Our framing of a situation determines our experience of it and is where both our power in this world and our sole responsibility rest, because this is where Atonement will be accepted by ourselves, or not. If we are experiencing sadness, hurt, sickness, confusion, anger, shame, fear, guilt, or lack of Love and of the Good in any way in any given moment this means that we’re in the world of illusions because these things don’t exist in Reality. Being aware that we’re experiencing some form of fear or lack is the prerequisite for moving out of that world. This experience of lack or fear simply means that we are not aware that we are actually in the Presence of Love forever.
Per the diagram above, the Atonement, which undoes all illusions including the belief in time and space, encompasses both the world of illusions, where It is needed, and the real world, where It has been received. The transition between the world of illusions and the real world is in the current moment, which when Atonement is applied to it becomes the Holy Instant—the Presence of Love.
It may require us to “sort out” what is happening in ourselves in a given moment or situation to become clear when we’re not experiencing the Peace, Joy, and complete confidence in the Perfection of the moment that are the Heralds of the Presence of Love, so that in such moments we must be experiencing illusion—some form of lack of Love and therefore fear. This lack could manifest as anything from mild boredom or irritation to a full-blown episode of emotional upset. Once we are aware that we are experiencing some form of lack or fear, and therefore that our consciousness is in the world of illusions, our next step in allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment is to create a space in ourselves where we can forgive and become aware of the Presence of Love, i.e., where we can attune with the Divine. Creating this sacred space is really inviting, intending, and being willing for Grace to come to us in that moment, and when Grace comes to us this turns the moment into the Holy Instant, the transition between the world of illusions and the real world. In this quiet space of attunement that we have created, in which the Holy Instant that we have invited comes into our sense of presencing, we go through a process of forgiving ourselves and others in order to return to Reality from illusion. Four major parts to this forgiving process can be identified and practiced to transform dissonance into Harmony:
- First we ask Spirit to receive our hurt (anger, shame, confusion, etc.), which we do not try to keep shamefully hidden in the shadow in our psyches as the ego would bid us do, but which we willingly lift into the Light. We ask in return to receive Spirit’s Interpretation and Perspective of the situation in place of our own. This is the most difficult and important step of all, because it involves letting go of our insistence on framing and fixing the situation in our own terms. When we become able to do that, our successful entry back into Reality from the darkness of our woundedness is on its way.
- We then ask Divine Essence to set right all mistakes and wrongs we believe are bringing about the dissonant situation as we have been experiencing it, through our giving all mistakes – ours and all others’ – to Atonement for Correction, and in return accepting Atonement’s Perfection for ourselves.
- From within the Grace of Atonement we ask the Bringer of Miracles to resolve the lack that we’re experiencing, in whatever form, through the receiving of a miracle and the healing that this brings.
- Finally we ask for Strength to trust Spirit and Its “Atonement Team” to take it from there, which includes lifting all outcomes to the Unfathomable Presence beyond all appearances and seeming.
It may be found that going through these basic steps one time is only enough to loosen our fixed mindset about how wrong or “messed up” a situation is. And the situation is certainly wrong from the framework that is generating an experience other than Peace. Spirit understands that in our experience of the world everything isn’t always perfect, for if it were then Atonement wouldn’t be needed. The point is that Spirit can use everything, even situations that in our experience are wrong or unacceptable, to awaken us to Perfection.
Thus, if we find that we are still upset (irritated, hurt, angry, filled with shame, etc.) after going through the steps of allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment, then another round may be needed. This will be using time as it is intended—for awakening. We shouldn’t need to repeat the first two steps, since our upsetness has already been recognized, and we are hopefully still in a quiet place where we can attune with Spirit. So moving straight to the next steps, we acknowledge our unpleasant feelings again (rather than keeping them hidden because we are ashamed of them) and ask Spirit to receive them; we ask again to receive Spirit’s Interpretation and Perspective in place of our own; and we ask that all “wrongs” we are certain are bringing about the situation be set right by giving them to Atonement.
At this point we may simply need to expand our attention away from the situation and problem at hand to other aspects of experience available to us in the moment. If, for example, we just traveled a distance to take care of something needing attention only to find that we don’t have what we need to complete the task, and we are disappointed or angry with ourselves or someone else or even with Spirit at the waste of time and resources that have resulted in the unsuccessful experience, we can expand our awareness outward from this focus of dissatisfaction until we find something about the experience that we can be grateful for. Maybe we were able to take care of something else while out. Maybe we observed something beautiful while we traveled that we wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. Maybe we are just grateful that we are capable of traveling. We can certainly be grateful that we are beginning to claim the inner freedom and flexibility to be able to properly use our power of framing to transform situations and experiences. We should continue expanding our focus away from the perceived problem until we can feel genuine gratitude about something in our field of awareness.
Once we are able to feel gratitude, then we may be able at least to suspend our judgment that the situation is wrong. At this point we may be able to receive Spirit’s Interpretation and Perspective of the experience, which may be an insight as to why it happened, even if this was simply to give us the opportunity to grow. This shift in our inner landscape is itself a miracle and may be enough to resolve the lack of Love that we experienced in whatever form in our original framing of the situation or experience. At some point in engaging these steps of allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment we will hopefully begin to feel a deep sense of Peace, which indicates that we are entering into Reality again, into being aware of the Presence of Love, into the Holy Instant.
The Peace of Spirit is what we’re ultimately always seeking in every situation and experience in our lives. As one Workbook lesson theme and its commentary state: “‘I want the Peace of the Divine.’ To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. If you could truly mean them for just an Instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form, in any place or time. Heaven would completely return to full awareness, Memory of the Divine entirely restored, and the Resurrection of all Creation fully recognized.” The review of this same lesson is equally touching: “The Peace of the Divine is everything I want. The Peace of the Divine is my one goal, the aim of all my living here. It is the end I seek – my purpose and my function and my life – while I abide in a place that is not my Home.” And Peace can only come where It is invited. It can only be where gratitude is.
These steps of how attunement and Atonement work in the moment can be seen to be another expression of the steps of undoing described previously in detail in this overview of the Worldview of the Course, applied to the moment rather than in the context of the journey of awakening as a whole. Becoming aware that we’re experiencing lack because we’re not experiencing Love is equivalent to acknowledging that there may be more to the world, in this case to the situation, than what we’re aware of. Creating a space in ourselves and in the situation where we can forgive and become aware of the Presence of Love – i.e. where we can attune – is equivalent to acknowledging that there must be a better way to live and relate, in this case to live and relate to the situation at hand. Asking Spirit to receive our hurt, and asking to receive Spirit’s Interpretation and Perspective of the situation in place of our own, are true acts of giving and receiving—giving what we don’t want to the Holy Spirit so we can receive what we do want. These first four steps together are equivalent to the first step in the larger undoing process, the hardest to do because they reverse the direction that the mind was taking into illusion. They move us out of confusion into a genuine humbleness and gratitude as we begin experiencing the moment becoming miraculous and flowing.
Asking that all mistakes we believe are bringing about the situation be set right by giving them to Atonement is equivalent to the second step in undoing – dissolving conflict – in this case the conflict that focusing on mistakes always results in. Asking the Bringer of Miracles – Divine Essence and the author of the Course – to resolve the lack that we’re experiencing in whatever form through providing a miracle is equivalent to the third step in undoing—the undoing of fear. Fear arises from our misthought, our erroneous framing and interpretation of situations and experiences. The miracle results from our being in our right mind if even for an instant and thus free of judgment and of fear. We are creating this Instant of being in our right mind and thus free from judgment and fear through this process of allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment.
The final step in inviting attunement and Atonement to work in the moment, that of trusting Spirit and Its Team to take care of everything involved in the situation to transform it into Truth and Reality, is equivalent to the fourth and final step in the overall undoing process, the undoing of guilt. For by following these steps of allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment, and turning things over to Spirit, we relinquish all concern about how the situation will work out in its details, including any guilt associated with our limited perspective about how things should be.
This series of steps of presencing and attuning to Love requires faith in something far greater than ourselves alone to bring us into Reality again. Without this faith the process is put on hold. “The Power set in you, in whom the Holy Spirit’s Goal has been established, is so far beyond your little conception of the Infinite that you have no idea how great the Strength that goes with you. And you can use this in perfect Safety. Yet for all this Strength’s Might, so great that It reaches past the stars and to the Universe that is beyond them, your little faithlessness can make It useless, if you choose to use faithlessness instead.” Our faith in this Something Greater will be experienced as a softness in our heart and a pliancy in our mind and will to allow Spirit to work through us to transform all things, situations and experiences into the single Aim of awakening.
To summarize (per the diagram below), we know that we’re in the world of illusions whenever we’re not experiencing the Presence of Divine Love, because not to experience this Presence is an illusion, since It is everywhere. This Presence is experienced as Grace. When we respond to Grace by extending the forgiveness we have received from It to ourselves and to all our sisters and brothers, we set Atonement into motion in the moment. Miracles will flow from Atonement being set into motion in the moment. Miracles always lead to healing, and as our minds are healed we eventually learn to see. Revelation can come at any moment from the Bringer of Revelation, the Holy Spirit. When our minds are fully healed and we have returned completely to our original form of Communication with the Divine through revelation, our awakening is complete.
It can be observed through this perspective that our extending forgiveness to ourselves and all others in response to the Grace of having received this forgiveness ourselves is the key to allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment. Our setting the Atonement into motion through our forgiveness in the manner described is thus equivalent to Jesus originally setting the Atonement into motion in time through his forgiveness in the events that led to the Resurrection. Without our forgiveness in any given instant in which our forgiveness is needed – which will be whenever we aren’t at peace and filled with Joy – the Atonement Itself waits for us for It to be utilized on our immediate behalf.
Another perspective of this process of how attunement and Atonement work in the moment can be seen in the diagram above. The Creation is Grace, and contains Everything, including forgiveness for what never happened in Reality. We accept this forgiveness by extending it to everyone and everything in the world of perception. This transforms the world of illusions into the real world, and sets Atonement into motion in the moment. From Atonement miracles ray forth for every need that is perceived. As each miracle is received, healing – the fulfilling of a perceived need with the perfect Abundance to meet that need – occurs and gratitude naturally results. As this healing and gratitude accumulate, the blocks to Vision are removed, and seeing takes place. At this point in our journey we are at the Gate of Heaven and await the Divine reaching to us and translating us into our true Home, which is the fulfillment of awakening. At any holy instant in our journey of awakening revelation can be received by us from Holy Spirit directly from Grace.
Setting Atonement into motion in the moment welcomes and thus brings about the Holy Instant, which is the Presence of Love as It is experienced in time. We will know that we have transitioned from the world of illusions into the Holy Instant and therefore into the real world through allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment when we experience the Attributes of the Presence of Love, including Peace, Joy, Abundance, and a sense of the Perfection of the moment.
As the separation in our minds mis-projected as an outside world was the start of time and of the world of illusions, the Holy Instant is the end of this world of illusions in that it transforms this world into the real world. And as the Holy Instant is the “gate” of the real world, and its start, the Gate of Heaven is the real world’s end, because the Gate of Heaven is where we are translated by the Divine Itself eternally into our true Home, the Realm of Heaven. The real world can be imagined as being composed of all the Holy Instants in which we and all our sisters and brothers have accepted Atonement through forgiving, attuning, and therefore presencing Love. One could say that these Holy Instants of allowing attunement and Atonement to work in the moment become the spiritual atmosphere of the real world, its light and warmth, its life force, which when created become available for everyone dwelling in that world to benefit from. This light, warmth and life force created by the Holy Instants filling the real world has one direction: the Gate of Heaven through which we enter the Realm of Heaven, our true Home!
As the real world becomes more and more filled with Holy Instants from everyone who is awakening, the power of the movement toward the Gate of Heaven will increasingly draw everyone and everything with it toward the final Goal. Just as the Holy Spirit’s single Goal of Awakening is the real world – the focal point of every Holy Instant transforming every seemingly separate situation into a unified experience of awakening – so the real world is also the journey of awakening itself, encompassing all our Holy Instants.
And ultimately what is it that we seek to awaken to? While the process of true creation, and the Realm of Heaven and everything in It, are beyond words, we can use words to point to what is beyond them. We can have confidence that our journey of the healing and integrating of our minds is to awaken to the Reality of the infinite Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Meaning of the Divine Family and of Its Home, the Realm of Heaven, and of the eternal Love, Life, Light, Knowledge, Innocence, Freedom, Harmony, and all the Divine Attributes of the Creator and Its perfect Creation. And to that we can truly say, Amen!