The Dark Night of The Soul & The 6 Stages of Trust

"First, they must go through what might be called “a period of undoing.” ²This need not be painful, but it usually is so experienced. ³It seems as if things are being taken away, and it is rarely understood initially that their lack of value is merely being recognized. ⁴How can lack of value be perceived unless the perceiver is in a position where he must see things in a different light? ⁵He is not yet at a point at which he can make the shift entirely internally. ⁶And so the plan will sometimes call for changes in what seem to be external circumstances. ⁷These changes are always helpful. ⁸When the teacher of God has learned that much, he goes on to the second stage.4. Next, the teacher of God must go through “a period of sorting out.” ²This is always somewhat difficult because, having learned that the changes in his life are always helpful, he must now decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness or hamper it. ³He will find that many, if not most of the things he valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has learned to new situations as they arise. ⁴Because he has valued what is really valueless, he will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and sacrifice. ⁵It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. ⁶It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion. ⁷The word “value” can apply to nothing else.5. The third stage through which the teacher of God must go can be called “a period of relinquishment.” ²If this is interpreted as giving up the desirable, it will engender enormous conflict. ³Few teachers of God escape this distress entirely. ⁴There is, however, no point in sorting out the valuable from the valueless unless the next obvious step is taken. ⁵Therefore, the period of overlap is apt to be one in which the teacher of God feels called upon to sacrifice his own best interests on behalf of truth. ⁶He has not realized as yet how wholly impossible such a demand would be. ⁷He can learn this only as he actually does give up the valueless. ⁸Through this, he learns that where he anticipated grief, he finds a happy lightheartedness instead; where he thought something was asked of him, he finds a gift bestowed on him.6. Now comes “a period of settling down.” ²This is a quiet time, in which the teacher of God rests a while in reasonable peace. ³Now he consolidates his learning. ⁴Now he begins to see the transfer value of what he has learned. ⁵Its potential is literally staggering, and the teacher of God is now at the point in his progress at which he sees in it his whole way out. ⁶“Give up what you do not want, and keep what you do.” ⁷How simple is the obvious! ⁸And how easy to do! ⁹The teacher of God needs this period of respite. ¹⁰He has not yet come as far as he thinks. ¹¹Yet when he is ready to go on, he goes with mighty companions beside him. ¹²Now he rests a while, and gathers them before going on. ¹³He will not go on from here alone.7. The next stage is indeed “a period of unsettling.” ²Now must the teacher of God understand that he did not really know what was valuable and what was valueless. ³All that he really learned so far was that he did not want the valueless, and that he did want the valuable. ⁴Yet his own sorting out was meaningless in teaching him the difference. ⁵The idea of sacrifice, so central to his own thought system, had made it impossible for him to judge. ⁶He thought he learned willingness, but now he sees that he does not know what the willingness is for. ⁷And now he must attain a state that may remain impossible to reach for a long, lo... (ctd.) (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/807#3:1-8:10 | M-4.I-A.3:1–8:10)Visit the website for information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/If you'd like to donate:⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"The form of the answer, if given by God, will suit your need as you see it. ⁸This is merely an echo of the reply of His Voice. ⁹The real sound is always a song of thanksgiving and of Love.3. You cannot, then, ask for the echo. ²It is the song that is the gift. ³Along with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes, but these are secondary. ⁴In true prayer you hear only the song. ⁵All the rest is merely added. ⁶You have sought first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else has indeed been given you.4. The secret of true prayer is to forget the things you think you need. ²To ask for the specific is much the same as to look on sin and then forgive it. ³Also in the same way, in prayer you overlook your specific needs as you see them, and let them go into God’s Hands. ⁴There they become your gifts to Him, for they tell Him that you would have no gods before Him; no love but His. ⁵What could His answer be but your remembrance of Him? ⁶Can this be traded for a bit of trifling advice about a problem of an instant’s duration? ⁷God answers only for eternity. ⁸But still all little answers are contained in this." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/923#2:7-4:8 | S-1.I.2:7–4:8)Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeithOur meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link:⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here:⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠Or you can donate with credit card here:⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"Seek not outside yourself. ²For it will fail, and you will weep each time an idol falls. ³Heaven cannot be found where it is not, and there can be no peace excepting there. ⁴Each idol that you worship when God calls will never answer in His place. ⁵There is no other answer you can substitute, and find the happiness His answer brings. ⁶Seek not outside yourself. ⁷For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found. ⁸What if it is not there? ⁹Do you prefer that you be right or happy? ¹⁰Be you glad that you are told where happiness abides, and seek no longer elsewhere. ¹¹You will fail. ¹²But it is given you to know the truth, and not to seek for it outside yourself." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/329#1:1-12 | T-29.VII.1:1-12)Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeithOur meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link:⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here:⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠Or you can donate with credit card here:⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"The correction of fear is your responsibility. ²When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it is not. ³You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear about. ⁴These conditions always entail a willingness to be separate. ⁵At that level you can help it. ⁶You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations. ⁷The particular result does not matter, but the fundamental error does. ⁸The correction is always the same. (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/67#4:1-8 | T-2.VI.4:1-8)Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeithOur meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link:⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here:⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠Or you can donate with credit card here:⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"The Holy Spirit asks of you but this; bring to Him every secret you have locked away from Him. ²Open every door to Him, and bid Him enter the darkness and lighten it away. ³At your request He enters gladly. ⁴He brings the light to darkness if you make the darkness open to Him. ⁵But what you hide He cannot look upon. ⁶He sees for you, and unless you look with Him He cannot see. ⁷The vision of Christ is not for Him alone, but for Him with you. ⁸Bring, therefore, all your dark and secret thoughts to Him, and look upon them with Him. ⁹He holds the light, and you the darkness. ¹⁰They cannot coexist when both of You together look on them. ¹¹His judgment must prevail, and He will give it to you as you join your perception to His. "(https://acim.org/acim/en/s/184#6:1-11 | T-14.VII.6:1-11)Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeithOur meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link:⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here:⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠Or you can donate with credit card here:⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"The emphasis of this course always remains the same;—it is at this moment that complete salvation is offered you, and it is at this moment that you can accept it. ²This is still your one responsibility. ³Atonement might be equated with total escape from the past and total lack of interest in the future. ⁴Heaven is here. ⁵There is nowhere else. ⁶Heaven is now. ⁷There is no other time. ⁸No teaching that does not lead to this is of concern to God’s teachers." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/839#6:1-8 | M-24.6:1-8) Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith: https://www.acimwithkeith.com/ You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeith Our meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠ If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠ Or you can donate with credit card here: ⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"For several minutes watch your mind and see, although your eyes are closed, the senseless world you think is real. ⁶Review the thoughts as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think are true. ⁷Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not. ⁸There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond. 12. Seek for that door and find it. ²But before you try to open it, remind yourself no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. ³And it is this request you make today. ⁴Nothing but this has any meaning now; no other goal is valued now nor sought, nothing before this door you really want, and only what lies past it do you seek. 13. Put out your hand, and see how easily the door swings open with your one intent to go beyond it. ²Angels light the way, so that all darkness vanishes, and you are standing in a light so bright and clear that you can understand all things you see. ³A tiny moment of surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not quite forget in wandering away in dreams." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/536#11:5-13:3 | W-131.11:5–13:3) Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith: https://www.acimwithkeith.com/ You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeith Our meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠ If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠ Or you can donate with credit card here: ⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"⁵Relationships are still the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they will be made perfect in time and restored to eternity." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/906#1:5 | P-2.II.1:5) Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/ You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeith Our meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠ If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠ Or you can donate with credit card here: ⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"So will the year begin in joy and freedom. ⁹There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. ¹⁰Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. ¹¹Make this year different by making it all the same. ¹²And let all your relationships be made holy for you. ¹³This is our will. ¹⁴Amen." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/200#10:8-14 | T-15.XI.10:8-14) Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith: https://www.acimwithkeith.com/ You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeith Our meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠ If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠ Or you can donate with credit card here: ⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

"The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. ²See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within, and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come." (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/200#2:1-2 | T-15.XI.2:1-2) Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith: https://www.acimwithkeith.com/ You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeith Our meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠ If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠ Or you can donate with credit card here: ⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠