Ask: Is getting still and present the answer?

…I would like to know more about acting/behaving in this world. Even when I am able to become still, to get present, to let spirit show me the truth (and/or the right thing to do or say), I still operate within this dream. I still have physical and emotional struggles, I still have friends and family in crisis, and that's just what's right in front of me ... there's a "world" out there full of suffering. I "know" that this is ego perception, that it’s not real, even if I haven't awakened from the dream. But since I haven't ...I guess I don't get present too often. Is that "the answer"? That all we can do is get still, listen to spirit for guidance, and practice true forgiveness? Is that what's meant by "you need do nothing?"‑NK

Yes, “I need do nothing” is about practicing what A Course in Miracles calls the holy instant. This means bringing your mind into the present, turning it within, and opening it to God. In the holy instant you realize that you are already home in God so you “need do nothing” for salvation. Truth (God) is untouched by anything that seems to happen in the universe of form. The more that you practice the holy instant the more that you experience God as reality and the universe of form fades into the background of your attention.
The personal self, including its body, is just an idea. You are the mind that thinks about it. As mind you are formless being. So when you identify with a personal self you make a mistake in identification. You are in conflict because of this and you search for peace through the personal self’s “life”. You believe that the world around the body causes your feelings of conflict. So you feel that you have to control or manipulate the world because your state of mind goes up and down with whether or not things in the world go the way that the personal thought system in your mind (ego) wants them to go.
But when you are aware that you are mind then you attend only to your state of mind. You maintain your peace by communing with Truth everyday and returning your mind to Truth throughout the day. When you are not at peace you look for your obstacles to peace, which you understand are thoughts in your mind. You bring them to Truth (Holy Spirit) to undo them. You understand that the personal self is not you but is only an effect of your mind. You merely observe it and its world from the peaceful center of your mind. You let its “life” unfold without judgment. And as an expression or your peaceful mind the personal self’s life unfolds harmoniously. When there is a decision to be made about the personal self you rest in Truth knowing that the answer will come when you need it. You simply know how to direct the personal self for its well-being.
Since behavior follows thought the behavior of the personal self in your awareness follows the thought system that you choose. As an effect of your mind, though, behavior is meaningless to inner peace. Inner peace comes only from an awareness of Truth. And behavior can look the same whether you are resting in Truth or identifying with a personal self. This is why if you want inner peace it makes no sense to attend to behavior. If you want inner peace then, yes, you want to attend only to the still, quiet Truth in your mind.

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Learn about The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, The ACIM Mentor Articles, and 4 Habits for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.

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