Acim Village

~ Death and Dying Academy, Temecula, March 2011 – Part 15 ~

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

When you believe part of the ego`s system, you believe all of it. A slight twinge of annoyance is exactly the same as intense fury in the mind. It`s all or nothing. This is what you believe each and every time you have an unkind thought. You should say “this is not okay.” The holy instant is the window to eternity. The unholy instant is the window to hell. Being mildly judgemental or even slightly unkind is the same as torturing and blowing up people. It opens up the entire wrong-minded thought system which believes that God is dead.
The world is insane. It believes it exists. Why ask the one thing in all the world that does not know to tell us what reality is ? Be vigilant for God and his kingdom means be vigilant for your ego. Don`t judge it but know where it is coming from. It is no longer okay. Maybe I can`t help it at the moment, but that`s a nod to God. You don`t have to lie prostrate on the floor. Above all recognize that it is costing you the peace of God when you judge others.

Helen`s poem “Good Friday” uses the symbols and mythology of Christianity as a starting point to bring in a new mythology. The last line is based on the Gospel story about the two thieves who were crucified at the same time. One of them knew Jesus and Jesus said he would “remember him” {in Heaven}. He obviously didn`t like the other thief because he didn`t tell him that he would remember him too….[lots of laughter]

Helen was a very visual person. Jesus wanted Helen to see that he wasn`t there {on the cross}. I kept trying to help her but she never could.

We are not afraid of resurrection. Our real fear is of redemption.

GOOD FRIDAY

There is no death. But there is quietness
Beyond the reaches of the world; a peace
Which only life can give. It is the life
That is the gift of God. All conflicts cease
Within this life. It beats in harmony
With all creation, beyond any sound
The world can hear. It sings a different song,
And where it reaches, there is holy ground.

There is no death. Whom God created whole
Is whole forever. Who can crucify
Eternal life? And who can bring to dust
Whom God has willed immortal? Can he die
Who rises past the universe, to rest
At one with his Creator? So are we
Ensured to life. There is no death because
God’s Son belongs to Immortality.

This is a day of joy. Today the world
Lays down its dreams beside a cross that was
Itself a dream. Behold the dream of death
And waken, seeing that it had no cause,
And so did not exist. What never was
Can not be now. Today we pass it by,
For this the purpose of this day should be:
What is made whole is whole, and cannot die.

Do not confuse the cross with sacrifice,
Nor death with life. The Will of God is one,
And knows no differences nor opposites.
In love it has created but one Son,
In whom the whole creation still remains.
How can his name be changed who bears the Name
His Father called as His? He does not change,
Because his will forever is the same.

What does he yearn for but his Father’s house?
Had he a different will his death might be
Reality. But when he reconciled
What never had an opposite, then he
Could never die. His life is not his own,
Being of God. This day arise and come
With Me. For there is life. It is God’s Will.
Today shall you be with Me in our home.

By Helen Schucman,
March 20, 1978
From “The Gifts of God”© 1982, p. 106-107
Published by the Foundation for Inner Peace

~ Death and Dying Academy, Temecula, March 2011 – Part 16 ~

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

To correct something i said yesterday, it was Mueller who wrote the words to The Linden Tree. [ Someone yelled out “Please no more mistakes” – and everyone laughed].

Q………………… I am becoming very aware of the 4th and 5th laws of chaos playing out in my life. I saw cannibalism and thought, ” wow, this is good, this is what Ken wants me to see. I woke up with swollen feet and began to understand that I don`t have them for the reason I think….that it is my resistance?
Ken………………….I have this effect on people. [ more laughter] What you describe is normal. You are coming into a full recognition that the person you think you are doesn’t exist. It`s not a happy thought to the extent that you still identify with your self. There has to be anxiety.
I`m very wary of people who just waltz their way happily through this course. Perception of worth and worthlessness are inevitable consequences of working with this course.There is going to be pain. There is a great deal of pain in working through special relationships. Tp51 You have not yet gone back far enough, and that is why you become so fearful. As you approach the Beginning, you feel the fear of the destruction of your thought system upon you as if is were the fear of death. There is no death, but there is a belief in death…………………………………….The world is not left by death, but by truth, and truth can be known by all those for whom the Kingdom was created, and for whom it waits.

Looking at the ego puts the fear of God into you which translates into pain. The source of pain and suffering is not the body. When you begin to recognize that, it is as if the solid ground beneath you starts wavering. In the initial stages, this shift is disconcerting. This is a time for faith. It is helpful to have an overview of the whole journey when the dark nights appear.
The Development of Trust has six stages . Four of these six are painful. Looking is painful because of our resistance, not because the ego is fearful. The ego is nothing. This does take time because fear gets in the way. These are not literal stages.
An overview of the journey is that the ego gets vicious. We are thrown back into the darkness of the ego thought system. This is not like Christianity where suffering is good. This is not meant to frighten you but it is meant to help you understand where your pain is coming from so you won`t think that you`re failing the Course. You`re doing wonderfully well.

Q…………………………….I still believe in death. Should I look at it with love?

Ken………………………Well who with the choice of miracles or murder would find that decision hard to make? When I choose the ego, I am giving up God`s peace. It is no longer okay to tolerate mind-wandering. If that`s what you mean, that`s ok.
When you have issues with death that don`t make you feel entirely peaceful, you know you have chosen the teacher of death. There are no exceptions. This doesn`t mean you shouldn`t feel what you are feeling. Just be honest with yourself and call it what it is. Freud said that if you don`t undo a form of neurosis, it will continually regenerate. All thinking produces form on some level. The law of the split mind is that is what is in the wrong mind will project and what is in the right mind will extend. If I`m not aware of my guilt, it will ALWAYS project. I won`t know where it comes from unless I am aware. Freud was brilliant in explaining that projection comes from repression. Jesus would say the same thing. When we don`t see it for what it is, we preserve and protect it. There would not be a Holy Spirit, if there was no ego. The ego says “Do not look within, for if you do, you will die.” A wrathful, maniacal, despotic God will destroy you.

There are no memories of the past. We are making it up right now behind a curtain. The curtain is an iron curtain. When we have one catastrophe after another, it is because we are choosing the teacher of catastrophe. Like a Hallmark card, guilt is the gift that keeps on giving. Murder is the name of the ego thought system. The name of Jesus` game is -> Look. What if you looked within and saw there is no sin ?……………….. That`s our fear!

What can we do to ensure that we never do that ????…………………..Remain mindless. Be a body.
Bodies are always in danger. The only thing that will strengthen your immune system is forgiveness. The ego is the mother of all lies. Another name for forgiveness is Christ vision or true perception. When you look through Jesus` eyes, everyone will look the same. You look not with the eyes, but through the eyes. Don`t trust the brain or your senses.

Tp 341 In looking at the special relationship, it is necessary first to realize that it involves a great amount of pain. Anxiety, despair, guilt and attack all enter into it, broken into by periods in which they seem to be gone. All these must be understood for what they are. Whatever form they take, they are always an attack on the self to make the other guilty.

We don`t realize that we revel in pain.
I think I answered your question.