Fireside IV
It is to the Village Square that the townspeople come to exchange views and thoughts on their beloved spiritual philosophy, learning from each other in kindness and wisdom. Then when their minds have been filled, they retire to the tavern on the western side of the square where they share in social discussion, learning of each other’s events and challenges, happinesses and sometimes sadnesses, too. With a mug or glass in hand, they collect in front of the great Fireplace that dominates the long wall. Benches and chairs are often filled on market day with those who have come from farther away, bringing news of events and views the local people delight in hearing.
If you are feeling disoriented by all the philosophical talk by the fountain in the Village Square, then come sit down on the bench here with us for a while just to soothe your mind and share a mug of tea or coffee. Let’s all make sure the conversation is quiet and simple, caring and thougtful, exactly the kind of talk you might have around a warm hearth, the only light filling the room coming from the fireplace.
This is the fourth installment in the Fireside discussion series. After we reach 900 comments, the page takes too long to load on your computer, and so we start another fresh page. To review previous discussions, we keep the old pages (Fireside I and Fireside II) which you can find under the ‘Village’ tab on the navigation bar at the top of screen under the image of the tree.
No, not too hokey at all, Anne. I had thought of it, too. Please send me your photos and I’ll try to put something together. I had started a memorial page, but then felt that the Fireside was a more comfortable place to come share our thoughts. It would be nice if we could really meet in the Fireside lounge right now to share a cup of something. I’ve actually been a bit busy since yesterday, I have my parents-in-law at the house for two days. Some lovely thoughts here. And HI to Laura, so good to see you here once more.
Yes, Nina, I think so too…it is indeed the loveliest picture of Ken that I have ever seen as well…
Also, wanted to add my greetings and best wishes to Jamie, for whom this might be particularly difficult at this time, or perhaps not, but either way, wanted to convey my greetings to him, so if any of you are in email contact with him, please do add a warm Hello from me too….
Thank you.
Wasn’t online this weekend until just now learning about Ken. I was thinking of Jamie a lot these last two days and now I know why. Glad you came Laura T Student. That is such a beautiful picture of Ken you put up Bernard. Dearest man ever. I saw him this summer when he came for a one day seminar and got a Ken hug when I spoke to him about my love for Jamie. {{{{Academy family, Gloria and all his kin,, Jamie and Bonnie and all of us who loved him so here in this Village, Winnie }}}}
A dear sister in my Monday night study group forwarded us this email loving tribute from David Hoffmeister
Beloved One,
Let us pause an instant today to remember all the Love that our brother Ken shared with the whole Sonship before his passing from the appearances of this world, and all the Love he continues to share far beyond this time-space cosmos. Along with Helen and Bill and Judy, Ken ushered into the world A Course In Miracles. Now as its curriculum comes brightly into full awareness we all rejoice and give thanks together.
I love you Ken.
Forever and ever in deep appreciation for every loving step in opening to God’s Love,
~David
Lovely to see your kindle with words in the candle-grotto, Annie. You are all so very welcome, family
Requiem
You came but for a while. When Jesus called
You were content to go. For who would stay
to watch the dreary cycle of the nights
Turn coldly gray with each return of day?
This world was not your home. Would God allow
His child to wander long without a home
Which He Himself makes bright? Your tired eyes
Closed gratefully when He at last said, “Come.”
You have forgot all this. All thoughts that hurt,
All sorrow, all regret, have ceased to be
In your remembrance. He Who called to you
Has loosened all your chains and set you free.
Because I love you I would have you go.
Because I love Him I can scarcely weep.
Because He loves you glory goes with you,
And in that glory you but seem to sleep.
He came in mercy. Let me give Him thanks
You stayed with us until you saw Him smile
And tell you it is finished. He will come
For me that way in just a little while.
It is for this I wait, in certainty
That He Who made the stars will not forget.
I will be glad to see Him smile at me,
Or if He choose, to wait a little yet.
Of Course, no tribute to Ken would be complete without Helen’s Requiem.
I am getting pretty excited about doing the workbook – with all of you – my dear Course friends!
Dear Village ~
I’m very grateful my 10 year + course study group meets tonight. This paste below is what our teacher David Hillier Davidson sent out to his course family. I also wanted to mention that Susan Dugan, whom Bernard knows and communicates with, has on her site- forays in forgiveness, a tribute page to Ken you might all enjoy, plus she has many wonderful interviews she did with Ken over the years on her site as well. Will paste her link but put in spaces so it’s acceptable on this page.
forays in forgiveness com/in-loving-memory-of-ken-wapnick/comment
The figure in the dream we knew as Ken Wapnick has left the dream. He played out his part in the Holy Spirits plan for the awakening of God’s Son. His part included a role in bringing A Course in Miracles to the world, which taught us many things about Truth and the illusion that seems so real to us.
Hear are a few thoughts Ken might want us to remember now: Birth is not a beginning and death is not an end. Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists. And of course; how to distinguish between what is real and what is an illusion. If it changes it’s not real!
For me it is very comforting to remember ideas from A Course in Miracles like those above at this time. It allows me to see that I am still as God created me, one with all that is, and surely one with my brother Ken Wapnick. Nothing in the dream that included Ken is real, only the love God shared with us through him is true. The love that shined through Ken is present now and can never change.
As I am fond of saying, we are love, and anyone who is in our thoughts is part of that love. It’s nice to have you around Ken!
Being Fearless, Choosing Love
David
Oh Tex…Thank you so very much for this beautiful requiem. I am copying and pasting it for my friends and then pasting it on Susan Dugan’s tribute to Ken place on her site.
xox Michele
A moment to acknowledge Laura, Hedda, Bev and let me add Craig Smith. (:
So good to see you and hear from you all. Where two or more are gathered there is always food, drink and a roaring fire here on the golden pages of the Fireside Lounge.
Please sit, eat and let us catch up with one another.
No doubt you have been working faithfully on your scripted forgiveness lessons. Sharing is always an option here as you know. And I don’t mean to pry but since you mentioned Hedda that you recently lost your Father this past October, I imagine your grieving heart hadn’t even begun to mend when you heard of Ken transitioning.
I’m am sorry for your loss.
When life events this B I G happen back to back, it can only mean the ego is barely holding on. And in your closing words from your last post you mentioned your sadness and your gratefulness which I would wager, your gratefulness outweighs your sadness. And you are steadfast and securely on the path where all sadness will be released. And by you, I mean we are all together on that path.
Your Friend in Christ,
Annie
aloha
joining in on the loving tributes to our brother ken
here’s one of his key teachings/poems:
TURN TO THE STATELY CALM WITHIN
WHENEVER YOU ARE TEMPTED TO HOLD AN UNKIND THOUGHT OF ANYONE,
TURN TO THE STATELY CALM WITHIN
WHENEVER YOU ARE TEMPTED TO MAKE ANOTHER PERSON THE OBJECT OF YOUR NEED,
TURN TO THE STATELY CALM WITHIN
WHENEVER YOU ARE TEMPTED TO FEEL JUSTIFIED IN YOUR JUDGMENT OF OTHERS,
TURN TO THE STATELY CALM WITHIN
WHENEVER YOU ARE TEMPTED TO HOLD A THOUGHT ABOUT SOMEONE YOU WOULD NOT ALSO SEE IN EVERYONE,
TURN TO THE STATELY CALM WITHIN
KEN WAPNICK
am thankful for the many years and many workshops and many writings and many smiles ken shared with all of us
he is with us all in so many ways
am thankful the news was shared here
am thankful for so many who knew him and love him gather here
may we all remember to turn to the stately calm within
love to all
aloha and mahalo
(ken would often suggest “go have a cookie!”)
Thank you Annie for your kind comforting words . Now I want to wish you All: Happy New Present Moments !
I will follow your workbook lessons from the side because I’m doing the workbook and I am on lesson 133 today : “I will not value what is valueless”. It’s the third time that I’m going through the workbook and it has almost been a chock or let’s say a very big surprise to see my resistance this time. I forget and I forget again !
Love & Hugs
Hedda
knock knock – is this the right room?
well……
Nothing I see means anything.
On this street, from this window, in this place…
This table, this chair, this hand, this foot, this pen…
That door, that body, that lamp, that sign, that shadow…
And this year, I can state that I agree – it means nothing!
I love that Ken points out that we start off with denying the first law of chaos. It says there is a heirarchy of illusions. We gently repeat the lines of this lesson, but he suggests breaking the pen, and then break your hand — or not, just notice that we actually believe that our hand is more important than the pen. We are just tippy-toeing into this thought system. Again, and again …
My baby granddaughter is here and she is sickie, has viral pneumonia. And I got it from her, too. So, I’m looking at our bodies as real, and sick being worse than being well, and her being sick worse than me being sick, and alot of poopie baby clothes to wash.
I still live the law of chaos, so, whether I accept this or not, i will do the lesson, let J guide me, and let none of this matter, or decrease the lesson’s efficacy!
Thanks, Tex, i truly forgot until I read your comment. Now, during naptime, I’ll see if I can get thru the prelude and intro.
I’m here on the Fireside page, hoping that we’re not pushing people away with all this workbook activity. By the way, Ken messed up my hair today and told me to use that tickle feather more often. Anyone else getting news from him? Just beware, just when you think he’s no longer there…
Hiya Bernard,
Good to see the Village Square bustling with at least a comment a day. In the past, I’ve come to the Village for says in a row, when silence was all that was visible. So for me, even though I am not Participating in the discussions (as yet), I think it is a good thing.
One suggestion I have to make it more interactive for you, Tex, Katrina and whoever else joins in, is to see, by discussing, whether everyone feels like it is ok to move to the next Lesson. That will facilitate more engagement and might help slow down the pace of the Lessons. Of course, that is only if you, Tex, Katrina feel that it is useful to do so ! (=
I will join in sometime in Feb approximately. I am currently on lesson 337, and am averaging a few days per lesson, using my internal guide and intuition on when to move on next. I cannot say for sure whether it is the ego or the Holy Spirit that is guiding me, but whatever ! (= its taken me most of November be December to cover 14 lessons through to 337 today…so…
It may even be March by the time I join in. I do read the comments daily and find it, like Hedda, to be a good reflection of the begininning Lessons, as I seek to do the current lesson I’m on for that day.
Ciao ciao folks. It’s cooler in Dubai than I thought, and a lot more charming than when I came in April last year. Maybe my mind contniinues to heal, bit by bit (=
Hiya Tex,
I hear that Nina has thoughtfully put out the cocoa out by the vIllage square, but if you want to swing by the Fireside, there’s some here too. Am equally lost with you.
And it’s funny that because The lesson I was on y’day made perfect sense, and I’m going to stay with it today.
Why on earth I should be feeling lost is beyond me ?? Lets hope we find our way again. Take care, and all the best…
Anil
Aha, the joys of three-Ina-row posting ! Lovely ! (=
Thanks for reminding me of that Annie, (and wonderful to have your MacBack from Tinnessee ! (=
Btw, I think I also hold the Village record for 5 in a row posting, but I will wait to confirm that on a particularly boring day when I have ab-sol-utterly nothing netter to do !
Meanwhile I will putter along with some dinner, some nice chicken curry, rice and green beans that my wife has thoughtfully prepared for the family in Sngapore and globally at the Village.
Bon appetite, for those that care to partake, no obligation to be polite folks, if that kind of cuisine is not your cuppa of tea.
ha ! I love mixed metaphors. Finally don’t have to follow no English rules but my own ! (=
It asks for 2 plus 2, now surely that’s four !!!
Wait!
What?
You got the 2+2=?
Did you put in 5?
The Mayor said he programmed it that way…or was I just being gullible?
Numbers have always served you well Anil (:
And Lesson # 9 states “I see nothing as it is now”
so although we are at the Fireside I shall take todays lesson and apply it to the mathematical equation and let go of trying to understand and just practice the
experience that “I see nothing as it is now” and more importantly ” I understand nothing.”
I shall practice staying in this moment of NOW
Oh no, Annie. You’re right. It would have been the golden opportunity to test that out. )=
I totally forgot.
Oh well, maybe next time.
Got to get to work on my Lesson for the day. Am now going through it at a faster clip, so may be able to join you all in the Village Square in January itself.
Disappointment, frustration, Mr. mayor ??? Whadju talking about ?? (=
Hello fireside my old friend,
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seed while I was sleeping
And the Vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sweet sounds of silence !
Inspired by the Fireside Silence,
Adapted from the Sounds of Silence,
For the Village Fireside.
(:
Love,
Anil
Ps. What a lovely melody. Heard it again for the first time in years while writing out the above. Lovely ! (=
Pps. Nina, thank you for the excellent story of the dedication of Myrtle Fillmore. Very inspiring indeed.
Oh, one more thing, Katrina, or Ms. Katrina as Annie says, this makes it four in a row. If it so please you, please join the threeinarow Club ! (=
Only if it pleases you ! (=
What to say. What to say.
I believe that the founder of Science of Mind had a physical healing, too.
So many paths to follow, I have a hard time choosing.
And Hay House has lots of classes.
Oh. I remember one Ken gave me. Stop with the baby business.
And another I keep forgetting . . . Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a terrible battle.
Always a joy when I hear laughter and singing coming from the Fireside Lounge.
We mustn’t get too serious when embarking on the lessons ehh? Never compromise form for content!
And joining in love is always the content!
Nina, I love when you bring to the table information and stories from outside the Course world. You are a wealth of information.
I know I have been too serious lately…and I can see that I don’t like to post when I’m feeling taxed. That Simon & Garfunkel song did the trick…darkness my ole friend has been taking up residence and I must ask her to leave now. Hmmm what thoughts will I allow to entertain me today?
Hmmm. I now know, Annie, that if you’re missing in action for too long, then either a) your computer/Internet/etc is acting up, or b) you’re too serious (:
Good to see you here again, its been too long ! And we should have a party for Ms. Katrina, as you address her, for her extra efforts in joining the three.in.a.row club !
It’s been a strange day and a strange evening. That word can mean so many things, right ? (=
No further word come to mind to go deeper. Think I am just meant to enjoy the feeling of the strangeness, the newness and the oldness all rolled into one emotional cocktail, if that makes any sense, and watch the blip.blip of the iPad mini keyboard as I type out this message.
I almost hesitate to add, that for some strange reason, hmmm, there’s that word again, I am enjoying a glass light Chardonnay. I know the leap to conclusion that some. Or all of you may make, but I must for what it’s worth insist that alcohol has nothing to do with this strangeness ! (=
Some time back, Dec 19th, to be precise, a question floated into my mind…” How many states of mind are there ?”
And the answer came of its own accord, a split second later.
“As many as there are stars in the Universe”
It was a moment of mystery for me. I hope some of that has seeped through in the telling of the tale.
And beyond the sun and the stars, farther that anything that I can imagine is a shining arc,
An arc that expands into a light that is strangely familiar. And as I approach that light, it gets bigger and bigger. Until I am one with the light.
And there is nothing that is outside that light, everything is within,
in the safety that my heart feels as I write out what will be my final line for this Singapore late evening.
Good night, my fair friends, and good day as well.
Love.
Anil
Whew, I needed you two. Strange nightmares last night about moving to a gigantic house, and like 10 people including new strangers moving in, and I had to move people around to bedrooms, kept discovering more bedrooms, close all the enormous drapes to fend off danger from outside, and get the wild ones inside to behave or realize they had to go, cause I had to make sure the baby was okay. Maybe it was from taking a benadryl? At least my head wasn’t stuffed up. Very glad to be awake on a bright sunny day!
The Friday that Ken passed/died/transitioned/ etc…. I had a thought. A “2 am” thought.
All the people I see in my “dream”… are they really “me”? Are they a person that I will one day “wake up” to BE – in that person’s role – only next time – will I “be” them? With their motivation and desires and perspective? A sort of “moveable ego feast” (aka who let the dogs out – the hungry ones – of fear)
If so, all the more reason to forgive that other person – to understand that my ego is just “trying out” all the different paths to “seek and do not find.”
Maybe that understanding would that break the cycle, and keep me from having to go down every path? And I would forgive them… not “forgiveness to destroy” – because I am the bigger person… but truly the understanding that I have no need to fear or fight them… but be gentler -because I am really really “them”? In another form….
Messing with the metaphysics here… I know. And Ken would have said to just stop mucking around in the mire and forgive myself for it, and get back to being the Decision Maker…
Today I had a situation that always reaches that same impasse… so I asked the HS to decide for me… and went on the tell Him exactly WHAT He should decide and make happen. Gosh! I am back to Jesus being Mr Step-And-Fetch-It… and bring back all the rosy-lipped skeletons and lay them, kicking and screaming – at my feet. Just the “special” ones.
Heaven help me! I want to get to the lesson that says I am no longer wholly insane. I see what a mess it is..I see it all… ugh!
ummm… one more little idea – *sticking my head out from the janitor’s closet here… where I have been hiding, eating candy after school*
In the Text chapter Shadows Of The Past, it says:
In the unholy relationship, it is NOT the body of the OTHER with which union is attempted, but the bodies of those WHO ARE NOT THERE. Even the BODY of the other, ALREADY a severely limited perception of him, is NOT the central focus as it is, or in entirety.”
Who then, IS that body? My body? A body I wanted to get rid of so I threw it “out there” and now it is looking back at me, angry – and in my face? with the same BS I had just tried to get rid of?
Maybe they are bodies from the past (hence the chapter title) of others – or of who I think Jesus is? Or who I think I AM? Or the Fragmented Son (Extension of God) – would that mean that EVERYONE is really Christ? (of Course it would)
I KNOW the split is in the Mind… and just *shows up* in the dream and the body… (or do it really?) Crud – lost agin! *sulks off*
“One Taste” by Ken Wilber: Page 66, entry for Monday March 24th 1997.
With the awakening of constant consciousness, you become something of a divine schizophrenic, in the popular sense of “split-minded,” because you have access to both the Witness and the ego. You are actually “whole-minded,” but it sounds like it’s split, because you are aware of the constant Witness or Spirit, and you are also perfectly aware of the movie of life, the ego and all its ups and downs. So you still feel pain and suffering and sorrow, but they no longer convince you of their importance – you are no longer the victim of life, but its Witness.
Remind you of the blue bal, the Decision Maker?
Hmmm..why am I not surprised that you read, or have read Ken Wilber, Katrina ? (=
Shall I attempt 4 in a row… never.
Bernard, there are two types of four in a row.
One is on the Comments page where all comments are aggregated under the Giant Tree. But in fact, one could have written one comment in the Garden, one in The Square talking metaphysics, and one by the Fireside with a glass of wine.
So those three will show up as three in a row, but in each individual room, they would only be solo comments !
So why is this important, you ask ? (=
Well, I don’t know, it’s just….. (=
I’m eager to join you guys at the Village Square, and am now somewhere between 10 to 15 days away from that. So I guess instead of blathering on, I better get to my Lesson for the day.
But none of this is serious, so who cares ? Maybe I will write some more tidbits like how Robin Wright got me out of bed today, watching her video of her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, I must have known when I fell in love with her in 1992 that she would always be such a charming, beautiful woman, and would propel me from horizontal to vertical in a second as I went to the living room to tell my wife about..
..how I feel the movie business is a good business, and we’re all in one all the time, but who says we can’t enjoy it ? I love L.A, even though it was so overwhelming, making my way to the airport from Sherman Oaks on 10 lane highways and the world was just so incredibly large that evening. Ad I was so tired.
This hologram is pretty weird in so many ways, and yet so obvious in so many others. The power of our belief in this hologram is the laser that makes a piece of special foil light up into a three-dimensional world. And then as we keep looking at that tiny hologram, it becomes bigger and bigger, and then suddenly we’re in it. And now it really surrounds us.
Without the laser of our belief in it, it is nothing,
Gary is the source of those thoughts on the similarity of the laser to the power of belief. I was glancing through his third book again y’day, and can’t even remember reading that the first two times I read it.
Resistance in all its forms.
Doesn’t let me read the book, or the article by Bernard on Ken. But listening to his voice on the mp3 was perfect. I will listen to it again. (And maybe if he makes more audio files, they can be archived in a special tab called audio and video)
There I go again, making more work for the Mayor all the time… Sorry Bernard.
Where is Lawrence ? I need to him come tell me how bloody long my posts are ! (:
Or Pam ? Pam, I think of you more often than I write about you. I’m not sure why. If I may hug you, gently, then here it is… (=
Love,
Anil
Four hours since my last monologue here (=
Fear not, I was not just lounging here. I was vibrantly alive, doing many things on this busy, productive and efficient Sunday. Both internal and external.
And I have returned in the morning hours in France, where we all agree the Real Village is located (= to say to Nina, ….
NIna dear, and once again, you have given me a gift, a gift I knew of only a little before. But one that was waiting for the right time, and that right time is now. (=
But I will wait for her to arrive and wake me up from a short nap that I will take in this oh.so.comfortable couch….(=
Have I given you a gift, Anil?
Glad to hear it – what do you mean?:)
I am following a 40-days process with an ACIm teacher called Lisa Natoli – I have met some earlier Villagers there too, at Facebook.
I got a healing yesterday. At the end, it felt like Jesus holding my head, and not Johannes. He said he had seen a huge white horse there. When I later asked the horse its name, it said:
Ya Karim
A moslem horse…I googled the name, as I don’t speak arabic:
The One who is the most generous, both physically and spiritually.
The One who is continually giving forth the grandest and most precious bounty.
The One whose kind, noble and generous essence is most esteemed, valued and honored.
The One who endlessly gives all manner of precious gifts, including support and refuge.
The One who is eternally giving, even unto those who may not seem (to us) to be deserving.
That is some horse!
Yes, Nina indeed. (=
I had heard of Lisa Natoli several years ago, but I thought the name of her book and site Gorgeous for God was not quite what sat well for me.(=
To put it more bluntly, and I think Lisa will have no problem with this since she has included in her foreword for the new edition a section by one of her readers who says with the kind of bluntness I like…”that’s a ridiculous title” (=
Anyway, so I didn’t follow her much, but remembered her name. And then some time later in my perennial search for new voices and blogs in this acim world I came across an interview with Bill Free, and it was a very honest interview and zi liked the guy and filed that away.
And today, I went to your blog and saw the link for the Lisa Natoli 40day process, so I linked there and voila, Lisa and Bill are now married, and they run this foundation. So I read and reviewed, and really liked her preface to the new edition of Gorgeous for God, and loved the honesty of that, and before zi knew it I was reading through all her writings and deciding that zi want to buy her book It Matters Totally,
Met old friends in her pages like Carlos and Don Juan and Gurdjieff. And several places her dedication to her Course attendees, and her methods and writing touched me deeply.
like this section….
“It is a program to help you to come to know yourself as precious, lovable and valuable. It will give you the courage to say to yourself : “Hi, my friend, I’m so glad you are here. And to see what happens out of that ”
I read it again, now, in isolation, and it seems weak now, or maybe it is the passage of almost 11 hours since I first read it, and the ego likes to take that freshness out of things and replace it with its well worn despair.
But when I read it earlier this afternoon, it positively sang to me. All the pages I read and culminating in that section.
And I knew then I would have to write you to thank you for the gift of reading Lisa again, and I am sure I will buy her book, starting with “it Matters Totally ”
Thanks, Nina ! (=
Great to hear, Anil! Still curious about the gift I gave you before you read this last post about Lisa – I can’t think of anything aside form my book, which I hope is seen as helpful in some way –
and a hug can’t hurt now, can it 🙂
??? (=
Not sure I understand your question, Nina, I went to Lisa’s site *before* your post number 838. Your post number 838 was made at 1057pm Singapore time. I went to Lisa ‘s site at 10*am* Singapore time.
I.e Lisa Natoli *is* the gift (=
Hope that makes sense, and I haven’t made it, as Pam would say, “clear as mud ” (=
ps. Hugs are always good. (=
Her’s a gentle good night hug, as you sleep, and I hope you sleep well this night…
Take care…
Anil, it seems that out 2 posts crosses in a way that seems to deny linear time! YAY! we did it LOL
I have seen that on other forums too – I write a post, and then i see someones post below mine which is written before I posted mine –
which really is a good way to get that time is a thought in the mind.
I love that jesus came as the Ay Karim -horse thought. I did not think I was afraid of jesus-appearance at all – but when he gave me the name of the horse, I got it.
Amd the feeling of Jesus hands – that I believed. So strange – not afraid of his presence, but His image. Seems like there is an old Christian fear there, of unworthyness or such.
-and <i had this loving loving experience yesterday – sittin gin the sofa and suddenly knowing "I accept my identity"
Oh the loving peace
Three in a row! Yayy!
Yesterday I had some bank-work to do. I needed help, and started a chat. Who came on?
MAYA
She didn’t know nuffin about what I asked about, but pretended she did( aint that illusion for you), so I dismissed her and went to experiment a little on my own in the net bank. Then a new consultant contacted me and asked if I had found the answer.
Guess his name?
Chris
Oh he is having such fun with me, my Blue
*
This is one of the most helpful sentences I have found until now:
I am looking forward to seeing how this resolves itself.
Oh the trust and ease and peace in that!
Yay, Nina, welcome to the three.in.a.row Club ! We’re always happy about having more members who are join ! Welcome, Bien Venue, Welcome ! (=
You are right, any thought about time being an idea in the mind is one worth remembering. And it’s wonderful that Blue is speaking to you through the day. Had (brief) experiences when he did that for me, some I shared with Michele in Her sunny home town of Sausalito, and some with Annie walking through(to?) the boardwalk in Burbank. A long, long time ago.
Today I practiced my Lesson well. Another the hour and half hour stuff. But more like having a nasty thought, and then the redeeming coolness of the lesson for the day. Popping into my mind. Bringing me (temporary) relief. Yet each seemed to be a miracle in the sense of saving time.
Collapsing intervals of time, and bringing me much further down the road, closer to the Gates of Heaven.
What am I ? Is the thought to be reviewed before the penultimate stretch of lessons to 360.
I like the symmetry of that. And I am already looking forward to the five final lessons, all identical. Zi remember the peace of practicing that the year that Lucas was born, or was it the December of the year he turned one ?
I will have to consult my blog for that.
Sme other time.
Too tired now.
Tmrw is another day.
Ciao folks,
anil
Hiya Katrina,
Thanks for the pointer to yr three.in,a.row the other day. It’s interesting to read the talk by the Village Square as the Course rumbles on from day to day, and quite likely I will join you all there in five to seven days.
I think I may be ready to roll right from 365 back to the whichever Lesson in the 30s is going on at that time, but I wonder if I might also take a break of a few days before starting at the beginning, it would be the first time I would be doing it in the study group format.
As for now. I just wander through the Village as I do most days, a habit hard to break, and one that I don’t want to break.
Perhaps I’m getting older in spirit now, or older in something, it feels like January has flown by so fast, a comment that when others made in the past, zi could not relate to. More learning for me that we are all the same really. Hmmm.
Ciao ciao,
Anil
Hi Jaanette,
Thank you for the beautiful poem about Ken. It is so true and touching.
I did not know what Frye’s obituary was, googled it and found pages and pages of obituaries for people named Frye. Finally, I came to the Wiki page and found the source info. Are you from the East Coast? It seems there are lots of things East coasters know that never infiltrate all the way across the plains and over the Rockies.
So glad you found our blog. We chit chat and what not here at the Fireside, and have lesson comments going on at the Village Square. We would love to hear from you. Many heads, more perspectives to help along the way!
Hiya Katrina,
Good memory there. Am indeed stepping into the Great Ray lessons…I used to think of them as the “for I will follow you” lessons. They brought me great peace the time I first remembered doing them, in 2010 or 2011 ( althouh I had “done” the Course once or twice before, I had no recollection of any of the lessons on those run throughs – other than “nothing that I see means anything” and “I am not a body, I am free, for I am as God created me” …FYI, the first one I loved, or found great comfort in, the second one I hated, or had great resistance to..,,(=
It’s been one hell of a doozy day, ending with my business partner of 9+ years, who is very similar to me, yet very different, admonishing me, in the kindest possible way, on my methods of business and people management. (I think I am going to miss the critical feedback when he leaves for South Africa tomorrow). He has just gone to sleep in our guest bedroom, he’s been a good friend since we met 15 years ago, and was at my wedding 7 years ago, my wife is good friends with him as well, and he has another nephew named Lucas through his sister. I guess he was always meant to be family for me (=
I feel bad, on shaky ground, like the miserable sinner that I am made out to be. Yet when I look closely at my actions and words, I cannot find anything wrong with them, unconventional, yes, worthy of being fun of on the Internet and tv, yes, but sinner, no.
And so in this curious state where I feel bad, but only marginally so, and not guilty at all, but just staring uncomprehending at the world I made, where guilt, sacrifice and pretty words are more important than the love that truly matters, I have to laugh. Well, at least smile (=
Maybe, tomorrow, I will get hung in the jury of public opinion, my business will come tumbling down, my wife will leave me with my son, because I will be unable to support them, but I think I will be able to muster a rueful smile, as the pieces of my once magnificent life fall apart, and I am returned to the gutter where perhaps I always belonged ! (=
Truly, something must be the matter with me if this is what I write after a day like this ! (=
I wish you all good day in America, and good night on Europe, and I leave with a smile on my lips, and in my heart !
Anil
Ps. Nina dear, thank you for the congratulatory note on Village Square II. I was thinking this morning, or was it yesterday ? Time all warped now (=, that you and I must have a special connection. Even your blog title just spoke to me this morning…yes, I must truly leave the womb now, and enter my life fully !
Pps. Katrina, your cooking and DH story made it into my private blog this morning ! (=
Dearest Anil,
I hear your call for love.
Don’t over think things.
J is right there with you.
I’m sure it was not easy for your friend and business partner to speak frankly.
All I could think of is to offer you the option of breaking your own rules and join your Village Family with the lesson of today. I know its already tomorrow in Singapore but here on the West Coast of the Americas is 8:45 pm. So come and do a little time travel and repeat after me.
#28
Above all else I want to see things differently.
From JTW:
Above all else I want to see this_____ differently
J wants us to say this; “quite slowly”, and as “thoughtfully as possible”. “There is no hurry.”
per Ken’s request; “these should be the shibboleths of our days”.
With these instructions there will be no opportunity for your thoughts to end up in the gutter…and I mean that in the kindest possibly way.
Your Friend in Christ,
Annie
{{{Anil}}}
(((Thanks, Katrina)))
(((Dearest Annie}}}.
Yes, it was a call for Love. and you are right, it was very hard for him to speak so frankly. I saw his fear and nervousness in the speaking, as if his expression of disapproval of me would have a negative repercussion on him, our business, our economics.
But… (=
the truth is that i am rarely personally upset by criticism beyond a certain point. I love him like a brother, and there never will be a financial repercussion no matter what he says to me, no matter how seemingly offensive.
And the real truth is that… God Is (=
I have been enjoying my last five lessons of this phase of my journey that started on Nov 23rd. And those last five lessons which I know the first time I did the workbook, irritated the heck out of me, now I find a place of refuge.
I am happy to report that when the going gets tough, and when there is the slightest twinge of annoyance, masking the greater fury, the words “This Holy Instant I give to You”.
And there is the peace that I long for comes immediately into my mind, and in the blink of an eye, I am transported to His realm. Of peace and quiet comfort.
The beauty of those last 5 Lessons, what our dear Katrina calls, the Great Ray Lessons, and indeed, that is a wonderful name for it, grows with every instance of familiarity.
Like an old friend, who will never forsake you, who has seen you all through your different incarnations of playing in a sandbox, and being a rebellious teenager, and a young man out to make a career, and middle-aged has-been, he still loves you, your company, and it matters not to him, where you have been and what you have experienced, he loves you because you are.
Like I love Lucas because he is.
And nothing more.
And the beauty of that invocation grows, as it says to me, I say to it, Be You in Charge. For I would follow You, certain that your direction brings me Peace.
To be cherished indeed. So breathtakingly lovely and pure.
This Holy Instant would I give to You, dear Annie and dear Village.
I am grateful to be here.