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.
Hm I just posted a link to When fear comes home to Love with spaces added – and this page is very smart and the post is now up for moderation.
OK – for those who might want to have “When fear comes home to Love” for free from Amazon kindle or tablets of any kind, it is free for five days – 9-14.December. If you go to Amazon and google the title, you will find it 🙂
love
Nina
Hi Nina – just curioius, is that a decision that the Author makes or Amazon ? (Have still been thinking about launching Horizen House, my nascent publishing house, but have decided to push it out to 2015 – too many other projects demanding attention).
However, my interest in publishing and books, remains unabated (:
Love n kisses,
Anil
ps. Annie, I have my math problem as 2+ three…. (= almost there. If I get two plus 2, I will send it to you (*
Oh moderation!
It’s post purgatory, awaiting judgement is the worst.
The best way to get around that is to do what you did NIna
post again.
And Ding Ding Ding you hit #900 !
What do we have for our lucky winner Mr. Mayor??
How will Amazon get the word out that your book is available for free?
Do they give it away with a new kindle purchase?
I still don’t own a tablet of any kind.
May your generousity come back to you a hundred fold Nina!
and I love you too Anil and wink wink (*
Anil, anyone who publishes on Kindle can decide on 5 free days each 90 days I think. I just clicked some places and it is taken care of. It works like ads- now I have “sold” it for free to many people just today, and if they like it they will recommend it!
Annie, when anyone googles When fear now, or
it is recommended to someone who has the link, the Kindle price is shown as zero 🙂
I don’t have Kindle or tablets either – I SO prefer a book in my hands 🙂
Thanks, Nina. (Amazon is an interesting company from a financial (investment) point of view, always curious to know more about them… I had thought (incorrectly) that they might give away for free (and pay out of their own pocket the royalty due to the author) in order to continue to drive Kindle/e-book adoption…
Annie, thanks for the love (=
Hmmm. I see that I have been posting regularly, (….not just once, but three times in quick succession !) at the Square about things completely non-philosophical.. My self-imposed discpline abandoned me ! (=
Here’s a philosophical thought to forgive myself…
We are Eternal Thoughts,
searching for Redemption.
Good day to you all, my fellow travellers.
Love,
Anil
Everyone, link to Nina’s book on comment 900.
Nina, I just found your comment up for moderation and approved it. I didn’t seem to get an email in my inbox as I normally do. That comment is now number 900 for anyone who wishes to find the link to Nina’s book.
Annie, going back to your 896, and the way you started it out, with reference to Ken’s lighthouse articles, you will be happy to know, (perhaps), (and the Mayor too, perhaps), that. Finally have a question which I would like to ask him.
The other day I was on the Lesson “I seek second pale to gain the first”, and while the general gist of the lesson is clear, in Js own words, I got the distinct feeling that Ken would be the right person to expand on that.
Perhaps, more indication, that I will make it to Temecula after all, in 2014 ? Or 2015 ?
Too tired to think/plan that far ahead (=
Ciao. For now.
Ha. That should be second *place*, not *pale*
Pumpkins – the link is to the Kindle version of “When fear comes home to Love” that is free for today,Thursday and friday.
Thanks, B xoxox
Pumpkins… I like when you say address us so, Nina.
For years, before my sister and I used to address each other similarly. Or was it just her calling me that ? (=
Long time ago (=
ps. I’m going to wait till Saturday, and then buy the Kindle version of your book !
LOL Anil pumpkin – that is the sweetest lovingestest thought – thank you, and big warm hug
I was pondering, o villagers, if we have a class room or a janitor’s closet somewhere – someplace like a library where we could study and discuss the workbook lessons. I mean, the first IS coming up and maybe this year (heeheehee) I can make it past lesson 20.
Any ideas?
Well, my sweet Anne looks like you are ready to lead us on the workbook lessons come January. Most excellent!
The plane tree in the center of this Village Square is where we hold our meetings. The branches expanse creates a protective cover and miraculously the temperature is always just right when we gather below them no matter what time of year it is.
We have reached over 900 and usually we start a new page…but maybe we can hold out till the first and the Mayor can start the new page with Lesson One in January.
We could also take turns (say a week at a time) to post the lesson of the day so that one person is not taking the responsiblity to lead for the entire year (unless you want to).
I’m up for any ideas as well and we could vote on it before the end of the year.
Let’s do it!
I do.
in!
Sharing this lovely story by my D.U.-buddy Alan Dolit.
My Father’s House
I’ve always lived at Home with my father. I am always in a state of bliss and rapture. It feels as if it is always now, as I don’t experience time passing. My father is the most wonderful loving father. He has never as so much even criticized me in the slightest. He does nothing except extend perfect love, however he is so powerful, he could crush me like a bug. I have a thought that I am missing something. It is only a thought. I ask dad about it. He laughs and says: “Son, you have everything. How could anything be missing? You can’t have more than everything? There can’t be everything and something else.” One day he leaves for awhile and I get the urge to put on his clothes. Everything is too big; especially the shoes. After prancing around in his clothes and tripping because the shoes are way too big, I hear him returning. I get frightened that he will be angry with me for wearing his clothes. My fear becomes sheer terror. I panic and run outside, and because the shoes are so big I trip and fall and bang my head. A stranger helps me up. I tell him that I am terrified my dad will punish me. He says he will help me hide. He tells me to say the magic words “OSHOO.” I say these words and suddenly everything changes. I am no longer in familiar surroundings. Everything seems upside down. After a while things seem to right themselves and I am able to negotiate these new strange surroundings. My home is no longer in sight.
I start walking. As I continue on my journey I hear sounds coming from a building which has a sign “Theater”. I go in and see there are a bunch of people standing around. One of them says: “Finally. We were wondering when you were going to show up.” Obviously they’ve mistaken me for someone else, but I decide to play along. This would be a good place as any to hide from dad. The same per-son says go to the wardrobe room and get your costume. I seem to know where it is and go there. Immediately I am fitted with a costume and given a script with instructions to read it immediately. I go back on stage and tell him that I can’t act. He tells me to fake it till I make it. I do so and join the play in progress. Pretty soon I have faked it so well; I am lost in the part and really think I am this character. I forgot who I really am.
After a while I tire of this character and remember this isn’t who I am. I start to take my costume off and everyone gets upset. I am strongly urged to go back to the wardrobe room and I will be given an-other part. It seems that I do this for many times, playing many roles both male and female. I play son, daughter, mother, father, doctor, lawyer, grandparent etc. Eventually I remember that I wandered in here because I was afraid that my father was going to destroy me. I now realize the absurdity of this and remove the present costume and start on my way home. I continue on my way trying to retrace my steps. It seems like I was gone so long I am having trouble finding my way home. However I notice some land marks and am about to follow one of them when I see the stranger that originally told me to say OSHOO “He tells me that my father is still mad and I need to follow his directions to avoid my dad.
When he say this I somehow lose the last land mark and see something up ahead that looks very interesting. I spend much time with this new activity and forget that I am on my way home. After being involved in this activity that seemed to be endless, I again realize I had been side tracked and leave the activity and again continue to head for home. I walk past a baseball diamond in which there are two teams playing. I stop to watch the game and one of the captains sees me and motions me to come down to the playing field. I do so and he says. “It’s about time you showed up. Now get into your uniform.” Deja vu strikes again. It feels as though I am in some sort of dream and have to follow his orders, even though I know nothing of the game. All of a sudden I find myself at home plate with a bat in my hands. The pitcher throws the ball at me and the captain says “swing”. I hit the ball into the outfield and the captain tells me to run around the bases. I run to first and then second and then third, and then start for home. All of a sudden there is a man in an iron mask trying to prevent me from getting home. Then I hear my father’s voice telling me how much he loves me and wants me to come home. He won’t let any one stop me from coming home. In fact, dad says, “you never left. You’ve been here all the time, dreaming the whole thing up. I slide in to home plate and when I open my eyes, I‘m right back at home and no time has elapsed.
“Dad”, I say, “You won’t believe this really weird dream I had.” Dad says: “Just laugh and all the effects of your dream will disappear.” I laugh… and nothing is left of the dream. It is like taking my finger out of water. There is no hole to indicate where my finger had been. How simple is salvation.
Wishing you all my fondest wishes for this New Year, a year of profound change, of transformation and deep discovery. Let’s dedicate ourselves to making real in our minds and hearts the presence that has been our greatest companion since inviting this Course into our lives. He is there, he is there. We have a splendid opportunity now to make this truth even more palpable, taking that critical step away from illusions and back to the mind.
One of the many gifts with which Kenneth left us is his Journey through the Workbook. The Workbook is one of the most extraordinary documents of spiritual learning. It offers us a series of exercises that allow us progressively to focus our will and clear away the obstacles that keep us focused on illusions. This year we have decided to walk together through the Workbook, using Kenneth’s Journey as our guide. The ‘Village Square’ page shall be our home for this exercise. It is an exercise we do jointly, so whoever would like to contribute from ‘Journey’, from the Workbook, or simply from her or his experience is welcome to make a comment. Let’s have a good time exploring the reaches of our minds and thoughts during this special year, a year, as we know, that we try to make like every year subsequent, one in which our perception becomes so unified that we see only the truth and love behind all appearances of differences and pain.
Happy new year, beloved pumpkins!
I started the year with this lovely new year Video with ken:
http: // youtu.be /Fr-uJl_d_KI
How simple is salvation: “I am willing to bring this thought to God.”
I am willing 🙂
Beautiful New Years Greeting, Wishes and Thoughts Bernard and I join with you and Everyone in extending Love. Like dear Hedda, I am on a different place in Journey Through with Lesson 231 Father, I will but to remember You, and I am wondering if I should start with Lesson 1 and travel through with you together.
{{{{{Much Love and Gratitude to all of you, my Beloved Village Family}}}}}
I’m visiting family till tomorrow and so won’t be able to participate fully till Friday.
This first lesson starts the thought reversal process in a very powerful way. If we really think about, it’s incredibly irritating for the ego, and an excellent way to begin opening our minds to another possibility. If you have already done the workbook once, as I’m sure all of you have, then it is interesting to consider this lesson on a deeper level. We can now try to make these lessons meditations for our entire day, denying the automatic interpretations that fill our minds that would try to tell us that we know what is happening and what everything around us is for. We should go around saying, I think this and this means something, where in actual fact it doesn’t mean that at all.
We begin the process of denying the denial, but for this we must first see that we have denied the truth. Denying the truth comes in the form of thinking we know what is going on here, giving us our justifications for our opinions, judgments and thoughts of difference. So we must first look at how our minds contain a multitude of thoughts each one seeking to explain some aspect of our world. This entire picture is false, every single part of it. This is the next step.
Things are not what they seem, not at all. Get ready for the rollercoaster, because nothing you have ever done to date will turn your stomach like the knowledge that you have never really known what is going on here, or why. Let’s be totally open. The only way we can be completely open is if we have complete and utter confidence. This year is particularly different because now we have another Guide helping us from the other side, a guide who till very recently was a physical (I’m not going to say ‘living’) demonstration of how we can learn to trust these mind-turning messages. It is possible, and we do have a very important friend leading us gently (and sometimes not so gently!) forward.
Happy New Year Village Family.
The form (lesson #) we may be on does not matter.
We are making the journey together because we are One in Purpose.
Commenting is optional and no apologies necessary.
When you do get a chance Bernard- could you start a fresh page leading withTexAnne’s first lesson as the number one post?
Much Love to All
To make it easier for Bernard, and cause there are only 2 on the other page, i’m copy and pasting here.
815. tex was pondering on January 1st, 2014 at 11:16 am
knock knock – is this the right room?
well……
Nothing I see means anything.
On this street, from this window, in this place…
This table, this chair, this hand, this foot, this pen…
That door, that body, that lamp, that sign, that shadow…
And this year, I can state that I agree – it means nothing!
816. Katrina was pondering on January 1st, 2014 at 2:59 pm
I love that Ken points out that we start off with denying the first law of chaos. It says there is a heirarchy of illusions. We gently repeat the lines of this lesson, but he suggests breaking the pen, and then break your hand — or not, just notice that we actually believe that our hand is more important than the pen. We are just tippy-toeing into this thought system. Again, and again …
My baby granddaughter is here and she is sickie, has viral pneumonia. And I got it from her, too. So, I’m looking at our bodies as real, and sick being worse than being well, and her being sick worse than me being sick, and alot of poopie baby clothes to wash.
I still live the law of chaos, so, whether I accept this or not, i will do the lesson, let J guide me, and let none of this matter, or decrease the lesson’s efficacy!
Thanks, Tex, i truly forgot until I read your comment. Now, during naptime, I’ll see if I can get thru the prelude and intro.
By the way, Hedda and Michelle, I recall Ken specifically saying if you are mid workbook and think to start on #1 in the new year, “Don’t be silly!”. Thank God, those things are recorded because i still value the sound of his voice more than others. Silly me.
I’m on the longest lesson in the workbook today :135 “If I defend myself I am attacked”. I have a day off from work today so I relaxed and sat down and listened to the lesson with eyes closed and then did the 15 minutes long “meditation”. Now I will read Ken’s words in the “Journey book”. On normal workdays I know that I rush through the text in the morning and often sit only 10 minutes when it should be 15 minutes….
Katarina, I hope you and the baby are feeling better !!!
Tex, THIS Village Square. You are at the old one, come in the tent. Ken would say it is not a sin to be frightened or to be tired from working all night. We will w.a.i.t for you to find us.
Thanks, Hedda, we are snuffling along. The antibiotics have all the meaning i have given them, same for the ‘bad’ cold, same for the angel baby. They all are meant for the lessons they have for me. Doing the lesson is completely looking at everything with J. You don’t have to try and do that, or even remember to ask. You are just doing it in the lesson. Too simple for the ego to catch up with.
TE-EX! Here! waiting for you with perfect Cocoa and shiny eyes and warm hugs –
Bernard, when you post tomorrow, let us know if Village Square is this year only for the lessons and comments – and where you want other shareings, please
LESSON 2.
I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this
window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.
I just wanted to post this before I go to bed – and please forgive me that i combine the 2 first lessons, Anne:
After Ken passed, my relationship to him is 100% changed. Now there is for me an almost unbearable sweetness behind everything he says, and my body relaxes in a big way just listening.
I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this
window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me. the 2 lesson to mean this to me:
I am seeing everything as a defense against my Self.All the meanings I have given it has been given it to close me off to reality. And as Ken said in a video I watched today, that this crummy ego-thoughtsystem seems to exist, proves that there IS another thoughsystem of truth.
And i give my not so little willingness to Jesus to let go of the belief that I am this crummy attempt to hide
Thanks, Nina, for that posting on Lesson 2. I was travelling all day today, no opportunity to get on to the computer.
As you say, nothing in this room means anything since it only has the meaning I have given it, and that meaning is completely incorrect. It is a meaning I have given in order to disguise its true meaning, which is that of forgiveness. That meaning of forgiveness would teach us that the sin and guilt we see in the world around us is not true. But a part of us still wants that dark meaning to be true, since we are a part of that dark world.
From Ken’s JTW:
* We learn here that it is we that have given the world meaning, since typically we believe that the world carries an inherent meaning, or a meaning that was given to us by our parents or society at large. When we examine this, we realize that we were always the one choosing which opinions and perceptions of our parents or society we were going to adopt.
* Ken also asks us to be beware, as he does in many places, of making these lessons into any kind of a ritual.
* We also see in this lesson a hint that Jesus knows we are going to try to do these lessons our way, instead of his way.
* And we see here the beginning of that all important distinction between form and content, where Jesus is asking us to adopt a particular attitude of lack of discrimination (judgment) with respect to the objects we see. We thus learn to move beyond the form to the content. As Ken says in JTW, “all things are equally meaningless because everything serves the same ego purpose of separation.”
* Ken finishes this lesson with a powerful statement about perception: “As long as we see, hear, taste, or feel anything, we are saying that the material world is real; duality and perception are real. Thus ultimately is a way of saying I am real.
It’s okay to continue using the Village Square for its traditional purpose. I could set up a separate page for this study, but I always prefer to avoid proliferation of pages if I can. This has not been a very active page, so perhaps we can keep it here for the moment. Let’s see how many comments we actually get, okay?
Annie and Katrina ~ Thank you for hearing and answering my unasked question as I did want some feedback. I felt content to stay with where I was on the 1st of January and was happy to see just today both your thoughts and your recollection Katrina of Ken’s comment on it.
LESSON 3: I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING I SEE IN THIS ROOM
It would be difficult to underestimate the turnaround in our thinking that Jesus is leading us towards in these exercices. This lesson is another example of the careful preparation he is undertaking to open a space in which we might consider the possibility of another, completely different explanation for our perceptions and experiences. This entire course is based on one idea: we have no real idea what is going on, we don’t understand anything, and now Jesus is going to explain to us how things really are. Despite years of work with the text and exercises, we do not really (really) believe this. How do we know that? Because every time we get even a little upset, a little irritated, a little sad or frustrated, we have a reason for it, an explanation based on our ‘knowledge’. We think we know something. Wrong. Our explanations (Ken would say justifications) are always wrong. Because anytime we’re upset, it’s because we have separated from the presence of Love in our minds. Basta. End of story.
It’s actually wonderfully freeing to do these exercices, when we do them without judging ourselves. We get to ‘not know’, and have that be completely okay. How much pressure have we placed on ourselves to have all the answers, to be an expert in some field? Now we get to be the dummies of the class and to be completely accepted and included in Jesus’ deep consideration. We will feel his Love that much more when we allow ourselves to be honest, saying to ourselves, “Well, I don’t actually know why I’m so upset, I don’t think it’s really because of what he/she said and did.” So, today, let’s make it okay that we don’t why we think or experience anything at all. It’s really okay not to know why.
From Ken’s JTW:
* The self I have imagined is separated from meaning, so how could it understand anything?
* My separated mind has given a purpose to this world, that of preventing me from understanding anything.
* Let’s learn humility here. We don’t know, and we’re wrong. (How’s that feel?) Allowing oneself to be wrong, deeply allowing that, is the prelude to returning the mind toward happiness.
* I may understand that a cup is for drinking, but its ulitamate purpose is to keep me “rooted in the illusion and out of Heaven”.
* If it appears before me as a visual image, I can be sure it’s not real, since our eyes were made to see what is not real, looking without toward illusion instead of within toward truth.
* “The point of these exercises is to clear your mind of all past associations.” Really important line. We know from our work with ACIM that letting go of the past is really important. Perhaps we never appreciated sufficiently just why. The past is the repository of guilt, the memory of ‘sin’. When we really work with the Course, we actually begin to undo the past as a concept in our minds. In actual fact it is not there, because it is nowhere, but that’s not how we function. We function as if it there, and as if its effects can reach to us from this nonexistent place. Ultimately we will release all our desire to maintain thoughts of the past in our minds (because we will have seen their purpose of guilt, sin and separation) and we will live in a constant state of ‘present’ – now, now, now. And in that constant state of now, only the peacefulness of eternity can be felt. Ahh.
LESSON 3
I do not understand anything I see in this room.
Well, these 3 lessons and the next one, too, prep us for the #5 whopper. These must have been no-brainers when I first did the WB, and for anyone new to the Course. Ken points out that “these early lessons have as one of their important goals to humble us, so that we realize we do not understand anything,”(JTW,L.3)
I remember one year making the transition from 5 days of the last lesson to #1 and having nearly of whiplash realization as it occurred to me — Of course, these are just my projected meanings, set up without any guidance at all. How silly! This year lesson one threw the picture of a huge zinnia into my mind. It keeps generating a new row of identical petals, perfectly shaped tiny petals. I saw that is all I am doing is making up more of the same objects, then I add identities to each petal and set up a reshape for it, and produce a drama with all of them together. Just like playing with a dollhouse and all the pieces put in it. When in essence everything is just the same. All for the purpose of producing a ME drama that I have to pay attention to, and away from looking with J at the Truth.
Ken’s JTW even brings in one of my favorite quotes, “You are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth.” I always want to think this. How would it be to walk around thinking I don’t understand anything, and be perfectly ok with that? Ok, I’ll try that today.
From the last chapter in the text:
“The Holy Spirit does not seek to throw you into panic. So He merely asks if just a little question might be raised.”
om om om
This is hitting a sensitive nerve, for some reason!
Please – what is Ken’s JTW? There are so many books, courses, and references out there… most of them I can figure out… but this one needs a hint – thanks!
oh – wait – journey through the workbook – sorry – leave it to me to be a bit “anal” about things like that – lololol that is a lesson in whiplash – in and of itself
Had to stay two days on 135, it’s so long. Reading your comments is an excellent short review for me 🙂
LESSON 4 : THESE THOUGHTS DO NO MEAN ANYTHING
This is one great lesson that goes so perfectly along with all the rest. Another very mind-freeing exercise that gets us to give less and less importance and value to the contents of our minds. This type of process will eventually create enough space so that we can start to get slight intimations of another kind of ‘thought’ that is not personal and not world-specific. We do have ‘real thoughts’ and we will be trained in time to recognize and accept them.
(Sorry I don’t have time today to do a summary from Ken’s book. Perhaps someone would like to try to do it.)
told you i was but a lost little lamb….now where the heck is that cocoa?
LESSON 5: I am never upset for the reason I think.
I can’t say this without L. 34 being the next breath. Ken and Jaime planted a deeply rooted tree.
There are no small upsets.
They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.
I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go.
It is a temptation to believe that only a couple worries can’t be solved, and i can have some form of peace most of the time. Cunning ego. This way it keeps its role of being my go-to advisor.
JTL brings out the practice of mind searching so J can quickly move us from the bodily world of feelings to the mind’s world of thoughts. and i am also reminded of my ego quest to identify my quest to be victimized so that guilt is real and plastered on someone else.
An illusion is an illusion is an illusion.
Hi Tex – how are you feeling now? put your legs up, cocoa is fresh and hot, Workbook opened
Great Katrina. Yes, I have that same automatic conditioning now – just dial 534!
If the Course had any ‘star performer’ lessons, this would be one of them. It should be our first reaction any time we become aware of any feeling we are having. And ‘any feeling’ is really the right expression. This lesson shouldn’t just be limited to thoughts of upset and anger, but to any feeling that becomes conscious in our minds, those we call ‘negative’ such as sadness, irritation, fear, anxiety, apprehension, uneasiness, frustration, depression, nostalgia, shame, guilt or embarrassment, but to all positive ones too, positive ones that are associated with anything that is related to the outside world or something about another person or even myself. All these feelings come from a mistaken starting point: that there is a ‘me’ that can feel any of these things.
If I feel I’m having any kind of personal feeling that is not a universal feeling, then I know I’m thinking with my individual mind, and thus the cause of my feeling must be incorrect. I am never feeling anything for the reason I think, simply because ‘I’ cannot real feel anything and be correct. Only a gentle, unattached peacefulness is felt in the right mind. That’s it. Nothing more.
Someone asked Ken once what the Love of God was like. His response: “Eh.” A kind of nasily ‘eh’, at that. So if we are feeling any overwhelming feelings of joy and sublime happiness we might just try this exercise as well. “I am never feeling sublime happiness and peacefulness for the reason I think.” This is certainly not to say that we should not have feelings of happiness and peacefulness – not at all. After all, that IS the goal. And we should certainly not run around doubting our feelings of joyfulness if that’s what we feel. We just want to keep in the back of our minds that the individual mind is not what we want to keep, and the way we escape it is by this questioning process, this process of becoming more and more aware of the source of our thinking.
What is this thought? What am I feeling? What was I feeling today? And then we begin the gentle process of questioning its origin. We’re trying to get back to a place behind the questioner, to a very, quiet still place of totally peaceful observation, from where everything – absolutely everything – begins to look the same.
I am not feeling apprehensive for the reason I think.
I am not feeling nervous for the reason I think.
I am not feeling uncomfortable for the reason I think.
I am not feeling this little irritation for the reason I think.
I am not feeling this thrill and rush of excitement for the reason I think.
I am not feeling this level of satisfaction for this job for the reason I think.
I am not feeling safe and comfortable for the reason I think, if my safety and comfort seem to come from my circumstances.
I am always feeling something ‘negative’ because I have simply separated my mind from Oneness, and am now suffering from the consequences of that choice. It appears that my discomfort is coming from something in my environment, or something in the economy, or in another country, but this is not true. My experience that it is something outside of me is a ‘projection’ of the discomfort in my mind due to my choice for separation. I did not want to see that choice, and so pretended that the cause was somewhere out in this world I think I see around me. But I have given everything in this world all the meaning it has for me.
I would then add that I’m often feeling something ‘positive’ (comfort, joy, safety) because, in my separated state, I have simply found a way of of disguising or covering over my pain, guilt and insecurity. I have found another person who gives me what I want (for the moment – watch out when he/she stops!). I am feeling safe because I have enough money in the bank, avoided the housing market crash and the downturn in the stock market. I’m feeling good about myself because my job is going well, there’s positive movement in my field of work. I’m feeling all’s going well because my child is getting through a difficult phase or is turning into a wonderful person.
When we are completely in the right mind, there is just a simple, detached peacefulness, a remembrance that nothing in the outside world is true or the source of anything. Consequently, anytime I’m finding myself feeling anything positive because of something in my circumstances, I can be sure that I’m once more believing that reality is a state separated from complete Oneness, that this is a terribly painful world we have made, and that we must strive now to find all the goodness and comfort we can here because the truth is that things are not good. But no circumstance within a world of illusions can ever really satisfy us. The difficulty is in becoming willing to admit this. Essentially, we DON’T want to admit this is a world of illusions that can never satisfy us. That is the part of us that still wants separation to be true.
The very best we can do is simply be honest that this is where we are. A part of us, of course, really does want to remember true reality – that’s why we’re doing these lessons. But, instead of just repeating ‘I want Oneness to be true’, it is much more constructive to look calmly, honestly and without any judgment at the part of us that is terrified that this world cannot satisfy us. Even if our child grows into a beautiful, happy adult, even if our job evolves nicely, even if our finances stayed on an even keel, even if the world became ecologically correct, violence diminished, and the standard of living rose for everyone, even in the poorest countries, even if it began to rain again in sub-Saharan Africa and the global climate stabilized… there would still be that terrible feeling of something horribly wrong within our existence. We are not these mortal creatures born in pain, to live in pain, and to die in pain. We must now look squarely at our investment in wanting things in this world to make us happy and satisfied, to cover over this pain. “We are never upset for the reason we think” because our ‘feeling mechanism’ is completely off-kilter and lies to us all the time about the source of our feelings.
There are two motivational systems in our mind. One is offered by the separated (ego) mind. The very first thing in the morning as we open our eyes, the ego’s motivational system tells us what we need to feel better. It’s advice is always to look into the world for a special condition that will make us feel happier. This is how it keeps us mindless, ignoring the other, true motivational system in our minds. When we open our eyes in the morning, there is another thought right there next to the ego’s. It says, take a moment to just listen quietly and go beyond any thoughts of what the separated world might offer you. It says, find that quiet presence, that little voice that will reassure you that you don’t need to spend your day manipulating and contorting the world to your needs. It will say, the holiness of the Love that is present in your mind, and that envelops all things and all minds will be your comfort and security for the day.
All this is summed up in the one single lesson. Doing the workbook now for the second or third time, we need to take a deeper look, an ‘underground’ look at these lessons. This will help put our work with ACIM in a more universal context. Everything fits together in this course. Walking through the Workbook like this will help us put all those pieces together.
For those doing the workbook with us:
I updated this morning lesson 5 to add some more important thoughts. BTW, I’m not against taking more time for each lesson. Who thinks we should do that? That would also help me manage my time. Should we take two days to do each one?
That would rattle my ocd nature… which is good – (lol, of course – always lol)
We could probably use two days per lesson. In one local study group, we took one year for the first 50 pages of the text!
Lightning Round – or Deep ….. what ever the group wants to do is fine with me. But I really did want to get through the work book once! (lol)
Have I missed something, Tex? I thought you were the one leading us through this, posting the lessons – it seems I got that wrong, eh?
Love!
Nina
You’re absolutely right, Nina! My apologies. Guess I just can’t keep quiet. I’ll try to take more of a back seat, but make no promises. I’m just too much of a fan of this chef d’oeuvre of spiritual literature.
Well, i guess we are still on Lesson 5 cause I ain’t heard nothin’ different! It’s already the 7th in Europe.
I do enjoy you adding Ken’s helping hands, Bernard. I felt enticed to approach the lessons with this new year mostly because Ken stepped up to a higher platform just in time to help me thru this time.
I’ve done the fast pace before and found it became the entire story, and you have to either do 2 a day occasionally after say, an emergency room day, or skip lessons to get back on track. When I finally got Ken’s workbook and found like 8+ pages of reading on 1 day, I realized the point was to get me outside my OCD compulsion. I think the 365 lessons was one of J’s inside jokes!
I shall follow . . . What do you say, Tex?
Absolutely! I will follow Him – follow Him where ever He may gooooooo!
I merely follow, for I would not lead!
I copied these posts:
913. tex
was pondering on December 11th, 2013 at 4:18 pm
I was pondering, o villagers, if we have a class room or a janitor’s closet somewhere – someplace like a library where we could study and discuss the workbook lessons. I mean, the first IS coming up and maybe this year (heeheehee) I can make it past lesson 20.
Any ideas?
914. Annie
was pondering on December 12th, 2013 at 7:52 am
Well, my sweet Anne looks like you are ready to lead us on the workbook lessons come January. Most excellent!
The plane tree in the center of this Village Square is where we hold our meetings. The branches expanse creates a protective cover and miraculously the temperature is always just right when we gather below them no matter what time of year it is.
We have reached over 900 and usually we start a new page…but maybe we can hold out till the first and the Mayor can start the new page with Lesson One in January.
We could also take turns (say a week at a time) to post the lesson of the day so that one person is not taking the responsiblity to lead for the entire year (unless you want to).
I’m up for any ideas as well and we could vote on it before the end of the year.
915. Bernard
was pondering on December 12th, 2013 at 5:10 pm
Let’s do it!
916. Katrina
was pondering on December 13th, 2013 at 2:37 am
I do.
917. tex
was pondering on December 13th, 2013 at 11:00 am
in!
Hi all – I have waited for Tex to lead this – and I see that i was wrong in my memory that she had offered to post each day. Sorry!
So I guess now anybody can post? If it is OK with Bernard, perhaps he can do it? the energy from your postings has a “lets do this” energy in it which I like 🙂