Village Square III
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!
Brilliant, brilliant Katrina !
Very excited that you extracted those very words to read through,,,,ORDERS US TO FEEL !!!!
wow, that is so true. And really, who the hell is the Ego to order us to feel anything ! (:
We seek freedom at this Village, freedom from the Egos tyranny, and I am beside myself with happiness, excitement, energy rising, as I read and re-read your extract. ( and I am also happy to know that the shoulder pains are lost in the misty past ! Excellent !)
I pray that I remember this anytime I am tempted to feel “down”, suffer, feel pain,
I pray that I remember that this is temptation, and this is the Ego ordering me to feel that way.
I do not want to kneel at its altar anymore, offering myself for execution, for the blood to flow at its darkened shrine,
I want freedom, I want life.
Amen.
~~~~~~~~
Hedda, I want to write you another note about some thoughts from your Ken quote this past Sunday (the start of the week for me). I am just setting a placeholder here now, so I don’t forget ! (: as I “race” down to the front desk to extend my hotel stay in Hong Kong…
Dear Anil, comment to your post 787: It’s not only the early hours that are difficult to navigate; it’s more or less difficult 24/7 , sigh…
Dear Bernard, I look forward to hear about your “Brussels experience” !
Dear Katrina, “My feelings are ordered by the ego”, I have to meditate on that one today !
Lesson 333
Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.
(1:1-3) Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it.
As we are winding down the lessons we seem to come full circle to that familiar statement:
“Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum.
It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.”
Dear Hedda,
That is certainly very tough..24×7..
(for me, the mornings (and late nights) are hardest..) it might be because during the day, the Ego gives me a few of the good things (also part of Ego strategy, as Ken said in Katrina’s fabulous notes above)
What I wanted to write about also was the other thought that you shared last Sunday about Ken’s teaching comment in 777. And my immediate reaction to it, on a rare day when I was going through a 24×7 just-simmering panic attack, launched our subsequent conversation that ran through the week.
And a few days later, something interesting happened in connection with that.
Kens words in 777 had apparently stayed with me, and I was wiping my hair with a towel, and just for a moment, I had this intense experience of feeling the solidity of the towel, my hand, my head, and the simultaneous thought in my head that I *need* this solidity of my physical self.
And that if, in fact, I let go of this physical self, all that would be left is TERROR to experience.
That moment passed.
And over the course of the rest of the evening, and the next few days, I made a note to write down this message to you, that that momentary thought you shared from Ken last Sunday is right.
I had not really contemplated the complete absence of any individual self. That I was fooling myself, and to use another Katrina/Ken favorite, the rung of the ladder I thought I was on is not actually where I am.
I haven’t even started climbing, in that analogy.
I am still in delusion that I can find happiness in this world, all my talk and writing and self-deception notwithstanding.
So anyway, that’s a lot of writing, dear Hedda. And thank you for being the catalyst that allowed me to see that.
And I trust you are not bored asleep with the length of this post ! (:
although we have never met, I send you a hug, warm and comforting, (or perhaps you prefer cool and comforting !) and perhaps that is where we want to be, in the comforting and reassuring Embrace of God, and the belief that He always takes care of us, His Hug a source of our strength, reminding us that He will never let us down, and always hold us close.
I wish you, and everyone a happy Sunday and the rest of this week….
Hi Sweeties!
Love you all… what a Journey we are all on together!
I just had a big chunk of the Course fall off and hit me on the head. The titles Ken added to the chapters… you could read them in order and they would make a complete book unto themselves.
But here is what stunned me…. T15.x and xi
The Holy Instant…. The Time of Rebirth….. Christmas as the End of Sacrifice
He (Christ) comes demanding nothing. No sacrifice of any kind, of anyone, is asked by Him. In His Presence the whole idea of sacrifice loses all meaning. For He is Host to God.
Wow – this is really Gentle… little lambs and ‘lil tiny babies in a manger… stars at night…
wow!
Lesson 334
Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.
I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me. Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions. Let me not accept such meager gifts again today. God’s Voice is offering the peace of God to all who hear and choose to follow Him. This is my choice today. And so I go to find the treasures God has given me.
I seek but the eternal. For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this. What, then, can be his solace but what You are offering to his bewildered mind and frightened heart, to give him certainty and bring him peace? Today I would behold my brother sinless. This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my sinlessness.
Somebody sent me a pic of all the people lined up for shopping outside best buy. Imagine us all lined up in a long line around the block to receive the treasures our Father offers. I suppose that is the true longing in everyone’s mind. And right now, speaking of the peace of God, beads of rain are falling on California — the trees are shaking in the wind!
Hi Everyone and thank you Anil for your comment and the warm hug !! It’s not very cold here yet but the cold winter weather is a challenge for me so I do prefer warm hugs !
Tomorrow is a different Monday for me. We will receive 20 Syrian refugees to my little hometown Pargas and I ( and two other persons) will go to Helsinki airport to pick them up and bring them to their new home away from home . I cannot imagine what they are going through right now and what they have experienced in their homeland.
I pray that I can be still and peaceful when they arrive.
Hugs to everyone !
TOday I was worried about hanging up the Christmas”advent”decorations. Dread is the word. And I chose again: I want to be happy! I suddenly I was. I have had the happiest day today,cause i experienced everything through Christ’s vision. hard cleaning work was thoroughly enjoyed to. I found myself talking to myself in a certain dialect from Norway, and becoming one of the people from that district – and their character – it was great fun and very effective cleaning.
I chose to be happy. and I was and am happy in the world
Lesson 335
I choose to see my brother’s sinlessness.
Forgiveness is a choice. I never see my brother as he is, for that is far beyond perception. What I see in him is merely what I wish to see, because it stands for what I want to be the truth. It is to this alone that I respond, however much I seem to be impelled by outside happenings. I choose to see what I would look upon, and this I see, and only this. My brother’s sinlessness shows me that I would look upon my own. And I will see it, having chosen to behold my brother in its holy light.
Lesson 336
Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined.
In quiet may forgiveness wipe away my dreams of separation and of sin. Then let me, Father, look within, and find Your promise of my sinlessness is kept; Your Word remains unchanged within my mind, Your Love is still abiding in my heart.
Lesson 338
I am affected only by my thoughts.
Your plan is sure, my Father, -only Yours. All other plans will fail. And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to Your Son.
There’s that word again, Katrina.
*promise*
The Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, like You have promised me my sinlessness.
I hope I can accept the Atonement for myself tonight. May my thoughts be undisturbed from their rest. May they rest forever in the Peace that passéth understanding.
Good night and good day (:
Lesson 339
I will receive whatever I request.
Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me, accepting only Thoughts You share with me.
Yep, that is my plan for this upcoming day! I’m doing my lesson late late before the coming day, so my morning duties do not waylay me from getting to it. Anil, yes, that word ‘promise’. A promise to us that there is the “invulnerable truth of God’s innocent Son” and our Father is “calmly awaiting his return to sanity” as KW puts it in the Ego summary. I think I only need to get that calmly awaiting part instead of a feeling of striving. I think the striving is the ego’s trick.
Sweet day ahead — the ego tells us God abandoned us, but it never tells us we abandoned Him. AND we didn’t — as Christmas’s true message is — we didn’t, no abandonment happened at all. We are each still that glowing baby is the manger hovered over by a loving Mother and doting Father.
Striving is one part of the problem, but another is that it is difficult, nay, almost impossible to be calmly waiting when the storm rages within, completely of its own accord, and one and has to just sit and experience the non-stop disturbance before it abates, seemingly of its own accord ! (:
Luckily, its not impossible, just almost impossible (:
And now off to bed for me, tomorrow the last run-through of What is the Ego ? I made it through all ten days this time, not losing interest in digesting the content each day. It seems much more real than What is Creation ? Or What is the Last Judgement ?
(:
Lesson 340
I can be free of suffering today.
If I am not happy with my suffering, I can return to my mind’s decision maker and say: ” I no longer wish this.” Yet to say I no longer wish this pain must also mean I no longer wish its cause-the decision to be on my own and separate from the Love of God. Thus I joyfully allow myself to hear god’s loving Judgement on me, His Son:
Holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace forever in the Heart of God
(M-15.1:11).
Lesson 341
Theme of special relevance for the next 10 lessons..
13. What is a Miracle ? ………..
(miracles fall like drops of healing rain on a dry and dusty world….I love J’s poetic soul ! Thank you, J !!)
Lesson 341. I can attack but my own sinlessness, and it is only that which keeps me safe.
What a great day to be still and read and ponder the ponderings… love to you all!
What am I ?
I am Thought completing Him.
Lesson 342
I let forgiveness rest upon all things,
For thus forgiveness will be given me.
Today, from KW’s JTTWB:
But we can only turn the key when our hand are joined with Jesus’. We cannot do it without him, and he cannot do it without us. Patiently, he awaits our devision to have him help us.
Lesson 343
I am not asked to make a sacrifice
To find the mercy and the peace of God.
The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a gift that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn today.
Lesson 344
Today I learn the law of love: that what
I give my brother is my gift to me.
The gifts you give me when I forgive are the gifts of remembering my sinlessness. When I forgive you, I realize the light of Christ shines in you as it does in me, and your unkindness is but a call for the love that mirrors my own. We are united in that call for love, as we are united in the love that is our true Self.
*correction Lesson 344
Hope all went well in Brussels Dear Bernard…and with your magical touch you can straighten my Lesson #
Lesson 345
I offer only miracles today,
For I would have them be returned to me.
Father, a miracle reflects Your gifts to me, Your Son. And every one I give returns to me, reminding me the law of love is universal. Even here, it takes a form which can be recognized and seen to work. The miracles I give are given back in just the form I need to help me with the problems I perceive. Father, in Heaven it is different, for there, there are no needs. But here on earth, the miracle is closer to Your gifts than any other gift that I can give. Then let me give this gift alone today, which, born of true forgiveness, lights the way that I must travel to remember You.
Peace to all seeking hearts today. The light has come to offer miracles to bless the tired world. It will find rest today, for we will offer what we have received.
*****
Just one of those days when I need every word !!
Lesson 346
Today the peace of God envelops me,
And I forget all things except His Love.
And when the evening comes today, we will remember nothing but the peace of God.
Hi Annie, I got to correcting your lesson title only today. Saw it yesterday, planned to do it, got stuck on something else.
Brussels was really great. Just a small group of 15 people, but all of whom were really sincerely interested and involved. We do mostly lectures, but then in the afternoon we break for an exercise in small groups of 4 or 5 people, to give people a chance to talk amongst themselves, share their thoughts. It’s all Ken’s work, all the Course, just in French, and people seem to really like it. In all, we put on 26 different talks and seminar days this year which we’re thinking was quite a lot. We’ll see what direction things will take next year. If you can believe (I hardly can), the French site attracts 2,000 different people per month. We must be doing something right, I guess. We’re not yet able to translate this interest into a viable activity, however. We haven’t found the right key. We still don’t attract many people to the workshops, but then I think the subject matter is still seen as quite confronting. People are more comfortable working on this solo at home.
Hope you’re all well and looking forward to Santa! (What did Ken say about not treating Jesus like Father Christmas??)
Hugs,
B.
Lesson 347
Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is
The weapon I would use against myself,
To keep the miracle away from me.
Judgments abound!
I didn’t quite embrace yesterdays lesson to forget all things except His Love.
So it seems fitting that I’m a bit angry this morning.
Or is it that my head hurts from a little too much to drink? (work Christmas party)
Most definitely both.
However, the last line from the Journey Thru The Workbook states: “To be still means to silence my thoughts of judgment, anger, and specialness, and above all, my arrogant assertions that I am right.
So let me retract the fact that it wasn’t the alcohol…it was only the choice to be in the wrong mind.
(1:9-11)Let Him judge today. I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. And He will speak for me, and call Your miracles to come to me.
Everyday a Mulligan.
God is Good!
Lesson 348
I have no cause for anger or for fear, for You surround me. And in every need that I perceive, Your grace suffices me.
And putting them together….(:
Lesson 348
I have no cause for anger or fear, for You surround me. And in every need that I perceive, Your grace suffices me,
It is a beautiful lesson, because I am in a beautiful mood.
Nothing quite like a day gone well, with no moments of worry, o haste, no arguments, all conversations pleasant, and even when intense things being discussed, the space to speak, and the giving of space to allow the other to speak, the acceptance of self as I am, and the acceptance of the other as they are, and though the two cannot meet, the calm and serene acceptance that things are just right with the world, both the real one, and the one we inhabit, and that the deepening feeling that one doesn’t try to arrange things in a dream, and one wakes up when one has had enough of sleep and dreams.
Then again, perhaps its just the first sips of a cold and pleasant scotch that has been sitting on the rocks, waiting for its smoothness to make its way to my lips, and its journey the body illusory ! (:
Good night to me and to my brothers and sistahs in Europe and good day to the sleepyheads in the United States of America,land of the free and the brave….(:
I love you all, and I now understand why Oscar speeches are so long. How can one not mention all the lovely people who brought your greatest triumph ! (:
Anil
What the hell is a mulligan?
*wink*
Anil, I love that you have proof-lived our lesson while we were sleeping and dreaming we were free and brave. I think that while it seems that a day has been lovely and peaceful that makes the lesson easy to understand, maybe the lovely and peaceful day comes in its perfect ‘linear’ timing as the unfoldment of this year of lessons.
While it feels to me that I am being drug through these daily lessons far too fast for me to grasp them adequately, or even do them ‘correctly’, occasionally i recall that my understanding is not the goal. Possibly Big J has his own agenda, and knows what he is doing, and all I’m doing is allowing access to my shirt collar for him to grasp and drag me by — and I’m just gratefully and simply watching.
I love these final prayers. Maybe I’ll just do these last set over and over forever. Great Rays forever.
“wink”
Bernard ~ Lovely to read your summation of your and Pat’s journey’s with a distance this last year. There is no doubt in my mind you’re extending inestimable pathways for all those who have been waiting for this direction to appear. It’s exciting to watch it from our Village vantage point.
Anil ~ Lovely to read your acceptance post. I love how they decided to change the language from “the winner is” to “the Oscar goes to”.
Mulligan… is second chance to perform an action, usually after the first chance went wrong through bad luck or a blunder.
Winks to All
Dang it… that word came up again! Must be “real”….
<3
Mulligan's Island or something
So we did the WB
And Ken (and Kidd Kraddick) and our Dear Monk — never came back …
So now what about 2015!??
I think it might be an ok year. I have not said anything like that…. (being happy and stuff) …. for YEARS!
Hearts to all of us! xoxox
Lesson 349
Today I let Christ’s vision look upon
All things for me and judge them not, but give
Each one a miracle of love instead.
Early morning, long day — me ego thought it would slip this one right by me.
As if this wasn’t our prayer 20+ times a day. Too bad, ms. ego…
Today we went to see the big waves up the Big Sur road. Wild and stormy day in California!
Some waterfalls coming down at Ragged Point that have been dry for over 3 yrs.
Lesson 350
Miracles mirror God’s eternal Love.
To offer them is to remember Him,
And through His memory to save the world.
From the Introductory Comments
We now come to the last series of ten lessons, and before continuing , I would like to briefly review the purpose of the workbook and A Course in Miracles itself, which is to help us reverse the figure and ground of our perceptions. To the geo, its world of specialness is prominent, pushing into the background-so much so that we are not even aware of it- the guilt that is the source of its world. Learning Jesus’ lessons enables us to shift our perception so that the world, formerly in the foreground, recedes into the background and becomes the classroom in which the Holy Spirit’s Atonement thought assumes prominence as the mind’s correction for the special relationship.
Lesson 351
My sinless brother is my guide to peace.
My sinless brother is my guide to pain.
And which I choose to see I will behold.
*correction
line 2: My sinful brother is my guide to pain.
the ego is working it this morning!
must stay vigilant.
Lesson 352
Judgment and love are opposites. From one
Come all the sorrows of the world. But from
The other comes the peace of God Himself.
“frightened people can be vicious” (T-3.1I.4:2)
Today, like any other day in Earth school offers up a headline that encapsulates that very
idea.
The “Guardians of Peace…threatening to hurt people…”.
(1:8-9) Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You.
This is the central idea. We do not love our own Identity as Christ because we love our individual identity more. Crucial to our daily practicing, then, is vigilance for how much we cherish this special and unique self. We would even go so far as to kill in order to preserve it. Yet when we finally realize the loss to us, we choose to listen to the Voice of sanity and return to our true love – our Self and our God.
Lesson 353
My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today
Have but one purpose; to be given Christ
To use to bless the world with miracles.
Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose. Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end.
Lesson 354
We stand together, Christ and I, in peace
And certainty of purpose. And in Him
Is His Creator, as He is in me.
Lesson 355
There is no end to all the peace and joy,
And all the miracles that I will give,
When I accept God’s Word. Why not today?
As my dear teacher Margaret Dolit always says, “Why wait?”
Lesson 356
Sickness is but another name for sin.
Healing is but another name for God.
The miracle is thus a call to Him.
Our Father’s Name is the answer to all problems and concerns…
Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be they Name…
Lesson 357
Truth answers every call we make to God,
Responding first with miracles, and then
Returning unto us to be itself
Lesson 358
No call to God can be unheard nor left
Unanswered. And of this I can be sure;
His answer is the one I really want.
(1:7) Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all.
This wonderful line strikes terror in our hearts, for it tells us that we, who think of ourselves as important and meaningful, are truly nothing. We actually think, for example, that Jesus gave this course to us as individuals, each of us with a name and personal identity. He has been teaching us, however, that we must ultimately realize this separated self is an illusion. At present, our bodily selves are the classrooms in which we learn the holy lesson that teaches us their nothingness, but that our true Self as Christ is everything-the realization of which is the ultimate goal and purpose of our learning. (JTTWB)
Lesson 359
God’s answer is some form of peace. All pain
Is healed; all misery replaced with joy.
All prison doors are opened. And all sin
Is understood as merely a mistake.
This is the happy result when we realize we are the ones who were mistaken all along, and the Holy Spirit was right.
(1:1) Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own.
God’s world, as we have seen, is the real world. We forgive it in the sense that we now accept it as what we want, with no further desire to attack it, which we were compelled to do in self-defense when we chose to retain our identity as an individual self, seemingly at home in the ego’s world of specialness and death.
Merry joyful Christmas, everyone!