Village Square I
In our AcimVillage, we have the plane tree that stands in the central village square. Its enormous branches spread out to cover an area wide enough to provide shade on a warm day for many a traveller or tradesman. Water bubbles and trickles from a stone fountain on the eastern side. It is under the plane tree and by the fountain that wandering monks and sages have traditionally lead conversation with the local people, before setting off again on their way; it is here that the townspeople come to exchange views and thoughts on their beloved spiritual philosophy, learning from each other in kindness and wisdom.
Rules to ponder…
Study of A Course In Miracles benefits greatly from sharing our experiences in its practice. Here you can talk about what works, or doesn’t, for you, taking obvious care not to be ‘preachy’, please. We all learn best when someone talks from their own experience, rather than tries to tell us what we should be doing differently. Let’s take the position that none of us are teachers, we are all at the same point returning on the path Homeward. All of us will still be making mistakes for a while yet, so let’s be particularly humble and caring in how we deal with each other. Please keep in mind that this is a site dedicated to the approach Kenneth Wapnick takes to teaching ACIM. I shall certainly do my best to bring everyone back to the core principles as taught by him.
I would also like to point out that AcimVillage is the place to come to explore our judgments, but not to express them as judgments. If you feel you need to gripe, criticize and vent, even subtly, then contact me privately (at bernard@pauloandthemagician.com) where I will receive you with kindness and understanding. Please do not do so in the forums where I will inevitably moderate out this kind of post. Remember, you will feel better only when you are able to move past the investment in your judgments, not simply by unloading them for everyone to see. This means taking responsibility for your perceptions and acknowledging that ultimately no one has prevented you from feeling completely peaceful and safe, despite what might appear to be the unfortunate conditions of your life at this time. (I know, this is hard. Contact me if you’re struggling.)
So, two basic rules here. One, we avoid mention of other approaches to the study of ACIM (non-Wapnickian) as well as to other philosophies we might be studying. This is purely to achieve a stable, comfortable learning forum where we are all aiming at the same goal, using the same symbols and language to get there. This is not to cast any judgment on any other approaches or philosophies. ACIM is a sufficiently difficult path to undertake without bringing more confusion into our study than our minds already contain! If you have benefited from other paths and would like to share your thoughts, by all means do so. Just please do this in the privacy of your personal emails. It’s also my personal opinion (take it or leave it) that at some point a student of ACIM is much better off sticking with one set of symbols and one teacher, and working with these thoroughly, instead of getting too dispersed. Rule two, we try not to play ‘teacher’ with each other here, reminding ourselves to be humble and always equal with our brother.
Enjoy the discussion!
New Horizons
As of September, 2010, I’m proposing a direction for our study of the Course, which is to work together through Ken’s workshop The Meaning of Judgment. We’ll be using his transcript notes for this taken from the Foundation’s website (see link in the tool bar at the top of the page). Below you’ll find the notes for the section we’re currently working on. For previous sections, click on the ‘ACIM’ tab on the navigation bar, and then hover your mouse over the ‘Meaning of Judgment’ tab to choose the relevant section. I chose this particular workshop because it gets immediately into the real heart and practice of the Course while taking us through its basic principles at the same time. So, for those interested in finding out where the ‘rubber hits the road’, even though it might get a little confronting at times, then join us on this little adventure Homewards!
The Meaning of Judgment
Excerpts from the Workshop held at the
Academy & Retreat Center of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles
PART III
“THE FORGIVING DREAM” (T-29.IX), cont.
(3:1) All figures in the dream are idols, made to save you from the dream.
1. Everything we perceive and believe is outside us is part of the dream. These are the idols, and their purpose is to make the outside dream real to protect us from the dream within our minds, which we do not want to look at. Course students compromise this over and over again by trying in whatever way they can to make some aspect of the external dream reality. That is why many students place such great emphasis on seeing Jesus or the Holy Spirit as doing things for them in the world. That is a subtle way of making Them part of the illusion, whereas in the Course Jesus asks us to take the illusion to the truth, not to bring the truth to the illusion. We have a strong investment in making the outside dream real, because if it is real outside, we do not have to look at the dream within our minds. What better way to make it seem real than to have God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit operate in it?
2. That is why it is a mistake to confuse A Course in Miracles with New Age thought systems. The Course in no way compromises the truth that the entire physical universe is an illusion. But we want to make the figures in the dream reality, including the Holy Spirit and Jesus so we are protected from the underlying dream inside our minds.
(3:2) Yet they [all of these idols] are part of what they have been made to save you from.
3. These idols were made to save us from the idol we made within our own minds (the ego thought system) that says, “I have stolen from God and I now exist. I have what I have stolen. I no longer have to give it back, and I exist on my own. And now God exists outside me.” The ego begins with that initial thought of judgment, which is the beginning of the dream. It then becomes a full-blown dream within our minds that we are different from God, that we have stolen from God and sinned against Him. And our guilt over this now tells us God will punish us. This is the terrifying dream within our own minds. It is so terrifying that we do not look at it, but project it so that it now seems to be outside us. And anything that roots us further in the dream outside will nicely serve the ego’s purpose, even if it goes under the name of God, which is what religions have done for centuries. It is extremely tempting for people to do the same thing with A Course in Miracles — to bring part of the truth into the illusion, making the illusion real. If you do that, you will never get out of the dream, because you will not know it is only a dream.
(3:3) Thus does an idol keep the dream alive and terrible, for who could wish for one unless he were in terror and despair?
4. The “you” Jesus is referring to in these passages is the mind, the part of the mind that chooses — what I refer to as the decision maker. It is the part of our minds that has first identified with the ego thought system. It is a thought system of terror and despair that tells us we need to protect ourselves from the terror and despair by denying it, which means we would never look at it again. And then we project it and see it outside ourselves. That is why we need a world of specific people and specific objects. We project all of these thoughts of sin, guilt, and judgment so they are no longer seen within, but outside. As long as we believe in the reality of the idol, we will never know that the idol really rests within our own minds.
(3:4) And this the idol [anything in the world outside of us] represents, and so its worship is the worship of despair and terror, and the dream from which they come.
5. This is true for the idols of specialness we think are wonderful and make us happy as well as the idols of specialness we hate. Earlier in the text, in “The Obstacles To Peace” (T-19.IV), Jesus speaks about this in another form: “While you believe that it [the body] can give you pleasure, you will also believe that it can bring you pain” (T-19.IV-A.17:11). Pleasure and pain are opposite sides of the same illusion. Both of them make the body real because both say there is something outside us that can make us either happy or unhappy and bring us pain. The truth is that the only thing that can bring us happiness is choosing the Love of the Holy Spirit. The only thing that can bring us pain is choosing the ego. That is all. There is nothing else.
6. The lines here represent the same idea. That is why we become so invested in the world. It is easy to fall into this trap, even as a student of a course that teaches that there is no world, for we still believe that external behaviors somehow mean something. They mean nothing in and of themselves. Their meaning lies only in what meaning we give them. What is important is never anything external — not what bodies do or do not do — but our internal decision to choose either the ego and separation, or Jesus and joining. Once we focus our attention outside and believe what we do is important, helpful, healing, or loving, we are getting caught in specialness, worshipping the idol of specialness. We will think that we are serving a function of healing or love, but it really is an idol of despair and terror.
7. In worshipping the idols of specialness outside, we are worshipping not only terror, despair, and guilt, but the whole dream, of which terror, despair, and guilt are only components. We are worshipping the dream that we have what we have stolen from God and will never give it back, for now we exist as individuals on our own. We love terror, despair, and guilt, or we would not feel them all the time. We love them because they make real the thought of separation — the thought of the original judgment against God — which makes real our separate existence from God. That is why we have such a tremendous investment in our self-importance, in being a unique individual — it establishes that the dream is real. The state of terror or despair in our minds says the dream is real; the guilt and the sin are both real.
(3:5) Judgment is an injustice to God’s Son, and it is justice that who judges him will not escape the penalty he laid upon himself within the dream he made.
8. It is important to realize that the entire thought system of the ego is real within itself. It is not reality, but within the dream itself it is all very real. When we sleep at night and dream, we will experience the dream as very real. This entire world is a dream. As Jesus explains elsewhere (e.g., T-18.II.7-14), there is no difference between what we call our sleeping dreams and what he refers to as our waking dreams, such as we are experiencing right now. They are all the same — just different expressions of the thoughts within our minds. Within the ego dream, the fear of punishment is very real. Within that dream, our fear of experiencing harm — physical or emotional — is very real. We are not asked, as students of A Course in Miracles, to deny what our experiences are. We are asked, however, not to make these experiences reality. There is a crucial difference between those two approaches.
9. In other words, we all experience fear, and we believe our fear is due to something external to us that can impinge upon us. The ego interprets this as the wrath of God visited upon us — that is our experience. We may not consciously experience it as God’s wrath, but we certainly do experience fear as caused by something external to us. Remember, our own bodies are just as external to our minds as everyone else’s body is. But that does not make it reality. That is where the Christian Churches were mistaken; they took their experience of fear and wrote a theology about it. They said this is the reality of God: God sees our sin as real and has a plan to help us atone for it, basically a plan of murder. The plan then becomes one of suffering and sacrifice. If we believe we are sacrificing so God won’t be angry at us, then we will feel good about sacrificing. But that does not make it reality. Our experience is that the sun rises and sets but that does not make it reality. In reality, it is the earth rotating on its own axis that makes it appear as if the sun moves around the earth. And in fact, it is the earth that moves around the sun. Similarly, people may experience the Holy Spirit or Jesus doing things for them in the world, but that does not mean that they really are. Don’t confuse your experience with reality. The ego always interprets our experiences in order to construct a theology that serves its purposes, which of course is why we have the experience in the first place. Within our dream, whenever we make a judgment we are asserting that we are different from God; we have separated from Him, sinned against Him, and have stolen from Him. Our guilt over that will then demand that we not escape the penalty of God’s anger. This whole world, which is a world of change and death, then stands as the witness to the fact that what the ego has taught us is true. If our existence, which we call life, was ultimately stolen from God, then when God steals back the life we stole from Him we will be without life, which means we will be dead. That is the ego’s interpretation of our death.
(3:6) God knows of justice, not of penalty.
10. God’s justice of course has nothing to do with justice as we think of it. God’s justice states that nothing happened. If nothing happened, there is no guilt and no punishment. (3:7) But in the dream of judgment you attack and are condemned; and wish to be the slave of idols, which are interposed between your judgment and the penalty it brings. But we are not condemned by God. We are condemned by the projection of our own guilt, which makes up a God Who is angry. We then deny the whole dynamic and make up a world in which we are continually condemning and judging others, while believing they condemned and judged us first. But our judgment is within our minds; that is our guilt. We project it out and make up a world of idols that will punish us; and we actually think there is a world out there that affects us. This is all part of the dream, which seems very real from within the dream.
I just received a mail from the Sedona method, which I have used before as a help for letting go (= accepting) everything that comes up – for me, an excellent way to stop resisting, and even welcome the resistance – then it usually disappears. Some time ago though, I got the (ego) idea to unsubscribe from the Sedona Community – gotta be a loyal Course-student, said the ego ( which means: do O N L Y the Course, and do it zealously.)
What a blessing: surprised I opened the mail from the Sedona community, telling me that they missed me, and invited me back to read what other persons wrote when they felt stuck – and I opened a 1-minute video by Hale Dwoskin, reminding me that if I felt completely stuck, not being able to say yes to that – could I say yes to 1 % of the stuckness?
I tried that, and it said NO inside. I felt a little giggle and said to myself “could I be able to let go of the stuckness 1000-part of 1%? ” yes” said something inside, and that yes, my friends, just started a relief that still goes on, 15 minutes later. Even my skin feels different. And it was not the one thousand part of 1% that did it – it was my simple choice for yes, my willingness to accept and not judge my state of mind just one tiny tiny bit – and that YES opened the forgiveness-door wide open.
This made me see how zealously my ego has worked to be an Acim student. I feel its fear of choosing whatever that is not called Acim – and how intellectual based that thought is. Now, the Sedona-method takes me to the exact place I find myself when I forgive. And right now I remind myself that even Ken said it would be foolish not to mix two methods when they brought peace:
“In the end, however, if one’s spiritual path is enhanced by both the Kabbalah (Sedona) and A Course in Miracles, then who is to say that that is a mistake? “By their fruits you shall know them” remains the only criterion that matters. If the combined practice of these two spiritualities leads to a life of peace and love, then one would be a fool not to pursue it.”
The ego’s plan must have been to drive me so stuck into “the right way into the Acim study” that I would give it up – while now, I will just accept /not judge this ego one millionth part – and the release and accept is felt just as much as if I would have accepted it completely: the main thing is my YES – not how big this yes is. Yes is Yes, and He does the rest, as I am feeling right now.
And I give thanks for the electronic system that did not accept my un-subscribing the Sedona. Again and again I am shown how fully I can trust the process.
“Yes is Yes, and He does the rest…!!!”
Now that’s catchy Nina (:
Your Gratitude is palpable. Thanks for spreading the Joy of Yes!
Robert, what a great post. The truth is true… Such a powerful line from the Course, one I always finds brings so much peace. If this is true, then we don’t need to fight for anything. It will all fall in place in time.
Hi, Laura! Love your ‘baby student summations’! Could you give us one or two for some other subjects? Someone asked me recently how to get on with a partner. Small question, right? Now, what would a good one or two-liner be to that question?
I’m going to put Nina’s message on the Bulletin Board. It’s not only the technique described that is really interesting, it is the truth of what she is saying about the use of other paths. More on the home page.
Nina, your story about Sedona has prompted me to tell. Maybe it is time for me to reveal my dirty secret? Several months ago, I got a newsletter from the Rocky Mountain Miracle Center in Denver (I’m likely in their data base because I attended Ken and Gary Renard events there several years in a row a few years back) and one article described a group at the Center that was studying a work called The Way of Mastery. Something drew me to this. I looked at pieces of the work on line and finally ordered my own copy of it. I’ve read it through once and am on my second go. There are parts of it that make me twinge as to whether it aligns with ACIM. For the most part, it really helps me get a closer awareness of Jesus. In fact, I’m finding it rather helpful.
There! I told you.
Right now, I sort of view myself as on retreat…maybe even like Jamie was a year ago. I am living alone, and it is very quiet when I’m home from work…but I think I am actually getting back and closer to J than before my significant-other break-up, which really took my focus off of my process. I’m finding things that I used to have investment in I no longer find appealing…such as a favorite TV show I liked, certain foods I used to like. I’m trying to see the light side of everything, especially me.
Wow, Bernard, that would be hard to come up with one liners about getting on with a partner. How about this: Maybe sometimes the best you can do is recognize that everyone is having a hard path to walk, even if it looks to you like the other person is making your path harder. Cut them some slack if you can. If you can’t, okay…but maybe you can tomorrow or next week or next month.
Hugs!
There was a closing statement that we used in my Alanon group and the one line that I remember that can be used in any situation is “Take what you like and leave the rest.” Meaning that not everything you heard will pertain to you at this time. Maybe only one point out of ten made any sense to you (not that the other nine are useless or wrong,they are just not of use to you right now) so that is the one you use because that is the one that will get you moving in the direction you want to go.
I can look at other stuff now regardless of whether they are “offical” teachings or not and have a much better understanding of them because of studying the Course and sometimes “they” bring home a point that helps me understand the Course better. It is just that for now the Course is my primary “tool” for the job now.
Thanks Nina and Bernard for posting that! It’s so timely for me because I came across some “awareness” teachings a few weeks ago from which I knew right away they are totally “for me”….such clear messages and writings that I realized I was “learning” with the course already and these teachings just took it a step further for me.
BUT of course the ego came in at some point with full vengeance so to say…the guilt game about turning away from the course….puh…what a trip. But I got so much guidance from other sources that it is totaly ok to pursue other ways that now I can feel a great thankfulness for these messages to be brought into my awareness!
all is good 🙂
How refreshing – to change to see the ego as a verb – suddenly I feel more responsible when it comes to choosing it or not: and also,somehow I don’t feel so dirty rotten guilty when it is a verb…here’s a quote:
Our exploration of ego would be more fruitful if we stopped using the word as a noun, which immediately implies some “thing,” and instead thought of ego as a mental process that can occupy our attention. For this, a verb is a more appropriate part of speech. I am “ego-ing.”
The difference is subtle, but very important. If I see the ego as a separate self, some thing, then it’s easy to fall into the belief – common in many spiritual circles – that I must get rid of my ego, transcend it, or overcome it in some way. But seeing ego as a mental process, a system of thinking that I get caught in, suggests that I need to step out of that mode of thinking and look at the world through a different lens, one less tainted by fear, insecurity, and attachment.
This is a much easier and more effective approach. Rather than berate myself (or my imagined ego) when I notice myself caught up in egoic thinking, I can notice instead what is going on and step back from it. This doesn’t mean I have eliminated that way of thinking – it will surely return. But when it does, I can choose to step out of it again. Transcending the ego thus becomes an ongoing practice rather than a far-off goal. (See also my “Prayer for Peace.”)
Excerpted from Peter Russell’s essay, “There is no such thing as ego,” first published in the December 2010 issue of Noetic Now, the online journal of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, located at http://www.noetic.org/noetic/.
With permission from the publisher. © 2010
Part of the answer to the Question today seems to fit so well with the discussion that I’m including it here.
Q #606:And comparing your experience with that of others, whether they are on the same path or different paths, is a sure-fire ego way to catch yourself in irrelevant differences! We are simply not in a position to judge anything that is going on for ourselves or others, insulting as this fact may be to our egos. But in our right minds, that awareness can be a relief, for it releases us from the burden of responsibility for trying to understand what is happening — nothing is happening (T.18.IV.7)!
Realize too that the struggle between the right and wrong minds is a one-sided one. Only the ego struggles. The Holy Spirit never struggles (T.14.VII.5:2,3), for He knows the powerlessness of the ego and that there is truly nothing to battle. That realization can help you to relax and allow the process simply to unfold. Nothing needs to be forced or moved along.
Because our part in the process is so simple — which is not to say easy — we may be inclined to dismiss the power of the simple act of looking at our egos without judgment. Our ego, feverishly geared toward ceaseless activity at any cost, crusading to right wrongs and make the world — its home, not ours — a better place, is pleased when we make such an underestimation.
Is it a possibility to actually RELAX and ENJOY the process? For me NOT YET! but I’m willing to consider it as a possibility.
Nina: The noun verb identification very helpful indeed.
I like the idea of likening it to a dance;
” step back…step out of it again”
Now that is Dancing with the Stars ;p
Bev: Thanks for reminding me of the possiblities available for the choosing.
Q #606 really was on Topic. Grateful also for you taking the time to bring it here
to the Village Square and posting it on the Community Board.
Maybe it would be great if we took turns every month decorating the Community Board with Text quotes so our Mayor doesn’t have to work so hard? Your #808 post is a the perfect December reminder to just slow down;
“Nothing is Happening” – “Nothing needs to be forced or moved along”.
I’m rushing over (ok- did I not just read to slow down…geez I’m dense) to the Fireside Lounge to talk it over with Lisi. I think she would have the perfect quote and decorations for January’s Community Board.
Oh and thanks to whomever placed the coupons for the Free Hot Chocolate at the Bakery on the Community Board…mmmm goes so nicely with a warm croissant.
All, would appreciate some feedback on the topic of love in this world. I interpret the Course as follows: In “reality” there is no such thing as sin, fear, and guilt…. they are creations of the ego and part of the illusion. On the flip side of the coin, when people share about how spiritual they feel and that they love everyone… I also contend this is an illusion, it is just the flip side of the same illusionary coin.
If I suggest that someone’s love in this world is illusionary, people tend to become very defensive and I’m reminded of Jesus’ words, “I don’t ask you to give up what little you have”. My friends in study group are quite passionate that love is real in this world, the love they have for family, and even me, they contend is quite real and they feel it is real.
I contend that this confusion is akin to trying to bring Jesus into our dream instead of awakening from the dream and returning to reality. Being the sole person endorsing this position has left me wondering if I am misguided when 4-5 people all tell me I’m wrong. What do you think, am I wrong?
Hi Robert! So glad you are here. I think this is one great question and a perfect place for the concept of Non-Contende.
Of course I think you are right, because creating other identities to Love is reinforcing the illusion that there are others we can Love, versus there being others we don’t really love as much.
Yet, since the others in your group want the vessels in their lives to be people they Love, then they are definitely right, too. These are their opportunities to go Home. And if they want to feel that the Love they feel in this world is real, then that is what they need to feel at this time. Where they are at is the perfect place for them to be at this time. I think that we may only be ‘practicing’ real Love when we are here, but all expressions of Love are maximal, and therefore Real.
So, if both sides of the question are Yes, I hope I have been clear enough, hee, hee. This is a reminder of the classic Course group contention — your chance to let them believe however they define it, and for you to smile within, beam Love out, and non-contend. You are very fortunate to have a group to learn forgiveness with.
Hugs, katrina
Nina, the concept of ego as a verb is delightful! “Oops, I ego’d again” really gives the ho-hum importance of the error its due.
Robert, this is how i experience Love:
when I sit on the bus, or am at the mall, and say to myself ” i connect with the sacred essence in us all” all the people become the Son of God. The atmosphere is changed – i feel love and I feel loved. Strange people suddenly start to smile at me and speak to me. When people fight or babies scream and i remind myself that they are the Son of God, with A self, and the fighting and screaming stops, I don’t give a sh*t if love is not i n the world: what i feel is wonderful and its effects are palpable. At this moment, thinking about the Course metaphysics would be the last thing i would do – this “am i doing it right” might be ego’ing, methinks.
Each time i can find this Love when i look at another being – and stop seeing him/her as a grumpy mr/s x feels like a gift from Heaven.
You know how to open up the chat lines Robert asking all for their opinion (:
We are lining up!
But how to follow Katrina and NIna?
I haven’t much to add there …
so let me tell you that by you asking that question I realized that I needed to hear those
answers myself.
Thank you Bro!
Dear Laura, I’m so glad you ‘came clean’. It helps me come out of the closet! I don’t know about that text you read, but I dabble in other non-dual authors. I find it helps me when I find that I’ve put too much emphasis on the form of the Course, and then this leads me to taking things too seriously and to guilt because I’m not doing it perfectly. It’s so wonderful to slip out of the Course culture for a while and know that we’re all looking for the same thing. Everyone is looking to understand the nature and presence of love. We use different symbols, and some paths get caught up in making things here real, and in making our individual experience important. But ultimately it’s love that puts us all on the spiritual path, the love that is not of this world. I think the bottom line is that anything that helps us feel more deserving of love and less afraid to approach its presence, and helps us feel lighter about the path, must be in the ballpark.
Claudia, so great that you saw it’s okay, it’s really okay to look at other stuff. Taking off the pressure about getting it right is really what it’s all about. It’s about working with the symbols of love that we recognize along our path.
Nina, great idea using ‘ego-ing’ as a verb. I think there’s still something to be gained out of the good ol’ noun that it is, but it sure sounds good as a verb, too!
Bev, this was great: we may be inclined to dismiss the power of the simple act of looking at our egos without judgment. That’s really it in a nutshell. We find it easy to do the first step of find the ego in our thoughts and feelings, but we just don’t quite manage the second step always – choosing to look at our choice for guilt without judgment and with a smile. But we’ll all keep trying, right?
Robert, I agree perfectly with both Katrina and Nina. I would tend to say that, according to (Ken’s) metaphysical theory, there is no love in this world, principally because there is no actual real world here (which I do believe is a fact though that’s not necessary to do this work). When I wake up in the morning and think about the dream I had the night before in which people were loving each other, I don’t think I would say ‘there was real love in that world’. It just wouldn’t occur to me because the statement wouldn’t have any real sense – there’d be no reason to say such a thing about what happened in a dream. I would probably say to myself that I saw a representation of love in that dream. And if the love that was represented was non-judgmental and non-invested and simply peaceful, then I would probably say it was representing Love which is the essence of all that is real as Nina says (which is not physical).
If the love represented was conditional or exclusive (‘I love these people because they are my family, as opposed to those folks there who are not whom I don’t love in quite the same way’) then I think I would conclude it was still the hope of the small self to be able to maintain an identity separate from the Love that is our essence and make it seem nice and friendly (‘loving’).
I also think it is very possible to have experiences like Nina’s where by repeating a well-intentioned phrase such as “I see the Son of God in you” we are able to immediately drop our insistence on differences and guilt and just feel relaxed and open to the other. It was nice that she used the example with people on the bus and not with someone in her family. Real love applies to everyone.
But as Katrina said so nicely, the people in your group are also right because that’s what they need to experience right now. We are all here to learn together. There is surely something to learn with these people, even though they share a different point of view about love. Ken has said a number of times that one of the best examples of forgiveness is when we simply “agree to disagree” (without judging the other). Great question.
Oh, Robert, and if there’s any doubt, if you start telling people there’s no love in this world, you’ll probably have a few more than 4 or 5 people telling you you’re wrong! We all have a pretty big investment in making sure as heck love is sitting right here in my living room, in my aunt, in my dog… While we’re still terribly scared of the truth, then we’ll feel this imperative and undeniable need to make things here real by bringing love into it, and by making things here seem beautiful. I wouldn’t try convincing anyone just yet of your point of view. (And it’s always a good idea to make sure you’re not harboring a judgment or a difference here) But it’s just a suggestion. Maybe you really feel that it’s going to be good for your group to study in more depth the passages which speak specifically about the abstract nature of Love and how our goal is ultimately to remember that universal abstract Love. The Course is written on many levels, and our goal is to make our way from the specific (my brother loves me and I love him) to the abstract (there is only Love and when I remember this all I do becomes loving). But this takes a long time and can be pretty scary along the way.
It’s funny but thinking about this question about love in this world woke me up in the night. I don’t really like my thoughts in 815 very much, though I’ll leave them there. I think now I would probably say that it’s better to consider that there is love in this world while we think we are in this world, and that certainly includes all of us. It’s not going to be very helpful to us to think that love is not here because it’s somewhere else ‘out there’ in some abstract place. And it’s not really helpful to go over the idea too much that love’s not here because there is no world here, either. Some of these thoughts might be accurate on one level, but they’re not going to help us move closer to Love, which is really the only goal we have now. Trying to understand and explain the metaphysics is likely just going to get us into division and opposition and move us precisely in the opposite direction from which we want to go. I think Ken has said at times that it’s important to keep the metaphysics close at hand, but that’s not the focus of our work.
These days I feel much more inclined to look purely for what’s going to help us become less afraid of Love, period. And if that means for some people that they see love as something real and important here between people, then I guess I’d go right ahead and agree with them. Then if ever they come to me one day and say, dang, I’m really having a problem with my wife/mother/sister, then we’d just go back to the good old forgiveness process and look to see how this person might be judging himself for the same thing he is judging the person he loves, etc, and then together we’d turn toward Jesus and ask him what he thinks. So I think we could focus less on the nature of our love for another person, and more on the times when we’re pretty sure we’re not being very loving. We’d spend more time looking at our upsets and judgments than at whether we’re really loving someone else or not. If we’re being kind, patient and accepting toward another, then it’s much better to consider that real love here than to do too much thinking about it. If we can just get forgiveness right and keep practicing it little by little, day by day, with the next and then the next person who pops up in front of us, then the real nature of Love will reveal Itself to each one of us naturally. Perhaps because it’s not something we can understand intellectually but only experience. Till then it’s just discussion. Just my thoughts.
What I’m trying to do these days with everyone I meet is say to myself, the problem for both of us here is that we are both afraid of Love, what can I do or say that will help both of us be less afraid of Love? To remind this person that Jesus is not our enemy but our friend, and he is standing right next to us. And that’s all. All of us are wrong while we are afraid of Love and turning our backs on Jesus. And we will all say exactly what will be healing and kind when we do finally turn toward Jesus standing at our right hand and ask him how to be kind.
Cou cou bumpkins, I have come down from that sunflower field as it is getting a little chilly up there, fancy i might prop up the tavern bar for the winter. As i was winding my way through the woods i was filled with joy at the thought of been wrong about everything, how relaxing it felt, to not have a clue as to whats going on, and to hand over the control to my elder brother. Well needless to say the wonderful feeling passed as i pondered how much credit i might be able to stretch from the tavern owner…perhaps i could tell stories on an evening, could be a hit, aah my cup over floweth.
There was a man who was so angry with life and with God, that he climbed the highest mountain and shouted to the heavens, ” Listen up you @$£H*&%, if you don’t give me some answers right now i am gonna burn this world down, pronto” , and well sure enough God appeared and spoke.. ” Hey man, whats the problem sure i got answers for you both big and small, but first i’m little dry could you fetch me a glass of water ?”.
Still in a state of awe, Mr Angry joyfully went of to find a glass of water for God. Knocking on the first door he came too, he was razzle dazzled by the beauty that answered it, i mean she was yowzzer, hot, hot. Cut along story short years later Mr Angry is happily married, bouncing babies, CEO of an NGO etc…but all is not well, it starts with a tiny drop of rain, then the wind cuts up, and within a few hours a raging torrent has washed away Mr Angrys’ life, clinging to a table as the flood waters carry him along he scream to God – ” How could you do this to me you @$£H*&% “….Again God appears to him and says “Hey man, wheres my glass of water”.
I realise this post lands right in the middle of a flow of conversation, but life is like that i guess, your in deep conversation with someone and “ping” goes your mobile. Ok wheres the tavern gone, whoa, when did the tourist center arrive, my, my this village is on the move.
i salute you all.
Richard
Gentle thoughts on forgiveness and time…
Each day we spend playing our tapes of guilt we are refusing the forgiveness offered to us, but a forgiveness that has already happened and that we have already accepted. Time, being already over, is now simply showing us the path we took to that moment of brilliant awareness in which we fully embraced the Love offered to us. We have already accepted it – now we are just reviewing the video which shows us how long it took us to do so.
We have already been forgiven – it is up to us when we accept this as true. We have already been blessed with remembrance of our perfect innocence – we are just refusing to acknowledge it. The miracle has already happened; now we’re just stalling. I shall refuse forgiveness no more.
Bernard, two thumbs up!!
Ya Donna, # 820 definitely on message.
Richard (819) and Bernard (820), both of you said the same…we do the silliest things in the name of Resistance.
Richard –
love your story. love the writing. a somewhat similar story (but a lot more boring to read was one of many launching pads into this bizarre Village – Ken McLeod’s Awaken to Your Life – anyone read it ?)
Methinks that Richard is a Zen meister – I shall wait with bated breath for his next installment of his thinking shared here..
Bernard- like your whole sequence from #815, 816, 817, 818, 820…. Thanks, bro.
Laura – Didn’t quite conclude what you did in 823 (pls expand if possible ?), but as you can see above – love both 819 and 820.
Where’s Lisi these days ?
Dare I sign off with love ?
yes, i do (:
love,
a*
Loved Richard’s little story. I imagine that you all figured out that Richard is none other than our very own…(drumroll)… AcimPunk!! Tada! The cat’s out of the bag now, matey. He is bigtime zenmeister, methinks, too.
Lisi has been super busy lately. She sent me a note and said to say hi and big hugs all round. She’ll drop in as soon as she can.
a-Star…
Possibly, I caught a drift of “resistance” in Richard’s story about the man who does everything but get the glass of water!!! Uh, oh…do you suppose that I could be projecting my resistance onto the man in Richard’s story? I couldn’t swear he didn’t get the glass of water because of resistance…could have been distraction, boredom, something else? What do you think? Did he have an Authority Problem like me? Didn’t want somebody telling him what to do?
Bernard spoke of resistance indirectly, I believe. Whoops, there goes another one of MY beliefs…so again, could be something else. (After all, I don’t know what anything is for…so there is a high probability I am wrong…:)) He speaks of the guilt tapes that we play despite the fact that we have already accepted the fact we’re already Home. Why do you suppose that is…that we have accepted but now are reviewing and resistant in our final decision (can’t walk away from the sand box), and instead keep on reviewing and reviewing and reviewing (love throwing sand around…shovels of it, handfuls of it, buckets of it)? Sometimes I think the moment of the TMI and then God’s Correction gave us some sort of jet lag to where we have to catch up with everything. Is it because God made the correction, but we have to be totally sure that we agree with it so we won’t be sorry later…so we are peacefully satisfied with our decision for eternity?
I know, I know…speculation such as this is likely ego, since ego loves to analyze. Oh, well, now what did I do with that cup that shapes such wonderful sand castle turrets?
Sandy Hugs!
I love the sand pit analogy, and the castle-making cup! It’d fun to try to find an answer to your question, Laura, even if it is stewing with ideas. I wonder if it’s like we saw this DVD together, it’s over, it was, well, kind of really dramatic and not really peaceful but captivating in a fearful kind of way. So it’s over and we’ve turned on the lights, it’s a peaceful sunny day and there I am in the big comfy chair going over different scenes in the film and reliving them in my mind.
My pulse starts to race at the chase scene, and I get all hot and bothered at the sex scene, and yet a part of me knows I’m just daydreaming and it’s all over long ago. But I still keep going over it because just for the moment I find peacefulness a little boring. It’s only when I start to get too much into the memory of the film that I get really stressed (you know, when she murders her husband and pulls out his eyes and serves them to her lover as meatballs, etc) and then I say, ‘Hey, that’s enough. Weird is weird, now I want to remember that it’s just a silly film, and besides which, we turned the TV off ages ago.
And then I get to just go over a last few scenes of the film in my head but peacefully because now I’m really remembering it is indeed just a film. And finally I’ve rerun the enough of the film in my head and I’ve come to the point where I’m still daydreaming but the film doesn’t really interest me at all, and I’m just there as if I’m in the scene, but my eyes are now fixed on the beautiful living room I’m relaxing in and the lovely, sunny day that fills my Father’s House.
Just a thought.
nattahugs to all
Thoughts while Driving.
It’s the shortest day of the year today and dark at 5:00. As I drive home I enjoy the outdoor Christmas lights that are displayed and I’ve been thinking about Christ. As a lapsed Catholic I cannot recall any teaching about Christ and I think as a child I thought it was Jesus’ last name as in “Jesus Christ” which people still use as an exclamation around here.
So I turned to the Master ie Ken and here is his answer in Q 89
” The reason is that we have no way of conceptualizing or understanding what does not have physical (quantifiable) dimensions. And that is precisely what the Christ Self is — beyond time and space entirely. Therefore “where” does not apply — “where” always has spatial connotations, as do the terms inside and outside. We have no concepts nor a language that can encompass non-physical reality. And to take this one step further, we are trying to understand a realm of reality which we have chosen to banish from our awareness, and/or have changed its true meaning entirely. Moreover, the body (i.e., the brain) was specifically made not to understand (T.18.IX.4,5).Indeed, we can say that the Christ Self is nowhere, which is “where” we were before we took bodily form, and we will have no trouble recognizing it when we return because it is not a place, and besides, we never left.” And he goes on to clarify.
I love these last 4 words “besides, we never left.” Fits in with the end of your post Bernard.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Great Thoughts to Pondering while driving Bev!
Driving to a destination of nowhere ~ on a day we call the shortest ~ in a world where time is an illusion ~ with a brain designed specifically to misunderstand ~ and yet I do!
Now that’s a Miracle!
Better yet its a Season of Miracles – Because we say it is!
Yes indeed a Very Merry Christmas to You.
Many thanks for that post, Bev. Ken is one hell of a metaphysician! Loved yours, too, Annie!
Bev & Annie,
you made me feel like we were being unrolled from the carpet of time together.
Weeeee rolling out of the carpet of time…makes me all jiggly on the inside…these crazy bodies and their crazy sensations…
now I wish to make the carpet fly and catch a ride to San Luis Obispo, La Paz, Oslo, Nebraska, Kansas, Canada, with a quick stop to Singapore (any contractions starting/Braxton Hicks?) well, I can wait a few days and hitch a ride with Santa. I need to make sure he gets Winnie that computer because this is just ridiculous. Oh ya, I will be all over Kris Kringle’s ass if that is not taken care of!!!!
Smile Jesus Loves You!
mmmm….remember th 24th evening celebration…katrina, bev, Anil…zenbear and zafu – anybody else wanna come?
big hugs from an extremely cold Norway – thank God I will celebrate with y’all in a bit warmer climate in the Village – just below zero celcius, and snow softly falling, is the weather report – a sledge with an imported reindeer will wait for you, taking us all around the Village and ending at my cottage. Welcome all!
aloha from hawaii … it’s blue skies and bluer ocean and bright sunny warm … most beautiful time of the year … am here for 6 weeks on the north shore of oahu in haleiwa … will just have time to make and bake and decorate a gingerbread village to bring to our party … everything will be edible, so feel free to break off the gingerbread roof or the sides of the candy house and enjoy the fresh baked candy decorated houses … there’s plenty for all … may we all enjoy the party and the gathering and many thanks to nina for the celebration invitation and getting us all together in her cozy place … mahalo and mele kalikimaka and hau’oli makahiki hou!!
When I cruised over to Jamie’s site today he included this info:
“You may have noticed some recent additions to the website; namely, the sidebar now contains links to the daily lesson (listen or read), Ken’s weekly video, and his most recent Lighthouse article.”
The video is entitled “How can we be happy in the illusionary world? and it is a good listen.
I’ve decided to read the text again. When I did it with the group at the monastery I was grateful as I had not read the entire text before but some days I felt I was covering too much material. It’s interesting to reread the first 50 Miracle Principles. I wonder what I understood the first time I read them?
I love Ken’s videos! He gets alot of information out in just those handful of minutes. Still my mind had time to notice that beige is not a good color for him.
Upon reading the first two lessons I had another run away thought. If I was blind I could skip right over the first three lessons as vision would not be an issue? Does listening to the audio feed stimulate a different part of the brain? Only Ken knows for sure.
Personally, I would love our Mayor to update the recording with his soothing Aussie/French Accent.
Oh yes, where were we? (focus Annie) The Miracle Principles.
#2 Miracles as such do not matter. The only thing that matters is their Source, which is far beyond evaluation.
That should get me back on track with a little willingness.
Our study group (so many years ago) tried to “do” the text.
But we kept going deeper and deeper into the first few chapters.
Not getting bogged down, but *wowed!*
It took us a full year to cover the first 50 or so pages.
It seems the whole Course is right there.
Anne, yeah, I have tried to re-read the text and just can’t seem to get past the first few chapters. There are so many powerful nuggets of truth. I must persist, I must persist… I just couldn’t manage to do the whirlwind bus ride through the text at Jamie’s site. It was like trying to eat 300lbs of rich chocolate mousse in 24 hours. It was like, this tastes so good, why rush through it? Maybe I was getting bogged down and needed to get into speed-eating mode.
A new video today entitled New Year’s Resolutions. At the 7 min mark he talks about the meaning of “Make this year different by making it all the same.”
My understanding of that comment was that an illusion was an illusion was an illusion. Here are Ken’s words following that line.
“We make this year different by making it all the same in that we see each situation, relationship, and circumstance as the same. Everything is an opportunity for me to project my unconscious guilt onto the person or situation so I can then ask for help that I can recall the projection recognizing now that what I saw outside is a projection from inside. The darkness of sin in you is simply a mirror of the sin I made real in myself.
And now that I know that I did that I can change it. Very Simple.
When you see every day that way and every circumstance it makes life very easy and it makes your life very meaningful. The only meaning it has. It’s the meaning of going back within and releasing yourself from guilt by asking Jesus to help you look at the guilt where you placed it OUTSIDE,, where its source is INSIDE and you don,t have to hold onto it anymore.”
I really needed to hear what makes life meaningful because yesterday I had a day of hopelessness and was unable to find any meaning in the world. Thankfully today is a new day.
{{{Bev}}} Please ask for a hug the next time you get that feeling. There is always someone around the Village to help get us back “inside”. Or at least sit with you and wait it out. I’m glad today is lightening up.
bev, you can join annie and me and whoever else is walking along the white sand cove here in haleiwa (yes, I see there are a couple of others peacefully enjoying all the beauty … some are even swimming, and some are out there surfing) … something about a long walk along the nearly deserted beach, the vast open ocean, the surf is up to about 20 feet today … barefoot walking … gentle breezes … have just returned from a morning walk … the beauty and open ocean … it’s very peaceful … so very alive … inspiring and welcomingly wonderful
Thank you for the invitations Annie and Zafu. I had a friend help me thru yesterday and I have an easy time visualizing Hawaii since I was there last Jan. and google has provided me with a picture of the beach. Peace returns as I look at the waves and the beach, somehow I can hear the waves crashing on the shore.
Bev, sorry I missed your post. I hope a gentle walk along the beach will soothe your troubled thoughts. That makes four of us now strolling along and splashing our feet in the sand and water. Ah, that elusive meaningfulness. We are the proverbial fish swimming in an ocean of meaning and purpose yet unable to see it. Why does it take a lifetime for us to learn to see what is in our right and left hands?
Speaking of fish, turtles and catching a gulf stream…my thoughts took me to that scene in the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ (soon to be a classic in starmans collection) where the turtles show Nemo how to go with the flow. When I’m feeling tense, resistant just plain ole scared, I remember that scene fondly. Doesn’t always mean I can go with the flow, sometimes it just gets the flow started (salty tears just like the ocean). (:
It’s all Good.
Hang Loose my Friends and I wish you all a Beautiful Day!
remember Dory’s sing-song motto: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming….
“I am here…” I hear a whisper. Does anyone else?
Once more, that soft and comforting sound…
“I am here…”
Happy Anniversary to all! I’ve been on here for a while this morning, reviewing the whispers which are so absolutely wonderful and helpful, I almost can’t believe it. What *I am most grateful for, is that my resistance has abated enough for me to “hear.” Thank you for the wonderful anniversary gift of these ponderings!
At “The Remembered Song” site – this is the question that is posted for the day – and since, for me, it is another Answer to my “issues” (which have been resolved – thanks in large part to the magic of all of you that helped *me to change my mind) regarding Ken’s latest video, *I thought to post it. It really spoke to me this morning, as this is my whole process, and just want to post, in case it will speak to anyone else.
On this anniversary, again, I’d like to express deep gratitude and love for Bernard and the whole village/villagers. 🙂
Q #720: Over the past several weeks, I have begun to notice how often I am clamoring for attention, trying to make myself superior, trying to put someone else down, trying to be noticed, and on and on. All, it seems, being driven my by the need to feel “special.” The fact that I notice this so clearly makes me very happy, and the fact that I do not berate myself when I notice I am doing it makes me feel even happier. My question is: what do I do once I notice it? I feel like I need to do something to “change” it, but I’m guessing this is actually what I shouldn’t do. If so, what do I do with this awareness?
A: Stay with it. You are right, it is not necessary to change anything. In fact, we cannot change the illusions the ego puts forth, and trying to do so gives them a power they do not have in truth. The only requirement is willingness to recognize the ego’s antics for what they are (effects of the mind’s choice for separation), see the purpose they serve in keeping us attached to our identity with the body, and ask the Holy Spirit’s help to make another choice. This is simple enough. The problem of our fierce attachment to specialness means we do not always want the Holy Spirit’s help, because we want our specialness more. However, ******if you keep noticing/looking you will see how this specialness is the cause of feelings ranging from mild uneasiness to intense guilt, in spite of the fact that you are not judging yourself for the specialness.****** As the pain of these feelings becomes unbearable it awakens in us a deeper desire for healing, which shifts us away from the darkness of our attraction to specialness toward the light of who we truly are as God’s innocent Son.*****
It is important to remember that your increased awareness does not mean that you cherish your specialness more, now that you notice it. It means that you now know what the ego is up to, and that is very significant. When the mind chooses to identify with the body, it denies its true identity as spirit, thus obliterating it from awareness. That is why we are not aware of the choosing activity of the mind, but can become aware, as you describe, of the effects of the choice the mind makes. This awareness, brought about and fostered by looking at the specific form the choice for separation takes in our relationships, is the only way for us to learn to identify with the mind rather than with the body. **Only by learning we are minds can we use the power of the mind to not choose separation.** The awareness you speak of is a very important step out of the denial that is the ego’s cornerstone. If “not seeing” keeps us rooted in the problem of separation, “seeing’ is clearly the beginning of the solution. The ego thrives on denial; the Holy Spirit offers us awareness. To ultimately become aware of the memory of God’s Love present in our minds, we must first become aware of all the defenses we have raised against that Love. So, the only thing to do now is keep looking without judgment, but with the vigilance that is required: “…vigilance is essential. … [it] is not necessary for truth, but it is necessary against illusions” (T6.V.C8:6,9).
The important “sequence of events” to remember as you continue to look vigilantly is: 1.what you see (specialness, judgment, projection) is the effect of the mind’s choice for separation, 2. *****This choice is the true cause of all the pain and anguish in our lives and our world,***** 3. The mind has the power to choose differently. Awareness is thus the “pearl of great price” in the curriculum A Course in Miracles has set for us leading us to finally make the choice for God.
The ** added are mine, for the parts *I had been missing, hence having a problem with Ken’s latest video.
Peace to such foolishness! It’s not okay anymore!
Just adding my Happy Anniversary!!!Bernard I’m still digesting your latest journal entry. I’ve been pondering our difficulty with “acceptance” for the past couple of weeks as well and I’m also feeling that it’s so related to that very first mind decision for “different” as you say. It’s just NO to GOD. And then of course what does the HS do but ACCEPT. I’m getting better at watching myself bounce in and out of judgment and acceptance without judging. Charlie the Chooser has been very busy!
Love to everyone.
Hi, Jean. Just click on this comment and you’ll get to the right page. Then you’ll see the numbers to the right of our names on each comment. That’s the comment number that Pam is referring to. The Meaning of Judgment work we were doing was very rich. I’m trying to find the time to get it up and running again, but there have been a lot of things to manage on my side. I would like to schedule another skype meeting some time but that still seems some way off for the moment. Oh, and many thanks for your excellent notes. I’ve now put them up and you can find them under ‘workshops’ on the navigation bar at the top of the page.