Acim Village

~ Death and Dying Academy, Temecula, March 2011 – Part 11 ~

(Winnie’s notes posted at Acimvillage.com. Many thanks to Winnie from Bernard)

“Knowledge” is the equivalent of God`s perfect oneness.
The Course usually uses “recognize” instead of “knows” in relation to the decision-maker.
We want to retain control over who and when we forgive. Then we are in control, not Jesus.
I think I`ve met you for the first time. We forget how terrible the movie is. Movies have “special effects”. We are reviewing mentally what has gone by. We think some of the movies are wonderful. An important person notices me and approves of me.

The great, great challenge of Jesus is to convince us that what is not love is murder.

Love is unknown here. In back of all special love relationships, stands the ego with power beyond omnipotence. We are stronger than God. God can`t abandon, injure or attack, but we can. Everything here is a fragmentary shadow of the original mistake.

WBp373 Today we learn to think of gratitude in place of anger, malice and revenge. We have been given everything. If we refuse to recognize it, we are not entitled therefore to our bitterness, and to a self-perception which regards us in a place of merciless pursuit, where we are badgered ceaselessly, and pushed about without a thought or care for us or for our future. Gratitude becomes the single thought we substitute for these insane perceptions. God has cared for us, and calls us Son. Can there be more than this.

An anonymous German poem reads “I have nothing. I want nothing. I am nothing but the love of Jesus”.
If you don`t like what`s going on in your life, change your perception of it. Wonderful people don`t come here. There is no hierarchy of awful people. We are all awful people. Just look around [ lots of laughter…. very nervous laughter]
There are two reasons why we do everything in the world. The right-minded reason will speed me along my Atonement path. At any given moment I can choose the moment when love took the place of terror.

we are not entitled…to our bitterness is a sentence for shortening your learning time.
The miracle will shorten time. How ?
I`m sitting in front of a screen thinking it`s real having chosen a DVD I`m not very happy with. Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated. Every single DVD has, at its core, the theme of I have been unfairly treated. Under that is I have unfairly treated someone else.
I get to keep my separated state. It`s like a divorce agreement. I get to keep the house and the car, but not the kids. I didn`t want the kids anyway. The dreaming of the world is but a part of your own dream you gave away, and saw as if it were its start and ending, both.
My life begins and ends with life and death and it`s not my fault. And I die because it`s the law of nature. Yet was it started by your secret dream, which you do not perceive although it caused the part you see and do not doubt is real.
My secret dream caused this dream. Birth is usually seen as something wonderful. Death is usually seen as something terrible.
A brother separated from yourself, an ancient enemy, a murderer who stalks you in the night and plots your death, yet plans that it be lingering and slow; of this you dream. Yet underneath this dream is yet another, in which you become the murderer, the secret enemy, the scavenger and the destroyer of your brother and the world alike. Here is the cause of suffering, the space between your little dreams and your reality. The little gap – the little gap is the tiny mad idea – you do not even see, the birthplace of illusions and of fear, the time of terror and of ancient hate, the instant of disaster, all are here. Here is the cause of unreality. And it is here that it will be undone.
The “here” that Jesus is talking about is the blue circle. It is only here that it can be undone.

Within the DVD library, there are sections. In the directory, there is the Abandonment theme. I feel grateful for every one because I hate every one of them. And yet I am drawn to it like a magnet. – Why ? Because I can say “Behold me brother, mother, father, at your hands I die. Lord it`s not my fault. I`ll give you email addresses, fax numbers and if there`s blood on it, I`m sorry but that`s what I`m trying to tell you – I`ve been suffering !”
If it`s our script, why did we do it this way ?
The Course is brilliant. It shows you that we want to be unfairly treated. We want to revel in it. Your brother`s sins are writ in Heaven and I don`t realize that the finger I`m pointing is pointing at myself, but the more I attack the guiltier I feel, so then I have to attack and so on.
We have to finally say “I`m tired of this. It is not okay any more. It is no longer okay. There must be another DVD.” It is the same script but now it has The Son of God Cannot be Abandoned theme, because the Son of God did not abandon. Not one note in God`s magnificent symphony has changed. I realize that as we listen to the same voice and that makes us the same. The DVD of darkness has now changed to the DVD of light. Now I can press the Delete button and delete all the thousands of DVD`s on abandonment. And that`s how I no longer curse the fate that brought me to my horrible family or my lack of family.
The only non-dysfunctional family is in Heaven. We think there is a hierarchy of dysfunctionalism. There aint.

~ Death and Dying Academy, Temecula, March 2011 – Part 12 ~

(Winnie’s notes posted at Acimvillage.com. Many thanks to Winnie from Bernard)

Differences are nothing. The mind that spawned the body is all made up. When you recognize that every DVD in the library is the same, you will press the great big delete button.
But for now we have to practise forgiveness over and over…….for purely selfish reasons – so I will feel better. Forget about all the other people. This practise allows me to realize that every other person is the same as me.

The ego is so, so seductive. “Come to me and I will give you a self, an importance.
In the German song, The Linden Tree “And its branches rustled as if they were calling to me “Come here to me, friend, here you will find your rest”,” is really an invitation to suicide. It`s the ego voice calling us. I`ll make you feel good and we don`t know that it`s a call to death. Look at the picture. Don`t be fooled by the frame. Jesus says “If you look with me, you will see that the diamonds are tears”. The ego says ” I will give you strength, autonomy.” Then when things go awry, the ego says “Come this way and you can have real pleasure”. But then its too late.
Just because you hear an inner voice, it doesn`t mean it`s the Holy Spirit. The ego sounds very sweet and seductive, makes you feel so special. You can`t be seduced….you can`t be tricked unless you want to be. It`s our script. How great it is to be betrayed. This is not a nice world and this is not a nice Course. This Course is a course about guilt. You have no idea how much you hate each other.

Q……………..How do you deal with your child`s death?

Ken…………The entity called my child has chosen to die. Be normal. Be devastated. Be angry, grieve, but at some stage say that it is no longer okay. Lesson 34I could see peace instead of this. All lessons are shared. I could see peace instead of this. The pain of this lesson is worth it, if I could learn the lesson. Love is still there and you are still joined but you don`t want to deny your pain. The Son of God cannot die. It doesn`t appear that way. Bodies are different. Minds are the same. This course offers real comfort. There is another world beyond this world. There is no death. The Son of God cannot die.
WBp 309 There is no death. The Son of God is free.

Everything here is thought. Quantum physics says everything here is thought. Although they would not discuss guilt or motivation or sustaining it through special relationships, quantum physics is very important in helping us to see that everything that is going on here is not going on here.
We are reviewing mentally what has gone by.
If I go home and choose a comedy to watch tonight, it`s because I want to watch something light and funny. I`ve seen it before but I know it will make me feel good. Or I might decide I want to watch a movie of “substance”. I watch movies to get the effect !
If I don`t like my life, I have no right to complain because I chose it. I chose mentally to review the DVD. I chose the DVD to give me pain.

There is no greater joy in this world than to know that my “sins” are forgiven. WBp 214 Forgiveness is the key to happiness…. not murder and cannibalism.

Death is a decision. Substitute any other word. Being born is a decision. Getting sick is a decision. Growing up is a decision. I can`t blame Congress for what I feel. Jesus tells us “If you want the goal, why don`t you accept the means I`m giving you. It`s not because it`s too difficult. It`s because you don`t want the goal – to awaken from the dream.
Every time you make a judgement, gossip or are not at peace in some way, stop as quickly as you can and say “Well, I don`t want the goal”.

A misconception that Course students have is that they should not angry. It never says that. It says not to justify your anger. This is a very very liberating course. You don`t have to be without your ego to practise the Course successfully. Tp311 The necessary condition for the holy instant does not require that you have no thoughts that are not pure. But it does require that you have none that you would keep. Isn`t that nice? You don`t have to be without ego. Just don`t protect it. Don`t protect the fact that you are projecting. Don`t try to be ego free. Never try to be ego free, because you are making the ego real.

Course students sometimes tell me that they have done the Workbook perfectly. If Beethoven would have had that attitude, he never would have written the other eight symphonies. The goal of the workbook is to do it imperfectly and forgive yourself for so doing. It`s no big deal. It just means that obviously I am still afraid. Into eternity where all is one, there crept a tiny mad idea, which then became a serious idea. Two seconds later, there were serious effects. Once we took it seriously, it had real effects. Together you and I can laugh at this. It`s okay to have ego thoughts. You can`t help having ego thoughts. Be normal. Don`t deny your feelings. Have all the normal feelings that normal people do. When he talks about “impure thoughts”, he`s not talking about sex. Have them. Just don`t justify them.