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.
Greetings and Salutations Brothers/Sisters of Another way
I was going to post something then thought i would post something else, i would like to share part of my process with the Holy Spirit, this is as clear an exposure to a inner teacher that i am aware of, in my own life experience… this is a transcript from my “quiet time”…
Q. What is the most practical way for me to feel peaceful as i journey through this life-time.
A. Peace will come when you accept your world exactly as it is.
Q. I find great difficulty in accepting my world exactly as it is, could you suggest a
technique for me to use.
A. Acceptance of what is, when practiced with sufficient willingness will suffice, any other
technique will ultimately set you back.
No ambiguity for me, Jesus is straight talking, it has to be said the mood of these inner conversations is loving and kind with a sense of limitless support from Jesus, such as this extract….. ” to be love, is love, a little willingness to forgive allows love to flow, first a trickle, then a mighty river, then the ocean, let a river of love flow out of your heart”…
” All is well, you have heard me say this many times, yet now is the time for you to demonstrate my love for you to all beings and things, object to nothing….”
This level of processing is an intense experience for my ego, and it is my choice for the ego that needs the loving help of Jesus, in a very strange way the ego is heaven and heaven is the ego, but i know this makes no sense as a statement however it is consistent with Jesus’ teaching of “Nothing real can be destroyed” ….
One more thing is that Jesus i feel is constantly telling me to – just relax, enjoy the ride, everything is fine, let me do the driving, just enjoy the scenery, stop worrying etc.. He keeps inviting me to rest in his body, it goes like this, Jesus talkin’ now.. ” I rest in the Father, you rest in Me, the World rests in you, done deal.” … like a whisper i hear him through out the day ” come into my body, i see you need to rest”
I hope this post is in the right village venue..
i salute you all Comrades of Another way.
Richard
Thanks Bev for your sharing. Ditto all what Bernard said. My day is the same, from one teacher to the other, but now is more evident the split.
Thanks Richard for your post, really helpful, I liked very much where you relate what Jesus is constantly telling you: “Just relax, enjoy the ride, everything is fine, let me do the driving…” I think that is my problem, that most of the time I insist in doing the driving, but we are just students and for sure we are learning from a gentle and brilliant teacher.
My lesson for today “I could see peace instead of this”, it is a very powerful one to me. Remember the Jesus´area code 534, this one is part of it. Sometime I read in one of Ken´s workshops that he says that if we could only master lessons 5 and 34 we certainly could graduate from de Course. And today I read something from his Journey to the Workbook that I loved. He said that the first time he did the workbook when practicing this lesson, he changed peace for Jesus, so when he was in some sort of worried or upset he said: “I could see Jesus instead of this”, and there he explains that this would help to deepen your relationship with Jesus. I liked it and I am going to put it in practice today. I think this is much in accord to Katrina´s suggestion and Richard´s sharing.
A great day to you all,
Lisi
Bev,
T-4.II.4.3 No one dismisses something he considers part of himself. 4 You react to your ego much as God does to His creations,–with love, protection and charity. 7 The question is not how you respond to the ego, but what you believe you are.
Coincidence… I was listening to a Sedona-tape today, and the teacher told us exactly the same:that whatever we identify as “me” or part of “me”, we will protect.In Sedona training, we are asked to find the “me” who has the reactions and the feelings – and the n we find out that all we have, are images,thoughts,feelings,concepts, sensations in the body – and as soon as we start to see that I am that who is aware of the “me”, the letting go happens of itself, I don’t need to protect it any more. _This way of seeing what the ego is – and that it is not Me, decisionmaker – has been very valuable for me.
Richard, I loved your post and that you share your personal experience.I also again was reminded of the Sedona method’s way of accepting what is – by simply asking ” could i just notice that?” or “could i just let that be as it is – at least for now?” that has been enough for me to let it go.
Next skype session to be held in the shower or maybe outdoors in the rain! Seems like all our best ideas come when the water is flowing (:
Love being in the flow with all of you.
Richard: great Q & A and closing line “Comarades of Another Way”
Thank you, Bev,Richard and all. I was in a big unaccepting place for the last several days with several issues but getting a much more conscious contrast of my fear vs. peace and was in the midst of anxiety this morning right before an important phone call(according to the ego system). When I opened the Course at random and found myself on lesson #50 “I am sustained by the Love of God”. After I read the page a very strong clear thought said go to the Village. I was originally going to wait till after the phone call for this. Richard’s post was the last one at that time. Bev’s,Bernard’s, And Richard’s were great reminders and I calmed down a lot. Now with Lisi’s and Nina’s even more.
oh, sweet relief
Hi, Annie. I was still writing when you posted. How about a Skype hot tub party?
New post on the home page, folks. Tuck yourselves in for a hearty meal.
Pam you always have the best party ideas!
Hot Tub it is 🙂
The belief, the thought, the sensation, the feeling, the whatever — that “We are One” is so difficult for me come by/tap into. I can see our foibles and our tendencies are one – that we want happiness, and in that every one is the same, and that we want to avoid pain, and in that we are one, but to see that “We are One” – just in isolation, or as an Idea in itself, or Fingers of one Universal Hand (my wife always did tell me that my imagination was weak (: — this I cannot for the life of me, see.
I wonder how Jesus came to realize that there is only one It, and that he was It. Perhaps lifetimes prior of studying and preparing his mind for the realization, for the triumph of that enlightened life.
I am told that I don’t need to see that we are One. Ken tells me that if I just observe my Wrong Mind, my ego in action, that is sufficient to move towards the Right Mind. Gary tells me that if I just practice Forgiveness every time I can remember (and with practice that I will get better at it), then that’s all that’s needed to move towards the Atonement.
In this moment, neither approach seems to hold much water. Observing my Wrong Mind just does that – keep me observing it and no relief emerges from that. Perhaps some glimmer that it’s OK to be bad. That the “bad” delusion is part and parcel of the Ego Thought System.
Or if I take the other approach, and try Forgiveness – that doesn’t work either. To see that I am just blaming the other for what’s in my own mind, I need to see (or at least I think I need to see) that we are all One. And that I cannot see.
I can see, however, that blaming the other for the source of my unhappiness is unlikely to make me very happy. Because most likely the other person is not going to change. And if I’m going to predicate my happiness on the other person changing, then there’s a very good chance that I’m never going to be happy.
So I’m left with a more practical approach – stop blaming the other, because the other will not change. Not that the other doesn’t exist, except in my own mind (that’s a hard thought to buy into), or that I’m blaming the other for my own guilt (well, i can’t see that either so that perhaps just as hard to agree with), but merely that the other is not going to change. They are going to be what they are going to be. And that is not in my control.
So if I’m going to be happy, I just accept everything the way it is. And don’t expect the other will change. Perhaps that approach is never going to take me to Revelation or Enlightenment, but it certainly gives me more relief in this moment.
And perhaps that’s the baby step I need right now.
Oh well…
Anil, accepting everything the way it is and not expecting the other to change is ,as far as I can tell, the forgiveness the Course is talking about.
Yesterday’s lesson was strong stuff. No doubt Jesus is brilliant and kind and gentle in his course, but he does really want that we acknowledge the ugly stuff within in order that we can see its unreality. I think this time, of the various I have done the workbook, I caught what Jesus is asking us in this lesson, thanks to Ken’s Journey. The title “My mind is part of God´s. I am very holy,” is a level one statement, really wonderful, but one I don´t still believe in the least. But Jesus is not asking us to believe it or to repeat it as a Mantra to delude ourselves. He is just informing us the content of our right mind. In this lesson he asks in his words: “We will use somewhat different kind of application for today´s idea because the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than on what he perceives.” And here is the key. Most of the time Jesus is asking us to be vigilant of our thoughts in the sense of observing what we are thinking about what we are looking outside. This time Jesus asks us to pay attention about what I am thinking of “myself” while I am in any situation or relationship. He gives us a list of attributes that we ascribe to ourselves as an example, he mixes “good” ones and “bad” ones because he explains there they are just the same, because both are an illusion. Well, but he asks to apply this in the practice periods, as well as in the frequent practices and answers to temptation, in a very specific way. He is not asking for abstract repetitions. So, if we really pay attention at what he is asking, we are going to uncover a lot of stuff about ourselves that we, very craftily, hidden. And yes, he is right, the least we believe is that we are holy and we are in God´s mind. It was really great practice yesterday because I could experience something really striking. I was really paying attention to the beliefs about myself in the different interchanges I had yesterday. And something curious began to emerge. I felt a really deep pain each time I discovered what I was thinking about me in that instant, but after three or four situations in which I discovered the “attribute” I was hanging on me, a feeling of joy and gratitude began to arise. Each practice ends with: “But my mind is part of God´s. I am very holy.” And in some moment, although it was very painful to discover my thoughts about myself, light just dispel my darkness. No matter how I think of myself, God thinks otherwise, I am still very holy.
So, I recognized that Jesus´ method works. I must go through the darkness if I want to reach light. It was really interesting yesterday to see the split of my mind so obviously and it was a relief. If I want to really relinquish my ego, I have to see it for what it is. And to me, it is clear now, this is the only hope to really make a significant shift.
Have a great weekend, lots of hugs,
Lisi
a* and Pam, I was writing while your posts appeared, and I so very much agree with Pam, you are completely on track a*, “accepting everything the way it is and not expecting the other to change”, is really one of our most important tasks in Jesus´ course.
I’ve just looked through these posts over the past few days and I see I’ve neglected my mayoral duties. There are some really great thoughts here that are worth repeating.
Richard’s 51, just loved it. I really get the sense and feeling of your inner dialogue. That’s such a great way of entering into relationship with Jesus. You’re really setting your direction and your commitment, that really comes through. I also saw the resemblance with Lisi’s post that followed where she mentions that we could say, “I could see Jesus instead of this.” It sounds like your Jesus is telling you the same thing. Rest in my body, you can see me, you can feel me, I am there. So lovely, so true. There’s always, always something present for us there just out of visual sight in every encounter and situation.
Nina, your 53 really struck me. It reminds me so much of the Buddhist and Advaita techniques where the point is to look at everything and say, Not this, not that, not this, not that. Then there is Nisargadatta who says just repeat “I am that” which eventually breaks down the solid concepts we have of our ‘self’. The self we think is us seems so real and solid and yet it is just a series of thoughts, feeling and convictions which we give belief to, and that’s all. So practicing as you suggest is going to take us in the right direction. The Course has us do precisely the same thing really when it asks us to become aware of all our judgments and separating thoughts and call them into question. This is the process of undoing our self-concept which is built upon these judgments. Same process, slightly different focus: undoing the belief in the person who is doing the thinking, getting us out of the thinking-person and into the mind observing the thinking-person. Then we eventually see we are not the thinking-person if we can so easily step out of it and observe it, so we must be something else. We do this more and more often and return our minds to that clear, happy and free space of observation. We discover we’re much happier doing this observing than doing all the ‘feeling’ and ‘believing’. This really hooks in beautifully to Lisi’s great post #61 where the lesson calls into question everything ‘she’ thinks about herself. The more we do this, the more we become willing to see that we’re perhaps something else entirely different, God’s holy Child, which is definitely not what we thought before.
Oh, Pam, I’ll try to keep this a lovin’ kind of place as long as you need it, and with everyone’s help it’ll be a cinch. So glad you popped in for some comfort.
The next Skype get-together is definitely going to be a hot-tub party. What a great idea. Do they make waterproof Blackberrys?
A*, that was a great post. I’d tend to agree with Pam that what you are doing is exactly right. Seems to me that you set your sights on what was really needed, notably a way of reversing the thinking that you knew was a problem, and then you found the logic that fit that idea. You created your own process to get there. Ken and Gary offer a process, but it’s really not about the process but the goal. (Ken no longer talks about his three-steps to forgiveness).
If you get to that goal, of dropping your insistence that there’s a real, insurmountable problem that you can’t let go of, if you can drop your insistence that the problem is outside of you and therefore the solution must also lie outside of you, if you manage to reclaim the power of your mind in the situation to determine how you feel, and if the result is true peacefulness and an acceptance of the other person and the situation without feeling you’re a victim or sacrificing anything, then you’ve done it all. Full marks.
Who cares how you get there. Peacefulness and remembering the problem is in my mind, that’s the only goal. BTW Byron Katie’s process focuses purely on accepting ‘what is’. One of her books is notably called ‘Loving What Is’. She says she is a ‘lover of what is’, and that’s why she is always happy. Otherwise we spend our time wanting things to be other than they are and judging them for that lack.
Lisi, that was a brilliant post, just loved it. You summarized the whole process of the Course right there. There’s the becoming aware of what we think of ourselves (instead of focusing on what we think of others), there’s the seeing that this is really a horrible image we hold of ourselves with all the heavy, frightening feelings, and then there’s the sweet relief of discovering that no matter what we might think and conclude about ourselves it makes no difference whatsoever because only God’s thought of us is true. We can try all we want, but in the end we can only surrender that no matter how hard we try we have not been able to change our reality. We can only lay down our silly thoughts about ourselves and others and accept what God created in the innocence and loveliness in which it was created. So cool.
Bernard, I love how your shortening of the posts help me what it is all about. Essence is all for me. Thanks a lot!
hugs to all
Nina
Thanks, Bernard – of particular comfort in your note above was the thought “that it’s not really about the process, but the goal. (Ken no longer talks about his three-steps, etc”…. (:
I’m going to head to the Fireside for a ramble, perhaps (:
Hi to all – Lisi, that was a wonderful lesson!
“So, I recognized that Jesus´ method works. I must go through the darkness if I want to reach the light. It was really interesting yesterday to see the split in my mind so obviously and it was a relief. If I want to really relinquish my ego, I have to see it for what it is. And to me, it is clear now, this is the only hope for really making a significant shift.”
This is the process! Sometimes this process for me can get very tedious – and I find myself wanting something better – something more! Yet, as you have, I, too have become aware of the split mind, and know when this process “isn’t enough” it is my choice for the ego thought system in my mind. Yet the choice in my right mind is always there, patiently waiting and gentle….for my resistance to Love, not of this world to abate. The process is simple – but not always easy…..baby steps….slow and easy does it as Ken says! When the resistance does finally cease to exist and the Answer is heard, the gratitude and the peace become my “mighty companions” for the next time.
Yes, “going through the darkness to get to the light” and looking without judgment/condemnation at myself and others, which is as close to getting back to my right mind as it gets sometimes….is what seemingly very slowly – undoes the blocks to the awareness of Love’s presence in my mind.
Beautifully articulated!
Hi everybody:
Yesterday I ended my day with a smile, for two reasons, one all the wonderful smiles at the Village and the second one was the outcome of my practice yesterday. I was very happy yesterday night because of a discovering I made through my lesson, 39, yesterday. The practice was really startling in the sense that if we pay close attention to our emotions and feelings we discover something, that to me was obscure until now. A few days ago, Jesus asked us to practice with the thoughts we have about ourselves in any situation. Yesterday he was asking to pay attention to our judgments and unloving thoughts toward the others and informing us this is hell, and it is if we really pay attention. But if we are very attentive we can discover something really weird. The ego deluded us in the sense that we have a lot of different emotions and feelings, and yesterday I discovered that my feelings about me the other day and about the others yesterday were the same. I was trying to pay close attention to my reactions and it was really striking that the emotion about me and the emotion about the others while indulging my ego thoughts was the same, but in each different situation what was different was the intensity. So I think here is where the ego deludes us. It is only one emotion but the ego makes us think they are a lot because he uses two things in order to delude us, namely, intensity and words. The only thing that varies is the intensity and then we use words to label the emotion or the pain. Yesterday I was thinking of it as a dimmer in a lamp. When we move the knob, the light changes and seems to be different, but it is the same light only different intensity. That was what I discovered yesterday in me, the emotion, the feeling was the same only the intensity varied, but in the moment the emotion or the pain arises immediately we label them, I think in order to give them reality.
All this was really important for me because I read many times along the course what Jesus says about all being the same, but one thing is reading it and another quite different to experience it. And this experience gave me more confidence in Jesus and his Course. And I am beginning to understand his method of applying our lessons very specifically to be able to generalize them. It is the only way of discovering that everything is just one and the same thing.
Lisi:)
Way cool insight Lisi. ::smiles::
Had an interesting experience a couple days ago. My partner was complaining about my ex and my kids. Instead of getting defensive or feeling as if I had to change something I just listened to him. But I also really listened, I did not go Blah Blah Blah… in my head or tune into MY more interesting thoughts. I stayed in Peace of mind. A little while later I gave him a hug and I had the most unusual sensation of hugging myself. We enjoyed the rest of the day together. Now I know that I can’t be attached to the result but the nice thing for me was that I didn’t leave Peace. (: Bev
Lisi, this is wonderful I think:the emotion, the feeling was the same only the intensity varied, but in the moment the emotion or the pain arises immediately we label them, I think in order to give them reality.
Its like the more fuss, the more attention we give it.
And Bev, your story made me all fuzzy inside. Just listening is it.
blessings
ina
Way cool experience Bev. ::smiles::
This answer to the Question of the day is terrific.
Q #664: Are there sign posts along the way that the illusion is nearly dismissed or have I missed the point and there is another goal?
The signposts along the way need not be earth shattering experiences. They are simple moments like the sense of relief when we finally let go of a grievance, or realize that we do not have to be right, letting someone else have the final word. A moment of peace, however fleeting, points the way to the lasting peace we seek. It is important to recognize these little signs, rather than to expect lightening bolts to flash into our lives. Being true glimpses of the final goal, they lead us more surely to its realization. We return always to the practice of the forgiveness the Course teaches as the sure guide to our own awakening. The necessary condition for the holy instant does not require that you have no thoughts that are not pure. But it does require that you have none that you would keep” (T.15.IV.9:1,2). So our goal is only to do our part in looking at all our judgments, which are the blocks that prevent our awareness of God’s Love. As the blocks are removed, the truth of our oneness with His Love, which seemed to have been forgotten, will be remembered. (: Bev
The daily vigilance to “stay the Course” so to speak and share my daily sign posts with you all is such a blessing.
Wishing everyone a great weekend of block removal.
Yes, Bev, I loved this reminder – I guess that is why they are called instants. And I have so many of them, yet I easily discount the instants because I say they should come in the form of 700,000 contiguous instants, or it just doesn’t count.
Lovely reminder of what a silly obstructionist I try to be, being a me.
I’ve known for a while it was a choice between 2 teachers but I never thought of it like this before. From Q #666
The limits that time and space impose are “real” in our experience of them: the body will in fact die, and we cannot stop the sun from rising. Since we are asleep and believe our dream is real, we are not asked to disbelieve these occurrences, but to question our interpretation of them. We interpret them according to the ego or the Holy Spirit. The ego sees these occurrences as proof that the world is real and we are powerless victims of its whims. The Holy Spirit, Who represents the part of the mind that knows it is a mind, teaches that they prove that we have a mind, with power that can be misused by making a physical world where God can be excluded so we can carry on with our separation scripts.
Enjoy your day! Bev (:
hee hee 700,000 contiguous instants…
obstructionist… LOL katrina
“tangentially another nice set of numbers in three’s” this time its Bev with Q #666
wink wink a*
I’m in a very silly place right now, should really be writing this at the fireside its just that I’m so lazy. I’m sure I’ll hear about when the Mayor returns from his travels.
Somehow I have a feeling that Pam’s wild and wacky insight can only mean she caught a glimpse of Truth.
Can you elaborate?
What’s going on for you right now?
Yes, for a moment I allowed my self to sneak a peek at it. Ya know it is always there all around shining, shining, shining and us with our “EYEs”shut tight pretending that IT is being elusive trying to hide from us and trick us when we like small children think that just because we closed “our eyes” IT disappeared. Then we added a twist and decided to play this bizarre game of “peek and be destroyed; so don’t you dare peek”.
All kinds things have been “popping” out at me lately and they fade out about as quick as they pop in. But that’s OK I don’t feel a need to hang on to them it’s like they come, do their job and then leave so as not to clutter the place up, so to speak. Here’s an example in the last line above I noticed, as I was typing it, that the word destroyed can be deconstructed(sideways pun anyone) (-; and then reconstructed as de-story-ed or the undoing of the story.
It’s like Katrina talking about needing 700,000 instants all strung together for it to count. The thing is each instant is a kind of drop in the bucket and at some point you realize that these drops never evaporate and I’m the one that controls the rate at which the drops fall into the bucket and the bucket is full but you haven’t been looking at it, then when you turn aroud and look at it is when you notice that the instants are contiguous,always have been and your (warning bad pun ahead (-:) bucket runneth over.
Hi everybody, just came to say hello, but stopped to read the posts, and I felt really closed to all of you. I also enjoyed a lot today question 666, it is really a great answer and one that clarifies a lot of things.
Pam, loved your insights. They really light this Village Square. I liked this a lot: “each instant is a kind of drop in the bucket and at some point you realize that these drops never evaporate and I´m the one that controls the rate at which the drops fall into the bucket and the bucket is full but you haven´t been looking at it, then when you turn around and look at it is when you notice that he instants are contiguous.” Nice, really nice insight.
Lots of hugs,
Lisi
Wow, Pam, sure am glad Annie asked you to elaborate. What a feeling of relief reading your post !!
Lisi, dear friend – wanted to write you a note about how much your #71 resonated for me/within me. Always good to see you here..
a*, Would you be willing to elaborate on your feeling of relief please?
Thanks Lisi, The insights that you and others share are some of the stepping stones and sign markers that I have been using to deconstruct the ego story soooo….Big HUG with much gratitude for the whole village.
This latest phase that I seem to be going through of gaining not only more “depth’ of understanding but more “breadth” as well seems to have a starting point in the phone book yellow pages discussion a few months back by the fireside in the tavern. I remember saying to J something to the effect of “OK, I’m game for Seeing the “yellow pages” with Holy Spirit sight.” Next thing I knew I was in one of those periods of unsettling that the Course talks about for a couple months;feeling somewhat disoriented and uncomfortable but mostly calm somehow just knowing it was a holy shift going on and now more and more frequently common everyday, usually considered insignificant stuff is “cracking” open to reveal crazy-fun little spiritual gems. I know I’m just at the beginning of this new’phase”.
But I have also noticed that I am not the only one. Several others seem to be in varying stages of the unsettling phase and everyone seems to be having more frequent insights. Or has that been going on all along and I’m just now starting to get a clue? (-;
Sure, Pam, nothing much that I can really elaborate, but happy to give it a shot (: – (feeling rather dry inside, short of words, as I write this, but something might emerge if I try, so here goes (;
The relief I think was a(some?) moments of lightness in an otherwise heavy morning today. (and it’s been a pretty tough weekend, barring one or two patches of sun-shine), but I don’t let that bother me too much, because I think that part is true which says something like “your greatest moments of progress you have judged as your failures, and vice versa” or words to some such effect. (Within the dream, I’ve given up trying to judge whether i’m making progress towards my goal or not, at least a daily, or moment-by-moment evaluation doesn’t happen for me anymore, (and I’m glad!!))
But, that tangent aside, getting back to your post and the feeling of relief – i guess it was a combination of reading about how those moments of peace, those “holy instants” are really contiguous, in one sense, and intuitively, (or some forgotten part of somewhere within me) “seeing” that as true, and the sheer relief of being able to be in the Village, (and not having to think about my ever-pressing work, at least for a few moments, this morning of all mornings).
It’s somewhat like talking to my friend of 10 years, who’s now in the same city yet again by chance, and she was laughing saying that “Peace seems to be at a premium for you these days”, and she’s right in one sense. The confusion, chaos and generally unpeaceful state of my mind is increasingly obvious these days. And in contrast against that, moments of peace, such as when I was talking to her, or reading your Post, stand out in stark contrast.
It’s increasingly clearer by the day, how much my thoughts trip me up, how utterly useless the vast majority of them are. and the moments of Peace are so few and far between – on the one hand, i ache for perpetual peace, and on the other, something within me continues to focus on how many moments of non-peace there are…
I mean, logic would say, if i ache for perpetual peace, should I not be grateful for those, should I not hold them in awareness lightly as I go through my day, but no — the mind gets bombarded, flooded, i mean there’s really no other word, the thoughts just keep rushing in, rushing in – and holding that precious moment of peace, those precious moments of lightness, even in light awareness, is very hard…
It’s Ok though.. at another level, everything really is much, much better than it ever was, and i can see that too.. i think “seeing” all of these contradictory thoughts on so many different levels brings with it its own fatigue 🙂
And hopefully, this post hasn’t induced that in you (: — take care, Pam. Will sign off now….
Hi a* we were typing at the same time.(-:sounds like you’re getting the clarity of the contrast thing happening with you right now. Even without being a Course student new borns seem to have that introspection effect on new parents also. Wow double whammied. Hang in there. ~She gently teases.
double-triple-quadruple whammied (:
good to smile at it with you (:
good to smile with you also. For me it is bed time so i will carry the smiles into my sleep dreams. May you carry yours throught out the rest of your day dreams.(-:
Annie wished us all a good weekend of block removal…and my thought was oh great village block party….then picking up reading @ Lisi’s # 71 to the end of tonight block posts with Pam and Anil was indeed like stolling amongst offerings of insights from everyone, the stepping stones you’ve all laid has one hell of a block removal party. Coming here tonight was a walk through and with all of you representing the reflections of light in today’s lesson #44 “God is the Light in which I see” Like an old fashioned barn raising done together. You all are truly the light through which I see.xoxox
oops so excited I forgot to abbreviate….got blinded by the light and forgot sorry a* night night
Dear Pam wise woman, more and more I sense your posts as being layered, and what they say between the lines is awesome. You seem to be written with by Someone – I love “the word destroyed can be deconstructed(sideways pun anyone) (-; and then reconstructed as de-story-ed or the undoing of the story.” My professors i n Expressive Arts Therapy said this over and over – to not judge the destructive sides of Art, seeing the positive side of de-construction: letting the old go in order to see the new and fresh and truth…
it feels really good to remember that now – that destruction, or de-storying
is helping us to see with new eyes – God is the mind in which I see
Wow, you guys are on fire! This is one heck of a Village Square – so much profound sharing, so many experiences lately, a place where a fella can come and hang out with all these sages and sagesses strolling through with their amazing thoughts. Whass going on? I’ll have to tune into you all to get the benefit by Oneness-osmosis. That’s certainly a little what it’s like, just being carried along by your movement. So many thanks to you all for keeping this place going with such a beautiful rythmn, Bev, Lisi, Katrina, Annie, Anil, Pam, Michele, Nina.
Things have been pretty deep for me, too, lately. I’ve been wanting and needing to go further inside and withdraw from the outside for a while. Needing to disinvestment from my outer dreams and preoccupations a little so that I could spend time coming nearer to what is truly real, to that special choice point. I went through a patch of being a little disappointed with myself, looking again toward the outside to find the reasons to believe in myself (in my ‘self’ – a sure give-away that there’s a problem). I wanted to come back to the essential work at hand and make that stick and work for me – seeing that there’s nothing outside me but my own images portrayed and projected there. So obviously it makes no sense to count on these to give me any satisfaction. I made some progress in this way and found something lovely – the experience of pain I’m projecting is inside (à la Lisi) and the experience of freedom from that pain (by taking it less seriously) is also there in me. When I allow myself to see that it’s all just in the mind, then I get, just for instants, that what I’m looking for (the sense of satisfaction and happiness with myself) is really, truly, just right there, like inside my breath. And so automatically the seeking seems to disappear entirely. There was nothing there anyway! What was there really to find out there, only images and interpretations!
I’ve also had to do some traveling to do a little renovating work. I don’t have internet access there so my visits are a little less frequent.
Such a joy seeing you all together even if I can’t make it, taking advantage of this place and the relationships we’ve been building up now over the past year. Many thanks and a big group hug!
Hey, if anyone would like to give us a daily reminder of the lesson you’re all following, I’ll read your thoughts and try to follow.
:::smiles:::
:::hugs:::
and butterfly kisses
Happy Valentines Day!
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011
Lesson 46
“God is the Love in which I forgive.”
hmmm, Oneness osmosis.(re.#93) I like that. It fits right in with the “you need do nothing.” of the course and the part that talks about that you might not see the effect in your immediate picture of the outside world but to just trust that the forgiveness work is doing its job though out all of time and space on all seeming levels. COOL!
Dear God:
Please help me understand
that this terrible pain I feel
unrelenting, unceasing
is not because of anyone or anything
in this world.
That it is a symbol, perhaps ?
of the pain of banishing
myself
from Heaven,
and evidence
of my deep longing
to go
Home.
Amen.
dear someone wanting to be anonymous – could that unrelenting, unceasing pain maybe be connected to your decision to not share your identity here – could there be some judgments about yourself for having this pain – like shame?
I, for one, would so much love to share what that beautiful poem did to me – but i sense that I am somewhat held back by your wish to be anonymous – like your wish to be anonymous is a barrier for me –
please forgive me if I am seeing this wrong – I am just writing it as it came to me –
love
Nina
Dear {{{{Anon.}}} I second the Amen to your prayer. Thanks. I’m putting this on a sticky note for my collection of great reminders.