Prison Parables

Stories of finding light in a physical prison that reflect finding light in the mis-perceived darkness of the mind.

Join in the Miracle!

One of the first prison coaching (Join in the Miracle!) experiences occured at Milwaukee County Women’s Correctional Center with Thea. She shared that her mother had been angry with her and poured hot boiling water on her when she was young. Her arms were covered with dark scars and the memory of pain played over and over in the mind like a bad movie.

Movies that seem to "true" about “life” (the past) play repeatedly in the confused mind as thoughts and images, along with the associated "painful" feelings that are linked to the images. This is the foundation for fear and suffering in the ego thought of separation from God. The habit of the mind of believing these thoughts as true is what is being used for the ego’s idea of salvation- saving us from God and delivering only the promise of death.

The ego teaches that your function on earth is destruction, and you have no function at all in Heaven. 5 It would thus destroy you here and bury you here, leaving you no inheritance except the dust out of which it thinks you were made. 6 As long as it is reasonably satisfied with you, as its reasoning goes, it offers you oblivion. 7 When it becomes overtly savage, it offers you hell. (T-13.IV.1.4)

Finding Peace through Joining in the Miracle

When feelings and images are believed to be true there is no peace. Hell is believing that these "movies" in the mind are true. This is what blocks the mind from recognizing love. Thankfully feelings can be re-interpreted with the help of the Holy Spirit. Before reading ACIM one of the “methods” that was helpful for learning how easily these images and beliefs of the past can be shown to be false is called “Change personal history”. In the “process”, the movie of the past is reviewed in the presence of love in order to be re-interpreted. "Change personal history” is a form of joining in light – a call together for a speed up miracle; a miracle of two people joining (coming together in shared purpose of serving love) to ask for a change in perception to be free of old perception (interpretation of what has happened in the past) and find peace.

I didn’t know that the method would help (it seemed impossible): there was only trust and follow through.

Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
― Francis of Assisi

Join in the Miracle

I held her hand as we gathered the gifts of the present together. In essence this is a way to focus on love and the light first before bringing darkness to it. Gentle healing comes from focusing on light first and then bringing darkness to the light. Once the confused mind spins deeply into the darkness (fear and suffering) it can seem more difficult harder to remember that Spirit and the power of love has us covered! Plus Spirit wants to save time! Why take the slow, painful route when you can jump in the fast lane? The fast lane is the memory of light that shines away these dark thoughts to show them to be untrue.

She closed her eyes as we brought gifts (thoughts and memories of the light) into focus and then brought the dark images into the gifts of light to rewrite (re-interpret) the old movie in the mind. In the middle of the experience she started yelling, “He raped me, he raped me.” The rape was a complete surprise as she had not mentioned this before. The fear thoughts were bringing in additional images of her step father raping her.

Yet fearful thoughts of the ego that likes to remind of painful experiences can be tricked through distraction; a quick shift in focus. I said, “Just tie his d@!! in a knot.” It may seem strange or shocking, yet this shift in focus is merciful and is a demonstration of true empathy. It quickly re-opens the mind that seems to be spiraling into fear and separation. It is a call back to the light! Distraction of egoic patterns of thought under the guidance of the Spirit is helpful: we both laughed and continued bringing the darkness to the light until there was only peace, a few minutes later. Spirit says that even when darkness seems to be all around “stay on the mission, do not divert. See no error”. That is, see past the "problem" to the solution of love and light so generously offered by Spirit. In openness, faith and trust the Spirit can work quickly!

It’s not about a process. It is about shared purpose of love and the focus on the light together. This is the power of joining together to remember what is true. That is why it is helpful to join with a brother who can remember the light for us and call us to the light in those moments we forget who we are. Any moment spent believing a fear thought is love amnesia.

This is the beginning of trusting in Spirit when the call is made for help. To act in charity and to listen to inspiration and guidance to serve the memory of the light, the blessed purpose of love. With openness the call is answered, and answered quickly. And it can happen NOW.

Thea wrote in a letter:

As a very young adult I was treated very bad. I was burn very bad by my mother with hot water while I was sleeping. At one point I hated my body so much because of the scars. Now I can look in the mirror wear short sleeves and I don’t even see the scars anymore. My abuse in my life at one time was my biggest setback in life. Now I take may abuse and make it my inspiration and the best gift of life.

It is stunning and precious to experience this change in perception together. And Jesus reminds that two brothers can join in prayer together at any time to ask for a change in perception and offer mis-perceptions (false ideas and interpretation) to Spirit a miracle. This “change personal history” just happened to be the form used by Spirit in the “story of Cay” until it is understood that there is no history at all, only the now.

Join in the miracle, again!

Today the idea of “Cay” thought it could be less or harmed in some way “because Deb used the hands joined in light picture from this web site”. There was a moment of tension in the heart and gut, and thus suffering until it was given over to loving Spirit through joining in love with two mighty companions, Sue and Deb. This idea of abuse is an idea, an attack thought as described in ACIM. It seems hard for the mind to understand, and it is hard for an ego to understand that the form of “abuse” does not matter- whatever the ego’s label- physical, emotional, etc. It is only a memory, whether in the story of “Thea” or “Cay”, and no group of thoughts (memories of fear) can define the Son of God now. These are all the same attack thoughts for which joining in light to ask for a miracle with Spirit and His representative – a brother- provides the universal solution.

The "story" of Thea helped "Cay" to believe the miracle is true. Deb is the symbol of love in mind that gave the gift of recognizing where smallness was hiding and the availability of joining in the miracle to see what is true. These are the gifts offered by every brother.

There is no abuse, only the call to awaken to the presence of love in this moment. It is the true self refusing to be denied the heritage of love bestowed by our Creator. Love can never be what has happened to the small self (me), nor the ideas held about what happened. There is only the decision to hide in the depths of consciousness to hold on to the beliefs and deny the truth of what is behind all the denial: Grace.

Thank you sweet, Thea, for this precious reminder of the power of faith and the truth of love’s willingness to answer the call for help. Thank you Sue and Deb for this precious joining in light. Thank you Holy Spirit, for the miracle of peace.

We're all walking out of this prison of the mind together. Miracles! Yea!!

With love and gratitude,

Cay

Join in the Miracle!Cay2021-04-04T13:04:32-05:00

The Light Pours Through. Freedom from anger, fear, frustration, loss.

Roger grew up on the rough side of Milwaukee, in a troubled neighborhood that was otherwise known as “the hood”. In his early teens he joined in with a tough trouble making crowd, which was the path followed many from the inner city, as it was believed to be the single path of survival for a young black man. At seventeen he was involved in a robbery that resulted in the death of an elderly man.

When Roger joined the class I was teaching as a volunteer at Oakhill Correctional Prison in Oregon, Wisconsin he had served 33 years on a life sentence for murder. In his coaching request form he wanted to rewrite the painful tape in his mind that played over and over regarding the deaths of his mother, father, older sister and two nephews who had died while he was incarcerated. He felt guilt because he could not attend their funerals.

As we sat there quietly in our first one-on-one session I asked him to close his eyes as part of the process to find peace over the deaths of his family members. After closing his eyes for a moment, he peaked at me out of the corner his eye and said, “you’re not going to hit me are you?” I was stunned: he was really afraid. He had survived in prison for all this time and yet he was afraid. Of me! He wasn’t a large man, but he was larger than I (I’m 5’5”), and he was strong and in excellent shape. It had not even occurred to me to be afraid of him. I almost broke down and cried right there. This is what the illusion of fear does to all of us. After I assured him I wasn’t planning to hit him, the Holy Spirit poured in as we joined to rewrite the perception in his mind (really my mind) that was leading to suffering over the loss of his family members.

On the way out of class one day he expressed his anger and frustration as the parole board had again denied his request for parole. He was livid. I looked him right strait in the eye and said, “You are a good man” and meant it. Then I thought, what made me say that?” That comment could only have come from the Holy Spirit, an inner knowing of truth. John went still and peaceful. My ego questioned, yet what a lesson for my mind. The light just poured through it all.

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
― Francis of Assisi, The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi

When we met one-on-one later that week he expressed his anger and frustration again over the parole board. I heard in my mind to say “Roger, they can’t let you out of prison until you are free from the anger and frustration.” I was momentarily afraid to say it, yet it felt guided to say it anyway. He replied that he understood that there was something he needed to look at in order to have more peace about whether he continued to be in prison or not.

I asked him if he would like to pray with me for wisdom on this. The light that had been placed in my hands came to mind. It felt right somehow to extend my hands cupped, holding light and asking Roger to extend his hands holding light so that our hands could join in shared light. I’ll never forget looking down at the beauty of our hands joined together and the incredible feeling of trust. I suggested that in that shared light he could place whatever thoughts or emotions he was feeling. We paused in a moment of silence. Within a minute or two I asked him what had happened. He said he was peace about the parole board and that the anger had melted away. He said he would be free when it was time to be free and that he would make the best that he could of the time he was spending in prison. The spirit and wisdom that flowed from this man was inspiring.

What stunned me, (among many things about him) was his relationship with his daughter. She was born while he was in incarcerated, yet he had maintained a positive relationship with her for over thirty years. She had developed a career and he encouraged and blessed her every decision, even though he often didn’t understand the decisions she needed to make. He said, “I don’t know how to be a father, or what a father does.” I said, Roger, what more can a father be than to offer only love and non-judgmental support for his daughter as you have for her?” He was surprised. It had never occurred to him that this could be of value, beyond the concept of what he thought a “father” is. The precious, generous gift he had extended to her and himself was unrecognized.

The innocence and beauty of this man is extraordinary. I learned much about kindness and willingness to learn from getting to know Roger. What a gift to my peace of mind. Roger was sent by the Holy Spirit. He is a testament to what Jesus says in the course – we will never know the all the gifts we lay upon our brothers. Perhaps he will never know the gift of forgiveness he bestowed upon me. Amen.

In his request for coaching he wrote: “I’d like to feel good, grateful, joyful, pleased, thankful because of what Jesus Christ did for all of us.” On the back of the form he typed the following:

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple: and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.

I thank you for the blessed invitation to the temple, Roger. Jesus reminds me again that this love and gratitude is to be found with every brother. How precious is this? Knowing this, how could I not choose to be a happy learner and look for these experiences at every opportunity?

You are so beautiful, to me, can’t you see? You’re everything I hoped for. You’re everything I need. You are so beautiful, to me.

I wonder if Dennis Wilson, Bruce Fisher and Bill Preston had any idea when they wrote this song the Holy Spirit would play it for me in my mind when I wrote about Roger.

With love and gratitude,

Cay

The Light Pours Through. Freedom from anger, fear, frustration, loss.Cay2021-07-09T06:38:36-05:00