Workshop Comments
This page is provided for commenting on the transcribed notes sent in by workshop participants at Ken Wapnick’s teaching institute. It is also the place to post notes that you have made and would like to share with everyone.
For access to the workshop notes, just click on “Workshops” on the purple navigation bar at the top of the page and you will find a list of the different academies and seminars.
Completely 100% agree with Katrina Winnie – I can’t think of anything to add!
Love and Gratitude 1000 times for each page, melody
Winnie, ditto Katrina and melody, we could not ask for more. I have printed all parts up to this one and I am really enjoying and learning a lot. Thanks and lots of hugs, Lisi
lil Win, what a gift!
Nin
oh boy! all that lovin`s makin` me all niggy wig…. and it`s right back at ya babes { blows thousands of big smoochy kisses clear `cross the blue Pacific}
~ Death and Dying …March Academy 2011 ~ part7
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<When anything seems to you to be a source of fear, when any situation strikes you with terror and makes your body tremble and the cold sweat of fear comes over it, remember it is always for onereason; the ego has perceived it as a symbol of fear, a sign of sin and death.
I have sinned. I deserve to be punished. The ultimate punishment is death.
I exist because I sinned against God, because I stole His life. I`m so overwhelmed with guilt and now will surely be punished by an avenging God.
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.
And as I was standing outside on one of the first truly warm spring days I heard this faint sound from above,so I look up and this strange pinkish shadow is wafting through the air drifting downward. I am astonished to realize that a smoochy sound with an Aussie accent is emanating from this wisp of a shadow and then suddenly a small gust of wind pushes the wisp against my forehead where it melted with a delicious warmth and I knew without a doubt it was a message of love and silliness from my favorite pixie Winniekins. (-;
Oh and the notes were stupendous once again also.
Lovely, Pam (:
Many smiles to you (:
Fabulous Winnie, and again I will add my sincere thank you!
Love to all,
melody
Pam! the pinky stuff is here too! WOW all the way from Australia – but no distance from heart to heart, is there –
Great Sunday to all the Village. Winnie, THANKS, again and again and again. Beginning my day with your last notes. Lots of things to practice.
Much love to all, lisi
(smiles with delight}
~ Death and Dying ~ March Academy 2011.. part 8
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]
Hi Winnie……How did you get all the words to the academy? NO ONE can take notes that quickly! I have notes I send out as well….but they are ‘Tidbits from Temecula’ for a reason! You must get an audio recording of the whole thing? Cool…….my Tidbits are just the ‘gems’ I could get…..which are many as it is! I’d be happy to post one if you would all like. Maybe I’ll just post the seminar notes: ‘Peace to Such Foolishness!’ I would love to meet you when you come to the FACIM – tho I’m leaving after June…..
Jean
OK — Here is my ‘Tidbits from Temecula’ from the seminar – ‘Peace to Such Foolishness.’ They are bulleted and just ‘bits’ – but enough to keep your mind busy!! I’ve always liked ‘Koans’ anyway……have a small book called ‘Course Koans!’ Hope you enjoy!
Love Jean
March 13, 2011 FACIM Seminar: “Peace to such foolishness!”
• We must make a distinction between the mind and the body and the you mentioned in ACIM is not the you (body & personality – puppet) you think you are, but rather your decision-making mind (puppeteer).
• If the above two ideas are not understood, you will misunderstand what ACIM is conveying.
• What we get saved from is our mind’s decision for the ego.
• There is no way our dualistic brain can understand nonduality.
• Only God Is and there is nothing else.
• If we don’t believe this (that only God Is) ACIM will be very hard to understand.
• We think we stole life from Heaven and the resulting sin and guilt demand punishment. So we project it onto others so they can be the ‘bad guys.’ We are attracted to hearing about others’ pain because it means they got it and not us.
• You can’t judge someone that you understand. So if you understand that underlying pain and attack is fear and terror, you would never get upset with anyone again.
• Everyone who comes into this world comes with this thought system embedded into the unconscious.
• Jesus doesn’t see the body or form and so says, ‘Peace to such foolishness.’ We can do the same. How can we be upset by what doesn’t exist?
• The metaphysics literally means there is no world. The thought system that gives rise to it doesn’t exist.
• Learn to navigate through the treacherous waters of this world – but don’t believe it.
• The world is a projection of a nonexistent thought. 0+0=0.
• It’s guilt that made this world, and your personal world.
• “If pain is real there is no God.” Therefore, there is no Christ and thus, no Self.
• If there is God there is no personal self (identity).
• Memory is a present decision projected into a nonexistent past. Our memories are not real.
• Death proves life was of the body. Illness is an external searching, attempting to prove our individual self is real.
• Thoughts and dreams do not come unbidded. We choose them.
• Every ailment, major and minor, is the mind’s decision for guilt.
• Cause is the mind. Effect is everything we see in the world.
• Re anger: we were born angry. The world was made as an attack on God – we can’t help getting angry. Just don’t justify it.
• Don’t deny your experiences, but just because you feel something doesn’t make it real (i.e, pain, anger).
• Do what alleviates your pain; just don’t believe it.
• Don’t force yourself to accept the truth you are still too afraid of.
• Become a lucid dreamer and don’t take yourself seriously.
• There is – no guilt, no world, no body, no time.
• Memory, anger, judgment, bodies – are defenses against the Truth. Don’t give them power to take God’s peace away.
• Making the world real = sickness.
• ACIM is not against magic. It just calls a magical spade a spade.
• Guilt comes from a thought that never happened. It is the mind’s belief in guilt that is the problem.
• There is no life outside of Heaven. We think we stole it and became its creator by making sperm and eggs.
• The world is in the mind. The mind is not in the world/body.
• Half way up the ladder we realize we are a mind and not the body and that the mind is split.
• The memory of God comes to the quiet mind (not brain).
• We are an idea in the Mind of God that has never left, but are choosing to believe ‘ideas leave their source’ so we can be separate and individual.
• Right minds don’t have bodies.
• We asked God for special favor and when He wouldn’t do it we fired him and made the Biblical God who punishes us for our sins and taught Him what to believe! We love this because it proves we, as bodies, exist.
• When we don’t experience the peace of God we have thrown the Holy Spirit out. We then will project out our guilt on anyone and anything (Refer T.19.IV.A.7.2)
• When we find ourselves embroiled in this wish to get rid of God, and are thus, not at peace, remember Ch.5.VII.7-11. (I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace…)
• Only God is real. Anything that doesn’t see commonality and Oneness is a lie.
• If we watch the news with Jesus, we would feel the pain of EVERYONE, victimizers as well as victims.
• We take the nothingness of ego as a defense of everything that we are.
• The world was made by a thought of nothingness, solidified by our guilt. The people most ingenious in this often win the Nobel Peace Prize. Peace to such foolishness!
• If I can be hurt, suffer, and die it proves I am right and God is wrong. (Refer WB Lesson 190.5)
• We give the power to all things including our bodies (WB 190.5.6)
• T.27.VIII.8.4 indicates how silly it is to give the world power. The ‘trifling cause’ is the tiny mad idea taken seriously.
• Jesus is not taking us from a horrid world to a wonderful world. He wants to take us home.
• When you react seriously to things it means you are believing in the tiny mad idea. Holy spirit sees it all in gentle laughter (T.27.VIII.9) When you choose to make something important, think of this.
• There is no hope in this world. The Course is the only thing that gives hope because it tells us there is no world.
• We want to become a ‘Light of Laughing Flowers’ instead of drooping weeds.
• Health, joy and happiness is inner peace; illness is outer searching. (Refer WB 190.9-11)
Welcome to the Village Jean! and thanks for your tidbits from Temecula and Ken’s video. Lisi
As always, thank you Winnie! (Did you get writers cramp at all?!) 🙂
Thanks for your “gems” too Jean! 🙂
Hello Jean and welcome!
Most definitely Winnie’s note taking is a gift. I had mentioned once before that I sat next to Winnie during the Academy and there was no sense of hurry in her writing. Maybe because I was so drawn into the lecture that the world around me faded. But again as I had said in a previous post, there was no recording device no frantic paper turning. I did recall once having the thought that she kept her head down most of the time rarely looking up at Ken and all that thought validated for me was that I was not a person who could take notes. I had come to far not to keep my eyes and ears focused on only Ken. I don’t deny it – a completely selfish thought. I had allowed myself to take pictures during my off time and that was my gift to you all here in the Village. That was as much as I could give.
My own summation of how one could take down this kind of note taking is that Winnie knows these words like the back of her hand. Ken’s message has been consistent over the years. The information is the same, maybe the sequence changes but overall he has held nothing back over the years. He even admitted at one point in my two day stay that “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and I’ll keep saying it ….” he is a loyal servant and never tires of delivering the message. I believe Winnie has listened to most all of his recorded teachings (I can safely assume more than once). The fact that Winnie was able to take down his lecture almost verbatim I can only attribute it to her having this fantastic gift. I happen to know she has had musical training and I’m guessing this has layed down some particular form of tracking that allows her to play back whatever she hears…a sort of perfect pitch if you will. I don’t know how to explain it any other way …a gift is a gift and we are all better because she shares it so willingly.
I’m excited to know that you Jean and Melody will be attending the April lectures and that we will continue to have more contributions making there way to the Village. This has truly added to the daily Village visits.
Grateful to all for being here together and for the sharing and validating that we are as God created us.
Peace
Annie and everyone, you are so generous and loving ! …
It was no big deal taking the notes and i certainly didn`t get anywhere near all of them but i have to say i thoroughly enjoyed doing it and the joy continues still each day as i write them up. The only time joylessness momentarily entered was a few days ago when i tried to write them up quicker. I think it`s lovely that you think i have a “gift”[ although my mother always said that i`d be a late bloomer – tee hee}…….
I don`t think i`ve ever felt so appreciated in my life…..
Jean – thank you for your wonderful notes too. I did enjoy reading them.
p.s. I even had doodle time !
Melody – No writer`s cramp and the only discomfort i recall was the day i forgot to bring enough lollies.. tee hee..
Death and Dying ….March Academy 2011 ~ Part 9
Q………………………I hope this isn`t a stupid question
Ken interjects…….If it is, I`ll give you a stupid answer
Q continues ………I could dedicate all my time to the Course but what if that only amounts to 98%? Do you ever get to be right-minded 100% of the time. How long is going to take me? When is it going to happen?
Ken……………..It will never happen because you are making the error real. How long is an instant? The more you say you want to finish the more you will never finish. It wasn`t a stupid question.
Q………. I need clarification on being kind. When playing the role for being an advocate, I stop and ask for help?
Ken………That`s a good idea. When you`re excited or angry, you`ve plugged into the ego`s socket. Teachers get burnt out after a while because they are running on their own energy. When you have no investment in the outcome you will be much more efficient. What you want to know is that that really frightens you. You want to be in control. In theory we could accept the Atonement instantly, but we are so afraid. Do not deny the little steps He asks you take to Him. The bottom line for the ego is the fear of no longer existing. This is the fear at the bottom of everyone`s unconscious mind. The ego has convinced the decision-maker that the separation actually happened. We are very sure of who we are, and we want to protect and preserve our identity. One of the things that firmly establishes our identity is death. When a loved one dies or as we get older, mortality looms. A part of us is afraid. The other part welcomes it. Consciously we are afraid. Unconsciously we like it.
God had to be sacrificed so we could exist. If you are a Christian, God`s son had to be sacrificed. Sacrifice is all through the Old Testament and all through the New Testament and in most religions. Tp418 Those who fear death see not how often and how loudly they call to it, and bid it come to save them from communication. For death is seen as safety, the great dark savior from the light of truth, the answer to the Answer, the silencer of the Voice that speaks for God.
When we are afraid of death, we are saying that there is something to be afraid of. The unconscious ego that`s buried in our minds is attracted to death. Freud showed us that we act and seek the opposite of what we believe – Reaction Formation. A wonderful summary of what the world is Tp236 The world you see is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt. Look carefully at this world, and you will realize that this is so. For this world is the symbol of punishment, and all the laws that seem to govern it are the laws of death. Children are born into it through pain and in pain. Their growth is attended by suffering, and they learn of sorrow and separation and death. Their minds seem to be trapped in their brain, and its powers to decline if their bodies are hurt. They seem to love, yet they desert and are deserted. They appear to lose what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. And their bodies wither and gasp and are laid in the ground, and are no more. Not one of them but has thought that God is cruel.
We loved God and we lost him because we loved ourselves more. ……………..If you truly loved God why are you here ?
Despite his psychological sophistication, Freud did say some stupid things, so did Plato. This world isn`t God having a dream or God needing to experience himself or God at play. This world is attack on God. This Course would have you realize that you do not know the thing that you are. When you make any little judgement, a little voice says “Ah this is reminiscent of what you did long ago”……”Think not He has forgotten”. We get angry and project because we are reminded of the original ontological mistake which is ongoing.
This Course is brilliant because it gets to the root of the matter. If this is a play, and I am a playwright, why do I have to write that everybody dies in the end like a Shakespearean tragedy? The Veil of Forgetfulness is all important. Helen awoke one morning to hear in her head “Never underestimate the power of the ego” which was written into the Course as Never underestimate the power of denial.
Denial is a primitive response. We stuck our heads in the sands of the world. First we had to build beaches. You`ll never look at beaches the same again. I`m a body with my head in the sand.
You undo guilt by reversing the arrow. The Holy Spirit is no use if we don`t choose to listen to it. This is a one-handed Course. I can`t hold Jesus`hand and the ego`s hand at the same time. It`s one or the other. The ego says “If you keep holding this Jesus fellow`s hand, he`s gonna lead you back to God and you know what he wants to do to you”……….So we drop Jesus` hand like a hot potato. The ego becomes vicious. And now you stand in terror before what you swore never to look upon. Your eyes look down, remembering your promise to your “friends”. The “loveliness” of sin, the delicate appeal of guilt, the “holy” waxen image of death, and the fear of vengeance of the ego you swore in blood not to desert, all rise and bid you not to raise your eyes. For you realize that if you look on this and let the veil be lifted, they will be gone forever. All of your “friends”, your “protectors” and your “home” will vanish. Nothing that you remember now, will you remember.
Death is not something we fear. That`s Reaction Formation. Our fantasies are witnesses to the exact opposite of what we believe. Tp418The obstacle of your seeming love for death that peace must flow across seems to be very great. For in it lie hidden all the ego`s secrets, all its strange devices for deception, all its sick ideas and weird imaginings. Here is the final end of union, the triumph of the ego`s making over creation, the victory of lifelessness on Life itself.
The first half of this poem shows our resistance. The stranger is the Jesus in all of us.
STRANGER ON THE ROAD
The dead are dead. They do not rise again.
And yet I see in You a look I knew
In One so recently destroyed and laid
Away to wither on a slab of stone.
I almost could believe – but I have seen
Your blue and bloodless hands and broken feet,
The way You crumpled when they took You down.
This is a stranger, and I know Him not.
The road is long. I will not lift my eyes,
For fear has gripped my heart, and fear I know –
The shield that keeps me safe from rising hope;
The friend that keeps You stranger still to me.
Why should You walk with me along the road,
An unknown whom I almost think I fear
Because You seem like someone in a dream
Of deathlessness, when death alone is real?
Do not disturb me now. I am content
With death, for grief is kinder now than hope.
While there was hope I suffered. Now I go
In certainty, for death has surely come.
Do not disturb the ending. What is done
Is done forever. Neither hope nor tears
Can touch finality. Do not arouse
The dead. Come, Stranger, let us say “Amen.”
You said You would return, and I believed
Too long already. Now my eyes are sealed
Against the slender thread of hope that cuts
Into my calm despair. 0 let me go!
Your Word surrounds You like a golden light,
And I can scarcely see the road we walk
Because my eyes are veiled. Disturb me not,
I beg of You. I would not see You now.
Must I remember now? And yet the light
Seems even brighter, and the road becomes
A sudden splash of sunlight. Who are You
Who dares to enter into fear and death?
Your Voice reminds me of an ancient song
My lips be& to sing, although I hoped
It was forgotten. Now I hear again
A Word I thought had been forever dead,
As You had died. I cannot keep my eyes
From looking up. Perhaps I did not see
The things I thought. Perhaps this light has come
To heal my eyes and let them see again.
Lord, did You really keep Your lovely Word?
Was I mistaken? Did You rise again?
And was it I who failed, instead of You?
Are You returned to save me from the dead?
Dear Stranger, let me recognize Your face,
And all my doubts are answered. They are dead
If You are living. Let me see again,
And hope will be transformed to certainty.
The dead are dead, but they do rise again.
Let me remember only that. It was
The rest that was the dream. The light has come.
My eyes are opening to look on You.
By Helen Schucman,
April 2, 1977
From “The Gifts of God”©, pp. 103-105
Published by the Foundation for Inner Peace
Tp420 What would you see without the fear of death? What would you feel and think if death held no attraction for you? Very simply, you would remember your Father.
Wow Winnie – and again, a most sincere thank you!
Winnie’s notes are like meals and Jean’s tidbits are like snacks;just the right size for my sticky note collection. Between the two of them I am less inclined to settle for crumbs and more inclined to go for the banquet.(-: Thanks Ladies.
Winnie, spectacular notes, as usual. A real gold mine for transformation, turning our cheap iron ore into a precious metal. Many thanks, again.
Oh Pam, you paint with words of Love.
So true.
{{Annie}} Have you noticed that we all seem to take turns “painting with words”?
Morning everybody, a great day for you all. Winnie, really grateful for you, for this site, and for all the Villagers. Just printed yesterday’s post to begin my day with it. It is not a small gift to have Ken here, just at my laptop. Thanks again. And Pam, I agree with Annie about you were “painting with words”.
Lots of hugs,
Lisi
We just love you Pammikins ! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 Part 10
Ken………….I`m so glad I don`t have to ask questions
Q……………..Was Jesus Freud`s student since ACIM couldn`t have come about without him?
Ken…….. the other way round. Freud was inspired. I`m in the process of writing a book about Freud. Freud`s insights of the ego are part and parcel of what the Course represents. The Course is a complete picture. Freud wasn`t.
Q…….What I`m about to say makes me want to throw up
Ken….. I make you throw up?
Q………not you
Ken….. We gotta get a bucket
Q continues…There`s no consciousness? There`s no “I am”? It seems like the dream of awakening has two deaths. First your body dies and then your consciousness.
Ken……It seems to be two deaths but there`s only one awakening….so that`s good news, you only have to worry about one death……Hold the bucket [tee hee]
Q…………. So right minds and wrong minds continue after we die when we come back?
Ken …….. yes, as we get more right-minded, we become more identified with the right mind than the wrong mind….. that`s why some people are said to be “old souls”, like my grandson….but the process is not linear. Some people ask “when I die and come back, do I have to do the Workbook again?’ [ more laughter]
Q………..When I`m in the blue dot, how do I know I`m not in denial? I might think I`m being right-minded but I might just be in denial.
Ken….. This question is a form of the “How do I know whether I am listening to the Holy Spirit of the ego?” question. If you are really right-minded, the peace must embrace all people – that`s a good way to tell. Otherwise it`s a false sense of peace, a good feeling that tells you I got away with murder again.
Q………….I never believed in Hell. Does that mean things can only get better?
Ken….. In Sartre`s play, “No exit”, Hell is other people. Special relationships are hell. Helen`s sister-in-law said “There has to be hell for all the people I hate”. Dante`s Divine Comedy takes us from Hell, to Purgatory and then Heaven.
Q………When we choose to leave here, it should be better?
Ken……….Of course, but we have to bring everyone with us.
A question of time……
Ken ….There is no one place that gives a single coherent discussion about time. It is strewn throughout. because we can`t understand time, but we can understand forgiveness.
Now I want you to suspend everything you think you know. WB p359 Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.
On Tp550, there is a blockbuster of a sentence ->
The tiny tick of time in which the first mistake was made, and all of them within that one mistake, held also the Correction for that one, and all of them that came within the first. Linear time is unreal. Everything happened at once, all within the blue circle. For every wrong-minded thought, there was a right-minded thought side by side. The correction for something happened was nothing happened. Each day, and every minute in each day, and every instant that each minute holds, you but relive the single instant when the time of terror took the place of love. Everything is still happening in that instant.
Nothing so blinding as perception of time. Everything bespeaks of time. In time this happened long ago and what seemed to happen long ago is still happening. We are creatures of time. Plato said that time was a “moving image of eternity”. I hate to say anything negative about Plato, but it`s not. Each fragment of a pane of glass has the same chemical composition. Each fragment of the sonship`s split mind has the same mental composition. Everyone has 100% hate in their mind and 100% love, and everyone has the same decision-making power.
We all have memories of everyone. Psychics just have the ability to tune in. It`s still part of the same lie. We are reliving the moment when the two huge dvd libraries arose, and they are complete with every single expression. It is the law of the split mind that we must choose. You cannot be neutral. You must choose. What I am watching has already happened. Everything is deja vu. Yogi Bear said “It`s deja vu all over again.” It`s deja vu all over again.
WB p298 The time is set already. It appears to be quite arbitrary. Yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. For time but seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is over. Yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us.
Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. The script is written. When experience has come to end your doubting has been set. For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again, reviewing mentally what has gone by.
We have two sets of scripts. The ego`s script is long, involved and incredibly complicated. The Holy Spirit`s script is the same script not taken seriously. You can`t just say “I dont wan`t to be in this body anymore” and just die. You`ll get another script. It does not matter when revelation comes, for that is not of time.
We like being special. We like being able to choose – it gives us power! So we don`t go anywhere near the Gold Star library. But it has already happened. The purpose of the Course is to help us not to be so afraid so that we will choose the Gold Star library. there is no step along the way that anyone takes by chance.
It`s like I go home tonight to watch a movie and I watch the movie but I`ve forgotten I`ve already seen it and how bad it was. That`s why no one is entitled to his bitterness. There must be another film. I have to choose to see it again and forgive it, because I have made it real.
The Christians say “Salvation is here, but it`s not yet”. I haven`t chosen Him as my teacher if I think that.
Time but seems to go in one direction. We don`t learn linearly. The Course is so clever. Take the workbook. It is linear. There are 365 lessons and sometimes we are told what to do every hour. The Course appears in a linear framework. He gets us to think he`s in our camp. Time is a trick.
The Gnostics were very wise but they got it wrong. The ego magician has fooled the best brains throughout history. He`s laughing up his sleeve as he thinks, “I`ve got you again!”
And all of this is protected by the double shield of oblivion.
The world of time and bodies protect us from an internal shield of guilt. The miracle undoes the first shield by getting us to look at the other shield, and then we can choose again. Tp424 Together we will disappear into the Presence beyond the veil, not to be lost but found; not to be seen but known.
Yet again, a huge thank you for these wonderful notes Winnie! They truly are a daily gift!
Wow, thank you again Winnie. I can still not believe how much lucky we are with a scribe like you.
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 11
“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.
Winnie, dear Winnie, just THANKS, and a big, fat hug.
Lisi
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 12
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.
What a great image…A great big delete button. (-:
Good morning to all~
I will continue to thank you daily, dear Winnie for your gift of writing that keeps on giving. I laughed at your post yesterday regarding your son’s computer as well as comment about Ken, yet realized – yet again, how much work is involved and the love for all of us in which you do this. This paragraph in the notes really struck me, as it is such a part of my process right now in the looking.
“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.”
Well…….I, as a decision making mind am starting to get the idea. 🙂 With the honest observation of looking without judgment, or watching myself when I do judge (many times for seeing how much I do not one to be one with “my brothers.”) Maybe some of them some of the time, but certainly not all of them all of the time….lol…..and it’s not okay any more. Peace to such foolishness! Yet…..*I cannot force this, nor “fake it.” *I must wait patiently for the change in perception/interpretation that will happen, Ken assures me….when the resistance lessens for even an instant.
Thankfully, *I continue to experience many of these holy instants. Sometimes they even last for hours or days. *I continue to do my part in the looking, realizing that *I at the non temporal abstract mind level have the power to choose, ask for Help of the memory of Love, in my right mind – and wait. The miracle has already occurred by returning to the decision making mind and asking for Help – *I just need to keep looking and watching, which will dissolve the fear. Then *I will know through experience the effect of that decision – the miracle of peace and joy. The miracle, occurs in getting from the world (form) back to the mind (content) where that choice can be made.
Interesting isn’t it, that the three day academy next week is titled “One Brother is All Brothers.” *I’m laughing gently, feeling the resistance already, yet continue to trust in this process that I have begun on this journey without a distance! 🙂
And the process continues……with gratitude and love for this safe haven in the village, where my sharing of this process, as well as all of the sharing *I read – helps me to go further with confidence and trust!
Happy Saturday to everyone!
Dearest Melody,
I couldn`t sleep just now so i decided i would make the long trek over here to my son`s donga to talk to everyone. It`s not that far away but the grass is long, wet and cold and ya have to wear thongs coz slippers would get all wet. He`s away for the whole weekend so this is a real treat.
I just woke up from a dream in which my grandson was trying to help my Scoliosis {which never hurts in waking life}by standing on my back. He was actually making it worse. I was sobbing my heart out begging him to stop but i couldn`t get the message across and kept telling him, in between sobs, to get his mother. Finally she arrived, and in that moment i became aware that somewhere deep inside me, i was actually enjoying the pain, wanting to prolong it, so that i could show her, that it was her precious son`s fault, that i was suffering. What a great dream to show the 100% hate of the ego system.
I had another excellent dream soon after i arrived home from Temecula. I was due to be executed in the evening with a couple of other people. It didn`t bother me at all, because i knew that death was nothing. I felt serene and unperturbed. The others, who were standing separate from me, were upset and frightened. Everybody else was marvelling at my state of mind.I gradually became aware that underneath my peace, were very subtle, quiet thoughts that fleeting as they were, were nevertheless discernible – and these were they – I was reveling in their admiration of me……My death was worth it if i could show them how spiritually special i was I wasn`t shocked and i didn`t judge myself but i woke up then feeling very grateful.
I miss just being able to spontaneously get online whenever i want, but hopefully soon i will be able to remedy that.
Yup I`m glad you highlighted that bit about our “having no idea how much we hate each other”. Last year, an acquaintance, who knew i was into the Course, asked if we could meet for lunch. She told me she found the Course in the late 70`s. { i`m like “wow”}
She said that she was very troubled about her adult drug-addicted son who lived at home with her and was constantly stealing from her. She told me she loved him very much but hated his behaviour. I said – You separate his behaviour because you don`t want to admit that you really hate him. With a shocked, but understanding look on her face, she said that she always thought that the hate that the Course talked about, was in other people, that it wasn`t in her.
Okay it`s Sunday morning over here but {yawns}i`m going back to bed.
P.s. It aint no work doing these notes – it`s all joy
lots and lots of love from brother winnie 🙂
Wow Winnie, I think last night was dreams night. I was coming just partially during the last days, just reading rather quickly and saying hello because I had some, I think weeks, struggling to not letting Jesus giving me his answer. I have told you about my not easy relationship with my mother, that before these last weeks, was in relatively calm for some months. Well, after her birthday party things worsen for me, in the sense that she could not say anything that not aroused in me a huge hate. Thanks to a dream I had some weeks ago about some recollections from my early childhood, I discovered that this huge defense originated when I was about 4 or 5 years old. But that is another story sometime I will tell you. Things were so bad that I decided to have some sessions with Jamie and they brought fruit. They were so helpful that a lot of things began to emerge and culminated in yesterday’s dream. First I am going to tell you what happened during the day.
Yesterday at noon I was at my mother’s home and I had a terrible and very painful experience. She began to be just as she is, saying the same old things, demanding the same old things, but in a moment I was aware of the huge hate I was feeling against her. I felt almost suffocated; I felt I could not be able to tolerate such a consuming pain. In the moment I began to be aware of the enormity of my hate something really revealing dawn on me. That hate was not about her. Could not be. It was so terribly enormous, that any one of her attitudes not deserved it. So I rushed to say good bye before something happened. I had just driven about 5 blocks when I had to stop the car. I cannot put in words what I was experiencing but in a moment the only thing I could articulate was: “Jesus, please prove me I am wrong. Please prove me I am wrong. I do not want this anymore. It is enough.” After a little while, after I calmed down a little bit, I drove home. But something really startling happened all afternoon. One after the other a lot of the shadows from my past began to emerge. I began to have recollections about a lot of my past relationships and I noticed that somehow all this relationships were connected in the sense that in their moment they served the same purpose. And I rushed to read at the text, “Shadows of the Past”, and was stunned. This section always impacted me a lot, because here Jesus describes, exactly, our hidden viciousness in all our relationships, and explains us in detail how we choose our next “victim”. All the other times I read it, I knew Jesus was telling the truth, but somehow I really did not want to associate it with my own relationships, only very superficially. But yesterday when I read it I could trace each one of my relationships to that moment in my childhood at the kindergarten.
Well that is the background. So my dream was composed by different flashes of a lot of my most painful resentments against people in my past and of course in my present. It was an agonizing dream. It was as if I was in hell. Because as the scenes from the past presented the person involved in it just looked at me and told me: “look what you are doing to me, I did not make anything to you. You used me for your wicked purposes.” Well, all the figures, about 5 or 6, one by one told me the same thing pointing a guilty finger toward me. I was so terrified that in a moment I yell to Jesus the same thing I asked in the afternoon, please prove me that I am wrong, and please help me awake from this dream. After my cry, without any effort on my part, all the accusing figures fade away, and only a deep silence and a deep darkness remain. No figures, no nothing, only silence, and again without any conscious doing a tiny, tiny light began to appear making itself bigger and bigger, until only light remained. I don´t know how much time passed before I open my eyes, but in the instant I did it a poem arose and I immediately wrote it down.
I recalled a* dream and felt comforted. Jesus´ answer was beautiful. It is an invitation to, little by little, heal my guilt through my relationships. My mother does not have to change, nor anyone else. My relationships are not here but in the mind and I am only using this film to try to be right. It is a release to be proven wrong and I hope I will be willing to let Jesus to prove me this more often.
Thanks Melody for all your last posts, I just read them in calm, and they are just great.
Lots of hugs to the Village,
Lisi
And…of course…Thanks again Winnie for the notes. I am just rushing to the Fireside to have some tea.
wow Lisi this is so wonderful! I love this bit because resistance got knocked over in the “rush” – > “I rushed to read at the text, “Shadows of the Past”, and was stunned. This section always impacted me a lot, because here Jesus describes, exactly, our hidden viciousness in all our relationships, and explains us in detail how we choose our next “victim”. All the other times I read it, I knew Jesus was telling the truth, but somehow I really did not want to associate it with my own relationships, only very superficially. But yesterday when I read it I could trace each one of my relationships to that moment in my childhood at the kindergarten.”
Big hugs to you our sweet and gentle butterfly….. Are you going to share your poem with us ?
lots and lots of love to all
Ditto Winnie, Poem Please.
Lisi…this is truly an experience to “end your doubting”… “After my cry, without any effort on my part, all the accusing figures fade away, and only a deep silence and a deep darkness remain. No figures, no nothing, only silence, and again without any conscious doing a tiny, tiny light began to appear making itself bigger and bigger, until only light remained.”
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 13
Death is a thought that takes on many forms, often unrecognized. It may appear as sadness, fear, anxiety, or doubt; as anger, faithlessness and lack of trust; concern for bodies, envy, and all forms in which the wish to be as you are not may come to tempt you. All such thoughts are but reflections of the worshipping of death as savior and giver of release.
Death is a central concept in the ego thought system. Death proves everything we thought was true, is true. Death is not what it seems.
Physical death is a symbol. It means loss. We equate death with loss. What is real is that I lost God then I project it out. God lost me – He kicked me out. Death means something is taken from me. Freud talked about introjection, a process by which a person is internalized and made a part of one`s own psyche. I cannibalized you and now that you have died, a part of me has gone.
Death is our saviour. It releases us from the memory of the true God. We worship death. It is not our experience. Feelings lie. Perceptions lie. Our experience lies. What our brains tell us is a lie. The veil of specialness tells us how to feel. Trust the little willingness.
We want to feel the sense of loss because then loss is real. I`m really saying that the loss of the Heaven is real because there is nothing else. You can`t lose an illusion. We lost Heaven and we will never get it back. At funerals we talk about God taking our loved ones. First we make God a tyrant, an ogre…. then we cover it over and say “He needs my little boy”.
Perception is interpretation. I`m not responsible for what I see, but I am responsible for my reaction to it. Lesson 5 – I am never upset for the reason I think. Lesson 34 – I could see peace instead of this.
Tp445 Damnation is your judgment on yourself, and this you will project upon the world. See it as damned and all you see is what you did to hurt the Son of God. If you behold disaster and catastrophe, you tried to crucify him. He is not talking about what you see. He is talking about whether you are affected by something you see…..and if you are, you know there is something rotten in the state of your mind. Either you crucify God`s Son or you liberate him. If you see differentiation and pain, then you know that you have chosen the wrong teacher. WB p 368 How can you tell when you are seeing wrong, or someone else is failing to perceive the lesson he should learn. Does pain seem real in the perception? if it does, be sure the lesson is not learned. And there remains an unforgiveness hiding in the mind that sees the pain through eyes the mind directs.
Almost every page of this Course says the same thing. You see the cause of your pain outside so you don`t see it inside so you can remain mindless.
Everything in this world is thought. What happens when I die? – nothing. Nothing happens before you die. Nothing happens during your life and nothing happens after you die. When you know you are a thought, your death will be nothing. There will be no pain and no guilt. It will be no big deal.
In the Kafka story, Before the Law, a young man comes to a gate but is denied entry by the guard. He sits and waits and waits. Finally he gets old and still he is denied entry. Finally just before he dies, the guard tells him that he is now going to shut the gate.
Now that`s pain.
Sickness is a little form of death. Death reminds me of the ultimate loss that I`ll never get home.
There is a soliloquy by Iago in Verdi`s opera Otello…”And then there is nothing. And Heaven is an ancient lie.”
We cover our pain with pleasure.
Jesus tells us that while we may maintain that we do not believe in the Laws of Chaos, he tells us But, Brother you do.
The ego is the lord of death and the master of life. This world is hopeless. People cling to this Course but they don`t know what it is saying. You have to do the work. Look at this illusory world with the Holy Spirit. He can`t do it for you. Forgiveness it still – because what can it do? It can`t do anything. There`s nothing to do. It`s all about going from the body to the mind.
Lisi……unbelievable….I’m going to read that section from the text this morning…..wow…..I have no words to say for your sharing of this except thank you.
Winnie, as always, my heartfelt thank you for these wonderful notes…
Gratitude and Love to you all from me….
Lisi, heartfelt thanks for sharing this with us. Wow, what a story, what an event. That’s seriously deep stuff going on. It just gets me thinking on deeper levels, going back and further back. I’m guessing the beginning of this whole problem is not far away now. So we’ll all get there soon – the peaceful calm waters after all this turbulent stuff. Ahem – the poem? Could you share it with us now that you’ve so temptingly mentioned it?
Lisi, #85…I felt as if I “landed”, reading your rich post. You describe so vividly that it is easy to put myself in that situation. I am so glad to read your experiences, and feel so close to you. There is so much gentleness around you and coming from you –
so grateful, dear Lisi
Nina
Winnie, thanks again for these notes. It’s like really doing the workshop, feeling like I hardly missed out on anything. I’ll try to find some time to put these recent notes up on the navigation bar.
glad you like them{{ Bernie dear}}…. Yes i wanted it to do this way, so folks would feel as if they were there.. I really wanted to tell all about the social side of things too, but there`s only so many words one can type in a day… In a nutshell though – being with Annie, Anne,Katrina and Zafu in wonderful America was just the bestest fun !
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 14
It seems almost certain that radiation will cross the ocean from Japan. The Course doesn`t tell you what to do. I`m not going to tell you what to do. The only way to keep peaceful is to understand that sickness, bodies and radiation are in the mind. I could see peace instead of this.
Nothing your body does can protect you in this world. In the end death will get you. Monitor your mind. Don`t see events in Japan as anything different because you would be saying that there is a hierarchy of disasters. It`s normal to have reactions, but they are bodily reactions. Don`t deny your body. This is a particularly unworthy form of denial. It is not necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful. Don`t get away from the metaphysics. This is a wonderful lesson to learn from. The ego says that there is a hierarchy of illusions.
The second half of the introduction of the WorkBook is wonderful in teaching us about generalization. Watch how you perceive a teacup and notice how much more difficult it is to perceive your boss the same way. It doesn`t matter what`s big or small. What matters is which teacher I choose.
The real immune system you want to strengthen is your mind. Vitamin C is okay, but it doesn`t strengthen your mind.
We have very little control over external events. Look at your reactions. Am I choosing the teacher of catastrophe or peace?
There is no hope in this world. The body cannot be protected. What will make you sick is identification with the body. Be normal. Do what normal people do. This whole Course is to remind you that you are a mind.
Hell is a decision the mind makes. There is a risk in thinking that death is peace.
You can`t make the body live. What the ego made to hurt us, the Holy Spirit can make to heal. Use anything in this world that`s upsetting you.
Are thoughts dangerous? Is radiation dangerous ? Is cancer dangerous? – To bodies – yes !
The happy dream in the Course is looking at the DVD and not giving it power over you. Look with eyes of non-judgement. When Helen asked Jesus what she should say when someone asked her for help, Jesus said “Don`t ask what you should say to your brother.” Ask me instead to help you remember that this is all going on in your mind, to look through the eyes of peace and then all the help of Heaven will flow through you and you will know what to say.
Don`t ask me what to do about radiation. They didn`t have radiation in my time… [everyone laughs]
Hamlet said “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. There is no right or wrong response to what happened in Japan. There is no right or wrong response to your body dying. But there is a right-minded way of looking at your response and it will be peaceful. The wrong-minded way will be full of judgement. This is a course in cause, not effect. There is nothing in this course about radiation.
Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die, by demonstrating that I live in you. Why didn`t Jesus die? – because he awakened from the dream of death. Demonstrate that my peace is living in you. That`s how you teach my message.
It`s by your peace people will learn. There are two places in the psychotherapy pamphlet where it says that healing occurs when the therapist forgets to judge the patient. People will not see us as egos when we are non-judgemental. Greedy, selfish, self-centred people always make mistakes…. – Who doesn`t that include?
The two words of salvation – WITHOUT EXCEPTION
It`s all or it`s nothing. How did the ego start? – by exclusion. We excluded God. Well nothing has happened since then. Recognize why you are excluding. If I see only one person as guilty, I am protecting the spot of darkness. I don`t have to see six billion. One will do.
Hi everybody, just returning from the accountant’s office. Since yesterday and all morning today I was on duty doing our annual taxes. Not fun at all, lots of opportunities to change perception, but, we should be normal, and normal people pay taxes!!!
Going to more pleasant things, its really nice to come to the Village and read and feel the experiences of all of you. It seems as if everybody, hand in hand, are going to the same goal, namely, Home. Lots of dreams and cool experiences. And as if that is not enough Ken’s last workshop by our scribe: WINNIE.
Now the poem. Well in reality is not a poem it is a “poem”. I use to write down little thoughts almost daily, but the most of them finish their days in the wastebasket. This one I liked it a little bit more because I think it describes fairly well my dream I share with you the other day. So here it is:
The Ghosts
Like a waterfall
all the ghosts from my past
were falling over me
but it was not a water, waterfall
It was all made of fire,
consuming fire,
searing fire,
scorching fire,
devouring fire.
Complete devastation.
And from the deepest part of the fire
a heart-rending shout:
“I don´t want this anymore”
Now, a silent silence,
No more harsh creaks,
Only ashes,
And only that
silent silence
From nowhere, this time,
A water, waterfall began to run unceasingly
clear water, fresh water, bright water,
but very soft water.
No thunder, no turmoil, no noise.
Silence, but not a silent silence.
It was a joyful silence,
so deep, so profound and all embracing,
that nothingness is no more.
No fire, no ashes, no screams,
Just Is.
Lots of hugs to all,
Lisi
That is one f a b u l o u s poem. I’m in awe. Boy, I’m glad that one didn’t make it into the wastebasket, and makes me wonder about the ones that did! And to think you hesitated to share it with us! Our lives would have been much the poorer. That clear, bright water is still washing over me…
Lisi!!!!! I’m so glad you shared that with us. Ditto everything Bernard said!
Wow!
With Gratitude and Love
Hugs, love and gratitude Winnie for these absolutely wonderful notes.
That is a splendid poem.
It was a joyful silence,
so deep, so profound and all embracing,
that nothingness is no more.
No fire, no ashes, no screams,
Just Is.
OH Lisi
that joyful silence…
I was in a similar hell-place this night, and suddenly I became aware that instead of feeding the hell with everything i did NOt want, i could open to receive solutions – whatever that might mean – suddenly I felt silence, but not the joyful you described – it was just a place where all the raging addiction to suffering was NOT.. and as soon as i noticed it, the suction for suffering came back and wham there I was again, feeling trapped. I repeated the procedure of being willing to receive solutions, and now it did not seem to have any results at all – so I gave up –
but today, the solution to my “incredible problems” were there, without me having to do anything – a person called me and told me what to do 🙂
– a little trust goes a long way –
Nina