A Cloud does not put out the sun.

If we can all view the world as our own classroom, using it as a way to take us back to the memory of God, there would be great progress in the One Mind waking up to its eternal, holy, peaceful Self.

Instead of trying to use the world as a way to “get” things like love, appreciation, adoration, money, friendship and the many other idols of the ego, we are encouraged instead, by the words in A Course in Miracles, to seek the “changeless dwelling place” within. Where the true abundance of God resides.

Can we have a mind that is always peaceful and never reacts to anything of the “world”? Can our mind remain in stillness, no matter what happens? Yes, our mind can live in the peace and tranquillity of the eternal now. This mind recalls nothing that went before and nothing that is to come. Yes, we can all achieve the goal of A Course in Miracles, which is ”The Peace of God”. It is the promise and goal of Jesus’s teachings in A Course in Miracles. If one mind can have the Peace of God and we all are the same mind, then we can all obtain this peace. It is possible but it does takes willingness. It is not easy but it is doable.

To reach the goal of peace, first, we need to make the decision to use everything of the “world” for another purpose. Thus, the world now becomes a classroom where we are happy learners. We are students and turn up each day, saying “I don’t know anything. Teach me Holy Spirit”. We happily admit we are wrong and turn within to our guide for correction, when we notice we are upset. We tell ourselves that we will now use everything in the world as our classroom to going home to the peace of God rather than seeking anything from the world. The world is now a useful tool to help us remember who we are and where we are. We have happily made the decision to use every single thing, every relationship, every situation, for helping us undo the ego mind. Salvation (happiness and peace ) is undoing. We are willing to have a correction because we have seen nothing works here. We use time to have the experience of timelessness. We use space to have the experience of beingness. We use relationships to have the experience of Oneness.

As happy, willing learners, we turn towards learning rather than thinking we “know”. We prefer to be wrong than right because we realise how this speeds up our awakening. We prefer to step back and let Him lead the way. We are not masters yet, but we have chosen to use all the things of the world as a classroom to teach me, who I am.

As a way of bringing this theme to life, I have been guided by the Holy Spirit to use the analogy of the Sun and a cloud as he uses it in the Course This is one example of using the world as a classroom. The worldly ideas of a sun and a cloud are now used to shift our perception about our belief in guilt.

The Sun is God’s constant love shining in you, as you. The cloud is the passing thought in your mind, that says God’s love has gone away, disappeared or is non-existent in your awareness (guilt).

Imagine a beautiful, clear, lovely, gentle sunshine from the Sun, that you are enjoying and being contented and happy in. Then suddenly and briefly, the Sun is hidden by a cloud.

You know that the sun is still there shining. You know that the sun has not gone anywhere. You don’t believe that the sun has disappeared, never to be seen again. You don’t waste time trying to defend against a sunless sky. You remember that no matter how many clouds are in the sky, that the Sun is always there, shining its eternal gentle love. You know that when the clouds pass, the Sun will reveal itself and just shine. You know the Sun is not wrathful that you forgot about it. You know that the Sun is not going to punish you, if you forget about it. You have remembered to laugh at the tiny mad idea, that the Sun has disappeared. You know that you did nothing to the Sun to make it go away. You are aware that no matter what you thought or did, the Sun is still just simply shining. It has been shining and will go on shining, no matter what you think. You can see clearly, that the cloud has just seemingly blocked the Sun from your experience but will again be felt.

You know, that “A cloud does not put out the Sun”. T29.VIII.3

You understand that the Sun just shines. You don’t expect the Sun to be anything other that it Self. It simply shines all the time on you and is unaffected by anything in the sky, including clouds. The Sun radiates warmth and love through its beingness of Shining. It doesn’t respond to your anxiety that it has gone anywhere, because it hasn’t gone anywhere. How easy it is, to say happily to your brother, “The Sun has not gone anywhere, it is still shining”, when they share that they can’t remember the Sun because it has been a cloudy day. How easy it is, to say happily to your brother, “God has not gone anywhere, because His Love is still shining in you, as you”, when they share that they can’t remember God, because there has been cloudy thoughts. No matter how many dark thoughts we have, God’s Love still shines in our mind. His being is simply obscured due to the attraction we have to thoughts of guilt. These thoughts of guilt, are the dark clouds that obscure God’s eternal infinite radiating love that never ceases. These thoughts need to be seen as the nothingness that they are.

No matter how many clouds are in the sky, the sun is not put out. The clouds that are the thoughts in your mind that veil us from experiencing God’s Love, cannot put out God’s Love. God’s Love is always shining, always loving you as you were created, without a blimp of “not shining or loving”.

No matter how many clouds of dark thoughts seem to pass by in the sky of your mind, you cannot put out God’s Love. God Loves you as the infinite Love that He created you as. All you can do, is be unaware that the Sun is still there, shining and loving you are the divine Christ Self that you are. Just because you forgot that the Sun was there, doesn’t mean the Sun has disappeared. All that needs to happen, is the awareness that God is Love and you have not left your Source, needs to remembered.

Let us look now at what clouds are. Think about a cloud. Maybe you have walked or driven a car through a fog. Or maybe you can remember flying in a plane through the clouds. How easy, we walked or flew through them. They seemed to have blocked the Sun, but we notice that they are actually nothing. Just like the clouds of guilt, which seem very real to us, they are still nothing. They are like the clouds. We must look at them to see their nothingness. Our guide is the one that shows us that guilt is a false belief. If we are sick and tired of our thoughts of guilt, why not do our little part and take each thought of guilt to the Holy Spirit and ask for a different perception. If you are sincere in your asking, you will receive a clear uplifting perception to replace the cloud of guilt.

The ego made the world of sun, sky and clouds and thus, as a classroom can be used by the Holy Spirit to teach us about God’s changeless love. Which is your changeless dwelling place. You never left this changeless love and peace. You are there now and can never be anywhere else.

Another beautiful teaching using clouds as a metaphor for our thoughts of guilt, is in Chapter 18,IX The Two Worlds, paragraph 6. He references a “low, dark clouds that seem to be a solid wall before the sun. Its impenetrable appearance is wholly an illusion. It gives way softly to the mountain tops that rise above it, and HAS NO POWER AT ALL to hold back anyone willing to climb above it and see the sun.

IT IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO STOP A BUTTON’S FALL, NOR HOLD A FEATHER.

Nothing can rest upon it, for it is but an illusion of a foundation.

Wow, a cloud is not strong enough to stop a button falling. Nor is it strong enough to hold a feather. All this is our belief in guilt. The belief in guilt is not strong enough to stop a button falling nor hold a little feather. Think about your belief in your own guilt. Then remember that Jesus is telling you that this guilt is like this cloud. These little wisps of a cloud cannot stop a little button or a feather. The thoughts to guilt have no power to even stop a button falling.

Contemplate even the darkest of clouds. The darkest of skies you have seen. Then remind yourself, that even they cannot stop the button from falling through.

So, no matter the darkest thoughts you could have at any time, those thoughts are exactly like clouds. They cannot stop you knowing your Self. Nothing can stop you from coming to know the Love within that is there. Remember this. Look at the clouds and see them as your thoughts of guilt. See their nothingness and gently laugh.

Blessings my dearest holy brothers. I see only your holiness and innocence.

Love Cate xxx