Lesson 1, Way of the Heart

Read Lesson 1 from Way of the Heart Now...

Lesson 2 - A Synopsis:

A synopsis of Lesson 2 from Way of the Heart: Communication and Creation

Now we begin...

What does Jeshua mean when he says "Now we begin..." at the beginning of each Lesson?

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The following is a synopsis from Way of the Heart, Lesson 1 - to read the actual lesson please click here, or go to extracts from the teachings, within read, watch and listen section of the website.

Note: Many people are searching for an alternative way to connect with Spirit because they are not finding fulfillment in their current practices. When first exposed to The Way of the Heart, some feel a bit uneasy. In fact, in my experience, the first reference to Jeshua, sends some running for the closest exit!  STOP! Don’t run away… Take a deep breath, read through Lesson One and see its deep and beautiful meaning.

Does it speak to your heart?

The Way of the Heart is nothing like you’ve ever experienced;

it can transform your life…

if you let it. Will you?

The lesson seems simple but there are some concepts that have very deep meaning and this synopsis is meant to help you reflect on them, so you can gain a greater understanding of Jeshua’s teachings.

Jeshua starts by telling us that the concept of “Christ” refers not to a person (e.g. Jeshua himself), but a state of being. The “Mind of Christ” (or “Christ”) is a spark of Divine Light; the offspring (the Son—no gender reference here but just an indication of Father-sibling relationship) of God; an extension of God Himself, so intrinsically connected to the Father that it is impossible to tell where the Father ends and the “Son” or “Christ” begins. [There will be more discussion throughout the Way of the Heart about the meaning of “Christ” but let this be the basic meaning for now.]

A key principle or axiom that Jeshua presents in this first lesson (in other words “a key to enlightenment”) is that WE create our reality; that we are NEVER a victim of the world (or of another person, or of life’s circumstances). He tells us we are powerful creators and therefore we can change our life’s circumstances if we so choose. But this requires “deliberate” creation; rather than our usual creation through fear or without awareness. When something in your life is not working out, realize that it is YOU (not God) who is creating this… Observe it, and then choose deliberately to change whatever you no longer like/need/wish to have in your life. This is, without a doubt, one of the hardest concepts Jeshua teaches us! It crushes our reliance on God as the source of our problems/suffering/ challenges (and our reliance on His power to solve them!) and places the responsibility right in front of us. If you can reflect on this without fear or apprehension, think of what an amazing gift this is! It means that you are powerful enough to change whatever it is that no longer serves you; whatever is making you feel unhappy, empty, dissatisfied… whatever. It means that instead of praying to God for help, you can take charge yourself, and simply

ask Jeshua to support you, as a good friend supports another.

Another important concept introduced in this lesson is judgment. Jeshua (read this also to mean God) is never in judgment of us—but we are always judging our creations; lour life’s circumstances and the people in them and, of course, ourselves! We can choose to continue being unhappy, creating challenge after challenge in our lives and God will continue loving us just the same—not judgment at all. Or, we can choose to become the presence of Christ in the world and accept that we are unlimited and powerful. What’s amazing is that instead of judging our creation (the mean boss, the difficult parent in-law, the lack of money to pay our bills), we could simply observe what we have created or brought into our reality with innocent curiosity (Oh, wow, it is me who is causing this suffering. How about that? Jeshua says I can choose differently…Hmmm… Do I dare do that?).

The understanding of “judgment” is fundamental to Jeshua’s teachings. It is OUR judgment of the self and others that causes our suffering. Nothing of this world (this “reality” where the physical body abides) can ever diminish the fact that we are infinite, limitless and innocent children of God. Nothing… But until we can accept that Truth, we are perfectly free to suffer and judge ourselves. God will never take our freedom away from us.

Throughout The Way of the Heart, Jeshua constantly encourages us to “play.” He loves  playfulness and says that

“seriousness” within the mind is the creation of the ego.

In reality, it is only through the innocence and playfulness of a child that we can look at the unloving things we have done without judgment. He tells us that instead of denying our “dark side” we can simply look at what we have done or what we have suffered with the innocence of a child, with the curiosity of a child, with the wonder of a child and say “Oh, how about that! I created it!” Only when we can do that, when we are able to look at our mess without judging ourselves or others, can we transcend the things we have created in error (in fear or in the belief we are separate from God).  So, The Way of the Heart “does not know blame”. It allows you to watch your creations, recognize them, like you might recognize the dark clouds that pass through the sky, knowing that the clouds (your actions, thoughts, and fears) never affect the purity of the sky (who you are). As Jeshua says, along pathway that leads us to The Way of the Heart,

“you are going to learn how to shake hands

with the devil, and do a little jig with him,

and recognize his face to be your own.

For when you can dance with the darkness

that you have created,

that darkness is transformed into an angel.”

Another important concept in this lesson is the idea of “who we are.” Jeshua says we are “The thought of Perfect Love in form… a vehicle through which that Love of Spirit (God) can shine forth.” So our purpose in this life, then, is simply to remove the obstacles that impede God’s love from shining through us. How we choose to extend God’s Love into the world is up to us.

Jeshua says that our physical reality (the one we perceive with the body) is simply the effect of where (or what) we choose to focus our attention or perception. It is our “identification” (our attachment) to whatever we perceive that creates our reality. For instance, many people view the 2004 Asian tsunami as a disaster. But Jeshua says that all events (ALL EVENTS!) are neutral. So, an “enlightened” person may think that the tsunami was a way for the earth to receive an infusion of compassion to counter the negative energy that the ongoing wars had generated. Yet another person can perceive the same event as the result of global warming and another might perceive it as punishment from God for our sins and so on…  Jeshua would perceive the tsunami as a perfectly neutral event, since none of the 200,000+ people who perished really died—we live on forever and nothing of this world can diminish us in any way! Jeshua says these perceptions are simply a result of where we choose to focus our attention. [This is another concept that many will have a difficult time accepting. It’s okay. You don’t have to accept it now… or ever. But consider opening your mind and realizing that what Jeshua means is that when we are aware of our infinite and divine nature (as Jeshua was), we see/perceive things I a completely different way than when we choose to interpret things through our ego.

Jeshua says that we live under the illusion that we are separate from God. That God is “up there” and we are “down here.” But He says that we reside inside the Mind of God. We can NEVER be apart from God! It is impossible—we cannot change what God created us to be: an extension of Himself. Instead, we have simply chosen to perceive this physical world as our only “reality.” But in truth, ONLY GOD IS REAL. Everything else we experience in this physical realm is our creation. And God is perfectly okay with us creating this “reality.” [Refer to the introduction to The Way of the Heart distinction of reality with a small “r” and Reality with a big “R.”]

In this lesson Jeshua also refers to the idea of “specialness.” This is the idea that if we are “good” and make progress toward enlightenment God will love us because he will realize how “special” we are. Jeshua says specialness is a trap of the ego. God loves us even if we choose to remain unenlightened; even if we choose to never acknowledge Him!

Jeshua encourages us to abandon all these pretenses and surrender our ego. This involves “returning to the simplicity of empty-headedness and not-knowingness.”

What does this mean?

The ego would like us to believe that if we do certain things (pray, be good, be spiritual, never desire wealth, deny our sexuality), we can be accepted or forgiven by God. The ego would like us to believe that there are certain attributes we must have to be “worthy” of God’s Love (kindness, forgiveness, detachment from material things). The ego would like us to believe that our return to the Father is predicated on things we must do or know (renounce wealth, renounce the flesh, accept God, be good). In truth, Jeshua says “we need do NOTHING.” This is what empty- headedness and not-knowingness means. We surrender our need to control and fix things and simply accept that “my Father does everything through me.” This also means we accept that we need do nothing to Loved by God. Our Father allows us the freedom to be the saint or the sinner; the victim or the tormentor because He knows nothing of this world can change, affect or diminish who we are—because everything of this world is happening only within our mind. [Another tough concept to accept!]

One of the most powerful concepts in this lesson is Jeshua’s statement:

“What if the very things you are resisting

[or are causing your suffering]

are the very stepping stones to your homecoming?” 

In other words, what if everything we hate about our lives is exactly what we need to find our way to God?  Interestingly, He also says that the way Home involves “accepting with humility that you’ve created quite a mess within your consciousness. You’ve created a labyrinth and gotten lost within it, and you don’t know the way back—that of yourself you can do nothing.”

These two statements seem to contradict each other, but they do not. See, it is the “mess” we have created in our lives (or the things we don’t like and make us unhappy) which sometimes open our hearts to seeking our way back to God (hence the horrible marriage, the abusive boss is our pathway to enlightenment). So Jeshua suggests embracing all things—even the ones we hate—because they are the way back to Love. But at the same time, once we realize that what we have created circumstances in our lives that make us suffer, we don’t have to figure out how to “fix” them. We can simply surrender everything to God and recognize that only He can make things right. And so in a wonderful paradox Jeshua says that

“in the end of all journeying,

in the end of all “purification”

—and, indeed, purification is still necessary—

you will discover that to awaken

means to have journeyed nowhere.”

In other words, we created a mess, got lost in it, had many painful experiences and when we surrendered to God realized that despite all our incarnations and experiences we never left the Mind of God; we had gone nowhere except within our minds. [I know… this is mind blowing!] This is why Jeshua says that “awakening is only remembrance.” This means that awakening is remembering that we have always been safe, next to God.  [By the way, by “purification” Jeshua means that we have to let go of the idea that you are separate from God.]

In Lesson One, we receive two very powerful exercises: 

1.    Every morning, when you open your eyes and wake up, what is your first thought?  Make it, if possible, “I am my Father are One; what shall I create today?”  And then take brief moment to create the kind of day you wish to have.

2.    Every night, before falling asleep, take stock of your day.  Reflect briefly on your judgments, instances where you failed to act out of Love and relapsed into fear. Think of the times when you caught yourself and rectified and shifted your awareness—from fear to Love; from judgment to forgiveness.  Then, bless the day and declare it over and see “that it was good.”