Chapter 1:  The Dream

Imagine yourself in God's arms. You have fallen asleep, and you begin to dream. Some dreams take you outside your home, others to different countries, and still others to different worlds. Yet, if you were to awaken, you would still find yourself in God's arms. Regardless of the dreams you created, regardless of what you chose to believe and experience in those dreams, regardless of how scared you were, or the words you chose to use, God watched over you with everlasting love, patience and peace.

Imagine yourself smiling as you watch your children sleep. So too does God watch over you with absolute love. Regardless of what you choose to see as true, regardless of how you view Him or dream of Him, He waits patiently for you to awaken. You might scream or kick Him, but He understands that you dream, and that you are simply reacting to a dream. He embraces you with perfect love and acceptance. He strokes your head, and although you sleep, you feel His love. And deep within, although you sleep, you are grateful for His love. My friend, you will awaken. And when you do, you will awaken to a place you have never left.

Some of you have a difficult time believing that God loves you unconditionally. You may look at your life, having experienced pain, guilt, anger, suffering, envy, lust and jealousy, and ask, "How could God really love me if I am all these things and more? How could God lovingly hold me in his arms while I experience such emotions?" Remember, God is looking at you while you sleep. He also knows what you are like when you are awake. (Yes, we are still talking about God, not Santa Claus.) He created you in His image. If you choose to believe God knows you not, then allow as true that God knows Himself. If He knows Himself, then he knows His image, and if He knows His image, then He at least knows the truth about you.

God knows who you have always been, even if you don't know who you are now. My friend, we dream, and in this dream we have made ourselves into characters who can experience emotions such as pain, guilt, anger, suffering, envy, lust and jealousy. Yet, dreams and illusions are, by their very nature, temporary. In fact, our dreams are but a blink of eternity's eyes. 

If you have not yet given birth to a son or a daughter, imagine creating such a being. Imagine the absolute love you would have for him or her. Now, imagine yourself suddenly judging or even hating this perfect creature because he or she chooses to blink. This is what many believe God could and is doing to us. Can you now begin to conceptualize the scale and magnitude of our illusions? God's love for us is changeless and eternal, and this life is a momentary blink in eternity's eyes. Would you judge or hate your child for blinking? Would God?

My friend, if God does not judge His creations, why would we ever want to judge them? God loves His creations, and if we do anything but love His creations, we will have a feeling of separation. The opposite of love is fear, and fear is manifested through judgment. Judgment is the basis for separation, which is the ego's goal. When we judge a brother or sister, be it in thought or action, we create a sense of separation, which then results in feelings of guilt. Inwardly, we feel guilty because we judge what God loves and sees as perfect. If we judge God’s child, then, by definition, we have judged ourselves. If we judge ourselves without knowing that we are doing so, then we create confusion. Once we experience enough confusion we create a chaotic state.

A life lived in chaos and confusion will not bring about peace of mind and joy. Our tolerance for chaos and confusion may be high, but it is not without limit. There comes a time for all of us when we say to ourselves, "There must be a better way, a better, more productive answer than chaos and confusion." And as we begin to question ourselves, we start to awaken and remember our trueselves. We realize and remember that just as confusion and chaos are the result of meeting our brothers and sisters with judgment, so too are peace of mind and joy the result of meeting our brothers and sisters with acceptance and love.

My friend, allow your brothers and sisters to experience the illusions they perceive as real. Often it is only when our brothers and sisters physically, emotionally and spiritually experience the emptiness of their actions and reactions that they realize their futility. Please understand that I'm not saying that you should not make an effort to guide your brothers and sisters in a positive direction. But be very aware of the subtle differences between guidance and control. These differences are more often than not very muddled in the ego's thought system. If asked, we may offer our brothers and sisters guidance, but we need to refrain from attachment to its outcome. Be not attached to your brothers and sisters following your direction. Look within your heart, offer support and love, and trust that His will will be done. If your brothers and sisters insist on falling, let them fall, for sooner or later they will land on their knees, and when they do they will not experience pain but relief. One of the greatest gifts you can offer your brothers and sisters is the loving space they need to fall, land on their knees and experience their perfection.
 

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of the great spiritual / self development book You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.