"Nothing brings better relationships than my own spiritual opening!"
These lessons have been making it clear to me that my own thoughts, my own feelings, and my own energies are what determine the kinds of relationships I find myself in and the level of heavenly feelings I experience in relationship.
It is becoming increasingly clear with these lessons that all of heaven is inside me and I need only open to what is inside me to participate in unbelievably glorious experiences ... not only in relationships, but in all areas of life.
Why not then go all the way to the root of all matters by committing to my spiritual opening above all else?
That's precisely what I will do with this week's lesson.
Spiritual opening does not involve religion. In fact, religion often stifles spiritual opening to the degree that religionists focus on rules and dogma to the exclusion of the experience of one's spiritual nature. Rules and dogma do not open me up spiritually, they close me down.
So this week, I go farther than religion. This week I commit to unbelievable spiritual opening, religion or not.
If not religion, what then is 100% spiritual opening?
Some clues have come from this relationship course. It is an opening to more joy than I could have ever imagined possible, a joy much too rarely seen on earth. It is an opening to love so big that it feels nearly overwhelming, raising me literally to "dizzying heights". It is an opening to infectious happiness which touches everyone, and heals everyone it touches.
The experience of sustained spiritual enlightenment is not easy to put into words, for earth beings do not usually have a vocabulary in their languages to cover such feelings. But I am not going to deny myself any part of the experience just to stay within the limitations of earthly vocabularies. I'm aiming for the fullness of the experience.
Does this commitment to spiritual enlightenment imply that I cannot have heavenly experiences in relationship unless I am first totally enlightened spiritually? Not at all. It merely places first things first.
Remember, heaven in relationship rises out of heaven in internal experience. If my focus is on the experience of heaven, all else will fall into place.
In fact, that would be a good slogan for this week's practice.
Each day this week as I awaken, the first thing I will tell myself is:
"If my focus is on the experience of heaven, all else will fall into place."
As with previous lesson statements, I will say this to myself aloud a few times until I begin to feel the truth of it. I might even use variations of this truth which come to mind, particularly the relationship-oriented variation which is the statement of this week's lesson:
"Nothing brings better relationships than my own spiritual opening. I commit first and foremost to my spiritual opening."
Then during the day this week I set aside some time for a full 20 minute meditation period in addition to any five minute hourly reminder periods I choose to have.
During my 20 minute meditation I do nothing but focus on my spiritual nature. I do not think about my spiritual nature, but rather attempt to feel it. I ask with deep sincerity:
"Spiritual nature? Are you there? I want to feel you fully! Help me feel you!"
After asking this a few times, I simply wait quietly for my spiritual nature to make itself known to me. It will be felt.
The form in which I feel my spirit makes no difference. People all feel their spiritual nature a little differently at first. I understand that later there might be some common experiences to watch for. But in the beginning, what I feel will be only my own personal experience ... and I will be happy with it.
So now I choose to meditate 20 minutes each day with no other goal than to feel my spiritual nature during this meditation period. Will this meditation alone bring a wonderful relationship into my life? Oh, yes! But at this point, I can't even begin to imagine how good it will be.
Finally, as I retire each day this week, I again quiet my mind and attempt to feel my spirit. If it feels like my being is expanding, or lifting higher, or being filled, or being lit up ... so much the better. But whatever the feeling, I let myself ride a tide of happy gratitude.
I say to myself a few times before sleep:
"This is who I REALLY am! I am spirit! I am love! I am joy! I am peace! I am happiness! And my relationships are all miracles!"
Also available free of charge online:
Course in Political Miracles
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