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.
Jacalyn, I agree. The only choice there is – and we have already taken it, thank God. How strange that that memory can seen to be more real than Love itSelf.
I found this poem in my mailbox today. I have a great tenderness for Lawrence. he has written one of my most beloved poems about three strange angels: “let them in! let them in!” I will see if i find it on Google.
But here is this, about love:
Go Deeper than Love
Go deeper than love, for the soul has greater depths,
love is like the grass, but the heart is deep wild rock
molten, yet dense and permanent.
Go down to your deep old heart, and lose sight of yourself.
And lose sight of me, the me whom you turbulently loved.
Let us lose sight of ourselves, and break the mirrors.
For the fierce curve of our lives is moving again to the depths
out of sight, in the deep living heart.
~ D.H. Lawrence ~
(excerpt from Know Thyself, Know Thyself More Deeply)
yes. let us break the mirrors. Everything i see that is not beauty is false.
Song of a Man Who Has Come Through
Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!
If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!
If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed
By the fine, fine, wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world
Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted;
If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge
Driven by invisible blows,
The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides.
Oh, for the wonder that bubbles into my soul,
I would be a good fountain, a good well-head,
Would blur no whisper, spoil no expression.
What is the knocking?
What is the knocking at the door in the night?
It is somebody wants to do us harm.
No, no, it is the three strange angels.
Admit them, admit them.
*
I always cry reading this. It is like I have written it with a talent i don’t know I have. I miss it.
Many thanks, Jacalyn and Nina for this great sharing. I’m a big fan of Anita Moorjani. I’m sure there is a way of finding very appropriate and meaningful parallels between her thoughts and the Course. Yes, I think the self, the identity, she is talking about is not at all her small individual self but the Christ we all share.
Such wonderful poems, I shall really have to find a collection of his Lawrence’s work. Thanks and hugs, Nina.
Hey – just got back from vacation – trying to catch up…..
I had the most wonderful time…. I snorkeled with about a million little fish…
And I have not been in the water for 45 years….
I rappelled and zip lined and did all kinds of magic things!
Wish you all were there!
Hey Tex sounds like great fun was had. Glad your back.
Photos please??
Tex….I sent you a bon voyage email some weeks ago when you posted you were about to depart. Did you change your email address? Your trip sounds fantabulous! Glad you had such a great time!
a…..are you headed to SF this trip?
Love to all xox M
Yes, indeed Michele dear – you were on my mind when we touched down in SFO last week. We were just breaking journey since we didn’t immediately catch the midnight flight to Dallas.
Currently in Dallas, and circling through the US(heading to New Haven for my 20th reunion this evening) before heading back to SFO in late June/early July. We will be there for at least a week. Will you be there around that time ?
This time we can co-ordinate by phone ! 🙂 I’ll call you soon with my US number…
love,
a
ps. Lawrence bro – how did the auction/sale go ? All well with you, dear one ?
yes – Lawrence! how is everything? or at least, something?
love
Nina
Hello a, and fellow villagers, Sorry Nina. I had my follow up appointment with the first Oncologist I saw. I don’t have Cancer, Leukemia or MDS. The antibiotic Zyvox I was on for a MRSA infection in my toe and bone was the culprit it seems. It was responsible for my platelets and red and white blood cells being all off. It is Sunday morning and Sharon and I are starting our last day of busting our butts getting ready for the Auction, which will be held next weekend. It wouldn’t be so bad but I started selling books, fifteen or twenty years ago or so. And, so I got a lot of books.
My good friends, we are happy with the news. But truth be told we don’t change our emotional self much. Life is change and change is life, and for me at least, it is experience only that teaches. I trust it will be a good one. Our daughter Kaitlin was home, and went with Sharon and I to my appointment. So the doctor was talking to three cancer survivors. Time seems to answer many of our questions and most all of us think it is going too fast. I apologize to for not writing sooner, but just so you know I haven’t even talked to my brothers and sister yet. They say, I am some what eccentric.
As far as our moving is concerned we can’t look until the auction is over. I need good vibes from all you hippie villagers, that it will be a good one. We hope to be moved out and at our new place in September, God willing and the creeks don’t rise! I go back in three months for more blood work, if I get the same results then that would be cool. The MRSA thing is on going, and a little spooky cause it’s in the bone (: I am really in a strange place, but I am more an observer than a participator and that feels kind of nice.
God bless us every One
lawrence
Lawrence, these are wonderful news. I feel so relieved. And I remembered something Carrie Triffet practiced in her last book “The Enlightenment Project.” I have practiced it myself, it feels wonderful, and i see no reason why it should not work.
Here is how she does it:
she closed her eyes and intended to visualize the MRSA-bacteria or virus or whatever it is called. She then does what the Course suggests, in one of its lessons: look for a spot of light within the form you see. Allow it to grow – and join with it, as the essence and truth of what you both are.
It feels just wonderful when i do it – and it becomes clear to me that whatever is not light, is my projection, so I resonate that by joining with the truth in my projection, the guiltandsin-part cannot be there at the same time. Hope it sounds reasonable 🙂
Much love to you, and blessings to the best auction-results – and a perfect new place to live.
{{{Lawrence}}}
Nina
Lawrence, we will all send our good hippie vibs for a great sale next weekend! Thanks for letting us know about the results of the tests. Intersting life in this these bodies. Being an observer is a great place to be!
Nina, not quite sure what you mean about your forgiveness process using Lesson #121. Are you saying that you use the process on the projections of self?
Love to all, Jacalyn
Jacalyn, I know it sounded muffly, that explanation. Since everything are projections of my/the/mind, and God is in everything i see, since God is in my mind,and I look for the light instead as the dark form/guilt-projection, that light, being looked for and seen, will heal my perception.
I doubt that that was more clear (: (:
It’s the best I can right now – time is 0:47 am and VERY hot outside still and I have to go to bed-
natti natti pumkins
WINNIE; giveussomewords, will ya?
Wonderful news Lawrence…all things considered. So glad to hear you have until September also for the move as from your first posting on this it sounded like you would only have a few weeks to do so.
Sorry I have been in a more talkative mood lately but I do check in everyday and love you all.
Wonderful news Lawrence! I will send lots of San Francisco Flower Child vibes your way. a… I know I have a work sponsored play hiking retreat in the last week of June, but it doesn’t start till Wednesday and we come back on a Saturday. Also have another in the first week of July for just two days have to check on the dates for that. It would be so great to pull it off and get to see all three of you!
WOWOWOWOW! SO much changes so fast around here!
I got back from the cruise – Michele – all my info is the same….
BUT my email was a mess cuz my little MAC was sick and in the Mac Hospital.
So…. maybe now It’s all back on track!
Lawrence…. tough break about the MRSA…but really…. that is wonderful news, too!
MRSA is a Nurse’s Nightmare. Yuk. Hope your treatments go well…
As far as my life goes….I am currently taking care of a General…
I am finding the work is pleasant
and the surroundings are very agreeable –
I get to cook meals on an awesome stove…
And go outside for walks! I am very happy here –
I had a wonderful time on the cruise… I got to wear my kilt…
And was the bell of the ball – if only for a night!
Love to you all!
Greetings all! Nina, I liked your visualization technique. My only sister gifted me a Navajo sand painting that was a healing work. I went to where it was on the wall, put my right hand on it palm down. I imagined warmth and light as I felt the sand on my skin. I asked to be open to healing, our natural state right? That was about a week ago.
Your going to like this. We have a rose bush that hasn’t had roses on it for sometime. I have a “Little Flower” St Therese of Lisieux holy card in my wallet. There were a few petals of a rose that were relics in with the card. I was outside walking my dog a month or so ago. And I stopped at the old wooden fence where the peeked looking plant was.
I stared at it in the bright moon lite, and said something like “Little Flower, how bout I get better and the bush gets some flowers. I had the holy card out, kinda off lost in thought holding it in the cupped palm of my hand, just looking at it.
I am down to one petal ……
Just a few sayings from the Little The Little Flower.
“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.”
― Thérèse de Lisieux
lawrence
Lawrence, I love this – ” let this presence settle into your bones.” It is all about allowing, isn’t it.
And Lawrence – i feel sooo daft but i don’t get the metaphor of the last petal—when you write next time, could you please spell it out for a very s l o w woman?
I got that something was good – but not what – (:
Embarrassed
Nina
Thanks for including the sayings from St. Therese
Just what I needed to hear today.
Nina, I was kinda thinking out loud. I just read it and it didn’t make sense to me either. I am the sign of the Gemini, the twins. It must have been the other guy who wrote it. There was really just one petal but it was in about five pieces when I first got it out of some book.
I figured I probably lost one or two pieces looking at it at various times. I used one or two up with the rose bush. The connection I made in my mind rather poorly, is my not having leukemia or MDS and the Little the Little Flower relic and the Navajo sand painting having something to do with it. Now, maybe I can work out a deal and get rid of the MERSA (the infection of the bone in my foot)and be normal again.
And, I use the word normal very loosely. Always, you are a splash of color. I should be, embarrassed Nina, not you.(: I can’t help it I like the Smiley Guy.
God bless us every One
lawrence
Lawrence buddy –
so good to hear from you and all the thoughts you are now experiencing. I’m glad that all the “other” stuff was all ruled out, and hoping the MERSA (which I have NO idea what it means @! (: — but it sounds like an intense experience in itself !)
Hope the weekend, which is now only two days away as I write this in the wee hours of this New York morning, May 31st, the last day of May. (I’m obsessed with the calendar and time — clearly I hold this aspect of my/our creation very close to my heart – if I could see time as an illusion, I would be that much closer to the ever-present Truth – my wife, (to make this digression, even more digressive !), is very much “clue-less” about the world-time we “live” in, and therefore as I increasing realize, as we close in on what seems like 50 years of marriage, but is in ‘reality” only 5, that much closer to the Truth than I am – an amazing woman indeed, and truly my better half.
Yes, I was talking about the weekend when that long paragraph crept up on me, and so, Lawrence (without further ado, and further digressions!), let me wish you and your better half a wonderful weekend, and lots of book sales as you prepare for the next steps in your wonderful life…
It’s 4:51 am, and my son and wife sleep soundly in this New York hotel in the bedroom next door (I’m typing in the bathroom – is that too much detail ? – hey, I thought we’re family here ! (: —
and I have some important decisions to make, like, do I go back to
sleep ? (now that my desire for some middle of the night web-surfing, reading, writing is satiated), or should I make some business calls to the other half of the world, where most of my colleagues carry on the wonderful pursuit of money that they and I are all collaborating on ?
I suppose I could always meditate on what today’s lesson is – “The power of decision is my own”. 5 minutes is all I need for that apparently… hmmm, can I manage that ???? (:
love ya all,
a
ps. Michele – I still owe you that call.. will do so soon, my dear
Nina, i owe you lots, i’ve lost count !! ):
a, I am just waiting for some old-fashoned blog-in-th-post-sending 🙂 sent you an address some time ago – I AM going to harass you from time to time, to send it I mean, since you told me you would, i find it appropriate to remind you ….right???
And to you all, a wonderful wonderful poem from one of the gentlest teachers I know:
Call Me by My True Names
Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.
I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.
I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his “debt of blood” to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.
My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh
from “Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh ”
…”and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.”
When i cannot manage to forgive the Course-way, because it really seems SO real, I use this variant: remembering that hearts grow and expand in love too – with time and understanding- and somebody really are not there yet – which means that I am not really there yet, also.
In the dream
Love and hugs to all
Nina
Lawrence, synchronicities and meaningful signs have comforted me and made me feel hope again SO many times. I the dream, there are angles and saints. I irritate my ego often when i believe in that stuff – my ego is a fundamentalist like the Iranian president: there is only ONE way and that is the Coursse!!
It wont even allow my to be kind to myself, embracing myself and talking to myself tenderly,because that is making the body real for gossake.
So I share your thoughts that maybe sandpaintings and books and relics some times mean something. And thank you for explaining to me.
I would be very interested in hearing from you if that visualization of the bright love-space in the MERSA-infection, joining with it, had any effect – or felt good.
I do it often these days. It feels very helpful – some painful places on the body ( I broke a rib and almost a toe 14 days ago) are healing rapidly. I did it to a blue toe – and found the light/love-space. I sensed the light mirrored in my brain: toes reflects brain in energy-medicine. Instead of being angry and sending hatred into the painfull areas, this works so much better for me.
Hi dear Nina –
Of course, no problem with reminding me. Definitely a to-do on my list, taken a back-seat for the last few weeks as we have been on the road since May 15th travel, my little boy developing his first ear infection, grandmother being inducted into the ICU last night and my 20th year reunion at college… intense experiences all – no bath for the last two days (wife can’t believe it being from Brazil and bathing three times a day)… perhaps too much info on the no-bath thing ! (:….
will definitely send along the snail mail as soon as it pops up into my top 100 emails. (Currently haven’t checked email for 7 days, and huge [scary ? (: ] backlog awaits…
Happy to hear that the your injuries are healing well with this method… everything works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it ? (:
love,
a
No rush, dear a. So much going on for you – I have heard stories like these from so many these days. like it is a collective epidemic or something. Still, our essence is safe and non-stressed thank God. Loving thoughts to little L and Grandma and S and you..may the hearts open and we all flow into an unexpected stream of lovely consciousness, taking us home sweet home –
Warm hugs and much love
Nina
Yes, really, Nina –
the world can seem like we’re going through a collective epidemic, indeed – especially with so much buried guilt and resentment in my mind, still waiting to be healed each day, healed each night..
I can sometimes feel the Holy Spirit’s presence, and J too, but it’s quite far away from my “normal” everyday mind. It’s like they’re at the far corners, outer periphery of my mind, and I have to travel a lot within my mind to see them/feel them.
Well at least they’re somewhat “visible” now (: — earlier I felt they were buried so deep *under* my mind, that I had no concept of how to bring them into awareness.
8+ years since I read the course, 11+ years since I bought my first copy, and still just touching a tiny fraction of the Course’s ability to heal my mind completely.
And the little that’s it touched has already improved my “life” so much… it’s unbelievable !
Last night while my son and wife slept (Lucas’s fever is now completely gone for the last 12 hours, btw), I was watching the ACIM Ireland conference videos of Gary, shared freely by the conference organizer and Kenneth Bok (acimexplained).
It was great to see Gary, he is getting freer in his comments now, making jokes about everything (which I like, but I can see how it might be bizarre for some !) — are you planning on joining his Jun 9th event in Oslo ? How far are you from Oslo ?
Which reminds me, you had asked whether we/I would be visiting Norway in our travels (when Bernard and I were fixing our Sept/Oct meeting in Toulouse/Paris/etc) — I had meant to write you then, but it slipped my mind.. yes, indeed we do plan on visiting Norway (hopefully soon).
We’re even thinking of spending a few years in Bergen once L turns 4 or 5 (so that’s about 3 years away from today). S used to live in Bergen when she was a teenager, and we’ve been scouting for a European base to set-up around 2015 or so – looks like Norway may end up being our final choice…
well, that’s all my news for now.. it’s been a better Sunday late morning/afternoon than the day prior ! (:
Love,
a
Wow! Bergen. Where did she live? I have good friend there ( well, she used to be, 20 years ago, when she worked with my husband and I in the theater. )Now she is the theater director of the National Theater in Bergen. I will gladly travel there to meet you! I live in Bærum, not far from oslo, and i will participate on Gary’s seminar the 9th for sure!
Just to think that you will live in the same country – it gives me such a smile on my face.
Hugs to you all, and a soft pat on Lucas’ cheek – happy that the fever broke!
And a, invitation for you an everyone to my blog today – wonderful dream that I’d love to share –
warm hug, and much love to all Villagers
Loving perception:
*
Still
I said I will find what is lowly
and put the roots of my identity
down there:
each day I’ll wake up
and find the lowly nearby,
a handy focus and reminder,
a ready measure of my significance,
the voice by which I would be heard,
the wills, the kinds of selfishness
I could
freely adopt as my own:
but though I have looked everywhere,
I can find nothing
to give myself to:
everything is
magnificent with existence, is in
surfeit of glory:
nothing is diminished,
nothing has been diminished for me:
I said what is more lowly than the grass:
ah, underneath,
a ground-crust of dry-burnt moss:
I looked at it closely
and said this can be my habitat: but
nestling in I
found
below the brown exterior
green mechanisms beyond the intellect
awaiting resurrection in rain: so I got up
and ran saying there is nothing lowly in the universe:
I found a beggar:
he had stumps for legs: nobody was paying
him any attention: everybody went on by:
I nestled in and found his life:
there, love shook his body like a devastation:
I said
though I have looked everywhere
I can find nothing lowly
in the universe:
I whirled though transfigurations up and down,
transfigurations of size and shape and place:
at one sudden point came still,
stood in wonder:
moss, beggar, weed, tick, pine, self, magnificent
with being!
~ A. R. Ammons ~
(Collected Poems 1951-1971)
Nina, pretty ballerina ! (:
Shobha live near UiB (Wellshaven Gate ?) when she spent a year in Norway in her teens. Yes, we are seriously considering Norway for 2015 and beyond as a place to set-up a home in Europe.
Although the flavor of the day today in NYC was the idea of setting up an apartment in NYC for a year or two, until L gets to school-going age ! (:
Travelling is fun, going home is funner ! (:
love,
a
I love “Wellshaven Gate” which means sweet things in English!!
Almost correct though:
WELHAVEN is the name of one of our most loved poets – and GATE means street
(just preparing you with a little language-lessons.)
Last night I said NO to ego-lies for hours. Wow that was effective_ like a bulldozers moving muck away. I felt so much lighter – but there is also resistance to saying no:-) Well, what else is new – really saying NO and meaning it brought many gifts!
Love
Nina
I have found a blog that is very helpful for me:
Resting in Awareness
On this and similar blogs we talk a lot about awakening to our true nature, about finally seeing through the illusion of a separate “I”. For those who have not yet fully realized this for themselves, the idea may arise that once a person does see this, then they become a perfect human being, a ‘finished product’ so to speak. In my experience this is definitely not the case, and I think that such ideas can be dangerous.
It is true that there is a final seeing through of the illusory “I”. This happened for me about fifteen years ago, and the validity of that insight has remained constant ever since. I have, however, continued to develop as a person. It is a paradox that while the “I” is fundamentally unreal, we still have to function as individual personalities in daily life. The idea that after awakening we disappear as individuals is a fallacy that seems to lead to some rather ridiculous thinking. I saw an interview with non-dual teacher Rupert Spira, in which he told of how someone suggested that he (Spira) had not realized his non-dual nature because he was still addicted to food!
While such anecdotes are quite amusing, there is a darker side to this kind of non-dual fundamentalism. It is easy after realizing the non-dual nature of things to get stuck in the idea of ‘emptiness’, the unreality of separate individuals. This can lead to treating others heartlessly, to not being touched by anything. I think that this is the reason that many apparently realized teachers get sucked into scandalous behavior, sometimes causing great harm to their families and students, and to themselves.
Some teachers talk about ‘embodying’ our realization, which I take to mean using insight into our true nature to inform our daily interaction with others. For example, I have found that the realization of the oneness of all beings has caused me to be much more compassionate. There are many other ways in which I have developed since awakening, and that suggests to me that there is no such thing as a ‘finished’ or perfect person, awakened or otherwise.
So although it is paradoxical, seeing into the unreality of the self seems to be a starting point for developing as a human being.
*
http://restinginawareness.com/
I’ve just been having a grand old time reading through your posts. Thanks for being the presence in the Village these days, Nina, a-man, Tex, Michele, Pam, Lawrence, Bev… Lovely news about Lawrence. Nice stories all-round. And lovely poems from Nina. I love poems.
Not much news on my side. When I’m not busy working on some job, then I’m on the computer either preparing for the next talk here in France (which takes me days coz I’m such not an expert and need to get everything straight in this crooked mind) or I’m trying to improve the new French web site. By the way, in case I haven’t included the link to it, you can find it at: uncoursenmiraclesenfrance.com. It doesn’t look like much, not nearly as pretty as our Village home, but then I didn’t use the help of a programmer this time. And the little that’s there takes AGES. I’ve spent most of my time working on the ‘Audio’ page which has recordings of all the formal talks we’ve done (five so far) this spring. So anyone who feels brave and wants a French lesson can just plug in! I’m still looking forward to the day when I don’t have to go out and work and can just spend all my time working on these two ACIM communities I so love. Still looking forward to creating the real live ACIM Village, and moving slowly toward that goal every day.
Pat’s well, doggy is well, Pumpkin is well. Pumpkin fell off the roof – 7 meters, without a scratch! Flowers are blooming everywhere, it has been very damp and we’re infested with mosquitoes which is new for us.
Who would have thought that Ms S from Brazil would have spent time in Norway when she was young??
Big hugs all-round, and a big jug of pomegranate juice at the Tavern,
Love you all, Bernard
Sounds like you have been quite busy Mr. Mayor. (:
I’m sure your French web site is just fine and yes it does take ages to do those kind of things. With the online gaming group Cory and I joined I have been “promoted” to the highest “rank” there is on the server(other than Admin./owner) so now this non-geek is learning how to do line commands and and what .jar files are all about and how to make and edit wiki pages etc. So I join with you (; in climbing the learning curve of geekiness. lol
Hugs and Love to all.
Hugs for Bernard, Pam AND Cory!
Nina
Today I attended a one-day workshop with Gary and Cindy. Wonderful! I was sitting right in front of him, 7 feet away, so i could do a lot of looking into his eyes. PURE JOY, peace,fun,happiness. The joy was not of this world – and to see that was Heaven.
Nina,
so wonderful to read your lines on this. i’m smiling as i write – can’t take the smile off my face ! (:
you wrote your post half an hour ago, and it’s now 8:30 pm in Oslo as I write this, so i feel very connected to you and through you to your day spent with Gary and Cindy. I love them !
I’ve been waiting to view Gary’s interview with Ken Bok from the Ireland conference last week. I’m going to plug in my headphones and do that now ! (:
(at a public internet cafe – fedexkinko office (for our US friends).
love,
a
So cool Nina (: Just curious did you take notes?
Nina, so glad you got to have that experience with Gary. He is the real deal. I recently listened to a 1 hr. talk he gave with Jennifer Hadley on “Living A Course in Miracles”. He is always under so much attack, and I found myself leaning that way, also. But then one has an experience of his essence, and there are no more questions.
Nina ~
When I read you were in the front row, I thought ….of course she was! How fitting that you pulled that off and got to gaze into his eyes as much as you did. I also had the thought you were our village representative, our UN delegate, if you will. Diplomat of the Heart. That would make a cool “vanity” license plate.
a….thanks for the tip that the Irish interview is available. oh…Tonight I’m going to send you a separate post and noted you wrote here recently you’re way behind since you’re traveling so I’ll try and alert you in my subject line.
Gary and Cindy were here in Marin and I couldn’t attend but got a great report from a couple in my small Monday night course study group. They mentioned Gary’s withered hand and how he healed it. Did he talk about it there too?
Love to all,
Michele
I just saw two interview videos that my friend Einar made with Gary right after the workshop. Einar is the director of Unity, a big house with a lot of therapists/healers in Oslo. A real pioneer he is, and a sweet guy.
My notes are about the forgiveness process. This is what i wrote down:
1)NOTICE the grievance and the reaction you have to x (whatever is in the front of your face.)
2)STOP the ego reaction/thinking – DON*T ANALYZE
3)Switch over: – from victim to dreamer:
Realize with the H.S that what you see is what YOU have projected – it is not real. It does not happen TO you, it happens THROUGH you. Forgive what he/she never did in reality.
4) Remember God: Replace the illusion of what seemed to happen with Eternal Spirit: look beyond the false images and false experiences to the Light.
* For me what was astonishingly effective was to STOP the automatic reaction. I never did that:-) I thought it had to be like that – but after stopping now, and choosing to replace the false images with Light …that is so cool. And i can do that in different ways: I can choose to see a spot of light in the person i think has offended me, and join with that …- or I can decide to remember God … or I can ask H.S to choose for God for me – or something else that I am guided to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jan54HxAyg&list=UUwIWmfL2c9y99CrtuHA9Pcg&index=1&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Pls8PHgsw&feature=autoplay&list=UUwIWmfL2c9y99CrtuHA9Pcg&playnext=1
Very welcome, Michele – the Irish interviews are excellent ! He doesnt talk about the withered hand (not so far as I can remember, unless my resistance lulled me to sleep while watching (:
On email, I am now deliberately (as of May) moving to a once a week system, where I will only check email once a week. (2013 I hope to make that once a month! (:
I will call you for sure. Have your numbers saved. We are still in NYC, and I am considering attending an ACIM group meditation in Manhattan this evening at 8 ! Exciting to even consider that – bringing my ACIM world alive on the streets of NYC, where it was first brought to the world..
Nina dear friend – so glad you posted these interviews with Einar. Would have never known about them otherwise. I am always “starved” for Gary Renard interviews/video – he looks more and more peaceful each time. I love it !
peace to all of us,
a
ps. I have been mulling and contemplating L157 for almost one week now. Its sinking into my heart and mind slowly and surely. Truly an important lesson for me on my particular path….
Ciao ! (:
Form lesson 157:
9th of June I attended a one-day workshop with Gary and Cindy Renard. Wonderful! I was sitting right in front of him, 7 feet away, so I could do a lot of looking into his eyes. PURE JOY, peace,fun,happiness. The joy was not of this world – and to see that was Heaven.
I noted down his suggestion for a good forgiveness-structure:
1)NOTICE the grievance and the reaction you have to x (whatever is in the front of your face.)
2)STOP the ego reaction/thinking – DON*T ANALYZE
3)SWITCH OVER: – from victim to dreamer:
Realize with the H.S that what you see is what YOU have projected – it is not real. It does not happen TO you, it happens THROUGH you. Forgive what he/she never did in reality.
4) REMEMBER GOD: Replace the illusion/ image of what seemed to happen with Eternal Spirit: look beyond the false images and false experiences to the Light.
For me what was astonishingly effective was to STOP the automatic reaction. I never did that:-) I thought it had to be like that – but after stopping now, and choosing to replace the false images with Light …that is so cool. And I can do that in different ways: I can choose to see a spot of light in the person I think has offended me, and join with that …- or I can decide to remember God … or I can ask H.S to choose for God for me – or something else that I am guided to. A way I particularly love is to ask myself “and can you allow these false images/experiences to be replaced by LOVE? That way, it is not “me”, ego, doing anything “spiritual” – no effort – just allowing Source to correct my perception and to heal what needs healing.
At the workshop, a very strong demonstration of the projection-mechanism happened between me and a friend. When I saw her in the door, I noticed that she did not want to look me in the eyes – she looked away,looking uncomfortable, fidgeting – both our smiles were strained. I immediately made up a story that she was angry at me for leaving a lecture she held recently before it ended.
So in the break I went over to her and let her know that I found her lecture inspiring, and that I was sorry that I had to leave early. “Oh, but I knew that was because of your broken rib” she said, and everything of that former uncomfortable attitude was gone.
In psychology, there is a form of transference called “projective identification.” This is from Wikipedia:
Projective identification differs from simple projection in that projective identification can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby a person, believing something false about another, relates to that other person in such a way that the other person alters their behavior to make the belief true. The second person is influenced by the projection and begins to behave as though he or she is in fact actually characterized by the projected thoughts or beliefs, a process that may happen outside the awareness of both parties involved.
Being a Course-student, this was such a great experience how we as egos project our guilt outside and SEE IT AS REAL in the others. As soon as I was willing to find out what had happened, it all dissolved, and saw only the radiant Love that my friend is – and felt it in me too.
Now it is much easier to disregard what I see as bad behavior in others:it is only “false experience” and is a reflection of something in my mind that I have judged as “bad.” For me, the moment I realize this, the other’s behavior changes.
Bernard, pleas delete 791 – i clicked “paste” and something older came in.
lesson 157:
W-pI.157.5. From this day forth, your ministry takes on a genuine devotion, and a glow that travels from your fingertips to those you touch, and blesses those you look upon. 2 A vision reaches everyone you meet, and everyone you think of, or who thinks of you. 3 For your experience today will so transform your mind that it becomes the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God.
W-pI.157.6. Your body will be sanctified today, its only purpose being now to bring the vision of what you experience this day to light the world. 2 We cannot give experience like this directly. 3 Yet it leaves a vision in our eyes which we can offer everyone, that he may come the sooner to the same experience in which the world is quietly forgot, and Heaven is remembered for a while.
Thank you Nina for your notes from Gary’s workshop in Norway ! I’m so glad you had a wonderful experience. Gary went to a workshop in Ireland before he came to Norway and I found the Irish ACIM homepage yesterday. It is worth a visit ! Many uplifting interviews with Course students.
By the way Nina, is the interest in the Course big in Norway ?
Love & Hugs from Hedda
Yes, it seems so! We have recently had a Norwegian translation with such a wonderful language that I am in awe when i read it. And the room was very full – i think about 50-60 – (and I once held a workshop in the same room:-)
so now Gary and I have something in common (says the ego, happily 🙂
he said he and Cindy went to the west coast of Norway 10 days before the workshop, and loved it so much that he might return next year. We hope! we also hope hw will give time for some more questions and answers (he is not so good with giving time for those)
hugs back to you, Hedda!
Love
Nina
Yes, Nina, thanks for posting the notes about forgiveness from Gary’s talk. It is much appreciated!!
I just saw this from Paul- the author of a site “Restinginawareness.”
The real illusion
Posted on June 15, 2012
Upon realizing our true nature, everything that we thought was an illusion, that we thought was holding us back, is found to be real. Our families, the people around us, the circumstances of our life are real; they matter, and they must be engaged wholeheartedly and compassionately. These things were not the illusion; the illusion was the way we related to them when we believed that the “I”-thought is who we are. After awakening to our true nature the same things are presented to us, but we relate to them within an entirely different context.
This is such a good reminder. It is our perception that sees illusion, and judges it as such
a…..I’m gone June 26-return eve of the 30. and then July 5 and 6th returning the 7th. Please text me your phone # so I can enter your name and # in my phone. love m
Wow, Nina, that is a great insight from a teacher who sounds like he is really awakening. I will have to check out his site again. Thanks again for sharing a real gem!!
Michele dear – sent you an sms/text to your phone #. hope you can see it. looks like we’ll definitely meet, since we are not planning to be in san fran on the dates that you are not there…. so the stars are aligned this time (:
love,
a