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.
I’m in with the skype and the subject chosen Bernard. There must be a way to have the best of both worlds so we can accommodate Nina, and those others who prefer that form so we can be on this village bus destination together. Loved the quote that Jean found and you posted.
So glad you found us Jacalyn.
Prime Directive notes part one
Here goes, they are not perfect in form but hopefully in content…..I have abbreviated and emphasized. If something is not clear, Bernard can email me and I will try to respond.
J = Jesus HS is Holy Spirit dm is decision making mind underlines, etc are mine jean
Prime Directive, Non Interference with Form, notes taken from class by Dr. Ken Wapnick
– Title comes from Star Trek series which takes place in future with bad guys and good guys and good guys have a prime directive… they aren’t allowed to interfere with the development of another civilization. In our talk, J is the good guy and we are the alien civilization.
– wonderful way to talk about what Jesus does and does not do, Jesus does not interfere with form/world/bodies. If he did he would be as insane as we are.
– read from ACIM, p.29 in text, which states what the purpose of Jesus/Holy Spirit is and what their purpose is not. Paragraph 3, “ It is pointless to believe that controlling the outcome of misthought can result in healing. When you are fearful, you have chosen wrongly. That is why you feel responsible for it. You must change your mind, not your behavior, and this is a matter of willingness. You do not need guidance except at the mind level. Correction belongs only at the level where change is possible. Change does not mean anything at the symptom level, where it cannot work.” So this means it makes no sense to believe changing our behavior/form will result in healing…..this is opposite of fake it till you make it, changing something here will not bring true healing.
– Healing can only occur when the decision making part of mind realizes its mistake and chooses J/HS over ego, that’s healing. Healing has nothing to do with changing my behavior. This is why J doesn’t interfere in form.
– “when you are fearful you have chosen wrongly,” don’t ask me, J, to fix things in world, that’s not the problem…the problem is you have (already) chosen wrongly and the you is the dm mind, that believes we separated, we have never left the mind,
– when I am afraid, it is not, never, because of form in world, but is because, I, mind, chose wrongly, my ego.
– Must change my mind, not behavior and it is matter of willingness and I must see I am wrong about everything, being born is gigantic mistake
– on practical level apply this… whenever I believe anything in the world, or your body, my body, any situation is responsible for my happiness, my pleasure or pain, I am wrong.
– Nothing outside has an effect on me because there is nothing outside of me, must change mind not behavior, “seek not to change the world”, non interference of form, the Course is not about asking J for help in world as that would interfere with my internal development.
– He/J can’t do work for us, he can remind us that world is not responsible for anything, world is nothing. Only projected image of what I made real in my mind.
Prime Directive, Part Two
“Projection makes perception,” I, put it there, I is always the decision making mind. I put it there so I would see it outside and forget I am a mind.
– We are motivated to make a world of illusions because if I see it out there I don’t have to look in my mind and therefore will not change my mind.
– There comes a time when something shifts if I generalize this, qualitative shift will happen, and I will walk the world in peace.
– World may have power to do something to my body, but no effect on my mind… if world is an illusion, how could it have an effect?… only in my dreams, so it makes no sense for J to help us in the world/dream, though I may have experience of J helping me here, as I might experience J telling me what to do with my life, where to go….this is bottom rungs of ladder, specifics.
– how could J tell me what to do in a world that doesn’t exist?
– The way he helps me …allows my internal development of mind. – reminds me that however I am seeing world of bodies, that world is an outside picture of inward condition..of my mind.
– changing my mind is a matter of willingness, and I only need help at mind level. Helpful early on to have relationship where J feels loving in the world and I may feel guided in world by J, but real guidance is in mind and I translate that to world of specifics when my development is at the lower rungs of ladder.
– Since I think I am specific I will translate abstract love into specifics.
– Song of Prayer pamphlet was dictated because we, Course students, misunderstood what asking J for help meant, it is not about the body… only about the mind.
– To go up the ladder… translate what is happening in the world to a reflection of what is happening in my mind.
– Can feel very good to have J have all the answers ….but I need to grow up to be like him. J can feel like the parent/ brother I never had. That will keep me a child. That is a stepping stone, because I only need guidance at mind level. As long as I think I am body I will experience J on body level.
– I scream and holler to change Course to say what I want, but my unhealed mind stays unhealed, this is not about behavior, remember prime directive…..non interference of form, form is anything of the world,
– content is the mind, problem is there in the mind and answer is there, what seems to be billions of years and space is part of dm mind…. “change doesn’t mean anything on the symptom level, where it cannot work.”
– If you think body has been healed, what body?…. that is not meaningful change. That is only changing illusions, remember early lessons on what is meaningless, I think all problems here are real,.. anger means I want something to change, someone to change. Problem is I believe meaningful change is possible here, when only thing that can change is the decision making mind.
– how to change fear?…. be demonstration of love….that is how to correct a mistake…people believe they separated from love, I want to be demonstration of love…
Prime Directive notes part three
– change only occurs in decision making mind… as the world is a projection of thought system, must change the thought system.
– That is why J doesn’t do anything in world, he can’t… he doesn’t tell me to change my life here…he tells me to change my mind…. how can he care what I as a body do? he knows that my fear was brought about by my decision for guilt in my mind and only HS/J can help by my choosing HS/J in my mind.
– I am confused about levels, body and mind, I may have to correct someone in form in the world like a child or a student, but it will either be correction to destroy from my choosing the ego or correction to heal from choosing HS/J… one separates and the other joins.
– I might know better about something in form but what does that mean? it doesn’t get me to heaven…nothing here gets me to heaven.
– The challenge… is to know the truth, that the world is an illusion, and still be fully present to people as if I believe in the reality of form and have compassion and good will. But I will know I am teaching something else, teaching content, and knowing this will unify everything because everything is the same.
– separation is not a fact though we believe it.
– knowledge in world’s terms doesn’t mean anything.
– if you believe there are problems here that need to be resolved, you are taken in.
– you might hear voice in your mind, specific, but as you advance you will identify more and more with that love that is non specific and become totally compassionate all the time with all.
-correction is only in the mind.
– we can learn to be kind to everyone all the time, we are all one in heaven and in the dream.
– we all have the same mind, we can learn to live that truth without all the metaphysics by the application of always being kind.
– I can look at how I think change is meaningful here, and the reason is, I don’t want meaningful change in the mind.
– I could choose against the meaningless/separation. There is no meaning outside perfect Meaning.
– I/body don’t exist… because God is eternal.
– apply this to my life….how do I give meaning to things that have no meaning. Meaning….. is that it has power to effect me or others.
– World will always have disease, war, famine, scarcity, nothing meaningful changes in world.
WHAT a concept!
And what an awesome body of work you’ve done, ninja nun/ jean!
Awesome notes.
I love the last part.
Nothing ever changes in the world of form….
I always felt I was doing something “wrong”
Or that my metaphysical magic wand was defective…snapped off at the end….
Try as I might – I could not fix my little world of dreams!
Pray as I might – somethings were still not fixed.
So even “god” was seemingly “beside Himself” !!
Deep inside I always knew it wasn’t so FORMulaic!
Except that “I need do nothing!”
Awesome notes – thanks!
Note-tastic ninjanun-jean. I had been thinking about the prime directive here a while back and here it is as a workshop (:
thank you for the notes.
Thank you for these notes ninjanun-jean. So very very helpful. We have our own peaceful, love demonstrating Ninja Nun Communications Officer within Spaceship Temecula, beaming her personal transcript of Ken Chief of Star Fleet Operations notes to our village!
Wonderful work greatly appreciated! xox Michele
Great Notes Ninajaun
J and Ken are very clear on where the correction needs to take place.
As I reread the text I clearly see that
I am often in the position of conflict
and at the level of mind I choose fear.
Thankfully I can choose again as J instructs
And again and again
I love these words from the quote in 648
“Ask nothing of anyone
except that they be teachers of your forgiveness lessons.
And give them all your gratitude
for taking on this holiest of roles.”
I’d definitely be interested in a Skype Session Bernard.
Well Done and Thank you Jean.
I would like us to savor Jean’s fabulous notes little by little, and so I am taking the liberty of submitting them to you little by little. There are currently ten chapters to this little booklet, and so next week we will turn another page and explore another part of this amazing detective story together. Thanks to Jean! (And to you all, of course, for being such a lovely honey-bunch of students and good friends – B)
Prime Directive notes part four
-What makes this course unique… it shows the motivation, the reason we made a world of illusion.
-A few other paths say world is an illusion but none shows the motivation for the illusion, our decision for guilt.
– there is a reason why we repress, why we project, why we are neurotic, and cling to the belief that change is possible here…..it is because we don’t want our mind to change, if we would have our minds healed the individual would go ‘poof’ at the very end of journey and we know that.
– if we are sick we want to be well, we want our finances well, our children well, society well, and that is the meaning I will give to the Course, that it will help me here, if I think I am a body.
– there is talk about 2012 and the changes, positive or negative….are people really looking? why would this year be different? changes are meaningless in world, always changes here.
– how can I work for world peace if I am not peaceful? how could I, when I think there are good and bad guys and divide up the sonship? I have to see all as same, everything as same, illusion is illusion is illusion, nothing here lives, nothing here dies.
– change the mind that leads to the illusion
– Page 29, text……Helen was complaining…..and J said… “correction of fear is your responsibility”, no matter what the form, the form of fear is not why you are afraid, decision making mind has chosen to be afraid….when you ask me/J to release you, you are saying it is my responsibility.
– do I believe happiness comes because I get what I want in the world? do I believe something here is meaningful?….it is only meaningful if it can get me back to my mind, if I choose teacher of peace I will always be peaceful no matter what.
– Whatever my emotion, fear or any other, that emotion is my responsibility… I should ask for help in my wanting to be separate.
– This is the framework into where I will grow… I don’t let my happiness depend on external happenings….
and this is hard as a body…..that is normal but recognize it is a trap and look at how I want to fall into that trap… that something in world can fill my emptiness and make me happy,
– When I think ‘if only,’ if only something or someone changed I would be happy. And if I get what I want and feel that “joy”, that is the joy of I triumphed over God, I didn’t need Him… something else/someone else can make me happy, not Him.
– I must appreciate how difficult this is but don’t rationalize it…..I am afraid of the love that I truly am, and that is not sinful or bad, but keeps me grounded in illusions. Do I want this?
– Ladder symbol is helpful as it shows the journey, I am not ready for top rungs but can learn I am never upset for the reason I think….in time this becomes more generalized.
– people do awful things in the world, what does that have to do with me, with my peace? happily nothing.
– J reminds me I have a mind and I have the power to choose….my responsibility…not his, he reminds.
Here’s the next section of Jean’s wonderful notes – please do take a look. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Prime Directive notes part five
– P. 76 in text…“The voice of the Holy Spirit does not command,…does not demand,….does not overcome…does not attack… it merely reminds….the other way, remaining quiet.”
– if it is true of the Holy Spirit it must be true of us, because at top of ladder we are HS…the part we have denied is the loving presence that reminds and calls us to remember.
– Page 76, text.. “The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and forget”….. we want to learn to be the call to everyone to forget illusion and remember the truth, by demonstrating the choice for peace…when I get upset I can’t teach peace,
– kindness, sameness, not making people wrong, this gets me to heaven.
– the classroom is to be involved in the world in critical situations as the world sees it and be the quiet center.
– nothing has power to take away peace and you can choose….this is our only purpose in being here….
– everybody here is afraid, many people hide it, all special love masks special hate.
– when you are right minded, you hear the fear and know there is another way. You become the demonstration of choosing peace.
– you might do something in form…but you will know where the problem is….difficult not to get caught because the world is seductive…it is tempting to believe in ego thought system.
– say this…. I am too afraid to awaken from the dream …so I place myself under the world’s laws, but I made the laws.
– know what you are doing….can’t go from bottom to top, can’t pole vault over the ladder, do each step which is being kind to everyone, no justification for any of my unkind thoughts.
– think of all my unkind joking/mocking thoughts, of politicians, commentators, any situation, and see how I justify unkind thoughts…we all have preferences, but don’t get caught in thinking what I do here in world makes a difference.
– What I do in decision making mind makes a difference, he/J doesn’t make the choice for us, he can’t, he remind us to choose once again.
– “you may still complain about fear,”…. we complain that the Course doesn’t work, that the body doesn’t work, that things are not the way they should be, …but we don’t see we are still choosing to make ourselves fearful by choosing separation which is the only problem.
– the cause of all pain is fear….we project it out…we perceive it externally…but the mind is still choosing the fear so I/J will not interfere with the form/behavior but I will remind you where the problem is, your willingness to be separate.
– you choose either the teacher of conflict or teacher of peace, bodies are always in conflict with themselves or other bodies, not aware we are still choosing fear because we don’t want to go back to our mind.
Thank you so very much for the notes Jean.
☯♡♡♡Thank you Jean☯♡♡♡
Can anyone tell me why Jamie has scaled down his site so much?
Nina, I want to start a “Creativity Lab” for children- not just creative exprssion through art, but creative thinking, guided imagry, etc. I would like to get some suggestions from you, if that is alright.
Jacalyn, please write more about what you want suggestions on. Let’s take it on my mail:
leelah11 at gmail com
I think jamie has followed ken’s advise to focus mainly on his own process and awakening.
Prime Directive notes part six
– World was made as an attack on God….the world is a picture of an attack thought, attack thoughts are not kind, that is what made the world, so why are we surprised that the world and Course students are not kind?…Course students are the same as everyone in the world.
-Course students have the same denial, spiritual mumbo-jumbo, no different, why am I surprised Course students are like that, or politicians, heads of state are like that, unkind?
– World is a lie, there is no life outside of Heaven….nothing is alive here, we think electing a different president will make the world different….Problem is I don’t want to change me, I want to change him/her/ president…how absurd it is. We think things here make a difference, we believe something is here which means separation is true, but that is the lie.
– Be always vigilant for your ego…world is not what you think, you are never afraid/sick/angry/depressed/emotional for reason you think. Emotions lie because they are of the body.
– we experience Jesus here because we think fear is real, but fear is only a mistaken thought we identify with.
– we think ACIM is here, so the Course meets us where we think we are, dualistic creatures, so the Course is written on that level with J, God and us as persons.
– “do not set forgiveness in an earthly frame”, forgiveness is not between bodies, only happens in the mind. Experience may be that it is between bodies but “do not set forgiveness in an earthly frame.”
– bodies are not the same, minds are the same.
– prime directive…J says…if I intervene between your mind I would be tampering with your internal development…..if I did something here in the world I would be tampering with basic law of cause and effect. Your decision for ego is cause, body is effect. “Seek to change your mind.”
-This is a course in cause not effects, not behavior, nor world, nor bodies.
– Don’t ask me/J to fix things for you here…you are trying to bring me,J, into your dream/insanity…it is your decision making mind that is the cause of your distress.
– this is a clear statement of the entire Course, appreciate power of our mind to choose. “Seek not to change the world, seek to change your mind….”
– if J fixed things here, he would be saying the problem is in the world and that the mind is not important. He would be as insane as we are. Look how we want that.
– the mind has chosen to be sick, special, die, be separated,
– I/J am the Teacher of kindness and peace.
– when J told Helen, you do not guard your thoughts, he was speaking about her/our projections.
– when you choose the ego, you wander into the world, don’t believe the lies of your projections, world is one huge lie, “nothing so blinding as perception of form”.
– J says, I want you to work on your inner world(mind) but because we are afraid we bring J into the world and say he is doing things for me here because we want to be happier “I’s” in the world.
– you are making the world/people/parents/partners/children/co- workers/heads of state/your body, responsible for the decision the mind has made….peace to such foolishness.
I love this… I’ve backed away from many a “spirited debate” on Course-stuff…
Everyone wants things to be wonderful “here” and if they don’t seem to be,
it’s really easy to tell the poor wrectched creature (the one who seems to be miserable)
that IF they only did “this” or “that” THEN surely all would be right in the world!
So good to know now how – and why – that doesn’t always work.
Tennis anyone? Do blue dots/balls bounce?
Prime Directive notes part seven
– Stop throwing temper tantrums, grow up.
– J will not give us this (specialness) because God didn’t…God did not recognize us as special (separated individuals)
– We accused God of withholding, and made of Him an unloving father…We made Him into the Biblical god, who loves individual me and hates individual me…this is not the true God..
– We demand J pay attention to us as bodies so we make up a Jesus and a Course who speaks to as as bodies….Course students do this…but we could grow up, instead we want a Jesus/Holy Spirit who guides us here, makes us feel special, we like that kind of J/HS that heals our body, our relationships, our bank accounts, our world.
– you do not recognize that what you see outside you, you have chosen.
– take your experience and go back to your decision making mind. Don’t ask me/J to interfere between mind and body
– Read text, p. 587
– the problem is not the ego, the problem is not the tiny mad idea, but that we took the ego/idea seriously.
-this distinction is so important because the problem is not what we think….the ego doesn’t exit so it can’t be a problem…the metaphysics of the Course are so important.
-Problem is not world of time and space, or not even the wrong mind, there is no world of time/space, there is no sin. There is nothing outside God.
– The problem is our belief in it and we called this serious belief sin. This point is enormous…This is the reason J doesn’t do anything with ego…..The idea of an ego is the effect not the cause and is unreal.
-J reminds us we made wrong choice, and that it is silly to believe we could separate from perfect Oneness.
-problems say we are taking things seriously when the only problem is our minds chose the wrong teacher…anything else distorts this Course.
– You tell Jesus that you have a serious problem here and that it is his job to fix it and Jesus says, what problem? You never left home.
– when we think we have a problem we can apply this, page 587 in text, “In gentle laughter does the Holy Spirit perceive the cause, and looks not to effects.” He doesn’t see problems, nothing here to see…HS looks to cause, cause is not sin/guilt, ego…cause is mind’s decision.
– ego is not the cause of this world, it is our decision for the ego…..guilt can’t be problem, problem has to be our belief in guilt, distinction is so important.
– The problem is the mind made the decision to believe in separation. Sin is not the cause, our belief is the cause. If you think sin is problem you have made it real.
– undo the choice to believe in sin which is the mind’s willingness to be separate.
– we put Jesus out of work because we don’t like his solution. We want him to solve it here. He says, solve the problem in the mind…..this is course in cause and not effects. The mind’s decision for guilt is the cause.
– look how quickly I want him/J to help me here as a body.
– I can use my relationship with someone I perceive I have a grievance with as the way to get back to my mind where I have chosen to be separate.
– forgiveness is in the mind, not between bodies though that may be my experience.
Prime Directive notes part eight
– When I get back to my mind I can see what I made up, guilt. The guilt is made up because I didn’t destroy Heaven. I can change my belief that I did, which is the tiny mad idea.
– We don’t want to lose our separation identity, so we bring Jesus into the world and bring the Course into the world by asking it to do things here.
– I can’t do anything spiritual in the world…I must realize no one is out there, this book(ACIM) doesn’t exist, it is an enlightened fragment of the decision the mind made.
– we think we are bodies so we translate the atonement thought and translate it into this blue book, yet we try to change things in world.
– J is symbol of right minded thinking.
– All things in the world are symbols, the source is the right minded thought…..purely right minded is Jesus which will be ourselves when we totally accept forgiveness for ourselves, there isn’t anything to be forgiven for.
– if I find myself caught in the hype of 2012, remember there is no time.
– how do I react to 2012? It is what I make of it, do not confuse symbol and source.
– The only thing that matters is that I become more right minded, remember the Course’s New Year’s resolution……making it all the same, only kindness.
– The only freedom is our power to choose, not in anything in the world, but between teachers of ego or peace.
– The world makes J insane and God insane when they bring him into the world, so important not to forget the metaphysics which is the heart of this whole thought system.
– There is no world, the central concept this course teaches.
– Jesus can only help you see that outside in a picture of what is going on inside.
– Page 587, “He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while.” Practical application in my life, whatever effect I feel is terrible, I look with him, and He causes me to follow the path of the miracle and go back to the mind and see the foolish cause, my belief in separation.
– don’t laugh at what goes on in world but laugh at the foolish cause…..what goes on here looks terrible. Oneness and separation can’t coexist.
– The idea of sacrifice is the root of the world, one or the other….I have to put you down to be happy,
– Nothing here is laughable, very painful here, “a dry and dusty place where starved and thirsty creatures come to die”, but laugh at the belief that God could create such a place, laugh at the thought system of the ego, be with Jesus above the battle ground and see the silliness.
– “Look together”… looking is very important, is the heart of forgiveness, look without judgment….bring problem back from the world to my mind’s decision and see it is silly.
– Bodies do cruel things to other bodies but bodies cannot take away the peace of God.
– Anger says you/someone should have done something different. What does that have to do with me? What does that have to do with the Love in my right mind.
– The murder of Love, the destruction of Heaven becomes my(ego) birth place when I get angry I reenact that original moment, when I think I was right.
– When I have an unkind thought or feeling I have to take responsibility and ask for Help.
– Holy Spirit brings me back to the decision making mind, and I decide to be peaceful or conflicted and I use world as justification for what I have already chosen.
Prime Directive notes part nine
– Bodies judge effects, He/J judges cause, we always judge behavior/form. He reminds us this is going on in the mind.
– Jesus’ judgment is gentle laughter, and we don’t want that Jesus. We want a Jesus that takes us seriously.
– Jesus says, I exist in your mind where you do. And I will look with you and show you how they (judgments) all come from the same source, the belief you are better off without God.
– I/J will come in response to any one unequivocal call, but we always have a hidden agenda to make the world real, to make our personhood real. We want remedy from effects and he doesn’t see or judge effects.
– “And God will wipe away all tears.” When you have accepted forgiveness for yourself, you will know you are a mind identified with love, and the purpose of the Course is for us to want that. While we choose to believe otherwise, he will wait patiently for us to choose again.
– We have the illusion Jesus is helping us in the illusion, but Jesus/Holy Spirit is the thought in our right mind.
– the loving presence we call Jesus is really ourselves, this love is really us when totally healed… there are no names in the real world.
– this Course is not about asking for specific guidance in the world.
The way it guides you is reminding you that you are mind, a split mind, and have the power to choose.
– “Behold your idle dream in which this could occur.”
– Let me/J teach you this world is a projection because you choose to believe in it and there is another choice.
– “Resign now as your own teacher for you have been badly taught”. And it is so important to see how resistant I am to doing this, resigning as my own teacher and becoming a pupil.
– It is very helpful to identity my resistance. I don’t know who I am as mind and even if I don’t like my history/story at least there is an I that doesn’t like it.
– J’s challenge is to convince us how miserable we are or we will not be motivated to change our mind.
– The Course will show you your life is not your life, what you cherish is not your life….nothing here works. “This world is not your home” and the insanity is we think we can find happiness and meaning here.
– if we change the attack thought to the atonement thought, the world is changed in our mind.
– major challenge Jesus has is to convince us what world is really like, “a dry and dusty place…”
– What is here is valueless, doesn’t last and our special love relationships don’t last, beauty doesn’t last, nothing lasts here. It is helpful to see that, so I can look for what does last, forgiveness, changing our mind, the willingness to look to cause.
– We don’t have to get in touch with the original moment when we believed we separated from God, but we relive that moment each and every moment, so any fragment I can learn to laugh at, will heal.
– Any moment when I am tempted to believe the lies of the ego/ unkind/ separating thoughts, if I can remember this is the shadowy fragment of the tiny mad idea, then I now have an opportunity to see this as a mistake and say I don’t want to do it anymore, and then I am done.
– Jesus says we were with him when he arose, which means we were there when he awakened from the dream, we were all there because all minds are one.
– So this is already over, which makes this so insane and we defend it with tenacity…..all because we are afraid to waken from the dream. There is nothing wrong/sinful about asking Jesus for help in the world, but use it to get back out of the world to the cause
– Just know you are not what you think you are, and not justify your asking in the world.
– Nothing that fragments the sonship can be justified. Look at people/things/situations you dislike and criticize, don’t justify these thoughts.
– Look at your mind’s decision to be different/separate. Looking means look without judgment, just look because the ego tells you not to look because if you look you will see sin and that is the lie.
– It is so difficult to let go of judgments as we were made out of judgments, the whole world was made out of judgment.
Prime Directive notes part ten
– “Healing occurs when the therapist forgets to judge his patient”, when we choose not to judge.
– Helpful day by day, just see how I am tolerant of unkindness, judgment and this doesn’t mean not to judge…but when I do judge don’t justify it.
– All we need is the little willingness to say, I was wrong, or even maybe a chance I was wrong. Jesus will take a little bit, it gets his foot in the door of our mind.
– Notice if I reserve some unkind thought for some people.
– Unkindness to myself is unwarranted. I am choosing to be separate and conflicted.
– I fragment the sonship if I believe some people or some things are evil, how can what someone does out of fear be evil? I would be saying there is no good, but there is only Good.
– All people do is make mistakes, this is the difference between sin and error, sin is serious and deserves punishment, and error will be corrected.
– Some of us make socially acceptable mistakes and some socially unacceptable mistakes.
– Song of Prayer…. “What should I do for him, Your holy Son?” should be the only thing you ever ask when help is needed and forgiveness sought. The form the seeking takes you need not judge.” p.14
– Your holy Son is all of us…..I can ask, is this going to help on our atonement path or obstruct it?
– There is the Helen story where she asked Jesus for specific help in the world and it looked very spiritual and Jesus told Helen and tells us, Don’t ask what you should say…ask instead for help to see through my eyes In other words, take your attention from the form/world back to the decision making mind which is cause…if you do this and you join with me, your mind will be healed and love will flow through you and you will automatically know what to say. Helen’s focus shifted to her mind, not the world.
– What helps person in distress is that person’s right mind.
Show that the light is in you so it must be in them. They are not separate from you. You will experience the love in you and that love shines out to them whether they are aware of this or not.
– Jesus doesn’t speak in words, only one note ‘a’ for atonement. (joke)
– Your job is to get out of the way, get your ego out of the way and forgive yourself for not wanting to get out of the way.
– There is a hidden agenda of a do gooder, an unhealed healer. Do gooders have to help because you don’t think Jesus or God will help so you have to.
– Don’t be part of the problem, you want to be part of the answer.
He is the answer, you the one who hears.
– Step back and look at your ego, your investment, your resistance, and not judge it. When you forget to judge yourself healing occurs.
– I am so afraid of waking up, it is not a sin, just look at my decision.
– Jesus/Holy Spirit speaks only about the gift of peace and salvation…no words.
– Love is speaking to Itself in the guise of speaking to people.
– Forgiveness has nothing to do with externals, I want to be in my right mind not in my wrong mind.
– This loving presence waits until we say enough already, but we don’t say it until we look at the costs of not choosing forgiveness.
– We think we are specific, we confuse symbol and source. What we want is non specific/source, Jesus is non specific. Helen took Jesus’ love and translated that love into these words (Course). Jesus does not speak, but we become afraid and then we worship the specific. Go back to the mind, abstract.
– Forgiveness is misunderstood, when misunderstood it reinforces separation, you did something and I forgive you.
– “Listen and learn and do not judge”… how can we know what is good for another person? That is arrogant.
– Do we know what this person’s mind needs….if I think it needs something other than forgiveness, I am an unhealed healer.
Prime Directive, Non Interference of Form final notes
– It is Jesus’ love in my mind that I translate into specifics.
– We think forgiveness is for what someone has done….What happens here has no effect on what I am or what you are.
– Why don’t I choose him/J as my teacher? Because I don’t like his answer, answer is there is no world of effects,only mind.
– We made the world and bodies to be mindless and never to remember we have a mind.
– If I ask my inner teacher, he will show me I am a mind and I don’t like that, that is resistance.
– This course goes against everything I believe and everything the world believes about forgiveness.
– There aren’t any people… how can you forgive what is not there?
– Forgive yourself for believing in what is not there.
– World arose from our belief, and will disappear in our total forgiveness.
– We have to understand what forgiveness is….nothing happened.
What you forgive is yourself, not someone else.
– Use what you see as unforgiveness of others to get back to your mind and you forgive yourself and that is the key.
– Don’t define what you or other people need… because you think you and they need something other than kindness.
– I think I have to do something in the world, but I want to forgive my unforgiveness in my mind.
– All anyone needs is kindness but I think someone needs to be corrected because I judge form/behavior.
– The face of Christ is a symbol of innocence and is not anything specific.
– We are all children of innocence.
– Whatever I thought impinged on me was my own doing.
– I am not responsibility for another ego but I am responsible for my investment in seeing their egos having an effect on me and wanting them punished.
– Seek to change your mind…..you don’t want to change others/situations/things/forms…change your mind.
– You might say and do things with certain people/groups in the world, but you will do this with kindness for all people.
– If you think you are being helpful with others, for example, a sick person, but fragment the sonship as seeing yourself or them differently, you aren’t helpful….when you are angry you are as sick as the sick person you are with.
– Don’t justify any unkind thoughts,
– Ken starts to read this beautiful closing and asked us this: Allow yourself to move beyond form to love which is the only way to be helpful.
This comes from the Song of Prayer, the end of section on Forgiveness, last three paragraphs. P. 14/15
“ ‘What should I do for him, Your holy Son?’ should be the only thing you ever ask when help is needed and forgiveness sought. The form the seeking takes you need not judge. And let it not be you who sets the form in which forgiveness comes to save God’s Son. The light of Christ in him is his release, and it is this that answers to his call. Forgive him as the Christ decides you should, and be His eyes through which you look on him, and speak for Him as well. He knows the need; the question and the answer. He will say exactly what to do, in words that you can understand and you can also use. Do not confuse His function with your own. He is the Answer. You the one who hears.
And what is it He speaks to you about? About salvation and the gift of peace. About the end of sin and guilt and death. About the role forgiveness has in Him. Do you but listen. For He will be heard by anyone who calls upon His Name, and places his forgiveness in His hands. Forgiveness has been given Him to teach, to save it from destruction and to make the means for separation, sin and death become again the holy gift of God. Prayer is His Own right Hand, made free to save as true forgiveness is allowed to come from His eternal vigilance and Love. Listen and learn, and do not judge. It is to God you turn to hear what you should do. His answer will be clear as morning, nor is His forgiveness what you think it is.
Still does He know, and that should be enough. Forgiveness has a Teacher Who will fail in nothing. Rest a while in this; do not attempt to judge forgiveness, nor set it in an earthly frame. Let it arise to Christ, Who welcomes it as gift to Him. He will not leave you comfortless, nor fail to send His angels down to answer you in His Own Name. He stands beside the door to which forgiveness is the only key.
Give it to Him to use instead of you, and you will see the door swing silently open upon the shining face of Christ. Behold your brother there beyond the door; the Son of God as He created him.”
Silence……………….end of class.
Ninjanun. what a great job you are doing for us all. How are YOU doing these days in Ken-town? I remember in Monasterydays when i think you told us about much allergies – so it seems things have lightened up?
love and gratitude
Nina
✮✮✮♡♡♡Thank you Ninjanun♡♡♡✮✮✮
{{{{ninja-jean}}}} (:
A warm hello to each and every Villager! And you are very very welcome for the notes.
I am finding the staff’s Wednesday and Thursday classes very helpful keeping me on track as I want to think the Course is saying things it doesn’t say. I hear it clearer at the Foundation it seems that I am a mind and everything I experience is a choice, such resistance as I want to make exceptions….
The staff gives ideas to ponder and one was…….Don’t make your fear another’s sin.
Also….What is it that we believe still gives life here meaning or what do we do here to give our life meaning?
And the final one for today is… when we are upset, who/what do we expect to fix the situation?
From the land of lemon trees in backyards and bright warm light. Hugs to all. N/J
Hi N/J:
Those are excellent nuggets you just shared above. In particular, I like the final one for the day…. “When we are upset, who/what do we expect to fix the situation ?”
That is truly an excellent question indeed !
Many thanks, dear friend,
a
THIS IS BARBARA GRIFFINS’ STORY. Posted here with her loving consent.
“I would like to share a story that has been in my spirit all day today.
We are familiar with the tale of the human baby that was found by the wolves and then raised as a wolf. The baby was taught how wolves hunt, find shelter, talk to one another, and fear man. Taking this premise, let’s elaborate. The baby turns into a boy and finds his place within the wolves. But, something within never really feels a part of the wolves. As hard as he tries, he never feels like he really belongs.
This boy is then found by humans. They take him back to the world of humans. At first the boy is very frightened because he was taught to fear man. He keeps wanting to go back to the world he knows. But, there is a memory within that he once belonged to this human world. He feels the love and acceptance and then there comes a moment when he knows this is who he is. And as hard as he tries, he can never go back to being a wolf.
We were created as Spirit. We left Spirit and entered the world of humans. We were taught everything a human knows. We were taught how to love, how to feel, how to work, and how to believe. We were given a name, a family, an occupation, a personality, and an image. We tried very hard to live in this human world. But, no matter how hard we tried, there was a knowing within us that this was not who we were.
Spirit finds us. At first we are very frightened. There is a guilt within us because we were taught that we had crucified God. We hide. But Spirit is patient, loving and gentle. We slowly begin to trust. And then there comes a moment when we know, we know we are I AM. We know we are not “me.” We never even existed as “me”. It was all a dream.
As Spirit we come to see that “me” is not real. We try to find “me” and “me” can only be found in the images in our mind. There is no “me.” There is no family. There is nothing but Spirit. We are free. We are home. And we can never again believe that we are “me.”
The Awareness was always there. The Awareness will always be. As we shift our attention from “me” to I AM the perfume of peace envelops us. There is nothing left for us to learn. We simply have to Be.”6
Hi Nina I see you have changed your avatar, nice.
Yes – I put the little sister away: grew up.
I wanted to share todays blog with y’all: it is a big insight. And although it already has closed over, I DID have it. It REALLY happened – such an opening.
In the shower this morning – what a great place for healing truthful insights! I start thinking about a couple of guys who were really pissed and upset about something I wrote, and had no qualms of expressing it. I felt so attacked. – And then, the insight: I really want to feel attacked and guilty.
Only in A Course in Miracles – and Ken’s teachings – could this be a revelation: the ego would judge me for being a wuss, a pingle, a masochist, insane. And Love looked on all of that and just smiled.
No wonder I choose ego – I have to, in order to feel unjustly treated. What a revelation to feel this without the slightest judgment at all: it is just insane, but in a silly way.
God what energy it takes to keep all of that going. And I notice how i look for it when it is not there – in order to control it and hold on to it – this old guilty me-feeling. I just notice it and smile. It’s just STUFF.
It is such a healing to notice HOW MUCH I hold onto guilt. I always thought Ken was nuts when he taught us that – and here I am, finding it and being grateful for it.
It is just a habit that I call me.
And oh: Judgment holds it all in place. I can only let it go now when I see that I choose it.
What a healing when judgments fall away.
Thanks, Nina, for sharing your experience. Wow, that was a direct experience of truth. You really live it, and I admire that so much! I am very aware of the guilt all of the time, but am trying to remember to just observe it more. How morbid to keep choosing guilt and depression, but guess victimhood is as appealing as Ken has told us. He has shown us the signs on the high-way.
re nina 682 “It is just a habit I call me.” So true I am seeing my ego habit more and more each day and chooseing to shift to the HS habit of seeing the ego habit as pointless with no need to continue it and feeling the releif for a few seconds before sliding back into it. 🙂
The few seconds of getting into the new habit of just looking are happening a few more times per day. YAY!
HUGS for everyone and a big thanks for being my mirror.
682 is a really helpful sharing of experience.
To see that “we *want* to hold onto the guilt” is something I have not yet experienced, but I can imagine how liberating that would be – to see it, and/or experience it, even for a second.
Meanwhile, I experience deeper and deeper feelings of guilt these days, all “apparently” from a variety of external sources. My practice these days is to see, or more accurately, *try to examine* whether it is true, or whether the source of all that guilt arising is something else.
Peace.
Pam: yes- seconds! that’s it! I just saw that i judged it instead of praising it! Thanks.
a – what i get more and more is crazy crazy fear. No, simply doing the tax-papers…they used to always put me off, true, (but i always did them correct anyway ) – but this year – my body is almost frozen in terror when i think about it. maybe it is symbolic – like answering for something, the ultimate judgment day- kinda –
I think I am onto something
gotta forgive it although I don’t get ti ( maybe exactly WHY I will forgive it
Holy Spirit, I want the solution and not the problem
Warm hugs to all, and cider and cinnamonbuns in the Tavern ( and Rufus, my orange cat, just told me to tell you that he just laid an egg. (He is very special cat, he is.)
Ah Silly. I feel less cold at once
Yes, seconds, most times a split second, two or three times in a day, sometimes none in a day but several days in a week now. And every once in a while it lasts for maybe five or six seconds and when it does everything is “suspended” the activities around me continue, people are still talking and I hear what they are saying but I feel “timeless” and a wordless calm happens then a faint but clear “wordless thought” stands out and “worded thoughts” start to happen saying things like “it really is pointless” “this really is silly” and they are calm and gentle not the ego driven harsh pointed way one says “this is pointless” when trying to convince ones self it is “pointless” in an intellectual way.
mmmrph mrmmrph slurp oh sorry started talking with my mouth full. These buns are yummy. (: * hands rufus a nibble and a fresh catnip leaf.
“Suspended”
by Pam Meyer
Yes, seconds,
most times a split second,
two or three times in a day,
sometimes none in a day
but several days in a week now.
And every once in a while
it lasts
for maybe five or six seconds
and when it does everything is
“suspended”
the activities around me continue,
people are still talking
and I hear what they are saying
but I feel
“timeless”
and a wordless calm happens
then a faint but clear “wordless thought” stands out
and “worded thoughts” start to happen
saying things like
“it really is pointless”
*
“this really is silly”
*
and they are calm and gentle
not the ego driven harsh pointed way one says “this is pointless
when trying to convince ones self it is “pointless”
in an intellectual way.
wow… Nina your post 682 shower revelations were a great post and wonderful relatable insight into how committed we are to the variations on a theme of the ways we choose guilt. l completely related to your post 684 Pam as that is how it is for me. Then your 687 post had me thinking and wondering about paying attention to what peace might also be my experience from having the practice of looking….and then yes yes yes Nina thank you for giving Pam’s content rich post the lovely form and frame of artistry it was.
Rufus …thank you prompting Nina to share one of your many talents
Love to All
oh PS really loving the last few days of Ken’s Listening videos on Jamie’s site!
Just looking for a moment to catch up on all your great-looking posts… Big hugs, so glad you’re all happy at home here.
Miss y’all!
Miss you too, Tex! Why don’t you share a bit from your life? i’d love to know.
Big hug
Nina
Resting on the sofa this morning with the March-sun falling on my chest and face, I started to cough.The usual old bad one. Started to tune into the pain: saw that there was a memory/story there about once having denied the love of Jesus – and the friendship of Jesus. I offered my willingness to be corrected about the importance of being on my “own.” And felt sad – believing in the whole story.
Later, I stood in my healing- room and looked out on the big playing-field in front of the house. A young man walked his old black dog – and when he entered the field, he dutifully latched the dog. I loved that: not everybody feel safe around big black dogs.
As I sensed the love for the guy and the old dog -( it whiffed its tail in such a comic way, like an old lady of 90 trying to dance) – I sensed something stirred around the heart, and heard:
“Your love for those two Sons of God IS your friendship with Me.”
And there it is: the switch from ego’s Jesus and the Course’s.
The joy in me in thinking that now I am close to Jesus each and every time I see Him in my brother.
I am outgrowing useless stories
694, Real nice Nina. I remember reading once that the world wasn’t made up of atoms, but rather it was made up of stories. One of those note cards I referred to in another post is glaring its message at me.
It reads “God Doesn’t Exist or The World Doesn’t Exist Your Choice”. Here’s to outgrowing useless stories old friend, but not to outgrowing old friends. We can keep them tucked safely in the Love we are.
God Bless Us Every One
lawrence
Lawrence – will you do me favor: copy your 695 and post as a comment in my blog: google ninotchka44
I would love to have it there!
big hug
Nina
to 695:
Lawrence – here’s to remembering that we all have each others tucking safely under our wings. Those wings gonna be BIG, man!
What an absolutely adorable image
Nina, giggling
I have really been having a hard time lately…actually…
Working on that acim blog just brought me closer to the words and the truth they were saying…maybe… Ends up I am in a really angry place and ready to just forget the whole thing. In some ways, very typical of me…
BUT – I know that is it probably just an anger phase (think: Kubler Ross)
Since my bargaining obviously did not work…
I keep looking around and I did not go *poof*! So it MUST all be a big fat lie.
A friend say I should revisit the peace of mind that Zen could bring…
I found it laughable (no offense) that I was om om oming to this Elephant figure….
Whilst thinking secretly to myself “…obstacles – my *asterisk* !…”
Although the music is nice! ….♫…♬….♫…. very relaxing – 108 times.
I reminded myself at once of the Courses line about swapping out one Special Relationship for another… and the call for faith… and the “little” hinderance
All the beauty and truth of the Course…
It just stopped me in my tracks…like a stunned person.
Even the Easter poem… The Stranger on the Road….
Am I the last one here to realize that it was written all in Iambic Pentameter?
I cried when I read it through… omg — Oh.My.God!
So – hard times…. coming through it….bit by bit…
Missing everyone…. just a sweating feeling of dread…
*sigh*
Dearest Anne, that calls for a group hug I think: {{{{{Anne}}}}
and a reminder that while we fret and complain and agonize, we are all tucked in under the wings of the big Mother Hen ( i hope i did not offend Lawrence,Bernard and A :-))
LOVE YOU
Nina
No offense, Nina (:
Hi Anne – if it is helpful to you to know that you are not alone, then i can say that it has been a tough passage for me as well. too voluminous to put down in writing, now, in the cold light of morning, but as you were typing out the words above, i was tossing and turning in bed, at around the same time, pain-wracked, emotional and physical, and thinking of writing out my heart on this blog. i don’t think i will be able to forget the night of april 1st, very easily. (then again, perhaps it’s better that i forget (: —
and of course, if it’s not useful, then may these thoughts disappear !
(:
take care, all.
a