Village Square II
In our AcimVillage, we have the plane tree that stands in the central village square. Its enormous branches spread out to cover an area wide enough to provide shade on a warm day for many a traveller or tradesman. Water bubbles and trickles from a stone fountain on the eastern side. It is under the plane tree and by the fountain that wandering sages have traditionally lead conversation with the local people, before setting off again on their way; it is here that the townspeople come to exchange views and thoughts on their beloved spiritual philosophy, learning from each other in kindness and wisdom.
Rules to ponder…
Study of A Course In Miracles benefits greatly from sharing our experiences in its practice. Here you can talk about what works, or doesn’t, for you, taking obvious care not to be ‘preachy’, please. We all learn best when someone talks from their own experience, rather than tries to tell us what we should be doing differently. Let’s take the position that none of us are teachers, we are all at the same point returning on the path Homeward. All of us will still be making mistakes for a while yet, so let’s be particularly humble and caring in how we deal with each other. Please keep in mind that this is a site dedicated to the approach Kenneth Wapnick takes to teaching ACIM. I shall certainly do my best to bring everyone back to the core principles as taught by him.
I would also like to point out that AcimVillage is the place to come to explore our judgments, but not to express them as judgments. If you feel you need to gripe, criticize and vent, even subtly, then contact me privately (at bernard@pauloandthemagician.com) where I will receive you with kindness and understanding. Please do not do so in the forums where I will inevitably moderate out this kind of post. Remember, you will feel better only when you are able to move past the investment in your judgments, not simply by unloading them for everyone to see. This means taking responsibility for your perceptions and acknowledging that ultimately no one has prevented you from feeling completely peaceful and safe, despite what might appear to be the unfortunate conditions of your life at this time. (I know, this is hard. Contact me if you’re struggling.)
So, two basic rules here. One, we avoid mention of other approaches to the study of ACIM (non-Wapnickian) as well as to other philosophies we might be studying. This is purely to achieve a stable, comfortable learning forum where we are all aiming at the same goal, using the same symbols and language to get there. This is not to cast any judgment on any other approaches or philosophies. ACIM is a sufficiently difficult path to undertake without bringing more confusion into our study than our minds already contain! If you have benefited from other paths and would like to share your thoughts, by all means do so. Just please do this in the privacy of your personal emails. It’s also my personal opinion (take it or leave it) that at some point a student of ACIM is much better off sticking with one set of symbols and one teacher, and working with these thoroughly, instead of getting too dispersed. Rule two, we try not to play ‘teacher’ with each other here, reminding ourselves to be humble and always equal with our brother.
Enjoy the discussion!
New Horizons
As of September, 2010, I’m proposing a direction for our study of the Course, which is to work together through Ken’s workshop The Meaning of Judgment. We’ll be using his transcript notes for this taken from the Foundation’s website (see link in the tool bar at the top of the page). Below you’ll find the notes for the section we’re currently working on. For previous sections, click on the ‘ACIM’ tab on the navigation bar, and then hover your mouse over the ‘Meaning of Judgment’ tab to choose the relevant section. I chose this particular workshop because it gets immediately into the real heart and practice of the Course while taking us through its basic principles at the same time. So, for those interested in finding out where the ‘rubber hits the road’, even though it might get a little confronting at times, then join us on this little adventure Homewards!
The Meaning of Judgment
Excerpts from the Workshop held at the
Academy & Retreat Center of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles
PART III
“THE FORGIVING DREAM” (T-29.IX), cont.
(3:1) All figures in the dream are idols, made to save you from the dream.
1. Everything we perceive and believe is outside us is part of the dream. These are the idols, and their purpose is to make the outside dream real to protect us from the dream within our minds, which we do not want to look at. Course students compromise this over and over again by trying in whatever way they can to make some aspect of the external dream reality. That is why many students place such great emphasis on seeing Jesus or the Holy Spirit as doing things for them in the world. That is a subtle way of making Them part of the illusion, whereas in the Course Jesus asks us to take the illusion to the truth, not to bring the truth to the illusion. We have a strong investment in making the outside dream real, because if it is real outside, we do not have to look at the dream within our minds. What better way to make it seem real than to have God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit operate in it?
2. That is why it is a mistake to confuse A Course in Miracles with New Age thought systems. The Course in no way compromises the truth that the entire physical universe is an illusion. But we want to make the figures in the dream reality, including the Holy Spirit and Jesus so we are protected from the underlying dream inside our minds.
(3:2) Yet they [all of these idols] are part of what they have been made to save you from.
3. These idols were made to save us from the idol we made within our own minds (the ego thought system) that says, “I have stolen from God and I now exist. I have what I have stolen. I no longer have to give it back, and I exist on my own. And now God exists outside me.” The ego begins with that initial thought of judgment, which is the beginning of the dream. It then becomes a full-blown dream within our minds that we are different from God, that we have stolen from God and sinned against Him. And our guilt over this now tells us God will punish us. This is the terrifying dream within our own minds. It is so terrifying that we do not look at it, but project it so that it now seems to be outside us. And anything that roots us further in the dream outside will nicely serve the ego’s purpose, even if it goes under the name of God, which is what religions have done for centuries. It is extremely tempting for people to do the same thing with A Course in Miracles — to bring part of the truth into the illusion, making the illusion real. If you do that, you will never get out of the dream, because you will not know it is only a dream.
(3:3) Thus does an idol keep the dream alive and terrible, for who could wish for one unless he were in terror and despair?
4. The “you” Jesus is referring to in these passages is the mind, the part of the mind that chooses — what I refer to as the decision maker. It is the part of our minds that has first identified with the ego thought system. It is a thought system of terror and despair that tells us we need to protect ourselves from the terror and despair by denying it, which means we would never look at it again. And then we project it and see it outside ourselves. That is why we need a world of specific people and specific objects. We project all of these thoughts of sin, guilt, and judgment so they are no longer seen within, but outside. As long as we believe in the reality of the idol, we will never know that the idol really rests within our own minds.
(3:4) And this the idol [anything in the world outside of us] represents, and so its worship is the worship of despair and terror, and the dream from which they come.
5. This is true for the idols of specialness we think are wonderful and make us happy as well as the idols of specialness we hate. Earlier in the text, in “The Obstacles To Peace” (T-19.IV), Jesus speaks about this in another form: “While you believe that it [the body] can give you pleasure, you will also believe that it can bring you pain” (T-19.IV-A.17:11). Pleasure and pain are opposite sides of the same illusion. Both of them make the body real because both say there is something outside us that can make us either happy or unhappy and bring us pain. The truth is that the only thing that can bring us happiness is choosing the Love of the Holy Spirit. The only thing that can bring us pain is choosing the ego. That is all. There is nothing else.
6. The lines here represent the same idea. That is why we become so invested in the world. It is easy to fall into this trap, even as a student of a course that teaches that there is no world, for we still believe that external behaviors somehow mean something. They mean nothing in and of themselves. Their meaning lies only in what meaning we give them. What is important is never anything external — not what bodies do or do not do — but our internal decision to choose either the ego and separation, or Jesus and joining. Once we focus our attention outside and believe what we do is important, helpful, healing, or loving, we are getting caught in specialness, worshipping the idol of specialness. We will think that we are serving a function of healing or love, but it really is an idol of despair and terror.
7. In worshipping the idols of specialness outside, we are worshipping not only terror, despair, and guilt, but the whole dream, of which terror, despair, and guilt are only components. We are worshipping the dream that we have what we have stolen from God and will never give it back, for now we exist as individuals on our own. We love terror, despair, and guilt, or we would not feel them all the time. We love them because they make real the thought of separation — the thought of the original judgment against God — which makes real our separate existence from God. That is why we have such a tremendous investment in our self-importance, in being a unique individual — it establishes that the dream is real. The state of terror or despair in our minds says the dream is real; the guilt and the sin are both real.
(3:5) Judgment is an injustice to God’s Son, and it is justice that who judges him will not escape the penalty he laid upon himself within the dream he made.
8. It is important to realize that the entire thought system of the ego is real within itself. It is not reality, but within the dream itself it is all very real. When we sleep at night and dream, we will experience the dream as very real. This entire world is a dream. As Jesus explains elsewhere (e.g., T-18.II.7-14), there is no difference between what we call our sleeping dreams and what he refers to as our waking dreams, such as we are experiencing right now. They are all the same — just different expressions of the thoughts within our minds. Within the ego dream, the fear of punishment is very real. Within that dream, our fear of experiencing harm — physical or emotional — is very real. We are not asked, as students of A Course in Miracles, to deny what our experiences are. We are asked, however, not to make these experiences reality. There is a crucial difference between those two approaches.
9. In other words, we all experience fear, and we believe our fear is due to something external to us that can impinge upon us. The ego interprets this as the wrath of God visited upon us — that is our experience. We may not consciously experience it as God’s wrath, but we certainly do experience fear as caused by something external to us. Remember, our own bodies are just as external to our minds as everyone else’s body is. But that does not make it reality. That is where the Christian Churches were mistaken; they took their experience of fear and wrote a theology about it. They said this is the reality of God: God sees our sin as real and has a plan to help us atone for it, basically a plan of murder. The plan then becomes one of suffering and sacrifice. If we believe we are sacrificing so God won’t be angry at us, then we will feel good about sacrificing. But that does not make it reality. Our experience is that the sun rises and sets but that does not make it reality. In reality, it is the earth rotating on its own axis that makes it appear as if the sun moves around the earth. And in fact, it is the earth that moves around the sun. Similarly, people may experience the Holy Spirit or Jesus doing things for them in the world, but that does not mean that they really are. Don’t confuse your experience with reality. The ego always interprets our experiences in order to construct a theology that serves its purposes, which of course is why we have the experience in the first place. Within our dream, whenever we make a judgment we are asserting that we are different from God; we have separated from Him, sinned against Him, and have stolen from Him. Our guilt over that will then demand that we not escape the penalty of God’s anger. This whole world, which is a world of change and death, then stands as the witness to the fact that what the ego has taught us is true. If our existence, which we call life, was ultimately stolen from God, then when God steals back the life we stole from Him we will be without life, which means we will be dead. That is the ego’s interpretation of our death.
(3:6) God knows of justice, not of penalty.
10. God’s justice of course has nothing to do with justice as we think of it. God’s justice states that nothing happened. If nothing happened, there is no guilt and no punishment. (3:7) But in the dream of judgment you attack and are condemned; and wish to be the slave of idols, which are interposed between your judgment and the penalty it brings. But we are not condemned by God. We are condemned by the projection of our own guilt, which makes up a God Who is angry. We then deny the whole dynamic and make up a world in which we are continually condemning and judging others, while believing they condemned and judged us first. But our judgment is within our minds; that is our guilt. We project it out and make up a world of idols that will punish us; and we actually think there is a world out there that affects us. This is all part of the dream, which seems very real from within the dream.
Nina, when I saw the film from the helicopter of the crazy man shooting along the shoreline, the picture was sort of grainy and chopped, just enough to see his movements as though he was acting a part in video game. Surreal, but so many people, even more young people, practice daily — shooting all the beings presented in the game. No human perception required, just devoid entirely of love or association with the target as themselves. No love, just errors. Hugs to you and all your families and all of mankind.
yes, errors. But I think that he has a love for the “cause” – you know the kind you go to religious wars for – and burn for – its kind of holy to them – that he has. He still has this calm look on him driving in Police car – and good conscience – not seeing his brothers at all, but vermin, pest and virus, as Hitler called them.
I have been listening to Ken workshops a lot lately and reading the book “Awaken From The Dream”. I read the first part of The Myth, The story form of Gloria’s internal auditory and visual experiences about the separation, to Cory and it triggered a dream for him that he said I could share with you.
He was in a house and was being pressured to join a “religion” He was to sign a contract by being videotaped saying either yes or no that he would join this “religion’ that had weird rituals and the “contract” forced you to do all the practices up to the finale one which was committing suicide.
This sounds like a synopsis of what the ego wants.
Also at some point he saw an image of a genderless,naked body with lots of blood pouring down it.
This sounds like the crucifixion. The sonship is genderless. Naked being nothing to hide and the ego wanting to get rid of it/kill it.
I misspelled crucifixion as crucifiction. Hmmm a pun – fiction – not real…Hmmm I looked up cruci but only found crucial as the first word using cru in my dicitionary but it is from the Latin crux which means (1) vital moment, critical point. (2)basic or essential thing (3)a puzzling problem.
Ahh the Wiktionary gave me the Latin breakdown:
cru: from Latin crudus; raw, bloody, bleeding.
ci: Latin; here,there
fix: from Latin fixus; unwavering,immovable.
ion: from Latin iō ; a suffix added to indicate an action
The English definitions of the word fix are interesting also;when looked at from an ACIM point of view. Deriving from a mix of Middle English, Medieval Latin,and Old French there are 21 of them so I won’t write them all out but the basics are mostly about; kill and preserve a specimen, castrating,revenge,cheating,embarrasing dilemmas, ascribe blame to, addicts using a drug, location and repairing something.
So we have the puzzling dilemma of being fixated/focused on,and using like a drug, a bloody body attached to a cross thus making it the vital point in order to feel “castrated”(victimized/powerless)so that we can fix the blame on others in order to get revenge for feeling cheated in a fixed game of seeming life and death that doesn’t work very well so we made the crucifixion in order to fix the game and we stay fixated on the fix even though it doesen’t work very well either.
Whew! Glad it is just an insane dream, fiction, not real. Now if I could just decide once and for all to wakeup…….
Hope I didn’t bore ya all or get to gory but this is how my thoughts have been tracking – jumping around lately.
Pam, a lot to ponder about here. And i found myself wondering what Cory thought about his dream also. I got an association too – that of self-murder group-pacts – Jim Jones and the likes. And I also got the thought of a huge transformation – like a butterfly from a …forgotten the word… something shedding its skin –
say thank you to Cory for sharing his dream _
Love and good night
Nina
Nina, Cory doesn’t know what to make of the dream but said that while in the dream he wasn’t feeling any emotions or having thoughts one way or the other about anything.
There was so much pain in this body/mind this morning. “It hurts because you are guilty” says a thought, which I believe – but maybe I really didn’t: I opened David Hoffmeister’s book,* and read: “Pain is not a proof of sin”
“It hurts because I am guilty” is a misperception: The purpose of the ego is to prove that I am sinful and guilty. David says “Look at the ego and say: “I do not share that purpose.”
How to escape from pain and fear, he says, is realizing it is ego’s purpose to make me believe I am sinful and guilty.
He also asks me to desire the experience of JOY that could make both pleasure and pain to dissolve.
YES I DO
(Bernard, am I now violating the rules for this site, since I enjoy David’s book for a change??)
Nina, I’ve also been working with similar thoughts lately. As I have been doing my manual work, I’ve been constantly running the idea through my mind that anything that is not peaceful joyfulness is just a result of a thought of separation. Somehow I must have chosen a thought of separation for something other than peace to be in my mind, and this thought has led to guilt and its different expressions. I can be kind and patient with myself even as I become aware of these thoughts of separateness and distance from God, from Peace and Love. This shall speed my return back to that lovely pleasant place just slightly removed from the action of my daily life, that quiet center that is there all the time waiting for us to return. When I repeated this to myself during my heavy physical work, I found that the particular pain or difficulty seemed to lessen, just as if the reason that it was painful was because of the hidden thought behind it (of suffering) not because of the actual work itself. That’s my real learning during this job, trying to find the way to lessen my insistence on suffering while working, and just let the work flow without it being underwritten by any thoughts of pain. Quite a challenge! Without knowing it, I slip so easily back into some kind of painful experience.
You’re right (David’s right), pain is not proof of sin, just a sign of having made a funny, harmless choice for separation and guilt, which we can easily undo if we want.
I don’t think there’s a problem with other Course teachers who express thoughts similar to Ken’s. David and other teachers also have excellent right minds, too, of course (lol). And where they do not agree with Ken, then perhaps we can look at that difference and learn something from it. Blessings, B.
Oh I am SOO dreaming. And enjoying it:
A couple of days ago I saw a very Norvegian last name on a poster on D.U.
I mailed her, turned out she lived in Norway…turned out she was named Grace – and Nina is a diminutive of Anna, which means Grace ( pants and hops up and down, clapping hands) – and turns out she lived at Rykkinn two years ago, and now moved but still lives pretty close – well isn’t it exciting!!!!!
we are meeting soon.
This morning, I turned on my little dream-recorder, and heard something I taped a couple of nights before, and had completely forgotten: ” I am at my childhood-house – the symbol for past and story-me. Somebody is dying there! it is such a strong and deep and experience – it is black, but the darkness is sweet and honest and one can rest there, although somebody is dying.
Suddenly I know that the dying person is me – and there is no other feelings in me than peacefulness and accept -“
A couple of days ago, a woman asked me to audition for a one-line role in a film. I misunderstood something she said, and it pushed ego’s favorite button BIG TIME. I found out that it touched a huge judgment that I still justify:it upholds the whole atrocious story that i still identify with: “IT HAPPENED TO ME – AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE THAT IT IS POOH-POOHED!”
Today I felt the W E I G H T of that – the strength of the hate and fear and control that was held in place by insisting that that thought was important to hold on to. It felt like if I let it go, I played the same parts as my tormentors: denying that anything at all had happen.
And even when in the midst of these thoughts, there was a willingness to have another perception.
I open the Course at What is forgiveness :“What is sin, except a false idea about God’s Son?” W-pII.1.2. An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true. — 4 What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its wanted goal?
THIS IS IT!
W-pII.1.3. An unforgiving thought does many things. 2 In frantic action it pursues its goal, twisting and overturning what it sees as interfering with its chosen path 3 Distortion is its purpose, and the means by which it would accomplish it as well. 4 It sets about its furious attempts to smash reality, without concern for anything that would appear to pose a contradiction to its point of view.
W-pII.1.4. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still, and quietly does nothing.
I sat down, being willing to sink into the Holy space where God waited. I felt like shit. And even so,I could faintly hear His Voice calmly mentioning that I was only in a dream, and this dream-self had suffered but was not my identity.
What I believe happened to me, I see IS a false self-concept, projected on to the screen called the world, seen from the view of the role “victim.”
W-pII.in.1. Words will mean little now. 2 We use them but as guides on which we do not now depend. 3 For now we seek direct experience of truth alone. 4 The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace.
I feel the hate as a thick ominous field to my left. Still, I am willing to be wrong about its reality. I am quiet, and get ideas/thoughts: “if the dream was real, that hate would be real and justified. But it isn’t – it is a set up, a prop in the movie.”
W-pII.1.1. Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. 2 It does not pardon sins and make them real. 3 It sees there was no sin. 4 And in that view are all your sins forgiven. 5 What is sin, except a false idea about God’s Son? 6 Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. 7 What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God.
I understood that I really heard the Voice for God. I could just relax and allow God to do it for me.
I decided not to call the lady. Instead I went to my mailbox, and there she explained crystal clear what I had needed to hear the day before. With her unclear message yesterday she gave me this great lesson. All is gifts.
Another lady from the a theatre i earlier worked with called and offered me some textiles for collage. I lost her number, and started to get down on myself abusively, as the pattern was. Remembered that I can just let it be and allow God to deal with it. Opened my eyes and rummaged in a little bag for some keys, and there was another note with the lady’s phonenr. I had completely forgot i put it there.
Wow Nina, Yer on a roll with the insights. Cool!
wow Pam. Reading your comment felt so soothing. I seem to be within a dream of lost connection: since Bernard wrote his vacation-email, which I support, something inside felt lost: the “leader” is dropping us….it reminded me of you know what – and something inside thought that all our family has lost its love-glue.
I feel the same loss/fear as the Monastery – separation: just a little different – more “giving up, resigning-feelings.”
Just sitting with it. Looking.
“listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go!”
e.e. cummings
Might mean something – to a Coursie!
Unmanifested, manifested, individuality, personality (nirguna, saguna, vyakta, vyakti), all these are mere words, points of view, mental attitudes. There is no reality in them. The real is experienced in silence.—-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Symbols of symbols. hmmmm. there is no reality in them Which teacher you choose gives it it’s meaning. Note that each letter is a symbol for a spoken sound that is mostly meaningless to form a concept until grouped together with other symbols to form a bigger symbol. I also note that the spoken English has different sounds for some letters and grouping of letters than spoken Indian and even in each language these can shift a bit from region to region.
In the world I have been trained as to know the meaning of the first four words but not the next four; they are meaningless for me. I attempt to transfer the English meaning to the Indian spellings but when I look at the Indian word it still means nothing to me.
I,looking with ego say: Ha it would be so much better if you could learn other languages it would increase your ability to communicate effectively but no you are soo lacking you are so ineffective.
I,looking with Holy Spirit say: See how the ego divides even the seemingly small things even smaller and uses it to keep yourself seemingly small also.
There is no order of difficulty no matter the seeming biggness or smallness; false is false,true is true. No matter the symbol it is empty not the real deal. You choose the teacher which in turn supplies a meaning which either keeps you stuck in the unreal or moves you past it to the real.
footnote: there were multiple layers of insight happening when I read the Nisargadatta quote. This is the one that came out as I started typing of which I had no awareness before the typing. I feel really unsettled now and am hopeing the above isn’t just gibberish.
Not gibberish at all, Pam (:
Well said.
ps. Funny – in my previous comment on Fireside, I was going to expand on the word “banter” I used to describe the communication between you, Annie, Winnie, Nina… (we watched a movie last night “Morning Glory” where Harrison Ford plays a surly newsanchor past his hey-dey. He refuses to “banter” – says it’s from the Latin, which translated means “to speak gibberish” (:
Well, Mr. Ford notwithstanding, I like what you wrote above. Makes perfect sense to me. Nisargadatta Maharaj was an outstanding teacher of non-duality. But reading his stuff is tough, even with my knowledge of Indian words (:
Thanks Anil, I will deduce that I might have came close to real truth by the amount of fuss my ego is kicking up. I’m feeling all wobbly now. Nice to know some of it made it’s way through all the ruckus.(-:
#462 – have to agree with Anil well said.
Trying to capture the thought processes as they fire away isn’t easy. I like that you chose to share this particular insight and even more impressive to me is that you didn’t realize that was the insight till you started typing away. Love when that happens-clearly you allowed Spirit to take over the keyboard as she knew which insight would be best to share with all today.
Speaking of sharing its been so long since a visitor has passed thru our Village.
A warm welcome to you Jacalyn.
Do make yourself at home and enjoy our library collection of notes, our ever flowing tea and baked goods at the Fireside Lounge the Contemplative Garden, etc. etc.
I looked up Murphy -North Carolina and it sounds like a beautiful place to set up ones dreamscape. It’s always fascinating to me where the Blue Book has found an open heart.
Would love to know how you came across A Course in Miracles.
I also am so touched how Anil was so proper when he introduced himself to you Jacalyn.
Sometime back we have all agreed to call him a*/a-man/starman-just an inside joke if you will and so as you peruse thru the older text just know he is one and the same. And now that I said that, the sentence will self distruct once you have read the information. That is the beauty of this site-our dear Mayor will erase anything you want him too incase your self forgiveness isn’t up to it yet.
Much love to the Village-off to sweep up my little cottage should Jacalyn swing by (:
Wow I was so rattled that I didn’t notice a* changed back to Anil. Off to help Annie tidy-up,bringing cinnomon rolls with cream cheese frosting for breaktime.
You’re the Best Pam! Cleaning is so much more fun when its done together!
So true,so true.
It maybe self serving though I know you have great coffee.(-;
Yes, the coffee is ready right along with the cinnamon rolls …perfect timing.
That’s enough cleaning for a Sunday.
I’ll let Cory read us Lesson #233
“Father, I give You all my thoughts today I would have none of mine. In place of them, give me Your Own. I give You all my acts as well, that I may do Your Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain imaginings. Today I come to You. I will step back and merely follow You. Be You the Guide, and I the follower who questions not the wisdom of the Infinite, nor Love whose tenderness I cannot comprehend, but which is yet Your perfect gift to me.
Today we have one Guide to lead us on And as we walk together, we will give this day to Him with no reserve at all. This is His day. And so it is a day of countless gifts and mercies unto us.”
Only for the purposes of writing to Jacalyn, Annie.
My sense from the writing style was that a more formal note would be more suitable for that occasion ! (:
a
Yes a* that was my point exactly. You are very sensitive to each moment and each encounter. Quite frankly such respectfulness is so beautifully refreshing that I wanted to let you know it didn’t go unnoticed. I’m sure Jacalyn is a smart cookie and would have caught on that the computer generated gravatar recognized you as one and the same. But you know me-I have to put my spin on things and I couldn’t resist the ‘Mission Impossible’ reference. My classy Parisian influences have evaporated sooner than I thought. Back to TV references and silly humor. My only hope is I know class when I see it. And you a* are one classy dude-God I love ya!
Annie, dear friend –
I wrote 471 half-distracted. (I had thought I had added “as you have observed” in parentheses right after that first sentence (: — but evidently I hit submit before that (:
You are very kind to think of me in this “classy” way – “classy” is who you are my dear, humor comes in many forms, I find you elegant no matter what !
Your message made me smile. Thank you – I needed to smile. Tonight, perhaps more than any other night. It’s been one of those tiring evenings. And just before I went to bed, I thought I would check into the place on the web, where we all come to meet. It’s a sweet place indeed.
The introductions to this section of the Workbook – Lesson 221 onwards has been resonating me with, deep somewhere in me heart. I find myself melting into tears on occasion, as I speak/ask God to take all my thoughts away, and only let me think with thoughts that are God’s.
Perhaps it’s the beginning of devotion.. the search of all my life, but it was only God that I was seeking all along, giving the search so many different names on the way. I would like to disappear into the heart of God – it is a safe place to be, and I don’t think I would miss me.
Some other phrases from the Introduction linger in my mind, each day –
one, that we are now moving into the phase of asking for a “direct experience” of Truth – “words mean little now”
another, that I read the themes of special relevance (“What is salvation ?, “What is Forgiveness” ?, etc ) preceding each set of 10 lessons *slowly* – really the slowing down of my mind each morning is paying me great dividends.
My wife has a lovely soundtrack playing in the background of her iMac, as I write this message. It heightens my sensibilities towards all of you, towards Truth, towards God. It is a good dream this moment – I am grateful. My heart is full. My cup runneth over.
Thank you, dear beloveds all.
God bless us all.
In a summer-program from Swedish Radio,I listen to Norwegian author Karl-Ove Knausgård. He is sitting at the roof of his home in a town in Sweden. He is describing his mixture of feelings the day after the bomb went off in the Government-area, and the shootings at Utøya. As he listens to the sounds of the day – the traffic, the shouts – he is acutely aware of his deep grief and shock, and describing it to us. It hits me right in my gut and heart.
Then – in the middle of that agony- he hears a little child laughing in blissful happiness. He also notices a man’s happy voice, and imagines a father throwing his baby in the air, and the child laughing. I shiver when he mentions the happy laugh: there is such innocence in it. There is only one “place” where this innocence is: Heaven.
He tries to see where the child is, and understands that it must be hidden behind some houses below him. And then he says the words that send me right into bliss:
“We cannot see it. It is there anyway. It is that which is home.”
And all at once I recognize – there might be disasters, agony and grief – and this is there anyway.
And that is an insight which comes from being with what is -and it is available to everybody.
Yesterday I saw a memorial program from the 22nd. The ones who were there was the King, the Royal family, the Government from the Nordic countries, all the survivors and their families, the volunteer-helpers from Utøya who saved lives, the official helpers who had been involved, like Red Cross – everyone who had directly been involved. I was noticing how caring and wise somebody had arranged their seats: in the middle of the great room, the people who were directly involved, and who’s grief was most raw and in need of comfort and holding. Around them in circles, the helpers.
The symbol in this image is wonderful: the central pain, and the circle of Loving Embrace which is there.
And I notice how there in this disaster has been symbols of right minded thinking: everybody in this country cares about the pain of the ones directly involved: we all share it, and the desire to comfort and love. And the involved ones all say the same: healing comes from knowing that their pain is allowed and welcomed.
…and shared.
Yes, Nina, I agree. The reminders of Heaven are all around us even if the eyes can’t see them the Heart can. All we have to do is allow the Heart to show them to us. Hugs.
I’m with you A. I have’t liked these lessons before but I find them so comforting now. And this explanation from the meaning of Salvation just made me laugh: W-pII.2.3. Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the world of dreams and malice. 2 Thus it lets illusions go. 3 By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust.
I think the reason I found it so funny were the words “it just fails to support the world” Oh Really!! That’s all it does. It tickles my funny bone.
Laughing all the way home. Bev
Bev –
Today’s lesson was so powerful — I repeated it to myself several times through the day, as my favorite grievance for the past few days wanted to drag my mind into battle – (yes, i hate that critter (:) — amazing effect.
really, it did seem that “God does want me saved from this”.
The opening line of 235 says to me —
“I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect certainty assure myself, “God wills that I be saved from this,” and merely watch them disappear.”
Before my eyes had gone past the words “hurt me”, and moved onto the next phrase, the image of the fellow that has so incurred my ire rose to mind – yes, he was hurting me, i thought, even as my eyes moved onto “and with perfect certainty assure myself…..” — guess what, that’s what happened !
By the time I reached the phrase “and watch them disappear”, disappear it did !
I thought that was wierd. But through the whole day, at least 5 times during the day (alas, not on the hour (: (or the half-hour (; — everytime I felt “tempted” to engage in thoughts of what a rascal, asinine, creature (and several other choice words, too coarse to write on this page (: – nor do I feel like writing them anymore. am too happy right now (: — the thought “God wills me saved from this” (or some variant) would arise in my mind spontaneously. And voila – smiles !!
Pretty cool stuff, this ACIM ! (:
G’night, mah friends ! may your dreams be happy ones…
love.
a
I am just following a 51-minutes video with David Hoffmeister teaching on Linear Time. I have posted it on my blog – if you google ninotchka44 my blog is at the top.
This is just me – I can’t see Ken’s videos, cause i get so hung up on his sad expression ( my perception.) David looks happy and is happy – and therefore the resistance is much less.) And he is fun too, which doesn’t hurt.
And: time is like spaghetti, people. I love that (:
Ken does have a mostly sad face (at least to my perception too (: – but he has a brilliant smile (:
David just looks like a teddy bear (: – he does seem perennially happy (:
Nina, brilliant David video – his best that I have seen so far. An excellent teacher indeed ! thanks for posting it on your blog. am watching it right now !! (:
Ken-s smile – I saw it once, on jamie’s site. Wonderful. So happy and simple. Thanks for reminding me.
David as teddy – a buddhist-like teddy, I think – but when i look at his eyes – the innocence there, and the joy – that’s when i sense my fear melting. Juuust a little.
Jamie’s tweet today “How do you know you’re honestly looking at your thoughts? You realize 99% of what you’re thinking is in some way fearful.”
This grabbed me because this is what I’d read this morning from the text
T-22.II.10. Behold the great projection, but look on it with the decision that it must be healed, and not with fear. and T-22.II.11. Only your thoughts have been impossible.
This afternoon I caught myself planning something and realized that the basis of it was fear.
And in the moment all I know is that I’m someplace between done and undone.
There’s not two of you
says Benjamin Smythe. Once again, I am being helped to understand the Course language expressed by someone “else.” I have posted two videos of this guy on my blog. His directness and presence clears cobwebs out of my mind: he’s like one of these zen-masters I love, who lovingly ( and a bit painful, I guess) whack their students on the head when they fall asleep.
my blog: google ninotchka44
Before the line gets buried in our daily communications I wanted to acknowledge the last line
in your post 484 Bev- “I’m someplace between done and undone”.
It’s like one of those lines that are instant classics like, “You had me at hello”.
Annie, do you have any idea how valuable your feedback is? you always go right to the essence of the matter. It is such a pleasure to read you: you make stuff translucent. And it also seem effortless
tons of love and gratitude
I have known you always
Nina
Giving up My Peace, that God gave to me, is the price I pay for maintaining my belief that this world, my body and my persona are real.
No wonder the ego thought system is fool proof; it is the proof that I am the fool fooling myself.
Thank God it is not God proof.God wouldn’t be that silly.
good morning from the north shore of oahu
in my morning work I came across this link … it was delightful and inspirational so I thought I’d share it
bernard says this acim village is for the joy of learning together … and that’s what we do
am so thankful for all the sharings here, you all are great teachers
The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun, here’s the URL: http://www.boxofcrayons.biz/free/movies/eightprin..
thank you nina for sharing the rumi poem and the experience of your friend having spontaneous laughter
laughter loosens and lightens and works its magic … just reading your comments here had a healing effect
lawrence, how are you today?
when I did my morning walk along the beach I was imagining all the friendly group of us enjoying the gentle morning
even the quick touch base check ins from annie and anil lets us know they are there and are comforting
thank you pam for being there with your kind presence and sharings
we all are having our identity transformation thing going on in each of our lives in our own ways
we are all members of this gentle family … what fun!! I love this family
happy to see katrina checking in too … how thankful I was to meet you in temecula too
am about to head out on my morning walk
it’s early
my heart is happy and thankful
love to each of you
Sharing the love in me to all the village people and the sometimes wanderer into the village. You are all flowers in my garden whose sweet nectar sustains me. Thank you all: Bernard, Lawrence, A, Winnie, Annie,Pam, Nina, Beverly, Richard, Zafu, Katrina, Michelle, Tex-Anne, Jean, Melody, Lisi.
Thanks for including me!
I love our group – and thrive on it, too!
-and Kendall! – isn’t it great that there will always be one who remembers what another forgets – and that we all forgets AND remember (now laughing)
Oops Kendall, how could I forget? Oh, what a question? Isn’t that why we’re here? To remember….. Thanks Nina.
Oh yes where was I; “Let me remember my goal is God” …Today’s lesson.
I’m laughing cuz it hurts a little…
Truth, does that to me sometimes.
Thanks J I needed that more than my morning coffee.
Hugs to my fellow comrades.
Onward
Can’t say I did so well yesterday remembering my goal; remembering only God.
I’ll see how today goes. Thank God it’s Friday!
I’m with you Annie. I’m having just as much trouble today remembering that “there is no sin”. My thoughts were mainly about blaming others this AM. Oh well, another moment, another choice.
guys, look at this:
Forgiveness: the recognition that what we thought was done to us we did to ourselves, since we are responsible for our scripts, and therefore only we can deprive ourselves of the peace of God: thus, we forgive others for what they have not done to us, not for what they have done.
wow. I will not forgive you for the act of x – but for not having effected the Son of God-me?
is this it?
Yep that’s it Nina.
I know it.
I just don’t want to fully accept it… yet.
In my current state of mind I’m still blaming my Dad.
How lucky am I that he and mom are living with me so I can see past this false belief (:
Oh and this change of life business called hot flashes and sleepless nights are picking up speed too. May as well bring it all on at the same time and be done with it! What else you got
ego in that store house of madness?
A while back I had a toothache that would flare up every now and then and over the span of a few years it started becoming more consistent till I just told the dentist to yank it out I’ve had enough. Now my right shoulder has been giving me grief, my range of motion is limited-probably somekind of bursitis, and along with my hotflashes it burns and aches at night.
This has been going on for months now. I haven’t the option of cutting it off and yet I wish I could.
Somehow I must still cherish the belief of being a sinner. I pretend I hate carrying this heavy cross and that my shoulder is killing me. I see it play out day in and day out.
Today we are asked to see ourselves as sinless and the second I closed my eyes to repeat it to myself I noticed my shoulder throbbing ever more. What else to do but observe. Today, I thought I would post it in the hopes I could leave it here in the Village and lighten my load.
On a different note there is this song that I have been playing over and over again while on my drive to work. “I set fire to the rain” by Adele…here’s a youtube link.
Gosh its a catchy tune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsBObg-1BQ
Yep that’s it Nina.
I know it.
I just don’t want to fully accept it… yet.
In my current state of mind I’m still blaming my Dad.
How lucky am I that he and mom are living with me so I can see past this false belief (:
Oh and this change of life business called hot flashes and sleepless nights are picking up speed too. May as well bring it all on at the same time and be done with it! What else you got
ego in that store house of madness?
A while back I had a toothache that would flare up every now and then and over the span of a few years it started becoming more consistent till I just told the dentist to yank it out I’ve had enough. Now my right shoulder has been giving me grief, my range of motion is limited-probably somekind of bursitis, and along with my hotflashes it burns and aches at night.
This has been going on for months now. I haven’t the option of cutting it off and yet I wish I could.
Somehow I must still cherish the belief of being a sinner. I pretend I hate carrying this heavy cross and that my shoulder is killing me. I see it play out day in and day out.
Today we are asked to see ourselves as sinless and the second I closed my eyes to repeat it to myself I noticed my shoulder throbbing ever more. What else to do but observe. Today, I thought I would post it in the hopes I could leave it here in the Village and lighten my load.
On a different note there is this song that I have been playing over and over again while on my drive to work. “I set fire to the rain” by Adele… (I put the link here but I was sent into moderation so you will need to look it up yourselves if you wish to listen to it)
Peace, Annie
dear Annie and anyone interested…just received a video from Sedona and Hale Dwoskin about breaking a pattern. Since I haven’t been successful until now breaking /letting go of the main pattern in my life, I will write down Hale’s questions for releasing of patterns7stories, and try it out in the night.
1)Could you welcome the pattern/the story ( as best you can)
2)Could you welcome the urge to get rid of it /fix it/doing something with it
3) Could you welcome any sense that it is personal – that it is your story –
4)COULD you let it go/set it free( it is not a demand – just could you – no is a valid answer
too)
5) Notice what is beyond the pattern ( see how acimish this is?)
6) Are there times when the pattern is not there? look for them. Dwell there.
7) Repeat if needed
One could also shift between the pattern and That which is beyond the pattern