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.
Bernard,I feel like we are doing this Course hand in hand. You are always saying something that has recently been on my mind. I loved your article – I need to follow at my own slightly slower pace.
I found today – again – this tender eternal peace-place. Sooo simple, unobtrusive, non- demanding….yes, simple is a very good word for it.AND it is pinkish,,,it is something about this pink, it’s like a hight pink (:
– simple – nothing to do there, because there is no-one there, and still are we there –
did I say simple
natti natti
Zafu…. I LOVE THOSE POINTS…it is a flow…that too is simple – rhythmic like waves… no stops feel so peaceful –
Zafu, you are a wave
deep oceanlike love to all
Nina
Heya Lawrence, I also have my Golden to bathe, and am not looking forward to the shower that I’m going to get! It’s always quite a job. So you’re also an early morning observer, eh? Great! Sets us up just right for the day.
Hey Winnie, tell me if you still have problems running the video. What system are you on, Mac/Safari, or PC/IE or Firefox? Otherwise you can just go to Youtube and click on bernard groom. You’ll find me there amongst all the videos on how to groom your doggie.
Nina, so we’re thinking with the same mind! That does just go to show we are one. Let’s have a party in here! I would so love to have seen Habemus Papum, but it didn’t last long at the cinema here. I’ll have to buy it when it comes out now.
Loves to all.
Howdy All, Just was thinking of this little village and all you villagers as I start my descent to the final days of Christmas over here in the US of A! I am so thankful for ACIM teaching me that the world is insane so I can get through this crazy holiday knowing it was all set up by EGO — thus relinquishing me of guilt for not ‘doing enough!!’ Oh….I still can get rattled, for sure, but I’ve got Ken’s books and MP3’s to help me remember – day by day and hour by hour! OH — and I have started your book, Bernard and enjoying it — but had to put it aside for these last two crazy weeks of Christmas preparation. My daughters are teens and it is so much harder as their ‘wants’ are much more expensive yet they still have a childish way of feeling ‘unfairly treated!’ Ah, well……only 3 more days and it is over.
Meanwhile, I wish you all a very peaceful and loving holiday season. Will be checking in from now and then in 2012……..
Love,
Jean W.
Hoo boy — now I have to ask what this ‘captia’ thing is? It wanted me to tell it what ___+8=13!! Now Ken would not approve of this at all!!!! We know 2+2=5 with him and ACIM…..so felt this MUST be a trick question!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS (oops now it wants six + 3 = ___ (I so want to say ‘1’
Big christmas hugs for you {{{{Jean}}}} so glad you stopped by. The ‘captia” thing is anti spam measures Bernard took because the site was getting like 3000 a month,now zero so far.
I never thought of that – so funny! Yes, this is a special site, and the answer to every math captia is 1!
Hey, Jean, glad you stopped by. Merry Guiltlessness for your and your family!
Hiya, Pam! Not too cold over your way? Thinking it must be cold up in Nina’s direction, too. I’m thinking it would be nice for us all to get together for a Christmas Village Skype Reunion, what do you think? Do you think people would be available during the interval between the two hols? We’re going away for two days probably, but don’t know when yet. It depends on the weather. So I’ll try to settle on a date and then post it this weekend. That’d be fun, like old times. We haven’t done that in aaaggges.
Hugs to all.
beam me up scotty – holiday reunion please!
I’m in for the Skype thing (:
Jean,Pam,Bernard – what’s a “captia” ?
Hey ‘a’ — didn’t you have to do a little ‘math problem’ in order to post your note here? That is what the captia thing is (I may have misspelled it). Re the Skype thing — weston.jean@gmail.com. Good to hear/see you again….(not in form, of course!)
Jean
I used Jean’s spelling as I’m not sure of the spelling either but spam bots can’t do the math or in the case of the ‘wavy’ letters type they can’t “read” them so if someone wants to spam they would have to manually inter each spam by hand.
I also would like to get together on skype again. (:
I wonder if I can do Skype still?? I’m willing to give it a try! Great to see your presence, Jean, I miss your ol’ notes.
Merry Christmas to all.
Yes, on the math notes, I keep trying to come up with imaginative oneness answers. but it persists in logic, so I try to be kind, and pretend with it. … yeah, 1 wouldn’t work.
1 worked right now for me:-) 6 + ? is seven
Dear Winnie, hoping all is well with your daughter and the baby inside or outside womb
Love you all
Nina
We just finished our Christmas dinner … at 2 am! Yawn and snore, we were up at the market from 8 am this morning. A bit of a long day, but fun. Hope all your respective family gatherings went off peacefully. Would love to here how they went. I’ll tell you about mine tomorrow – after a few z’s! Hugs, B.
Merry Guiltlessness Indeed! Lovely thought…and I’m so up for Skype! Wish it could be one hr later, but that has a up the latest of us all.
11:52 pm my time in California Christmas Eve. We finished our Eve Celebration at 10:30 and had such a lovely time, talking laughing and eating and listening to a cable channel with various contemporary rock, blues, pop, jazz artists doing all kinds of Christmas songs. My daughter is on the east coast in Connecticut celebrating the holidays for the first time with her sweetheart this year and granddaughter with her Dad up in Oregon.
I’ll spend Christmas with my goddaughter and her daughter with her best friends family. We’ve spent many Christmas’ together, I’m bring a Buche de Noel
This last Monday night our small intimate course study group read the few pages that comprise Christmas as the End of Sacrifice together. (Chapter 15 Section 11) It’s really beautiful. Paragraph 3 of it:
This Christmas give the Holy Spirit everything that would hurt you. Let yourself be healed completely that you may join with Him in healing, and let us celebrate our release together by releasing everyone with us. Leave nothing behind, for release is total, and when you have accepted it with me you will give it with me. All pain and sacrifice and littleness will disappear in our relationship, which is as innocent as our relationship with our Father and as powerful. Pain will be brought to us and disappear in our presence, and without pain there can be no sacrifice. And without sacrifice there love must be.
See you all tomorrow… our gather doesn’t begin till 5 pm so I’ll enjoy checking in with friends and family by phone and take a walk in the long stretch of sunny December days we’ve been having.
Love to all
Love you all very much – like family!
Merry Christmas to everyone–
And a Happy Happy New Year!
Trite, but true!
mele kalikimaka from happy haleiwa
sharing this merry christmas with my mom is a most precious and poignant day of gratitude and blessings … comfort and joy!!!
she’s amazing … is doing sooo well … has love and life and is an inspirational miracle
have been by her side for 6 months and have witnessed and assisted in this divine recovery process that is pure love and joy in action
am sharing merriest christmas wishes and happiest new year’s welcome as we all celebrate in our own way
aloha and mahalo for all the goings on in our enchanted acim village
may every sunset
find you in a peaceful place
with a heart full of joy
As I sat with my daughter and her beau at the table in the kitchen, a real Santa ran past the house with a big bag on his shoulders. And then an ACIM-friend from the D.U.board sent me a sculped santa of wood. A peace-Santa that was. And i served roast duck with baked root-vegetables, and we sang lots and lots of christmas carols while my daughter was playing.
The we played GNAV. It originated in Italy in the 12th century, and the pieces still look the same, made from wood. You can see them at Wikipedia – search for gnav – but the info is wrong on that page.
It ws a very nice day indeed – and pretty much free of stress too.
Happy holidays my friends! Thanks for sharing all the stories and love notes. My Christmas was lovely. I experienced freedom from old patterns. My mom and my sister used to share our lives and holidays in very close relationship to each other over my whole live until about 7 years ago. Now we see a very small amount of each other and try to share as much love as we can but it is very small in form and I don’t go to any of the family events on that side of my family. This year my peace was easy and light and when the pain or saddness or feeling I’m a vitcum creaped in I looked and waited and judged not and rested. I even thought about none of it being real and not what I really want without feeling fear. I am grateful. Thank you all for the daily support and encouragement I receive here at the village.
My sweet 10 year old daughter and my other family members had a wonderful holiday together. I am watching my daughter fall in love with being an artist. She is learning to paint on canvas with oil paints and she has a teacher we take her to. I loved art at her age too but I never made it with painting so it is exciting to see her bravery with the blank canvas and her happiness with the whole process.
I love you all like family like Tex Anne says. Sweet dreams
Kendall, so great to hear from you _ and sharing the pulse of the process, and the joy of your daughter’s joy.
Blessings on your head, as my Jewish friend Andrea says 🙂
Much love
Nina
P.s Got a 1 again in the capthcha 🙂 ( Do they think I really need that reminder???)
Hi Nina, Thanks for the blessings on my head! Christmas blessings to you too (and everyone).
Thanks, Jean, Pam –
now i get it. The “captia/capthcha” thing ! is that math problem (: Glad it’s helping ease the Mayors work in maintaining the site.
Michele – I think for the Skype thing is not fixed yet, but I would ask you(and Bernard) to fix it at a time that’s convenient for you in California, especially because I’m not sure of my travel plans this week, and the time that is fixed may end up being a time that I’m on a plane, or in a different time-zone ? So please fix it independant of Hong Kong/Singapore time.
Kendall – nice to see you, and read your note. Didn’t realize you visited every day. I do too, but lately am thinking that my “need” to see fresh material here on this site to read, digest,comment is me distracting myself from going deeper within myself.
I think I need to step up my practice of forgiveness even more so, and last night, I remembered that it’s not important to forgive the thing as it’s happening – I think I have been “subconciously” chastising myself for not being to forgive in that very moment – I can forgive something that happened an hour ago.
It’s absolutely incredible to me how much my ego will hold onto the most trivial things to keep me upset, and in a state of anxiety. I mean two hours for one trivial 2 minute incident !! Bizzarre !
Last night, afer the incident passed, and my nerves still a-jangling, I thought I would do something else, but then I kept reading, browsing the web for ACIm material, written and audio, “searching” for peace, (found a “new” teacher audio at Acimgather, and re-read an interview that Susan Dugan did) , and finally two hours later, I was able to come back down to earth and sanity of sorts ! (:
Boy, this forgiveness gig takes some work ! (:
happy 52nd and final week of a great 2011 !
Hmmm Interesting, I put the word capita into my franklin spelling ace and it gave it as being a real word; meaning (adv): for each one.
The spelling ace didn’t have capthcha so I dug out my barron’s dictionary of computer and internet terms and found it is an acronym for Completely Automatic Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.
Somehow, in a way I can’t explain, I find this whole capita/capthcha thing ironic in a way that makes me giggle and yet felt it strike a chord of ahh ha somewhare inside. No idea what the ahh ha is about yet.
Hi Kendall, glad you could stop by.
Pam – the cord it strikes in me is that both computers and humans/puppets are programmed. We seem to be made of flesh, computers from metal – but we are both ideas, aren’t we. Also, I have noticed in my many Skype sessions where we works with our thoughts and energies, that as soon as the one is drifting away in unconsciousness or fear, Skype/PC ALWAYS reflects that – and is a help for us to find back to centerness/contact with H.S again.
So metal/electronic is not so different fro the human nervous-system and etheric field, methinks.
Nina
Michele, thanks for your newsy news. And a lovely passage from Chapter 15 which I’m sending to everyone in my French group, so thanks for that! Hope to hear from you at the Skype reunion, which I have scheduled for an hour later your time (8 am). I think it used to be a 7 am for you. Hope that works for you.
Tex, thanks so much for being part of my family, too. Shucks.
Hi Zafu! Thanks for blowing gently in on a warm breeze from the Pacific Isles. The doors of our enchanted Village stand wide open whenever someone comes with a heart that yearns to join with others. Like the mythical village of Brigadoon, miracles can always happen when you come with Love.
Nina, lovely to hear that you had such a nice time with your daughter and beau. I didn’t know about Gnav – will have to look it up! So, Santa ran past your garden? So funny. Roast duck is one of my favorites. Yum. “A blessing on your head, Mazeltof, Mazeltof!” Those words come from a song in Fiddler on the Roof, which might come from a Jewish tradition. I wouldn’t know, I’m just Jewish because my dad wanted to do the right thing by his family.
Mr a, lovely message from you, as always. I found that, too, that my whole preoccupation with the Village was a diversion from doing the real work. There was still so much expectation and hope, the thought that somehow my pain would diminish if only I could participate enough in this ‘holy place’ and build something useful for everyone. Then it all fell away, not without some pain though. Then there was the comfort that came when i found the guilt from not coming to the Village dissipating. It helped knowing that you were all supporting me, consciously or un- in that forgiveness lesson. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all with scanning the web looking for a forgiveness trigger. After all, the important thing is to be in a frame of mind which says, ‘I want to find a way to release this because it hurts and it’s too silly to keep.’ Then if we find inspiration here or elsewhere on the web or on a packet of Corn Flakes or a tea bag label, who cares? We brought that little sign of the miracle forward into space for ourselves. What can be more beautiful than that?
Oh, Nina, loved your thoughts on computers and humans. That’s exactly the same thought that came to me when I read Pam’s message, and it made me smile, too. If only succeeding with a Captcha really did differentiate me out from a programmed computer, that’d be a miracle! It’s like telling me that just because I managed to do this little math thing that somehow I’m not a computer! But I know better, and so does Jesus! While I’m spinning round in the wrong mind, I’m definitely programmed, just as surely as any computer!
Love to all, B.
Kendall, I loved your thoughts. This in particular: “This year my peace was easy and light and when the pain or saddness or feeling I’m a vitcum creaped in I looked and waited and judged not and rested. I even thought about none of it being real and not what I really want without feeling fear. I am grateful.”
What can be lovelier than that? Sometimes issues with family can be so acute, and it’s all we can do just to try to take the tiniest step back and whisper to oneself, “I would like to not take this quite so seriously and not to be in so much distress.”
I had a pretty great healing experience with a sister just two days ago. My older sister and I have had a pretty tense communication for about five years now. There was an event that started it, which I saw coming, and I was sad to see that we weren’t able to find a way of coming back to a loving place. I knew there was love down there, since she had always thought fondly of me, but this issue seemed bigger than that love. Maybe I had changed, maybe she had, but I picked up the phone the other day, a bit nervous but trusting that somehow it would be okay, and we chatted for an hour and a half, till it was 11.30 pm her time. It was really wonderful. We didn’t talk about anything in particular, but I think we managed to communicate absolutely everything that was really important. She could really sense that I wasn’t judging her and that I really accepted her, her life and choices, and suddenly she could really feel it. Suddenly I was her brother again, someone she could trust and share this life with. She then told me in a bit of a teary moment that even if she didn’t call or contact me, it didn’t mean she didn’t love me. Aw, shucks. What can be lovelier than that, I ask you? Sniff. Pass the Kleenex, will ya?
VILLAGE SKYPE REUNION!! Just before the end of the year, and to celebrate the passing of 2011, we have a chance to sit around the fire in the Tavern at the same time and join in a cup of something hot and delicious, sing a song or two, play some music, and read a little meditation. I sent an email to everyone normally – if you didn’t get one, please tell me.
The times: Pacific 8am, Mountain 9 am, Central 10 am, East Coast 11 am, UK 4 pm, Paris 5 pm, Singapore 11 pm.
If you want to come along, just register with Skype (free) and tell me your identifier, or I’ll look you up on Skype if you already have one via your email address.
Bring streamers and party hats!
Bernard, I had a sweet thing with my older sister too ( very much older, and half-sister.) She yearns to be with me, and I haven’t been able to – there’s so much of denial in her as to what our crazy father did, and that denial hurts to be with energetically. Big time.
But i made her a great gift for her 80th birthday, and wrote a poem to her, which brought her to tears – and then I invited her to lunch in town. As long as there are more people present around us, I can take an hour with her – and it is not difficult to forget her denial, its’ just that it hurts my nerves. There is no blame at all, and I am grateful for all the ways Love has been allowed into this strained relationship.
She gave me to angels for christmass – they were holding on to each other and smiling. Her card wrote: Nina – me and you – and i cringed. Ego cringed. I saw ho much I avoid connection to all i think she is, and prayed for help a LOT. Now it is possible to see those angels – and not cringe.
That’s a very good thing
See you at friday then – looking forward to SING!
Nina
I wrote difficult to forget – I meant FORGIVE. Same thing??
I’m hoping to join you all on Friday morning if only for a short while.
My brother Rick died of a heart attack on Dec. 20, we had a memorial service already but at my Mom’s request we’re burying his ashes on Friday morning.
My brother was single and 54 years old. He could have been a poster boy for a heart attack waiting to happen, smoking, drinking and eating too much.
Who knows? My Uncle died of a heart attack at 56 and looked to be much healthier than my brother. One of our Family’s beliefs is that “When it’s your time (to die) it’s your time. My Mom already had some of his memorial planned because she’s had the feeling for a couple of years that he was going to die before her.
Even though I only saw my brother at family gatherings I loved him dearly and in some ways it’s hard to believe that he’s gone. He was a good guy and had a group of friends that hung out with him on the shop on the farm, fixing machinery, vehicles, and just BSing about everything. My other brother Garry has some of his ashes in the shop(sitting in a tobacco can in his chair) because he wants to spread them in the fields in the Spring.
I had already planned to host Christmas and so 2 days after his Memorial Service we all gathered at my place again. We actually managed to have a pretty good time. I’ve been doing lots of running with the dog because that helps clear my head and then I’m better at supporting my Mom.
I’m just going from moment to moment and when I get bogged down in emotion eventually some ACIM thought comes through and I have peace for a while.
Sending Love, Light and Laughter to everyone. Bev
{{{Bev}}}} thinking lovingly of you
Nina
Bev, so sorry to hear about your brother. I lost my father 37 years ago tomorrow, when I was just 23. I think it helped me in a way, the timing with Christmas and the magic that fills the air this time of year seemed soothing. Hang in there, God Bless.
I wrote the following before the above, just saying is all.
I Love you all so very much. You were with me in the craziness of a Wittig Christmas keeping me centered and gay. I don’t think I ever referred to myself as gay before, pretty cool.
I started to catch up on posts by reading the Christmas posts. Michele ma belle taught me that Bucehe de Nod was a great tasting desert. I had it a few times in the past but never knew what it was.
Tex, 565 post is a classic example of less is more. Love you and what you do.
Zafu, I knew your mom would do better with you there with her. Hawaii is beautiful and very healing, but it is your heart joined with your mothers that is the true warmth and security you and your mother feel, and that Love will never pass.
Kendall, I am sure you had a Nice Christmas, and as far as the rest of the family goes, it is what it is. Love is the easiest yet hardest emotion to express sometimes, but a little love is better than a lot of anything else.
a, I think it was jamie who said once that, forgiveness is forgiving yourself for not forgiving. I always kind of liked that.
Pam don’t know what in the world you are talking about, but love it when you post. (:
Bernard you post covered all bases and you left us with some food for thought, as always. I am happy for you and Nina both for the healing taking place in your relationship with your sisters. My sister called me and we had a nice talk as well. My brothers and my sister spend time over Christmas together.
The size of our families are large and we don’t live as close as the rest, so we don’t see each other as much. Life tells us again and again that we can’t hold on to things. We keep reaching and grasping for things not real. This holiday it is my hope that the only thing we find is ourselves as one with God.
But, in the meantime we can feel free to talk among ourselves
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
lawrence
I’m on for the village skype time and date.
Love all the wonderful Christmas posts.
Lawrence, I don’t know what I was talking about either.LOL You make much more sense.(:
Bev, Big hugs for you at this time.
The Skype date is the 30th ? Don’t think I’ll be able to join. Will be at an airport thinking of you all !! (: (Still going to see if I can *somehow* join (: —
bev … blessings of peace to you and your family …
in these deep places when such things happen …. something else happens too
the something else that happens is beyond words
is deep and rich and blesses us forever
may you feel this deep peace
thank you for sharing this news with us
there is love and care and prayers for you here
love to you
Message from Winnie in an email:
“Please give everyone all my love and kindest regards…..xoxooxoxox”
And the same from Mr A who has been busy flying hither and yonder lately.
Donna and Ninjanun also send all their love.
All my thanks to those who came to the Village Reunion yesterday, notably Bev, Michele, Nina and Pam, as well as two new visitors, Jacalyn from North Carolina and Helen from Vermont. It was nice to get to know the two newcomers, and in all we had a very nice, quiet and pleasant time. Since there was no specific agenda for this meeting but just a get-together, we read a short section from Chapter 6, and then read through a very apt lesson for this time of the year, Lesson 194 I place the future in the hands of God. I’ll just paste here the last two paragraphs since they speak so beautifully of the relationship we can now begin to have with respect to time:
Place, then, your future in the Hands of God. For thus you call the
memory of Him to come again, replacing all your thoughts of sin and
evil with the truth of love. Think you the world could fail to gain
thereby, and every living creature not respond with healed perception?
Who entrusts himself to God has also placed the world within the Hands
to which he has himself appealed for comfort and security. He lays
aside the sick illusions of the world along with his, and offers peace
to both.
Now are we saved indeed. For in God’s Hands we rest untroubled, sure
that only good can come to us. If we forget, we will be gently
reassured. If we accept an unforgiving thought, it will be soon
replaced by love’s reflection. And if we are tempted to attack, we
will appeal to Him Who guards our rest to make the choice for us that
leaves temptation far behind. No longer is the world our enemy, for we
have chosen that we be its friend.
And thank you Bernard for hosting the skype get together. It was fun to here everyone’s voices and the sharing was just what I needed. Hope more can attend next time.
Oh and it was great that the noise and connection problems that have been experienced in the past were minimal.
Sorry – I missed it – and you all…
I love everyone and wish you all a wonderful year!
Happy New Year to Winnie, Al and Mr A who are already in 2012, and to us all still in 2011!! Big, big hugs to you all!
Thanks, Bernard.
A lovely 2012 to you and to all here, Pam, Tex, and everyone who will read this later ! (:
G’night for now,
a
Dear Lord, Mr A, it must be 2.30 am your time! You party animal! Hope you had a lovely time. And thank you for checking in with the V-Family before hitting the sack, so sweet of you. Blessings to all your little family.
Counting down… Yay, we’re in 2012!! Hugz ‘n kisses, everyone.
Mr. B – you must be getting some good sleep by now (at least so I hope )- good restful deep sleep is very important each night, I’m thinking, tho completely(?) at odds with what our Course teaches ?)
Anyway, it was about 1:30 am our time when I sent that good night and 2012 wishes ! so not much of a party animal here (: – (truth be told, I think you’re better off not knowing what happened on the last night of 2011 – let’s just say it was a good-ol fashioned duality-type send-off to 2011 ! (:
All well here, no matter what seems to be happening ! (: — (the other day, I found myself smiling and functioning through a full-blown panic attack – now that was a suprising first ! (:
Toots,
a
Yes, A, and Mr. B, toots to all, and to all a good night. I wish I could have made the Skype call, but alas, slept thru it.
Love to all of us all over the world. Joy to find the light is reflecting back from Vermont and North Carolina!! Lovely to know Jacalyn and Helen are here with us.
Happy New Year!!!
mmmmmm … pondering ……
in my world it’s still 2011
maybe I’m the last to welcome 2012 … the latest (or earliest?) in the village??
we’re ‘old’ so we’ve already completed our partying and celebrations and champagne toasts for auld lang syne … all in and done all before 7…
lovely sunset … quite a gathering
some drummers and some fire dancers on the beach
clear night
am wishing everyone all the best
may 2012 be a fresh new start … the past is over
forgive everyone everything
nothing ever happened
zen mind beginners mind
me ka hau’oli makahiki hou (happy new year’s in hawaiian)
aloha to all!!!
Happy New Year From Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. We are expecting some heavy winter weather, and so of course we are going to visit our oldest daughter Terra who lives a few hours away over the mountain ridges to watch the the Pittsburgh Steeler’s (football) game. It is sunny now but later…..(:
I couldn’t think of a better group of people to have my thoughts and love go out to this morning. Sharon and I never celebrate the new year anywhere but at home. AT 1201: we exchanged a few good luck kisses and then threw back a shot of jJameson’s Irish whisky. It is what we do, what can I say.
I am watching tv to see if I can see Kaitlyn and Corey, (daughter & son) they are jumping in the river, it is called the “Polar Bear Plunge” kids, gotta love them! There is no real rhyme or reason to my thinking, really; but I always find my good friends there, and more importantly, I find them in my heart.
Happy New Year
God bless us every one
Papa lawrence
Happy happy new year! you should have seen the latest in Fireworks: ( I have the greatest view in Norway) there was this magic poof high up and out came a zillion white white shimmering stars – and it all was almost without sound. They felt magical to me – you know, the kind of magic you experienced in good films for children / like the two mice who became horses…and the dress of Cindrella..! I was oohing and ahhing and even tearing up, looking at those stars. Illusions can be so sweet.
Big group hug to my darlings all over the world – and right now cheering in the Tavern! and Lawrence, In the D.U group your sweet brother Bob posted. Surprise! more wonderful Wittigs!Would you invite him to join – maybe? ( Or is he a secret??)
Happy New Year’s Day Dear Village
♔Peace to each home and each heart ❤
Amen, Annie
Wonderful to have you here
Fellow villagers, I am SO glad to have found you. I really enjoyed the skype meeting on Friday. Wish I had known about your group when you were doing the forgiveness study together. Hope to join you in the next study project. Many blessings for 2012!