Escaping the Self-Made Matrix and Resting in God

When I first awakened yesterday morning, I found myself in a state of mind where I had no sense of identity.

This is difficult to express; I was in a state of total, let's say, blankness. I did not begin saying to myself, "Well, today, I'll do this, I'll do that." I was totally blank. I felt totally relieved. Words can hardly express this sense of relief.

My sense of identity, or Ray, my limited self, narrating my life, was simply not in my awareness.

There was an experience of a state of mind that was still, limitless, changeless, and eternal.

There. That's more like it; no sense of an identity as a person, as a body, commenting on its state of mind.

My experience while waking up in this manner provides a clear reference point for certain passages in A Course in Miracles. For example, here is a helpful sentence from Lesson 161:
Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind. W-p1.161.2:1

This is a reminder that complete abstraction is natural; my state that identifies with my self, my ego, is totally unnatural.

While this post was still in draft form, I read the Lesson for the day, 129, Beyond this world is a world I want, and this passage leaped off the page.

Communication, unambiguous
and plain as day, remains unlimited
for all eternity. And God Himself
speaks to His Son, as His Son speaks to Him.
Their language has no words, for what They say
cannot be symbolized. Their knowledge is
direct and wholly shared and wholly one.
How far away from this are you who stay
bound to this world. And yet how near are you,
when you exchange it for the world you want.
W-pl.129.4

My experience while waking up is the reference point for this passage, as well.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.
W-pl.Review Vl.Intro.3:3-5

And Jesus stops our minds for a moment in His effort to slow us down, by the two meanings, simultaneously, of the word "still;" I continue to be as God created me, and I am the stillness of God's creation.

Here is another sentence for which we now have a reference point.

I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole,
shining in the reflection of His Love.
W-pll.14.What am I?1:1

When I was reflecting on these ideas, I was driving down the highway. While idly driving along, I glanced at a passing billboard that said, "After you die, you will find God." Chuckling, I said to myself, "That's funny, I don't think I'm going to have to wait that long, I found God this morning."

That brought to mind, two phrases.

An ancient Hermetic precept stating, "Know ye not ye are gods?"

And St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:31, "I die daily," meaning that he experiences daily a state of mind of limitlessness, changelessness, thereby dying to limitation and change and mortality that we now refer to as the matrix.

It is no surprise that this experience occurred the day after an extraordinary weekend conference entitled, Out of the Matrix that took place at the Unity Church of the Heights, in Cleveland Heights, OH, May 20-22, 2011. This is a powerful program designed to be taken into schools and colleges and universities and prisons, enabling participants to transform their minds to come into a state of mind where they can take personal responsibility for constructing the matrix they find themselves in. This program is solidly based on the principles of A Course in Miracles, and they are expressed in secular metaphors, so that the illusion, or dream is the matrix, the Holy Spirit is the Inner Guide, and God's Son is What you Be, limitless, changeless, eternal.

In the sessions, worksheets are used to enable us as participants to recognize, own, and let go of limiting core beliefs. This emphasis is on learning to let go of our projections that constitute our self-made matrix. By learning to take responsibility for our thoughts and beliefs, we come into an awareness of our Being, and we are then able to walk in the matrix, knowing we are not of the matrix. To illustrate this, we were shown a clip from the movie, The Matrix, where Morpheus is taking Neo for a walk through the matrix, and all the time while walking through crowds, Morpheus, knowing he is in but not of the matrix, walks smoothly, his head half-turned to talk with Neo, gliding through, while Neo is constantly bumping into people, often distracted, particularly by an attractive woman walking by in a red dress.

The two men who presented during the weekend, Tony Senf and Christ Lauretig , were outstanding in articulating in straight-forward, clear language, often citing personal examples, the basic principles of A Course in Miracles, using parallel matrix metaphors that could easily sink into the ears of the person in the street. Their presentation was well-illustrated with a large number of salient clips from movies, slide presentations, worksheets, and all the time questions and comments were encouraged from the participants. Each participant was shepherded by a mentor each step of the way.

On Sunday morning, Rev. Tony delivered a powerful lesson entitled, "It's All a Dream," frequently quoting A Course in Miracles, demonstrating that the basic principles of the Out of the Matrix Program are soundly grounded in the Course.

Sunday afternoon during the conference, Chris, after making it crystal clear that our beliefs and thoughts are the foundation of our self-made matrix, these beliefs having been imprinted in us over the years by those conditioned by the matrix, said that he often had the thought that he should come in with a baseball bat, call us up one at a time, and hit us up aside the head; when we woke up, we would experience amnesia, and be open to experiencing our Being. We would forget our imprinting and conditioning, and no longer automatically construct the matrix.

For a moment this morning, I experienced complete amnesia, and thank God, I didn't need to be hit aside the head to experience it.

Amnesia is a powerful metaphor, demonstrating that forgetting what we wrought in the first place is liberating. Walking in the world, and recognizing that we are not of it because we realize that we constructed the nothingness of it is the true meaning of forgiveness, letting go of what never occurred, the dream, the matrix. And in this act of forgiveness, we rest in God.

This is the day of peace. You rest in God,
and while the world is torn by winds of hate
your rest remains completely undisturbed.
Yours is the rest of truth. Appearances
cannot intrude on you. You call to all
to join you in your rest, and they will hear
and come to you because you rest in God.
They will not hear another voice than yours
because you gave your voice to God, and now
you rest in Him and let Him speak through you.
W-pl.109.4

And now, after the weekend, experiencing the peace of God while waking up the other morning, I am increasingly receptive to hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit, talking to me all through the day, and trusting, and the more I trust the more I am hearing the guidance.

For more information on the Out of the Matrix Program, please click here.

An Out of the Matrix Conference is scheduled to be held in the Wisconsin Dells, August 26-28, 2011.

For more information, please contact me: chris.ray@charter.net, 608 254-2320

For registration, please contact Cindy Stanley: cindy@outofthematrix.org, 330-284-1025

Payment plans are available through Cindy.