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.
Good stuff Nina and Thanks!
All the questions address one as the Creator.
Not an ounce of Victimhood noted.
Number 7 got me to smile as I couldn’t help but think I see these directions each day in the shower…Rinse and repeat as needed…right there on my shampoo bottle!
Feeling a bit lighter this am. Hope everyones day/evening is filled with gentle laughter.
Annie, I LOVE you!!! “…Rinse and repeat as needed…right there on my shampoo bottle!.”..Oh,He really has put His words everywhere, sweet as He is…
S O S W E E T!
Love you too (:
annie … am sending some cool ocean breezes your way … the hot flashes and all manner of related situations are more than any one should ever have to figure out how to live with or get around … a really strong sense of humor and a great remote control fan … the ability to adjust as much as possible your own environment … it’s a creative playground full of ways you’ll become a genius …
wish I’d been able to respond to you days ago … right as you posted … in your place of writing about all of it
am sure by now you’ve been better … then something else … then so many other things on the agenda by now
just so you know … this sisterhood of all of us that know whereof you speak … we send you blessings and love and assurance that you will find a path through all this
funny how with all the stuff I’m dealing with with my mother … there’s always my own stuff mixed in there too!!
we are doing fine over here in hawaii
every morning my walks along the beach are a beautiful delight … when I used to walk on the mountain trails in california I’d see squirrels and lizards and bunnies and such … now when I walk on the beaches of haleiwa, I see turtles and fish and rainbows … and the fabulous always changing ocean …
I came here on a one way ticket and have realized that I’m here to stay … it’s a wonderful gift … am sooo happy here
mom’s been on hospice for the last 2 months and has gotten so much better with their care and support
every day it’s just day at a time … we remain calm and happy and do whatever needs to be done … and then we go out to the sunset every night and enjoy the ocean
was happy to read that a is loving brazil … one of my sons lived there for a couple of years and absolutely loved brazil so much they named their daughter brazil
both my mom and my son have lived there and loved it
hawaii feels like my home sweet home … am very happy and thankful to be here
love and thanks to each of you … haven’t had much free time to post … am appreciative of all the sharings
One way ticket to Paradise…I think no matter where you are zafu it would all feel the same to you. Your postings are always filled with joy and gratitude. I especially love when you share in your delights of morning walks and evening sunsets.
Thanks for the love and cool breezes sista. Woke up to foggy overcast LA skies in September!
I can’t recall that ever happening…they say it will reach the high nineties but at this moment its hard to imagine.
Sweet Embraces for another lovely Day to you and mum
and all the Village…
Saw The Tree of Life yesterday. Mustavebeen the beautifullest film I ever saw. I wanted to freeze each image. Thank God for DVD’s.
That Hunter Mac Cracken…Oscar deserving.
Last night, I was awake and cocooned in the right mind. Everything was OK just the way it was, peace streaming through each little detail. I think I was in the same no-space that Winnie may be disappeared into. I was laying and observing my hand-movements – they moved in the same delicate way as the leading lady, Jessica Chastain. With each moment she created Beauty and life….ah, the way she touched other people – complete Presence.
And the way young Jack showed 5 emotions layered – never saw anything like it. How extraordinary illuminating it is to truly SEE the emotional being of people and not judge anything, just feeling gratitude.
This prayer from Lesson 264 is so beautiful I just want to share it here:
W-pII.264.1. Father, You stand before me and behind, beside me, in the place I see myself, and everywhere I go. 2 You are in all the things I look upon, the sounds I hear, and every hand that reaches for my own. 3 In You time disappears, and place becomes a meaningless belief. 4 For what surrounds Your Son and keeps him safe is Love Itself. 5 There is no Source but this, and nothing is that does not share Its Holiness; that stands beyond Your one creation, or without the Love which holds all things within Itself. 6 Father, Your Son is like Yourself. 7 We come to You in Your Own Name today, to be at peace within Your everlasting Love.
Last night at meditation group we had a common experience of being in the “all is well ” space while still having the awareness of mind chatter. Funny how mind chatter is tolerable as long as there is connection to source.
Beautiful lesson today, Bev – thanks for making this one pop into my mind.. back when we se the intention in Lesson 50
I am sustained by the Love of God
3. Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. It will lift you out of every trial, and raise you high above all the perceived dangers of this world into a climate of perfect peace and safety. It will transport you into a state of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God.
Also, love this Benjamin Smythe sign-off —
Kissing your eternity, katrina
The patterns are becoming clearer.
The mental resistance of falling asleep and becoming “food for astral levels” = FEAR. Praying for help for hours, accepting as good as is possible. Falling asleep at 6 in the morning, dreaming of something that is extreme terror, waking up from the terror, while it still is ravaging the nervous system.
Doing Sedona with Mary. Noticing the well-known polarities in my mind: the control-wish – and the wish to dissolve it.
As both were allowed to be there, the image of the need to be right, to be a me, to have a story grew to huge proportions. It felt so sweet to be able to just witness this “something” and allowing myself to fully take in how strong “it” wanted to exist.
I sat with that – just this need to be a “someone” – and allowed it to be embraced by Love.
I realized that I did not need to change it at all – it was so minuscule compared to the Space who watched it. In the moment when that realization came, it changed: a strong rush of electricity in my body happened, like something leaving.
I do not need to change it as long as I – Presence – see that it is nothing at all – and not serious.
Getting to this point consisted of allowing everything to be there.
*
Laura – I miss you very much! Are you OK,dear?
It’s the official last day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere where cycles and seasons
are doing there thing. I am playing my part as best I can. Without a doubt my joy comes when joining in the “All is Well Space of Eternity” with you my friends.
The Village Life is Good!
Annie, about seasons….In Norway, the trees are protesting to Autumn. For the first time in my life, the birches are still green. The biologists don’t get this. Me neither. I miss the fiery reds and oranges very much.
Up in the bell tower…
Tucked away nicely on a pleasant day…
Arms full of water balloons….
Waiting for any one (anyone at all)
To walk past…..
Hmm.mm…mmm…
No – I wouldn’t dare?
heehee Or would I?!
😀
Splat!! Ha ha ya mis….SPLAT…..drip drip …Oh well…..
……waiting…..waiting……
♪♪♪♩
♪♪♪♩
…whistling Beethoven’s 5th….
Pam just got lucky me thinks…
…..
….Hmmph….kinda breezy up here at night….
…..Might go in and see who’s around!
Winnie- got the billy boiling?
*gosh I hope that’s the right word for it*
Billybong… something like that…
la la la la la
….Back up to the bell tower…..
…..hmm…
mmmmm…. daybreak!
I spy with my little eye –
A villager passing by!
Hmm… Who dat? How now?
waiting….waiting….. take aim…. steady, old girl….
➷
::
::
::
❈
Villagers,
I just got the most wonderful feedback on my book. I want to share it with you, and sense the scariness of that – we Norwegians are raised with something called “The Jantelaw”. One of those ten laws is: “Don’t you think you ARE something.” Sharing it here is a welcoming brake from mostly sharing dark places. And i don’t know why this makes me feel frozen to my bones, but it does – and i want to do it anyway.
This woman senses the love – so it has to be there then…Nina, it has to be there …(going into the Taverna for a hot spicy tea and some fresh bagels that the Mayor mysteriously has prepared for us.)
Here it is:
Wow! What a book… and oh! what a difficult time I have to comment on it…. There are two different forces within me, two different approaches and I really don’t know where to start from… Well, unlike my habit so far, I’ll start with the unpleasant (reading your book has made me positive that you’re a very strong person – I can’t possibly tell you how I admire you for this, among other things):
Because I come from a different religious path I found some parts of your book difficult to understand and even if I did, it was difficult to identify with. Terms and language sometimes seems to be addressed to and accessible only by those who share the same (or similar) beliefs – this concerning only the religious part of your book. Though I understand what a savior the Course must have been to your life, sometimes it is as if you’re advertising it and this, kind of estranges you from the reader who neither knows about it nor is willing to. For example, I’d much rather you included all those sites and information about the course in a separate part, a kind of Appendix, for those who would indeed have a further interest to it instead of a main chapter in the book. Also, though I realise that it was your inner voice you followed in writing this book, sometimes I found it difficult to follow your thread of thought. And that is all with the unpleasant.
To the most difficult part now… Difficult because I don’t know if I’m apt into transmitting and translating all that I experienced reading your book, in this comment. Some of the things you say are… brilliant is a word that comes to mind but yet, this is not enough. Some of the things you say are absolutely true; true to the last cell of my body and the tiniest part of my mind and soul. Reading the 1/3 of the book I thought that it teemed with insight. As I read through I felt peculiarly relaxed and at ease of mind, some peace inside, even in the hardest parts of it. I made a break for a day and then at getting to chapter 20 I suddenly got it: what it teemed with was love. Love that seems to be pouring of every single sentence of your work, love that -in an amazing way- gets right to the subconscious. Your reader, whether realises it or not, whether willingly or not, can’t escape from being affected from this massive amount of love reaching out (and aiming at) their heart. On my first (big night) reading your book (that is before I reached chapter 20), I had a dream, which although I’m not capable of explaining, I’m convinced that it was very relevant to the content of your book. I would be very happy to share it with you if you cared.
To what comes to your psychological approach – just flawless (to the extend that my limited knowledge can assure). I adored your approach to fear. Amazingly enough, this has always been my belief and in my novel (if and when I uploaded it here) there’s a sentence very (very!) similar to your idea of fear.
What is in the bottom line? You could do with some editing and if you want to reach the non-specialized, not of similar religious thought reader, you might need to consider slight changes to some parts of it (just a subjective opinion though). The rest is amazing, brilliant, invaluable.
Regards,
Evangeline
Nina,
I am so happy for you Luv! That it is Love that drips from your words is no surprise. . You are dear to me and I am so happy for you. To have that be the case when not giving it any conscious thought is a blessing. You have been blessed as long as I have known you.
God bless us every one
lawrence
Such good news Nina. I like the part where she suddenly relised it worked on the readers subconscious and went straight to the heart. That is what the “Course is all about.(:
*Hmmph*
Going inside to string popcorn dealy-things together for Holiday Decorations.
Hoping no one eats them.
That is all.
(insert smile here)
(munch, munch, munch…)
(munch…)
(poo)
“Feeling so much betta. Squeek.”
Since I have a Special Fondness for ACIM Mousies –
All I can say is ….”Glad to help!”
Now, wouldja grab some string and get busy?
I hear you Mice like to change back after midnight ….
So we don’t have alot of time!
*clearing throat*
la la la ♫♬♪♫
You are my fire
The one desire
Believe when I say
I want it that way
*insert stamping of little feet here*
But we are two worlds apart
Can’t reach to your heart
When you say
That I want it that way
Tell me why
Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache
Tell me why
Ain’t nothin’ but a mistake
Tell me why
I never wanna hear you say
I want it that way
Now I can see that we’re falling apart
From the way that it used to be, yeah
No matter the distance
I want you to know
That deep down inside of me…
Words of Wisdom from the Backstreet Boys. Luv it
522 came alive for me with 523. So in reverse sequence, many thanks, Bev !
and many thanks, dear Anne.
This song has very strong emotional resonance for me from 2001 (when I remember it being in my mind).
Great lyrics, Anne. Amazing what we can find in a song.
I’ve been practicing a new meditation these days: “This experience (of fatigue, stress, etc) I’m having has nothing to do with the outside conditions of my life. It is purely the result of not accepting forgiveness, and that is all. My experience will change the instant I truly wish to accept that forgiveness has already been granted. No matter the appearances, it is the guilt that I am keeping that is the cause of my experience, not this (job, situation).”
The result is that I don’t feel so much like a victim, even though I can’t say that there is a brilliant change all around. It all feels lighter, however, as if it’s all a joke. I can still feel the stress and fatigue, but it just doesn’t seem so serious.
Just thought I’d mention it. I haven’t been talking about the Course much at the Village lately. I have tons of stuff going on in my thoughts, but I just don’t seem to get it down in any form to share with you all. I have worked a lot lately with Ken’s “From Darkness to Light”, which is brilliant (Funny how I started to write From Light To Darkness, hihi). And also with his “To believe a lie” which is very, very hard hitting. Don’t expect to get off lightly with this seminar.
I like your meditation a LOT, bernard. Very effective and simple.
There’s a tavern mousie ? – oh boy !
……
Yes Bernard whenever i’m tired, i love to remember that it’s only my desperate struggle to keep the dream going that makes me tired and nothing else. Without my being consciously aware of the fact, i realize later that the tiredness had lifted.
But about meditations or mantras if you will, i have been making a habit of singing to myself when i go for my brisk walks, “every encounter’s a holy encounter, every encounter’s a holy encounter”. I sing/say it in time with my steps to train myself to remember that before i greet any passers-by.
It is a “bridge passage” {for me} that automatically links me to the practice of wanting to see the Holy Spirit in my brother through his eyes. When i practise that, i lose all notion of myself as being different from my brother. I experience us as being one and the same. It feels wonderful to be totally free of judgement in those moments.
dearest Nina – i just read your #516… What a wonderful review !- honest and sincere… How satisfying that must feel for you who have put so many years of hard work into this project.
I especially like this bit :-
” I suddenly got it: what it teemed with was love. Love that seems to be pouring of every single sentence of your work, love that -in an amazing way- gets right to the subconscious. Your reader, whether realises it or not, whether willingly or not, can’t escape from being affected from this massive amount of love reaching out (and aiming at) their heart. ” – wow
The walks i take are nearly always along tracks in the bush, which are sometimes overgrown, with lots of long grass and bush on either side. Though i walk briskly, i am always mindful that at any moment i could come across a snake.
I like to keep in mind that if i come across one, they too would be part of the “holy encounter”, and that any “recoiling from poisonous snakes” would be just my coming face to face with my perception of my own ugliness.
Like everyone else, i am terrified of snakes. Many times i freeze thinking there’s one up ahead on the track, only to find out that it’s a branch, but even so i walk around it, just in case….. shaking my head at my own insanity.
Well yesterday, there i was happily walking and singing when guess what, there was a large coppery golden snake extending from the long grass on the side of the track. He was a thick as my forearm. Have i ever seen one that big?
I stopped, totally forgetting that it was a holy encounter. Nevertheless i wasnt frightened. {He was about 20 m away} and all i thought was how beautiful he was. He became aware of me and vanished so quickly that although i never took my eyes of him, i did not see him retreat. He just wasnt there any more.
I retreated too. I could tell he was frightened of me and this “humanity” warmed me to him, but as i walked back, i couldnt help feeling happy. I hope i wasnt being smug.
By the way i am pretty sure he was a Brown Snake. According to Steve Irwin, they are the second deadliest snake in the world.
Yikes – that snake talk just gave me the chills ! (and I was thinking, I’m not scared of snakes, Winnie !)
ps. Better get onto a business call, and forget all about snakes ! Ha !
I just had an “a-ha” moment that was 20 years in the making.
The poisonous snake.. the snake in the proverbial garden…
Some what off-topic… but my brains just fell out thinking about it.
Recoil, indeed! THIS time.
Hi, Al! Nice to see ya!
Winnie, that was so lovely to read – it recoiled. And it did not matter at all that you did not remember to say your mantra – I think you had become it.
Now I have something to share from my blog today – so many lovely metaphors of puppets and puppeteers. Just remembering that both the snake and Winnie are puppets – and so is the Nina, of course.
Releasing false thoughts
It is not about getting rid of “negative” thoughts: it is about me simply noticing that I have them. Kind little nudge: “Oh, there I go again.” How wonderful to remember that it is not me who has to know how to “get rid of” them: that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. Noticing also that I have visited this place so often – and now showing the thought to Holy Spirit: “See – they still come,”
H.S asks me what may lie below that doubt – and I know it well: it is my doubt in God’s help. Or rather, my own ability to allow His help. Yes. I own that doubt, and see clearly that no Love can come through to me as long as I insist of being a somebody with this thought: “this is so typically for me.”
“There I go again,” I say, and mean it when I say that I am willing to have His correction instead.
“Every thought that is believed in, becomes real for you. One thought of the ego-thought system believed in, opens the door to its world – the world of separation. I cannot come in there, because it is a world made on the denial of our union. And there you will experience the consequences of your choice.
But, my Love, all that is needed is to recognize you don’t want it any longer. The “here I go again” is a door –opener to our connection, and your willingness to let go.”
I am vigilant for each and every thought. A sudden bright light appears and goes. I sensed the terror when it appeared: a part of me is terrified.
Dream after this – so rich with Course-metaphors:
I am with theater-friends in the huge house of one of them – a really wealthy friend. We are treated with food that is outstanding, creative and new to me. We are sitting in huge soft embracing chairs, chatting, laughing. So cozy!
Next scene, the others have left, and I am left with a PC which shows images that are strange and hypnotizing. I am in a trance, the whole room has taken over the images and becomes the movie – and suddenly the projector shows its true source: it spews out ectoplasm and other weird stuff, and I instantly turn it off and follow the others.
They are going to a puppet-theater-performance. I follow them, it is very dark, but I follow inner guidance and find my way in the dark landscape. I walk up a steep hill in pitch dark, open a door – and there we all are, right in front of the stage!
The puppeteers are on the stage together with the puppets (Thank you for this dream!) I feel sad that I am not any longer the one who designs the puppet and costume the actors…the old set and costume-designer- me is missing her beloved work.
It dissipates quickly. I wake up, feeling I do everything wrong…this dream is all wrong ( oh was I mistaken in this) and I offer this thought up to H.S, recognizing how impossible it is to believe in this thought AND God. I am as God created me, and I choose Love.
It feels like a loving hand draws out of my body the heavy murky thought stuff, before believed in. I yawn and yawn. Each time a new false thought comes, I feel the same resistance: “It will not work” – I see how afraid I am of being “tricked” by God. In spite of that fear, I let go of the false thoughts.
Blue says: “See, you just make a false connection: Your experience is that first there is Love – and then it seems to be fear and doubt and confusion: you told yourself that God did that, because you had sinned – but the shift from love to fear seemed to happen just because you choose to believe in the false thought. Reminder: It is not serious – just an error – and you have now repeatedly been vigilant for false thoughts and given them up – and you HAVE experienced Me taking them.”
This has been such a humongous temptation for me: to believe in the thought “it is hopeless, I am powerless to change this.”
It just has been proved to me that I am blissfully wrong.
Nina ~
Just read your 516 and ditto what Lawrence and Winnie had to say about it: What a wonderful review !- honest and sincere… How satisfying that must feel for you who have put so many years of hard work into this project.
” I suddenly got it: what it teemed with was love. Love that seems to be pouring of every single sentence of your work, love that -in an amazing way- gets right to the subconscious. Your reader, whether realises it or not, whether willingly or not, can’t escape from being affected from this massive amount of love reaching out (and aiming at) their heart. ” – wow
I have saved the link to your book site and have yet to go there and visit it. I’m excited and happy to learn about the site itself too as a resource for authors. I’m doing cathch-up reading within our Village today.
hugs Michele
Nina – i loved this bit ->
” it is very dark, but I follow inner guidance and find my way in the dark landscape. I walk up a steep hill in pitch dark ”
It is God willing you to be “in Heaven, and nothing can keep you from it, or it from you.”
About my snake episode, i actually have been working on this fear ever since i began my trip, well that and my fear of baddies whenever they arose. What i like is that not only was i not afraid but i actually saw the beauty in the snake. Moreover the whole snake fear thing has been just that more demystified and more importantly de-mythified.
I was speaking to a truckie yesterday who told me there a lot of snakes around at the moment and they are quite aggressive. He reckons when they bite, they latch on like a dog and shake you like a rag doll. I dunno whether he was kidding or not.
His partner related the story of how she was standing facing the open door of her campervan { before she paired up with him} and she saw the long grass waving and then right in front of her a brown snake appeared as if to come inside. She banged on the counter and it was gone, but her partner reckons they are very inquisitive and would have come inside if it could have.
For a split second i wondered if i should be afraid and then just like that, i thought “no, i am ready to die and if it should by the hand of Brother Snake, then all i want is to remember at some stage, that i set up. I dont want to make him the victimizer.
big hugs to all xoxoxoxoox
oh and an serve of hot chocolate to give a* some energy
thanks, WinWin (:
ps. reading your stories (and comments) also “dispels” Course fatigue (:
got to run now – off to the San Fran acquarium with the little one and dear wifey (before it closes at 8pm)
Toots !
oh i hope you had fun (:
I found something very interesting is happening with my practice. Now it’s like my feet remember whenever i go for a walk that every step they take says “every encounter’s a holy encounter”. Mostly i dont remember the instant i greet someone.
I’ll suddenly think of it soon after pleasantries are exchanged, right about the time we discuss the weather….
Now here’s the interesting bit – >
With the sudden remembrance, i am becoming aware that only seconds ago i was judging them, very quietly and very subtley. isn’t she fat? i am so trim… He’s old and decrepid.. i’m younger, lithe and agile….she’s got nice skin, well at least i’ve got better posture and so on..
I was not in touch with these sinisterly quiet judgements before, just the regular ones that press buttons……………….but to see these very quiet judgements that sneakily lie beneath the surface, was a revelation!
I was in town yesterday so i got a lot of extra practice. I felt like all the figures and i were of a fluid quality, without real substance and savoured the feeling of oneness with them.
Then i would forget and see those secret tiny little judgements again. But the instant i remembered it was back to that wonderful sense of oneness and an image out of Gary’s book came to mind every time – where Arten and Pursah turn into all his past incarnations one after the other. I look around at the all the people and it feels just like that, like all these bodies are literally past bodies of mine.
“For a split second i wondered if i should be afraid and then just like that, i thought “no, i am ready to die and if it should by the hand of Brother Snake, then all i want is to remember at some stage, that i set up. I dont want to make him the victimizer.”
And this:
“I was in town yesterday so i got a lot of extra practice. I felt like all the figures and i were of a fluid quality, without real substance and savoured the feeling of oneness with them.
Then i would forget and see those secret tiny little judgements again. But the instant i remembered it was back to that wonderful sense of oneness and an image out of Gary’s book came to mind every time – where Arten and Pursah turn into all his past incarnations one after the other. I look around at the all the people and it feels just like that, like all these bodies are literally past bodies of mine.”
This made me cry from gratitude. A huge release to see that neither will I set somebody up as my killer/victimizer. – It felt like hundreds of incarnations just rolled off, reading that, realizing that.
And – seeing everybody as my incarnations – this expression suddenly made it VIVID for me.
you are such a source of recognition for me, dearest.
As you all are.
Natti
Nina
I was out running with the dog this morning with a very light snow falling. It was beautiful and peaceful. My mantra when running is “My will is Gods will. I’d keep this up for a short time and then when I paid attention to my mind I was singing a Pink song. So back to My will is Gods will. OK for a few seconds and then when I check in again a chorus from a Doobie Brothers song is blowing thru my mind. Alright…back to Gods will is my will; then I notice I’m in some story about the future. It’s too funny. I guess I have an idea I should be able to stick with a thought/idea for maybe 5 minutes but in the Bev dream my scattered thoughts all over the place and for once I’m OK with that. I am where I am, no denial from me at this moment. BLESSINGS to all. LUV BEV
Yay ! – here’s to being OK with where we are at and letting go of old patterns that no longer serve us! { gives Bev a big hug}
and big hugs dear Nina xoxoxoxooxo
{leaves cookies for everybody else…tee hee}
When i set off on this trip, i wanted to use my time to read the text and Ken’s books and listen to his cd’s, even though i have read the text a few times and most of his books and listened to his cd’s over and over. I guess i realized i was coming from a rigid sense of duty, that part of my nature that says i have to be absolutely thoroughly thorough, and i just couldnt help myself.
And so i had started at the beginning of the text, with my beloved old first edition because i couldnt bear not to, and because it has errors, i had to continually refer to the errata and then i thought well i should read each section again with the second edition of acim, and then i thought i should take notes on anything that stands out in either form or content. And then i thought well i cant read the first chapter without my re-reading Ken’s book, The Fifty Miracle Principles, and since i am starting with that book of Ken’s, then next in order will be all the other books of his of that size.
Now of course, i couldnt begin a new chapter, until i had listened {thoroughly} to Ken’s cd’s on the text, and i have to listen to them over and over because sometimes my attention slips…..
So anyhoo this was why i knew i needed a lot of a lot of alone time – this was what i wanted to do – this was secretly why i planned this trip – to get away from all disturbances so i could be left alone to do this very thing, which i was just unable to do in the routine of an ordinary life.
So there i was – doing it – at last !
Well one day, when i was up to the fourth or fifth chapter, and maybe had got as far as the Nindigully Pub, i suddenly snapped, not in a dramatic way, but such as you might say to a friend that you didnt even know was irritating you – Oh shut up !
And that was it. I didnt want to do it anymore. I just didnt want to. I stopped the reading and listening. I was not aware up to that point that i was under strain. I had not felt any resistance to the material or of this practice i was doing
All i knew was that i didnt want to be this way any more. I didnt want this rigid mechanical aspect of myself, when i am the opposite in so many other areas of my life.
Amidst the relief of putting all study of theory aside, i decided i know how to practice forgiveness and i dont need anything else. It doesnt matter if i dont re-read Ken’s books or read the ones i havent yet read. I dont need to buy every single cd Ken has ever made…. and it doesnt even matter if i never pick up the text again….. I want to want to forget the Course and come with wholly empty hands, not with them full of books.
Then there was a void …….. I didnt like it, but i didnt want to fill it with anything else. So i stayed with it, while slowly continuing to travel westward towards the Outback with its amazing sense of timelessness. Vastness was all around me and i was certainly feeling it within me, as i learned to relax into it.
When i had reached the town which is the farthest from the sea in Australia, i turned eastward. I felt wonderful, cleaner on the inside as if i had learnt something significant. I knew i had grown up some and left behind some littleness that i didnt need any more.
Well blow me down, one day i found myself reaching for the text and happily began reading it at the point i had left off before, but this time it was the second edition i picked up and i havent looked back. Oh the first edition is under my books somewhere but my reverence for it is gone.
And then i found myself wanting to listen to Ken again but this time i notice, i am not quite as thorough, and i dont bother taking any notes at all.
I have however, continued reading his books that are the same size as The 50 Miracle principles – Awaken from the Dream, The Gifts of God – {bloody awful} The most commonly asked questions, ACIM and Christianity and i have started on the Glossary Index – i am looking up each term in the text and will not leave one term unturned !
Ha ! i know what youse are thinking ! That bloody winnie why she hasnt learned anything at all!
It’s true i do seem to be getting back to my methodical self, but i dont think i take it all so seriously now …….{winks}
“i decided i know how to practice forgiveness and i dont need anything else.”
‘
-and then – other needs, listened to – and no stress about anything, I read – just following inner guidance, right? it just seems so natural it is hard to to SEE as guidance.
It seems to me as you are dancing with the Course, Winnie. That is the highest praise I can give to any spiritual teacher
{{{dearest Winnie}}}
Nina
{sitting with Winnie looking at the expansiveness and feeling it run through me and you and all of us together as we love what you’ve written Winnie}
Have more catching up to do reading wise…just got over having a cow finding out a was here with his family in SF and I didn’t know till I came to the village.
after the sad cow moment I came back and read Bev’s lovely run place and then this from you Winnie which brought me to a whole huge beautiful view and release and know there is more wonder posts from you all
Hugs and Love to the whole Tribe xox Michele
pssst …. Jamie has gifted us with wisdom again ….
So good to see you, even if briefly Anne in TN {{{hugs}}}
Winnie, as Nina has so beautifully put it “It seems to me as you are dancing with the Course, Winnie”. To dance well for some would be to master the moves. the steps, capture the flow and then you are dancing. But for many more it is just moving to the music of the soul, and there is no conscious thought that leads you. The music just washes over you and and you feel cleansed and can’t help but go along for the ride.
When I read big blue , with no hidden agenda, I hear and feel the music, but I am not much of a dancer yet. I am getting better though. Well luv, you certainly have taken a ride, and continue to do so. So, as a brother would say to his sister, be careful in your travels, put your trust in God, for always are you with Her, and keep on dancing.
Big Hug
lawrence
aw gee thank you “dear hearts and gentle people” for your so very kind words…….
big hugs to all of us as we dance together arms forever and forever linked……
Hello Anne in Tn …. glad Pam managed to squeeze in a hug before you slipped out….
If there is one thing i love about the Course, it is its emphasis on our equality. In my pre-Course days I used to be sure that i was inferior. Even so, in my heart of hearts i longed to experience equality, yet felt certain it was a hopeless quest in this world…….
I love this bit from Chapter 7 -> “Because God’s equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete. Yet if they perceive any of their brothers as anything other than their perfect equals, the idea of competition has entered their minds. Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, because all your conflicts come from it'”
Winnie, my dear – thanks for writing that all out. I trust you had pleasant and refreshing sleep, and the day finds you out and about on your adventures ! love, a
ps. On a different note, Q 934 on the remembered song site was wonderfully helpful to me on this sluggish morning. It answered a question I never even knew I had (: – on the Ego voice and the Holy Spirit’s voice. I tell ya, that Ken – brilliant ! (:
And lastly, i would be remiss in not joining with the feeling of gratitude that arises in my mind for Jamie. Without his initiative or his love, I doubt I would have had the discipline to read through all the 1384 Questions that are put up there one a day. Thank you, Jamie and team !
Winnie – how much I recognize these mean mother-daughter thoughts. And how wonderful it feels not to take so very serious anylonger.
I was touched by this also – GREAT timely reminder for me: “coming out of the dark of the ego thought system and into the light hurts our eyes.” I have these days had a “loosening of the glass -matter in my left eye.” The eye-doctor told me that it was not dangerous.
And then – I have had one of my life’s grandest spiritual and cultural delights today. I saw the movie “Habemus Papam” – about the election of a pope who can’t take the responsibility and flees. If you want to see it, there are spoilers below.
This must be the Course In Miracles movie. Ever. Each and every scene I could witness the world and the drama of specialness played out: the Son of God being elected to represent God – and fleeing from the leadership and responsibility.
If you want to see the film, here come spoilers. Please come back here afterwards to read this. I wanna share!
Short gems:
The cardinals and their expressions during the voting process—silently praying “not me,God, not me! Don’t choose me!”
The Pope is chosen – and flees and hides in Rome.
A high bureaucrat stages a grand lie, to appease the cardinals: he pretends the Pope is hiding/resting from shock/in his room – “you can see his shadow on the curtains.” He has – ;;;giggles::: – instructed a guy from the Swiss Life Guard to impersonate the Pope: walk buy the curtained windows – and even ruffling the heavy curtains, as a way of “waving” to the cardinals. This shadow has 3 grand days behind the curtains – chocolate bonbons each mornings, and he plays his favorite music on the loudspeakers in the Vatican.
The top-psychiatrist in Italy is called in – is too nosy – and Pope is taken incognito to his separated wife(“the next best in Rome”). She tells him that he is nourishment-challenged, and did not receive a good enough mothering.
WONDERFUL scene where she asks him of his occupation: “I am an actor” he tells her – and disappears into Rome’s chaos – ending up on a rehearsal of “the Seagull” by Chekhov. There is an insane actor there who runs around and yells that he goes insane if he does not get Nina!
(I have decided not to let him find me.)
This is both part of the rehearsal – and the actor is truly insane.
Another time, there is night, and we hear all the cardinals in their rooms (nobody is allowed to leave the Vatican until the Pope is found:) they are praying and crying, and an old monk cries loudly for his mama. In the exact second he yells this, my automatic wake-up-call in my purse goes off. People around me check their cell-phones.) But I am graced with the reminder of how much I need to forgive my need for mama – and sweetness embraces me.
As the Pope wanders the corridors in the beginning, we see – from above – the darkened St.Peter’s Place where thousands of devout Catholics roam around,waiting for a decision -just like the scared and non-willing Pope. Oh the myriad of details in this movie. There is even a scene where the higher decision makers sit in their office with tiny figurines and move them around, while we see a huge panorama of Rome from above.
The psychiatrist reads the Bible to the cardinals at mealtimes, and points out how the Bible speaks about depression and suicidal thoughts in certain places. He also teaches them to play cards, and splits them up in Nations – and ends up arranging a volleyball-competition between the different nationalities of cardinals. World politics played out as a volley ball game is hilarious. I won’t tell you who is winning (Oceania.)
If I would see only one film in my life, it would be this. Each tiny detail is demonstrating our belief in the world and specialness, and our fear of our true identity. And it is done with exquisite Love. And the tenderest fun.
Epilog to the last story:
When the movie is over, I am walking to the Mall close by – and the revolving doors to the Mall are hardly moving. I am inside the carousel with a man, we both push the door to make it move. It does not budge. We look at each other and laugh: “This is a sign to just slow down.”
And so I am reminded of the revolving-door-image each and every time I start to rush again – flying from my Self, just like the Papa fled.
Okay, maybe you won’t believe it, but there’s actually a new post from the Mayor on the home page. And it’s a video. Please look on with forgiving eyes! I’m new to this business. Thanks.
Well Bernard, seeing and hearing are close to believing in this dreamscape we call life. I am in between bathing our golden and painting the bathroom. I thought I would check in and found a very nice surprise. You are right on my brother. I so very much try to be aware of being the observer when I first wake up, and it’s not long before the observer gets swallowed up in the thoughts of the day.
But with practise and forgiveness mainly, we can go on dreaming but know we are already awake. We can say that as much as we want, but there is a real need to make it a constant practise to remember the truth of who we are and observe why we think otherwise.
I will listen again later to your wise words my friend.
lawrence
talk about things disappearing, when i clicked on your youtube post Bernard, the whole thing vanished…..
a* i agree.. The Q and A are excellent. I find it too difficult to read them online though, so i am waiting for the book … hehe
I wont read your post til i’ve seen the movie dear Nina. By the way, I may have expressed myself poorly because i have to say my relationship with my daughter is wonderful. I cant imagine it being closer or more loving, although “mean thoughts” have surfaced from time to time as in all special relationships….xoxoxooxoxoxo