This may be the hardest lesson because it has become increasingly difficult for modern minds to slow down and not engage in constant simulation.  Humanity is thinking faster and faster every day.  The youngest generations will need to put great effort into cultivating a mind that can withdraw from stimulation.  

Being from a time before cell phones, my mind is much slower than the generations ahead of me.  This makes it possible for me to sit for long periods of time and just rest in a single activity.  

To receive we must have space and room for what is being given.  Noise and business make it impossible to hear other solutions.  This is why A Course In Miracles wants us to develop the ability to sit quietly and find space between our minds and the stream of impulses running through our bodies.

Today’s activity is to sit and listen.  We are asked to do this three times for ten minutes, morning, noon, and night.  Take a moment to set your alarm to go off at 9 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm to sit and do nothing at all for ten minutes.  You will be restless.  Listen to that.  

Throughout the day, put down whatever holds your attention and listen.  Like a deer who looks up from eating grass in a meadow, look up from your tasks, pause, and listen.  Quietly receive the whisper of wisdom within.  Hear the voice of Creation like the faintest of breezes and let that breeze move you into a much larger collective movement of global peace.  When you take time to sit still, you bring space to the world.  Your practice is tremendous in its effects.  Do not wait for the world around you to calm down in order to learn how to become calm.  Find calm in the conditions you are in.  Change the world by learning how to not let the world change you.  

When the problem of the pain of life arose (long, long ago in the proverbial Garden of Eden) at the same time the problem arose, so arose the solution to that problem. That solution is the Way out of suffering and it is here alongside the suffering every step of the way for us to discover.  The solution is called “God’s plan” in A Course In Miracles and that plan involves having the freedom to choose our path in life.  There are only ever two choices in life, even though there seem to be thousands.  There is only ever that which leads to wellness and that which leads to pain.  One of these choices is the right path and the other is the wrong path.

We are free.  Our learning process is not forced upon us.  We must take the time we need to learn how to stop needing time at all.  What lesson are we learning here?  There are so many schools of belief to study but only one of them is the true Way.  The quiet Voice of truth teaches us that life is joy. The errors we think have happened have not happened.  The separations we think have occurred have not occurred. 

What we are is so complex we are impossible to judge.  Those who judge our actions are not fully informed.  No single person can be fully informed.  When we understand this limitation about ourselves, we put down the strain of judging others and believing we know better.  We do not know why people behave the way they do and we do not know the full ramifications of their actions.  Life is much bigger than we are able to see and every situation is part of a larger context beyond our awareness.

Sit quietly today and see how all the social dynamics you are in are founded on layers of misunderstanding and limited assumptions.  Consider that it is not possible to ever understand this world.  Trying to logically figure out the way this world works will never be as helpful as sitting in quiet stillness and just seeing the world as it is.  Witness events today from a still curiosity and let go of all needs to fix what looks wrong.  Recognize the wrongness for yourself and let it inform you of your character.  But do not strain to fix what you can not understand.  We are not here to fix a broken world.  We are here to learn how to see that what is broken is on its own path.  Maybe we will be part of that path and maybe we will only be witness to it.

All the people in the world who are reading Lesson 125 of A Course In Miracles are gathering together today in a vast celebration of bringing peace to earth, one peaceful heart at a time.  Let us all gather around the sacred inner fireplace that is the connecting light between us and sit together to enjoy the warmth of the dancing flames.

The way to peace is not hidden and it is not complicated.  We do not have to pass any tests to be allowed to follow peaceful thinking.  We are free to decline hostile thoughts and turn towards peaceful thoughts.

When we sit in quiet waiting today, we will receive true messages of guidance.  Allow your mind to be released from toxic noise and be prepared to receive the gentle, loving Voice of wisdom.  Clear space to let your higher wisdom come in.

Sit for ten minutes in the morning and in the afternoon and in the evening.  (3 long sessions today)  Remember that the act of sitting is more important than how well you perform the act of sitting.  If your thoughts do not calm down, do not be frustrated.  Your practice is developing a deeper event within you called conviction. Your conviction is a seed that is growing underground in warmth and certainty.  Let the noise of your mind be there and know that your conviction is rising.  Your conviction is you beyond time and space.  Your conviction brings you closer to the Voice of truth.

Pause every hour to remind yourself that you are important and you are needed.  Listen for quiet instructions on what is needed from you now.  You may be asked to wait quietly in peace and you may be asked to take action.  Follow the voice within that speaks the truth to you.