Garden
The Quiet Garden of Forgiveness
Love, too, would set a feast before you, on a table covered with a spotless cloth, set in a quiet garden where no sound but singing and a softly joyous whispering is ever heard. T-19.IV.A.16:1
“There is a garden at the foot of this lovely statue with masses and masses of soft white lilies and little paths between to slowly walk and talk with Jesus. There is a fountain nearby and the forever trickling sound of water reminds us to leave the desert of wrong-minded thinking.” (Winnie)
Forgiveness is truly at the heart of the practice of A Course In Miracles. All of us have had moments of shifting our perception of a difficult situation, and finding peace. On this page I offer you the space to tell us about the stories that have stayed in your mind, times when you felt a real change occur in the way you were looking at a problem or upset. Maybe you were encountering aggressiveness in somone, or were being judged and belittled. Perhaps it was a loved one who had left you, or even a pet that had died. Or maybe there was fear, a threat in your life to you or to a loved one. In all these situations, at one time or another you have found peace beyond the pain, release from shame and sadness, and comfort and freedom in their place. There was always a presence there with you, the company of one who loves you and guides you to see differently. If you have had moments of finding that clear presence, please share it with us here.
A little more technically speaking, these would be moments when you reversed the projection and saw that the problem was not outside you, but with you, your perceptions and thoughts. A sudden moment of clarity perhaps when you saw that the upset was having pushed Love away, and not really what was happening outside you. Or perhaps it was just a moment when despite the upset or problem, you felt safely accompanied and that helped you remain unaffected by the problem, to get a little distance from it.
Please try to write concisely if your story requires a lot of explaining (and teach me something about brevity!). Also, please try to share from the heart and not from the head. It is always nice to hear the simple sincerity behind these inspiring stories.
Oh, I like that, Michele: let’s raise our glasses to this bunch of ‘shameless ramblers’. Who’s in the club? As Annie says, none of that matters in the Village. So true. That’s in fact where all the best of us comes out. So, here’s to free-flowing posts, just sharing our time and path with our little family in whatever way it comes out. Let’s just be present together. In fact, let’s not think at all. I’m going to stop right now. And you?
WOT?
thank you Richard .. will look out for it… hugs to you
Dearest Michele la belle … I am just squeezing you so lovingly right now – it’s always a treat to read you our rambling rose……p.s. dont tell Annie coz she thinks i’m so nice an’all, but as you twigged, i was trying to trick her into going over the Troll Bridge first so the mean old troll would eat her and not me, but she didnt even seem to see any evil. She believed in my innocence – sucker ! Anyway i want to say to you that i really appreciate the all-inclusive loving content of your post and love your last line -“so moved by the range and terrain we move in and through together”— we are indeed very fortunate.
a*men to this -> “and so, i will put aside my doubts whenever they appear. i will write here, this beloved place in my heart, whenever i can/am inspired to/am moved to…”…….looking forward to it A-man xoxoxooxo
[notices a little yellow butterfly resting quietly on the lilies}
Well…..just to let you know I’m still reading and enjoying all of the lovely – from the heart posts. Just taking all of it in right now, without the need to contribute.
I have no doubt….that I am forgiven for what I do not do…. 🙂
With Love and Gratitude to you all, melody
😉
OMG Richard…Let me confess right here that it hit me later in the day that I had blocked from my awareness the reality that a few months ago I had walked out of a movie theatre and asked for my money back…the movie was “The Tree of Life”.
This could be the end of our relationship in this seeming lifetime and for that I will need two hankies!!!!
I will say nothing more at this moment but I beg the rest of you to go and watch this film so we can talk about it here at the Village.
It’s Carmaggedon for sure this weekend!
Going to take cover now (:
I’m in the Richard Camp (:
Hope that doesn’t mean you and I are done, Annie (:
I haven’t watched Tree of Life – but I do remember watching Terrence Malik’s (last) movie – Thin Red Line. Wierd movie – can’t remember more than one or two scenes, but the feeling of having touched something ephemeral, yet strong, stays with me, even after 10 (?) years… rather strange.
Hmmm…. maybe if I don’t go see it, I can be in both Richard’s Camp, and Annie’s camp (:
!! (:
Didn’t intend for my #705 post to divide – I actually would love to explore the resistance I encountered while watching that movie (first twenty minutes). I would even consider sitting through the whole thing if you could tell me what lesson # it falls under. Just kiddin (:
I could hear J* saying- no kiddin……it’s your resistance of going home personified.
And if that was the reason for your tears Richard I would agree. But I have a feeling you went way beyond that and understood the story of nothing happened.
I know you are not a chatty guy Richard-but please do indulge me.
And for you my brother a* – there is nothing you could say or do that would make me love you less. I am pitching my tent with you boys wether you want me there or not.
Now pass the marshmellows.
I swear to God!!!! I just opened my front door to take the trash out and I see a small parcel at my feet…it’s from a dear friend and what was inside but some delectable desserts of flavored marshmellow!!!
oh Annie i love it…. sweet woo-woo like that is a delectable treat….
Hello dear Melody – i am giving you a big hugsy
Annie i am glad you posted *705. It’s only natural for us to have different points of view, and i think it’s a blessed thing that we can feel safe enough to express them, and by doing so you inspire us to have the courage to speak more freely. Now i am really looking forward to seeing the film and entering my two bob’s worth.
p.s. even though i have a new name, i still wanna be called winnie xoxoxo
How about Sir Winniekins Laughsalot?
sharing the last forgiveness – experiences:
Last night: darkness. I am aware that where darkness seems to be, there is also the possibility for the Miracle – when I choose it. Prayer: “I allow the Miracle to shine through this situation. I allow the Miracle to shine through the belief that darkness has power.” There is a clear shift in awareness, and an exquisite Voice is saying Prayers in my mind. I am aware of them. I am also aware of the constant dark stuff bubbling up, and listen to the Voice for God’s instructions for prayers.
At one point a thought comes,” and now it becomes ugly.Prepare.” The Voice says: “There is nothing ugly in the Son of God” and it is believed completely.
The whole process is that of ALLOWING Truth to be true – and of allowing old memories to be erased: they are of the past, and the past has gone.
In this moment I know that the Son of God can not attack or be attacked, and that I am that Son. It is a feeling of quiet joy and “of course. It is simple.”
Let me remember this tomorrow, when meeting headlines again
And we will be there remembering with you xxx
in this quiet garden of forgiveness … may I whisper … please disregard previous postings that were written while under the influence of whatever heavenly delusions I may be under … truly, I only want the peace of God … things are getting really really quiet around here
wishing that all I ever wrote was in whispers in this garden
wondering what in the world made it seem somehow ok to share the lighter side of the goings on
at the time it all seemed like a friendly thing to do
who knows
am welcoming lawrence to this garden place of no words … just happy to welcome him
each and every one who has been kind while so much is going on … please know my heart is full of thanks (mahalo)
all is still well … just reimagined in an inner shift towards the scale of depth … while still feeling this something that’s going on is still all ok
just deep and quiet and silent seem way much more appropriate than any words … so much so, I do wish there had been way fewer to begin with
so … I’m having to be content walking through this garden where the atmosphere of forgiveness assures me it’s all ok anyway
{picks a lily for zafu}
Your sharing Zafu is always heart felt; and in that it is, my heart knows the depth of your caring, and your sharing. To be blessed to be there with you mother at this time is a wonderful thing. I was with my mother as well. She died at home, brought home by my stepfather who recently passed. He was a good man, he bathed her and fed her in her last days. She had lung cancer.
Though she suffered and was on oxygen while at home, she put on a brave face for her family. On the night she died I and one of my brothers kept the night vigil. It was around three or so in the morning when she passed. it was close to Paddy’s Day, and her being Irish, I had played her favorite tunes for her. She was very skinny and her form under the sheet seemed to me not scary nor gaunt, but rather that of an angel.
The music was soothing her and bringing her back to her own. I don’t really know why, but in the depths of me I guess maybe I do. I went and got a bottle of Irish whiskey. Mom nodded her head and I poured three shots. She removed the oxygen herself and we all three threw back the fire that burns and lets one know they are alive.
Moms feet kept time with the beat under the covers while Tom Clancy and Tommy Makem sang her favorites. Just for a little while her eyes regained their sparkle, brown eyes whose depth I never doubted. My brother Dan feel asleep at one point as I continued my watch. I was confused as I sat and watched her troubled sleep. There was something different, but it took me awhile to realize what it was.
It of course was the fact that she had passed. I shook my brother and simply said “look at mom something is different ‘. I think we both knew at the same time, though I saw it happen. Her face was beautiful no more pain, she had a glow to her. I knew that Evelyn Tobin Wittig Connelly was kicking up her heels somewhere.
Fewer words Zafu? No luv, talking and sharing when the spirit moves you, is a beautiful thing. You offered me words of comfort, when you were and are going through a transition with your mom. I respect that, and silence well as with talking, we pick our spots. But be it known far and wide, that all is forgiven always in the Village! For in truth there is nothing to forgive! And isn’t it Doctor Ken who says; But we talk about it anyway!
(like long posts all about me!) Sorry, I guess the spirit moved me.
lawrence
“But be it known far and wide, that all is forgiven always in the Village!”
— Lawrence, July 19th, 2011
A great blessing indeed. Many thanks !
Oh Zafu,The lovely thing about gardens is that they are reminders of life. A place to quietly contemplate at times and a place to hold garden parties- to celebrate at other times. What you have shared about your son and your mom have shown me better how find the part to celebrate what the world says one should only rend sackcloth, smear ashes and wail in anguish at.
For me your words were just right to help me better see through the veil to more clearly see what is real life,how to make the joyful noise unto the Lord and to walk through the shadow of death that the lord of lies tries to trick us with.
And now Lawrence’s sharing helps reinforce this for me. I look “back” at the deaths of my loved ones and see somethings there differently and I look “forward” to my own “mortality” more calmly.
Holding you gently in my heart as best as I am able. Learning more what true forgiveness is.
We are all blessed. I feel another step closer to being able to fully accept.
{{{Zafu}}}
From T.S. Elliot’s
The second of his four Quartets:
O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,
The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters…
And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.
And we all go with them, into the silent funeral,
Nobody’s funeral, for there is no one to bury.
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings,
with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—
Or as, when an underground train, in the tube,
stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
Or when, under ether,
the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing—
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing;
wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing…
You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.
_________________________________
Annie, how beautiful. This will stay with me awhile, “So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing”.
lawrence
Zafu, all…reading this days post has let me see a vast churchish building around us.All your posts, Zafu, has taken me into the space of the transition of your mother, and the beauty of the space you share – and the freedom and simplicity of it! Not one word “too much”, and a big longing for a “death” like that – fear-free, expectant, loosening the hold on the body and the world – you have no idea how transformational your posts have been for me. And not one word too much.
It seems to me the last days in the Village that we are all being “loved with”, and that something “else” is being born that constantly blesses us all
Pam, I was also moved by your last post and the poetry in it, and a sweet sense of innocence, like the closeness of an angel at your side
we are truly blessed
Nina
Well, my dear friends, how to join with you all in this celebration of peacefulness and love? I’m content just to sit here in the garden with you, watching the lotus flowers in the pond swaying ever so imperceptibly in this slight, slight breeze. Sensing the perfume of so many exotic flowers, delicate and kind, offering their blessing to us so that we might forget all our previous doubts and questions. Many heartfelt thanks for all your loving thoughts. I sense that we are fusing into one loving place in a magnificent, quiet Garden, the one of our joined intention and our wish to remember our Life together in holiness and loveliness.
Not too much time to write these days; I’m working away from home again and have limited computer time in the evenings. Blessings to us all, B.
I go to bed early coz i love to rise early.It has been dark for a few hours but now the sky is just beginning to colour. I am at a spot where i once before was. It’s right on the edge of the Great Dividing Range that runs right down the east coast of Australia and in a position to provide a spectacular sunrise.
There is a ridge of light orange on the mountains in the horizon… the colour reminds me of the taste of glace orange at Christmas time. I wouldnt be able to see this if it wasnt for the clearing directly in front of me. All i would see are the tall gums on either side whose silhouette is already dancing in forecast of another windy day.
High above the morning star is likewise alive with movement, as if she too wants to join in the dance and not have to retire as is her duty.
How to describe the beautiful shades of blue that drop down from her in almost perfect gradation.
I’m loving sharing this with you.
Now where was i ? Oh i go to bed early because morning is my best time….
This morning first thing i continued reading the Fifty MIracle Principles. I’ve read it before several times and it doesn’t really do anything for me, but nevertheless i persist because i am working my way through all of Ken’s books.
Ok now the orange is much wider and i can begin to discern shapes in shades of soft velvety grey in the valley below. Now the Morning Star dances on a background of blue and she looks ever so reluctantly as if she may have to call it a night after all.
{ gets up to pour a cup of lemon and ginger tea – with extra fresh lemon}
Orange and blue have met now on quite amicable terms as if they are blending together in some kind of reconciliation.
Anyways i liked this line from the book enough to get up and start writing in my journal
->
”This carpet of time is made up of thousands and millions of little threads, and each thread represents the individual life we call our own. Each of us must undo the beliefs that go into each thread……………….”
and followed this up in my journal with ->
“oooh I like that , I guess because being a sewer, I relate to threads…. { {chuckles at the double entrende of the word “sewer”” – oh yeah I AM a sewer.[cesspool]…. ……………………………
Sewing reminds me of when I was at Spotlight { they sell material, needles and threads} the other day and now I am remembering the woman who pushed in …{gasps} { gasps at remembering that I didnt forgive the incident because it was nothing, had no effect on me, in that I was not aware of any unrest or dis-ease or even a slight twinge of annoyance – wait ! I am now…. She pushed in and now I feel it. I let this slip through but look I havent.. …. there is no time and space. Now is the correct time for me to deal with this…{ sighs happily}
As I look at this now, in the timelessness of pre-dawn, other similar events come to mind, nearly all from my childhood and now I see them all differently.
I was the child that everyone pushed around and even as I got older and had to be sent to boarding-school, I was meekly pushed in and out of lines whenever the other Janet who was the bossiest kid in the class felt like it… and yes she had the same first name as me, and I see just now how telling that is…like a subtle clue as to the whereabouts of my inner hidden manipulativeness. …. We were allowed to have a bag of lollies on a Saturday afternoon, and how often did she think it funny to just push in in front of me. I just accepted this without even feeling hardly done to or annoyed……………..but of course now that i revisit that patch of carpet, i can see clearly that i loved playing the innocent little meek and mild one. It was the perfect balance to the tremendous guilt i always felt. I needed to experience the illusion of innocence somehow.”
The far hills must have swallowed orange and the Morning Star has disappeared when i turned my back briefly to make the tea, and now i can see the grass in the foreground and a tinge of green forthcoming.
Daylight is here.
…………………………………
Now i know you’re gonna think “boy that winnie is surely one silly ole billy-o”
but just after i finished writing that, i started transferring some files to my mp3 player. I put my laptop on the stove facing away from the view, coz i needed to stand up. SUDDENLY i was bathed in this beautiful golden light that just appeared out of nowhere! It was so warming and magical. I turned around and found myself looking straight at this huge round golden orb. It was as if i had completely forgotten about the sun itself actually rising, as if i was seeing it for the first time ! I was so surprised and delighted….and chuckled at the “but wait, there’s more” moment……
I turned back to my computer to write this and now i can see the image of the sun itself reflected on the computer screen as if to playfully “boo” me again……
The surprise i felt came with an undeniable recognition of my Innocence.
Ummm…… I’ll have what she’s having!
*wow*
Simply beautiful, Winnie. Thank you.
There is a sense of timelessness when reading Zafu and Lawrence’s and Winnie’s posts. All is Well……
The way you paint pictures with your words, Winniekins, has been ticking at the back of my head for some time now. And just a bit ago out of the blue, pop, Ann Dillard – Winnies style of writing reminds me of Ann Dillard’s “Pilgrim At Tinker Creek” That I read ages ago.
Pam, Ann Dillard’s “Pilgrim At Tinker Creek” I read that years ago. She is from Pittsburgh and so am I. Her Mother and my Mother are both Mothers. She walked to school, I carried my lunch. We even went to different high schools together. Sorry about that, an old friend who passed on and I used that line a lot when we pretended to know someone well. I was in high school, cut me a break. lol
But yea, Winnie in the Land Down Under. You are so right! This is taken from a book review, of that book. “Appropriately, it is neither a rapturous celebration of Nature, nor a grim survey of its various cruelties. Rather, like Nature itself, it is something in between — and something quite beautiful. That’s our Winnie!
lawrence
Winnie
I am still feeling shivers from your recognition of innocence
I love how you use expressions that speaks to me – “Orange and blue have met now on quite amicable terms as if they are blending together in some kind of reconciliation.” – orange and blue are opposite on the colour-wheel –
i think what i enjoy the most with your writing, is the feeling that I am there with you, at that place – love all the little “gasping” “taking a cup of ginger-lemon-tea”- all the details – Annie you do that also, when having your morning coffee-sessions 🙂 when
this becomes a very alive movie for me, and I so love good movies with lots of details
I am so glad i found you all – and that I could let myself be found
loving grateful hugs
re. 726 Some of the best silly-witty stuff is from high school. ((-:
re 713 Zafu are you OK? If you just need some quite time that’s OK. This is just to let you know I’m thinking of you.
{{{zafu and nina and pam and bernard and a and annie and tex and bev and win win and lawrence and lisi and kendall and richard and, and, and all of us}}} Sometimes quiet is the sound of knowing there is love all about, like angels hovering.
Nina, I think of angels swooping low at the camp and gathering the children home. It just looks like the ego’s work because we hold that body concept so automatically. Love to all, and peace no matter what it looks like.
and hugs to you dear Katrina…..
Nina i am glad too that you let yourself “be found”…. more hugs coming your way….. Thanks for the loving words guys xoxoox
From the Chapter – How Many Teachers are Needed to Change a Light Bulb!
(That’s just the working title!)
“…Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God’s teachers….
Unity alone is not a thing of dreams…”
SomeOne (not some “body’) does the rest…
My job is to ask for help, and stay the “hell” out of the way!
Loving thoughts to all of Oslo.
I miss hearing from all of you here! Winnie, how is the journey moving for you? Annie, where are your delicious breakfast/sunrise-coffee poems? Zafu dear Zafu, how are you these days? A’, miss to read your letters to us – “reports” from Presence – Laura and Katrina, are you well? Melody, Kendall, Bev, Hedda,Richard,Michele,Leni,Lisi – I miss hearing from you – Lawrence, hoping the chaos has calmed down a little, and always sensing your blessing to us all as a sweet note singing in the Village – Bernard, looking forward to the Mayor is back and tending to his flock – and please forgive me for anyone whos name i may have lost right now ! please do not think that I believe I need this space for my own (: – I am just so grateful for a place to share what I learn from this dream right now. Sometimes I share my blog, like this one:
Last two nights,strong pains on the left side of neck.I am asking what is behind them, and hear a faint “guilt.” I forgive myself for choosing to believe in the separation, it eases up a tiny bit.
Next morning – today – I have my bi-monthly sharing with my best friend Kit. I tune into the pain again – and see that the guilt I have hooked onto, is the collective guilt of our nation. Beneath the beautiful spontaneous gatherings where people place flowers everywhere -( you should see the fences the police has put up around the government area – they are now walls of flowers and prayers and greetings) there are massive feelings of guilt, pushed under or projected on our scapegoat Anders, who truly is “the guilty one” within the dream.
When I realize that I have just picked up the collective national guilt and taken it on to “me”, the intense pain and tensions drain out.
Again thew strong reminder that I am NOT the energy-fields I pick up. The only reason it clings to my body is that I associate anything that happen to my energy-field with “me.”
There is no “me.”
The secret chest of drawers
You did not know of this!
Deep reddish brown mahogany, silky soft to caress. 8 drawers with brass handles. You open the top drawer to the left. It is at first difficult to move, but suddenly it opens, and your heart bolts: here is the proof of your guilt.
You remove the soft white silk
the cotton-wool beneath it
unpack the little white stone
and read:
Home
thanks for the update Nina… i love the walls of flowers..
I am having a very quiet time at the moment. I am camped on the banks of a lovely wide creek with beautiful sloping gum trees on either side. There is nothing but peaceful countryside all around. I will stay as long as my food holds out since there are no time restrictions.
There is nothing here but a toilet block, so each day i collect water from the creek for washing and simply enjoy the peace and opportunity to study the text and listen to Ken.
I go for long walks in the morning and the afternoon just along the road. There is barely any traffic. I take my mp3 and listen to the Course while i walk. I feel entirely satisfied with my lifestyle.
My favourite activity of the day is meal-times, which is made all the more enjoyable by watching an episode or two of The Simpsons or Boston Legal.I finish up with a nice cup of tea and some chocky and then i’m ready to get back to my reading….
p.s. hope i dont sound too much like a kook
p.p.s …..garlands of flowers and love to you Nina and all of the beloved villagers
Winnie – thanks for taking us camping with you. Just my kind of full day, the truth and nothing but the truth.
Nina – I think the world is absorbing the Norway events. The US is very silent about how this parallels the Arizona shooting. It even makes me wonder if the American calvary attacked the Indians first, or if the Indians attacked the settlers first. I wonder what my niece’s husband, a Nez Perce Indian, would say. Was it different at different locations? Has race blending ever gone well, without the insane ego seeking new explosions of insanity? Is all this just another perfectly arranged rationalization to occupy our need to define ‘right’, always losing ‘happy’.
I breathe a quiet vigil watch, along with Zafu, longing for a synopsis to just define itself — a chronicle of the disappearance.
XXXOOOXXXOOOXXXOOO
I’m just going to sit here until Winnie’s joy seeps thru…
Tex Anne, I think the lightbulb changing krue should be as large as one can fit in a room. I volunteer, too.
The peace of God is shining in me now
I will be still, and let the earth be still along
with me And in that stillness we will find the
peace of God It is within my heart, which
witnesses to God Himself
I am not a body I am free.
For I am still as God created me
aloha to all the hearts involved with all so many dramas and stories all around the world …
lots going on these days
and yet …
there is peace … there are flowers … there is love
there is beauty … so much beauty
everything is going along gently and slowly and gracefully over here
the saying came to me the other day … “barely alive is still very alive”
things are happy calm and peaceful
every night we share the sunset with friends at the ocean
last night I had a fabulous dream
daddy (who passed on in this same place in 2001) appeared and said he’d booked a flight for mom … and things were all set for the 2 of them … and they were going to be remarried today and they had to catch this flight that he’d booked
I told him they were already married, and why the remarriage
he said clearly to me … just get her ready for the flight, it’s been booked … it’s all set … and they were getting remarried today
~~~~~~~~
quite a dream
~~~~~~~~~
each day I’m having beautiful days … full of friends and quiet and long walks on the beach … and sunset
there’s so much joy and gentleness
all is well
all is calm
we really are all sharing in this happiness that is so deep and sweet
something so private being shared by all the residents of the condo (because she refuses to stay inside and won’t miss a sunset no matter how weak she is!!)
each night a dozen hugs and kisses goodnight from kids and elders … each one so supportive and loving
so that’s the hawaii update
am loving all these acim reviews I am not a body I am free I am still as God created me … and the beauty of each lesson restated in simple loving ways
mahalo to all who are keeping happy calm sweet vigil knowing that all that kindness is blessing each and every heart
dear zafu – thank you for sharing your dream with your daddy.
it was deeply moving.
i am grateful.
dear nina – you are in my mind every day. love you.
a
Zafu, Thank you for sharing both “Dreams” with us.
Mahalo dear zafu .. i bet your Mum was comforted by that dream…..
There is a strong dream of beauty and connection in Norway these days. In our main paper, on the middle pages, there is a huge photo of Jens (our Prime Minister) hugging a Muslim woman – he visited their main congregation. The faces of the Muslims surrounding them – hundreds of them – are soft, tender, grateful, relieved – the label “probably potential terrorist” has officially been removed. I am grateful I understand how terribly that has been: to be seen as a potential terrorist.
In a narrow line, in the middle of our main street all through Oslo, lies flowers. It leads to the Royal Castle ( it was supposed to be bombed too, but something prevented it.) He knew exactly which symbols to attack.In the crack in the walls are flowers and messages. The metal fences has been woven through with flowers. At the Cathedral, there is an ocean of flowers, it grows by the day.
At night, I can’t get out of this “national thinking.” I can allow it to be there though, and be aware of it, not taking it personally – blessing it all, the script, the players. Oh what a classroom this is: finding the inner terrorist, the inner savior, the one who knows he is RIGHT and who knows who is the enemy.
Was it Churchill who said, the enemy is us?
Zafu and Nina, so beautiful, so peaceful, both your contributions. Many thanks to both of you for making my day. Again, sorry I can’t visit more often. This has become an unexpectedly crazy busy time, but at least it involves paid work, so all is well. My love to all of you.
and our love to you Bernard…
Nina another lovely post…I just love the way the “ocean of flowers” are growing day by day….and your report of the inter-connectedness that is going on in Norway.
p.s. Pogo said “We have met the enemy and he is us” {I learnt that from Ken but i didn’t have a clue who Pogo was, other than he is a comic book character}
P.P.S ” We have met the Christ and he is us ” – (Pogo’s brother).
re.745..::::smile:::
good one Richard xoxo
Katrina, about”the truth and nothing but the truth”, I remember how shocked i was the day i discovered that i would rather have one small piece of chocolate than the everything of the entire kingdom of Heaven. When i looked even deeper, i discovered that i valued chocolate even more than any relationship with any person i could think of. I was looking right at my one hundred percent selfishness… big hugs to you darlin xoxo
Winnie, I have learned to make home-made raw chocolate with healthy cocoa and the healthy cocoanutoil too – to prove to myself that I am doing my body a good thing when i am eating my daily bit to my coffee…I find that I trust chocolate more that Jesus so many times …especially when I ask him for help and don’t hear anything…see, trust chocolate instead…
Salutations Comrades… I am afraid that i am not up to date on threads and themes shared here in our village, or even in my own kitchen or even in my own mind. Today in Scotland the rain pours and i sit at home waiting for a friend who is bringing me some fish. I have just started reading Kens book The Journey Home, i read it once before but typically (like ACIM) Ken demands several readings before the penny drops, i stalled at page 9 for a couple of days because of this, i quote…” There is probably no single more important concept for a student of A Course in Miracles to understand than this one: the choice for the ego and against the Holy Spirit was the choice for individuality and separate identity. Together with this go the parallel thoughts of autonomy, freedom, uniqueness, and most crucial of all, specialness. The only thing the Holy Spirit could promise the Son was the awakening from the dream of separation, to return to the Heart of God Whom he never left in truth, and to all-encompassing world of abstract being and non specific Love”..(Page 9 The Journey Home)….. I read this stuff day in – day out, and every now and then it creeps up on you, the implication, and you look out your window, another day in my Kingdom, survey all that is mine, no wonder the sky is crying – it to just wants to go home – but for now it obeys the laws of my Kingdom. I wonder whats happened to the fish man ?
be good
Ahh, the sky wants to go Home too. Maybe your friend met Pogo’s brother and went off to be a fisher of men? (-;