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.
Thanks for the huggin’, y’all!
And I love that, a….
“If these thoughts are not useful, may they disappear!”
Much easier to say that then to kick rocks …..!
I guess, like in any dream, there are moments when it seems SO REAL!
Ken would say we hold on to the pain, to “prove” the ego is right…
(He says it better, eh?)
I’m sure it’s just one of those “dark nights of the soul” type things!
Peace – out!
🙂
A, it might be a good thing to allow those thoughts to be seen. Also by you. There IS something valuable of having them in front of you and being able to just look with that sweet love beside you.
And your loving friends of course.
So very often we use that minimizing-button and shrink the thoughts back. There they lay, festering.
(She says, knowing herself very well. Kinda.)
Love to Anne and a
and anybody needing one….Winnie, how are you? Are you still occasionally dropping by?
Nina, 696 I would gladly post to your blog, but for a guy who thinks punctuation is only what happens when you get a flat tire, I will need some directions. So enlighten me dear Nina as to how I find it.
A and Anne and you too Nina, and to all else it applies too, I think all who post here have a good grasp of the Course. But we will never be able to grasp it if we don’t let it roll over us like the waves of the ocean. We think we see clearly the beauty of it and then comes the storm and destruction, to be followed by calm and a quiet that speaks to the spirit.
I am the one that talks too much of self with my woe is me stories over the years. But for the record that needs sharing too from time to time. We take the good with the bad. I have been having a very hard time as of late, as I know some of the silent ones and those who post have as well.
Let us remember we are Friends and fellow travelers on the same road. We must not forget who travels with us. And Jesus is you and me and the homeless man with his hand out. We must be the truth that we are even when we don’t like what we see. There is beauty beyond comprehension right here, but because it is here we believe ourselves to be the hurtful and painful things are here as well.
Join with me in remembering what we have here in the Village. And drop by when you have a chance, for whether it is only a few times or more than that, it is a sharing that teaches us to remember how important it is to see the Christ in everyone we meet.
I love you all
God bless us everyone
well said dear brother lawrence
well said
this has been a challenging time for my mother and me as well
(that would be putting it mildly!!)
as ken says, we are each writing our own version of the story, “the very very very hard times of ______”
ken also says, everything is nothing
which just happens to be the heart sutra, emptiness is form, form is emptiness
that’s why we are encouraged to not take any of this ego story stuff seriously
in fact, things are soooo intensely impossible around here, it is a miracle just to get through another day
yet, somehow we do!!
yea!!!!
am thankful for each and all of the goings on here in the village
am hopeful that with continued prayer and guidance we each will find our way back into the happy dream and out of these weird nightmares that make no sense
this is a new day
some of my friends have shared that all is well in their realms, however, many gave shared that this has been the most difficult of times
may all manner of things be well
may it be so
may we continue to feel and share the love and support that helps us each on our journeys
thanks again for all these recent postings that are acknowledging the depth and care that is the heart of our village
it truly helps in these fragile times
mahalo
Zafu, that is the first time I/we have heard anything not peaceful about your mother and you. That mad a big impression on me. And also to see that most of us seem to be in a big upheaval somehow. I am comforted that we are going through this together, and want as lawrence to see more sharing about it here. I have felt self conscious in sharing as much as I have – but now it seems that it might be good to have it shared here.
Lawrence, just google Ninotchka44 and paste your comment on March 31 my best friend.
Natti natti
may we meet in dreams of connecting and dancing and sharing
and humongous group-hugs
aloha
no worries
things are still peaceful (in a chaotic intense explosive kind of way!!)
my practice is more zen, here I keep it more to acim
were it not for all the many helpful guides and angels we’d have given up long ago
peace is with us every step
gratitude for all the many helpers and kindesses along the way
appreciation for every scrap of encouragement
as of today I have been by my mother’s side for 9 months … all day every day and night
except for my morning walks, where I check on her as needed along the way
in coming to hawaii … I have found the best lover
every day I get kissed and held and caressed … and every day new gifts and presents!!
every day I get kissed by the sun and held by the ocean and caressed by the breezes …
oh, and the gifts and presents, way too many to count … rainbows and turtles on the beach … turtles wave from the ocean … flowers bloom …evening shooting stars … I even saw a shooting star in the daytime!! …colorful fish … so many gifts and presents … every day
it’s wonderful
and peaceful
and beautiful
just way too much for any one person to be doing … that’s all
it’s way way more than words
there are complications and difficulties and impossibilities and setbacks and pain things … and all manner of convoluted ego scenarios
and yet …
there is love and peace and willingness
and oh so much to be grateful for thankful for appreciative of
so very many blessings along the way
much to learn in this classroom
God has a plan and it will work
have total trust and faith that divine love is caring for each of us along the way and that every need is being met
enough already!!
love to all
aloha and mahalo
while practicing not taking any of this too seriously
are we having fun yet??
kind of yes …
Me, too, Zafu, and Anne, and A, and Nina.
{{{village tribe}}}
Big HUGS and LOVES to all of you.
Rushing through the Village, replacing wilted flowers with bright bouquets of wild spring flowers from the fields. Setting a basket of fresh fruit on the table in the tavern. Putting a pot of steaming mint tea on the counter top. Seeing that the water in the fountain is still clear and sparkly as ever…
I hope all is well in your respective worlds, my friends. I unfortunately am on major work overload and just don’t have time to attend to our Village with all the attention it deserves. But the thought is there. May the peacefulness this day extend itself into your hearts and light the way for those you love, and those you are learning to love. B.
{{{Village Tribe}}}
Hi Nina,
Have been thinking of writing you on your earlier thought about maybe I should write down the experiences of April 1st night. It’s not that I don’t want to share, or that I don’t want to look at it – in fact, it’s large and in my mind through these last few days…
but it’s so LARGE (: that I don’t have the words to write it down. In experiencing it, I felt a shift deep within my mind, in a region beyond articulation, and the shift felt good (I’m still not sure if it was indeed good, but it continues to feel good). It brought peace, even as the mind buzzed with the attachment to pain and suffering…
Soooo (:
not much more I can say about it now (or perhaps ever), but thanks so much for the hugs, the support, and for all your sharings. We are blessed to have each other.
love,
a
a, when i read that, I sort of get a feel of what has happened to you – a shift from victim-identity to Son of God – I sense a simplicity, an innocence, a matter-of-fact around it – and something very non-mental. And BIG. And so I thank you for sharing that with all of us – I truly sense that we are an entity who share in each others experiences and processes. When you shared that, something opens in us all – whether we are conscious it or not.
So I thank you for your sharing. And yes, we are so blessed for having found each other – first at the Monastery, and now in the Village I love you all so much
Nina
Dear Villagers, I want to wish you Happy Easter and I want to share a prayer that I heard in an interview with Nouk Sanchez on youtube. It’s been my Easter mantra for a week now and you can replace the dots with ANYTHING or EVERYTHING ; “GOOD or BAD”, It goes like this:
” Spirit, help me to forgive myself for using ………… to attack myself and to separate from your love ”
and the second one is the same with different words:
“Holy Spirit, help me to forgive myself for using my belief in scarsity to separate from your love ” She gave an example of using “belief in lack” instead of scarsity.
Right now these prayers have been very helpful for me. I hope maybe someone of you can find them helpful, too ! Hugs & Love from Hedda
So good to see you Hedda! And thanks for the prayers from Nouk. Happy Easter to everyone. {{{{hugs}}}}
Hi Hedda…thank you for that great reminder of Nouk’s prayer. Pam shared it here once before and I’m grateful you did today right before Easter as my ego conveniently vacuumed it into oblivion. I’m going to call my good friend and fellow course student, who is most likely on her happy morning nature walk right now and share it. Happy Easter everyone!
Love the simplicity of the prayers, Edda! Big hugs to you, so nice to see you here. How are you then? 🙂
Nina
Thank you dear village family for always being so kind and welcoming when I pop in !
Nina, I guess I’m doing OK and I am always deeply thankful that I found this Course !
Now I have to go and fix Easter day lunch but I’ll be back soon with a Rumi poem 🙂
Hey everyone! Yeah, big, big, big Easter hugs to one and All!
Here’s a little excerpt that holds a few very lovely thoughts. Easter, of course, is the time when we are supposed to remember, firstly, the crucifixion of Christ, before his resurrection. Now we are asked to remember Love, and know there is no fear in Love because the Son of God was NEVER crucified. The total and extraordinary freedom in this day is amazing, if we think about how we have kept lots of guilt for all the many small (and big) ways in which we have tried to ‘crucify’ our brothers. Nothing ever really happened. Ah…
“Your chosen home is on the other side, beyond the veil. It has been carefully prepared for you, and it is ready to receive you now. You will not see it with the body’s eyes. Yet all you need you have. Your home has called to you since time began, nor have you ever failed entirely to hear. You heard, but knew not how to look, nor where. And now you know. In you the knowledge lies, ready to be unveiled and freed from all the terror that kept it hidden. There is no fear in love. The song of Easter is the glad refrain the Son of God was never crucified. Let us lift up our eyes together, not in fear but faith. And there will be no fear in us, for in our vision will be no illusions; only a pathway to the open door of Heaven, the home we share in quietness and where we live in gentleness and peace, as one together.” (T20.II.8)
Big bunches of blessings today everyone, and handfuls and handfuls of wild flowers… Your Mayorness.
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy a depression, a meanness
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all !
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
– Rumi-
Hi everyone—I’m new here. ACIM has been my study for some 8 years now thanks to DU.
“Nina sent me”
What an inviting place to visit.
I hope to meet and chat with you all.
Dick in Guatemala
Skype: richard.bertrand1
Hi Dick glad to met you. Hope you enjoy a look around the village and stop by the tavern for a piece of peach pie and a glass of lemonade.(:
Hi Dick, nice to meet you. I’m glad Nina told you about this village. Did she tell you that we all “met” many years ago on Jamie’s blogsite which is nowadays called ” The Remembered song” ?
I highly recommend that site ,too !
Hi Dick – for the first time, my comment has disappeared from th site! Did I just dream it?
Please share a bit about your life. We’d all love to know you a little better
I am so glad you are here!
Nina
Welcome Dick!
I thought it was a lovely Easter gift that Hedda shared this —
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
– Rumi-
And you appeared. Love to have you here.
Katrina
Lovely Eastertide to one and all.
Belated Easter blessings to all! I am home today nursing strained muscles in my back, due to lifting concrete blocks to make a raised bed. It is sooo nice to have some peaceful, quiet time at home! Lawrence, thanks so much for the reminder to see the Christ in everyone. I certainly need to do that more often. Thanks also Nina, for your sharings. You always have such good insights. My intention is to visit your blog more often, to glean the blessings of your wisdom. Bernard, nice to hear from you. We look forward to those times when you can be more active on the site. a, I also am dealing with trying to shift from the victim identity to the Son of God. Victimhood is oh, so fruitless! It’s shocking to know how much we give up for a scrap of suffering. Hedda, thanks for the prayer from Nouk, I will use it with gratitude. Dick, welcome to the village! You will find the folks here really live what they have learned for the Course; it is so evident in their writings. Yes, please do share more about yourself.
Zafu, your love is so huge, we all feel it thru your postings. I hope you can find someone to give you a break from the caretaking responsibilities.
I honor all of you and am so thankful for this gathering of villagers.
Thank you Katrina.
Your welcome is appreciated.
Dick
Skype: richard.bertrand1
Nina (724)
Well, as you know, I’ve shared a bit with you by personal email, deriving from our DU contact.
Gotta work a bit right now, so I’ll get back to y’all.
THANKS for introducing me to this fun group!
Dick
Skype: richard.bertrand1
Hi Hedda (723)
No she didn’t. I’ll check it out.
Boy, this is like Christmas!
Love,
Dick
Skype: richard.bertrand1
Hi Pam (722)
Great to meet you also.
Who baked the pie?
Love,
Dick
Skype:
richard.bertrand1
Hi Jacalyn (726)
I live in Guatemala. Widowed 9 weeks ago after 54 years of blissful marriage to Solveig.
I am very happy and joyful today to have found you all.
Love,
Dick
Skype: richard.bertrand1
Hi Dick, We all take turns baking goodies in the kitchen at the tavern so feel free to avail yourself to our gastronomic whims or make a few of your own. There is a lovely herb garden just out the kitchen door and a small greenhouse to grow goodies in during the winter. (: Now that spring is here we have picnics under the grand tree in the village square commons and tea in the forgiveness flower garden.
Which makes me wonder if Richard will be back to hangout in the sunflower patch now that winter is over?
Ah 54 years of marriage and now a new chapter in the workbook of your classroom. {{{Dick}}}
I do all my workbook lesson with all this group in the background of my mind….
I love you all and think about you every day!
I would be thrilled to spend Eternity with you all…
My Annie…. My Winnie…..My Zafu….. My Jamie….. My Ken…
I love you all! And every one I did not name… Katrina….a…. Lawrence…
Hi, Dick….Pam….. Hedda…. Nina… Bernard…
To all of us….missing here – or present….
I love you all!
And everyone else I did not name!
Blogs and Kisses!
Sorry to hear about your loss, Dick. I hope you are doing OK ! Solveig sounds very Swedish ?
You see I’m from Finland but my mother tongue is Swedish. 🙂
{{{Welcome Dick}}} I join with everyone here in condolences in the loss of your beloved Solveig. I’m glad you joined us and look forward to hearing more about your life in Guatemala. Love, Michele
Today I saw that Gary Renard will have a seminar in Oslo in June!! Yayy! I am so lucky!
That was good news Nina ! I’m also thrilled because I’m going to see Byron Katie in Berlin in June. Have you discussed The Work here in the village ? i think you have but I’m not sure ?
She has nothing to do with ACIM but to me she seems to have awakened from the dream of separation and I just want to see her “live” !
Love, Hedda
Hedda, I love Byron Katie. I have a friend in the D.U group who found her Self by doing the Work. It was completely amazing to witness her posts and mails becoming filled with truth and love. Lots of D.U.ers use the Work – like Ossie, one of the moderators. it is all about perception, so its excellent!
And yes, i have written about it in a blog post which i may have posted here.
Hope you have a great time in Berlin then!
Love
Nina
Dear Bernard,
I enjoyed your video-talk so much. So much clarity around you. Only Heaven speaks truth: nothing ever happened.
I also enjoy master Athos strong remarks to your sentence: “Look at the connection in the mind.” And “We have not been able to make real identities.”
In my mind, these “signals” in our surroundings come from the one mind as help to make us see that Athos is just a thought in our mind, and he’s so connected to you and your TRUTH.
Even my Skype does that: whenever I have Skype-sharing with a partner, Skype mirrors with echoing( i am only talking to myself and not listening to my partner) or one of us fades out, mirroring when one of us spaces off/becomes fuzzy – or some memorable times where Skype zonked out, and we found out it came form a strong resistance to hearing what was being said, which was not openly shared.
Just to give Athos credit too:-) – and later today i will read the article.
*
This night, I had an epiphany: i really SAW that the reason/cause for anything i felt was NOT in my story/stories, but in the guilt in the mind.
Suddenly my whole childhood was clearly seen as a dream, and me as a dreamer. Which means that I am not really here of course 🙂 – and for the first time, that does not scare me at all.
For those who wants to read about the above realisations, please visit my blog: google ninotchka44
Love and gratitude and hugs, Bernard – and a good hug to Athos too –
Nina
Excellent piece of writing Bernard. You really captured the place of decision making. Luv to all.
Good evening all!
Hedda, Solveig’s father was from Norway. Her mother from Austria. I’m doing OK, the toughest times are days when we used to celebrate things, like birthdays etc. Our invention of the passing of time seems to help in this dream world. (An invention within the invention LOL).
Michele, Thank you for the condolences.
Pam, Yes it’s really ” a new chapter in the workbook of my classroom” as you say.
It’s midnight here now, on top of the mountain we dreamed of living on 54 years ago, the house we built is empty now except for myself, a lot of happy ( and tearful) memories.
Each day I tell her that I just have a few things to do here (like saving the world) and I’ll be right with her in the blink of an eye. Doing my best to do my lessons without forgetting.
HS is my buddy who is always with me, giving me his direction in all my choices. When I was a little kid, playing alone, he was my “imaginary” friend,I called him Peek, Still do.
My daughters live in the U.S. Marianne in Anchorage Alaska and Lisa lives in Michigan. We talk a lot on Skype.
My two boys Greg and Mark live here on the property.
I love you everyone.
Going to “hit the sack”
Dick
Skype: richard.bertrand1 Feel free to hook up when you see me online.
Just to say good night, dear Dick.It feels like you were always here with us. Loving hugs and natti natti
Nina
Hi Y’all!
Strange things happening….
Situations resolving on their own –
Machines “fixing” themselves – as if by magic –
Lost items just suddenly reappearing “out of the blue” –
Pretty amazing! I can’t explain any of it.
Just in time for my vacation – I leave Saturday!
In 2 days. So yay! I’ll take all the changes and just run with ’em.
An excellent blog post by Sean Reagan (google him for his site)
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Christ Nature and the Practice of Forgiveness in A Course in Miracles
by Sean
I want to borrow a phrase from Buddhism – borrow and modify, really: Buddha-nature. I’ve always liked that phrase because it implies that what is inherent in the Buddha is inherent in us. I am going to modify it (I am hardly the first to do this!) by inserting “Christ” in the place of Buddha. And then I am going to suggest that the concept and practice of forgiveness contemplated by A Course in Miracles is not an activity related to the righting of wrongs, but rather the capacity to perceive Christ-nature in all our brothers and sisters, and thus in ourselves.
What appeals to me about Christ-nature is that is ends the obsession with the historical Jesus and, by locating the Christ in our own nature, makes clear that what was holy about Jesus remains a viable potential in our own self. In other words, to perceive our Christ-nature is to effectively end the separation. That which is holy and that which we are becomes one even if – as is likely the case – we are still not convinced of the union.
It is hard to follow Jesus – as I profess to do – and not enter the rabbit hole of history. Who was Jesus? What did he really say and teach? This is the perennial problem for any Christian community, be it orthodox or new age. We are like Thomas in a sense, forever longing to place our hand in his wounds, the better to believe.
Yet I have come to understand that the historical Jesus – as fun and interesting as tracking him can be – is a bit of a fool’s game. I say that carefully, as many men and women I deeply admire and in some cases love have devoted their lives to this project. At the same time, one appreciates the Buddhist adage: if you meet the Buddha on the road kill him. I am mixing theological metaphors a bit here – with apologies to all – but the point remains. If there is any meaning at all to the reality of Christ nature, then it must mean that the historical Jesus is somewhat superfluous to the experience of it.
It is worth keeping in mind an early statement by Jesus in the ACIM text: “I have stressed that awe is not an appropriate reaction to me because of our inherent equality (T-1.VII.5:6).”
When we allow our focus to shift from a past Jesus to a present experience of Christ, we are better able to appreciate what A Course in Miracles is getting at when it urges us to remember that forgiveness is our function (W-pI.62) and that forgiveness is “the answer to our search for peace (W-pI.121.1:1).
We are deeply invested in the idea that forgiveness is an action that we take in relation to the action of another. You step on my toe and I forgive you. Even after we begin to appreciate that the Course offers a new understanding of forgiveness that is unrelated to righting wrongs, we still cling to that old idea. The proof – for most of us anyway – is that we tend to extend forgiveness only to people that we don’t like or who trouble us in some way. We don’t “forgive” our children or our best friends or the nice man who stopped for us while we were crossing the street. We love them so we don’t have to forgive them.
But lesson 121 upends that idea. It specifically asks that we “forgive” both an enemy and a friend, the better to learn that “giving and receiving are the same (W-pI.121.9:1).” And rather than focus on what we find irritating (or enraging) and helpful (or loving) about this “friend” and this “enemy,” we are simply trying to see a light in both of them. It suggusts in regard to our so-called enemy:
Try to perceive some light in him somewhere; a little gleam which you had never noticed. Try to find some spark of brightness shining through the ugly picture that you hold of him. Look at this picture till you see a light somewhere within it, and then try to let this light extend until it covers him, and makes the picture beautiful and good (W-pI.121.11:2-4).
And then we are called to transform that light to our friend.
That light that we are searching for is Christ nature. When we can see it in the one that we despise and know that it is no different than the one we see in the one we call brother or sister, then we know that the light is impersonal and that it shines in all of us. How hard it is to accept that it is in us as well? This lesson can be the foundation of our forgiveness practice – the attempt to perceive in everyone we meet the light of the Christ. Our focus is not on what people do or don’t do. We aren’t interested in that anymore. Instead, we are looking for the light in them.
What are the fruits of this practice, of seeing in friends and enemies alike the same Christ nature that abides in us?
Now are you one with them, and they with you. Now you have been forgiven by yourself (W-pI.121.13:2-3).
dear a, thanks for this.
I am just reading Anita Moorjani’s book “Dying to be me.” I think she has been mentioned in the Village before. She describes dying from Lymphoma, going through a near death experience and deciding to come back to share what she experienced on the other side. She also describes this light in everybody – and realizing how much fear in all forms contributed to her illness. She also describes how her decision to “come back to live and demonstrate/teach” was a message to her cells of such a magnitude that her body lost all its tumors in under 2 weeks. No trace at all:-)
There are such beautiful passages from her connection with her deceased father on the other side – and to see that when we loose the identification with the body and cultural upbringing all that is left is LOVE.
I am reminded all the time that this Love is here absolutely each and every minute – and even though my ego flies from it ( I had a sweet dream this night, wrote about it on my blog) it IS here. I CANNOT drive it away. She also talks about that we never know what the illness can be for -she writes so beautifully about seeing ourselves as a thread in the web – and that what is most important of all, of course, is to love ourselves right in the middle of whatever illusion we hold on to.
There is a fear that is so strong in me these last months. The more I manage to soften the extreme stiffness and pain in the neck, the more acute the fear seems to be. When i can allow it to be there as energy, though, without going out into the stories about it making it seem real, there may come the most exquisite peace.
Mr.Mayor. Again I thank you for having me as a villager here. I feel so home.
And I would love to hear a little from all of you: just touching base, if it feels OK.
loving hugs
Nina
Nina, lovely thoughts, and thanks for reminding us about Anita Moorjani. Hers is really a remarkable and inspiring story. And I thank you warmly for being part of our Village Home.
Anita Moorjani’s book is really gaining popularity! I have started a book group here in our tiny town to read the book during lunchtimes on Wednesdays, it starts on May 23rd. So thank you, Bernard, for sharing that youtube video with us!
Jacalyn, I am just reading her answers to questions in the back of the book. When i read them, I understand the COURSE so much better. That is not strange: the Course talks about the ego being wicked and hateful and horrible – Anita talks about not judging it, offering empathy for all those voices.- As she describes it, it is not about making it real at all.
I love everything that helps me not hate the Course 🙂 Cause I love it so. most of the time! 🙂
More on Anita Moorjani:
As an earlier cancer-patient, I would have had great help from hearing this:
“Eastern doctors( from both Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine)looked at my well-being more holistically. They viewed my illness as my body’s way of trying to heal from its imbalances – not just the physical ones, but emotional and mental as well. The cancer was actual my ally. These methods were much more comfortable and gave me more hope.”
A good friend of my adapted the same view – in the modality of “the new medicine”. She insisted on healing herself, seeing that the cancer was the body’s way to heal an inner conflict. Healing the conflict, the body healed instantly.
Moorani says: ” “I believe that my cancer was related to my self-identity, and it feels as though it was my body’s way of telling me that my soul was grieving for the loss of its own worth – of its identity. If I’d know the truth of who I actually am, I wouldn’t have gotten cancer!”
To me, translated to “coursish”, it means that the huge power which is God’s and mine, i turned against what i thought was me – my body – instead of accepting it as my identity.
And – there is also another possibility: that some of us have the script to NOT heal from cancer – my best friend who has had leukemia for 30 years has certainly grown because of it – learning to deal with it with kindness and mercy for herself, and teaching thousands to do the same.
Nina, you made a good point about the conflict. And is the internal conflict not always between the ego identity and the Christ identity?
I agree that there seems to be a parallel with the Course, even though different words are being used. “Accepting one’s magnificence” is the same as accepting our Christ nature/Identity. I believe this is the key to my healing, and your story about your friend’s healing proves the point.
Thanks, Nina, for all you share. Seems you are destined for this level of teaching.