Lesson 308: “What is the Second Coming?”  “This instant is the only time there is.” 

This instant is the only time with possibility. 

The Course teaches us to see the past and future as unreal and to simply get them successfully from our minds.  This whole unreal idea is actually very helpful when we do this, even though it may seem difficult at first.

We are asked to let the past and future be totally vacated from our minds. 

We want the past and the future to actually seem as if they never existed in the first place.  This is the only way not to suffer over them.  Once we allow them to be real and exist, instantly they occupy our minds with alarm and torment.

The Course gives us this notion of something being unreal so we get to that place where the past and future hold no true meaning for us.  

We want to release them entirely with not a thought of resistance.

The reason for this is because the past is gone, and there is no longer anything we can do to change the outcome of what happened.  Therefore, if we found something there that was unpleasant , we can’t change this in the past because it is already done. This is why we want to stay in the present and see that the past has no power to impact us negatively.

The future is also never gets here technically.

Therefore, we never can change it until the future becomes the present. 

This is why it makes no sense whatsoever to stress about it and worry.

This never gives us anything but mental fatigue. 

Therefore, we are asked also to accept the future as unreal, and just let that anxiety about what never comes stop influencing us.

Therefore, the only place we can be and have any power to create the content of our lives as well as the content of our thinking is in the present.  

It is happening now.  Thus, the Course invites us to stay vigilant in our releasing the past and future.  It works if we do it.  The present we have the chance to change- both how it looks and change how we feel about it.  This is the only place of power.

We get addicted to the pain in the past and the future. 

We like to focus on it indefinitely because the ego wants us to suffer uniformly.  People resist letting the past go because it can seem like such a steep hill to climb.

Sometimes when we have been hurt in the past, we just get used to the suffering over it and thus, recreate that pain from the past in the present because we feels like we are justified in feeling angry about it. 

This makes perfect sense because we want to be compassionate with ourselves when we are truly hurting.

Just keep reminding yourself that when we don’t let the past go, then we not only get hurt in the past but we also feel that same hurt in the present because we can’t see beyond the pain that fills our minds. 

This is why we want to surrender the past to God.  Give all the hurts up and place them directly on God’s altar.

We just need to keep forgiving the situation until we make greater peace.