A Course in Miracles, p. 457 (following Lesson 330), "What Is the Ego?":
"The ego is idolatry … It is the 'will' that sees the Will of God as enemy … The ego is insane … It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies, who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them … Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light … And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His Dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with Him."
Gloria to God:
Dear Almighty Father, Christ sure knows how to say things.
God:
As do you.
Gloria:
No, dear Father, I don't. I'm like an idiot savant who can play the piano or add numbers, and that's all he can do. I can write Your words.
God:
And you give love. And and and, Gloria. Ego-less does not mean self-effacing. Without ego, you and I exist as One. And that's it. That is Truth. I exist in you, so know your worth so that others may know theirs.
Gloria:
Thank You, dear God. I think high blood pressure must come from the ego.
God:
Not from Me!
Gloria:
I think control is synonymous with the ego. Control is holding on for dear life, imprisoning freedom. Control seems necessary when we have forgotten You.
God:
It can only be that. I am the Doer, but I am not a Controller. I am the Father. You want to give as much freedom as I do. People are free to learn, and learning is living. Controlling is not living. Limiting is not living; it is limiting.
Gloria:
If I truly had faith in You, I would have inner peace instead of inner tension.
God:
Yes.
Gloria:
Yesterday, dear God, Mother Divine suggested I give extra love. There were two small examples. At My Lucky Day Resale Shop, I asked someone if she would like me to help her fold a sari.
The other was on the Square. An older lady with a cane couldn't get over the icy snowbank. I helped her and put money in the meter for her. She was so grateful.
But, dear God, I did not find a way to give my daughter an extra dollop of love.
God:
Perhaps today you will find a way to.
Gloria:
Karen called me yesterday as a girlfriend, just to talk. But there was nevertheless some wisdom she gave me.
When there is acceptance, there is no need to control. When we don't accept, we judge, and then we impose.
God:
I teach you to accept, to forgive what you have not accepted, to leave everything as it is except to lay My love on it.
Gloria:
To accept others as they are.
God:
Yes. Love them as they are.
Gloria:
Accepts their hurts, to themselves, and to me?
God:
But no one hurts you but you with your thoughts. If your daughter makes a mistake, and you are hurt by it, you have chosen to be hurt by it. That was your choice. You thought her choices had something to with you when her choices have to do with her.
There are no victims. If one prefers to see himself in a victim way, he can. Or he can see himself as a hero.
And neither is quite accurate. The hero was one who chose to give more love. The victim was one who turned himself inward, crouched his love, and invited more beatings. Whom did the victim victimize?
Gloria:
I understand what you are saying until I come back to Nazi Germany, the victims and victimizers there. I remember in The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom's sister who was an angel/saint, worried about the brutal Nazis, how would they deal with what they had done after the war. She saw them as unfortunate victims. I can see that they were swept up in a powerful onslaught as well. At the same time, I don't.
God:
Man's inhumanity to man is the ego. If man did not see the "other", he would see no enemies and see no reason for hate or attack. It was the drops of love, however, that saved the world. There is no other power.
On a small scale, when you are at odds with your daughter, you become a Nazi who has seen cause to take over and control and dispute and try to change things by moving parts and pieces of yours lives around.
The only thing that will change anything is love, not forced or imitated, but love itself, no matter from what distance, no matter how rusty.
Love, framed in a thought, will change the perceived world. And you can do it. You are My stock, and you can make miracles with love. Those are the only miracles there are.
Gloria to Mother Divine:
Dear Mother Divine, what love do you wish to speak of today?
Mother Divine:
There is only one love, and I will speak of that, God's love perpetuated in human beings. some love held in fists, and some spread upon the earth. Some hammered, and some melted. Some frozen, some freed. Some bubbling, some encased in a vault. Some love blazing.
I think I will tell you to be cautionless with love. By cautionless, I mean proliferate the gift of love, not consider, not use your head but give out love like a million dollars you had had to spend today. How easy it is to spend love when you can do it without reservation. That is what I am trying to say. Ship love out as fast as you can. Ship it to cities, to countries, to names, to everyone.
Send love out in a bottle on the sea, and see who picks it up. Mass-mailings of love. Direct mail love.
Think of love as a huge marvelous fountain of pure water. Consider yourself that fountain. You stand, and all this pure God's love flows through you and splashes out. Whoever wishes can drink this love, drink from this fountain of love, and again and again. And you are a happy fountain, pouring out God's love for all.
Fountains know they are made of pipes and pumps. They know the pure water goes through them but is not of their making. They know they are not the Source of it.
It costs you nothing to spend love God's way. And to receive it the same.
Today look for ways to look on yourself with love, to spend God's love on yourself, to swim in His fount of love and splash yourself with it.
God's fount of love is in this day. Consider this day of sunshine as God's love pouring out. It pours out for you. Embrace this day and yourself by accepting God's love for you and carrying it proudly and deservedly, giving it the honor it's due.
This is God's day. Love in it.
Later…
Gloria to God:
Dear Almighty Father, thank You for everything You tell me. Please tell me more!
God:
Dearest Gloria, you are replete with Me today. As you typed My words, they ran into your bloodstream. You are absorbing My words. You may not remember them, but they are becoming part of you and filling your angel cells with light.
Gloria:
Nancy sent me a great email, how Your words really help her. In a particular work situation she was resenting, she heard You tell her to give love, and she did, and the situation was much easier for her.
God:
I want to make it easier for My children. And I know the way.
Gloria to Mother Divine:
Dear Mother Divine, what you like to tell me tonight?
Mother Divine:
Do your meditation. You do not need to ask me to speak every morning and evening, and especially not when you feel tired. It is all right to skip a day or two. I don't mind. I don't feel neglected. And my love shines on you as brightly as the sun at day and the full moon at night and the Evening Star and all the stars and all the light there ever was. I love you, and now do your program.