Some Implications of Predetermination

           I’ve written a great deal lately about how every thought, feeling, and action that occurs is predetermined, as consciousness is simply the expression as time of the moment of the idea of God’s opposite arising and simultaneously being undone. It’s as though someone said, “The theme is undoing. Now write a story…” So, I understand now that consciousness is what A Course in Miracles calls the Atonement. It is already accomplished and simply passes through this mind, much like when I watch a film, the action depicted has already occurred. (I do not mean that what unfolds before me in consciousness has occurred before. The idea it represents—the idea of not-God arising and simultaneously being undone—is over. What is cancelled as it arises never occurs.)

Some have found comfort in the awareness of predetermination, as they see now why guilt is impossible. They also feel release from pressure to attain awakening, or frankly anything else. They can just be and let things unfold as they will, knowing they cannot fail.

Others cannot understand and find arguments against what I have written. This is understandable to me, as I could not understand the idea that everything is predetermined until I saw it for myself. This awareness came slowly, over stages, as I rose in consciousness. I do not ask anyone to accept an idea that they cannot see for themselves. This will only lead to internal conflict. In any case, whatever you do see now is exactly what you are to see now and is perfect.

In fact, the way I see consciousness now is like a garden blooming before me. Each mind in consciousness is a blossom in the garden, expressing the Atonement perfectly, whatever stage it is in the Atonement: nearly all ego identified, ego identified but aware of Spirit to some degree, ego-identified but Spirit-centered, or Spirit-consciousness. Each blossom (mind) is exactly what it is supposed to be, could not occur in any other time or place, and will fall away when it has fulfilled its expression.

There is no individual soul or spirit, as individuality represents the idea to be undone in the Atonement. So, each mind in consciousness does not have to attain perfected consciousness. In a sense, all minds in consciousness awaken together as each plays its part in the Atonement that is consciousness.

Some minds represent the false idea in the Atonement and do not go beyond, remaining in ego-consciousness. Others become aware of Truth in ego-consciousness and apply the Atonement (forgive) repeatedly as they accept Spirit’s guidance. Still others shift beyond ego-consciousness to manifest the Atonement as Spirit-consciousness.

It is as though each mind is a piece in the picture puzzle that is the Atonement and therefore the Atonement is not whole without each piece being exactly what it needs to be to make the picture whole. (In this metaphor, the cardboard backing of each piece would be consciousness—the same behind each unique picture. Christ would be the table on which the puzzle resides.)

The simultaneous undoing of the idea of not-God as it arose is represented in consciousness as Spirit. So, consciousness has belonged to Spirit since it arose. Spirit is “in charge of” the Atonement. In fact, Spirit is the Atonement. This is why when in ego-consciousness It guided me, not just in my mind, but in practical matters in the world. It knew what was to happen and could save me time, energy, worry, etc. (I wish I understood this better at the time!)

Knowing that everything is predetermined does not change how I approach life in the world. I still feel the movement of the Atonement as motivation, desire, etc. What has changed is that I now know that is not me but is rather the Atonement passing through this mind. Nothing in consciousness occurs in a vacuum, but is part of a greater whole, So, I do not take it personally, or, really, I do not see me as a person to whom this occurs. I am not here to learn lessons. The person seems to do so, as part of the unfolding story of Atonement. But those lessons do not go beyond the Atonement. I am the mind watching error/correction pass in consciousness as consciousness itself passes through this mind.

This means ego is not a mistake or error. It is a false experience, representing the idea of not-God. Experiencing ego is part of the Atonement because it is the false idea to be undone. So, consciousness is always split between ego and Spirit. But, ego can go dormant in a mind. However, a mind in which this occurs still deals with ego as it interacts with the rest of consciousness.

I understand now that what I used to feel as desire or wanting, even after I knew that nothing in the material world would make me whole, was simply feeling what was to happen. For example, I wanted a life-partner, to own my own home, and to have a home-based business. All of those occurred, without me expecting them to bring me wholeness and happiness, but their attainment brought a feeling of fulfillment as they were the part this person I experience was to play in ego-consciousness.

Seeing now that consciousness is simply a completed story unfolding before me, I begin to see how judgment is unnecessary. In fact, it does not make sense! As the Course says, I’d have to see an unconceivably wide range of things, past, present, and to come to understand where anything in consciousness fits into the whole. I can now say comfortably, “I don’t know what this means” and “I will just watch this unfold” and “I will wait for the movement of the Atonement to know how to act.”

My experience of Spirit in ego-consciousness was an expression of the Atonement.  The practice which I discovered I used, which I called the 4 Habits for Inner Peace (a small book here), was an expression of the Atonement. These habits mitigated the discomfort of ego-consciousness by applying the Atonement (forgiveness). But they did not facilitate my rise in consciousness. Rather, they anticipated the shape it would take. None of this was “personal” or about any real “me,” but of course I could not see this in ego-consciousness, which was the idea the person was me rather than simply the passing experience of consciousness.

I used to feel I was to help my clients and readers attain Spirit-consciousness. Therefore, I felt ego-consciousness was an error to correct, rather than what was to be experienced as the Atonement passed through consciousness. Now I hear clients and readers telling me their part in the Atonement. I offer what I can now See, and for some this is helpful. Others do not see yet, and maybe never will, and I continue to meet them where they are, helping them mitigate the discomfort of ego-consciousness, if that is part of their expression of the Atonement.

My discussing consciousness as the Atonement may seem to imply something real is occurring. But in fact, it is seeing it as it is—an impossible idea—that helps me to dismiss it. As long as consciousness was a mystery, I wanted to solve it! I never expected to see predetermination and to understand consciousness as an expression, although it seems to me now the Course was telling me these things all along. The whole picture came in pieces over a long-unfolding rise in consciousness (and simultaneous winding down of ego identification), and its implications (and obviousness) continue to unfold through this mind. 

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