Death and Dying 7 & 8
~ Death and Dying Academy, Temecula, March 2011 – Part 7 ~
(Winnie’s notes posted at Acimvillage.com. Many thanks to Winnie from Bernard)
See the Course as preparing you for your death. This entire Course is helping us to die in a right-minded way rather than a wrong-minded way.
Death is a continuation of “life”, like breakfast is a continuation from sleep. We are the ones who make distinctions. We think there is conception, then birth, life and death, and if you are so inclined, there`s an afterlife.
How could there be an afterlife if there`s no life ?
We make distinction after distinction, distinction after distinction.
There`s God and there`s everything else which is nothing. Sorry but I didn`t write the book. [everyone laughs]
The hero of the dream is the body. Tp585The body is the central figure in the dreaming of the world. There is no dream without it, nor does it exist without the dream in which it acts as if it were a person to be seen and be believed. It takes the central place in every dream, which tells the story of how it was made by other bodies, born into the world outside the body, lives a little while and dies, to be united in the dust with other bodies dying like itself. In the brief time allotted it to live, it seeks for other bodies as its friends and enemies. Its safety is its main concern. Its comfort is its guiding rule. It tries to look for pleasure, and avoid the things that would be hurtful. Above all, it tries to teach itself its pains and joys are different and can be told apart.
The Course isn`t funny but this next bit is ->… The dreaming of the world takes many forms, because the body seeks in many ways to prove it is autonomous and real. It puts things on itself that it has bought with little metal discs or paper strips the world proclaims as valuable and real. It works to get them, doing senseless things, and tosses them away for senseless things it does not need and does not even want. It hires other bodies, that they may protect it and collect more senseless things that it can call its own. It looks about for special bodies that can share its dream.
Now you know why egos wrote the Bible. Men came first. Women were an afterthought. Men feel inferior to women so they have to assert that they are at the top.
The whole purpose of the body is to prove that it is the cause and that is what protects the ego. What gives birth to organisms is the mind`s decision, not copulation. Biologists don`t know what they are talking about. Psychologists study the brain, not the mind. Freud said near the end of his life, that one day all his studies would be understood electrochemically.
Death is not an end or a beginning. It`s nothing.
This Course is so radically different. Salvation is not what we think. This Course is written from a mind to a mind and even if you experience this as a person, remember where it is taking you. The ladder in The Song of Prayer pamphlet is a helpful symbol. At the bottom there are persons. At the top is the Real World. Beyond where the ladder disappears, is Heaven.
Despite the origins of the Course, it teaches perfect non-duality. This Course is written on a low level and is aimed at the body because it meets us where we are at. Tp520 All this takes note of time and space as if they were discrete, for while you think that part of you is separate, the concept of a Oneness joined as One is meaningless.
There are no people in the mind. The dualistic language points beyond itself.
This Course is not about joining with another person. This Course is not about forgiving another person. When I join with the ego, I join with the entirety of the ego system. That`s why there is a risk in thinking that death is peace.
From time to time, Jesus gives us glimpses of what`s at the top of the ladder. Then infuriatingly, he tells us that there`s no way we can understand that. He is meeting us in the condition in which we think we are at.
Language can be misleading. This should be read as an epic poem, not a scientific treatise. It is metaphoric. It uses symbols.
The whole Song of Prayer pamphlet came about as a correction for one year`s worth of students` misconceptions, except the misconceptions have lasted a little longer.
The third Obstacle to Peace says Tp419
What is this world – a place of death, a place where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. The sinner is God, not Adam and Eve. He went bananas. Talk about abuse ! Bratty children act up all the time. All they did was take a little bite of an apple. Then God conceives a son who has to be killed so by sleight of hand we are all saved. Now why do people believe that?
If the Bible is taken as fact, then the Atonement is taken as vengeance, not correction. Even if we don`t believe in the Bible, we believe in its system. The ego wants us to confuse symbol and source. Death is an integral part of the ego system. Death is the centrepiece of the ego system. Death proves that we exist. The Course quotes St Paul “The wages of sin is death”.
The world you see is an outside picture of an inward condition.
The problem is never the symbol. The problem is not physical death. There is no physical death. Effects leave not their cause. Do not set forgiveness in an earthly frame. It`s about the decision-making mind choosing the right teacher, and in that Holy Instant, all your relationships become holy.
~ Death and Dying Academy, Temecula, March 2011 – Part 8 ~
(Winnie’s notes posted at Acimvillage.com. Many thanks to Winnie from Bernard)
Q…..If everything below the line on the chart is meaningless does that mean the Course is nihilistic ?
Ken…. I`ve never been asked that question before but yes. Nihilistic means nothing. However it should not be translated into political theory or anarchy because first we have to learn that nothingness is very useful as a classroom for a very holy purpose. The world is inherently meaningless but while you made plans for death, He made plans for life.
Q……Can you tell me about the references to our blocking awareness of our real creations?
Ken……….. I don`t know what the hell they are but I`ll make up something [ winnie-note …..Oooh don`t we just love it when he`s naughty!]
The extensions of Christ are creations. Love just loves. God is father. Christ is son so then God becomes a grandfather. It doesn`t say that in the Course- that`s my creation. Our function in Heaven is creation. Our function on earth is forgiveness, but that doesn`t explain anything. How can we understand anything that is non-dualistic. There is no counterpart to Creation here.
Q……..I`m new at this […. Ken interrupts to say “I am too ! I`m just good at reading scripts ]
[The questioner laughingly continues] ……. I`m new at this journey in the mind. When we go into the death state, do we just go into other dream states until we have gathered all our fellow dream spirits/ dream minds?
Ken……. In a sense yes. Everything happens in the blue circle. For teaching purposes we just took the blue circle and spread it out to make a chart. Working with this Course is preparing you for your death. Death won`t be something you either look forward to or fear. There is no greater joy than taking steps towards more right-minded thinking. There is nothing here that you cherish or would kill for. Everything here is a means to an end. If i choose to remain in the dream, everything will serve that purpose. If i choose to awaken from the dream, everything will serve that purpose. If you`re not happy, it`s because you chose the teacher of unhappiness. You can choose the teacher of happiness then death won`t be feared. It will be no big deal. Ramakrishna said that death is simply going from one room to another. Not one note in my song of love was missing, including death. Nothing happened.
Don`t deny what your eyes see. You do not become callous or indifferent, cold or insensitive……. just the opposite. There will be no wrong mind to impede the flow of love that will flow from you.
Helen, to begin with, was contaminated.
If your read WB p 330 Let this review be then your gift to me. For this alone I need; that you will hear the words I speak, and give them to the world. You are my voice, my eyes, my feet, my hands through which I save the world as an ego, you would go out and, like the apostles, preach to the world.
How do you know you have got in the way? – when you identify yourself with form. Specialness is triumph of form over content. When Jesus appeared on earth, He didn`t have to say a word. He was the word, the light. It can`t come through me if it`s contaminated by my specialness.
Q…………..Suicide – can that be done in a right-minded way?
Ken…………………..Sure – All death is suicide. No one dies without his own consent. It`s all the same……… There`s no way we can understand what anyone else does.
Q……………….If my memory is correct, only our loving thoughts are real ?
Ken…………….All questions are filled with hate. Our loving thoughts are reflections of reality…..peace/forgiveness/shared purpose
Q…………………..Love comes from formless God?
Ken………………Love, strictly speaking, should only be used for God. The Course is loose in its language. I`ve had to become Jesus` defence attorney over the years. Read the Course as a great poem. Take into account its language and its metre. The word “pardon” is sometimes used instead of “forgiveness” because three syllables might screw up the Iambic Pentameter. All things are lessons God would have me learn sounds better than “All things are lessons forgiveness would have me learn.”
Q…………….[ winnie-note…. i didn`t get the question]
Ken…………Minds are joined. We were with Him when He arose, when the right mind sent out messages to all fragments that we are all One. This Course is written for one person. When your mind is healed, everyone is healed.
Q……….I am beginning to recognize the value of the classroom but in God is in everything I see, what is the purpose of God?
Ken………………….When the word God is used, the Course usually means the Holy Spirit. I first project my anger.
My brother, choose again. What you are feeling shows you what teacher you have chosen. The purpose then is to practise forgiveness. I have already practised unforgiveness. Once I begin to generalize, i see everything the same – God is in everything I see.
Q……… So you just observe?
Ken……. You just observe without judgement
same Questioner……you just observe?
Ken……. You just observe without judgement [ everyone laughs]