources. This is the reason for the first 35 or so lessons of A Course in Miracles: to undo our addiction to ideas formed in the past, in order to facilitate hearing clearly in the present.
"But I haven't got time to master the first 35 lessons from Jesus. Government taxation and regulation keeps me struggling 24 hours a day. I'm being asked to vote within the next few months."
As Jesus Christ would say, there is no problem. It's as simple as repeating the following prayer until you really, really mean it:
"Holy Spirit,
take away all my preconceived ideas.
Help me to pretend
I am back in the Garden of Eden
and I know nothing of the rightness or wrongness of issues.
I have no preferences.
I could vote for anyone.
Let me see with Your eyes.
You show me the candidate to support."
"...nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Click below for more information on A Course in Miracles Light Sessions:
Holy Instant Christian Fellowship- Salt Lake City
