OPEN TO LOVE

“Everyone who plays must win!”

 

The second card in the deck of 55 cards is labeled "Starting Directions II" with the following directions:

Starting Directions II

4. Players choose a small personal item as a game piece–a key, coin, or ring.

5. Players decide who will have the first turn. Play continues to the left.

6. For the first turn, a player follows directions on the Direction Card for the letter (L, O, V, or E) on his chosen card.

7. After his first turn, the player places his game piece on the game board on top of the letter and color that matches his chosen card. Read all of the remaining directions after all players have completed their first turn.

8. On each player’s second turn (and future turns), the player looks at the number on the card used for the previous turn and moves the game piece that number of spaces to a new location. The game piece can be moved in any direction, including diagonally.

The third card in the deck of 55 cards is labeled "Starting Directions I" with the following directions:

Starting Directions III

9. The player picks up the top card underneath the game piece. The player finds the Direction Card for that letter and follows those directions.

10. Players attempt to collect four different cards that spell L, O, V, and E. Each card must be a different color — golden yellow, pink, blue, and orange. If a needed card cannot be selected, another card is chosen.

11. After a player spells “LOVE” in four different colors, that player on his next turn attempts to move his game piece to a letter and color needed by another player. After following the directions on the Direction Card for that letter, the player gives that card to the other player who needs it to spell “LOVE.” The object of the game is to spell “LOVE” and help others spell “LOVE” until all players have spelled “LOVE” in four colors.

The next four cards in the deck of 55 cards are the Direction Cards. If a player chooses an "L" card that player then reads the Direction Card "L" and follows those directions shown below:

DIRECTION CARD “L”

“L” is for LIGHT

You read aloud the “L” card. You select one choice that is one of your strengths. You choose the strength in which you most allow your light to shine. You share why you chose that area as a strength in your life and perhaps offer an example. 

If a player chooses an "O" card that player then reads the Direction Card "O" and follows those directions shown below:

DIRECTION CARD “O”

“O” is for OPEN

You read aloud the “O” card. You select one area in which you are open to miracles and to receiving help from the Holy Spirit. You share why you would like help in that area. Then players close their eyes and focus on your true divine perfection, not on the area in which you asked for help. Players send light and love to you. After two minutes, you say “Amen.”

If a player chooses a "V" card that player then reads the Direction Card "V" and follows those directions shown below:
 
DIRECTION CARD “V”

“V” is for VISION

Christ’s vision enables the ability to see divine goodness in others. You pass the “V” card to one other player. That other player reads aloud the “V” card and then selects one choice that is one of your strengths. Then that player returns the “V” card to you.

If a player chooses an "E" card that player then reads the Direction Card "E" and follows those directions shown below:
 
DIRECTION CARD “E”

“E” is for EXTENSION

You read aloud the four questions on the “E” card. You choose one of the questions for your response, and you again read that question aloud. As an extension of love to others, you share your response to that question and offer comments or related personal experiences.

Because "A Course in Miracles" Game is a game of sharing, it provides an ideal opportunity to practice true forgiveness as it is described below:

WHAT IS TRUE FORGIVENESS?

    A Course in Miracles asks you to reconsider many commonly held beliefs. For instance, forgiveness is normally thought of as an undeserved gift given to a person while still perceiving him as being sinful and guilty. The Course calls this “false forgiveness” because it preserves false judgments and resentments. “True forgiveness” removes all judgments and resentments and allows you to perceive the divine presence of holiness in others. The following excerpt from An Overview of a “Course in Miracles” describes the nature of true forgiveness:

True forgiveness, which is based on right-mindedness, involves both “looking and overlooking.” The “overlooking” part of forgiveness looks past what is forgiven seeing that it is entirely an illusion that never happened in reality. Thus “overlooking” consists of “looking beyond error from the beginning, and thus keeping it unreal for you.”1 Yet keeping error unreal in your eyes can be tricky in your practical application of overlooking. “The ego’s plan is to have you see error clearly first, and then overlook it. Yet how can you overlook what you have made real? By seeing it clearly, you have made it real and cannot overlook it.”2 Overlooking requires only that you recognize immediately at first glance that all fearful appearances of sin and guilt are illusory because they contradict the knowledge that every Son of God is just as holy now as when God created him in the eternal present moment. Therefore, it is necessary from the beginning to pay no attention to the details of what is forgiven as you practice overlooking.

The “looking” part of forgiveness sees only the divine holiness and true reality of the one who is forgiven, realizing he is always worthy of only love. Since he is worthy of love, you join with him. The ego is the idea of separation, which says there is a real gap of separation between you and your brother. However, when forgiveness occurs, you join with your brother, and you realize you are equals because he is just as holy as you are. “Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation.”3 Forgiveness then removes this illusory gap between you and your brother and proves to yourself that the ego, the whole idea of separation, is an illusion. What is this joining with your brother? Joining is the earthly version of love, which reflects the total joining that occurs in Heaven. You “can look with love or look with hate, depending only on the simple choice of whether you would join with what you see, or keep yourself apart and separate.”4 Forgiveness represents the choice to join. Thus forgiveness accomplishes your true goal of love, which is all that you really want.

    The wisdom of the world teaches that sin is an offense to God or, in other words, a violation of Reality. This belief means that the sinner should feel guilty and punishment is justified. The Course teaches that sins are not real. Sins are illusory parts of the dream of the world, and so they do not offend God or violate Reality. Sins are merely mistakes that can be corrected. Forgiveness allows you to set aside the belief that sins are real. Once you learn to remove all your judgments of your brothers and sisters, you will no longer see them as sinful or guilty. Instead, through true forgiveness, you will see the divine presence of holiness in everyone.

    According to the Course, you are asleep in Heaven right now, and you are dreaming of this world of fear, sin, and guilt. While you are dreaming that you are separate from God, His everlasting Love gently caresses you. Your loving Father has sent the Holy Spirit into your dream world to show you how to change your fearful nightmares into “happy dreams” and then to show you the way beyond all dreaming. The Holy Spirit calls you to awaken from your dreams of separation and encourages you to use true forgiveness as your means of awakening. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can use “forgiving eyes” to transform your perception of the world. Forgiveness allows you to overlook the illusions of fear, sin, and guilt that you have projected onto the world. You can learn to see the divine presence of holiness that is normally hidden from your vision of the world. The following Course quotation affirms that true forgiveness transforms your vision of the world of dreams and ultimately leads to final awakening in Heaven, which is your true Home:  

    All this beauty will rise to bless your sight as you look upon the world with forgiving eyes. For forgiveness literally transforms vision, and lets you see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos, removing all illusions that had twisted your perception and fixed it on the past. The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass a sign of God’s perfection.

     From the forgiven world the Son of God is lifted easily into his home. And there he knows that he has always rested there in peace. Even salvation will become a dream, and vanish from his mind. For salvation is the end of dreams, and with the closing of the dream will have no meaning. Who, awake in Heaven, could dream that there could ever be need of salvation?5

1. T-9.IV.5:3, p. 169
2. T-9.IV.4:4-6, p. 169
3. T-3.V.9:1, p. 46
4. T-31.VII.12:6, p. 665
5. T-17.II.6:1-3, 7:1-5, p. 354