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.
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Hugs love and gratitude to you Winnie for these notes – as well as to all of the villagers.
This paragraph speaks to me today….actually, it says it all for me today.
“Sin calls for punishment. Error calls for correction. Everybody is fighting the same hard battle. You want Jesus to be with you all the time. Be aware how quickly you turn away from him. See what you are doing. That’s the nod to God. ……. even if you don’t stop what you are doing…….even if you don’t want to stop.”
Thanks a* (:
found the song and it is light and sweet and soft…
that’s better
Hi Annie and a* and all…..
It’s kind of hard not to think of Osama bin laden – it’s all over the TV. I don’t watch much TV but got back into it in the last couple days just a bit – watched a Nat. Geo on 9/11 last night and could feel myself reliving it all again. Where I live in NY is just a little over an hour away from NYC – so we lost a number of people – 4 Firemen in my ‘home’ town. An eerie thing for me is that I was reading a book to my daughter the night before and picked up ‘America the Beautiful’ – which was the song with 2nd and 3rd stanzas – done in pictures. I wanted to read it for some reason (I’m not particularly patriotic!) and when I read in one of the stanza’s – the alabaster cities gleam………I got these chilled running up and down my arms/legs. I thought I must have had more patriotism in me than I knew. When I reflected on it a day or so later (after shock/disbelief, etc. started to wear off) I remembered this…….and just felt that minds MUST be joined….
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
But in the last 2 days I have been thinking that Osama (as all of us) is a ‘thought’ in the mind of God. So when I can step back and watch I seem to get perspective — so although I am not jumping up and down over the death of the body of the man — it is the ‘thought’ that he was – as a* said – the symbol — and although his death is not an answer – and may evoke more retaliation – I do kind of get a feeling of closure — there will be fall out – but so long as we don’t keep the thought of ‘revenge’ and ‘killing’ as the main ‘symbol’ – but rather the thought of ‘finding a better way’ – and let all of this be the means to that end — it would certainly be a healing approach. Not sure I’m clear on this – because it’s just a feeling that is hard to put into words and I suppose I also think the U.S. is not ready to let go of the ‘killing’ approach. I am never one that likes politics much because I have seen what it has done in some of my close circles – but it did seem easier to watch the Nat. Geo. on 9/11 now, knowing Osama is gone, then while he was still at large……hmmmm….even though there is no ‘death’ and he continues….at least he is out of the dream……like waiting for that ‘other shoe’ to drop and now it has…
Jean
On Osama, what a great opportunity to step back, then step back again, then step back again… We have to get so much distance from the whole thing in order to be able to glimpse it in its entirety. The Son of God just living out his dream, individually, then collectively. I’m not a me – we’re a We.
May the Son of God that we are choose to have another experience within his dream. There is a lovely, kind experience we can choose. All of us are victims, and all of us contain Love.
Blessings, dear friends.
Given that we have got everything back to front, don`t you just love the way the word “err” is spelled backward within the word “correction” ?
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 23
I`ve been asked by more than one person if I`m gonna be nice today [ lots of laughter]
Q………..I have been listening to “The ego and Forgiveness” cd
Ken [on the lookout for a bit of fun, interrupts]…… Oh that – I did
that 20 years ago
Q……. In it you talk about Lesson 134. In particular the part that says
“When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin in
any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he
did, for that is self-deception. Ask instead, “Would I accuse
myself of doing this?” When I read that I thought,
“well….no”
I had a College Professor who was very difficult to please. He
would tell me I gave excellent answers but that they were wrong.
How can I change my thinking so I can say “yes”
Ken……. If you respect someone, listen to them out of respect. Do not
take another’s path as your own, but neither should you judge it.
Don’t take their opinion as gospel truth. If that doesn’t feel right,
don’t use it. Otherwise you end up hating me and we don’t want that.
Q…….On the theme of forgiveness, could you elaborate on Introjection?
I know there is only one problem and only one answer – forgiveness.
I have been focusing on WB p 401 “What is forgiveness”..but in the
meantime we should continue with our introjections?
Ken…..Most right-minded terms are synonymous with forgiveness and miracle.
They are expressions of our going from the mindlessness to the mind.
Forgiveness is the heart of the Course. It has nothing to do with
how the world sees forgiveness. You can’t say you’ve done something –
like being born or taking a breath, or introjecting. Where do you draw the line?
What we forgive is the illusion. No matter what you did, you can see it
another way. Forgiveness as the world judges it, is very serious.
But a seeming sin has no effect so it is not serious in the
sense that it has changed you. That’s the lie.
Q……The other day {Ken interrupts to say “I was just joking the other
day!” at which we all giggle]
Questioner laughingly continues……Say someone says something I don’t
like and I don’t agree with it, but in order to be right-minded,
I respond with kindness, then that is the ego doing that ?
Ken…….. It’s not the behaviour of acting kindly. It’s thinking kindly.
What you do and what you say is congruous. It’s not behaviour. It’s
when you “put kindness on”, that it’s kindness-to-destroy.
Q…….Do you still have ego thoughts?
Ken….. That’s none of your God-damn business. [ everyone laughs
delightedly]
Same Questioner…..What do you die when you die, will your mind just be
floating away?
Ken…. Why my body dies, my mind will be hanging around you, for asking
such impertinence. [ we squeal with delight!]
Q……Can we think we will be one step closer after we die?
Ken……No, you’ll be in the same place you were before you die as before
were born born. You can’t understand this with your brain.
There is a quote from Hamlet “For in that sleep of death, what dreams
may come”. The core of the movie with Robin Williams “What
dreams may come”, is about the afterlife. The wife is caught in
a morass of guilt. The point is, all the guilt and anger is still
there. Nothing has changed.
Q…..Where is Level one and Level two on the chart…above the purple
line? below the purple line?
Ken……..Both are illusory. I formed the terms years ago when students
were obviously having a great deal of confusion which I realized was level confusion. There was an incident where a student was in the hospital very sick and other students turned up to say “ What are you doing? Don`t you know Lesson 136 Sickness is a defence against the truth. This was a direct attack. There’s a right-minded way to be kind and loving. Course students are notorious for losing their common sense. They think they are being loyal to the Course, by putting their lives in the hands of God.
w –
I’d love to know the tone of Ken’s voice when he said “That’s none of your God-damn business” – in print, it just reads whacky !! (: — but perhaps that’s because if I ever said that phrase, it would be in at least mild anger, if not outright violent anger (: —
can’t imagine for the life of me, how that phrase might have sounded… could you expand a bit more on how he sounded when he said that ?
love,
a
I am SURE Ken said it in jest! He has said that at other times……he is never ‘loaded’ (with anger) — but he does say just about ANYTHING for a laugh — and his timing can be impeccable! That’s what I love about him so much. He is very spontaneous – I was watching a PBS special on Victor Borge one night and I realized — that’s Ken!! I told him this too – that I saw that he, like Victor Borge, is a master, yet unpretentious and very funny!
Love,
Jean
I would completely agree with Jean’s answer! It’s all in fun and jest – kind of a perfect example, Ken is, IMNSHO of not taking anything too seriously! 🙂
Awesome notes, Winnie – as always thank you!
Jean #153 : Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and thoughts on 911. Definitely interesting about you picking up “America the Beautiful” and the chill you felt that night. I’m always fascinated by these kinds of personal stories and how they weave into global events.
This one mind concept is still just that for me, a concept. I can relate to feeling as One when I observe kindness in another but I still have a very difficult time feeling like One when I observe anger, resentment or fear in another. I know-dah….that’s the name of the game. Don’t take any of this seriously-lighten up Annie! I think I fall into that category of making fun serious business. So thank you Winnie for sharing the “none of your god damn business” line Ken threw out. What a clear example of live and let live. We have only ourselves to pay attention to; being congruent is an inside job and our behaviour to the outside world needs no explanation.
On that note- The Dalai Lama is visiting Southern California and spoke yesterday at USC.
The opening line of a local article starts with:
As the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama says he practices compassion to such an extent that he tries to avoid swatting mosquitoes “when my mood is good and there is no danger of malaria,” sometimes watching with interest as they swell with his blood.
May we all be in a good mood today (:
Thanks so much again for the notes Winnie. I also loved Ken´s answer: “That´s none of your God-damn business”. My Death and Dying folder is growing so I think, it is a good idea as Bernard said, to make a notebook with it when you finish.
Great day to all the Village,
Lisi
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 24
Yeah i knew you guys would love that line – i had been looking forward to delivering it { smiles happily}
a*…. yep as the gals said, it was all in the cause of fun, not a trace of anger. I think that part of Ken’s charm and effectiveness is due to his Brooklyn roots where no-nonsense is the name of the game. You tell it like it is and brook no nonsense in return which to non-brooklynians may sound harsh at times….
………………………………………………….
Q…………….I believe that the soul carries on after death…. well that`s my belief system. I have not wanted to question this belief. Is reincarnation something that you would question and then give up? I did read where it says that whether you do or whether you don’t, it doesn’t matter, but I thought you were saying that I should let it go.
Ken……………One way of knowing that you are making progress is to recognize, not just intellectually, that the “you” who is being addressed is not the person you think you are. This is being addressed to a mind. You identify more and more as mind, as a decision-making mind. This is so important. At that point, reincarnation is seen differently. On the lower rungs, if you find certain notions helpful, use them. As you make your way up the ladder, the thought system of the Course becomes more and more your own, part of your life and the way you think about everything.
All our lifetimes happened at once and in reality never happened at all. This is all going on in the mind. When I put a DVD on, I become that character. I forget that I’m watching a movie. All the while I am in the decision-maker’s chair. In the months preceding the Course, Helen had lots of visions of her past lives with Bill. This was very helpful. I remember once Bill said not too kindly that Helen was royalty. He was her slave. He had stolen a ruby from her crown. Bill had been captured. Helen couldn’t have him killed so she allowed him to wander off into the desert. They had intense hatred for each other. The next day, they fought over everything. Bill said to me “Helen’s still angry with me for stealing the ruby” !
The danger of “believing in past lives” is that somehow you may avoid responsibility. The reason I’m unhappy is because right now I am choosing the wrong teacher.
Q………Lesson 235 God in His mercy wills that I be saved and several others imply that God’s will for me is only happiness. Is that encouragement for us? Because it’s not happiness while we’re in the illusion. Also could you talk about the prayers that address “father”?
Ken…………….Clearly it doesn’t mean happiness in the dream.
Happiness is being back home and having the means to
get back home.
God’s will is practising
forgiveness. Remember I am God’s Son
not the ego’s son.
It’s important to read this as an epic poem, not a
scientific treatise.
Let the words resonate inside you. Don’t analyse it. The Course is written like a symphony. Sometimes themes come up in different keys and with different instruments. This is not only a profound spiritual teaching, but it is also a work of art. Tp520Yet must It use the language that this mind can understand, in the condition in which it thinks it is.
Jesus is our older brother who comforts us who are so fearful. An older brother can’t tell us that Daddy doesn’t know about us, so he tells us a story. The ego says we did a terrible thing to Daddy, that Daddy is coming after you. The ego says that other voice that is so lovely and sweet is really Daddy’s general and he’s gonna “get” you. None of that is true…..
Here I’m going to give you some lovely prayers to say to Daddy.
One heretical line in the Course reads “What should I do Father?” You need to understand the metaphors and their purpose. You need to understand why the Course is written this way. Do not confuse symbol with source.
Q……………………..Before I ask the question, could you please put the blue dot back in its circle? I feel uneasy when it’s out of the circle.[ everyone chuckles and Ken obliges]
When someone cuts me off on the freeway, my reaction is irritation. If I think kindly, I forgive him and I don’t accuse him. Do I feel gratitude and think what a great opportunity to feel gratitude?
Ken…………….It’s not that you feel grateful that you were cut off or stabbed or whatever. You feel grateful for the opportunity that has just come up so I can go back and choose again. The ego is never kind, so if you act kindly, it is because you chose the teacher of kindness.
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 25
[The next questioner starts speaking, but ken cuts her off. He was enthralled with her “musical” accent and just had to say so. She was from Louisiana. After the laughter dies down, she says “ Now I forget what I was going to say” to which Ken says” Good, that was my plan!” which made us laugh all over again.]
Q………………. It’s about the six stages of development. I have thought that my goal was to go through the six stages and get to the real world, but it has nothing to do with this life ? It’s only to do with my mind? Because if I am making this world up constantly then I will be wherever I am needing to be/ in and out of different lifetimes. I am not even in this lifetime?
Ken…………… The process is not linear. WBp324 For oneness must be here. Whatever time the mind has set for revelation is entirely irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was; forever to remain as it is now. We merely take the part assigned long since, and fully recognized as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation’s script in His Creator’s Name, and in the Name of His Creator’s Son.
There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand………at which point you want to throw the book at him !
Now we have work to do, for those in time can speak of things beyond, and listen to words which explain what is to come is past already. Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still, and rise and work and go to sleep by them?
Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done.
Jesus is saying that you can’t understand what I’m talking about, but you can understand forgiveness. You have to do your work in forgiving, in what you think of as “now”. We jump to metaphysics because we don’t want to get home.
Q………………………..Could you talk about our “roles”?
Ken…………………There are 2 reasons why I came to this family, this country, this circle of friends. The first one is so that I can be an innocent victim and stay rooted in the dream.
The other is so that I can awaken from the dream while still taking part in my classroom responsibilities. Be faithful to your role and your responsibilities. Some years ago, we had a student who had decided to leave his family and go away so he could “study” the Course. Gloria spent an hour trying to convince him not to leave his family for a year.. Learn that your classroom is where you are.
Nothing in the the Course tells you what to do or what not to do.
Q…………………………..Making everything about the other, I understand that’s how to get to forgiving oneself?
Ken……………………I’ve been saying that a lot recently. Come to the relationship without your neediness intruding upon it. You don’t have to be a doormat and do what the other person wants. Special relationships use, manipulate, seduce to get what I want. When you really do this right, you go from making it about you – to making it about them – to making it about us.
Relationships are a battleground for who is going to get more and make it not look like that. When you do this in a selfless way, you find our needs are the same. In almost all situations there is one person more sane than the other. I will discover the Love that is within me, so I don’t have to steal it from another person.
Q…………………..If you were teaching this same class in Japan in the earthquake region, how would you address their heightened fear?
Ken……………………..same thing
Q…………………….I need help with the role of decision-maker. I’m not at peace.
I’m not in the real world . I am dying. I’m assuming I pulled out a DVD which says I’m dying. What would motivate me to choose a torturous death, instead of an instant death?
Ken……….Why do we choose torture – there’s no real answer. You don’t know the overall plan, but there can be a right-minded purpose for choosing a torturous death. It might be the only way I can get to a point where I can say “enough already!” Atonement through suffering and sacrifice would be because you believe you’re so guilty that you deserve to suffer. We think God will punish us so we say to God “You’re very busy. You don’t have to punish me. I’ll punish me.”
We’ve usurped God again.
Same Questioner………………….Assuming I’m in torturous death mode, do I ask the Holy Spirit for help ? When does He come in?
Ken……………………It’s exactly the same process as anything else. At any given moment you can change horses, go back to your decision-making mind and choose again.
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 26
What is the resurrection? TM p68
There’s no worms in this one.
This has nothing to do with the biblical resurrection. This term in the Course is the symbol for awakening from the dream of death. When we have accepted the Atonement, there will be no more going back and forth. This will be our final step. Then God takes his final step and lifts us back to Him.
Very simply, the resurrection is the overcoming or surmounting of death. It is a reawakening or a rebirth; a change of mind about the meaning of the world. It is the acceptance of the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of the world’s purpose; the acceptance of the Atonement for oneself. It is the end of dreams of misery, and the glad awareness of the Holy Spirit’s final dream. It is the recognition of the Gifts of God. It is the dream in which the body functions perfectly, having no function except communication.
This doesn’t mean you don’t get sick. It means there is nothing more to project. Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi were very advanced souls. They both died of lung cancer. It is a big mistake to judge by symptoms and appearances. Their illnesses were wonderful classrooms for their followers.
You look like everyone else, though you smile more frequently. And I am not talking about the characteristics of your face. It is an inner smile because nothing takes away your peace.
Some classrooms seem more challenging, but that’s saying that there is an order of difficulty. The right-minded way of looking at the world is to use the world to see that there is no world. Use time to see there is no time.
You go beyond all symbols. It does not mean no sickness or disease because then you are saying that a healed body means something. This has nothing to do with judging the spiritual attainment of another by judging their body.
i>It is the lesson in which learning ends, for it is consummated and surpassed with this. It is the invitation to God to take His final step.
Learning in this world is really unlearning. We don’t learn anything through this Course. We unlearn. When we accept the Atonement for ourselves, there is no longer an ego thought system, no wrong mind, no right mind and no decision-maker. All that’s left is God.
The Course talks about God taking the last step, but God doesn’t take steps.
<It is the relinquishment of all other purposes, all other interests, all other wishes and all other concerns. I haven’t counted how many “alls” there are on this page, but there are 4 right here.
We will no longer desire the ego. When we want only God, I will come in response to a single unequivocal call.
The question Jesus would ask you is, “if that is what you want and I am handing you the means, why don’t you do it?”
Why do you not leap out of bed every day with great joy because this is a day when I can take great steps in achieving my goal ?
If Jesus tells me to be kind to everyone, why do I not be kind to everyone?
This Course would help me understand that I am not afraid of death. I am attracted to death. This Course offers me the way home……….
I like my abuse, and all my memories………..
The resurrection is the denial of death, being the assertion of life.
It is so important to really look with open eyes at what is going on inside of you . That’s your ticket home.
Everything in this world is a lie. The only thing you can say that’s true about this world is that everything in this world is a lie. My life now becomes a classroom instead of a prison.
There is a beautiful and moving section near the end of the Workbook – What am I? The ego thought system is an alien. It is a stranger that I welcomed to my house and then it just took over. At any given moment I could ask the alien to leave. It didn’t come breaking down the door. I welcomed it. Well I cant welcome Love, if I also welcome fear and hate.
All special relationships are to fill up a gaping hole – oxygen, recognition, money, a bigger house. More of something is what the ego is about..
when you feel neediness…..when you have to be with someone.
When idols are gone, I will no longer see my body as real – that’s the main idol.
If there’s a spot of darkness in my mind, I will see a spot of darkness in everyone……everyone will be contaminated. But if I choose the teacher of innocence, I will look out with a clear lens and everyone will be bathed in the light of innocence. Sorrow is not part of the physical world. There is no physical world. Sorrow is when I throw Love away and think I’ll never get it back.
In my right mind however, the world will be a place of joy.
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 27
After we came back from lunch, Ken held up a pair of glasses and asked whose they were. A quipper sang out “stop making a spectacle of yourself”. Next Ken reminded us to make sure we handed in our badges at the end of the day, and Mr quipper this time retorted with “stop badgering us”.
Then Ken asked if we could leave promptly when the workshop finished, as the theatre people needed to get it back in order as soon as possible.
This time Mr Wise Guy says “ya want us to leave now? To which Ken replied Certain people could – yeah…… We all chuckled. It was all in the name of light-hearted fun.
This entire Course is a preparation to help us die peacefully. The more we practise forgiveness, the more we will see that death is nothing.
Readiness not mean mastery. Every time we take Jesus’ hand, we are identifying more and more with our mind and death becomes less and less a concern.
If we have done our lessons sufficiently, we have speeded up our path. We’ve cancelled a lot of DVD’s from our computer. We are grateful to our teacher for having shown us another way.
S of P p17 This is what death should be; a quiet choice, made joyfully and with a sense of peace, because the body has been kindly used to help the Son of God along the way he goes to God. We thank the body, then, for all the service it has given us. But we are thankful, too, the need is done to walk the world of limits, and to reach the Christ in hidden forms and clearly seen at most in lovely flashes. Now we can behold Him without blinders, in the light that we have learned to look upon again.
We call it death, but it is liberty. It does not come in forms that seem to be thrust down in pain upon unwilling flesh, but as a gentle welcome to release. If there has been true healing, this can be the form in which death comes when it is time to rest a while from labour gladly done and gladly ended. Now we go in peace to freer air and gentler climate, where it is not hard to see the gifts we gave were sustained in us; His Voice, the Word of God, more certainly our own.
The attitude Jesus wants us to have :- WB p487 This course is a beginning, not an end. Your friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him.
-The Workbook will not fail us by reminding us that We are never upset for the reason we think. You will never again take your pains and your pleasures as seriously as you did before. Now the world is not the centrepiece. Your mind is the centrepiece. It doesn’t meant you still won’t have anger attacks, anxiety etc. They just wont last as long.
People say to me “How can you say this stuff over and over again?”
I reply that I don’t have to listen…[everyone laughs]
I come to this material for the first time every time. Death is liberty because now I don’t have to see the DVD’s on abandonment and rejection. The result of my daily work is that I get kinder and kinder.
That’s what prepares you to die. Read the Workbook. You only have to do it once, but read it – there’s so many gems in it.
Dying will be no more of a big deal that getting out of bed in the morning to have breakfast.
When things go wrong in the world – toasters don’t work, tragic news reports, automobiles break down, nails in tyres etc,, the New Age theory would be that our mind attracted these things, but that’s in the past. The law of attraction is not ACIM. The Course is which teacher do I look at this stuff with, not why has it happened.
Learning the lessons of my DVD doesn’t mean that I don’t have to come back again, but that I have learnt the lessons for his DVD. I’m liberated not because I died. Forgiveness is the key to happiness. In order to achieve this state, I have to practise right now. If I’m really serious about wanting to die a gentle death, or experience a loved one’s death as gentle, I will practise forgiveness now. I will say this is no longer ok any more when I attack – peace to such foolishness.
Before I can know that nothing happens when I die, I have to know that nothing happens while I “live”.
I could be bathed in light right now, not physically. I don’t have to die to walk in the light and have Jesus walk with me. You have to do your homework. You have to be willing to let anger go. This course helps us to realize that our individuality and specialness is just not worth it. But you have to want it real bad.
His abstract non-specific love is so all-encompassing and resplendent to experience, that more and more peace extends through me to embrace everyone without exception.
~ Death and Dying ~
March Academy 2011 part 28
If you have a poor piano teacher and you play with that teacher for many years, then you will need to spend a long time with a good teacher unlearning all your bad habits, so you can learn properly.
It all boils down to – what do we want…?
Forgiveness will work. Death is a continuation of sitting in the observer’s chair choosing dvd’s. It’s not a fairy tale. The process is very quiet. There is no fanfare or trumpets. This is what death can be if we choose it, but we have to choose it.
TM p 68 Here the curriculum ends. From here on, no directions are needed. Vision is wholly corrected and all mistakes undone. Attack is meaningless and peace has come. The goal of the curriculum has been achieved. Thoughts turn to Heaven and away from hell.
This section is for relatively advanced persons. There’s lots of “alls” in this section. The goal of this course is not Heaven. It’s peace.
To the extent that I have attacking thoughts – to that extent I am withdrawing from Love. The last illusion is forgiveness. I want to die in peace. I want to know that when I die, nothing happens. Nothing can disrupt the Love in the mind. Say “it is no longer okay” over and over again.
Otherwise what’s the point of being here? You are going to die. You’re going to take nothing with you.
As Wordsworth said “The world is too much with us”, except we gave it that power. The key part of
psychoanalysis is analyzing resistance. That’s what Jesus wants us to do, not analyze resistance, but to recognize it is no longer okay. I want to experience the resplendent love of Jesus.
The purpose of the Course is to empty your mind.
WB p360 Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is Apply this to death. I’m tired. I want to go Home. We’re worn and tired.
[I’ve written that Ken said this “quietly and expressively”. I don’t know why I made a note of that. He is often expressive and will often use a crescendo and bring home a point with a soft p.
After the break, he apologised for the air-con not working. The quipper sang out “you turned the heat on.” Ken replied “you aint seen nuttin yet.”]
TM p68 All living hearts are tranquil with a stir of deep anticipation, for the time of everlasting things is now at hand. There is no death. The Son of God is free. And in his freedom is the end of fear.
When one person’s mind is healed, that person knows there was no separation. That’s what it means to be in the real world and we are all with that person.
Wbp304 One brother is all brothers. Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth. Yet do these thoughts make clear the meaning of creation? Do these words bring perfect clarity with them to you? What can they seem to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet fundamentally not understood nor understandable.
If you really understand that, you are a damn liar. He’s not even waiting for an answer. We need to see a little, to learn a lot. What does this mean? – to practise every day. When a child bumps into you and you don’t judge them – that’s it. The kid runs into me and I don’t judge. It’s a seemingly insignificant event. The waitress spills the soup on me, or my soup isn’t hot, or she makes me wait for 15 minutes, or my child gets a bad grade. I don’t get angry or impatient. I keep practising with the little things, but I keep practising.
Page one of the Workbook says the purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see.
There are two every ones and two every things.
I could be loving to everybody but if I get angry at the little boy, it invalidates the “love” for everyone else. Nobody knows nuttin about nuttin. This is the first page. This is a very subtle training programme. ….. everyone….. everything…. every…….. no exception.
If you want to die peacefully, practise every single moment and if you don’t do that, it means you are ambivalent and very silly. Why would you throw that away for a little crumb of specialness?
If you want your students to learn, you have to motivate them. As a teacher, you want someone who wants to learn.
The awful passages are there to show us that this is what our life is like. Some you may like. Some you may resist, Just do them.
Be kind to everyone even if they are unkind. You were born having ego attacks. Be compassionate to people’s pain without exception. Practise with the little things. We need to practise a little to learn a lot. Each time we are kind, we go up another step on the ladder.
TM p 68 No hidden places now remain on earth to shelter sick illusions, dreams of fear and misperceptions of the universe. The hidden places are special relationships. They’re not there any more so there’s nothing to project. All things are seen in light, and in the light, their purpose is transformed and understood All things, all things, all things.
Do the daily work. I can’t say it often enough. Do the daily work. Practise. Love equals oneness. Forgiveness equals sameness.
TM p86There at last are sickness and its single remedy joined in one healing brightness. God has come to claim His Own. Forgiveness is complete.
And now God’s knowledge, changeless, certain, pure and wholly understandable, enters its kingdom. Gone is perception, false and true alike. Gone is forgiveness, for its task is done. And gone are bodies in the blazing light upon the altar to the Son of God . God knows it is His Own, as it is his.
There is need for correction. The error is undone.
TM p69 We have seen the face of Christ, His sinlessness, His Love behind all forms, beyond all purposes.
Everything that happens here is a lesson. I deserve better than that. The ego says”of course, you don’t, you guilty bastard”.
Be vigilant for God and his kingdom, but the motivation has to be there.
Dying will be nothing – gentle and easy. You don’t have to die to see Jesus’ pure light. No vision, however holy, lasts. I could have that right now, even if that waiter spills the soup on your lap. Make it abut him or her. I’m pretty sure that person has an ego.
When you don’t generalize, be kind to yourself.
Each time we are kind, we go up another step on the ladder.
Jesus told Helen and Bill some of the later parts of the course rest too heavily on these earlier sections not to require their careful study.
You have to want your goal so badly. You have to recognize that gathering more toys and more bodily pleasures is not going to do it for you. I don’t wish for my team to win. I wish for God’s will to be done through me.
Is anything in the world worth taking the peace of God from you?
Please ask yourself. These things await us all.
We heard God’s voice but an instant and we said “hell, no I won’t go.”
We understood what we were giving up but we like the tiny mad idea better. I saw what happened then and now.
I want my physical death to be a continuation of my learning.
In order to have that loving presence with me as I continue through the hologram, I practise now. Make changing your mind the foreground of your daily life. When we practise the Course day in and day out, we start to generalize and realize that death is no big deal.
This week is a waste if you don’t make everything about you not me. WB p365 Forgiveness is the means by which the fear of death is overcome, because it holds no fierce attraction now and guilt is gone. Forgiveness lets the body be perceived as what it is; a simple teaching aid, to be laid by when learning is complete, but hardly changing him who learns at all.
Death is a thought, a symbol of punishment. It is the symbol of nothing. The most difficult of all forms becomes nothing.
I want to dedicate my life from this moment on to seeing no difficulty in order of miracles.
~ End of workshop ~
Hi Winnie! Thanks for this. Gee….you are on #28?? How do you get so much down? I didn’t remember this line: “There are two every ones and two every things.” – I am presuming that means the right mind and the wrong mind of each one and thing! (thought I still have a hard time thinking a rock or my toaster has a wrong mind!) I really appreciated reading this – it’s like having Ken in the dining room with me (I’m in the dining room, obviously!) Anyways……thanks…..it was a GREAT READ!
Love,
Jean
winnie… this made my eyes fill up:
And now God’s knowledge, changeless, certain, pure and wholly understandable, enters its kingdom. Gone is perception, false and true alike. Gone is forgiveness, for its task is done. And gone are bodies in the blazing light upon the altar to the Son of God . God knows it is His Own, as it is his.
Thanks again for your commitment to truth. I love you buckets!
I didn’t even see that was the end of the notes! Wow, is all I can say. What a prodigious work of love and attention. Many arms full of gratitude to our Village Scribe, Winnie. I’m sure we shall all benefit enormously from these many precious pearls of wisdom. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
[[[[[[[[[Winnie}}}}}}}}} Thanks, and thanks again for this so lovely and helpful gift. Ditto all what Bernard said, and also want to give you thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Lots of love,
Lisi
The Joy of Learning
May 2011 Seminar
Today’s the end of the world, I think it is programmed for 3 pm. I say it’ll be more like 6 pm, but that’s so I can finish the seminar and get you ready for the transition.
We don’t know what joy is, and we confuse it with pain. We believe that to be in pain is joyful – that’s why we’re always in pain.
We make up a body and a world to make it impossible to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice.
What is joyful (to the ego) is anything that separates us as psychological-physical creatures, that makes the world real, and Christ, who is our self, is not real. Pain shrieks sin is real. Macrocosmically we make up the world, and microcosmically we make up our individual lives.
Bodies are propaganda for themselves. When we bleed, we’re ‘real’. When I hurt I say I’m real; my experience proves I’m here. We must make a shift from the experience of the pain back to the mind’s choice for pain – that’s the work.
Forgiveness (to the ego) is painful because it says what’s out there cannot hurt me.
As painful as these experiences might be, there’s a tremendous joy in them. What’s joyful to your Self is painful to the ego. “Of all the causes of your pain you never thought that your mind’s choice for guilt was among them.”
What is painful to the ego is forgiveness – anything that undermines the ego thought system is experienced as painful, and that’s why we don’t do it. That’s why I can study this course for ten, twenty, thirty years and I’m still judging, I’m still thinking that what someone does to me upsets me, I’m still insisting on being respected as a person
Don’t believe any ‘specific voice’ that speaks to you. You want the Love behind the voice. Everyone hears God’s Voice, but God’s Voice is abstract, not specific. We get back to that abstract Love using the symbols of the Course, and by seeing sameness everywhere. We want to find the non-specific Love behind all symbols, to get past the specifics of specialness.
When a parent takes the scissors away from an infant, it cries and screams. This is our specialness. We scream in agony whenever we think someone is taking away our specialness, our experiences of pain and hurt.
“God thinks otherwise.” Helen hated these words, they infuriated her. We so insist on our specialness and there is Jesus quietly looking on who says simply, “God thinks otherwise.”
We come here for two reasons, a wrong-minded reason to perpetuate separation through guilt and blame, and a right-minded reason to remember Love, but we can only remember the wrong-minded reason.
Don’t be taken in by the pain of others, by the reasons they give. Respect people’s experience, just don’t believe their explanation.
If I’m not happy about the world around me, I’m not being honest. I’m delighted at the terrible world around me! And I want it to continue tomorrow! Don’t believe people who are suffering – it’s their dream. Don’t become part of their insanity. You want to share your dream of sanity with them, that inside we’re all the same, we can all choose the right-minded response to pain which is to remember that nothing is really happening. How could you be upset by something that is not there?
P 443, paragraph 7: What if you recognized this world is a hallucination? Jesus is saying that we’re all psychotic! It’s sane in a two plus two equals four world (the traditional world of separation), but it is insane in a two plus two equals five world (true perception). We think there’s something here that’s affecting us. We think our life began with a sperm and an egg. How preposterous! This is why you don’t do this course. So just recognize what is going on. This is why this is not a joyful experience, because doing this course is not a joyful experience.
You always manage to use this course somehow to reinforce your personal individual existence (the separation).
This explains why you love your misery. And you love making other people miserable!
Your specialness is anything that makes this world real in your perception.
Our minds are devoted to staying asleep. And we even use beautiful words like those in the Course to stay asleep. We have forgotten the right-minded reason for coming here.
We’re unhappy learners, if you don’t wake up in the morning delighted to do your lessons.
The whole purpose of this course is to remind us why we’re here. We came into this world to retrieve our Self, and we fell asleep.
We’re here to remember. My goal is not to maximize my pleasure and minimize my pain. I’m here to remember that the separation from Love never happened.
Anything that differentiates you from another is an illusion.
We’re not asked to deny our bodies. We’re just asked not to believe in it. We’re asked to look at our investment in being different.
This course is in us – it’s already in our right minds. We’re simply remembering what is in us. This course is just an extension of this wish to remember.
Education comes from the latin, ‘educare’, to draw out, to bring out. You simply let out your wisdom. Education should be joyful. We have the same love and wisdom as Helen. It will just come out in each of us in a different form.
For this to make sense we must suspend our belief in a physical world and an individual self. This body is nothing, just a puppet. There should be a great joy in knowing this is true. We can then forgive the world for what it has not done to us. It’s the mind that places the body under the laws of ageing and sickness – not the world. We’re not asked to be at this place of understanding, but to want to be at that place. That’s an important difference.
You must give yourself totally to this course. And the way we do that is by wanting to give ourselves totally to this course. And so every morning you ask to want to take a few more steps. Then one day there will be a shift and you’ll say, oh, I see that I’m not a body.
You ask to want to take things that happen to you personally less seriously. Then we see that we made a whole universe to avoid doing just that.
We just want to monitor our experiences day by day, minute by minute. What choice am I making? And then observe how you don’t do just that.
You’ll then see the content of everything, and then you’ll wake up.
This course is all about learning to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice, but it only says one word, “Atonement”. And it doesn’t speak it as a word, but as a sound, a feeling.
It’s all about remembering why you’re here: my purpose is to remember why I’m here, to be become mindful, and to see the world as an outside picture of an inward condition, to weaken my identification with the body.
(There was then a half hour break. During the break Ken came over and tussled Pat and I a bit. He then asked us if we had fallen asleep. He said he (Ken) had and that he just kept his lips moving. What a joker.)
We don’t forgive another body – that’s impossible. There’s no one out there! The Course is written in this language because that’s where we believe we are, but it’s just a metaphor.
We bring all our perceptions back to their source, the mind’s decision to separate or to remember joining.
The writing of the Course by Helen is a beautiful fairytale. It’s just a symbol.
This world is an illusion. “But I can’t function like that, I need to put food on the table.” Nothing says you can’t put food on the table and know the world is not real. And you’ll probably be a lot more efficient in putting food on the table.
There is nobody out there! There is just a projection of my decision to separate. The best thing you can do is look at what you think is out there. The alarm clock doesn’t go off, the toaster or coffee machine mal functions, the person you live with mal functions (we laugh!), and we look at our reactions.
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. It’s not a sin to be afraid of Love. But it is a mortal sin to take a mistake seriously. The gentle laughter in all of us doesn’t take anything seriously.
Whenever we see something outside of us as holy we remember that the holiness is in ourselves. Otherwise you’ll just end up hating that thing or person.
We all not only hear that Voice; we are that Voice. We know that we’re nearing the perception of true joining when we start to see that there’s no real external voice of Jesus.
Whenever you experience a great work of art that makes you weep at its beauty, it’s because you’re looking at a pictorial representation of your own holiness. We are that presence of Love. This is just the set of symbols that are personally meaningful to you.
“Everyone weeps but for their own innocence” becomes “everyone weeps (right-minded tears) for the innocence that is in him, too. The words of the Course wouldn’t touch you if that holiness were not in you.
It’s not a question of getting the theology or the metaphysics right – it’s a question of getting the Love right.
We must learn to see everything as the out-picturing of your mind, the eyes of guilt or innocence. Everyone is guilty of insane crimes. Jesus says we’re all psychotic. It’s just a bad choice. And the Love that you ultimately see in me is the same Love that is in you.
We know how to make this world work for us, and when it doesn’t we know how to blame and how to suffer. But this will not bring us the Peace of God.
“I can’t be happy unless my life/boss/body/partner is not a certain way.” I want to make this world work for me – that’s still just trying to make the illusion real, and forgetting why you came here.
After a while we get tired of seducing, manipulating, and controlling. “There must be another way.” We want to then come from the world back to the mind, and we learn that the world cannot affect me, I’m a mind not in the body.
Then we see how we still insist that other people still make you upset, that you still want a better body and it’s life. And there’s nothing wrong with this – except when you take it seriously.
If you don’t wake up in the morning with joy, it’s because you still want to stay asleep. And this is not a sin. The ego is just the decision to want to stay separated. We don’t have to return Home – we are Home.
Seeing the innocence in another is seeing the innocence in me.
“The body is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt.” [Ken said this intensely – three times – looking at us very closely]
We hold on to the laws of the ego because we’re afraid of the laws of Atonement (nothing happened).
The wisdom is inside us. Otherwise you make this into an idol of specialness. That’s inevitable if you think this is a holy book. Helen didn’t think this is a holy book. She thought it was an important book, but not a holy book. The Love behind it is holy. Everything is holy, everywhere. If you sincerely perceive a person/place/book as holy, it is because it reminds you of the holiness within you. How could a book be holy? Only in psychosis.
Heaven is undifferentiated Oneness. Anything that reinforces differentiation has to be of the ego. Anything that leads to belief that the world is real leads back to the ego.
If you feel great love because of a great book or work of art and you can’t share that with everyone, if everyone is not included in that love, then you know that it’s not a right-minded perception.
Jesus opens the door and says, “Here, walk through.” And we don’t because we know we’ll have to give up our specialness and bring everyone with us equally. “Come wholly without condemnation.” And we say, “What? No condemnation, not even a little, just for this one person?” So we say, no, we won’t go. Or we say, okay, I’ll bring everyone, and my ego.
When I say I can’t bring everyone through the door it’s because I project out a split from within onto others and judge them, because there’s no one out there. So we’re actually just excluding ourselves from that Love and acceptance.
Become clear about your goal – to remember – then you’ll see everything working during the day toward that goal, and you’ll be joyful, even when things are painful.
This was a beautiful seminar. There seemed to be a lovely, warm quality in Ken’s sharing. A number of times he looked at us closely and intimately and spoke to us about the importance of remembering our holiness. At the end of his teaching he read us a prayer at the end of which there was a moving silence for a number of minutes.
I won’t get around to reading your comments tonight – sorry. Heading to bed to be ready for tomorrow.
Bernard sire – thanks for the notes. Very illuminating. Time stopped still as I read them, and thanks for including the “color” of him having said that three times intensely, and the sprinkling of other things that made the day come alive for me reading it far away.
You must have the dedication and discpline of a trained mind, or at least a mind that’s well on it’s way to being fully trained – i say that because of the discipline I preceive in your comment of heading to bed early to be ready for the morrow.
I have absolutely no discipline in that regard. I come to the Village, hopelessly addicted each day, and can rarely (never?) leave until I have read every single comment from my previous visit. (:
And sometimes even that isn’t enough, I’ll have to surf several other acim sites, until eventually, the thirst is satiated, and I can break away from the computer and move onto what needs(?) to be done next.
Lately, I’ve been … oh wait, this is the workshop page.. I better shift to the Fireside (:…
I read through Bernard’s excellent notes and marks the places I want to save in my little Acim-notes-book. Rage. I note the rage and smile. I mark more notes, the rage escalates. I become angry at the rage, notice that. mark more notes.
I cut out the notes and will glue them in – all but one has disappeared. “i have only got one measly note!!!”(rages ego.) I go back to the notes and do the process of marking the notes that i really need to hear, again. This time I am noticing even more HOW angry the ego is – how whipped it feel of “having to copy these notes to survive” – and still I mark the notes.
Will glue them in – and still only one note is there.
I return to the the notes for the third time, all the blue markings are there, and I am laughing all the way from my notebook to Kens notes. You really gottabekidding me! I click cut out for the third time
and lovingly glue them in – and all notes are there.
Thought ya’ll would like to know. There’s no power like giggles
Good morning all~ Wonderful inspiring notes Bernard – thank you so much. Only have read through them once so far, yet have copied, pasted, and sent them to myself to be re-read (many times.)
Jean – many thanks as always, for – from the heart sharing, as well as for your reminder that *I too am and can be a “symbol” for something other than “evil darkness and sin.” Said with a smile……
Giggling with you Nina….
a – can so relate to your honest ponder.
Love, Gratitude and happy learning day to all! 🙂
Sigh of relief….I sooo needed to here these reminders right now thanks brother B.
Up at 2 in the morning typing notes…you don’t need to pay for those hot air balloon flights they offer in Temecula ~ you are soaring!
Hi everybody, so all of us are really happy with these so beautiful notes. Thanks so much Bernard for this lovely and full of hope notes. Going for my second reading, I have already printed them.
Lots of hugs to all,
Lisi
How funny you need to correct #177 Bernard- I didn’t change the Name and email address space from when you used my computer (: ooopsie
how’s that for a poke in the ribs?
hmmm I really should of wrote something crazy and had fun with that!!!!
Lisi how did you sneek in before I caught the mistake?
Annie is impersonating the Mayor! Yeah, you could have really had fun with that one! I’ll let it slide, it’s too funny to change.
I’m not going to get around to typing up any notes tonight, I’m afraid. I think jet lag is kicking in late or something. We were better the last few days. Now 8 pm and we’re hitting the sack. Nightie-night, everyone (snore…)
It was a good first day Academy, will fill you in tomorrow.
Hi All, Here is the first day (yesterday’s) notes from this current workshop. It has been a very interesting one! I’ll post a day at a time for the next 2 days…..
May 22-24 Academy: 11A5 – “A Hawk from a Handsaw”: Discerning the Holy Spirit
May 22:
• Title of this academy comes from Hamlet. A ‘hawk’ can also be a carpentry tool. And a ‘handsaw’ can also be a heron. So it can be viewed either way – as carpentry tools or birds. Either way works. For this academy it is metaphor for Holy Spirit or ego.
• So how do we know which voice we hear? Do what Course says and forgive and let go of judgment; when the peace you feel makes no judgments, you know you are open to Holy Spirit.
• You will know if you consistently practice this Course which continually tells you not to make judgments.
• Special love excludes. We think there are differences ‘out there.’ Then we see hierarchy of illusions.
• No one and nothing is out there. If I am not feeling that perfect peace, my mind has chosen this.
• Do not justify any unkind thought about anyone.
• The simplicity of the Course states what is True and True and what is false is false. What could be simpler? But we thrive on conflict. It takes 2 to have a fight, make a war, or to make sickness.
• Everything in this Course is correcting the mistake of believing in separation.
• If something has no effectes it cannot be a cause – this is an important point of the Course.
• When you attack and I am not changed by your attack, it has no effect. This is how sins are forgiven. God’s eternal, unchanging love shows that the separation never happened.
• Watch yourself judge and don’t judge yourself for it. “Forgiveness is still….” (?)
• Look at your attack thoughts, and all your thoughts, but do not judge them.
• Lesson 132 ‘Ideas leave not their source. An idea cannot be projected out and make a world. God’s Son has never left his Source.
• The ego says we can make a world and project our guilt onto everyone else. We wage holy wars in behalf of Truth. It says judgment is o.k. if it is done in God’s name. The world is the projection of the ego thought system.
• When you realize there is no hope here – this is the beginning of hope!
• Ego tells us there are many choices here. This is insane. There is nothing here to choose between.
• Lesson 49: God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day. How could we hear a voice that doesn’t speak? That is soundless? You can hear it only when you return to your mind. The reflection of that voice is this book (ACIM).
• It is a recognition that what you see is an outward picture of an inner condition. The world you see is a pictorial representation of your attack thoughts.
• Ego wants to keep us separate but to throw away the sin.
• “The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself. T.27.VIII.10.1
• Ego-free people don’t come here. Why do you act so surprised all the time by ego antics?
• You need to change the cause of your stress and unhappiness. You won’t ever do this if you are looking outside.
• “The miracles establishes you dream a dream….” T.28.II.7.1 You are the cause.
• The way to discern whether it is Holy Spirit or ego is to look at the outcome. If it is not a state of peace in which EVERYONE is included, it is not Holy Spirit.
• This Course is ONLY about the mind. We need to get past words….beyond the symbol to the source. Symbols are not true. They can reflect Truth but are only symbols of it.
• Minds are transcognitive, transperceptual, and trans-spacial. Do not confuse symbol with source!
• The purpose of The Song of Prayer was to correct three major errors made by Course students within the first year of its publication. First to ask Holy Spirit. Then ask what forgiveness is. Then ask what correction is.
• Remember that the notes of the song is nothing. It is the song you want.
• Go beyond the words to the love. Don’t tolerate any thought of unkindness.
• You must feel the pain of judging other people. Twice ACIM says anger is never justified.
• Helen was not always right about hearing Holy Spirit’s Voice, particularly when it involved specifics. If she could be wrong, be very careful about what you believe you hear. Jesus is asking you to let go of judgment. Don’t believe the lies of your perception.
• Only believe the love/forgiveness that embraces everyone without exception.
• When you need to make decisions, let go of the outcome.
• We are the voice for Truth. How could we be in conflict unless we are denying this?
• Remain awake in God while in an alien land.
• If you think it is about getting a taxi cab you won’t make it up the ladder. You might get a taxi cab, however.
• This is nothing against psychics. Just don’t think this means more than being spiritually advanced.
Q&A:
• When caught in ego ecstacy, respect your fear but don’t unhold it. Try to keep the decks clear. Remember you have a split mind and be gentle and patient with yourself.
• The difference between waking dreams and sleeping dreams is that sleeping dreams can be more raw and less disguised. The ‘sensor’ has fallen asleep even though minds never sleep. So in sleeping dreams we believe we can get away with murder, while in waking dreams we know we will get caught.
• Even though ACIM teaches that we can learn our lessons gently, we do believe we believe in pain. To the ego the guiltless are guilty. Lesson 136 reminds us that Sickness is a defense agains the truth.
• As learn to be gentle and patient with ourselves we learn to be gentle and patient with the dream. As an analogy, a scab will fall off naturally and there is no need to rip it off. Be gentle and kind.
• When Helen went shopping she never experienced Jesus as judging her. If anything he aided and abetted her. She waited until her fear abated enough and then she didn’t have to do it anymore. This is how we should treat our ailments or various other aspects of our fear.
• Someone can be in their ‘right mind’ and still believe they are ‘here.’ You do not have to be a metaphysical giant to learn ACIM – just be kind.
• However, you cannot not be peaceful and still be in the right mind. When you are in the right mind and stay there – then you are in the ‘real world’ which means you have accepted the atonement for yourself.
• There are many other spiritual paths that will lead you home that don’t see that the world is not real. Intellectual belief is nothing, though.
• With sickness it takes 2 to make a conflict and 2 to make sickness. Sickness is a projected thought and it takes 2 to make separation. When someone has a symptom and someone reacts to this – if my peace is disturbed – it is saying your sickness is real and a microcosm of what I did to God. This makes it real.
• How could sickness be a part of the body? We are all inviting people to do this dance of death. Don’t let someone else’s choice effect you.
• How could Helen not do the Course? Well, H.L. Casey told her “You must be an advanced soul but you certainly don’t look it.” It seemed she would put on her costume to protect herself from people wanting to bow down to her. It was a put-on. Sometimes it seemed like the Course went through her but didn’t affect her. This was her ‘Priestess’ side.
• She always told people do ‘do what I wrote, not what I do.’
• How can I keep the ideas I feel I have now? When you feel you have ‘lost’ them it is just because you got afraid. Recognize there is fear and just keep washing the decks.
priceless, Jean !
Many thanks. I was having a blah-blah series of moments, then I came upon..
“When you realize there is no hope here – this is the beginning of hope!”
Yes ! I felt a relaxing alert peace come all over me, and I sat up in the chair smiling. The droopy weariness of the afternoon had fallen away.
many thanks again,
a
ps. Today’s lesson for me – the review Lesson 144 reviews the “The world I see holds nothing that I want”. The line above fits in nicely for today. Thanks, thanks and more thanks (:
Yes Jean – as a says – thanks thanks and more thanks! These are priceless. Had a very difficult day yesterday, even wrote a letter to Ken – and these notes hold the answer!
Gratitude and Love to all~
melody
Thank You Jean!!!!
Wow Jean after being there a year you must have notebooks full. Maybe sometime you could do a list of your favorites. Just pick one from each page or so with a short note on why it stood out for you. I think that would be cool. Thanks.
Melody – sorry to hear that the day was tough yesterday. I had a some spells of the same today and can kinda understand how it might be. And yet, i guess there’s no words really i/we can say (: — guess it’s all part of our journey, and when the heaviness vanishes, wow !! (i think i’m going to read those notes yet again tomorrow, or maybe even right now after i finish this note to you (:
All the best for a good day today.
G’night,
a
Thank you so much Jean. Your notes are really a huge gift to all of us. Just beginning my second reading right now.
Lots of hugs,
Lisi
Hi *a and all – just a short note as *I’m going to watch “Idol” even tho my favorite Haley isn’t on for the finale! Thank you for the kind words – yes – it’s all about the journey – and when the heaviness vanishes it’s wonderful.
The “stuff” that *I blamed for my difficult day (while a part of me knew that it was a decision made in the non temporal mind that I wasn’t even aware of) showed me (again) about my resistance. The “stuff” showed me how invested *I really am in this dream. So I looked, and asked J/HS to please stay close (as I told them that really means for me to stay with the choice for Them – however, it just made me feel better to ask Them to stay close to me.)
Got up this morning, read Jean’s notes, and then went and read the text. I can’t even remember what number this is, so I’ll say I’m re reading the text for the umpteenth time. (I’m in chapter 4 right now) and it, like Jean’s notes are really “speaking” to me.
As I jumped in the shower to get ready for work I said “Okay Jesus. I see again how much I want this dream to go the way I want it to. I’m fearful of some pending things. Hearing that “I am not a body” doesn’t cut it for me, cause obviously, I don’t believe that right now. So, please be my Teacher in this classroom of fear. Please let everything be okay with the doctoring and insurance issues we’re dealing with. I know this tells me – and you – how low I am on the ladder. I don’t care, tho. When Helen didn’t need you any more for her “higher shopping service” she just stopped. It’s okay for me, too to be on the bottom rungs of this metaphoric ladder. Please show us what to do about these issues we’re facing now – and please let us be joined with the memory of love in our mind. Honesty is always best, and I am trusting you more and more. Trusting that you won’t take away anything I still value – whether it is “valueless” in Reality or not. Many things are still of value to me. So, please be my Teacher, but please let my lessons be gentle as promised. Please don’t ask me to sacrifice. I don’t know what anything is for, and I do believe that. I choose you – and that is all I, as a decision making mind dreaming a very real dream that I am a body can do. So I will. I choose You. Please help.”
At this moment I do trust.
This was not a short note at all, however “Idol” is going to start in four minutes, so I’ll say bye for now…..
WIth Gratitude and Love for you all,
m
Hi All…again! OK – just finished yesterday’s notes, so will post them below. Had lunch today with Bernard and Pat — it was so nice to have a good chat with them. It was an intense academy and I think Ken is pushing us on, yet a bit more! Hope you enjoy these and thanks for your appreciative notes on the last ones!
Love,
Jean W.
5/23/11
Q&A Time:
• I have always felt that in death I would meet my loved ones again, but I am feeling ACIM is saying they are not there and so feeling this hope is meaningless.
• A: It is meaningless only from the ego. Need to see it (death) as a symbol from your right mind. The illusion won’t disappear until we are ready to let it disappear. So seeing loved ones after death can be right minded though because we will see them in the Oneness. They (loved ones/illusion) won’t disappear until you are ready for it to disappear.
• Meanwhile, try to experience the love you feel in seeing your Mom now, and then generalize it to everyone else – even me!
• A question on the difficulty of forgiveness regarding difficult illusions. A: Start where you can. As you forgive someone on the freeway for cutting you off, you will also be forgiving yourself and Hitler. (Refer WB 193 “All things are lessons God would have me learn.”)
• The decision maker is that part of our mind that chooses all the time. Will we learn with ego or Holy Spirit? We are always in a timeless moment of choosing with the Decision Maker – do I want to sleep or awaken? Don’t analyze why something happened – what matters is what will I choose right now?
• In the beginning we were One and thus, all responsible for everything that happens in the dream. Then this one mind splits further and we believe we became individuals running around thinking we are autonomous. We then then we are responsible for Hitler, or a rapist. This is not helpful. We wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning with all that guilt.
• You must ask, ‘Who is the you that is living in this world?’ What is helpful to our atonement path is to take baby steps. For example, if we get a flat tire, don’t ask why you chose to put the nail in the road – what is important is how will I deal with this now? You can have a beer with your friend and chat about how all this happened – but all that is important is what I choose now.
• Remember that all relationships have already been healed.
• All this Course is about is accepting that all of this is over and forgiven. Ego is the principle of ‘something happened.’ Everything here is proof that something happened. But nothing happened to come between you and me and the Love of God.
• Memory is a decision to choose the ego and project that into a past that never happened.
• When you judge someone, you have assigned a role to them to make you happy.
• I love when you do terrible things to me because it makes me innocent and I can point to ‘you’ as the guilty one. (Refer T.28.I.1&2)
• We pull on past memories, but this world was over long ago. We love these thoughts as they give us individuality and prove our innocence – our past is filled with sinners.
• Yes, people can do unconscionable things. What does this have to do with me?
• Hate is specific and I don’t exist – only an ‘afterimage.’ Why do I cling to guilt unless I want its effects? This is the sum and substance of this entire Course. (Refer WB 151.2)
• This is a world of differentiation. There is no point in making a world of perfect Oneness. That is what we ran away from!
• The person you think you are does not exist. This is very hard to accept and why we are so resistant.
• The Course does not place an emphasis on meditation (except for the 1-year training program) because while meditating we are not realizing our strong desire to be an individual.
• It is not about having an experience of God, but to love your brother. Your experience is worth absolutely nothing if you don’t share it with everyone.
• If your love does not extend to embrace everyone, you are not doing ACIM. A quiet time in the morning is meant to help us through our day so that every moment will be spent ‘right-minded.’
• The way to live this Course is not to think about what is wrong with this other person, but that I’m the one responsible for not feeling the Peace of God.
• No thought of unkindness is every justified.
• Ken shared a poem by Edward Markham:
He drew a circle that shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
Love and I had the wit to win;
We drew a circle that took him in.
• Be that loving alternative. That’s how you get home. Atonement is the great principle that nothing happened. So forget that slight – show them it didn’t happen by showing it had no effect on you.
• The Course is a course in undoing. Learning is undoing. Take a look at every thought, no matter how trivial. The Kingdom is you.
• It is not about having a wonderful experience of God. There is nothing wrong with meditation or breakfast. We can become ritualistic in taking a shower. All is illusion. All that is important is, are you wrong or right minded?
• To feel anything outside can affect our mind is a distortion.
• It is not about I.Q. or whether you have a defective gene. None of this has anything to do with the Peace of God. It is 2+2=4 vs. 2+2=5.
• If you judge you won’t be happy.
• Look at the problem as it is and not the way you set it up. The problem is not the tiny mad idea, but that we remembered not to laugh.
• The world does not need more messages – it needs more messengers. Be it! We are the same. We all believe in guilt. (Refer T.24.II.5)
• Be careful not to fall into the idea that my spiritual path is better than your spiritual path.
• Mother Teresa gave a talk on abortion, in which she, obviously was not in favor of it, but there was absolutely no judgment in her talk.
• Jesus told Helen: Don’t take another’s path as your own, but neither should you judge it.
• Esophas believed that truth was relative and so you could argue about different forms of truth. But the Voice that speaks for God is unified.
• Believe what you believe and don’t get caught in the ACIM wars. Don’t take another’s path as your own, but also don’t judge it.
• Don’t take a path that works for others when this one was given you.
• The message of the Universal Course is that God’s Son is sinless.
• We learn what we teach and we teach what we learn.
• You must share it with everyone; else you hold it not.
• We keep trying to prove Jesus wrong. We developed a theology based on ‘something happened’ and how God fixes it.
• The Bible shows that the whole thing is a set up – and God set it up. (Jung)
• We live with the idea that ‘you shut me out so I will shut you out.’ Jesus is beseeching us not to do this.
• If you think you have to awaken – you believe you are dreaming.
• Christ Vision shows the special ones the specialness they think they see is an illusion.
• Christ Vision doesn’t see good guys and bad guys. In the case of Bin Laden – who wins? No one. ‘Nobody knows the trouble I’ve been….’
• Forgiveness is not only the key to happiness, it leads us home. (Refer T.24.II.5-7)
• We can be still an instant and go home – but we are so terrified.
• I need you in my life as a projection of my own sin. When we argue for our specialness, we are saying we are not joined as one.
• Take a look at how you make God’s sons separate by giving them power over you. What we choose in that moment, we choose for all people.
Dear Melody – What a beautiful, heartfelt prayer, and thanks so much for taking the time to write that out. Reading your note again reminds me that I should also remind myself – “I do not know what anything is for”, and in that thought lies the path to my true freedom.
Many thanks, and love to you and all,
a
Thanks again, Jean –
Through your notes today, Ken’s love shines through more and more, and I feel more and more a subtle yet palpable lightening of my load each day. Thank you ever so much for taking the time to write out all these notes – they are truly your loving gift to us all.
Love,
a
Precious prayer, Melody, that’s the rung I’m on too.
Thank you, Melody, for your heartfelt prayer, which we all share with you. A beautiful, honest gift to us. And please know that we are all there with you on that same rung of the ladder. We are truly no different. Honestly.
Many thanks, Jean, for your great notes. I’m very grateful for the work you’re doing – it means I can truly take in this experience without being concerned for my friends here at the Village. They’re in your good hands. And thanks for the great lunch today. It was great getting to know you better. I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with a real Nu Yawker again, which I haven’t for ages! You guys have such a particular style!
I just loved your first line Melody, letting us know that Idol will be on shortly and your loyalty to the music was unchanged despite your favorite not being there. Isn’t that exactly what we are suppose to be doing? Showing up, supporting, loving everyone just the way it is and just the way it isn’t. Your parents named you well – you do hear the Song of heaven calling. I thank you for singing your prayer out loud – it’s my prayer too.
Thanks Melody for that heartfelt and honest sharing. Your prayer is just beautiful, and I think Jesus is just there with you, and with all of us, just upholding us, embracing us, so in the moment that we say, hey, hello, he is just there waiting for us.
Thanks so much Jane for this so beautiful notes. Really a great, great, help for us. I am beginning my day with them and it is quite different.
Wow, Bernard, I think you will remember this trip always. Hope you have your camera for the last days, we want to see you with Ken, Pat and Jane.
Lots of hugs to all,
Lisi
hello
meeting bernard and pat was pure happiness … a holy encounter …
wonderfully amazing like meeting long time friends that have reunited
on monday we all got together in temecula … shared some greetings and gifts and stories
we went out to dinner … dined outside in the cold night air with cold breezes blowing about … we were fireside and had heat lamps too … so we were mostly warm and cozy though surrounded by the cold … fun … loved it
meeting some of the people who participate in this site has been pure joy
in march in temecula I got to meet anne and annie and winnie and katrina … it was so much fun I was euphoric … each one of these colorful and loving characters were a delight to meet and get to know
then to meet bernard and pat was such a thrill
they are brilliant … radiating life and light
pure ease and fun
am so thankful to bernard and for bernard for all the time and work and attention he has given and dedicated to this acim village and the cast of characters that inhabit or visit
much appreciation and gratitude for bernard and for all the participants … and the silent visitors as well
this is a wonderful place full of sharings and wishes and processes of the heart and humor and stories and every manner of ponderings and insights
am loving and thankful to you
thank you
love you
zafu
oh Zafu i so want to meet you too!
Huge thank you Jean for the outstanding notes! Also, thank you to all for your very kind words.
Annie, I smiled gently at your ponder. Truth is, I was “kickin’ and screamin” and almost didn’t watch “Idol” as Jim (who was a mirror for my sentiments) was being very verbal about how all the radio stations were saying xyz about there being only a country genre – and how much more fun it would have been to have Haley on, as it is her style that is more well rounded as well as more fun….blah blah! 🙂 Then, of course there was Lauren’s song to her mom…which brought about reminiscent memories of some words of love and appreciation given to me by my daughters while they were in high school and college. This, of course brought about more thoughts of how cool it must be to be Lauren’s mom – which brought the thought of ah……yes that is soooooo cool, but it’s not the peace of God. Hmmmmmmm….
Then, there were the judges comments – which got both Jim and I going about how unfair it was to Scotty (who was our least favorite from the beginning just because he seemed to be everyone else’s favorite.) Oh my goodness – talk about watching my choice for the ego in action for the last couple of days! With fear – with judgment – with envy. So many different forms I get to see. 🙂
So? What else is new? Seeing more and more – is a chance to heal more and more. If *I choose. And *I do. Or at the very least watch myself when *I don’t! 🙂
Yes, dear Annie, *I and *you and all of us are hearing the sound of Heaven calling…..that’s what it’s all about!
Love and Gratitude to you all,
melody
“Oh my goodness – talk about watching my choice for the ego in action for the last couple of days! With fear – with judgment – with envy. So many different forms I get to see.”
What I mean by this is I have been watching the choice for the ego in action for the last couple of days in the form of fear, judgment and envy – however, the watching was done with either complete neutrality or amusement!
Zafu – what lovely words of gratitude for Bernard articulated by you that we all share – and what a fun holy encounter! Wow! 🙂