Living The Way of Mastery with Jason Amoroso
Each day I will read a passage from The Way of Mastery and share my commentary on it. The intention is to provide an opportunity to develop a consistent, simple spiritual study practice and grow together.
Living The Way of Mastery with Jason Amoroso
Lesson 15: What is this moment for?
Lesson 15: Love or Fear - The Choice Is Yours
Section 3: The Only Energy That Can Separate You From The Kingdom
Paragraphs: 10-14
What if you could transform every moment of your life into a scene from a movie where you are the director, choosing love over fear? Join us as we explore how mindfulness and intentionality can align you with divine will and the love of God. By viewing life as a hero's journey, we guide you to recognize the power within to shape your experiences and embrace Christ consciousness, creating a life story that's uniquely yours without falling into the trap of comparison.
Embrace the radical notion that true forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself, one that dissolves judgment and sees the divine in others. Inspired by Jeshua's teachings, we shift from historical narratives to a deeply personal experience of resurrection and self-realization. Discover how understanding the ego's role in creating separation can empower you to live your life force with courage and authenticity, embracing every moment with love and intention.
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Hello and welcome back to Living the Way of Mastery. I'm Jason Amoroso, your guide, friend and fellow student. And today I'm in my closet because my 19-year-old son has his friend in from Los Angeles and they're making a ton of noise and making breakfast for themselves, so I gotta come in here where it's nice and quiet. We continue today with lesson 15, love or fear. The choice is yours. And we are continuing in section three. Continue today with Lesson 15, love or Fear. The choice is yours. And we are continuing in Section 3, the Only Energy that Can Separate you from the Kingdom. And before we dive into it, just a reminder the 30-day practice from Section 2, a meditation to attune to the will and love of God, which builds on the five minutes residingiding as a christ from lesson nine that jeshua continues to remind us to do daily. So this makes it a five minute practice to about a 15 minute practice, but a very, very small price to pay, and you're not even paying a price. What a gift it is to take 15 minutes that's like what is that, I don't know one and a half percent of your whole day, probably even less than that to reside in Christ, to breathe and love, to be still and know that God is in the midst of you. So make it a priority. It will be worth it. Be consistent, set aside the time and he's encouraging us actually for 30 minutes 15 in the morning. Consistent, set aside the time, and he's encouraging us actually for 30 minutes 15 in the morning, 15 at night. What a better way, what the best way. Is there a better way to bookend your days? No, sir, no, ma'am, and you put in the time, you'll get the benefit.
Speaker 1:Anyways, off the soapbox, let's dive back in paragraph 10. Jeshua says as you look upon each segment, each scene, because he's talking about looking at your life, every minute, every moment, as a very separate scene in a movie. It is a certain set, it has certain characters, it has a beginning and it has an end. Although you are eternal, the things of time are not, and all things birthed in time will end in time. So he's inviting you to look at each moment like a scene in the movie. Now back to paragraph 10. As you look upon each segment, each scene and each minute in your movie, begin to cultivate the deliberate practice of recognizing that you are in a field of energy that is your perfect servant. Within that moment. You, in italics, you are the one with the power to make that moment be whatever you wish it to be.
Speaker 1:It can be filled with Christ consciousness, or it can be filled with temporary insanity. The choice is always yours and never, ever has there been such a thing as a victim. Oh man, the victim. Part of our consciousness hates being called the victim, hates being called the victim. And also, which is so funny, when somebody says, oh, stop being a victim, and we're being a victim, we're like what? I'm not being a victim. We get all like defensive because we know deep inside we're being a victim, so we don't like being called the victim. We get all like defensive because we know deep inside we're being a victim, so we don't like being called the victim. But then that part of us also hates being taken away the right to be a victim. So when we hear there's never been such a thing as a victim, that part of us that feels like a victim hates, hates that there's never been such a thing as a victim. So it hates being called the victim and acknowledging it's a victim and it hates this idea that there's never even been a victim. How funny is that? I think it's funny you are the director of your life.
Speaker 1:So the analogy of a movie there's a story, the hero's journey, this incarnation is your hero's journey and your soul is the director of your hero's journey. So the character, the character doesn't get to choose what happens in the movie. The character is in the movie, it doesn't get to change the script, so to, it just plays out the script. That's like our ego, our personality, we, we choose, you know, we go into this uh movie, this hero's journey, and we have the parents that we have, we live the life that we live, we make the choices that we make, all the while the soul is the director of this movie and knows that it's all part of a play, it's all part of a story, it's all perfect, it's all great, while the ego, the character in the movie, is freaking out. The character thinks it's threatened, the character thinks it's going to die, the character thinks the monster is really going to chase and eat it. But in reality, capital R reality, the soul's like, oh my gosh, this is part of the adventure and we're here to learn and grow and to expand in the good, the holy and the beautiful through this hero's journey and we all have our own unique curriculum, our own hero's journey.
Speaker 1:The mistake we make is comparing our specific, unique life curriculum, our hero's journey, to our neighbors, to our parents, to our friends, to our siblings, to the people we see on social media and the news, to the wealthy ones, the ones that are famous or on TV or that get all the attention. That's the problem that we make. Look at them, look at their story. Why is their story better? They seem happier. The grass is always greener in that mindset.
Speaker 1:No, your movie, your life is yours and Jeshua is inviting us begin to cultivate, to grow, to practice a deliberate, intentional practice of recognizing that you are in a field of energy, you are in the quantum field, where all things are possible. That is your perfect servant. You're not at the mercy of the world of the external. You are not. You are the director of it through your consciousness.
Speaker 1:That doesn't mean you get to say well, why haven't I won the lottery yet? Why haven't I found the perfect soulmate? Why haven't I had kids yet? Why don't I have a billion dollars in the bank yet? Why don't I? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's the ego speaking from a sense of lack, because those things are temporary, they are of the world. They actually aren't real, they don't mean shit in the long run. Honestly, not to sound insensitive, the things that are true, that are real, that you actually really truly want, are already within you the peace, the love, the kindness, the compassion, the generosity that's real, that's lasting. That's what you're actually looking for in the soulmate, in the child, in the money, in the body, in the health, whatever You're looking for something, a quality of experience.
Speaker 1:And so Jeshua is saying, within each moment of your movie which, within each scene, scene, you are the one with the power to make that moment be whatever wish it you wish it to be. It can be filled with christ consciousness, the awareness of god as all things, including yourself. There is no separation. There couldn't be separation in the ocean. It's all ocean. There can't be separation. If you exist, if you have consciousness, you are a part of it all. So, in any single moment you're experiencing right now, in any moment, you have the power to make that moment whatever you wish it could be. If it's a moment where you're experiencing cancer in the body, you have the power to make that moment miserable for yourself, feeling like a victim to those things, or you have the power to make that moment glorious, love filled, kindness filled, hope filled. You are the creator of your experience by what you are choosing, the perspective you are choosing to hold.
Speaker 1:And hey, I'm the first to say it's not easy in this world. There are so many distractions, there are so many things convincing us, really convincing us, pulling at us saying you are not in control, you are not the source of your peace and your power. It's those things that happen to you. Look at all those people. Those things have happened to them. Look how miserable they are, look how upset they are, look how oppressed they are, look how sad they are, look how tragedy has happened to them. So, of course, who are you to say that you get to control? Who are you to be happy amidst the chaos and the war and the pain and the death and the destruction and the heartache and the economic devastation, whatever you want to call the external? Who are you to be happy during that, amidst that? No, that's not okay.
Speaker 1:We're not going to accept that the world says and Jeshua, the Christ consciousness, which you are as well, says my kingdom is not of this world. Yes, I can have the human experience, I can have feelings and I can feel them fully and allow them to move through and access the wisdom and the still small voice within. I'm not going to get caught up in the noise and the din of the world. This takes discipline, this takes practice. It's not easy. It is simple, but it's not always easy. That's why surrounding yourself in community with other people who are committed to doing this practice, to living in this way, in my opinion, is so vital, is so important, because everything else is pulling at you. To be a victim of the world, to let your internal state be determined by what's happening outside of you. It is so certain. It's the world we live in. Just open up the news, look at anything outside. Blame, blame, blame. This is why this is happening. This is who's at fault.
Speaker 1:And you can make any moment in your life whatever you wish it to be. You're getting mugged. Like. What would Jesus do if he was getting mugged? Love? I don't know what love looks like in that situation, but he would be love. He wouldn't try and protect his possessions or his, his life. He would just be the presence of love and let things unfold as they are going to unfold. Be the presence of love and let things unfold as they are going to unfold, he would not be afraid. He would love so big the people that were doing the thing to him, even though he knows they're not doing anything to him. Nothing can be done to him because he knows who he is. That's what he's inviting us into. Of course, the part of us that identifies with the body is freaking out about oh my God, you get mugged, you can get killed, you can get stabbed, you can get, you know, raped, you can get hurt, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:And Jeshua says those things may happen, but they are not happening to me and my, my feeling is and I'm not a, I'm not an oracle, I'm not trying to, I'm playing what ifs here my feeling is, when we are in that state of pure consciousness and pure love, it's like the darkness has no place, like those quote-unquote bad things wouldn't happen if we're in that pure consciousness of light and love. They just wouldn't. They. They don't. The darkness doesn't exist in the light. So the fear in our mind is these bad things might happen, but that fear is making a space for the darkness. It's like, oh, I'm believing in fear, so I'm also allowing and believing these things that could happen, whereas Jeshua is like it doesn't matter what happens. I am the light, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the love, just as you are, and these things do not touch who I am. They are not real. So I'm not afraid, and in that lack of fear there is only light. Anyways, I'm going off. I guess I'm getting fired up in my closet here.
Speaker 1:So this moment, right now, that you're in in your life, can be filled with Christ consciousness. Who else is going to choose that? Are you waiting for a sign? Are you waiting to hear some big, booming voice in the clouds of God or some holy goddess, beautiful, soft angel voice saying OK, now you can. You're allowed now to have Christ consciousness, you're allowed now to be safe and feel this way. You'll be waiting forever because it's already been said to you, it's in your very existence.
Speaker 1:We have to stop waiting for permission from gurus and experts in the Bible and God and Jeshua and the way of mastery and whatever spiritual teachers you follow. Yes, they are really just tools to help you remember and awaken up. You're not waiting for their permission. They can't give you permission. They can't do it for you. It is always that, because that would be disempowering if you had to wait for or get permission from something or someone else, even God itself. No, you have permission. How do I know that you exist? That's your permission.
Speaker 1:Be the Christ, be the love, be the light, even amidst the fear that you have. Be Christ with fear, then you're unstoppable. Be love, even with a little bit of fear, then you're unstoppable. If you're not afraid of fear, you are unstoppable in your light and your love and you can do the thing. You will have courage to do whatever is necessary, whatever is called upon for the highest good, you will do in that moment. You will be in that moment.
Speaker 1:Or Jeshua says you can take the scene in the movie that you're living and you can fill it with temporary insanity. Be the victim, be the powerless, be the scared. It doesn't change who you are. You still are the Christ, immutable, eternal, powerful, invincible, love-filled. But you're just having temporary insanity and you have free will, so you can do that. And of course we know we all know what it feels like to be temporarily insane. We all know that and there's no judgment to it. That's the beautiful part. God doesn't judge you because he knows. It's not who you are. You're just making a temporary choice to be insane for a little bit, and when you're ready to not have that experience anymore, you'll make a different choice. It takes all the judgment and the pressure out of it. The point of power is the choice is always yours and never, ever, has there ever been such a thing as a victim. How beautiful. He continues.
Speaker 1:Therefore, as you enter into any one of your minutes, ask yourself what is this moment for? What do I decree this moment to be? What do I most want to learn by teaching it. And he says I'm just going to go to the next paragraph. To teach is to demonstrate. So what is this? This is this is the question that you can ask yourself in every single moment. What is this moment for?
Speaker 1:And the answer is whatever you deem it to be, it doesn't matter if the person across from you is seething in anger, wants to poke your eyes out, wants to ruin your career, wants to ruin your reputation, hates you to your guts. What do you decide this moment to be for? What do I decree this moment to be for? This person may want to destroy me, and yet I decree this moment to be for love. Maybe my body will be destroyed. Maybe there is a little bit of fear of that, but I'm decreeing that I'm going to be love in the midst of fear. I'm going to be love and bring peace to this moment, even if that even sometimes, when we decide to be love and peace and stillness, it angers someone else even more.
Speaker 1:So what are we supposed to be? Oh, that person in front of me is angry because I'm getting more peaceful and being more compassionate and loving. So because they're upset. I don't want them to be upset at me, or I'm uncomfortable when they get uncomfortable. So now I need to change my behavior so they're not upset anymore. And then we're just kowtowing to other people's emotional reactions that are created from unconsciousness, so we're giving ourselves away, in a sense, to try and make someone else feel less uncomfortable. That never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever works Ever. Bring it back to yourself. That's so simple.
Speaker 1:What do I decree this moment to be for? And then be that and do the thing that stems from that and let the fruit be what it will. Maybe the thing won't work out the way that you want it to. Maybe you won't get the money or get the person, or the outcome you're attached to may not look like what you want it to, but inside, if you truly make that decision from a place of love and peace and courage, you'll be okay with whatever the fruit looks like or doesn't look like, because that's not your business, that's God's business. Your business is simply to reside in an intentional, loving consciousness, whatever, however, that wants to be expressed. And the fruit of that is not your business, because then you're trying to play puppet master, then you're trying to control and you think you know what's best about what other people need, what's for the highest good. But we don't. Our brains are so limited. We don't know, we can't know. We, even as brilliant as someone might be, there, their intelligence, their knowing is like couldn't even fit on the pin of a needle, whereas the infinitude of God, the divine source, the all that is, is all that is. So let's be humble and recognize that we don't need to play the puppet master. We actually don't know what's for the highest good. We can't know. That's not our business. To know Our business is what do I decree this moment to be? Who am I going to be? What am I going to choose? How am I going to? Jeshua says what do I most wanna learn. I wanna learn going to choose. How am I going to? Jeshua says what do I most want to learn? I want to learn love by teaching it, not proselytizing it. Not getting on my soapbox, not making a podcast, like not trying to convince anyone of anything.
Speaker 1:Oh, look at all these Christians. They're hypocrites. Look at all these people they say one thing but they're doing another thing. Look at all any group. Look at the Democrats. Look what they say and what they do. Look at the Republicans Look what they say, but then look what they do. It's like you're not trying to convince or convert anybody.
Speaker 1:Teaching is demonstration. Who are you being? Let your actions, let your way of being, teach other people what is possible. Let that be your message, not what you say. So many, I mean. That's why so many people are disenfranchised with religion. They see these preachers, these preachers on TV or whatever, and they're saying all these great things. And then their actions they're molesting little kids, they're closing their doors to people in need. They're doing all these things that very much seem out of alignment with what they're saying, because what they're saying sounds amazing, but they're doing is not an alignment at all and that's why people are like fuck this. There's so much hypocrisy in religion all religions, I'm sure because that's like what the ego does it's going to take anything and twist it and pervert it and turn it inside out. And twist it and pervert it and turn it inside out. So what do I most want to learn by teaching it? And teaching is not shouting from the rooftops to try and convince anyone. It is being. It is demonstrating. So let me read the next paragraph.
Speaker 1:Jeshua says to teach is to demonstrate. To demonstrate is to express what you have decided will hold the greatest value for you. Whenever you judge another, you are decreeing that the thing of greatest value is separation, since judgment always causes contraction and therefore separation from another. When you practice forgiveness, you are decreeing that what you value is joining in holy and peace-filled relationship. That is so beautiful. Our ego wants to argue with that all day long. Let's read and let this just sink in. Let the soil that we are be so open that the rainwater of this message just seeps in and we absorb it all. To teach is to demonstrate. To demonstrate is to express what you have decided will hold the greatest value for you If you're judging another person Donald Trump, kamala Harris, p Diddy, ukraine, elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, bill Gates, oprah Winfrey, ellen DeGeneres, justin Bieber, gavin Newsom, I don't know, lebron James whoever is in the spotlight is naturally going to be projected upon by most people your boss, your spouse, your ex spouse, whoever, your dead father.
Speaker 1:Maybe you judge him for who he wasn't when you were a kid. Whatever the judgment is and I use these examples, some of them are extreme, and that's the point there is judgment is never justified. Whenever you judge another, you are decreeing that the thing of greatest value is separation. You judge another, you are decreeing that the thing of greatest value is separation. Since judgment always causes contraction and we know this. We can feel it in the body. Our heart closes, we get tight. We just want to be right. That person's wrong. Clearly they're wrong. Look at all the harm that's being done according to their ideology or their policies or their what, their bowels and bottles of baby lotion. I'm not justifying the actions of murderers and rapists and child traffickers and all of these things. It's not to condone that behavior. It's just looking at where the judgment is, the contraction, and therefore we create and we are demonstrating what we value, which is separation.
Speaker 1:When you practice forgiveness, you are decreeing that what you value is joining in holy and peaceful relationship with another brother, another sister, because that's what we all are. We are siblings in Christ, we are the children of God, of creation. And remember Lesson I think it's lesson three which is called the power of forgiveness. All forgiveness is self-forgiveness. You are not forgiving another for what they've done. That's like the way we're kind of taught forgiveness. Oh, forgive them because they did a bad thing. But really the subtext of that is they did a bad thing, so I'm judging them for doing a bad thing, so I'm going to let them off the hook, but I'm still judging you. You still did a bad thing. That's still judgment.
Speaker 1:What A Course in Miracles is inviting us into in the way of mastery is that the bad thing actually never happened. It didn't actually happen. Yes, in the human experience it did happen, so to speak. It is feels very real, but in reality it never happened. So what are you really forgiving? You are forgiving yourself for seeing something other than God. This is not easy to do in the human experience.
Speaker 1:When we're identified in the ego, in the Christ consciousness, this is as effortless and as natural as taking a breath. Christ consciousness. This is as effortless and as natural as taking a breath. That's why Jesus' message, jeshua's message, is so radical to the world. Forgive them, lord. They know not what they do. And really saying I forgive myself for any judgment of them because I know that they're not even aware of what they're doing and what they're doing cannot even harm at the truest level. So forgiveness is for myself, for my own judgments of perceptions that I'm holding towards another person. I've forgotten to see them as God, as Christ, not as an ego body, but as pure love in form. Who's making temporary, insane choices that actually have no bearing on me, even if my body seems to dissolve or be harmed in this physical dimension? That's not who I am either. Now, our brains have a very difficult time grasping this, and that's okay, because we are being invited to hear with maybe different ears, to hear at a deeper level.
Speaker 1:Jeshua continues in paragraph 14, 13. Remember that forgiveness has nothing at all to do with saying to another I can see that you have sinned, but I forgive you your faults. Oh, I got ahead of myself in that last commentary. All right, we're getting to it. Remember that forgiveness has nothing at all to do with saying to another. I can see that you have sinned, but I forgive you your faults. No exclamation point.
Speaker 1:Forgiveness is the recognition that nothing in italics nothing has been done to you and that you would prefer to see the face of Christ in the one in front of you. Let me give you an example related to Easter Before I get to that again, this is what true forgiveness is. It's a recognition, it's a re-knowing, a re-membering that nothing has been done to you. Nothing can be done to you because you are pure consciousness. You're not a body, you're not a personality, you're not something that anything can be taken from. Yes, the body limbs can be taken from. Yes, the personality, pride can be taken from. But the soul, which is your reality, which is what you are, cannot gain anything, cannot lose anything. That's the beauty of it. You are invincible in love, you are whole in love. You can only expand more and more in your light, in your love.
Speaker 1:So Jeshua is speaking to us from this capital R reality of what you really are which, when we're in our small self, is really hard to understand. We want to, but the intellect can only go so far. The heart can understand everything that is being like, shared here and it says yes, give me more. Yes, give me more. Our brain might argue with this, but our heart is saying I want more of this. This feels true. This feels real.
Speaker 1:Forgiveness is saying that you prefer to see the face of Christ than the one in front of you, knowing who they really are as well as who you really are. This is liberation. And he says let me give you an example related to Easter, and we'll end with this last paragraph 14, before the next section, which is all about Easter, which is so beautiful. He says Easter celebrates resurrection. It has been made to celebrate my resurrection. But this has only served to turn your attention from the specialness and in this way is specialness, in this sense of your uniqueness, the specialness of your existence, your reality and place your attention on mine and on me, as though Christ is something merely historical, as if I am special in the eyes of our God, as though Christ is something merely historical, as if I am special in the eyes of our God.
Speaker 1:So Course, in Miracles and the way mastery typically uses the term specialness as a quality of the ego, like I want to feel special, I want God to think of me as special, so that I can feel good enough, so that I can feel worthy, so I can stop feeling this nagging void that something's missing about me, that somehow I did the impossible and separated myself from God. That's what the ego is, the belief in separation I feel. And the ego feels really guilty and shameful, so it tries to hide out from God and then make itself feel special so that it can feel good about itself. That's how A Course in Miracles uses the term specialness, and so Jeshua is qualifying in this very simple section. He's saying Easter, it has been made to celebrate my resurrection, but really what it's done is it's made it about me, jeshua, and not you.
Speaker 1:When the resurrection and Easter is about you, it's about your life, your specialness in the sense of your existence and your reality, the magnificence of it, the miraculousness of it, the life force that you are. And instead of making Jesus Jeshua this historical figure, the resurrection is about your resurrection. And in the next section, it's so beautiful, the analogy is so the metaphor is so beautiful, about the crown of thorns, about the nail, about the cross. It's so beautiful it's not what I was taught in church that I can't wait to dive into the section. We actually did a breath church class on this next section called Accepting the Resurrection for Yourself and it's beautiful, it's powerful. It's in our on-demand library. When we get into it, we're going to get into it in the podcast, but then if you want to breathe to it, you know the music and everything. Oh my gosh is amazing in that breath church class and it's called, I think, resurrecting Yourself is the name of the class. So, anyways, we're gonna stop here before we get into this final section in lesson 15.
Speaker 1:Love you guys. Thank you so much for being on the journey with me. I learned so much in doing this process. Join our Facebook group if you can. We're starting to really get a beautiful community there. If you get value from the podcast, please share it with someone Like subscribe. Give us a good. Take a minute. Go to Apple podcast Even if you don't. If, even if you listen on Spotify, please go to Apple podcast. Just write a nice review, if you can, and give us five stars and that'll help the pod get more publicity or be higher in rankings or whatever. No-transcript.