Learning to Identify with the Holy Spirit

A few weeks ago I was discussing with a student the stages we go through as students of A Course in Miracles in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Initially, we simply invite the Holy Spirit into certain situations. We are still in the driver’s seat at this point but we are willing to ask the Holy Spirit for direction when we get lost or in trouble. In time, we realize that we don’t want to wait for a crisis and we call on the Holy Spirit for guidance more and more when decisions have to be made. Then our trust develops to such a point that we realize that we don’t even want to drive anymore and we move over and let the Holy Spirit take the wheel. Our trust is not perfect yet, so at first we sometimes try to take back the wheel but we always give it up before too long because we’ve learned that Peace comes from letting the Holy Spirit lead the way. Finally, we just sit back and enjoy the ride. All of this happens naturally because you cannot force trust. I then mentioned that I’d been sitting back and enjoying the ride for the past few years. The student asked, “What’s next?” and before I could think I answered, “Identifying with the Holy Spirit.”

“No, no, no, no, no. This cannot be!” was my immediate response. And the personal mind chimed in with, “What arrogance!” But, of course, identifying with the Holy Spirit is the next logical step. The Holy Spirit is not a separate thing; I am shifting my identity away from the thing that is really separate from me to the Holy Spirit, Which is really me. And it’s a curious thing to watch unfold. I find I am revisiting all the lessons I’ve lived before but on a much deeper level. I can’t convey this because the words I’d use to describe what I’m learning are the same as I’d use before but my experience is different and there is no way to convey that. It’s like trying to convey God; I can describe the experience but I cannot make anyone else experience the experience.

I’ve come full circle in an unusual way. When I started out almost wholly identified with a personal self I didn’t take much thought for what “Liz” said or did because I thought “Liz” was me and I didn’t question this. Then I spent a quarter century learning to be aware of all of my thoughts and the source of my actions because I was learning that I always teach myself. To learn that I am Love I must teach myself from Love, not from a personal self. And now I find myself being taught to once again take no thought for what “Liz” says or does! The difference is that before when I identified with “Liz” I thought that what “Liz” said and did was real and mattered and the consequence was guilt. Now I let “Liz” say and do what she wants because I recognize she isn’t me and what she says and does isn’t real and it doesn’t matter and so there is no guilt! Boy, none of these stages has been like what I thought they’d be like. I’m always surprised! But I can only identify with the Holy Spirit when I recognize that I am the dreamer of the dream, not the figure in the dream. So I have to let go of “Liz” as much as I have to let go of any other dream figure.

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Read The Message of A Course in Miracles: A translation of the Text in plain language at www.themessageofacim.com.