The opening fell into place in the night of the 9^th of November, 1989. After weeks of demonstrations against the government and thousands of East Germans running away over the open borders of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, a guy from the government made the vague announcement that the border in Berlin would be opened the next day. (He was surprised himself as he read the news written on a small paper which was handed him during a press conference.) But the plan was to open it only temporarily and to re-establish the communist regime again after getting rid of all the people they wanted to go.

But that night the guards of the border, not ordinary troops but guys from the army of the secret service, were totally alone because nobody was reachable and no one wanted to be responsible for anything that could happen that night. The guards, two officers, had been totally trusting communists.  They had the weapons and the ability to shoot into the crowd or the air, and they knew that when they opened the gates of the border, East Germany would just totally change, leaving the communist times behind. They still  opened the gate, crying in that very moment, because everything they believed in, the whole idea of hope for a better future by following the communist vision, was lost for them. But they did it. They loved the people more than their own ideas. They are in my heart forever.

That’s how God wants us to deal with life. To open our minds to the Unknown, to give every idea we have to Him even if we do not understand Him, even if we are afraid of Him.

Before I did the 12 step program and A Course In Miracles, I acted mostly out of fear and was therefore controlled by fear. Now I am more and more able to act out of joy, out of love. What a different experience! It is as if I am on a different planet.

Recently I was reading the 7th step which says, “Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings," and I realized that every one of my ideas is a shortcoming, that I am a character defect myself. In a moment of devastation my sponsor said to me that I need to give up the idea of separation when I want to be healed.

I indeed asked for the healing of my mind and the whole universe was rushing into my head. When I could give up separation, the awareness of the whole world "being" came into my mind. And also the idea that nothing is outside of me.

But I had to let go first. When I let fear go,  it will be taken away from me. When I release my ideas of what I love or want, it comes to me that this is what forgiveness is.  Why does the 12 Step Program work; why does forgiveness work? Because there is only one mind.

Letting go, that was what the guards did. Sometimes we are pushed into acts of faith even though we have none. The wings of angels are all around us making sure that we don’t sleep too long but will wake up and remember who we really are.