I facilitate A Course in Miracles group that meets every week. We come together to help each other remember the truth of who we are. For 90 minutes we escape from the illusion of separation and join together in One Mind. It is the highlight of my week. Those who are drawn to be a part of this gathering are like-minded, loving people whose lights shine brightly. One brilliant sparkle that we are blessed to have join with us is a young woman by the name of Talitha. Five years ago she wrote this paper for a class and after she shared it with us, I knew I had to share it with the world. Please enjoy.

A Prayer to Wake the Dreamer

I will speak to you now                                                                                                     
in the voice that nature has taught me to use.                                                               
My words may not be many                                                                                            
but what I have I will share.

I am not afraid to look you in the eye and tell these secrets                                      
while smiling.                                                                                                                    
For somewhere in you, the treasure is already found.

Beneath these words, and faces, and ages                                                                       
I know you                                                                                                                    and I join the sky, earth, and animal forms                                                                
surrounding us                                                                                                             
with this song                                                                                                                      
a ceaseless chant                                                                                                              
a constant lullaby                                                                                                            
one not for sleep but waking.

“Remember, please Re-Member”,                                                                                
this time we are inside of                                                                                                 
is a gift of witnessed completion,                                                                                       
our mission                                                                                                                        
to be the climax,                                                                                                               
the fusion,                                                                                                                      
the finale in a most complex production.

From fear to love we move together,                                                                            
and quickly now,                                                                                                   
shedding bad advice and enforced pessimism                                                                  
to reveal the luster beneath,                                                                                              
the pulsation of light we have carried so far.                                                                      
To openly share our fierce and tender truths: this is our modern test.

We live in a challenging time.                                                                                            
It is undeniable now.                                                                                                     
And as friction to the fire is a necessary start,                                                                
so are these days of                                                                                                
required emergency.

We are learning that                                                                                                        
to simply object to the various shades of oppression is secondary.                                
To live from the center of peace in every moment is Real, the point.                           
This is our practice, our challenge:                                                                                  
to shift our focus from what we don’t desire to what we know we all                              
deserve.

Starting when we look in the mirror,                                                                               
let the voice that greets us be patient, nurturing, honest and gentle.                         
Then, when we encounter another, may we see beneath our beautiful             differences                                                                                                                       
to acknowledge the same struggle and laughter and infinite grace.                               
Let’s look deeply into each other;                                                                            
meeting the gaze of friends, parents, the clerk at the store, the multiple              
unknown perfectly placed in our paths each day, and even those who appear              
to cause us harm.                                                                                                          
Go deeper. Recognize the same source radiates at the core of those who               
seem most polarized from our known ways of being.

And with the animals, wood, water, cloud and stone, let our interactions be             
open and reverent, humble and awed.

The universe is playful and invites us through every form to begin again.

 

With all this said                                                                                                                  
I will admit                                                                                                                           
I know less and less from each hours passing,                                                             
yet something beyond knowledge surfaces;                                                                      
a new trust that all of history’s reasons empty                                                          
themselves at our feet                                                                                                  
asking to be crushed and collected, cured and explained                                               
To form the finest vintage of clarity and compassion.

All that has come before leads here.                                                                                  
I feel this                                                                                                                           
and bow in gratitude for the struggles and suffering                                                        
of so many beings                                                                                                            
who have experienced and offered their lives                                                                 
so we may finally see.

Now

We are many in name,                                                                                                
separate in body,                                                                                                       
unique to our stories,                                                                                                      
yet something mysterious stirs us strongly to connect                                                      and                                                                                                                             
everywhere I look                                                                                                             
is the gaze of strangers                                                                                                  
tired of feeling estranged.
Each of us seem to be waiting for permission to                
drop our masks of forced certainty.

“Remember”                                                                                                                
your purpose of birth,                                                                                                      
the ticket you accepted with devotion to assist                                                                 
in this magnificent graduation.

We, the eternal children                                                                                                    
in clumsy adult costumes                                                                                              
are invited to play again,                                                                                            
dream this world anew                                                                                                    
and we can,                                                                                                                     
we will,                                                                                                                               
we must.

Here’s a game:                                                                                                           
allow yourself a deservedly indulgent moment,                                                              
let the landscape of society fade

Where you are

What you know

Who you’ve been

What is possible

 

Wipe clean the slate

 

Now

Allow your highest ideal to show itself,                                                                        
invite in the world as it could be

without struggle

without pain

full of beauty

and expanding connection.

Dive deep into this creation.                                                                                           
Fill it with the images of your heart                                                                                and                                                                                                                                  
rest inside this spaciousness                                                                                          
for just a few seconds more.

 

Feel what it is to live here,                                                                                              
try it on with your senses.                                                                                              
See the colors,                                                                                                            
hear the sounds,                                                                                                           
feel each cell of being and body                                                                                 
embracing this momentary world.                                                                                     
And remember                                                                                                                
The place is real, this place is true.                                                                              
It is just as real as any other possibility or experience we have already had.

Remember the flavor and acquire a taste for this opening.

What we come to                                                                                                            
fast or slow                                                                                                                       
is this:                                                                                                                                 
a recollection of how to fully embrace who we are                                                        
with our vulnerable and rowdy passions                                                                         
and a need to share all we have.                                                                                  
For there is really only one of us here.                                                                     
And accepting this can end all confusion.

This wisdom is our birthright.

I believe your innocence is more powerful that any weapon or oppressive                     force.                                                                                                                              
So please                                                                                                                        
do not be afraid to dream again.                                                                                       
It is the only place to begin the successful revolution.                                                   
For if we cannot imagine it how will it ever be created?                                                   
We need your truth now                                                                                               
and you are ready to offer it.                                                                                              
I honor and thank you for coming                                                                                     
To play in the dreamer’s  garden.

~Talitha Holvenstot