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"What is forgiveness? " (2)
mstreet
开云体育This is taken from Ken Wapnick's tape series on the
Lessons of the Workbook. Volume VI, tape (1.)?? 1. What Is Forgiveness? part 2.
? Paragraph 2
"An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that it will not
raise to doubt, although it is not true. The mind is closed, and will not be
released."
?
Ken: When we hold a grievance against someone, we are
absolutely, positively, certain sure that we are correct. And we will not doubt
it. So that we could say, that what Jesus' whole point in this Course, is for
us, to at least begin to doubt the accuracy, or the truth of the way we are
perceiving, ourselves, each other, God, and himself as well.
?
That important line which I quoted earlier, (at other times) from chapter
24, is: "To learn this course requires willingness to question every value
that you hold." He doesn' t say you have to dismiss every value that you
hold. He simply says the little willingness of questioning every value is
enough. We just have to doubt the fact that we are correct. And of course, once
that occurs - as the paragraph continues, the mind is closed.
?
The mind is closed because I am not even aware that I
have a mind. Which means the thought of sin, guilt and fear of being separated
from God, are seemingly forever barred from my awareness. And its the
unforgiving thought towards someone outside of me, that allows that to happen.
As we will see in the next sentence.
?
"The thought" (the unforgiving thought that I am holding against
you,) "protects projection, tightening its chains, so that distortions are
more veiled and more obscure; less easily accessible to doubt, and further kept
from reason. What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has
chosen as its wanted goal?"
?
Ken: I have spoken very often of the ego's two tiered strategy, or the
double shield of oblivion. That second shield which consists of our experiences
in the world and the body, which ulitamately end up with our special
relationships. And the grievances we hold against others, has one specific goal.
And that goal is to protect the thought system in the mind, so that we never get
to examine it, and make another choice.
?
So that is what he means - the unforgiving thought protects projection.
?
The unforgiveness aimed at you, is a projection against the ultimate
thought of unforgiveness of your self. To say it another way - my anger at you,
protects the guilt that the anger is a projection of.
?
The problem is the guilt that is in my mind which I don't want to look at.
So what I do, is deny its reality in my mind. Project it out and now I see it in
you. And I am so absolutely positive that my perceptions of you and my
understanding of this situation is correct. And so that tightens the chains, so
that my mind now is further imprisoned, so that I can never access it. And the
distortions are more veiled and more obscured, and I become more and more
convinced that the distorted way I am perceiving the world and everything in it,
is correct.? And all that does, is, again, it drives me further and further
from reason, which is the Holy Spirits Thought system.
?
And so once that happens - there is no reason. Nothing that could come
between me and my anger at you. And the underlining goal which is to perpetuate
the thought system of the ego. That is what that fourth sentence means.
?
"What can come between a fixed projection (which means, that I am so
adament that I am right - the way that I am seeing you.) Nothing can come
between that, and the real underlining source. The aim that is the ego's chosen
goal. And then we will see in paragraph three, what that goal is.
?
"An unforgiving thought does many things. In
frantic action it pursues its goal, twisting and overturning what it sees as
interfering with its chosen path."
?
Ken: As we will see when we look at paragraph four the contrast, is, that
forgiveness does nothing. The unforgiveness (the thought system of the ego) is
what does everything.
?
And it is frantic because it always has to preserve its
own individuality. So the image that your getting here, is of this kind of
frantic, frenetic being or entity inside of us, (which is really ourselves) that
is furiously trying to protect its own identity. And the way that it does that
again, is to make the mind a fearful place. Which then leads us to project the
content of the mind, which is guilt, on to the world and now we believe
everything is happening all around us.
?
And then we are frantically trying to preserve our identity. We are trying
to survive physically which takes a tremenous amount of work and then we are
trying to survive psychologically, which takes an equal amount of work. In fact,
we have to be even more ingenious in terms of how we are going to survive
psychologically. That is all of our special relationships.
?
"Distortion is its purpose,"
?
Ken: So this is the wanted goal, that Jesus talked
about in paragraph two. And its the distortion of reality. The distortion of who
we are as God's Son. And it certainly is a distortion of Who God Himself is.
?
"Distortion is its
purpose, and the means by which it would accomplish it as
well."
?
Ken: So this is the ego. It first distorts reality. And
then chooses the means by which this distortion will become protected. And the
means, is to make up a world. Make up relationships that are seen outside of us.
And then we spend the rest of our lives trying to deal with the problem of the
body. The physical body and the psychological body.
?
"It sets about its furious attempts to smash
reality,"
?
Ken: So that is another way of saying what the goal of the ego is. It
distorts reality, and even better it smashes it. It seeks to obliterate the
reality of God and His Son. And since "ideas leave not their source"
the idea of a separated world, filled with bodies and special relationships,
simply is a shadowy fragment of the original thought that is in our mind. I
exist only at God's expense.
?
If I am going to establish myself as reality, I have to destroy, annihilate
and obliterate the reality of God. An unforgiving thought is what holds that
whole insane thought system in place.
?
"without concern for anything that would appear to
pose a contradiction to its point of view."
?
Ken: This is why - Jesus teaches us the ego's goal is
murder, and the goal of all specialness is murder. In that wonderfully graphic
passage in chapter 24, he describes the goal of specialness is to lead your
brother to the precipice and throw him over. And of course we are not far
behind.
?
So anything that comes in the way of defending our
thought system, we would seek to destroy. So, in sentence two, he says we would
overthrow, what we see as interfering with our chosen path. Here we see that we
have no concern with any one or anything. This is where all of our guilt then
gets firmly lodged. Because deep down, we are all so guilty for how we use and
manipulate everyone else. We don't see anybody who is there to remind us of how
"one" we are, and how together we are. Rather, we see everyone as
posing a real threat.
?
If I don't deal with you in some way, my happiness will
be jeopardized. Therefore - I have to deal with you. And - if I had my way, I
could deal with you by outwardly attacking you, that is what special hate is.
Or, if I have to be more undercover about it, then I manipulate you through
special love. But that is what all this is about.
?
It begins with the original special relationship. I
need what God has. I have to kill Him so I get it. And since again, "ideas
leave not their source" and that thought of killing God is the source, I
then act that out over and over again in my projections here. Then I feel so
guilty of what I am doing here, that I can't even look at what my body is doing
here. And if I can't look at what my body is doing, how can I get back to what
my mind is doing?
?
That is why you must realize that guilt over your actions here, is also a
defense. It is still another part of the ego's strategy to keep you from getting
back to, what your behavior is a shadow of.
?
So the purpose of the world, from Jesus point of view
is to be a classroom that reflects back to us, what our ego's are doing in our
mind and what we have chosen. If I feel guilty for what my body is doing, and my
behavior is doing... and how I am manipulating, seducing and deceiving every
one, there is no way that I could ask Jesus for help.
?
As I have explained other times - guilt is blinding. Guilt makes it
impossible to see. And all I want to do when I am feeling guilty is choose my
ego as my teacher. To help me undo the guilt ... which means undo the source of
the guilt. Asking Jesus for help means, I am asking for help to undo the source
of the guilt. Which means, I must first look at what I believe I am guilty of -
here in the world. And realize that is a shadow of what I am secretly guitly
about in my mind.
?
Only then, can I look at both - the outer and the inner, and realize that
they are both part of the same illusion, and they will disappear. So as we go
over paragraphs 4 and 5, we will see how this process works.
?
(to be continued.).............
?
? |
Sue-chan
Hi: This is great....Also, by holding grievances, we are also trying to be an "effect" of someone else, who we are projecting "cause" onto.???It's another way of?trying to hold onto the concept of cause &effect in our minds.
?
sue-chan
mstreet wrote:
Do you Yahoo!? - Now only $29.95 per month! |
mstreet
开云体育From: Sue-chan <suechantree@...>
>>Also, by holding grievances, we are also trying to be an "effect" of someone else, who we are projecting "cause" onto.? It's another way of trying to hold onto the concept of cause &effect in our minds.<< ?
Hi Sue-Chan:
?
Yes... I think that is what the whole ego thought
system is about. Trying to reverse "cause and effect". By believing
that something or someone out there, is responsible for my lack of peace, and
then I get to being the innocent one. While in truth, I am merely repressing the
original guilt, and projecting it out. And making sure that it can never be
undone.
?
Only by looking with Jesus or the Holy Spirit at what is truly going on,
without judgment, will I ever be able to let it go. And this is definately a
process. A life times process of forgiving what has not be done. :-)
?
Peace Martha :-)
? |
mstreet
开云体育>>Also, by holding grievances, we are also trying to be an
"effect" of someone else, who we are projecting "cause"
onto.<<??
?
This also brought to my mind about how early on in the
Text, Jesus often talks about our upside down thinking, and how it needs to be
seen clearly, so they can be undone. It is also referred to in the
workbook.
?
(W.72.8.3-4)
"Your upside-down perception has been ruinous to your peace of mind.
You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you, locked away from
your awareness by the body's limitations."?
?
And that is why we made the world and body, so that we would be unaware of
the mind, and the only place where true change could occur.?
?
I am merely writing this as a reminder to myself. Because I so easily
forget. :-)
?
Peace Martha :-)? ??
?
? |
mstreet
开云体育>>And that is why we made the world and body, so that we would be
unaware of the mind, and the only place where true change could
occur.?
?
I am currantly listening to Ken Wapnick's talks on the workbook lessons,
and as Ossie said that they were reviewing Lesson 23 at the workshop that she
attended, and getting a lot of it, I thought I would do the same.
?
And something that he just said, tied in with the thought I wrote above.
?
Ken: "We are the dreamer of the dream, but we have forgotten that we
are the dreamer, and believe the dream is dreaming us."
?
~ Martha :-)? ?
? |
Sue-chan
Yes - the body and world were made to be distractions from the true source....that also ties in with the idea that there are no victims.? I'm in a major struggle right now with this,?specifically in thinking that something in?my?childhood hurt me....I am so sick of it!?? The ego really loves to be unhappy!? Talk about confusing joy & pain...
?
Have not read the Disappearance book yet but?am expecting it any day now...
?
thanks,
sue-chan?
?
mstreet wrote:
Do you Yahoo!? - Now only $29.95 per month! |
mstreet
开云体育>>Yes - the body and world were made to be distractions from the true
source....that also ties in with the idea that there are no victims.? I'm
in a major struggle right now with this, specifically in thinking that something
in?my?childhood hurt me....I am so sick of it!?? The ego
really loves to be unhappy!? Talk about confusing joy &
pain...<<
?
Hi Sue-chan:
?
That is why I like forums like this (not that this is needed, but it
sometimes helps) but forums like this, where we can bring up, and look
at,? what our ego's would never want us to see. Sometimes just writing down
what is constantly buzzing around in my mind, then makes me stop a moment and
begin to question its validity. And then ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit to help me
look at this, from Their perspective.
?
Right now, I am listening to Ken Wapnick talk about where he got the idea
of the three steps of forgiveness in lesson 23. The title of the lesson is,
"I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts."
?
And maybe I will share what he saying in that place
which is in chapter five of that lesson.
?
Ken: Paragraph five, is where I had originally derived
the three steps of forgiveness, that I used to teach a lot.
?
(W-23.5.)
"The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in
the world you see, because its cause can be changed. This change requires,
first, that the cause be identified"
?
Ken: In other words - the problem is not what is
outside in the world. The reason I am upset is not because of what my body is
doing, or not doing. Or what someone else's body is doing or not doing to me.
The cause of my upset is a decision I have made in my mind. That is the first
step.
?
And then - there is the second step ..."Let go."
?
What letting go means, I now ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help - that I
look at my guilt differently. The cause of the world and my attack thoughts
(another way to say my guilt) and I realize that just as my attack on you, was a
projection (it was made up) so was my attack on myself made up too. That I
remain as God created me.
?
Nothing has changed who I am. So - letting go, means I let go of the guilt
and my attack thoughts, with the love of Jesus next to me. And the third step:
?
"and then let go, so that it can be replaced."
?
Ken: At the moment that I ask Jesus for help and I look at my guilt and my
attack thoughts with his love next to me, then in that instant he shines on the
guilt, and it is gone. My job is to bring the guilt to him. First the guilt I
have projected on to you. I bring that inside in my mind, and then the guilt
that is in my mind,? I bring to him. Which is - what looking means -and the
moment I do that, it is gone. Because I have accepted the love and light that
was always present..
?
"The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. The
final one does not."
?
Ken: Our job is simply (which is what a little
willingness reflects) - our job is to bring to him all our ego thoughts...the
ego thoughts we have projected out and made up about the world. And the ego
thoughts we have made up about ourselves.
?
"Your images have already been replaced."
?
Ken: So the line I quoted earlier from chapter 28,
"The world was over long ago." That everything that we believe is
already gone. We just believe it is here. That is why he refers to it as a
hallucination.
?
"By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is
so."
?
Ken: So what enables us to realize that the Principle of the Atonement is
true, and nothing else is, what enables us to do that - is to change our mind,
at what we were so sure that we were right about. That there is world out there
that hurts me. Victimizes me. And that is a defense against an inner world,
which is even more painful. I was wrong about the world outside, and I am wrong
about the world inside.
?
Any way I hope this helps you Sue-chan, as it helps me
to rememer this for myself too.
?
Love, Martha :-)
? |
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