How does one answer this question? The Course in Miracles says this world of perception was made as a denial to the existence of God, or more perfectly stated "the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not." In a more bold statement, the Course says that this world was made as an assault on God, a shocking disclosure if it is true. Let's assume for a moment that this premise is true. If this is accurate, then the question cannot be answered by anything in this world. No document or text, experiment or miracle can prove that God exists. However, if you look at the suffering in the world you could postulate that God cannot exist, especially one of pure Love. If God created the world out of his love, and if He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, then you cannot explain the presence of evil. For no God that is all powerful, all wise, all present, all good and all Love could create a world whose magnitude of insanity and viciousness is staggering. So if God did create this world, then one or more of the attributes of God must be missing and you could explain evil, but then we would not have a perfect God.
And if the Course's statements are true, the classical arguments that God does or does not exist can go on forever within this world without any resolution. To resolve the good vs evil issue, I must turn to another of the Course's statement: "The world as you perceive it cannot have been created by the Father, for the world is not as you see it. God created only the eternal, and everything you see is perishable. Therefore, there must be another world that you do not see." This is another startling revelation if it is true. Let's assume for the moment that this is also true. In reference to our goal of deciding if God exists, then there must be a different world where evil does not exist and where God is indeed welcomed. The Course calls this different world "The Real World."
I said before that God so loved the world that He gave it to His only-begotten Son. God does love the real world, and those who perceive its reality cannot see the world of death. For death is not of the real world, in which everything reflects the eternal. God gave you the real world in exchange for the one you made out of your split mind, and which is the symbol of death. For if you could really separate yourself from the Mind of God you would die. (T 222) [207]
The real world was given you by God in loving exchange for the world you made and the world you see. (T 235) [219]
The world you perceive is a world of separation. Perhaps you are willing to accept even death to deny your Father. Yet He would not have it so, and so it is not so. You still cannot will against Him, and that is why you have no control over the world you made. It is not a world of will because it is governed by the desire to be unlike God, and this desire is not will. The world you made is therefore totally chaotic, governed by arbitrary and senseless "laws," and without meaning of any kind. For it is made out of what you do not want, projected from your mind because you are afraid of it. Yet this world is only in the mind of its maker, along with his real salvation. Do not believe it is outside of yourself, for only by recognizing where it is will you gain control over it. For you do have control over your mind, since the mind is the mechanism of decision. (T 222) [207]
If you will recognize that all the attack you perceive is in your own mind and nowhere else, you will at last have placed its source, and where it begins it must end. For in this same place also lies salvation. The altar of God where Christ abideth is there. You have defiled the altar, but not the world. Yet Christ has placed the Atonement on the altar for you. Bring your perceptions of the world to this altar, for it is the altar to truth. There you will see your vision changed, and there you will learn to see truly. From this place, where God and His Son dwell in peace and where you are welcome, you will look out in peace and behold the world truly. Yet to find the place, you must relinquish your investment in the world as you project it, allowing the Holy Spirit to extend the real world to you from the altar of God. (T 223) [207]
The final conclusion is that it is pointless to try and prove the existence of God until we meet, accept and enter the realm of the "Real World." I'm still assuming that these premises are true and that there is a possibility that God exists. And if He does exist, how can we prove it if we are stuck in this world of insanity and refuse to abide by the conditions to enter the "Real World?" There must be another way.
When you return to your original form of communication with God by direct revelation, the need for miracles is over. (T 6) [4]
Olé! -- a breakthrough. We can restore our communication with God via revelation. And this is not constrained by the world as we see it. We don't even have to enter the "Real World" to experience it. But, an experience is required, because that is the nature of revelation. If this is true, then there really is a God, but it is going to take an experience to prove it. Here is where we have total control. It is up to us to decide if we really want to find out. If our mind is set against the notion that there is a God, then I doubt that any revelation will be forced upon our thoughts. But, if we take an objective approach to this question and if there is such a thing as revelation, then we open ourselves up to invite such an experience in.
I'm going to share an experience, not to prove anything, but to simply share. Studying the Course for 10+ years gave me glimpses that there was a possibility that God exists, but no proof. God, then, was just another belief system I hoped was true. I did not have an experience of revelation proving God's existence, but I did have an experience of remembering Him. This fell quite short of revelation but was enough to prove to me that there really is a God.
Lying on my back in one of my rare moments of depression -- and I say this with humor -- I was catapulted into a different factuality. It started with Jesus. Knowing what the Course says about Jesus, I decided to ask him for help. I reached out my hand in a symbolic gesture and simply said, with deep sincerity, "help." I immediately lost awareness of my body and was immersed in what seemed like pure thought. My mind suddenly expanded and was continuing to expand, moving towards something while encompassing the universe in its path. During the expansion, an astonishing awareness moved in. I was approaching the moment of my creation by God and started to remember that instant when God created me. More than just remembering, I was actually returning to the exact origin or moment of my creation. However, before I reached the threshold of my creation, the expansion abruptly stopped with a message: "You cannot continue until you let go of the following desires." Appearing in my mind was a list of about eight earthly desires that I solemnly cherished, of which sex was at the top of the list. My hidden thoughts were completely exposed but I felt no judgment on them. There was no fear. I was in a state of observable peace. It felt holy. I looked at the list and could not let them go. I still wanted to experience these desires. In that instant, it felt like invisible arms reached out, surrounded my entire mind's expansion and squeezed it gently back into my body. I opened my eyes and repeatedly echoed the experience, "Oh my God, you did create me." "Oh my God, you did create me. . . ."
A minute later, I closed my eyes to ponder the experience, but did not have time to do so. The expansion immediately started again, reaching the same exact point as before with the same message. And I made the same decision as before. The experience of returning was identical to the first -- those invisible arms. I did not get a third chance, and to this day have never been given a third chance. One afterglow of the experience was that I was not judged for closing down a possible revelation. However, the experience left no doubt in my mind who created me -- it was for me absolute proof, a simple remembering.
Choosing through the Holy Spirit will lead you to the Kingdom. You create by your true being, but what you are you must learn to remember. (T 110) [102]
I often deliberated, without self condemnation, on what would have happened had I let go of these desires. I was just beginning to remember my creation, but instead rejected the opportunity to know. A rejection that proclaimed that my earthly desires were more important than wanting to know who I was or who God was. In essence, I was rejecting both my true Self and God, the ultimate rejection. Had I continued, perhaps I would have joined my Spirit as God created it. Is it really that simple, the process of remembering who we are?
The perfect equality of the Holy Spirit's perception is the reflection of the perfect equality of God's knowing. The ego's perception has no counterpart in God, but the Holy Spirit remains the bridge between perception and knowledge. By enabling you to use perception in a way that reflects knowledge, you will ultimately remember it. The ego would prefer to believe that this memory is impossible, yet it is your perception the Holy Spirit guides. Your perception will end where it began. Everything meets in God, because everything was created by Him and in Him. (T 97) [90]
Only those who give over all desire to reject can know that their own rejection is impossible. You have not usurped the power of God, but you have lost it. Fortunately, to lose something does not mean that it has gone. It merely means that you do not remember where it is. Its existence does not depend on your ability to identify it, or even to place it. It is possible to look on reality without judgment and merely know that it is there. (T 48) [43]
Nothing can prevail against a Son of God who commends his spirit into the Hands of his Father. By doing this the mind awakens from its sleep and remembers its Creator. All sense of separation disappears. The Son of God is part of the Holy Trinity, but the Trinity Itself is one. There is no confusion within Its Levels, because They are of one Mind and one Will. This single purpose creates perfect integration and establishes the peace of God. Yet this vision can be perceived only by the truly innocent. Because their hearts are pure, the innocent defend true perception instead of defending themselves against it. Understanding the lesson of the Atonement they are without the wish to attack, and therefore they see truly. This is what the Bible means when it says, "When He shall appear (or be perceived) we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (T 39) [35]
In summary, there a is God, but the proof lies in remembering Him.
(T 162) [151]Ultimately everyone must remember the Will of God, because ultimately everyone must recognize himself. This recognition is the recognition that his will and God's are one. In the presence of truth, there are no unbelievers and no sacrifices. . . . God is Love and you do want Him. This is your will. Ask for this and you will be answered, because you will be asking only for what belongs to you.
The original question has been answered in my mind at this point. There really is a God, at least for me. And we need not go any further with this. However, there are some other issues that cannot or should not end here. All I did was ask Jesus for help. I did not ask him to send me on a journey to find myself or to discover the true nature of God. I simply wanted to end my gloom. At the time, I felt Jesus facilitated this experience to end my despondency. However it goes much deeper than that. He was calling me to remember God. And why is remembering God so critical? Perhaps this can explain it much better than I.
The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God. The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do. Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? Jesus remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as true. And Christ needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions. (M 87) [83]
It means that in remembering Jesus you are remembering God. The whole relationship of the Son to the Father lies in him. His part in the Sonship is also yours, and his completed learning guarantees your own success. Is he still available for help? What did he say about this? Remember his promises, and ask yourself honestly whether it is likely that he will fail to keep them. Can God fail His Son? And can one who is one with God be unlike Him? Who transcends the body has transcended limitation. Would the greatest teacher be unavailable to those who follow him? (M 58) [55]
The Course is filled with Jesus reminders. But my experience was also trying to teach me something else that was noted in the above paragraph: "Who transcends the body has transcended limitation." I was not aware of my body during this journey; only my mind. My thoughts were powerful and it was up to me to exercise this power by making a decision on what I wanted. I was almost face to face with God, but the final decision to meet God was mine to make. Not even Jesus or God could override my final decision. The following are two of the most potent reminders of this power.
I was a man who remembered spirit and its knowledge. I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body and the power of the mind. By uniting my will with that of my Creator, I naturally remembered spirit and its real purpose. I cannot unite your will with God's for you, but I can erase all misperceptions from your mind if you will bring it under my guidance. Only your misperceptions stand in your way. Without them your choice is certain. Sane perception induces sane choosing. I cannot choose for you, but I can help you make your own right choice. "Many are called but few are chosen" should be, "All are called but few choose to listen." Therefore, they do not choose right. The "chosen ones" are merely those who choose right sooner. Right minds can do this now, and they will find rest unto their souls. God knows you only in peace, and this is your reality. (T 43) [39]
If you created God and He created you, the Kingdom could not increase through its own creative thought. Creation would therefore be limited, and you would not be co-creators with God. As God's creative Thought proceeds from Him to you, so must your creative thought proceed from you to your creations. Only in this way can all creative power extend outward. God's accomplishments are not yours, but yours are like His. He created the Sonship and you increase it. You have the power to add to the Kingdom, though not to add to the Creator of the Kingdom. You claim this power when you become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have learned to remember what you are. (T 112) [104]
Wow! Those two above paragraphs are astounding. If they are true, then we are the determiners. We have the power. We decide whether to accept or reject truth. We cannot decide what truth is if God created it, but only when or if we want it. This is something to really consider. In any event, I exercised this power and there was no judgment on my decision. Whatever I wanted was supported by Jesus and God, even if it was not appropriate or in my best interest. This is one of the finest attributes of God -- no condemnation, period.
Did my issues end here? Not quite. There was something else I was personally throwing away or rejecting by my decision to keep these earthly dependencies. I had already committed my life to teaching the Course so that some day I would awaken. That had been my only goal. I had no other, so I thought. After the experience I had to face one more actuality of what I had rejected. I rejected the ultimate teaching goal towards which I was committed. And perhaps this was what Jesus was trying to manifest through the experience.
There are those who have reached God directly, retaining no trace of worldly limits and remembering their own Identity perfectly. These might be called the Teachers of teachers because, although they are no longer visible, their image can yet be called upon. And they will appear when and where it is helpful for them to do so. To those to whom such appearances would be frightening, they give their ideas. No one can call on them in vain. Nor is there anyone of whom they are unaware. All needs are known to them, and all mistakes are recognized and overlooked by them. The time will come when this is understood. And meanwhile, they give all their gifts to the teachers of God who look to them for help, asking all things in their Name and in no other. (M 64) [61]
To this I would say, Amen. The expansion experience did end my state of unhappiness. I felt at peace even though I rejected my return to Spirit, a possible revelation and return to Heaven. During the expansion, I did not lose my identity and was perfectly cognizant of everything that was happening to me. There was a complete absence of fear and a knowingness of where I was going. The whole of the experience felt peaceful, natural, familiar and very gentle. I really cannot explain what the experience was like. This part of the Course comes close in its description:
Everyone has experienced what he would call a sense of being transported beyond himself. . . . It is a sense of actual escape from limitations. If you will consider what this "transportation" really entails, you will realize that it is a sudden unawareness of the body, and a joining of yourself and something else in which your mind enlarges to encompass it. It becomes part of you, as you unite with it. And both become whole, as neither is perceived as separate. What really happens is that you have given up the illusion of a limited awareness, and lost your fear of union. The love that instantly replaces it extends to what has freed you, and unites with it. And while this lasts you are not uncertain of your Identity, and would not limit It. You have escaped from fear to peace, asking no questions of reality, but merely accepting it. You have accepted this instead of the body, and have let yourself be one with something beyond it, simply by not letting your mind be limited by it. (T 387) [361]
This can occur regardless of the physical distance that seems to be between you and what you join; of your respective positions in space; and of your differences in size and seeming quality. Time is not relevant; it can occur with something past, present or anticipated. The "something" can be anything and anywhere; a sound, a sight, a thought, a memory, and even a general idea without specific reference. Yet in every case, you join it without reservation because you love it, and would be with it. And so you rush to meet it, letting your limits melt away, suspending all the "laws" your body obeys and gently setting them aside. (T 387) [361]
There is no violence at all in this escape. The body is not attacked, but simply properly perceived. It does not limit you, merely because you would not have it so. You are not really "lifted out" of it; it cannot contain you. You go where you would be, gaining, not losing, a sense of Self. In these instants of release from physical restrictions, you experience much of what happens in the holy instant; the lifting of the barriers of time and space, the sudden experience of peace and joy, and, above all, the lack of awareness of the body, and of the questioning whether or not all this is possible. (T 387) [361]
It is possible because you want it. The sudden expansion of awareness that takes place with your desire for it is the irresistible appeal the holy instant holds. It calls to you to be yourself, within its safe embrace. There are the laws of limit lifted for you, to welcome you to openness of mind and freedom. Come to this place of refuge, where you can be yourself in peace. Not through destruction, not through a breaking out, but merely by a quiet melting in. For peace will join you there, simply because you have been willing to let go the limits you have placed upon love, and joined it where it is and where it led you, in answer to its gentle call to be at peace. (T 388) [361]
Even with my experience, I cannot prove to anyone that there is a God, nor do I wish to do so. However, I can make some suggestion on how you can prove it to yourself. First, be objective. Decide on a state of mind where you don't know whether God exists or not. This frees you from judgment and interpretations of what God is or isn't. Second, be willing to be shown. Ask God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit to show you. They will not fail in this request if you are sincere. I suspect there are many ways and many experiences that can be brought to your awareness to show you truth, including vision: ". . . as we celebrate the beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to replace the unforgiven world you thought was real." (And if you get the same opportunity I did, please continue on to Heaven.) In summary the best advice I can give anyone on how to remember God is this:
Offer the Holy Spirit only your willingness to remember, for He retains the knowledge of God and of yourself for you, waiting for your acceptance. Give up gladly everything that would stand in the way of your remembering, for God is in your memory. His Voice will tell you that you are part of Him when you are willing to remember Him and know your own reality again. Let nothing in this world delay your remembering of Him, for in this remembering is the knowledge of yourself. (T 183) [170]
To remember is merely to restore to your mind what is already there. You do not make what you remember; you merely accept again what is already there, but was rejected. The ability to accept truth in this world is the perceptual counterpart of creating in the Kingdom. God will do His part if you will do yours, and His return in exchange for yours is the exchange of knowledge for perception. Nothing is beyond His Will for you. But signify your will to remember Him, and behold! He will give you everything but for the asking. (T 183) [170] Listen, and you will learn how to remember what you are. (T 191) [178]
No one who learns to forgive can fail to remember God. Forgiveness, then, is all that need be taught, because it is all that need be learned. All blocks to the remembrance of God are forms of unforgiveness, and nothing else. . . . The world has martialed all its forces against this one awareness, for in it lies the ending of the world and all it stands for. (P 5)
And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete. (W 485) [475]
It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His Own completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God, and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace. And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him. (W 485) [475]
"Father, I did not make myself, although in my insanity I thought I did. Yet, as Your Thought, I have not left my Source, remaining part of Who created me. Your Son, my Father, calls on You today. Let me remember You created me. Let me remember my Identity. And let my sinlessness arise again before Christ's vision, through which I would look upon my brothers and myself today." (W 424) [414]
GK, Sacramento"Let me remember I am one with God,
At one with all my brothers and my Self,
In everlasting holiness and peace." (W 224) [219]