What is the Experience of the Holy Spirit?
When I led a study group a young man new to A Course in Miracles came a few times. He asked, “What is the Holy Spirit? Is it my conscience?” We told him, No. “Is it my good intentions?” Again, we said, No. I don’t remember how we explained it to him at the time. The Course tells us the Holy Spirit is the Voice for God, our Teacher and Guide, etc., but what he wanted to know was, what is the experience of the Holy Spirit? How would he know when he was experiencing the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the Love of God within you. It is the Love within you that is One with the Love in everyone else and with God. Everyone experiences the Holy Spirit, whether or not they identify It as such. It is just one of many voices in your mind that you are trying to single out. Sometimes the Holy Spirit guides us through our intuition – but not all intuition is the Holy Spirit’s guidance. This is the difficulty in trying to sort out what is the Holy Spirit and what is ego.
One of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit is that It is without emotional charge. It is quiet and matter-of-fact. You may be inspired to joy by feeling a connection to the Holy Spirit, but the Voice or prompting itself is impersonal. Peace and freedom and wholeness are also characteristic experiences of connecting to the Holy Spirit. In meditation, you may take a spontaneous breath and go into a deeper peace. Throughout the day, you may feel peace descend on you during ordinary moments. This is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is your “default setting” – what is left when you let go of ego. When you “turn something over” to the Holy Spirit you are choosing to let go of your personal expectations and desires and letting the Love in you take over. This Love knows your Wholeness and knows what you need in the world. This Love only looks out at the Love and Wholeness of everyone and everything. When you have truly let go you feel a lifting of your burden and a certainty that all is well, even if you cannot see how. If the guidance takes the form of an idea, it feels inspired and often filled with Light. It is also light in the sense that the idea is weightless and simple.
When you choose to see the Holy Spirit “in” someone you are choosing to remember the Love of God in you and to extend it by seeing it “out there”. Your focus shifts away from what is appearing and you go within because that is where Love is. Who or what is appearing becomes neutral and is encompassed by the Love within you. This is what the Course calls “extension”. When you extend Love, you look within first to find It and then look outward from It.
At first you must consciously make the choice to see the Holy Spirit “out there”. The ego is a habit of thinking that you are so used to you do not see that it is a choice. But it is a choice, just as seeing the Holy Spirit is a choice. By choosing to see the Holy Spirit you invite the experience of the Holy Spirit. The more you practice this, the more you feel surrounded by God’s Love. In time, this becomes a habit and you begin to wonder where you end and the Holy Spirit begins.
The Holy Spirit is not the personal you, yet It knows you may still believe in a personal self (ego). The Holy Spirit uses what you have made – your ego, your world – to teach you that this little self is not you and to guide you through the world back to the Truth of your Oneness with God. You do not have to give up your ego or your world before you are ready to do so. If you choose to follow the Holy Spirit – the Love within you – you will naturally let go of your ego and your world because they will no longer have value for you.
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Receive this bi-weekly blog directly in your email by contacting Liz@acimmentor.com.Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students
The Holy Spirit is the Love of God within you. It is the Love within you that is One with the Love in everyone else and with God. Everyone experiences the Holy Spirit, whether or not they identify It as such. It is just one of many voices in your mind that you are trying to single out. Sometimes the Holy Spirit guides us through our intuition – but not all intuition is the Holy Spirit’s guidance. This is the difficulty in trying to sort out what is the Holy Spirit and what is ego.
One of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit is that It is without emotional charge. It is quiet and matter-of-fact. You may be inspired to joy by feeling a connection to the Holy Spirit, but the Voice or prompting itself is impersonal. Peace and freedom and wholeness are also characteristic experiences of connecting to the Holy Spirit. In meditation, you may take a spontaneous breath and go into a deeper peace. Throughout the day, you may feel peace descend on you during ordinary moments. This is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is your “default setting” – what is left when you let go of ego. When you “turn something over” to the Holy Spirit you are choosing to let go of your personal expectations and desires and letting the Love in you take over. This Love knows your Wholeness and knows what you need in the world. This Love only looks out at the Love and Wholeness of everyone and everything. When you have truly let go you feel a lifting of your burden and a certainty that all is well, even if you cannot see how. If the guidance takes the form of an idea, it feels inspired and often filled with Light. It is also light in the sense that the idea is weightless and simple.
When you choose to see the Holy Spirit “in” someone you are choosing to remember the Love of God in you and to extend it by seeing it “out there”. Your focus shifts away from what is appearing and you go within because that is where Love is. Who or what is appearing becomes neutral and is encompassed by the Love within you. This is what the Course calls “extension”. When you extend Love, you look within first to find It and then look outward from It.
At first you must consciously make the choice to see the Holy Spirit “out there”. The ego is a habit of thinking that you are so used to you do not see that it is a choice. But it is a choice, just as seeing the Holy Spirit is a choice. By choosing to see the Holy Spirit you invite the experience of the Holy Spirit. The more you practice this, the more you feel surrounded by God’s Love. In time, this becomes a habit and you begin to wonder where you end and the Holy Spirit begins.
The Holy Spirit is not the personal you, yet It knows you may still believe in a personal self (ego). The Holy Spirit uses what you have made – your ego, your world – to teach you that this little self is not you and to guide you through the world back to the Truth of your Oneness with God. You do not have to give up your ego or your world before you are ready to do so. If you choose to follow the Holy Spirit – the Love within you – you will naturally let go of your ego and your world because they will no longer have value for you.
>>>>
Receive this bi-weekly blog directly in your email by contacting Liz@acimmentor.com.Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students
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