Village Square II
In our AcimVillage, we have the plane tree that stands in the central village square. Its enormous branches spread out to cover an area wide enough to provide shade on a warm day for many a traveller or tradesman. Water bubbles and trickles from a stone fountain on the eastern side. It is under the plane tree and by the fountain that wandering sages have traditionally lead conversation with the local people, before setting off again on their way; it is here that the townspeople come to exchange views and thoughts on their beloved spiritual philosophy, learning from each other in kindness and wisdom.
Rules to ponder…
Study of A Course In Miracles benefits greatly from sharing our experiences in its practice. Here you can talk about what works, or doesn’t, for you, taking obvious care not to be ‘preachy’, please. We all learn best when someone talks from their own experience, rather than tries to tell us what we should be doing differently. Let’s take the position that none of us are teachers, we are all at the same point returning on the path Homeward. All of us will still be making mistakes for a while yet, so let’s be particularly humble and caring in how we deal with each other. Please keep in mind that this is a site dedicated to the approach Kenneth Wapnick takes to teaching ACIM. I shall certainly do my best to bring everyone back to the core principles as taught by him.
I would also like to point out that AcimVillage is the place to come to explore our judgments, but not to express them as judgments. If you feel you need to gripe, criticize and vent, even subtly, then contact me privately (at bernard@pauloandthemagician.com) where I will receive you with kindness and understanding. Please do not do so in the forums where I will inevitably moderate out this kind of post. Remember, you will feel better only when you are able to move past the investment in your judgments, not simply by unloading them for everyone to see. This means taking responsibility for your perceptions and acknowledging that ultimately no one has prevented you from feeling completely peaceful and safe, despite what might appear to be the unfortunate conditions of your life at this time. (I know, this is hard. Contact me if you’re struggling.)
So, two basic rules here. One, we avoid mention of other approaches to the study of ACIM (non-Wapnickian) as well as to other philosophies we might be studying. This is purely to achieve a stable, comfortable learning forum where we are all aiming at the same goal, using the same symbols and language to get there. This is not to cast any judgment on any other approaches or philosophies. ACIM is a sufficiently difficult path to undertake without bringing more confusion into our study than our minds already contain! If you have benefited from other paths and would like to share your thoughts, by all means do so. Just please do this in the privacy of your personal emails. It’s also my personal opinion (take it or leave it) that at some point a student of ACIM is much better off sticking with one set of symbols and one teacher, and working with these thoroughly, instead of getting too dispersed. Rule two, we try not to play ‘teacher’ with each other here, reminding ourselves to be humble and always equal with our brother.
Enjoy the discussion!
New Horizons
As of September, 2010, I’m proposing a direction for our study of the Course, which is to work together through Ken’s workshop The Meaning of Judgment. We’ll be using his transcript notes for this taken from the Foundation’s website (see link in the tool bar at the top of the page). Below you’ll find the notes for the section we’re currently working on. For previous sections, click on the ‘ACIM’ tab on the navigation bar, and then hover your mouse over the ‘Meaning of Judgment’ tab to choose the relevant section. I chose this particular workshop because it gets immediately into the real heart and practice of the Course while taking us through its basic principles at the same time. So, for those interested in finding out where the ‘rubber hits the road’, even though it might get a little confronting at times, then join us on this little adventure Homewards!
The Meaning of Judgment
Excerpts from the Workshop held at the
Academy & Retreat Center of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles
PART III
“THE FORGIVING DREAM” (T-29.IX), cont.
(3:1) All figures in the dream are idols, made to save you from the dream.
1. Everything we perceive and believe is outside us is part of the dream. These are the idols, and their purpose is to make the outside dream real to protect us from the dream within our minds, which we do not want to look at. Course students compromise this over and over again by trying in whatever way they can to make some aspect of the external dream reality. That is why many students place such great emphasis on seeing Jesus or the Holy Spirit as doing things for them in the world. That is a subtle way of making Them part of the illusion, whereas in the Course Jesus asks us to take the illusion to the truth, not to bring the truth to the illusion. We have a strong investment in making the outside dream real, because if it is real outside, we do not have to look at the dream within our minds. What better way to make it seem real than to have God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit operate in it?
2. That is why it is a mistake to confuse A Course in Miracles with New Age thought systems. The Course in no way compromises the truth that the entire physical universe is an illusion. But we want to make the figures in the dream reality, including the Holy Spirit and Jesus so we are protected from the underlying dream inside our minds.
(3:2) Yet they [all of these idols] are part of what they have been made to save you from.
3. These idols were made to save us from the idol we made within our own minds (the ego thought system) that says, “I have stolen from God and I now exist. I have what I have stolen. I no longer have to give it back, and I exist on my own. And now God exists outside me.” The ego begins with that initial thought of judgment, which is the beginning of the dream. It then becomes a full-blown dream within our minds that we are different from God, that we have stolen from God and sinned against Him. And our guilt over this now tells us God will punish us. This is the terrifying dream within our own minds. It is so terrifying that we do not look at it, but project it so that it now seems to be outside us. And anything that roots us further in the dream outside will nicely serve the ego’s purpose, even if it goes under the name of God, which is what religions have done for centuries. It is extremely tempting for people to do the same thing with A Course in Miracles — to bring part of the truth into the illusion, making the illusion real. If you do that, you will never get out of the dream, because you will not know it is only a dream.
(3:3) Thus does an idol keep the dream alive and terrible, for who could wish for one unless he were in terror and despair?
4. The “you” Jesus is referring to in these passages is the mind, the part of the mind that chooses — what I refer to as the decision maker. It is the part of our minds that has first identified with the ego thought system. It is a thought system of terror and despair that tells us we need to protect ourselves from the terror and despair by denying it, which means we would never look at it again. And then we project it and see it outside ourselves. That is why we need a world of specific people and specific objects. We project all of these thoughts of sin, guilt, and judgment so they are no longer seen within, but outside. As long as we believe in the reality of the idol, we will never know that the idol really rests within our own minds.
(3:4) And this the idol [anything in the world outside of us] represents, and so its worship is the worship of despair and terror, and the dream from which they come.
5. This is true for the idols of specialness we think are wonderful and make us happy as well as the idols of specialness we hate. Earlier in the text, in “The Obstacles To Peace” (T-19.IV), Jesus speaks about this in another form: “While you believe that it [the body] can give you pleasure, you will also believe that it can bring you pain” (T-19.IV-A.17:11). Pleasure and pain are opposite sides of the same illusion. Both of them make the body real because both say there is something outside us that can make us either happy or unhappy and bring us pain. The truth is that the only thing that can bring us happiness is choosing the Love of the Holy Spirit. The only thing that can bring us pain is choosing the ego. That is all. There is nothing else.
6. The lines here represent the same idea. That is why we become so invested in the world. It is easy to fall into this trap, even as a student of a course that teaches that there is no world, for we still believe that external behaviors somehow mean something. They mean nothing in and of themselves. Their meaning lies only in what meaning we give them. What is important is never anything external — not what bodies do or do not do — but our internal decision to choose either the ego and separation, or Jesus and joining. Once we focus our attention outside and believe what we do is important, helpful, healing, or loving, we are getting caught in specialness, worshipping the idol of specialness. We will think that we are serving a function of healing or love, but it really is an idol of despair and terror.
7. In worshipping the idols of specialness outside, we are worshipping not only terror, despair, and guilt, but the whole dream, of which terror, despair, and guilt are only components. We are worshipping the dream that we have what we have stolen from God and will never give it back, for now we exist as individuals on our own. We love terror, despair, and guilt, or we would not feel them all the time. We love them because they make real the thought of separation — the thought of the original judgment against God — which makes real our separate existence from God. That is why we have such a tremendous investment in our self-importance, in being a unique individual — it establishes that the dream is real. The state of terror or despair in our minds says the dream is real; the guilt and the sin are both real.
(3:5) Judgment is an injustice to God’s Son, and it is justice that who judges him will not escape the penalty he laid upon himself within the dream he made.
8. It is important to realize that the entire thought system of the ego is real within itself. It is not reality, but within the dream itself it is all very real. When we sleep at night and dream, we will experience the dream as very real. This entire world is a dream. As Jesus explains elsewhere (e.g., T-18.II.7-14), there is no difference between what we call our sleeping dreams and what he refers to as our waking dreams, such as we are experiencing right now. They are all the same — just different expressions of the thoughts within our minds. Within the ego dream, the fear of punishment is very real. Within that dream, our fear of experiencing harm — physical or emotional — is very real. We are not asked, as students of A Course in Miracles, to deny what our experiences are. We are asked, however, not to make these experiences reality. There is a crucial difference between those two approaches.
9. In other words, we all experience fear, and we believe our fear is due to something external to us that can impinge upon us. The ego interprets this as the wrath of God visited upon us — that is our experience. We may not consciously experience it as God’s wrath, but we certainly do experience fear as caused by something external to us. Remember, our own bodies are just as external to our minds as everyone else’s body is. But that does not make it reality. That is where the Christian Churches were mistaken; they took their experience of fear and wrote a theology about it. They said this is the reality of God: God sees our sin as real and has a plan to help us atone for it, basically a plan of murder. The plan then becomes one of suffering and sacrifice. If we believe we are sacrificing so God won’t be angry at us, then we will feel good about sacrificing. But that does not make it reality. Our experience is that the sun rises and sets but that does not make it reality. In reality, it is the earth rotating on its own axis that makes it appear as if the sun moves around the earth. And in fact, it is the earth that moves around the sun. Similarly, people may experience the Holy Spirit or Jesus doing things for them in the world, but that does not mean that they really are. Don’t confuse your experience with reality. The ego always interprets our experiences in order to construct a theology that serves its purposes, which of course is why we have the experience in the first place. Within our dream, whenever we make a judgment we are asserting that we are different from God; we have separated from Him, sinned against Him, and have stolen from Him. Our guilt over that will then demand that we not escape the penalty of God’s anger. This whole world, which is a world of change and death, then stands as the witness to the fact that what the ego has taught us is true. If our existence, which we call life, was ultimately stolen from God, then when God steals back the life we stole from Him we will be without life, which means we will be dead. That is the ego’s interpretation of our death.
(3:6) God knows of justice, not of penalty.
10. God’s justice of course has nothing to do with justice as we think of it. God’s justice states that nothing happened. If nothing happened, there is no guilt and no punishment. (3:7) But in the dream of judgment you attack and are condemned; and wish to be the slave of idols, which are interposed between your judgment and the penalty it brings. But we are not condemned by God. We are condemned by the projection of our own guilt, which makes up a God Who is angry. We then deny the whole dynamic and make up a world in which we are continually condemning and judging others, while believing they condemned and judged us first. But our judgment is within our minds; that is our guilt. We project it out and make up a world of idols that will punish us; and we actually think there is a world out there that affects us. This is all part of the dream, which seems very real from within the dream.
Thanks all for humoring me and joining in on this. It’s fun to hear about your choices and why. I made a list – Bernard, I put your #1 choice as ‘Dialed In’ with a close second as Brilliant Speed – is that right? Horses are such beautiful creatures…..now all I need is my Kentucky Derby pie and mint julip! — oh, and a hat! The hats are such a deal at the Derby!
Love,
Jean
Lol….far be it from me to leave you danglin’ Jean! I picked this because *I’m a comin’ to the top of the ladder!
If I really were the horse in the race with that name, anyone who would bet on it would surely lose, because *I’m a comin’ pretty slow…..steadily…..but slow!
At least that’s my perception in this magic show of linear time that I believe in….except for holy instants or hours…or sometimes even days! 🙂
“The slow way is the fast way.” ~Ken Wapnick
Haha….Thanks for explaining it to me. I, too, am a slow learning. And let’s hope Ken doesn’t bet on a horse! This is a great quote for us seekers – but there just might be an exception when it comes to horse racing!
Reminds me of his analogy of us choosing ‘ego’ as our ‘horse’ that died before leaving the starting gate! And we keep beating it believing it can win! So Ken is probably much better at being our Teacher than ‘horse racing in the illusion!’
BTW, I LOVED Rich’s dream too — I could just see Ken pushing that cart with his fun-filled smile!!!!!!
On another note….and I did share this ‘silly but true’ at the study group here — I have a Mac computer and because I have downloaded so many of Ken’s MP3’s I got this warning that my hard drive was getting full. At the Apple Store here a Techie suggested I buy an external hard drive and led me over to the wall — and showed me the best ones…..suggesting strong this little red one — guess what it’s name is? Ego!!! Right then I knew I had to have it! So now I have Ken in my ‘Ego!’ —- talk about convolutions!
Love,
Jean
Ohmygod–that is absolutely hysterical!!!! Talk about not taking things quite so seriously….hmmmmmmm….there’s gotta be a message in there for me today…..cause I’ve been taking all of it way too seriously all day long!
Lol….thank you! 🙂
Ken in your ego thats great funny,funny,funny. I’ll pick Master of Hounds maybe he can keep those hungry hounds of fear on a short leash.
I want to share what Myron Jones blogged today, re “I want to accept the Atonement for myself)
The Course seems complicated, but it really isn’t. I decided to forget what I am and to dream of being something different. Now I am beginning to wake up from that dream. Just as I decided to forget my identity, I am now deciding that I want to remember what I am. Knowing what I am isn’t something I do really, but something I am. The only thing for me to do is to want to remember more than I want to forget. Every day, all day long, I decide.
I want to remember more than I want to forget…what a wonderful simple and straight way of putting it.
Perfect Nina. Reading thru the text again it’s obvious that Jesus is trying to get us to see the value in Eternal Love/peace/joy in contrast to the tiny baubles we are attached to on Earth so…….I want to remember!!!
I had a day in which I was conscious of tiny little judgements that made me laugh when i remembered what I was choosing. In and out of the Blue dot all day long but lightly which made it very pleasant.
Nina,That is now in my sticky note collection. I look forward to the day I throw my sticky notes away ‘cuse that’ll mean I finally accepted it all on the inside and I won’t need to look at it on the outside. (-:
Please submit your Fireside comments here for the next few days, folks. And don’t forget to check out the last few messages at the Fireside before it is put in storage (still available).
Check out this absolutely adorable youtube sent to me by our own TexAnne.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3LlBlznX60
Thanks for posting the video, Bernard!
It reminds me of the line from the Course:
“This terrible mistake about yourself the miracle corrects as gently as a loving mother sings her child to rest…”
Which is exactly how I feel about the whole situation lately!
And as for the rest – it’s just “mind blogging!”
As well as mind boggling!
Illusions still appear to cling to me – or me to them –
But I know in my heart that this is a dream…
Would a Loving God allow suffering in any form? No!
Letting reason take another step here…
So the sleep itself is not real!
Ken once asked the class “Who told you that you were asleep?”
It was the ego who told us. And so it is a lie.
We are at home in God, dreaming of exile.
And so it’s easier to forgive when you realize there’s nothing to forgive!
(And by “you,” I mean “me!”)
Peace to such foolishness! And have a great day!
Blogs and kisses to all!
Nice post, Tex! And thanks again for the cute video link.
I’ll be a bit busy over the next few days, will post Monday when I can. Love and hugs to all.
Yes nice video and post Tex. Even little kitties have bad dreams. ): I loved how the momma just pulled it in closer (kitty hugs are adorable). Mommas are the best in teaching us how to feel safe and loved. And like todays lesson states-we the appointed ministers of God can only deliver a message that we ourselves accept fully.
Here’s to baby and kitty steps to complete certainty!
Precious symbols with the kitties! 🙂 Yes Annie – here’s to baby and kitty steps to complete certainty – Amen!
I’m focusing on acceptance these days (probably by the ego) so these passages stood out for me from Lesson 154 today:
W-pI.154.2. Whatever your appointed role may be, it was selected by the Voice for God, Whose function is to speak for you as well. 2 Seeing your strengths exactly as they are, and equally aware of where they can be best applied, for what, to whom and when, He chooses and accepts your part for you.
W-pI.154.5. A messenger is not the one who writes the message he delivers. 2 Nor does he question the right of him who does, nor ask why he has chosen those who will receive the message that he brings. 3 It is enough that he accept it, give it to the ones for whom it is intended, and fulfill his role in its delivery. 4 If he determines what the messages should be, or what their purpose is, or where they should be carried, he is failing to perform his proper part as bringer of the Word.
W-pI.154.6. There is one major difference in the role of Heaven’s messengers, which sets them off from those the world appoints. 2 The messages that they deliver are intended first for them. 3 And it is only as they can accept them for themselves that they become able to bring them further, and to give them everywhere that they were meant to be. 4 Like earthly messengers, they did not write the messages they bear, but they become their first receivers in the truest sense, receiving to prepare themselves to give.
Thanks to all for tolerating the MIND BLOGGING (LUV IT TEX)
That’s one of the cutest videos i have every seen – definitely a keeper. Thanks Tex xoxoxo
yeah mind- blogging very good… tee hee
Love you Winnie!
Hi All. I still can’t figure out where I am suppose to post! I saw the great pictures from the trip to Temecula this morning — but now can’t find them! Anyway, wanted to thank Bernard for his kind comments…. I am having a ‘garage sale’ tomorrow in order to try to get rid of a lot of stuff I don’t need to ship home…..and packing – lots of very strange stuff seems to be coming up as I am preparing to leave….all for forgiving and for learning! But now that it is so close, I am feeling I’d like to ‘blast off’ — if I can’t stay – may as well go. Keep thinking of the thing Jesus said to Helen – ‘The thing to do in a desert is leave!’ Well…Temecula IS in a desert! Tho being around Ken was anything but!
Love,
Jean
Hi Jean –
good to hear from you. Last night I was thinking I should drop you a line to enquire where you were – good to hear all well. Blast off is good !! (:
Love,
A
Last night I had the most peculiar sense that the night and dreams were going to be spectacular. And they were! I was meeting with all my Village-friends in “dream-person”, and it was giggly and fun and wonderful. I met Bernard first ( as is proper)got a big hug and kiss – and dear dream-Annie was a bit shy, but smiled with all her lovely self. We were sitting in a class-room, listening to one tall person (: in the front. – I also greeted a mother of one of you – and I know her so well from before! and there was a chestnut brow cat there – we clicked of course ( and I did miss the opportunity to see it was a dream when the cat’s head turned into a horse.)
Does anybody of you have this chestnut-brown cat?
In the next dream (I noticed about 10 awakenings in the night)I had won 20 prizes with the most astonishing gifts.Some of which where a pair of wooden yellow shoes from Holland!
Behind me, a door is open to an ENORMOUS storage-center. And it seems to be empty!
The later dreams I met you all, but in groups where we were together. And as soon as I woke up and noticed us all being together in “person”, I fell asleep again and met you all again in a little different setting.
After about 10 of these, ego sent a really unpleasant one to mark its revier – but you have no idea (or maybe you have) how much i treasure our meetings. It felt like we had always been together, and of course we have.
—-If any of you have similar dreams, or dreamt about meeting me last night, please share!
L O V E
ina
P.S. and all of that happened the night after I lit a candle from our Village family in the Light-cave on my site !
What fantasmical dreams you have Nina-full of color and movement!
This weekend we were invited for dinner to my son’s girlfriends home. He’s been dating her for almost a year now. Mind you he’s 17. So that is almost an eternity for them and still we haven’t met the girls mother and this is really embarassing but I didn’t even know or ever remember asking what the mothers name is. (that sounds aweful now that I’m writing about it) We had met Ariel’s step father at the beginning of the school year. Anyways, the point of this silly story is that I met you this weekend Nina!!
Ariel’s mother’s name is Nina (: how’s that for meeting each other in the dream world?
Nina – we had a sable Burmese cat named Snickers who died about 12 years ago! He was all dark brown with gold eyes and he was wonderful. He was a purebred, and because of that had numerous eye problems. We had to actually get one of his eyes removed! He was still gorgeous and looked like he was winking all the time!
As I’m writing this, I’m thinking what a symbol (the winking!) of not taking any of it too seriously……
He remains in our heart and mind with loving memories!
Hi and Love to all,
m
So if it was him who was partly horse in his soul when I met him, maybe he is a horse now, Melody 🙂 and if it was him, he certainly didn’t go anywhere. Like my cats – dead for about ten years, and still very close at times, I literally sense and feel them in my arms –
anywhoo, it’s fun to play with these thoughts. If I see him again, I’ll ask him if his name is Snickers!(If he isn’t a horse now, that is.)
Loves to all –
I am still feeling that aura of love I felt yesterday night – oh
Back again, folks, from a few days away. Lovely to see all your ponderings… I’ll have to think of something interesting to say! We were away on ‘business’, which just means we’re trying to work out our lives, what we’re doing, where we’re going, etc. Kind of as a result of the US trip, a little.
Thanks for you kind comments on the Mayor’s recent blog. Big hugs to all of you for your day (or night!)…
I just wrote this to a friend and thought it would be nice to post it here (I’m sure she doesn’t mind):
Family issues, eh? Hm, no, never had none of those! Forgiveness is truly a beautiful gift to ourselves, the way we reclaim all our lost power, our happiness and joy. We see that whatever we feel is bothering us is somehow some judgment we are holding against ourselves, since our real identity is so ‘pure and lofty, that angels bow down before it.’ Were we to touch once more that lovely, peaceful identity, even just for a few moments, we would be astonished that we could ever have been so upset by such silly things. So many of our problems really don’t matter that much – we just so want them to matter! We love that feeling of something ‘mattering’. Because that tension of things ‘mattering’ keeps the memory of that loving calm peacefulness safely away at arm’s distance. I love looking into my upsets about others. I find that these people are just like me! And then I see I don’t have to make that silly mistake anymore, don’t have to be taking my needs so seriously, or don’t have to be so sensitive. It was just a way I was staying with conflict and away from Love, so why keep it?
Have fun playing with your upsets!! 🙂
Here’s a link to an excellent youtube that Lisi shared with me. I would have posted this in the gallery except that the author doesn’t permit it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-M8EAzLLC4&feature=player_detailpage
New Fireside up and ready for your comments. Who wants to be first and have their name permanently up as ‘number one’?
Yes – excellent youtube Bernard and Lisi! Thank you!
“Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind But part of it is now unnatural.”
The above statement stood out for me in todays lesson. My first thought was Picasso.
Wasn’t he the one to start this abstract art? I always envision cubism and weird geometrical figures as his style and found nothing warm and cozy about them. Then one day I saw some of his earlier art work and he did fantastic “realism” paintings and I remember thinking why would he abandon such talent to paint these seemingly disjointed stick figures. Anyways, my point being that the line above stating that abstraction is the natural condition of the mind gave me a bit of a jolt this morning. I don’t particularly care for abstract art so what does that mean? Probably nothing other than I want another way to judge myself. I worry now that if I don’t understand or worse appreciate abstract art then I’m not in my right mind.
I’m not gonna loose any sleep over this but I was curious if anyone had anything to add. I do find history interesting especially since both Freud and Picasso walked the planet together for a period of time…each exploring the Mind in their own way.
I don’t know from art…. but…..
Cubism is a way of showing ALL sides of an object – simultaneously.
As if all the aspects of the object were brought forward into the same plane.
Like a cup or a chair – if you want to get all Coursified!
Do we ever really “see” anything? …Except for our own singular perspective.
There’s probably more than one way to look at anything….at everything!
PS: As my Spellcheck ran through this comment,
“Coursified” came up as “Crucified!”
Fitting, somehow!
Annie, I don’t know if this will help but I have a distinction between appreciation and liking. Jewelery comes to mind, I appreciate the beauty of well made rings and such but I don’t like wearing them. So with art I can appreciate the work and the message the artist is trying to convey but wouldn’t necessarily like having it hanging in my living room.
Hi Annie~ I could be way off base with this, but my perception of “Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind But part of it is now unnatural..” is that “complete abstraction” as used here means that before the illusory “split” of the mind – (the “wrong mind” becoming “unnatural”) *we* were outside of time and space. In other words, before *we projected the *world of time and space we were in the non temporal abstract decision making mind that “projected” form.
I’m thinking that Picasso’s “abstract art” is still a of art, whereas the decision making mind is not of form at all – but if the “wrong mind” is chosen it projects form.
Hope I didn’t “muddy the waters further” – just my take! 🙂
above should be “…Picasso’s “abstract art” is still a form of art….”
I put the word form in brackets, so it didn’t come through at all…..
Lol…hmmmmm 🙂
My little imagination likes to see realism. It loves the beauty and explicit pictures. I don’t like ugly things, though, like most renaissance art. Mostly I love the impressionists with the flow and dance of light.
I didn’t like abstract art at all until I saw Picasso’s Bull’s Head. It really astounded me with its raw simplicity. It is just a bicycle seat, point down, and bicycle handlebars, turned up. Nothing there really. But my mind instantly sees the bull’s head. What is ‘really’ there on the canvas is only a hint, we make it all up.
“Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind…” This is was one of those lines that really struck me the first time I worked through the Course. I think Melody has the goods on this one, that the natural state of the mind is not specific, is not an identifiable ‘something’, is certainly not located in any kind of fleshy walking cell. And in actual fact, this state of complete abstraction (no walls, no ‘address’, no timezone) is STILL the real state of our minds. We can eventually touch that place again, which helps us understand even better the incredible efforts we have to make to keep our minds anchored in our bodies as if that’s where they are located. Eventually we see the angels laughing at us thinking there can be some other state other than abstraction. As they’re saying, why would you want to be so confined? The way we experience confinement is by our needs and wants, our sensitivities, everything that seems to affect us. This is what seems to shake us out of abstraction and back into specifics, back into “how can I make my life better, this sucks”, or “whoa, that was really awesome, let’s do it again!” ie special love and hate relationships/activities/objects. Anything specific that would make us believe there is something ‘real’ out there (outside of abstraction).
And you can forget all those words. The most important thing is when the guy cuts in front of us at the intersection that we remind ourselves that real peace is just a heartbeat away if we want. When we choose that heartbeat of peace and laugh at our selves and bless the guy on his way, then for an instant we’re back in complete and perfect abstraction. We’re outside of time and space. We’re Home together as one.
Annie, Bernard – Interesting that,,
for me too, that was the line that first stood out for me, (and still does). And L 161 – really resonated for me. Probably the strongest/best one yet (btw, ‘strongest/best’ are all really poor choices of words for what it really felt like !) (and I can’t even remember seeing 161 the n times prior that I did the workbook).
Off to L 162 now – even thought it’s almost time to close out June 11th in Asia !! (:
love,
a
OK. Course-question:
I have always had problems with the difference between we bringing stuff to the H.S and allowing the H.S to shine through or heal what I bring him. is this two different things? is the allowing Him to shine through wrong, as ken sees it?
I am asking because allowing Love to love whatever it is that is bothering me works infinitesimal better than just looking. It is like when I allow Him to Love it/me, i am allowing him to be Who He is, and telling Hi m that it is this that i want.
Any thoughts, pumpkins?
Hi Nina, As far as I can tell they would be the same thing. For me it starts with being willing to look at the stuff then “bringing” it to J and asking him to help me “see” it differently and then allowing(by my not judging) him to shine through what I “seem” to be which would be allowing him/Love to heal my perception of the stuff.
hope that helps
Nina, I think the real trick with this idea of bringing something to the Holy Spirit is the idea of, first, being willing to be incorrect about our conclusions and perceptions (‘I think this person is suffering at the hands of this other person/government’), considering that this perception is just not going to correspond with what the Holy Spirit is going to show me. We try already in our minds to move ourselves toward a more loving perception that is going to be able to INCLUDE the ‘source’ of the pain, whether that be another person, a situation or an object (my boss, my job, my car), instead of exclude outside of Love some aspect of what is going on. Then we ask the Holy Spirit to provide us with another, more loving perception/understanding. We try to be sensitive to the presence of judgment in our minds, any thought that would exclude someone or something of ourselves from Love. And we turn to Love/Holy Spirit in whichever way is meaningful to us and ask to remember that everything is included in that Love, nothing is really at stake in this world, all is still always healed and whole. For me, the entire practice of turning toward the Holy Spirit resides in my preparation; it is not something I can do just by saying, Hey, HS, what’s going on here? That can work only if first I’ve become willing to be completely incorrect about all my thoughts and feelings. That’s when I sometimes get to see how attached I still am to my point of view, which means attached to my feelings about a situation (usually that I or someone else is suffering unjustly). And this just means that I’m still a little hesitant to let go of another part of what I think is my very personal, very important, sense of self. Hope that helps, as Pam says. I’m just expanding a little here on what Pam was saying above.
Maybe this will explain it a little better – and then you can teel me if I am doig it wrong or right –
for me, the feelings I offer to Love are the multitude of bodily sensations – energies, if you will – or thoughts that I know belong to ego. I become aware of them, say yes to sensing them in my body, so no repression at all – and then I “turn them over” to Jesus/Love: now I don’t have to deal with them any longer, I have renounced my ownership to them, and “my way” of solving them/it. And you bet I am aware that I am wrong in the ego-thoughts 🙂
In short, i give up control, knowing that He is here – he knows whats best and I clearly don’t.
So my question is, is this bringing darkness to the Light, or light to the darkness? since I DO hope to see difficult situations/people differently, through forgiveness?
Dear Nina, I can not tell you if you are doing it right or wrong. Only you can tell by the peace you feel or not. If you feel peaceful even for a few seconds then I would say you’re on the right track headed in the right direction. Maybe you are close and then you get scared and use the doubts to try to “derail” yourself?
If it helps I will tell you what I have noticed this last month is that your ponderings have “felt” more expanded to me, more free flowing. Your insights that you write about have more “depth” a richness that I cannot pinpoint to any specific “thing” but the impression I am left with is that you are allowing yourself more freedom from ego stuff.
Somewhere the Course says something to the effect that the lessons and process are highly individualized yet the content and outcome will be the same for everyone.
So it doesn’t matter the form/way you are doing the process it is the willingness of allowing HS to show you “the better way” for your situation.
From my view point it seems to me that you are on the right track and doing just fine. Hugs, Pam
I bow graciously to Pam’s insight and wisdom. Looking at your comment, Nina, I was also preparing to say that if you feel peaceful and relaxed, even gently (not wildly) happy, then you’re right there. And it sounds like that’s where you’ve been lately, as Pam suggests, so that’s all very good. Big hugs, B.
If one of my little patients had a bad dream, we may (or may not) sit there and analyze the dream itself. We might wonder why – in general – the night-time bad dreams are happening. We could try to fix the cause.. If he dreamed he was in a desert – it might be too hot in the room. That kind of thing.
But I wouldn’t tell him/her to formulate a plan of how to fix the dream! Or to go back to sleep and this time say “this” to this person. Or say “that” to that person. I wouldn’t think this would be a good plan at all. Even if it were possible. Learning from dreams isn’t always specific or useful. If it were, there wouldn’t be any problems to solve! In perfect linear style, we would simply fix the mis-adventures!
The feedback we get from our lives isn’t always “good” in “form.”
Having a wonderful life isn’t “proof” (or poof) that I am doing things “right.”
And having a “rotten” life isn’t “proof” that I am “wrong” or “bad.”
But we want it to be! We want the metaphysics to be true and real and predictable (for me- I do this) just to say that the “dream life” IS real – see? When I do THIS (in thought) it gets “better” (in my body – and body of affairs) And when I do “that” it gets “worse!”
We want it to be real – of course – as proof that the separation from God is real.
Many things in the Course say that the Miracle is just the awareness that we are dreaming! (Awareness of dreaming is our only responsibility.) And there is no life outside of God. If good things seem to happens, so be it. If not, so be it as well. “All worldly states must be illusory….” Maybe a happier dream is what we are really asking for.
“Happy dreams come true, not because they are dreams, but only because they are happy. And so they must be loving.” Maybe “real happiness” is just the loving awareness that we are only dreaming. And the dream is not real!
I myself – do not know how to sit with Jesus. Or watch with the angels, or the Holy Spirit.
I do not know what God is. Or the ego. Or Truth. Or forgiveness. I do not know from the Decision Maker. Or a blue globe in space, or a blue dot at a workshop.
But I DO know I need to choose again when I feel angst – in any form. Choose (to be willing) to remember that this life IS a dream – and it’s a good thing that it is!
There is only one problem – separation.
There is only one answer – it never happened!
“Why are you not rejoicing?”
Well, maybe I am – just a little quirky half-smile on an elevator – and a sigh of relief.
Sorry this is so long…. So long!
Not too long for me, Tex – perfect length ! (:
Hi Nina and all,
I also feel like just looking seems like not enough to help me sometimes. Lately I just think looking, waiting and judging not does not cause projection and I just trust that it is enough even though sometimes it seems to take awhile for me to feel any relief. I got these ideas from some of Jamie’s classes listened to recently but I can’t remember which ones. Love you guys, Ken
I just wrote a long post which vanished (: – and Ken’s post came instead…:::giggles::: do you want us to call you Ken, then, Kendall? I just thought how Kendall would be the New Zeelandian / maybe /Australian pronunciation of Candle. I like to think of you as candle!
Pam, Bernard – I am grateful for and sense the love within your posts. I guess I am balancing between wanting to do the lessons like they are meant to be practiced (acimish)- and following what just feels loving and easy – but the last version may not be Ken’ish, and then I fear I am just wasting time, and is practicing as an ego, doing it the easy way.
Anne, Zenmaster…that was yet another loving whack, more subtle than the first you gave me – but still the same message: You are dreaming
I have to say, I do love the projections I am making of this Village and its inhabitants – and I love that you have each an unique flavor
I actually dreamed last night (in sleeping) about this Village.
And people were tripping over their own shoelaces.
Some were falling – some were stumbling… some were knocking each other down.
Maybe trying to hold on. Oops – Pardon me – excuse me – my bad! – Hey watch it there!
If I see a person with a broken arm, it doesn’t really mean that my arm is broken.
Although it could – and the randomness is what keeps us off balance, maybe.
Again – that is all about form… and things that have form.
Maybe it means that in this aspect of the dream,
there are arms that could break…
Or turn to dust – as it were – for such they are!
I dreamt before that I lived in the Village here…
Last time, though, I dreamed I lived in the bell tower with Quasimodo…
So Nina – this is not so much a whack from a Zenmaster –
Just a note scratched out and passed back and forth ….
Maybe with a smiley face on it and made into the shape
of a paper airplane – from my little corner of the bell tower…
Just me and the gargoyles and the bells!
Maybe good to keep with Kendall for my name so to avoid any confusion…hee hee. I go by Ken a lot so I think I just wrote Ken cause I’m used to signing off emails with Ken. I like candle too Nina. Love you too! Sorry your long post went bye bye because I enjoy reading what you write.
This is the day when vain imaginings part like a curtain. (L164.5:1)
‘vain imaginings’ has always been one of my favorite phrases. It’s the wine glass in the middle of the two faces on the figure/background image. It’s the frame we’ve delighted in designing/hoping/building around the picture of the (don’t look at it) special relationship(s).
Nina you probably have all the input you need but in a synchronous manner the answer to Q 786 includes this:
It is important to proceed gently through the process of uncovering, and very important to remember what Jesus tells us emphatically: “ Do not be afraid of the ego ” (T.7.VIII.5:1). Nevertheless, our focus must be on looking at what it has made: “You cannot lay aside the obstacles to real vision without looking upon them, for to lay aside means to judge against. If you will look, the Holy Spirit will judge, and He will judge truly. Yet He cannot shine away what you keep hidden, for you have not offered it to Him and He cannot take it from you” (T.12.II.9:6,7,8). In order to allow the Holy Spirit to judge what we look upon we must look without any judgment of our own.