Hi All,
Today I recalled that these could be easily accessed by going to the search box ROFL!
Here is my main go to site which answers the content of all questions about ACIM. It also looks at the question re: consciousness/Consciousness. It is well worth having at your fingertips. I have been allowed to post some on the site There are close to 1000 Q & As in this collection!
From The??
Q #853: Chapter 4 of "All Are Called", volume I in The Message of A Course in Miracles , goes through a lengthy description of our three selves. I got bogged down several times trying to "cut to the chase." Please tell me if I got it right: self A is the holy Son of God who for a brief moment freaked out and thereby was no longer a whole. As a result, self A realized that he was now in the land of good and evil and felt guilty for that. Next, self A figured out that if he blamed somebody else -- self B -- then he wouldn't feel guilt any more. So self B became an innocent victim of self A. Self C becomes the victim of the body and hates everybody. And around and around it goes?
A: A valiant effort, but let's see if we can get a little more clarity on this central part of the ego's myth of separation and sin, as uncovered in the Course. The description of the three selves you refer to in Chapter 4 of The Message of A Course in Miracles, Vol. I, is actually an extension to the level of the world and individual bodies of what was presented in Chapter 2 to explain the initial A-B-C split at the level of thought in the mind, prior to the projection of bodies and the world. And so it is there, in the mind, that we need to begin, if what you refer to in Chapter 4 is going to make any sense.
Beginning then at the level of mind, self A is not the holy Son of God, but an illusory thought of a separate self that we as the sleeping Son believe we have wrested from God when we wanted the separation from Him to be real. It is a fiction we have made up in our feverish ego dream and identified with, calling it ourselves. And this separate self is the original home of sin and guilt, according to the ego's story, because its life came selfishly at God's expense, destroying His Oneness to bring itself into a separate, autonomous existence.
At this point in the Son's delusional mind, there is nothing else -- no land that self A seems to occupy, no world, and no other self. Now to deal with the immense guilt his ego says is real over destroying God Himself, yes, the Son as self A would like to blame someone else, to dump the guilt elsewhere. But there is no one else to blame, no other self. So the solution, drawing on the only dynamic available in the Son's split mind -- the thought of separation -- is to separate self A into two selves, B and C, identifying with self B and pushing all the guilt onto self C. Self C, in the Son's insane imagination, now becomes the angry wrathful God who is going to punish the Son, self B, for his sin against Him. But of course, the sin and guilt in self C, now seen as separate from self B, are nothing other than the sin and guilt of self A, split off. But this is what enables the Son, now identified with self B, to believe that the guilt is no longer in him, that he is now "innocent." All of this is as much a delusional fantasy as the initial making of self A.
And so self A has seemed to vanish from the scene, leaving only self B and self C in the mind. As the Son we are now identified with the "innocent" self B, who is the potential victim of self C, in whom all the sin and guilt now reside. Again, this is all happening only at the level of thought. For the drama to play out and allow us to convince ourselves that we are truly "innocent" victims, we need a world of time and space and, in particular, bodies. For bodies are vulnerable and weak, and demonstrate quite convincingly that we are powerless to change in any significant way what happens to us -- clear-cut criteria for victimhood. And so the mind seems to fragment into millions of pieces, but each fragment retains that same progression from a guilty self A to an innocent self B, with all the guilt now residing in a guilty self C, the self split off from self A that we no longer identify with. And every fragment in the Son's mind seems to play out this conflict, now projected from the mind onto the screen of the world, each desperately attempting to affirm its innocence by demonstrating everyone else's guilt. And you need a body to be able to point the finger of blame. Except that every fragment is trying to play the same blame game. And so to ourselves, we are each an innocent self B, but to everyone else, we're another victimizing self C. And the guilt is swapped back and forth, but its reality is never questioned.
It is only when we can shift our identification away from the B-C split in the world back to the guilty but forgotten self A in the mind that we can begin to look at our own guilt, which has nothing to do with the seeming relationship between B and C in the world. For they are only shadows of the thought of guilt in the mind. And when we return our attention to the illusory self A in the mind, we can at last begin to question the reality of the guilt. It is through this process of recognizing first where the guilt originates, and then questioning its reality, which is what the Course means by forgiveness, that we begin to remember the truly innocent self A' that we all share (see chapter 5 of volume I of The Message ). At the same time, while we still remain identified with the body in the world, we will begin to see self B' and self C' as the same, rather than as different -- both caught in an insane thought system, believing that guilt is real and desperately looking to escape it. Over time, as we practice forgiveness, we will identify more and more with the innocent self A', a reflection of our true Self as Christ, Who has nothing to do with any As or Bs or Cs.
For additional discussion of the splits in the mind which are expressed in the world, see Questions #176 and #630.
For more on the four splits:
Q #630: I remember hearing Ken Wapnick, on a workshop tape, say that as the wrong mind splits the right mind also splits. Would you review these right-minded splits?
A: The right-minded splits are not splits per se but are simply the Holy Spirit's corrections for the deceptions of the ego's wrong-minded splits. Since we find ourselves self-identified as bodies in the world, at the end of the series of splits the ego has led us along to take us as far away as it possibly can from the truth of Who we are as spirit, the right-minded answer is simply the undoing of those splits, in reverse order.
Briefly, the ego's first split is what seems to cast us out of the oneness of Heaven, beginning the dream of separation which seems to establish us as a separate mind that has consciousness and independence from its Source. At this point, our illusory independent existence is very vulnerable, very fragile, since it takes very little to remember our reality as God's only Son, perfectly joined with Him and perfectly at peace, which is what the Holy Spirit in our mind represents. And so to protect our individuality, the second split involves our choice to identify completely with the ego and split the Holy Spirit off from our awareness, thereby forgetting that the ego is a choice we have made and not our reality.
The third ego split encompasses the ego's ingenious myth of sin, guilt and fear, in which we view the separation not only as real, but as a sinful attack on God, destroying Him as a consequence of having disrupted the perfect unity of Heaven in which God has His Being. The guilt over this sin is overwhelming and **our only defense against it, if it is real, is to split the sin and guilt off, projecting them outside ourselves onto a made-up God,** Who becomes the wrathful avenger, intent on vengeance against us for our sin against Him.
But, as with each of the ego's splits, this leads to its own set of problems, requiring yet another defensive split. For if I exist in the mind with this maniacal God, bent on my destruction, I need to escape. And so the fourth and final split involves projecting my own identity out into a world of form and bodies, escaping my mind and hiding in the world. But what the ego has failed to tell me is that this solution involves the projection of all the contents of my wrong-mind into the world of form, so that I now live in a world of fear. For the sin and guilt are all still around me, but now external to me in the world and in all my relationships. And so the original vulnerability and fragility of the thought of separation in my mind is now the basis of my identity as a body in the world. Of course, the advantage of this final arrangement is that I am still an individual, but it seems that forces beyond my control have brought about my existence. And if I am the innocent victim of the sinful, guilty world, how can I be held accountable for that original attack on God. How could I possibly be that powerful? Just look at this pathetically weak self I am, despite my best efforts to strengthen and protect myself physically, psychologically and emotionally against a hostile world!
And so it is here we find ourselves, as far removed from our true Identity as spirit as the ego could possibly entice us to go. And it is with this fourth split that the right-minded correction must begin. We are not asked to deny our experience of ourselves as bodies in the world -- the result of the fourth split -- but to be open to a different interpretation of that experience. Rather than focusing on differences as the ego has encouraged us to do -- seeing my innocence as dependent on proving your guilt -- A Course in Miracles is inviting us first to begin to recognize that we are all the same, struggling with our feelings of guilt by trying to project them on to everyone else. In other words, we all share the same guilt and the same need to be released from it. As we begin to accept this idea of shared interests, we will become more aware that we are a mind that is making choices to see the world and others in certain ways, rather than simply a victimized body, although we will almost certainly continue to experience ourselves as victims much of the time. And so we gradually begin to undo the final split.
As we begin to see the world and our relationships differently, we will be more willing to look at the sin and guilt buried in our own mind, recognizing its real source in our identification with the ego, thereby beginning to reduce our investment in the third split. And the right-minded correction for this willingness to look honestly will be the recognition that there is an alternative in our mind to the sin, guilt and fear that up until now we have felt the need to split off and project outside of ourselves. And that alternative is the Holy Spirit, the Reminder of the true innocence we share with everyone else, as we let go of the need to make differences real. And so the wall between the right mind and the wrong mind that we have attempted to make impenetrable with the second split begins to become more porous, allowing more of the light of the right mind to shine on the darkness of the wrong mind, revealing increasingly its illusory nature.
The undoing of these three splits is the focus of the Course's teachings and it involves a process that will require great willingness on our part over time, for the self we are identified with in the world -- the result of the fourth split -- will lose its meaning and appeal to us over time as we practice the forgiveness that healing the splits requires. But along the way, that shift engenders tremendous fear so long as we still have an investment in the separation and in our separate, unique, individual self being real.
At the end of the process, once we have allowed the barrier we have imposed between the right mind and the wrong mind to dissolve completely in the light of total forgiveness, we will be in the real world, still aware of the dream of separation but completely unaffected by it. And it is from this place of complete healing that we are ready for the undoing of the first split, accomplished by what the Course metaphorically refers to as God's last step (e.g., T.7.I), in which He lifts us up out of the illusion of duality and returns us to the absolute oneness of Heaven, which in reality we have never left.
Although the process of undoing the splits is described here as if it were linear, in reality it is not, as the miracle, or the holy instant, which is involved in undoing the second, third and fourth splits, occurs outside of time and space. And so our experience will be that we will be moving back and forth between the various levels of the splits over and over again, over time. For example, the Holy Spirit may seem to be a part of our healing process almost from the beginning of our work with the Course, yet we will not really understand the nature of His reality until we have come to understand the nature of the split mind more fully. And despite our increasing recognition that our only real choice is made in the mind, we will continue to get caught in our victim scripts in the world and will need to remind ourselves that we are really the same as all our brothers and sisters.
Those interested in a more in-depth exploration of the four splits may find the tape set, Separation and Forgiveness: The Four Splits and Their Undoing, and volume I, "All Are Called," from the two-volume book set, The Message of A Course in Miracles (both publications by Kenneth Wapnick) helpful.
From the FACIM Question & Answer Service (astericks/highlighting are mine)Q #853: Chapter 4 of "All Are Called", volume I in The Message of A Course in Miracles , goes through a lengthy description of our three selves. I got bogged down several times trying to "cut to the chase." Please tell me if I got it right: self A is the holy Son of God who for a brief moment freaked out and thereby was no longer a whole. As a result, self A realized that he was now in the land of good and evil and felt guilty for that. Next, self A figured out that if he blamed somebody else -- self B -- then he wouldn't feel guilt any more. So self B became an innocent victim of self A. Self C becomes the victim of the body and hates everybody. And around and around it goes?
A: A valiant effort, but let's see if we can get a little more clarity on this central part of the ego's myth of separation and sin, as uncovered in the Course. The description of the three selves you refer to in Chapter 4 of The Message of A Course in Miracles, Vol. I, is actually an extension to the level of the world and individual bodies of what was presented in Chapter 2 to explain the initial A-B-C split at the level of thought in the mind, prior to the projection of bodies and the world. And so it is there, in the mind, that we need to begin, if what you refer to in Chapter 4 is going to make any sense.
Beginning then at the level of mind, self A is not the holy Son of God, but an illusory thought of a separate self that we as the sleeping Son believe we have wrested from God when we wanted the separation from Him to be real. It is a fiction we have made up in our feverish ego dream and identified with, calling it ourselves. And this separate self is the original home of sin and guilt, according to the ego's story, because its life came selfishly at God's expense, destroying His Oneness to bring itself into a separate, autonomous existence.
At this point in the Son's delusional mind, there is nothing else -- no land that self A seems to occupy, no world, and no other self. Now to deal with the immense guilt his ego says is real over destroying God Himself, yes, the Son as self A would like to blame someone else, to dump the guilt elsewhere. But there is no one else to blame, no other self. So the solution, drawing on the only dynamic available in the Son's split mind -- the thought of separation -- is to separate self A into two selves, B and C, identifying with self B and pushing all the guilt onto self C. Self C, in the Son's insane imagination, now becomes the angry wrathful God who is going to punish the Son, self B, for his sin against Him. But of course, the sin and guilt in self C, now seen as separate from self B, are nothing other than the sin and guilt of self A, split off. But this is what enables the Son, now identified with self B, to believe that the guilt is no longer in him, that he is now "innocent." All of this is as much a delusional fantasy as the initial making of self A.
And so self A has seemed to vanish from the scene, leaving only self B and self C in the mind. As the Son we are now identified with the "innocent" self B, who is the potential victim of self C, in whom all the sin and guilt now reside. Again, this is all happening only at the level of thought. For the drama to play out and allow us to convince ourselves that we are truly "innocent" victims, we need a world of time and space and, in particular, bodies. For bodies are vulnerable and weak, and demonstrate quite convincingly that we are powerless to change in any significant way what happens to us -- clear-cut criteria for victimhood. And so the mind seems to fragment into millions of pieces, but each fragment retains that same progression from a guilty self A to an innocent self B, with all the guilt now residing in a guilty self C, the self split off from self A that we no longer identify with. And every fragment in the Son's mind seems to play out this conflict, now projected from the mind onto the screen of the world, each desperately attempting to affirm its innocence by demonstrating everyone else's guilt. And you need a body to be able to point the finger of blame. Except that every fragment is trying to play the same blame game. And so to ourselves, we are each an innocent self B, but to everyone else, we're another victimizing self C. And the guilt is swapped back and forth, but its reality is never questioned.
It is only when we can shift our identification away from the B-C split in the world back to the guilty but forgotten self A in the mind that we can begin to look at our own guilt, which has nothing to do with the seeming relationship between B and C in the world. For they are only shadows of the thought of guilt in the mind. And when we return our attention to the illusory self A in the mind, we can at last begin to question the reality of the guilt. It is through this process of recognizing first where the guilt originates, and then questioning its reality, which is what the Course means by forgiveness, that we begin to remember the truly innocent self A' that we all share (see chapter 5 of volume I of The Message ). At the same time, while we still remain identified with the body in the world, we will begin to see self B' and self C' as the same, rather than as different -- both caught in an insane thought system, believing that guilt is real and desperately looking to escape it. Over time, as we practice forgiveness, we will identify more and more with the innocent self A', a reflection of our true Self as Christ, Who has nothing to do with any As or Bs or Cs.
For additional discussion of the splits in the mind which are expressed in the world, see Questions #176 and #630.
For more on the four splits:
Q #630: I remember hearing Ken Wapnick, on a workshop tape, say that as the wrong mind splits the right mind also splits. Would you review these right-minded splits?
A: The right-minded splits are not splits per se but are simply the Holy Spirit's corrections for the deceptions of the ego's wrong-minded splits. Since we find ourselves self-identified as bodies in the world, at the end of the series of splits the ego has led us along to take us as far away as it possibly can from the truth of Who we are as spirit, the right-minded answer is simply the undoing of those splits, in reverse order.
Briefly, the ego's first split is what seems to cast us out of the oneness of Heaven, beginning the dream of separation which seems to establish us as a separate mind that has consciousness and independence from its Source. At this point, our illusory independent existence is very vulnerable, very fragile, since it takes very little to remember our reality as God's only Son, perfectly joined with Him and perfectly at peace, which is what the Holy Spirit in our mind represents. And so to protect our individuality, the second split involves our choice to identify completely with the ego and split the Holy Spirit off from our awareness, thereby forgetting that the ego is a choice we have made and not our reality.
The third ego split encompasses the ego's ingenious myth of sin, guilt and fear, in which we view the separation not only as real, but as a sinful attack on God, destroying Him as a consequence of having disrupted the perfect unity of Heaven in which God has His Being. The guilt over this sin is overwhelming and **our only defense against it, if it is real, is to split the sin and guilt off, projecting them outside ourselves onto a made-up God,** Who becomes the wrathful avenger, intent on vengeance against us for our sin against Him.
But, as with each of the ego's splits, this leads to its own set of problems, requiring yet another defensive split. For if I exist in the mind with this maniacal God, bent on my destruction, I need to escape. And so the fourth and final split involves projecting my own identity out into a world of form and bodies, escaping my mind and hiding in the world. But what the ego has failed to tell me is that this solution involves the projection of all the contents of my wrong-mind into the world of form, so that I now live in a world of fear. For the sin and guilt are all still around me, but now external to me in the world and in all my relationships. And so the original vulnerability and fragility of the thought of separation in my mind is now the basis of my identity as a body in the world. Of course, the advantage of this final arrangement is that I am still an individual, but it seems that forces beyond my control have brought about my existence. And if I am the innocent victim of the sinful, guilty world, how can I be held accountable for that original attack on God. How could I possibly be that powerful? Just look at this pathetically weak self I am, despite my best efforts to strengthen and protect myself physically, psychologically and emotionally against a hostile world!
And so it is here we find ourselves, as far removed from our true Identity as spirit as the ego could possibly entice us to go. And it is with this fourth split that the right-minded correction must begin. We are not asked to deny our experience of ourselves as bodies in the world -- the result of the fourth split -- but to be open to a different interpretation of that experience. Rather than focusing on differences as the ego has encouraged us to do -- seeing my innocence as dependent on proving your guilt -- A Course in Miracles is inviting us first to begin to recognize that we are all the same, struggling with our feelings of guilt by trying to project them on to everyone else. In other words, we all share the same guilt and the same need to be released from it. As we begin to accept this idea of shared interests, we will become more aware that we are a mind that is making choices to see the world and others in certain ways, rather than simply a victimized body, although we will almost certainly continue to experience ourselves as victims much of the time. And so we gradually begin to undo the final split.
As we begin to see the world and our relationships differently, we will be more willing to look at the sin and guilt buried in our own mind, recognizing its real source in our identification with the ego, thereby beginning to reduce our investment in the third split. And the right-minded correction for this willingness to look honestly will be the recognition that there is an alternative in our mind to the sin, guilt and fear that up until now we have felt the need to split off and project outside of ourselves. And that alternative is the Holy Spirit, the Reminder of the true innocence we share with everyone else, as we let go of the need to make differences real. And so the wall between the right mind and the wrong mind that we have attempted to make impenetrable with the second split begins to become more porous, allowing more of the light of the right mind to shine on the darkness of the wrong mind, revealing increasingly its illusory nature.
The undoing of these three splits is the focus of the Course's teachings and it involves a process that will require great willingness on our part over time, for the self we are identified with in the world -- the result of the fourth split -- will lose its meaning and appeal to us over time as we practice the forgiveness that healing the splits requires. But along the way, that shift engenders tremendous fear so long as we still have an investment in the separation and in our separate, unique, individual self being real.
At the end of the process, once we have allowed the barrier we have imposed between the right mind and the wrong mind to dissolve completely in the light of total forgiveness, we will be in the real world, still aware of the dream of separation but completely unaffected by it. And it is from this place of complete healing that we are ready for the undoing of the first split, accomplished by what the Course metaphorically refers to as God's last step (e.g., T.7.I), in which He lifts us up out of the illusion of duality and returns us to the absolute oneness of Heaven, which in reality we have never left.
Although the process of undoing the splits is described here as if it were linear, in reality it is not, as the miracle, or the holy instant, which is involved in undoing the second, third and fourth splits, occurs outside of time and space. And so our experience will be that we will be moving back and forth between the various levels of the splits over and over again, over time. For example, the Holy Spirit may seem to be a part of our healing process almost from the beginning of our work with the Course, yet we will not really understand the nature of His reality until we have come to understand the nature of the split mind more fully. And despite our increasing recognition that our only real choice is made in the mind, we will continue to get caught in our victim scripts in the world and will need to remind ourselves that we are really the same as all our brothers and sisters.
Those interested in a more in-depth exploration of the four splits may find the tape set, Separation and Forgiveness: The Four Splits and Their Undoing, and volume I, "All Are Called," from the two-volume book set, The Message of A Course in Miracles (both publications by Kenneth Wapnick) helpful. Q #175: The following three questions all address the issue of death and so will be answered together:i: I would like to know more about "death solves nothing."ii: It is common for us to say when a person dies that he or she is finally "at peace." Does death of the ego not release us from it’s fear based thinking and grant us peace?iii: Would you kindly explain what A Course in Miracles teaches regarding finding peace after death?
A: Since everyone in this world suffers the excruciating pain of believing they are separated from their true Home and their Creator, there are times throughout one’s life that the thought of escape from this pain would seem to be a blessing. In this instance, death represents escape from our pain. And yet, A Course in Miracles teaches us that we are not our bodies: "The body is the symbol of what you think you are. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist (T.6.V.A.2:2,3). Therefore we need not escape from our bodies, whether they be physical, psychological, emotional, astral, etc. What we do need to escape from, however, is the thought of separation, and this is accomplished through the process of forgiveness. If the mind has not been totally healed of the thought of separation once the body "dies," the unforgiveness that it holds will be played out in other times and other forms until forgiveness is perfected. "When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing" (T.6.V.A.1:1,2).At other times, we are may believe this world to be a spiritual testing ground, and death symbolizes an end to our testing, and our ticket back Home. Or we may believe that once we die, our egos are automatically transcended, and we will be at peace. Beliefs such as this tempt one to want death to come sooner rather than later. "There is a risk of thinking death is peace, because the world equates the body with the Self which God created" (T.27.VII.10:2). It is important to keep in mind that the "death of the ego" does not come from the body’s death, but rather from the process of forgiveness, which only occurs within the mind. And, our bodies may die with or without completing this process. You can see in any of this instances how we are tempted to attribute pain to our body rather than to our mind. Once we have learned where the real problem lies, the Holy Spirit can begin to use our body to teach us our true identity as a mind: "The Holy Spirit, as always, takes what you have made [the body] and translates it into a learning device....He reinterprets what the ego uses as an argument for separation into a demonstration against it (T.6.V.A.2:4,5).So death (which is nothing) of the body (also nothing) solves nothing (the thought of separation, another nothing). Nothing plus nothing equals nothing!
 With Gratitude,Marcy
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Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
You can hear a sample clip there.
Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.??"The text of?A Course in Miracles?states that consciousness “was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a perceiver rather than a creator” (T-3.IV.2:1). In the clarification of terms it is described as "the receptive mechanism, receiving messages from above or below; from the Holy Spirit or the ego" (C-1.3). Consciousness, thus, is presented in this 2012 Workshop not as a structure, but as part of the process of our leaving the realm of Oneness and going to the realm of duality, and then going from duality back to Oneness through the right-minded use of consciousness. Guided by our Teacher, we learn to use the symbols of consciousness to help ourselves and others get beyond consciousness back to Oneness. When we have chosen against the wrong-minded ego permanently, we are the Atonement too. And so we are that same symbol of the Love of God that Jesus is.??
You have need to use the symbols of the world a while.… They become but means by which you can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the unity where true communication can be found."
With Appreciation,
Marcy
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Hi.?
Ken did a lecture called. “The Dawn of Consciousness” which can be got from the FACIM site. I had the same queries. So found this helpful.?
x
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Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
On Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 07:30:16 PM CST, carolehartigan <hart@...> wrote:
In this Oneness, God Is,? my question is:? Is there Consciousness??
***Not with a capital C which denotes God/ Heaven/ Christ/Oneness***? ?Is God conscious? Not going on the premise that consciousness is the 1st split.?? These words are opposites in ACIM terms.***??Is there consciousness in Heaven? Nope there's no ego split in Heaven.? These words are synonymous in ACIM: God, Christ. Heaven, Love, Peace. Oneness If God was consciousness we'd have to use the word "god" WITH A SMALL "g"? ?IT WOULD BE A SYNONYM FOR ego? ?;-)
In our right mind's here below HEAVEN, do we in fact have consciousness in the Holy Spirit?? Yet it is referred to as only a reflection of HEAVEN.? Is that what is referred to as Christ Consciousness, but still there is my question of before the tmi.?I was just speaking with a dear helper of mine and that question was answered beautifully. We recorded our talk together and? I can share what was said when I get the recording that was made. I want to write down our discussion either way. I just have to transcribe it. Memory wise it is possible I might forget. Give me a week or so. If I dont share it just please remind me. What I can say is that we did have a discussion re: the right mind and how it can be seen as consciousness that will lead to the dissolving of all thoughts. It's just that we hang onto egoic thoughts.?
It seems that consciousness is something that sees something, is aware of something; but still is not IT. Yes, the HS??can help us dissolve barriers to right minded thoughts. Though remember that all thoughts mean nothing.? The ego goes into panic mode (suspicious to vicious) when it senses we may ditch it for the HS. (eventually leading to the dropping ofconcepts)..Our thoughts/concepts can be looked at with the HS and we will observe when the ego goes from suspicious to vicios.Though it's all much ado about nothing. Ego struggles to keep our attention it so it doesn't disappear into the nothingness from which it came.? What I learned today is that one can simply observe the waves of ego response and sit with it. I have been encouraged to sit through that seeming battle where ego knows it is losing and goes from suspicious to vicious.? When the topic came up and i realized my homework was to sit and observe the thoughts and feelinhs which were showing up as feelongs of anxiiety and pains in the body that weren't there moments before...I was encouraged to simply observe the feelings and the thoughts.?
There is no section that I know of that uses the term God consciousness. You will not find that specific concept in ACIM.?
Here in this dream, as a split mind that has two parts, (ego vs. Holy Spirit) do we have that GOD consciousness in the Holy Spirit, yet it is still not HEAVEN/GOD.? I would have said "no" before my discussion today.. My goal is to sit in peace and yet watch when the ego starts going on and on with fearful thoughts, especially the ones that say, "I'll get this right." Ego knows it's days are numbered if we continue in this direction. So when? it distracts us with fear thoughts, feelings of panic and wants us to forget that the natural state of the mind is blank (lesson 8). So it is important to sit through that dark night of the soul. as best one can or simply take breaks as you observe the ego in action.
In his chart, Kenneth illustrates the line above the tmi with words such as? HEAVEN? ?MIND? ?GOD? ?CHRIST? UNITY? ?KNOWLEDGE? ? ? (all beautiful words to describe something that is indescrib able) I am wondering if Kenneth taught that GOD is Consciousness.? ?I don't think Kenneth ever said that GOD 'has' consciousness because GOD couldn't have something that could be gotten.? ?GOD IS.? and GOD doesn't have something outside of WHAT GOD IS (no thoughts whatsoever.? So would it be closer to what Kenneth taught that GOD IS CONSCIOUSNESS? or is consciousness something other than GOD?? ;-
I hope this question and pondering makes sense.? I hear so many teachers talk about consciousness in the right Mind that reflects Holy Spirit, the memory of GOD, and that we all are consciousness in that Mind.
? Do we actually need those answers. In some ways they delay us from getting to the task at hand, which is sitting in the peace of God. When we do this many thoughhts (which are nothing but distractions will come up). Aches and pains and nassea may seem to live in the body. It most likely won't feel good. Bet can we sit with that a little longer to begin to know thoughts are nothing but a way to hold us in prison. Ever since this discussion 2 hours ago I am observing my mind trying to push away what we discussed. I was encouraged to sit with the sensations and? the part of my mind that wants to nopt feel anxious about a decision to sit with the feelings and thopughts. At some point I'll probably forget and move on with my ego day. My practice is to come back to the thoughts, and feelings and for a moment sit peace and watch the resistence that will be coming up for as long as it does. .?
T-23.II.22. Brother, take not one step in the descent to hell. 2 For having taken one, you will not recognize the rest for what they are. 3 And they [will] follow. 4 Attack in any form has placed your foot upon the twisted stairway that leads from Heaven. 5 Yet any instant it is possible to have all this undone. 6 How can you know whether you chose the stairs to Heaven or the way to hell? 7 Quite easily. 8 How do you feel? 9 Is peace in your awareness? 10 Are you certain which way you go? 11 And are you sure the goal of Heaven can be reached? 12 If not, you walk alone. 13 Ask, then, your Friend to join with you, and give you certainty of where you go.?
My new goal is to sit with those thoughts and observe how I feel.
LESSON 8.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. W-8.1. This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. 2 No one really sees anything. 3 He sees only his thoughts projected outward. 4 The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. 5 Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. 6 It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything. W-8.2. The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. 2 To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. 3 Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. 4 The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything. W-8.3. The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. 2 While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. 3 Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision. W-8.4. The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. 2 This is because you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. 3 With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there. 4 Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. 5 Introduce the practice period by saying:?
6 I seem to be thinking about ___.
W-8.5. Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:?
2 I seem to be thinking about [name of a person], about [name of an object], about [name of an emotion],?
and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:?
3 But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
But I seem to be delving into a space of experiencing consciousness in a space that is abstract and very silent and It has no thoughts; it's an empty 'no thing' experience; no thoughts are there but I'm conscious of the 'nothingness, which is expansively 'all',? ?and I wonder if this is another word for CONSCIOUSNESS.? ?
Perhaps no synonym is fine. ;-)? It's just another thought ;-)? ;-)
Just keep in mind this is not step one in our looking within. If we want to escape from sitting with peace and those? distractions keep popping up the practice can be sitting with the thoughts that are not of the HS and observing. One can observe running from the thoughts or sitting with the thoughts peacefully It's all good.
T-12.I.8. By applying the Holy Spirit's interpretation of the reactions of others more and more consistently, you will gain an increasing awareness that His criteria are equally applicable to you. 2 For to recognize fear is not enough to escape from it, although the recognition is necessary to demonstrate the need for escape. 3 The Holy Spirit must still translate the fear into truth. 4 If you were left with the fear, once you had recognized it, you would have taken a step away from reality, not towards it. 5 Yet we have repeatedly emphasized the need to recognize fear and face it without disguise as a crucial step in the undoing of the ego. 6 Consider how well the Holy Spirit's interpretation of the motives of others will serve you then. 7 Having taught you to accept only loving thoughts in others and to regard everything else as an appeal for help, He has taught you that fear itself is an appeal for help. 8 This is what recognizing fear really means. 9 If you do not protect it, He will reinterpret it. 10 That is the ultimate value in learning to perceive attack as a call for love. 11 We have already learned that fear and attack are inevitably associated. 12 If only attack produces fear, and if you see attack as the call for help that it is, the unreality of fear must dawn on you. 13 For fear [is] a call for love, in unconscious recognition of what has been denied.
T-18.IX.2. Be you not separate, for the One Who does surround it has brought union to you, returning your little offering of darkness to the eternal light. 2 How is this done? 3 It is extremely simple, being based on what this little kingdom really is. 4 The barren sands, the darkness and the lifelessness, are seen only through the body's eyes. 5 Its bleak sight is distorted, and the messages it transmits to you who made it to limit your awareness are little and limited, and so fragmented they are meaningless.
T-18.IX.3. From the world of bodies, made by insanity, insane messages seem to be returned to the mind that made it. 2 And these messages bear witness to this world, pronouncing it as true. 3 For you sent forth these messengers to bring this back to you. 4 Everything these messages relay to you is quite external. 5 There are no messages that speak of what lies underneath, for it is not the body that could speak of this. 6 Its eyes perceive it not; its senses remain quite unaware of it; its tongue cannot relay its messages. 7 Yet God can bring you there, if you are willing to follow the Holy Spirit through seeming terror, trusting Him not to abandon you and leave you there. 8 For it is not His purpose to frighten you, but only yours. 9 You are severely tempted to abandon Him at the outside ring of fear, but He would lead you safely through and far beyond.
T-18.IX.4. The circle of fear lies just below the level the body sees, and seems to be the whole foundation on which the world is based. 2 Here are all the illusions, all the twisted thoughts, all the insane attacks, the fury, the vengeance and betrayal that were made to keep the guilt in place, so that the world could rise from it and keep it hidden. 3 Its shadow rises to the surface, enough to hold its most external manifestations in darkness, and to bring despair and loneliness to it and keep it joyless. 4 Yet its intensity is veiled by its heavy coverings, and kept apart from what was made to keep it hidden. 5 The body cannot see this, for the body arose from this for its protection, which depends on keeping it not seen. 6 The body's eyes will never look on it. 7 Yet they will see what it dictates.
T-18.IX.5. The body will remain guilt's messenger, and will act as it directs as long as you believe that guilt is real. 2 For the reality of guilt is the illusion that seems to make it heavy and opaque, impenetrable, and a real foundation for the ego's thought system. 3 Its thinness and transparency are not apparent until you see the light behind it. 4 And then you see it as a fragile veil before the light.?
T-18.IX.6. This heavy-seeming barrier, this artificial floor that looks like rock, is like a bank of low dark clouds that seem to be a solid wall before the sun. 2 Its impenetrable appearance is wholly an illusion. 3 It gives way softly to the mountain tops that rise above it, and has no power at all to hold back anyone willing to climb above it and see the sun. 4 It is not strong enough to stop a button's fall, nor hold a feather. 5 Nothing can rest upon it, for it is but an illusion of a foundation. 6 Try but to touch it and it disappears; attempt to grasp it and your hands hold nothing.
T-18.IX.7. Yet in this cloud bank it is easy to see a whole world rising. 2 A solid mountain range, a lake, a city, all rise in your imagination, and from the clouds the messengers of your perception return to you, assuring you that it is there. 3 Figures stand out and move about, actions seem real, and forms appear and shift from loveliness to the grotesque. 4 And back and forth they go, as long as you would play the game of children's make-believe. 5 Yet however long you play it, and regardless of how much imagination you bring to it, you do not confuse it with the world below, nor seek to make it real.
T-18.IX.8. So should it be with the dark clouds of guilt, no more impenetrable and no more substantial. 2 You will not bruise yourself against them in traveling through. 3 Let your Guide teach you their unsubstantial nature as He leads you past them, for beneath them is a world of light whereon they cast no shadows. 4 Their shadows lie upon the world beyond them, still further from the light. 5 Yet from them to the light their shadows cannot fall.
T-18.IX.9. This world of light, this circle of brightness is the real world, where guilt meets with forgiveness. 2 Here the world outside is seen anew, without the shadow of guilt upon it. 3 Here are you forgiven, for here you have forgiven everyone. 4 Here is the new perception, where everything is bright and shining with innocence, washed in the waters of forgiveness, and cleansed of every evil thought you laid upon it. 5 Here there is no attack upon the Son of God, and you are welcome. 6 Here is your innocence, waiting to clothe you and protect you, and make you ready for the final step in the journey inward. 7 Here are the dark and heavy garments of guilt laid by, and gently replaced by purity and love. T-18.IX.10. Yet even forgiveness is not the end. 2 Forgiveness does make lovely, but it does not create. p395 3 It is the source of healing, but it is the messenger of love and not its Source. 4 Here you are led, that God Himself can take the final step unhindered, for here does nothing interfere with love, letting it be itself. 5 A step beyond this holy place of forgiveness, a step still further inward but the one [you] cannot take, transports you to something completely different. 6 Here is the Source of light; nothing perceived, forgiven nor transformed. 7 But merely known. T-18.IX.11. This course will lead to knowledge, but knowledge itself is still beyond the scope of our curriculum. 2 Nor is there any need for us to try to speak of what must forever lie beyond words. 3 We need remember only that whoever attains the real world, beyond which learning cannot go, will go beyond it, but in a different way. 4 Where learning ends there God begins, for learning ends before Him Who is complete where He begins, and where there [is] no end. 5 It is not for us to dwell on what cannot be attained. 6 There is too much to learn. 7 The readiness for knowledge still must be attained. T-18.IX.12. Love is not learned. 2 Its meaning lies within itself. 3 And learning ends when you have recognized all it is [not.] 4 That is the interference; that is what needs to be undone. 5 Love is not learned, because there never was a time in which you knew it not. 6 Learning is useless in the Presence of your Creator, Whose acknowledgment of you and yours of Him so far transcend all learning that everything you learned is meaningless, replaced forever by the knowledge of love and its one meaning. T-18.IX.13. Your relationship with your brother has been uprooted from the world of shadows, and its unholy purpose has been safely brought through the barriers of guilt, washed with forgiveness, and set shining and firmly rooted in the world of light. 2 From there it calls to you to follow the course it took, lifted high above the darkness and gently placed before the gates of Heaven. 3 The holy instant in which you and your brother were united is but the messenger of love, sent from beyond forgiveness to remind you of all that lies beyond it. 4 Yet it is through forgiveness that it will be remembered.
T-18.IX.14. And when the memory of God has come to you in the holy place of forgiveness you will remember nothing else, and memory will be as useless as learning, for your only purpose will be creating. 2 Yet this you cannot know until every perception has been cleansed and purified, and finally removed forever. 3 Forgiveness removes only the untrue, lifting the shadows from the world and carrying it, safe and sure within its gentleness, to the bright world of new and clean perception. p396 4 There is your purpose [now.] 5 And it is there that peace awaits you.
thanks for any of your mind's thoughts on consciousness
Humbly, Carole H.
thanks as well for your questions on consciousness
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Re: Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
What is going now is a huge classroom with many opportunities to practice seeing the call for love, as long as we stay with J. Grateful to the Course and its community. Sorry about your pup, but my goodness 18-20 years to be together is a blessing. The oldest I have had is 12??
Thanks again?
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Hi Marcy and Everyone,
I just found this gem. Consciousness is the first split so it appears that Consciousness is not what God/Heaven is.
carole h
Exactly. Please note that the ego and H.S. are completely separate. You align with one or the other at any given time. They don't interact, which is not what the pathways of light appears to suggest.
With Appreciation.
Marcy?
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Subject: Consciousness
According to ACIM, This continues to explain consciousness.
This makes sense to me when reminded that ‘Knowledge’ is beyond consciousness and perceptions.
Thank you again for bearing with me into this exploration of consciousness.
caroleh.
Carole, thanks for bringing this up.
With Appreciation,
Marcy
Hi Carole (and all)
You figured it out all on your own. Though the choice for ego tries to muddle fuddle duddle things doesn't it?.? ;-) You might look up in the D.U. search box "Can the ego learn?" If you look for it and find it could you possibly post it to the group? That is an interesting read as well
Consciousness is the 1st split/separation/duality.
The piece you provided below is from Pathways of Light, seems to differ from what Ken is saying . The reason we use one version is to decrease the confusion as we definitely want to remain consistent in our studies.?
I honestly don't believe the Course's goal is to teach us to train our consciousness (ego/thoughts of separation) to receive the messages of the Holy Spirit. They are opposites/duality. A choice has to be made between the Holy Spirit or the ego AND IT'S ALREADY DONE.? ;-)? ;-)
What is the goal of ACIM?
The goal of?A Course in Miracles?is not the dissolution of the separated self, but only the dissolution of the?wrong-minded aspect of this ego self,?leaving the individual self in a state of happiness and peace: This course has explicitly stated that its goal for you is happiness and peace?
(T-13.11.7:1).Forget not that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of peace. Given this state the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is attained (T-24.in.1:1-2). The self is not annihilated; our ego identity simply disappears. The loss of self, of which we are so terrified, is what we believe will be the dissolution of the body, or loss of self-identification, and this comes from our equating the ego with the body, or better, the ego with our self. Yet that personal self-identification is but one of guilt, attack, separation, depression, sickness, loss, and death, and it is only?that?self that goes at first. What therefore remains when we learn to forgive is the right- minded self that ultimately becomes the basis for our being in the real world. At that point, this loss of our individuality is no longer feared but welcomed. This state is beautifully described in the sections "The Forgiven World" (T-17.11) and "Where Sin Has Left" (T-26.IV). In Lesson 155, "I will step back and let Him lead the way," we find perhaps the clearest expression in?A Course in Miracles?of this?gentle?phase of the process of returning to our true Self:There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be.?You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own. Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before. The lesson continues by discussing the illusory nature of the world whose purpose is to perpetuate the ego's thought system of individuality, and we are asked to make the Holy Spirit's truth our reality while we yet appear to walk this world. It is these illusions about our identity we are asked to give up, not the world itself, so that we may be models for others who have yet to make the same choice:If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it asked the sacrifice of something that is real. Many have chosen to renounce the world while still believing its reality. And they have suffered from a sense of loss, and have not been released accordingly. Others have chosen nothing but the world, and they have suffered from a sense of loss still deeper, which they did not understand.Between these paths there is another road that leads away from loss of every kind, for sacrifice and deprivation both are quickly left behind. This is the way appointed for you now.?You walk this path as others walk, nor do you seem to be distinct from them, although you are indeed. Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself, and set their footsteps on the way that God has opened up to you, and them through you. Illusion still appears to cling to you, that you may reach them. Yet it has stepped back. And it is not illusion that they hear you speak of, nor illusion that you bring their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp. Nor can the truth, which walks ahead of you, speak to them through illusions, for the road leads past illusion now, while on the way you call to them, that they may follow you. This is the attainment of the right-minded self, where the student still experiences an individuality, albeit now a happy and peaceful one. Yet, the journey is not over, for true unity has not yet been achieved. The thought of the end of the separated self, however, is no longer experienced as threatening, as we just commented on above, for there is no guilt to be cherished and protected.The remainder of this beautiful lesson deals with the journey's close: Yet at the journey's ending there will be no gap, no distance between truth and you.?And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God's completion, holy as Himself. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest.When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass and miracles are purposeless, the holy Son of God will make no journeys, There will be no wish to be illusion rather than the truth.?And we step forth toward this, as we progress along the way that truth points out to us.?This is our final journey, which we make for everyone. We must not lose our way. For as truth goes before us, so it goes before our brothers who will follow us.... Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God. Look not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere. Dreams are not a worthy guide for you who are God's Son. Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you. He cannot be deceived. His trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure. You will not fail your brothers nor your Self (W-pl.155.1, 4-6, 10-11, 13; italics mine). In conclusion, therefore, we can say that the goal of?A Course in Miracles?is the transformation of the ego self and the attainment of the real world, not the transcendence of the self and return to Heaven. Actually, the term "self " at the end of "The Closing of the Gap" could even be spelled with a capital "S." This same point of Jesus' goal for us in his Course is made in some beautiful passages in "The Lifting of the Veil," to which we now return [i.e.: in the next chapter of the book - #15] .?
Carole wrote: This makes sense to me when reminded that ‘Knowledge’ is beyond consciousness and perceptions.?
Thank you again for bearing with me into this exploration of consciousness.
caroleh?
Carole, thanks for bringing this up.
With Appreciation,
Marcy
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LESSON 318. In me salvation's means and end are one.
LESSON 318. In me salvation's means and end are one.
(1) In me, God's holy Son, are reconciled all parts of Heaven's plan to save the world. What could conflict, when all the parts have but one purpose and one aim? How could there be a single part that stands alone, or one of more or less importance than the rest? I am the means by which God's Son is saved, because salvation's purpose is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me. I was created as the thing I seek. I am the goal the world is searching for. I am God's Son, His one eternal Love. I am salvation's means and end as well.
(2) <Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request that I accept Atonement for myself. For thus does what is thereby reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You.>
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
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LESSON 318. "In me salvation's means and end are one."
This title recalls the lovely statement at the end of Lesson 302: "He the End we seek, and He the Means by which we go to Him." In that lesson, God is both the Means and End. In this lesson, <we> are the means and end -- the end is God's Son as Christ, and the means of reaching Him is God's Son's choosing to forgive himself.
(1:1) "In me, God's holy Son, are reconciled all parts of Heaven's plan to save the world."
Traditional Christian theology has taught that the Son of God -- Jesus -- was the one who reconciled sinful man to God's Love. Thus Jesus takes the same idea and applies it to God's Son in all of us. This Son is not the magical figure named Jesus Christ who came into the world to atone for our sin through his suffering and sacrificial death. Rather, it is God's Son -- again, <all of us> -- who reconciles God's Son to himself. This means that <we> undo the belief in sin, the prerequisite to realizing our oneness with God.
(1:2-3) "What could conflict, when all the parts have but one purpose and one aim? How could there be a single part that stands alone, or one of more or less importance than the rest?"
The <parts> refer to the seeming fragments of the Sonship. Elsewhere in the Course, refers to these as <aspects> (e.g.,T-13.VI.6:4). The value of using neutral terms such as <parts> or <aspects> is that it emphasizes that God's Son is not only homo sapiens, for every separated fragment -- animate or inanimate -- is a fragmentary shadow of the one sleeping Son. Each part of the Sonship shares one purpose and goal, which marks the end of separation's specialness. As you go through your day, therefore, try to see how often you take sides and judge the parts of God's Son as better or worse or less important, more or less spiritual. And then ask Jesus to help you see the inherent sameness in God's one Son.
(1:4-8) "I am the means by which God's Son is saved, because salvation's purpose is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me. I was created as the thing I seek. I am the goal the world is searching for. I am God's Son, His one eternal Love. I am salvation's means and end as well."
The <end> is to realize I am God's Son as Christ, and the <means> of attainment is to see God's Son in everyone, including myself, recognizing our single purpose and goal. Seeing at last that we share one Self. Thus, I <am> God's Son, and I <seek> God's Son.
(2:1) "Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request that I accept Atonement for myself."
Strictly speaking, it is not God Who makes this request, but Jesus or the Holy Spirit -- our Teachers of forgiveness.
(2:2) "For thus does what is thereby reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You."
We become one through forgiveness, the meaning of <reconciled>: one as God's separated Son, one as Christ, at one with His Source.
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10. What Is the Last Judgment?
Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what is true has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first you see a world that has accepted this as true, projected from a now corrected mind. And with this holy sight, perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.
The final judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born, and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless, and will therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.
You who believed that God's Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.
God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.
This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Re: Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
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Here's a Q & A with a listing of some other Q & As related to your topic. You might check out to see if I posted any of them as well on the D.U. site.
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From the pdf Questions and Answers at FACIM (with permission to post from The Foundation of A Course in Miracles. Hig ?? astericks?are mine):
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Q #1118:?I've heard Ken Wapnick often say that God doesn't know we are here. How then can the quotes below be explained??
“His Word assures us that He loves the world. God's Word has promised that peace is possible here, and what He promises can hardly be impossible. But it is true that the world must be looked at differently, if His promises are to be accepted. What the world is, is but a fact. You cannot choose what this should be. But you can choose how you would see it. ...Yet has God's Judgment on this distorted world redeemed it and made it fit to welcome peace” (M.11.1:6,7,8,9,10,11;4:6).?
“God turns to you for help to save the world” (M.29.8:2).?
“You have projected outward what is antagonistic to what is inward, and therefore you would have to perceive it this way. That is why you must realize that your hatred is in your mind and not outside it before you can get rid of it; and why you must get rid of it before you can perceive the world as it really is” (T.12.III.7:9,10).?
“The world as you perceive it cannot have been created by the Father, for the world is not as you see it” (T.11.VII.1:1).?
“Now is the question different. It is no longer, ‘Can peace be possible in this world?' but instead, ‘Is it not impossible that peace be absent here?'” (M.11.4:11,12).?
“To perceive anew is merely to perceive again, implying that before, or in the interval between, you were not perceiving at all. What, then, is the world that awaits your perception when you see it?” (T.11.VII.1:5,6).?
“The world the holy see is beautiful because they see their innocence in it” (T.20.III.6:3).?
“This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun” (T.17.II.2:1,2).?
“The altar of God where Christ abideth is there. You have defiled the altar, but not the world. ...Bring your perceptions of the world to this altar, for it is the altar to truth. There you will see your vision changed, and there you will learn to see truly. From this place, where God and His Son dwell in peace and where you are welcome, you will look out in peace and behold the world truly” (T.12.III.10:3,4,6,7,8).?
A:?Although there is certainly much in?A Course in Miracles?that would?seem?to say otherwise, the Course's foundational metaphysical principles, if truly understood, make it very clear that ***God is abstract and not personal.*** For example, early in the text, in a discussion about how the ego arose, Jesus makes the following observation about knowledge, which is a term the Course uses to refer to our perfectly unified reality in God, or Heaven, in contrast to the realm of perception, which is the ego's invention:?“Abstract thought applies to knowledge because?knowledge is completely impersonal?, and examples [ i.e., specifics ] are irrelevant to its understanding. ***Perception, however, is always specific, and therefore quite concrete”*** (T.4.II.1:4,5, italics added ).?
The personal -- and interpersonal -- can only arise out of a thought of separation, where there can seem to be a specific self and a separate specific other -- an observer and an observed?.?“Ego illusions are quite specific, although?the mind is naturally abstract?. ***Part of the mind becomes concrete, however, when it splits.*** The concrete part believes in the ego, because the ego depends on the concrete. The ego is the part of the mind that believes your existence is defined by separation” (T.4.VII.1:2,3,4,5 , italics added ). The Course identifies both consciousness and perception as the result of the thought of separation. “颁辞苍蝉肠颈辞耻蝉苍别蝉蝉,?the level of perception,?was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a perceiver rather than a creator. Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego” (T.3.IV.2:1,2).?Clearly then, consciousness and perception cannot be states or abilities of the true God as the Course characterizes God.?
The oneness that is our reality, as the Course repeats in many different ways across many, many passages, simply cannot recognize separation nor the resulting illusory specifics and differences. Nor can the mind that has made separation real remember and understand its true, nonspecific, unified nature. “Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind. But part of it is now unnatural. It does not look on everything as one. It sees instead but fragments of the whole, for only thus could it invent the partial world you see....." 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. ***The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction in the sense that it is all- encompassing (W.161.2:1,2,3,4; 4:1,2,3,4,5,6,7).***? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??
So God does not know we are here, that is, He does not?perceive?that we are here, because the knowledge inherent in God as perfect Oneness is impersonal, nonspecific, and non-perceptual.?If there could be any sense in which God knew that we are here, He would have to be a separate, personal God, capable of perceiving us as separate from Him, and we would in fact have to be separate from Him -- all contradictions of the Course's basic teachings on the nature of God and reality. So, as a matter of clarification,?even referring to God as He or Him, as the Course does throughout, confers a Personhood upon Him that can only be a fiction.?
If all of this is true, the question remains, why is so much of the Course, such as the passages you cite, written in a way that seems to suggest that the separation is real, that God exists apart from us, as a Person Who perceives His children as existing independent of Him in a world that can be perceived outside Him and that He seems to care about? Why is the Course presented this way, if the words contradict what the Course is saying about the nature of our reality and God's -- perfect oneness??
This question has been addressed both briefly and in depth across a number of answers on this service (e.g., Questions?,?,?,?,,,,?,,?,??,?,?,?).
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But let us examine it once again, perhaps pulling everything together in a little bit different way.?Invested as we are in believing that we are creatures of separation, we only understand duality. Everything in our experience reinforces our belief in separation and so simply to be told it is all illusion -- that the world, and the selves we believe we are, are not real, so get over it! -- would not be particularly helpful. Rather we need a teaching that addresses us where we believe we are, for with our self-imposed, finite split minds, we cannot comprehend infinite oneness. And in fact, if the infinite, impersonal Oneness that the Course refers to as God had been the Course's primary emphasis, it would most likely arouse more fear and anxiety in our minds than it already does now, as we begin to grasp, when we are ready, its deeper implications.?
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We first need to be taught that our experience of separation and duality is based on belief and not fact so that we can begin to question the validity of all our interpretations of our experience and allow our investment in them to be undone. In particular, all of our interpretations that lead us to conclude that we or others are victims of persons and events outside our control need to be reconsidered.?The Course's approach to teaching this is a powerful demonstration of one of the Course's major emphases -- that?what needs to change is not the dualistic form of the illusion we believe in but the purpose we give it.?For duality is not the problem in itself. The problem is our?belief?in it and, in particular, the purpose for which we have been using it - to keep ourselves believing we are sinful and guilty and consequently beyond gentle correction and genuine healing.?So the first step is not to deny or negate duality, but to give it a different purpose -- to begin to use the symbols of separation to undo our belief in separation. And that is what the Course does.?
This approach is brilliantly demonstrated in the Course's use of Christian terms and symbolism for a different purpose from that given to them by traditional Christianity. To understand the Course's correction, we first must understand what we have chosen to believe about this made-up dualistic God and our relationship with Him. For accepting the separation as real,?we have also accepted an incredible dualistic myth about God as Someone separate from us Who wants to punish us because of our sin against Him in choosing to turn against His Love and reject the paradise He has made for us.?All of us who believe we are here in the world must believe we have really accomplished the separation, thereby victimizing this otherwise all-powerful God. And so He must seek revenge, beginning by banishing us from the paradise He conditionally gave us. Incorporated into this myth of separation and sin are overwhelming feelings of guilt and fear, which keep us from seeing clearly what we have foolishly?chosen?to believe.?
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Christianity represents a vivid demonstration of the ego's separation-based religion that accepts sin and victimhood as real and presents the only resolution, called?God's?plan, as requiring the brutal murder of His only Son. Specifically, God's plan calls for His pure and innocent Son to take on a body so that he can be tortured and killed as a sacrifice, in order to compensate or atone for our evil, victimizing thoughts and deeds against God, and appease His otherwise boundless wrath. Why God can only be satisfied by a sacrificial death is never explained but simply accepted as the truth. Over and over again, traditional Christianity emphasizes that our sins have been washed away by the Son's redeeming blood. Bizarre as it may sound when presented without any additional context, there is little doubt that Christianity's basic tenets continue to hold sway over many minds in the Western world. Its far-reaching appeal lies in the fact that it reinforces the underlying ego thought system, upon which our personal identities and the existence of the world depend. And it has the added appeal of saying that God is a separate Individual Who acknowledges and reacts to separation and sin, conferring a sacred legitimacy on the entire ego enterprise.?
The Course comes as a correction for these strange beliefs, using the same dualistic forms, speaking symbolically of God as a separate individual Person -- our Father -- while addressing our belief that we have attacked Him through our desire for separation.?The correction remains within a dualistic framework while our fear of oneness and the loss of self is too powerful, assuring us that our Father only loves us, that we can only seem to attack God, ourselves and each other in our feverish imagination, and that the world we have made is simply an outpicturing of our own foolishly misguided and mistaken thoughts of separation and sin and guilt.?
If we allow?His Holy Spirit?to correct our misperceptions, we will begin to experience the world in a completely different light, while we continue to believe the world is separate from us and real. And we will begin to recognize that all of our experiences represent a choice we have made in our own minds about how we want to feel. In the end, when all of our ego perceptions of attack and blame will have been corrected, we will know that the external world, as well as the self we have believed we are, is not real. This healed perception is what the Course calls the real world, a state of mind in which all sin and guilt have been undone. It is the transitional state, still within the ego-derived perceptual realm, that precedes the return to knowledge/God/Heaven.?There are many passages that make it clear that the real world is still an illusion and therefore not real, despite its name. We will conclude with a number of passages that should offer a correction for any strictly dualistic interpretation of the passages that you have cited, and should also make it abundantly clear that the Course's dualistic language is only metaphorical and is not to be taken literally.?
“He [?the Son?] always perceives this world as outside himself, for this is crucial to his adjustment. He does not realize that he makes this world, for there is no world outside of him. If only the loving thoughts of God's Son are the world's reality, the real world must be in his mind” (T.12.III.6:6,7; 7:1).?
“The real world is the second part of the hallucination time and death are real, and have existence that can be perceived” (T.26.V.12:3).?
“The real world still is but a dream. Except the figures have been changed. They are not seen as idols which betray (T.29.IX.7:1,2,3).?
“The real world is the state of mind in which the only purpose of the world is seen to be forgiveness” (T.30.V.1:1).?
“?Wrong-mindedness?listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real. Both this world and the real world are illusions because right-mindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. Therefore it is not the?One-mindedness?of the Christ Mind, Whose Will is One with God's” (C.1.6).?
“There is a borderland of thought that stands between this world and Heaven. It is not a place, and when you reach it is apart from time. ...We have referred to it as the real world. And yet there is a contradiction here, in that the words imply a limited reality, a partial truth, a segment of the universe made true. This is because knowledge makes no attack upon perception. They are brought together, and only one continues past the gate where oneness is (T.26.III.2:1,2; 3:2,3,4,5).?
“Perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected, for?everything that has been used for learning will have no function. Nothing will ever change; no shifts nor shadings, no differences, no variations that made perception possible will still occur. The perception of the real world will be so short that you will barely have time to thank God for it. For God will take the last step swiftly, when you have reached the real world and have been made ready for Him. The real world is attained simply by the complete forgiveness of the old, the world you see without forgiveness” (T.17.II.4:2,3,4,5;5:1).?
“This course will lead to knowledge, but knowledge itself is still beyond the scope of our curriculum. ... We need remember only that whoever attains the real world, beyond which learning cannot go, will go beyond it, but in a different way”?(T.18.IX.11:1,3).?
??“For as Heaven and earth become one, even the real world will vanish from your sight. The end of the world is not its destruction, but its translation into Heaven. The reinterpretation of the world is the transfer of all perception to knowledge”?(T.11.VIII.1:7,8,9).
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Lastly:
INTRODUCTION
T-in.1.?This is a course in miracles. 2 It is a required course. 3 Only the time you take it is voluntary. 4 Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. 5 It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.?6 The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. 7 It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. 8 The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.
T-in.2.?This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:
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2 Nothing real can be threatened.
3 Nothing unreal exists.
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4 Herein lies the peace of God.
From lesson 8:
LESSON 8.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
W-8.1. ? ?This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. 2 No one really sees anything. 3 He sees only his thoughts projected outward. 4 The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. 5 Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. 6 It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.
W-8.2.? ?*** The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. 2 To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. 3 Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. 4 The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.***
W-8.3. ? ?The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. 2 While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. 3 Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.
W-8.4. ? ?The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. 2 This is because you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. 3 With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there. 4 Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. 5 Introduce the practice period by saying:?
6 I seem to be thinking about ___.
W-8.5. ? ?Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:?
2 I seem to be thinking about [name of a person], about [name of an object], about [name of an emotion],?
and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:?
3 But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
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Re: Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
Natalie it is great to hear your enthusiasm in staying centered in HS (and returning to HS when you recognize you are holding a different hand). I am on the 30-100 year plan regarding the Course, though lately more devoted to watching the thoughts and concepts that I deemed necessary. On November 6, I had picked up my 18-20 year old pup who had been euthanized before the weekend. We were going to be headed on a long ride to have him cremated. I hear my husband upset about something before we leave the house and I realized it was about the election. I asked that we hold off on that topic if possible (yep, I was taking it seriously). I knew that my goal is to look at ego thoughts. I'm thinking with ego asking, "Seriously, are you kidding? This is an opportunity for me to look and hold J's hand, now?" ROFL. Then I hear myself saying out loud, "Of course this is an opportunity. It is what you have been asking for all along. There must be a better way and it no longer works going around it.? It's time to go through it sitting in the theater with J.
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With Appreciation,
Marcy
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Re: Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
? Bless you Marcy. Great to review these at this time. Last night I had a sobering call from my son and wife about putting things in place to move out of the country quickly if needed. I am old enough to have lived when I could not open a checking account without my husband’s signature on the forms and working alongside male coworkers in the same job and being paid less. So sad we may be losing so many basic rights. I went to sleep asking HS help to seeing this differently and woke up calm. During my morning walk I asked HS that I let go of the fear of “what if’s “ and let him use me to shine through me. Amazingly I felt a quiet joy move through me. I got the image while thinking of everyone fading to their skeletons (nod to Halloween) and everyone looked the same, no different than me. Then completely fading to nothing but light.? With all this uncertainty, I vow to keep choosing the HS as my source and try not to interfere as much as possible. I came home to this email. So thank you so much for this. Much love to all
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On Nov 12, 2024, at 6:57?AM, Marcy <marcybk@...> wrote:
? If anyone is in need support and wants help in looking, we are here for you. It seems like the perfect time to help each other look at projection on collective and or individual themes (which we all have/had). Projection makes perception individually and collectively.?
Here are some Q & A s relating to our collective dream. I posted this in 2017? #87922
You can purchase the entire Q & A collection at:?
With Gratitude,
Marcy (J always offers his hand whenever I think I've fallen and can't get up)
What can be done? In form you may want to vote differently or not. Is your reasoning re guns because they are coming too close to you? Was this shooter or any other in your town, near you or your family of friends? When do we tend to take action? When do we care about all of our brothers?? Am I aware of what is happening in every single area in this world? Or is that seemingly not about me??
Obviously there is a lot we can question. In form there are things one can do to attempt to increase gun control.
There are many groups you can get involved in in form and there is much to look at on the level of mind. What is the purpose of guns?
Safety????? Protection? Vengeance? Control?/Power? To steal from another? To save another? The list goes on and on.....
Here are some Q & A s from that may help one look at the issue regrading form/magic: to do or not to do about gun related incidents/guns themselves.....and looking on the level of mind/content. For ACIM it is never about the form, but rather the content in the mind. We begin by looking at our judgements about form. What I accuse _______of, I 1st accused myself of the same (in content).
Happy Reading,
Marcy
Q #1237:?I know that I must be lost in level confusion, but terrorism has been on my mind. As did Hitler, they target some people but also kill their own. Regardless of whether they are a projection of our collective mind, I do think that they must be purged in the same way that all fascists must. I read about how monks and other devout groups prayed for the peace during the holocaust, but peace (relative though it was) came only with war. Of course, this is causing my already split mind to separate like orange sections.
A:?Your?perception?of terrorists is the critical factor in resolving your dilemma; and as the Course teaches, perception can be either right-minded or wrong-minded -- the same behavior (form) can flow from either the right mind or the wrong mind (the content). From what you say, you apparently perceive terrorists and fascists as victimizers, which means you have chosen the ego as your teacher. The ego never lets us in on this, but perpetual conflict, not enduring peace, is the inevitable outcome of its thought system, because it rests on the divisive principles of?one or the other, kill or be killed.?There must always be an external enemy of some kind for the ego itself to survive, and we are thus lured into thinking that if we can just get this person or this group out of our lives, everything will be better. But as you have observed, the peace that follows war is partial and never lasts. This will always be the case until we turn inward and see the insanity of this thought system, and then reconsider our choice for the ego as our teacher. This is where?A Course in Miracles?is most helpful, as its focus is on training us to make the connection between our experience and the thought system we have identified with in our minds. This is why Jesus tells us,?“Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world” (T.21.in.1:7).
The insane belief system in our minds that claims peace can be attained through war and that we can stop hostility and hatred by killing people is the problem. The “other way” presented in the Course rests on the premise that we are all one as God's Son, and that there are no exceptions to this. Terrorists and fascists are part of the Sonship the same as everyone else, and therefore to condemn them in our minds is to condemn ourselves, and Jesus as well. If this vision is your point of departure, you are giving yourself a better chance of ending the conflict and pain in your own mind, for you would be proceeding on the basis of truth, not its denial. Then you would approach problems differently. Your response would be motivated by a sincere desire to heal, rather than a desire to eradicate the evildoers in the world, whom you see as the cause of unrest and fear. You would not deny the ego in anyone, but you would see it as the same ego in you (in content, not necessarily in form), and you would realize that violent, hateful behavior is coming from a mind that is itself tortured with pain and conflict that seems unbearable and therefore must be projected.
From this place of compassion in your mind, you would thus be a channel for true justice, which does not see winners and losers, victims and victimizers, but rather, from a larger perspective, what is best for everyone:?“Be certain any answer to a problem the Holy Spirit solves will always be one in which no one loses. And this must be true, because He asks no sacrifice of anyone. An answer which demands the slightest loss to anyone has not resolved the problem, but has added to it and made it greater, harder to resolve and more unfair. . . . The principle that justice means no one can lose is crucial to this course” (T.25.IX.3:1,2,3; 5:4).?That is what Jesus means by returning justice to love.
The last four sections in Chapter 25 help us understand the basis of the world's notion of vengeful justice, in contrast to Heaven's justice, which is rooted in all-inclusive love and compassion?(T.25.VI, VII, VIII, IX).?Lesson 200,?“There is no peace except the peace of God” (W.pI.200),?is also important for understanding the major differences between the peace we seek in the world and the peace we find within our minds -- our natural inheritance as God's Son.?“For peace is union, if it be of God” (W.pI.200.11:6).?These issues are the subject, as well, of our four tape sets, “The Compassion of the Miracle,” “The Quality of Mercy,” “The Problem of Evil,” and “Justice Returned to Love.” We also direct you to the Interactive index of all topics on this Service, where you will find additional questions and answers under the listing, War.
Q #53:?Does being active in political and social programs inappropriately reinforce the dream from which we are trying to awaken? Should one work solely on the self? Isn’t that the best way to address the world’s ill?
A:?First, the Course is exclusively about the healing of our minds, because that is where our one and only problem and its solution reside: our decision to be separate, and our capacity to undo that choice."Forget not that the healing of God’s Son is all this world is for" (T.24.VI.4:1). On one level, therefore, we can help the world most effectively by undoing the guilt in our minds, because the projection of this guilt is what made the world and all its problems, and what sustains it as well. The world, thus, is but an idea in our minds and has never left its source in our minds. If we could identify with this totally and then undo the guilt, the world would disappear back into the nothingness from which it came, and we would be back home in God. Then?"nothing you remember now will you remember" (T.19.VI.6:6).However, because we have not fully integrated this principle, our experience is that there is a world and we are influenced by it in many ways. It is a highly significant part of our dream and of our script. Therefore, on this level we cannot ignore it or be indifferent or passive about what takes place in the world, just as ignoring or denying bodily conditions is an?"unworthy form of denial" (T.2.IV.3:11).?Two principles that can guide us on this level are (1) there is no hierarchy of illusions, and (2) purpose is everything. Thus, being politically or socially active is no different than performing surgery, competing in sports, or eating and breathing in order to stay alive. In this sense, we cannot say that one reinforces the dream more than another. They are neutral once we identify with bodily existence. It is only when we consider?purpose?that we can begin to evaluate the helpfulness of what we do for our Atonement path. Being involved in political or social movements, or just stopping to help a person injured in an accident, can either reinforce the separation or undo it, depending on whether we have chosen the ego or Jesus as our teacher. It is not the behavior, in other words, that helps or hinders our spiritual advancement. The pivotal issue is whether we have chosen in our minds to see our interests as separate or the same as another person’s.
None of this should be taken to mean that one?must?be involved in political or social programs. It is entirely a matter of how one is guided. It is neither inherently wrong-minded nor right-minded to be active in the world. We just need to be vigilant about using Course principles to justify aloofness or indifference. It is indeed a fine line to walk and requires considerable experience and maturity to both integrate the teachings of the Course and yet do what normal and compassionate people do who are citizens of a country.
Q #567:?Is it possible to be in a sales position and still be a teacher of God? It seems that sales positions are all based around manipulation and selling techniques. I am kind of stuck in that I feel that the only way that I can begin to make some money is to get a job with commission. What would you advise?
A:?Purpose is everything! If the?content?in your mind is that your position in sales is a classroom in which you can be guided by Jesus or the Holy Spirit to undo the separation, there will be no conflict. You will then do whatever competent sales people do, but for a different purpose -- not to intentionally manipulate others to get what you want, which could only result in guilt and conflict. Your purpose, as you carry out your responsibilities conscientiously, would be to recognize more and more that the only aspect of value in your interaction with your customer is your learning that you both share the same interests: you both have a split mind and a decision maker that can choose to follow either the ego’s thought system of separation or the Holy Spirit’s thought system of forgiveness. That is the content; and that is what makes you a teacher of God, not the form (the role), as Jesus states in?A Course in Miracles:?"A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else’s" (M.1.1:1,2). The Holy Spirit can use anything we made to harm (everything in the world!) to heal our minds of their mistaken belief in sin, guilt, and fear?(T.25.VI.4,5,6).Other students have had similar concerns about other roles: see for example Questions #3, #179, #195, #284, and #560
Q #1207:?When setting goals that are crucial to my own well-being and future as well as to my family, I feel guilty -- thinking that as a Course student I am doing something wrong by setting "worldly" goals when I should simply have the one goal of looking with Jesus at my ego. How can one sensibly integrate having goals and be a serious student of the Course, without the ego coming in and making a mess?
A:?A Course in Miracles?is not opposed to setting goals or anything else we do in this world. Jesus lets us know this through statements such as,?"All things you made have use to Him?[the Holy Spirit]?, for His most holy purpose" (T.14.VI.5:3).?In other words, Jesus wants us to keep doing all the things that bodies normally do, but to allow the Holy Spirit in our mind to change the purpose. This is why he tells us,?"'What for?' …is the question that?you?must learn to ask in connection with everything" (T.4.V.6:7.8).
Basically, from Jesus' perspective, whether we spend our days attempting to achieve ambitious goals, watching TV, or sitting in silence on a mountain is irrelevant. It is with which internal teacher we do these things that matters to him. It is true that from the ego's perspective, everything we do or achieve here represents our triumph over God. And if you set goals with the ego, then undoubtedly you will find yourself trying to get your needs met at someone else's expense -- and feeling guilty as a result. But if you set goals (and try to achieve them) with the Holy Spirit as your Guide, each worldly goal can serve to help you remember the one true need we all share -- the need to realize that God's Love still exists and it is safe to awaken from this dream. If your overarching goal is to remember this one shared purpose, then there will be no cause for guilt over all the other things you do. ?
One final note: As a?serious?student of the Course, you should always begin with the premise that the ego?will?come in and make a mess, but that this phenomenon is not serious. The messes the ego creates simply show us that we became afraid of God's Love and ran to the ego for protection. As soon as we realize we have done this, we can once again drop the ego's hand and take the Holy Spirit's. And then the mess will look like a simple pile of silliness that the love in our mind can easily show us how to clean up.
Q #1064:?There is a lot of media coverage about alleviating world poverty. Also many people seem to be on a mission to change this world. Dr. Wapnick often points out in his tapes and text that this is a mistake, as we can't change the world. Whilst I know that this is true on the level of truth, when I pray about it and ask Jesus what to make of it, I find myself reading parts of the text like "For They Have Come" and I get the impression that Jesus is ecstatic about it (collaboration). Jesus didn't?not?heal the sick or raise the dead just because sickness and death are part of the illusion (and I like to think he did do these things). On a practical level, I'd like to think if I were starving to death, someone was desperate to help me. Has this got something to do with true empathy? I almost feel guilty writing this, as I know people die of poverty as we speak.
A:?Let's begin by clarifying what you think you heard Dr. Wapnick say, and what the Course is saying, about changing the world. It's not that we can't change the world -- at this level people do it all the time. The point is, the world is not the real problem and to focus on it is to attempt to change effects rather than getting to the root cause of our unhappiness, which is in the mind?(T.21.in.1)?. The world, from the perspective of the Course, is nothing more than a projection of the thought of separation in the mind and, in the end, we will come to realize that neither of them is real. To seek to change the world outside is to avoid solving the real problem within.
This kind of admonition is directed to students of the Course and has meaning only from the perspective of the Course's metaphysical principles. For someone who resonates to a different spiritual path, it most likely will make little or no sense. And so it would certainly be a mistake to use the Course's teachings to judge others who are seeking to bring about what they perceive as meaningful change in the world, such as alleviating suffering. We simply have no way of knowing what will be most helpful for others on their Atonement paths.
It's important to understand that the Course is never speaking about behavior, but only about the thoughts in the mind and, in particular, what purpose those thoughts are giving to whatever we seem to find ourselves doing in the world. The Course would never say don't help others in need, or don't try to eliminate world hunger, for example. But it would say pay attention to whatever thoughts are behind your actions. And if, for example, you are seeing the poor and the helpless at the mercy of unscrupulous governments and corporations or impersonal forces of nature, you are reinforcing your belief in victims and victimizers, as well as in differences, separation and loss. And that kind of false empathy, which makes distinctions between the innocent and the guilty, truly helps no one for it denies the power of each mind to have chosen its external circumstances as a way to protect its decision for individuality and specialness, and therefore to make a different choice for healing and wholeness?(T.16.I.1,2)?. And this is what we all continue to do until we are at last willing to ask for another way, which has nothing to do with changing the world and everything to do with changing our own mind.
Following up on this third point, it is a misunderstanding of Jesus' meaning in?“For They Have Come” (T.26.IX)?to interpret it as if he were speaking about what bodies do with each other. He is referring to a change in perception, which happens in the mind, which may or may not then be expressed in actions. Yes, he does speak of how?“no one on earth but offers thanks to one who has restored his home, and sheltered him from bitter winter and the freezing cold” (T.26.IX.7:3)?, but only to make the point of how much more grateful we will be to have our true Home restored to us.As for whether Jesus performed the miracles reported in the gospels, it is important to remember that the gospel writers, whom many biblical scholars believe were not eyewitnesses to his life, were writing their accounts to demonstrate that Jesus was special, different from everyone else, divine. If persons experienced healings in the presence of Jesus' love, it seems very unlikely that it would have happened in the magical ways described in the gospel stories. Rather, being reminded of the love that was within them, they would have released the guilt in their minds and no longer have needed to maintain its projection in the form of their symptoms?(M.5.II.2)?.
Jesus' compassion was not for the suffering and crippled bodies the eyes see, but for the suffering and crippled minds that were choosing to believe that illness and pain were somehow necessary for salvation. That those who witnessed his compassion two thousands years ago misunderstood his message and interpreted it in terms of expressing care and concern for those less fortunate than oneself -- reinforcing a belief in real differences and separation -- is not surprising. For just look at how Jesus' students today continue to misunderstand his message in the Course, even though it is presented in much more direct and unambiguous language.
Q #52:?Is it wrong to feel guilty about tragic world events, such as starvation in Africa, etc.? Often, when I see situations of people suffering in poorer countries, I feel guilty and think, "Look at the easy life I have. I really have nothing to complain about." Is my guilt in this situation really just an attempt to retain a sense of specialness and separateness?
A:?Guilt and blame are never justified, according to the Course. But the guilt you are feeling more than likely is coming from a deeper source than you mention, and can be undone only on that level. All of us would feel a deep sense of guilt simply because we are here. Our existence in this world is at God’s expense, so the ego has convinced us. We in essence stole God’s creative power and conferred it on ourselves so that we could direct our own lives in a world that could give us the specialness and individuality that was not available in Heaven. The guilt associated with our existence here is enormous as a result, and is deliberately kept out of awareness through denial and projection.
This dynamic of projection requires that there be a world in which terrible things happen, so that we can perceive both victims and victimizers outside us, rather than in the bloody battlefield in our minds, where we are terrified that God will come storming after us and destroy us for our abominable attack on Him. So there is a second tier of guilt in our minds that comes from our?wanting?there to be suffering in the world to keep our defense of projection working, which in turn maintains this system of existence outside Heaven and God.
Even though the ego assured us that we would be free of guilt by projecting both ourselves and our guilt from the mind, we wind up feeling guilty as bodies in a world of bodies anyway. We feel guilty when we are doing well because deep within our minds we know we got it all illegitimately. And we feel guilty when we see others not doing so well, because on an unconscious level we feel responsible for their suffering and poverty. It reminds us of our complicity in a plan to have a world of affliction and unsolvable problems so that we would never remember that the only problem is that we made the wrong decision in our minds, and that we can simply go back to our minds, guided by Jesus or the Holy Spirit, and now make the right decision.
Finally, we have to be wary of our tendency to interpret events by?form?only. In other words, the external form cannot tell us what is going on in a person’s Atonement path, the?content. Perhaps suffering or poverty is the classroom that that mind is using to learn that the body is not our true reality. We don’t know that, so we should be cautious about judging what appear to be unfortunate situations. We really cannot see the larger picture. We also need to remember that one of the central principles of the Course is that there is no hierarchy of illusions. The bottom line is that kindness and gentleness to all people, regardless of their situation, should be our guiding principle.
From: "indiechris81@... [Disappearance_of_the_Universe]" <Disappearance_of_the_Universe@...>
To: Disappearance_of_the_Universe@...
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 10:54 PM
Subject: [Disappearance_of_the_Universe] Tragedy, gun laws, magic
? "sometimes you have to stop the bleeding before you can forgive..."
Well, those of us who follow the news surely know about what happened in Las Vegas last week. The USA may be one of the most safety-conscious and well-regulated nations in the world, and yet the ego always seems to find new ways to be destructive. Some people are calling for more strict gun laws, but we ACIM students can recognize that impulse as magical thinking.?
Still, as we sit with these feelings of shock and grief - remembering not to resist them, and remembering to look at them with the Holy Spirit - some of us, at least, are still left with the question of "What can be done?"?
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According to ACIM, This continues to explain consciousness.
This makes sense to me when reminded that ‘Knowledge’ is beyond consciousness and perceptions.
Thank you again for bearing with me into this exploration of consciousness.
caroleh
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Hi Marcy and Everyone,
I just found this gem. Consciousness is the first split so it appears that Consciousness is not what God/Heaven is.
carole h
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Re: Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
Hi Marcy and everyone,??
I was looking at some of my notes I took when trying to comprehend Ken Wapnick's amazing chart in helping us understand the metaphysics of ACIM.? I think he said that the first split was that of the tiny mad idea, tmi, - a separate mind that has consciousness and independence from its Source (split of mind from Mind).? It did not really happen but we dream this dream of separation now as individual separate beings having individual separate thoughts and beliefs and stories.??
Before the tmi (the tiny mad idea) the Son of God and God are One, not as One, but One, and there in TRUTH is no separation from where God is and the Son begins.? ?
In this Oneness, God Is,? my question is:? Is there Consciousness?? ?is God conscious?? Is there consciousness in Heaven??
In our right mind's here below HEAVEN, do we in fact have consciousness in the Holy Spirit?? Yet it is referred to as only a reflection of HEAVEN.? Is that what is referred to as Christ Consciousness, but still there is my question of before the tmi.??
It seems that consciousness is something that sees something, is aware of something; but still is not IT.??
Here in this dream, as a split mind that has two parts, (ego vs. Holy Spirit) do we have that GOD consciousness in the Holy Spirit, yet it is still not HEAVEN/GOD.??
In his chart, Kenneth illustrates the line above the tmi with words such as? HEAVEN? ?MIND? ?GOD? ?CHRIST? UNITY? ?KNOWLEDGE? ? ? (all beautiful words to describe something that is indescribeable) I am wondering if Kenneth taught that GOD is Consciousness.? ?I don't think Kenneth ever said that GOD 'has' consciousness because GOD couldn't have something that could be gotten.? ?GOD IS.? and GOD doesn't have something outside of WHAT GOD IS.? So would it be closer to what Kenneth taught that GOD IS CONSCIOUSNESS? or is consciousness something other than GOD???
I hope this question and pondering makes sense.? I hear so many teachers talk about consciousness in the right Mind that reflects Holy Spirit, the memory of GOD, and that we all are consciousness in that Mind.
But I seem to be delving into a space of experiencing consciousness in a space that is abstract and very silent and It has no thoughts; it's an empty 'no thing' experience; no thoughts are there but I'm conscious of the 'nothingness, which is expansively 'all',? ?and I wonder if this is another word for CONSCIOUSNESS.? ?
thanks for any of your mind's thoughts on consciousness
Humbly, Carole H.
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Collective Experiences and with whom you look at them
If anyone is in need support and wants help in looking, we are here for you. It seems like the perfect time to help each other look at projection on collective and or individual themes (which we all have/had). Projection makes perception individually and collectively.?
Here are some Q & A s relating to our collective dream. I posted this in 2017? #87922
You can purchase the entire Q & A collection at:?
With Gratitude,
Marcy (J always offers his hand whenever I think I've fallen and can't get up)
What can be done? In form you may want to vote differently or not. Is your reasoning re guns because they are coming too close to you? Was this shooter or any other in your town, near you or your family of friends? When do we tend to take action? When do we care about all of our brothers?? Am I aware of what is happening in every single area in this world? Or is that seemingly not about me??
Obviously there is a lot we can question. In form there are things one can do to attempt to increase gun control.
There are many groups you can get involved in in form and there is much to look at on the level of mind. What is the purpose of guns?
Safety????? Protection? Vengeance? Control?/Power? To steal from another? To save another? The list goes on and on.....
Here are some Q & A s from that may help one look at the issue regrading form/magic: to do or not to do about gun related incidents/guns themselves.....and looking on the level of mind/content. For ACIM it is never about the form, but rather the content in the mind. We begin by looking at our judgements about form. What I accuse _______of, I 1st accused myself of the same (in content).
Happy Reading,
Marcy
Q #1237:?I know that I must be lost in level confusion, but terrorism has been on my mind. As did Hitler, they target some people but also kill their own. Regardless of whether they are a projection of our collective mind, I do think that they must be purged in the same way that all fascists must. I read about how monks and other devout groups prayed for the peace during the holocaust, but peace (relative though it was) came only with war. Of course, this is causing my already split mind to separate like orange sections.
A:?Your?perception?of terrorists is the critical factor in resolving your dilemma; and as the Course teaches, perception can be either right-minded or wrong-minded -- the same behavior (form) can flow from either the right mind or the wrong mind (the content). From what you say, you apparently perceive terrorists and fascists as victimizers, which means you have chosen the ego as your teacher. The ego never lets us in on this, but perpetual conflict, not enduring peace, is the inevitable outcome of its thought system, because it rests on the divisive principles of?one or the other, kill or be killed.?There must always be an external enemy of some kind for the ego itself to survive, and we are thus lured into thinking that if we can just get this person or this group out of our lives, everything will be better. But as you have observed, the peace that follows war is partial and never lasts. This will always be the case until we turn inward and see the insanity of this thought system, and then reconsider our choice for the ego as our teacher. This is where?A Course in Miracles?is most helpful, as its focus is on training us to make the connection between our experience and the thought system we have identified with in our minds. This is why Jesus tells us,?“Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world” (T.21.in.1:7).
The insane belief system in our minds that claims peace can be attained through war and that we can stop hostility and hatred by killing people is the problem. The “other way” presented in the Course rests on the premise that we are all one as God's Son, and that there are no exceptions to this. Terrorists and fascists are part of the Sonship the same as everyone else, and therefore to condemn them in our minds is to condemn ourselves, and Jesus as well. If this vision is your point of departure, you are giving yourself a better chance of ending the conflict and pain in your own mind, for you would be proceeding on the basis of truth, not its denial. Then you would approach problems differently. Your response would be motivated by a sincere desire to heal, rather than a desire to eradicate the evildoers in the world, whom you see as the cause of unrest and fear. You would not deny the ego in anyone, but you would see it as the same ego in you (in content, not necessarily in form), and you would realize that violent, hateful behavior is coming from a mind that is itself tortured with pain and conflict that seems unbearable and therefore must be projected.
From this place of compassion in your mind, you would thus be a channel for true justice, which does not see winners and losers, victims and victimizers, but rather, from a larger perspective, what is best for everyone:?“Be certain any answer to a problem the Holy Spirit solves will always be one in which no one loses. And this must be true, because He asks no sacrifice of anyone. An answer which demands the slightest loss to anyone has not resolved the problem, but has added to it and made it greater, harder to resolve and more unfair. . . . The principle that justice means no one can lose is crucial to this course” (T.25.IX.3:1,2,3; 5:4).?That is what Jesus means by returning justice to love.
The last four sections in Chapter 25 help us understand the basis of the world's notion of vengeful justice, in contrast to Heaven's justice, which is rooted in all-inclusive love and compassion?(T.25.VI, VII, VIII, IX).?Lesson 200,?“There is no peace except the peace of God” (W.pI.200),?is also important for understanding the major differences between the peace we seek in the world and the peace we find within our minds -- our natural inheritance as God's Son.?“For peace is union, if it be of God” (W.pI.200.11:6).?These issues are the subject, as well, of our four tape sets, “The Compassion of the Miracle,” “The Quality of Mercy,” “The Problem of Evil,” and “Justice Returned to Love.” We also direct you to the Interactive index of all topics on this Service, where you will find additional questions and answers under the listing, War.
Q #53:?Does being active in political and social programs inappropriately reinforce the dream from which we are trying to awaken? Should one work solely on the self? Isn’t that the best way to address the world’s ill?
A:?First, the Course is exclusively about the healing of our minds, because that is where our one and only problem and its solution reside: our decision to be separate, and our capacity to undo that choice."Forget not that the healing of God’s Son is all this world is for" (T.24.VI.4:1). On one level, therefore, we can help the world most effectively by undoing the guilt in our minds, because the projection of this guilt is what made the world and all its problems, and what sustains it as well. The world, thus, is but an idea in our minds and has never left its source in our minds. If we could identify with this totally and then undo the guilt, the world would disappear back into the nothingness from which it came, and we would be back home in God. Then?"nothing you remember now will you remember" (T.19.VI.6:6).However, because we have not fully integrated this principle, our experience is that there is a world and we are influenced by it in many ways. It is a highly significant part of our dream and of our script. Therefore, on this level we cannot ignore it or be indifferent or passive about what takes place in the world, just as ignoring or denying bodily conditions is an?"unworthy form of denial" (T.2.IV.3:11).?Two principles that can guide us on this level are (1) there is no hierarchy of illusions, and (2) purpose is everything. Thus, being politically or socially active is no different than performing surgery, competing in sports, or eating and breathing in order to stay alive. In this sense, we cannot say that one reinforces the dream more than another. They are neutral once we identify with bodily existence. It is only when we consider?purpose?that we can begin to evaluate the helpfulness of what we do for our Atonement path. Being involved in political or social movements, or just stopping to help a person injured in an accident, can either reinforce the separation or undo it, depending on whether we have chosen the ego or Jesus as our teacher. It is not the behavior, in other words, that helps or hinders our spiritual advancement. The pivotal issue is whether we have chosen in our minds to see our interests as separate or the same as another person’s.
None of this should be taken to mean that one?must?be involved in political or social programs. It is entirely a matter of how one is guided. It is neither inherently wrong-minded nor right-minded to be active in the world. We just need to be vigilant about using Course principles to justify aloofness or indifference. It is indeed a fine line to walk and requires considerable experience and maturity to both integrate the teachings of the Course and yet do what normal and compassionate people do who are citizens of a country.
Q #567:?Is it possible to be in a sales position and still be a teacher of God? It seems that sales positions are all based around manipulation and selling techniques. I am kind of stuck in that I feel that the only way that I can begin to make some money is to get a job with commission. What would you advise?
A:?Purpose is everything! If the?content?in your mind is that your position in sales is a classroom in which you can be guided by Jesus or the Holy Spirit to undo the separation, there will be no conflict. You will then do whatever competent sales people do, but for a different purpose -- not to intentionally manipulate others to get what you want, which could only result in guilt and conflict. Your purpose, as you carry out your responsibilities conscientiously, would be to recognize more and more that the only aspect of value in your interaction with your customer is your learning that you both share the same interests: you both have a split mind and a decision maker that can choose to follow either the ego’s thought system of separation or the Holy Spirit’s thought system of forgiveness. That is the content; and that is what makes you a teacher of God, not the form (the role), as Jesus states in?A Course in Miracles:?"A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else’s" (M.1.1:1,2). The Holy Spirit can use anything we made to harm (everything in the world!) to heal our minds of their mistaken belief in sin, guilt, and fear?(T.25.VI.4,5,6).Other students have had similar concerns about other roles: see for example Questions #3, #179, #195, #284, and #560
Q #1207:?When setting goals that are crucial to my own well-being and future as well as to my family, I feel guilty -- thinking that as a Course student I am doing something wrong by setting "worldly" goals when I should simply have the one goal of looking with Jesus at my ego. How can one sensibly integrate having goals and be a serious student of the Course, without the ego coming in and making a mess?
A:?A Course in Miracles?is not opposed to setting goals or anything else we do in this world. Jesus lets us know this through statements such as,?"All things you made have use to Him?[the Holy Spirit]?, for His most holy purpose" (T.14.VI.5:3).?In other words, Jesus wants us to keep doing all the things that bodies normally do, but to allow the Holy Spirit in our mind to change the purpose. This is why he tells us,?"'What for?' …is the question that?you?must learn to ask in connection with everything" (T.4.V.6:7.8).
Basically, from Jesus' perspective, whether we spend our days attempting to achieve ambitious goals, watching TV, or sitting in silence on a mountain is irrelevant. It is with which internal teacher we do these things that matters to him. It is true that from the ego's perspective, everything we do or achieve here represents our triumph over God. And if you set goals with the ego, then undoubtedly you will find yourself trying to get your needs met at someone else's expense -- and feeling guilty as a result. But if you set goals (and try to achieve them) with the Holy Spirit as your Guide, each worldly goal can serve to help you remember the one true need we all share -- the need to realize that God's Love still exists and it is safe to awaken from this dream. If your overarching goal is to remember this one shared purpose, then there will be no cause for guilt over all the other things you do. ?
One final note: As a?serious?student of the Course, you should always begin with the premise that the ego?will?come in and make a mess, but that this phenomenon is not serious. The messes the ego creates simply show us that we became afraid of God's Love and ran to the ego for protection. As soon as we realize we have done this, we can once again drop the ego's hand and take the Holy Spirit's. And then the mess will look like a simple pile of silliness that the love in our mind can easily show us how to clean up.
Q #1064:?There is a lot of media coverage about alleviating world poverty. Also many people seem to be on a mission to change this world. Dr. Wapnick often points out in his tapes and text that this is a mistake, as we can't change the world. Whilst I know that this is true on the level of truth, when I pray about it and ask Jesus what to make of it, I find myself reading parts of the text like "For They Have Come" and I get the impression that Jesus is ecstatic about it (collaboration). Jesus didn't?not?heal the sick or raise the dead just because sickness and death are part of the illusion (and I like to think he did do these things). On a practical level, I'd like to think if I were starving to death, someone was desperate to help me. Has this got something to do with true empathy? I almost feel guilty writing this, as I know people die of poverty as we speak.
A:?Let's begin by clarifying what you think you heard Dr. Wapnick say, and what the Course is saying, about changing the world. It's not that we can't change the world -- at this level people do it all the time. The point is, the world is not the real problem and to focus on it is to attempt to change effects rather than getting to the root cause of our unhappiness, which is in the mind?(T.21.in.1)?. The world, from the perspective of the Course, is nothing more than a projection of the thought of separation in the mind and, in the end, we will come to realize that neither of them is real. To seek to change the world outside is to avoid solving the real problem within.
This kind of admonition is directed to students of the Course and has meaning only from the perspective of the Course's metaphysical principles. For someone who resonates to a different spiritual path, it most likely will make little or no sense. And so it would certainly be a mistake to use the Course's teachings to judge others who are seeking to bring about what they perceive as meaningful change in the world, such as alleviating suffering. We simply have no way of knowing what will be most helpful for others on their Atonement paths.
It's important to understand that the Course is never speaking about behavior, but only about the thoughts in the mind and, in particular, what purpose those thoughts are giving to whatever we seem to find ourselves doing in the world. The Course would never say don't help others in need, or don't try to eliminate world hunger, for example. But it would say pay attention to whatever thoughts are behind your actions. And if, for example, you are seeing the poor and the helpless at the mercy of unscrupulous governments and corporations or impersonal forces of nature, you are reinforcing your belief in victims and victimizers, as well as in differences, separation and loss. And that kind of false empathy, which makes distinctions between the innocent and the guilty, truly helps no one for it denies the power of each mind to have chosen its external circumstances as a way to protect its decision for individuality and specialness, and therefore to make a different choice for healing and wholeness?(T.16.I.1,2)?. And this is what we all continue to do until we are at last willing to ask for another way, which has nothing to do with changing the world and everything to do with changing our own mind.
Following up on this third point, it is a misunderstanding of Jesus' meaning in?“For They Have Come” (T.26.IX)?to interpret it as if he were speaking about what bodies do with each other. He is referring to a change in perception, which happens in the mind, which may or may not then be expressed in actions. Yes, he does speak of how?“no one on earth but offers thanks to one who has restored his home, and sheltered him from bitter winter and the freezing cold” (T.26.IX.7:3)?, but only to make the point of how much more grateful we will be to have our true Home restored to us.As for whether Jesus performed the miracles reported in the gospels, it is important to remember that the gospel writers, whom many biblical scholars believe were not eyewitnesses to his life, were writing their accounts to demonstrate that Jesus was special, different from everyone else, divine. If persons experienced healings in the presence of Jesus' love, it seems very unlikely that it would have happened in the magical ways described in the gospel stories. Rather, being reminded of the love that was within them, they would have released the guilt in their minds and no longer have needed to maintain its projection in the form of their symptoms?(M.5.II.2)?.
Jesus' compassion was not for the suffering and crippled bodies the eyes see, but for the suffering and crippled minds that were choosing to believe that illness and pain were somehow necessary for salvation. That those who witnessed his compassion two thousands years ago misunderstood his message and interpreted it in terms of expressing care and concern for those less fortunate than oneself -- reinforcing a belief in real differences and separation -- is not surprising. For just look at how Jesus' students today continue to misunderstand his message in the Course, even though it is presented in much more direct and unambiguous language.
Q #52:?Is it wrong to feel guilty about tragic world events, such as starvation in Africa, etc.? Often, when I see situations of people suffering in poorer countries, I feel guilty and think, "Look at the easy life I have. I really have nothing to complain about." Is my guilt in this situation really just an attempt to retain a sense of specialness and separateness?
A:?Guilt and blame are never justified, according to the Course. But the guilt you are feeling more than likely is coming from a deeper source than you mention, and can be undone only on that level. All of us would feel a deep sense of guilt simply because we are here. Our existence in this world is at God’s expense, so the ego has convinced us. We in essence stole God’s creative power and conferred it on ourselves so that we could direct our own lives in a world that could give us the specialness and individuality that was not available in Heaven. The guilt associated with our existence here is enormous as a result, and is deliberately kept out of awareness through denial and projection.
This dynamic of projection requires that there be a world in which terrible things happen, so that we can perceive both victims and victimizers outside us, rather than in the bloody battlefield in our minds, where we are terrified that God will come storming after us and destroy us for our abominable attack on Him. So there is a second tier of guilt in our minds that comes from our?wanting?there to be suffering in the world to keep our defense of projection working, which in turn maintains this system of existence outside Heaven and God.
Even though the ego assured us that we would be free of guilt by projecting both ourselves and our guilt from the mind, we wind up feeling guilty as bodies in a world of bodies anyway. We feel guilty when we are doing well because deep within our minds we know we got it all illegitimately. And we feel guilty when we see others not doing so well, because on an unconscious level we feel responsible for their suffering and poverty. It reminds us of our complicity in a plan to have a world of affliction and unsolvable problems so that we would never remember that the only problem is that we made the wrong decision in our minds, and that we can simply go back to our minds, guided by Jesus or the Holy Spirit, and now make the right decision.
Finally, we have to be wary of our tendency to interpret events by?form?only. In other words, the external form cannot tell us what is going on in a person’s Atonement path, the?content. Perhaps suffering or poverty is the classroom that that mind is using to learn that the body is not our true reality. We don’t know that, so we should be cautious about judging what appear to be unfortunate situations. We really cannot see the larger picture. We also need to remember that one of the central principles of the Course is that there is no hierarchy of illusions. The bottom line is that kindness and gentleness to all people, regardless of their situation, should be our guiding principle.
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From: "indiechris81@... [Disappearance_of_the_Universe]" <Disappearance_of_the_Universe@...>
To: Disappearance_of_the_Universe@...
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 10:54 PM
Subject: [Disappearance_of_the_Universe] Tragedy, gun laws, magic
? "sometimes you have to stop the bleeding before you can forgive..."
Well, those of us who follow the news surely know about what happened in Las Vegas last week. The USA may be one of the most safety-conscious and well-regulated nations in the world, and yet the ego always seems to find new ways to be destructive. Some people are calling for more strict gun laws, but we ACIM students can recognize that impulse as magical thinking.?
Still, as we sit with these feelings of shock and grief - remembering not to resist them, and remembering to look at them with the Holy Spirit - some of us, at least, are still left with the question of "What can be done?"?
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LESSON 317. I follow in the way appointed me.
LESSON 317. I follow in the way appointed me.
(1) I have a special place to fill; a role for me alone. Salvation waits until I take this part as what I choose to do. Until I make this choice, I am the slave of time and human destiny. But when I willingly and gladly go the way my Father's plan appointed me to go, then will I recognize salvation is already here, already given all my brothers and already mine as well.
(2) <Father, Your way is what I choose today. Where it would lead me do I choose to go; what it would have me do I choose to do. Your way is certain, and the end secure. The memory of You awaits me there. And all my sorrows end in Your embrace, which You have promised to Your Son, who thought mistakenly that he had wandered from the sure protection of Your loving Arms.>
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
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LESSON 317. "I follow in the way appointed me."
This lesson is of great importance, and its theme is echoed in two lessons that we will see in the next series. "I follow in the way appointed me" means I do not want to be first. As one of these later lessons says, "I choose the second place to gain the first" (W-pII.328). At the beginning we told God: "I am First Cause and You follow me -- I have the power and I am in charge." This belief is the motivation behind the mantra found in New Age circles: "I am God." None of us wants to follow, for we want to be number one. In this lesson, therefore, Jesus brings us back to the humility we must practice as students of his course: "I will follow the way my teacher instructs so I can come to God, Who is my Creator -- I am not His, He is mine."
(1:1) "I have a special place to fill; a role for me alone."
Here we have another example of Jesus using the word <special> for the Holy Spirit, when almost always it is reserved for the ego. Our <special> place is our <special> function, which is to forgive our <special> relationships, as he explains in the text:
"Here, where the laws of God do not prevail in perfect form, can he yet do one perfect thing and make one perfect choice. And by this act of special faithfulness to one perceived as other than himself, he learns the gift was given to himself, and so they must be one." (T-25.VI.5:1-2).
(1:2-4) "Salvation waits until I take this part as what I choose to do. Until I make this choice, I am the slave of time and human destiny. But when I willingly and gladly go the way my Father's plan appointed me to go, then will I recognize salvation is already here, already given all my brothers and already mine as well."
It is our choice and no one else's. Once again, our only role is to forgive, which has nothing at all to do with behavior or anything external.
(2:1) "Father, Your way is what I choose today."
This is yet another reference to the closing prayer in Lesson 189, "Father, we do not know the way to You." Our Father calls through His Voice, and we will follow -- the essence of humility.
(2:2-4) "Where it would lead me do I choose to go; what it would have me do I choose to do. Your way is certain, and the end secure. The memory of You awaits me there."
The focus again is on our choice, and we now gladly choose God's way. The journey ends with the return of His memory -- the real world -- achieved by the forgiveness that excludes no one from the Sonship.
(2:5) "And all my sorrows end in Your embrace, which You have promised to Your Son, who thought mistakenly that he had wandered from the sure protection of Your loving Arms."
The world arose from the belief we had indeed wandered from God's loving Arms. The ego told us these Arms were not loving, and that we were not loving, and that we were wise in running away -- if we had stayed, God would surely have destroyed us. Jesus tells us, however, that we are not sinful, but we did indeed make a mistaken choice, reflecting the well-known line from the text: "Son of God you have not sinned, but you have been much mistaken" (T-10.V.6:1).
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10. What Is the Last Judgment?
(1) Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what is true has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first you see a world that has accepted this as true, projected from a now corrected mind. And with this holy sight, perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.
(2) The final judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born, and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless, and will therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.
(3) You who believed that God's Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.
(4) God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.
(5) This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 316. All gifts I give my brothers are my own.
Lesson 316. All gifts I give my brothers are my own.
(1) As every gift my brothers give is mine, so every gift I give belongs to me. Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy mind my Father loves. His grace is given me in every gift a brother has received throughout all time, and past all time as well. My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added. Let me come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at home, among the gifts that God has given me.
(2) Father, I would accept Your gifts today. I do not recognize them. Yet I trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can behold them, see their worth, and cherish only them as what I want.
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 316. "All gifts I give my brothers are my own."
My brothers and I are joined, and so the gifts of forgiveness given others through extension reinforces its presence in me -- God's Son is one.
(1:1-3) "As every gift my brothers give is mine, so every gift I give belongs to me. Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy mind my Father loves. His grace is given me in every gift a brother has received throughout all time, and past all time as well."
By forgiving the sins we perceived in our brothers, we let go of the shadows they cast through projection: our attacks and grievances. They are thus forgotten as we gently remember the gifts our Father gave us.
(1:4-5) "My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added. Let me come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at home, among the gifts that God has given me."
My right mind is the "treasure house" in which God's gifts are found. When we seek for treasures in the world -- objects of specialness to delight us and give us happiness, peace, and pleasure -- we are saying God's treasure is not enough, nor is the Holy Spirit's Atonement. Again, it is not that we should feel guilty for seeking the treasured objects of specialness, but we do want to recognize what we are doing and why. Gratitude for the classrooms of our lives will inevitably follow, for they have provided the opportunities that enabled us finally to realize where our treasure is. The statement "let me come to where my treasures are" is clearly a prayer to our decision making selves: we are the ones who wandered into the ego's far country, and we are the ones who must choose to return. And we are glad and grateful to do so, as Heaven sings its song of gratitude.
(2) "Father, I would accept Your gifts today. I do not recognize them. Yet I trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can behold them, see their worth, and cherish only them as what I want."
The means of true perception is forgiveness, which allows us to accept God's gift of love. Unless we give it, we shall never know we have received it. Therefore to deny His Love anywhere in the Sonship is to deny it in all, including ourselves. Yet to accept it in one accepts it in all, including ourselves. Thus Jesus encourages us to give as God gives -- without limit or constraint:
"Could any part of God be without His Love, and could any part of His Love be contained? God is your heritage, because His one gift is Himself. How can you give except like Him if you would know His gift to you? Give, then, without limit and without end, to learn how much He has given you. Your ability to accept Him depends on your willingness to give as He gives." (T-11.1.7:1-5).
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 315. All gifts my brothers give belong to me.
Lesson 315. All gifts my brothers give belong to me.
(1) Each day a thousand treasures come to me with every passing moment. I am blessed with gifts throughout the day, in value far beyond all things of which I can conceive. A brother smiles upon another, and my heart is gladdened. Someone speaks a word of gratitude or mercy, and my mind receives this gift and takes it as its own. And everyone who finds the way to God becomes my savior, pointing out the way to me, and giving me his certainty that what he learned is surely mine as well.
(2) I thank You, Father, for the many gifts that come to me today and every day from every Son of God. My brothers are unlimited in all their gifts to me. Now may I offer them my thankfulness, that gratitude to them may lead me on to my Creator and His memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 315. "All gifts my brothers give belong to me."
These two lessons share the theme that giving and receiving are the same, a concept grounded in the oneness of God's Son. The gifts of which Jesus speaks may be understood on two levels: the opportunities for forgiveness that the special relationship which my brother provides, and my brother's gift of forgiveness reminding me I can choose again, as I do when I am in my right mind. We do this for and with each other because of the underlying oneness of God's Son, even in the illusion.
(1:1-2) "Each day a thousand treasures come to me with every passing moment. I am blessed with gifts throughout the day, in value far beyond all things of which I can conceive."
These gifts come in every moment, in every relationship -- the opportunity to look past the ego's gifts of specialness to Jesus' gift of seeing the Son as God created him.
"There is no gift the Father asks of you but that you see in all creation but the shining glory of His gift to you. Behold His Son, His perfect gift, in whom his Father shines forever, and to whom is all creation given as his own." (T-29.V.5:1-2).
(1:3) "A brother smiles upon another, and my heart is gladdened."
I am gladdened because now there is hope. If this brother can change his mind and forgive, where before he was attacking, I can, too, since God's Son is one. Indeed, no greater joy exists in this world than knowing one is forgiven.
(1:4-5) "Someone speaks a word of gratitude or mercy, and my mind receives this gift and takes it as its own. And everyone who finds the way to God becomes my savior, pointing out the way to me, and giving me his certainty that what he learned is surely mine as well."
In A Course in Miracles, Jesus usually goes the other way, telling us that <our> change of mind is the healing gift to our brother. However, in reversing the direction of forgiveness here, he reflects that whether I give the gift to you, or you to me, it is God's Son giving to himself. It is the gift that says we can make another choice, for our love and peace tell each other and ourselves that we can choose again.
(2) "I thank You, Father, for the many gifts that come to me today and every day from every Son of God. My brothers are unlimited in all their gifts to me. Now may I offer them my thankfulness, that gratitude to them may lead me on to my Creator and His memory."
This echoes the idea of gratitude that embraces us even in painful circumstances, for these cause us to ask Jesus for help, accepting his teaching that says that by changing our minds we can look at this relationship or situation another way. Recall this prayer from "The gifts of God":
"Father, we thank You for these gifts that we have found together. Here we are redeemed. For it is here we joined, and from this place of holy joining we will come to You because we recognize the gifts You gave and would have nothing else." (The Gifts of God, p.119).
In joining with Jesus, therefore, we join with our brothers, and we give thanks for the gift of remembrance that is ours at last.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 314. I seek a future different from the past.
Lesson 314. I seek a future different from the past.
From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from the
past. The future now is recognized as but extension of the present. Past
mistakes can cast no shadows on it, so that fear has lost its idols and its
images, and being formless, it has no effects. Death will not claim the future
now, for life is now its goal, and all the needed means are happily provided.
Who can grieve or suffer when the present has been freed, extending its security
and peace into a quiet future filled with joy?
Father, we were mistaken in the past, and choose to use the present to be free.
Now do we leave the future in Your Hands, leaving behind our past mistakes, and
sure that You will keep Your present promises, and guide the future in their
holy light.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey
Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the
following site:??~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 314. "I seek a future different from the past."
*This is the last of the series on the ego and its undoing. The emphasis here is
on our future expectations. To the ego, a sinful past results in a guilty
present and inevitable punishment in the future. To seek a future different from
the past means to see the future as the extension of God's timeless Love, which
means there is no future. Lesson 194 taught that placing the future in God's
Hands corrects the ego's belief that in them we will be destroyed because of our
sins. This lesson helps us undo that strange ego concept.*
(1:1) "From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from
the past."
*Once we choose the new perception (Lesson 313), we look at everything
differently -- from the perspective of timelessness extended into the dream of
time. In Lesson 184, Jesus spoke of our need to use the world's symbols, but
without regarding them as real. Thus we use time's symbols, yet knowing our
reality is outside them.*
(1:2-3) "The future now is recognized as but extension of the present. Past
mistakes can cast no shadows on it, so that fear has lost its idols and its
images, and being formless, it has no effects."
*Love exists only in the present, with the future now being its right-minded
extension. Outside the dream, we realize this extension is not a linear event,
as were our past mistakes that cast a shadow on a future that held our
punishment. In the holy instant there is no past or future -- only the Love of
God. Thus everything that seemed to come from fear has disappeared into its own
nothingness.*
(1:4-5) "Death will not claim the future now, for life is now its goal, and all
the needed means are happily provided. Who can grieve or suffer when the present
has been freed, extending its security and peace into a quiet future filled with
joy?"
*The end of death is the end of the ego, along with its thought system of pain
and misery.*
(2:1) "Father, we were mistaken in the past, and choose to use the present to be
free."
*This idea of our mistakenness is implicit throughout A Course in Miracles, but
here Jesus is explicit in asking us to admit we were wrong, not because God
wants to lord it over us, but simply because being "right" has not resulted in
our happiness. We want to reach the point where we can sincerely say we are glad
and grateful we were mistaken.*
(2:2) "Now do we leave the future in Your Hands, leaving behind our past
mistakes, and sure that You will keep Your present promises, and guide the
future in their holy light."
*Once again, placing the future in God's Hands has nothing to do with giving Him
our future. We simply correct the mistake of having given our future to the
ego's god which we did to avoid the punishment that would prove our sin and
demonstrate our existence. The body may not survive death, but the thought
system of individuality remains alive and well in the mind. That is why Jesus
speaks of undoing the mind's thought system in which sin, guilt, and fear are
reflected in our worldly state of past, present, and future. Thus are God's
<present> promises kept.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 313. Now let a new perception come to me.
Lesson 313. Now let a new perception come to me.
(1) Father, there is a vision which beholds all things as sinless, so that fear has gone, and where it was is love invited in. And love will come wherever it is asked. This vision is Your gift. The eyes of Christ look on a world forgiven. In His sight are all its sins forgiven, for He sees no sin in anything He looks upon. Now let His true perception come to me, that I may waken from the dream of sin and look within upon my sinlessness, which You have kept completely undefiled upon the altar to Your holy Son, the Self with which I would identify.
(2) Let us today behold each other in the sight of Christ. How beautiful we are! How holy and how loving! Brother, come and join with me today. We save the world when we have joined. For in our vision it becomes as holy as the light in us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 313. "Now let a new perception come to me."
This is another important lesson, which follows the two preceding ones. Recall that we begin with a negative judgment about ourselves, which leads us to make up a negative world perceived outside ourselves. We eventually realize there must be another way, because ours is making us too unhappy. We thus pray: "Now let a new perception come to me." This is not meant to invoke a magical perception that comes to us, for we come to it. The source of this new perception -- Christ's vision -- is our right minds. We are the ones who wandered away by choosing against it; therefore, we are the ones who must return and choose again.
(1:1-5) "Father, there is a vision which beholds all things as sinless, so that fear has gone, and where it was is love invited in. And love will come wherever it is asked. This vision is Your gift. The eyes of Christ look on a world forgiven. In His sight are all its sins forgiven, for He sees no sin in anything He looks upon."
Love and fear are mutually exclusive, and cannot be present simultaneously. The same is true of forgiveness and judgment. Asking Jesus for help means looking through his forgiving eyes at love's reflection, and in that vision we are forgiven and healed, and the world along with us.
(1:6) "Now let His true perception come to me, that I may waken from the dream of sin and look within upon my sinlessness, which You have kept completely undefiled upon the altar to Your holy Son, the Self with which I would identify."
The holy altar is our minds. Our inherent sinlessness has been kept pure and undefiled through the Holy Spirit's Presence, reminding us that reality is unchanged, our insane beliefs to the contrary. The key phrase in this passage is "look within." We cannot see our sinlessness until we first look at the image of evil, darkness and sin we believe is there. Only then do we realize this image is a thin veil that barely contains the light of sinlessness behind it. However, we must first look at the darkness within, choosing to do so by asking Jesus' help to look differently on the special relationships we made to be the repository of sin.
(2:1-4) "Let us today behold each other in the sight of Christ. How beautiful we are! How holy and how loving! Brother, come and join with me today."
If you want this vision, you must let Jesus teach you to see Christ's light in everyone -- not only to certain holy people -- but in everyone you have condemned and judged against. How beautiful the Sonship becomes when it is seen as it really is -- <one> !
(2:5-6) "We save the world when we have joined. For in our vision it becomes as holy as the light in us."
*Jesus' concept of saving the world cannot be understood from the body's perspective, but only from outside the dream where we realize God has one Son, and that the world that seemed to arise from his mind has never left its source. If that mind believes it is separated, the separated world will seem real. Yet when the mind is healed, there is no separation and the world is saved from our belief in it. Again, this makes no sense from the perspective of the world, unless we adopt the megalomaniacal position that we changed our minds and the world is saved because of <us>. However, this <us> is part of the world and the crucifixion of God's Son. The world's salvation occurs only when we are beyond the dream with Jesus, leaving our crucified self behind.
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10. What Is the Last Judgment?
(1) Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what is true has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first you see a world that has accepted this as true, projected from a now corrected mind. And with this holy sight, perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.
(2) The final judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born, and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless, and will therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.
(3) You who believed that God's Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.
(4) God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.
(5) This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
