I started the new year with an extraordinary experience. My wife, Christine, and I were staying with our friends, Carol and Dan, in Lansing, Michigan, at their C D Inn. As I was slowly waking up on New Year’s Day, I just lay there with my eyes closed for awhile. We would be driving back home soon, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could not visualize the house in Wisconsin Dells where we have been living for the past ten years; I simply could not bring it to mind.
I rather enjoyed this not knowing and wanted to prolong it as long as possible. This lovely state of formlessness was very peaceful. When I told a friend, Tanja, about this experience, she smiled and said, “It sounds like enlightened amnesia,” capturing exactly my response to this state of mind at that moment. This still state of mind served as a reference point for sentences from A Course in Miracles, for example:
I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me. W-p1.rVI.In.3:3
This state of mind where the reference point is not form but formlessness is the stillness of my creation as God’s Son. Being unable to formulate for a moment, this enlightened amnesia, is a refreshing, peaceful experience that runs counter to the normal, habitual, regular formulation of thought-images that we manifest in space and time. This experience serves as an example of stepping out of time and space. This is our true state of consciousness before coming into the world of form, while being in form, and after leaving.
This state is what is Real.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God. W-p1.In.2:2-4
This reality in my mind is the reference point for a variety of metaphors simply expressed in Lesson titles:
I am the light of the world. (Lesson 61)
The light has come. (Lesson 75)
Light and joy and peace abide in me. (Lesson 93)
I am as God created me. (Lesson 94)
I am one Self, united with my Creator. (Lesson 95)
I am spirit. (Lesson 97)
I rest in God. (Lesson 109)
Let me remember I am one with God. (Lesson 124)
The world I see holds nothing I want. (Lesson 129)
These metaphors provide a great way to enter a new year because on January 1st. I begin, again, the Lessons of A Course in Miracles. Ensconced in the state of mind of the peace and light of God, I am eager to read Lesson 1, Nothing I see means anything. From this reference point of the awareness of the peace of God, the falsity of what I see is readily apparent. It is a reminder that what I am as created by God has nothing to do with the physical form. I am God's Son regardless of the world I made up with separating thoughts.
It is from this perspective, meaning “to look through,” that I can look at the titles of Lessons 2-7 as reminders.
I have given everything I see in this room all the meaning that it has for me. (Lesson 2)
I do not understand anything I see in this room. (Lesson 3)
These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room. (Lesson 4)
I am never upset for the reason I think. (Lesson 5)
I am upset because I see something that is not there. (Lesson 6)
I see only the past. (Lesson 7)
Jesus is simply telling us what we already know but forgot that we know. Because of our preoccupation with seeing in form, we stay unaware of our Real state of mind. That is why Jesus uses “see” in these titles, demonstrating the falsity of what we take for granted, the falsity of the premise that seeing is believing.
It is a done deal. What we are in Reality has nothing to do with what we see around us.
And now I am going to practice the awareness of our Reality by reading and commenting on the first five paragraphs of Lesson 109, I rest in God.
We ask for rest today, and quietness
unshaken by the world's appearances.
We ask for peace and stillness, in the midst
of all the turmoil born of clashing dreams.
We ask for safety and for happiness,
although we seem to look on danger and
on sorrow. And we have the thought that will
answer our asking with what we request.
Bringing my house into existence by remembering it is just an example of entering into the world's appearances with my thought-images. Recognizing the falsity of these thoughts enables me to shift into the awareness of the peace of God.
"I rest in God." This thought will bring to you
the rest and quiet, peace and stillness, and
the safety and the happiness you seek.
"I rest in God." This thought has power to wake
the sleeping truth in you, whose vision sees
beyond appearances to that same truth
in everyone and everything there is.
Here is the end of suffering for all
the world, and everyone who ever came
and yet will come to linger for a while.
Here is the thought in which the Son of God
is born again, to recognize himself.
When I have this thought, this recognition, I am, again, in my awareness, God’s Son, shifting away from thought-images, experiencing the truth.
"I rest in God." Completely undismayed,
this thought will carry you through storms and strife,
past misery and pain, past loss and death,
and onward to the certainty of God.
There is no suffering it cannot heal.
There is no problem that it cannot solve.
And no appearance but will turn to truth
before the eyes of you who rest in God.
Resting in God, I look out at a world through the eyes of Christ, seeing with vision, not seeing only with the physical mechanism of my eyes wired to my brain.
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.
The winds of hate remind me of a metaphor of an anchor. On a sailboat, you can lower the sail and drop anchor. Now no matter how fierce the winds, or powerful the waves, you can ride out the storm safely anchored. I can ask for help to be safely anchored in the peace of God, forgiving the feverish thought-images that seem to be wreaking havoc in time and space.
In Him you have no cares and no concerns,
no burdens, no anxiety, no pain,
no fear of future and no past regrets.
In timelessness you rest, while time goes by
without its touch upon you, for your rest
can never change in any way at all.
You rest today. And as you close your eyes,
sink into stillness. Let these periods
of rest and respite reassure your mind
that all its frantic fantasies were but
the dreams of fever that has passed away.
Let it be still and thankfully accept
its healing. No more fearful dreams will come,
now that you rest in God. Take time today
to slip away from dreams and into peace.
I sink into the peace of God. This is what it means to be in the world but not of the world, walking through the world, all the time anchored in the peace of God.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Saturday, December 22, 2007
God's Word
This little ditty came to me this morning after reading "What Am I?" in the Workbook of Jesus' unworldly masterpiece, A Course in Miracles.
God's Word
You are My Son.
You and I are One.
On earth it's done,
as in Heaven.
And now have fun.
God's Word
You are My Son.
You and I are One.
On earth it's done,
as in Heaven.
And now have fun.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Prose and Poetry in A Course in Miracles
A Course in Miracles, Jesus’ unworldly masterpiece, provides us with the offering to train our minds, systematically, to undo, by forgiveness, the dream of the false self and come into the direct awareness of our true Self.
While reading the sentences and paragraphs of the Text and doing the lessons in the workbook, we become aware of the perfect blend of medium and message, structure and content, sound and sense. For example, just look again at the Introduction.
This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
This is a precise summary of 31 Chapters, 365 Lessons, and 29 sections of A Manual for Teachers, and it is only the beginning, simply and profoundly, an introduction.
In the regularly published version of the Course, the entire book appears to be in prose, although extraordinary poetic prose. What is astonishing is that Jesus makes a dramatic and clear shift from prose to poetry in both the Text and the Workbook. It is almost impossible to see this in the prose version. A close study by my friend, Steve Russell, reveals that the shift occurs in Chapter 26 of the Text, and in Lesson 98 of the Workbook. Thereafter, Chapters 26 through 31 and Lessons 98 through 365 are in blank verse, the verse that Shakespeare used for 80% of the lines of his 37 plays. Blank verse is a form of poetic meter called iambic pentameter. An iamb consists of two syllables, the stress on the second syllable, for example, chris TINE. Pentameter means five sets of iambs, or ten syllables. It is called blank verse because it is a form of verse that does not rhyme. (The term used for Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets, for example, is iambic pentameter because they do follow a definite rhyme scheme.)
In Chapter 26, incidentally entitled, The Transition, Jesus makes the shift. In Section VII, The Laws of Healing, appears His last prose paragraph of the Text.
This is a course in miracles. As such, the laws of healing must be understood before the purpose of the course can be accomplished. Let us review the principles that we have covered, and arrange them in a way that summarizes all that must occur for healing to be possible. For when it once is possible it must occur.
The next paragraph, and all subsequent paragraphs in the Text, are aligned on the pages in blank verse.
All sickness comes from separation. When
the separation is denied, it goes.
For it is gone as soon as the idea
that brought it has been healed, and been replaced
by sanity. Sickness and sin are seen
as consequence and cause, in a relationship
kept hidden from awareness that it may
be carefully preserved from reason's light.
Do you hear it?
all SICK ness COMES from SEP ar A tion. WHEN
the SEP ar A tion IS de NIED, it GOES.
Now, Dear Reader, you can rhythmically read the rest of the stanza.
In the Workbook, Jesus uses blank verse for the first time for an entire lesson in Lesson 98, I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation, and for every lesson, thereafter. (For some reason, Lesson 78, Let miracles replace all grievances, suddenly appears completely in blank verse.)
While pondering Jesus’ shift into blank verse, I found a sentence coming into my mind from Lesson 336:
For sights
and sounds, at best, can serve but to recall
the memory that lies beyond them all.
This is a perfect blend of sound and sense. As far as sense, the sentence reminds me that the highest level of perception simply serves to evoke the memory of God. It does not serve to make a better dream. When we learn through the mind training to undo the dreams of the false self, all we are ever doing is living in anticipation of remembering God, our natural inheritance. This phrase also comes to mind from today’s Lesson 340.
I was born into this world but to achieve this day.
I am here only to learn to see through the eyes of Christ, remembering God. The highest function that sights and sounds serve is to elicit this inherent, abiding memory of God.
As far as sound, the rhythm of Jesus’ poetry evokes His memory.
My heart is beating in the peace of God. (Lesson 267 , Title)
Just listen.
Find your pulse in your neck or on your wrist. Simultaneous with each beat of your pulse, say HEART, BEAT, IN, PEACE, GOD.
Now say the sentence aloud, filling in between the beats with my, is, ing, the, of.
Now, all together.
my HEART is BEAT ing IN the PEACE of GOD.
Try this one.
The hush of heaven holds my heart today. (Lesson 286, Title )
And finally.
and SOUNDS, at BEST, can SERVE but TO re CALL
Simply reading Jesus’ poetry that aligns with the beating of your heart can transport you beyond this world by remembering God.
As far as sights, look at this passage from What is a Miracle?
Miracles fall like drops of healing rain
from Heaven on a dry and dusty world,
where starved and thirsty creatures come to die.
Now they have water. Now the world is green.
And everywhere the signs of life spring up,
to show that what is born can never die,
for what has life has immortality.
(Paragraph 5)
I am so grateful to my friend, Steve Russell, who gives us a much more thorough explanation of the shift in the Introduction to his book, The Rhythm and Reason of Reality. He shows us precisely where Jesus makes the transitions from prose to poetry in the Text and in the Workbook.
He told me some time ago, that he found himself hearing the iambic pattern while studying the Course, and then he, systematically, began to examine the entire prose version by sitting down at a computer with a CD of the Course, reading each paragraph aloud. I realize now that with his musician’s highly-trained ear, he was able to listen for the ten beats in the prose paragraphs, and then he hit the Enter key, and resume reading the next line, and much to his joy he saw the pages fill up with sheer poetry, paragraphs of prose transforming into stanzas of blank verse.
I invite you now to take a look at Steve Russell’s wonderful book, a gift to us all.
Click Here:
While reading the sentences and paragraphs of the Text and doing the lessons in the workbook, we become aware of the perfect blend of medium and message, structure and content, sound and sense. For example, just look again at the Introduction.
This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
This is a precise summary of 31 Chapters, 365 Lessons, and 29 sections of A Manual for Teachers, and it is only the beginning, simply and profoundly, an introduction.
In the regularly published version of the Course, the entire book appears to be in prose, although extraordinary poetic prose. What is astonishing is that Jesus makes a dramatic and clear shift from prose to poetry in both the Text and the Workbook. It is almost impossible to see this in the prose version. A close study by my friend, Steve Russell, reveals that the shift occurs in Chapter 26 of the Text, and in Lesson 98 of the Workbook. Thereafter, Chapters 26 through 31 and Lessons 98 through 365 are in blank verse, the verse that Shakespeare used for 80% of the lines of his 37 plays. Blank verse is a form of poetic meter called iambic pentameter. An iamb consists of two syllables, the stress on the second syllable, for example, chris TINE. Pentameter means five sets of iambs, or ten syllables. It is called blank verse because it is a form of verse that does not rhyme. (The term used for Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets, for example, is iambic pentameter because they do follow a definite rhyme scheme.)
In Chapter 26, incidentally entitled, The Transition, Jesus makes the shift. In Section VII, The Laws of Healing, appears His last prose paragraph of the Text.
This is a course in miracles. As such, the laws of healing must be understood before the purpose of the course can be accomplished. Let us review the principles that we have covered, and arrange them in a way that summarizes all that must occur for healing to be possible. For when it once is possible it must occur.
The next paragraph, and all subsequent paragraphs in the Text, are aligned on the pages in blank verse.
All sickness comes from separation. When
the separation is denied, it goes.
For it is gone as soon as the idea
that brought it has been healed, and been replaced
by sanity. Sickness and sin are seen
as consequence and cause, in a relationship
kept hidden from awareness that it may
be carefully preserved from reason's light.
Do you hear it?
all SICK ness COMES from SEP ar A tion. WHEN
the SEP ar A tion IS de NIED, it GOES.
Now, Dear Reader, you can rhythmically read the rest of the stanza.
In the Workbook, Jesus uses blank verse for the first time for an entire lesson in Lesson 98, I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation, and for every lesson, thereafter. (For some reason, Lesson 78, Let miracles replace all grievances, suddenly appears completely in blank verse.)
While pondering Jesus’ shift into blank verse, I found a sentence coming into my mind from Lesson 336:
For sights
and sounds, at best, can serve but to recall
the memory that lies beyond them all.
This is a perfect blend of sound and sense. As far as sense, the sentence reminds me that the highest level of perception simply serves to evoke the memory of God. It does not serve to make a better dream. When we learn through the mind training to undo the dreams of the false self, all we are ever doing is living in anticipation of remembering God, our natural inheritance. This phrase also comes to mind from today’s Lesson 340.
I was born into this world but to achieve this day.
I am here only to learn to see through the eyes of Christ, remembering God. The highest function that sights and sounds serve is to elicit this inherent, abiding memory of God.
As far as sound, the rhythm of Jesus’ poetry evokes His memory.
My heart is beating in the peace of God. (Lesson 267 , Title)
Just listen.
Find your pulse in your neck or on your wrist. Simultaneous with each beat of your pulse, say HEART, BEAT, IN, PEACE, GOD.
Now say the sentence aloud, filling in between the beats with my, is, ing, the, of.
Now, all together.
my HEART is BEAT ing IN the PEACE of GOD.
Try this one.
The hush of heaven holds my heart today. (Lesson 286, Title )
And finally.
and SOUNDS, at BEST, can SERVE but TO re CALL
Simply reading Jesus’ poetry that aligns with the beating of your heart can transport you beyond this world by remembering God.
As far as sights, look at this passage from What is a Miracle?
Miracles fall like drops of healing rain
from Heaven on a dry and dusty world,
where starved and thirsty creatures come to die.
Now they have water. Now the world is green.
And everywhere the signs of life spring up,
to show that what is born can never die,
for what has life has immortality.
(Paragraph 5)
I am so grateful to my friend, Steve Russell, who gives us a much more thorough explanation of the shift in the Introduction to his book, The Rhythm and Reason of Reality. He shows us precisely where Jesus makes the transitions from prose to poetry in the Text and in the Workbook.
He told me some time ago, that he found himself hearing the iambic pattern while studying the Course, and then he, systematically, began to examine the entire prose version by sitting down at a computer with a CD of the Course, reading each paragraph aloud. I realize now that with his musician’s highly-trained ear, he was able to listen for the ten beats in the prose paragraphs, and then he hit the Enter key, and resume reading the next line, and much to his joy he saw the pages fill up with sheer poetry, paragraphs of prose transforming into stanzas of blank verse.
I invite you now to take a look at Steve Russell’s wonderful book, a gift to us all.
Click Here:
Sunday, November 25, 2007
The Colors of Christmas
I am writing this in late November, roughly 30 days before winter officially begins on December 22, the winter solstice. Last night, my wife, Christine, and I had a bonfire, probably the last one of the year before it turns too cold, inviting friends over to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. In a way, it was really quite primitive, sitting around the fire, huddled against the chilly night, surrounded by evergreen trees, listening to the wind gusting through the trees. We were confident that, although it was getting darker and colder every day, there would be a spring, and in six months it would be lighter and warmer.
It did bring to mind, though, our ancient ancestors, the Neolithic farmers, sitting around fires thousands of years ago. For them, though, it was quite different, because they huddled in fear, having observed that the sun was sinking below the horizon much earlier each night and returning much later each morning. What if the sun no longer came up? They were afraid that the sun might disappear completely, leaving only the darkness and the permanent cold. Their fears increased as they neared the winter solstice. From vast experience and keen observation they knew of the movement of the sun across the sky, knowing that it would be much darker before it became lighter, but what if it stayed completely dark this time? Motivated by magical beliefs and superstition, they performed rituals to ensure that the sun would be reborn this time. Over the centuries, their rituals seemed to work because during the longest night and shortest day of the year, the sun did, indeed, stop its southerly journey and begin heading north. That is the meaning of the word solstice, from the Latin solstitium, sol meaning sun, and sistere, meaning “to stand still.” The days gradually became longer and the nights shorter for the next six months, until the summer solstice when the sun stood still, again, and then began its journey south.
Early man’s superstition triggered his rituals, encouraging the rebirth of the sun. Superstition shares the same Latin root as solstice, sistere, meaning “to stand,” in this case the prefix super means “to stand over.” Early man thought that perhaps his magical rituals would enable him to stand beyond, or over, the events, having a positive effect, encouraging the rebirth of the sun. Through the centuries these rituals became ceremonies involving the colors red and green, symbolizing the fertility of the earth. People gathered wreaths and holly with its red berries and evergreen boughs and ivy and mistletoe and built fires, and these practices were carried on in various forms by the Greeks and early Christians and Romans and Celts and other cultures throughout the world.
And now it is necessary to account, briefly, for the connection between the winter solstice and the birth of Jesus and Christmas celebrations. December 25 was set four hundred years after the birth of Jesus. Church Fathers, having no exact reference of Jesus’ birthday, borrowed a festival the Romans celebrated, called the Birth of the Unconquered Sun, declared to fall on December 25 by Emperor Aurelian in 270 AD. Our Neolithic ancestors would see the connection, having prayed that their sun conquer the night, again.
Today, although we have long forgotten the superstitious reasons for the colors, we have green and red candles and Christmas trees lights and bulbs and decorations and Yule logs and gifts wrapped in red and green paper and ribbons and bows and Christmas wreaths and holly and mistletoe and candy canes and Christmas cards and stockings, and we wear red and green sweaters and shirts and blouses and pants and skirts and scarves and earmuffs and mittens because these are the colors of rebirth.
It did bring to mind, though, our ancient ancestors, the Neolithic farmers, sitting around fires thousands of years ago. For them, though, it was quite different, because they huddled in fear, having observed that the sun was sinking below the horizon much earlier each night and returning much later each morning. What if the sun no longer came up? They were afraid that the sun might disappear completely, leaving only the darkness and the permanent cold. Their fears increased as they neared the winter solstice. From vast experience and keen observation they knew of the movement of the sun across the sky, knowing that it would be much darker before it became lighter, but what if it stayed completely dark this time? Motivated by magical beliefs and superstition, they performed rituals to ensure that the sun would be reborn this time. Over the centuries, their rituals seemed to work because during the longest night and shortest day of the year, the sun did, indeed, stop its southerly journey and begin heading north. That is the meaning of the word solstice, from the Latin solstitium, sol meaning sun, and sistere, meaning “to stand still.” The days gradually became longer and the nights shorter for the next six months, until the summer solstice when the sun stood still, again, and then began its journey south.
Early man’s superstition triggered his rituals, encouraging the rebirth of the sun. Superstition shares the same Latin root as solstice, sistere, meaning “to stand,” in this case the prefix super means “to stand over.” Early man thought that perhaps his magical rituals would enable him to stand beyond, or over, the events, having a positive effect, encouraging the rebirth of the sun. Through the centuries these rituals became ceremonies involving the colors red and green, symbolizing the fertility of the earth. People gathered wreaths and holly with its red berries and evergreen boughs and ivy and mistletoe and built fires, and these practices were carried on in various forms by the Greeks and early Christians and Romans and Celts and other cultures throughout the world.
And now it is necessary to account, briefly, for the connection between the winter solstice and the birth of Jesus and Christmas celebrations. December 25 was set four hundred years after the birth of Jesus. Church Fathers, having no exact reference of Jesus’ birthday, borrowed a festival the Romans celebrated, called the Birth of the Unconquered Sun, declared to fall on December 25 by Emperor Aurelian in 270 AD. Our Neolithic ancestors would see the connection, having prayed that their sun conquer the night, again.
Today, although we have long forgotten the superstitious reasons for the colors, we have green and red candles and Christmas trees lights and bulbs and decorations and Yule logs and gifts wrapped in red and green paper and ribbons and bows and Christmas wreaths and holly and mistletoe and candy canes and Christmas cards and stockings, and we wear red and green sweaters and shirts and blouses and pants and skirts and scarves and earmuffs and mittens because these are the colors of rebirth.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
What I Know About Forgiveness, I Learned from Jesus
Yesterday, I read in the current issue of the AARP Bulletin a column entitled, "What I really know..." This brief article described an incident that occurred in a department store at Christmas time when a long line of children was waiting to see Santa, and a boy emerged from an elevator in a wheelchair pushed by his grandfather, and the children one by one offered to let the boy go in front of them in line. Apparently, this story has something to do with forgiveness, but what caught my eye at the end of the column was this:
YOUR TURN! Tell us what you really know about forgiveness in 400 words or less and submit it by e-mail to AARP.
This is what I submitted, coming in at 400 words.
What I know about forgiveness I learned from Jesus. He implored from the cross:
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Luke 23: 34
He was referring to the people and the rulers and the soldiers, asking that they be forgiven because they were dreaming, living falsely in a world they made up, thinking they were bodies, punishing another body, not realizing that they were as God created them, children of God, their spirits created by God.
For a moment in His suffering, Jesus also forgot His heritage as God’s Son. That’s why He cried out:
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15: 34
This cry was met with silence because God did not forsake him, knowing not of this world; Jesus forsook His true identity in His forgetting. This was simply a mistake, not a sin.
Yet, soon after, He remembered His true identity, saying:
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Luke 23: 46
He is proclaiming that the will of God is now all He wants to follow, not His false will, not mine, but Thine.
Finally, after His resurrection, He says to His followers on the way to Emmaus that He fulfilled the prophecy by resurrecting:
Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
Luke 24: 46
True forgiveness is the recognition that you are as God created you, not as you dream yourself to be.
Today, Jesus is alive and well, giving us His unworldly masterpiece,
A Course in Miracles, dictating it over a seven-year period (1965-1972) to Helen Schucman, a psychologist at Columbia University. Believing in the reality of the body in the dream and forgetting your Source as the Son of God is simply a mistake, albeit a mistake with grave consequences, and recognizing this mistake is called forgiveness, as expressed in this passage from Jesus’ Course:
Father, I was mistaken in myself,
because I failed to realize the Source
from which I came. I have not left that Source
to enter in a body and to die.
My holiness remains a part of me,
as I am part of You. And my mistakes
about myself are dreams. I let them go
today. And I stand ready to receive
Your Word alone for what I really am.
A Course in Miracles, Lesson 228
YOUR TURN! Tell us what you really know about forgiveness in 400 words or less and submit it by e-mail to AARP.
This is what I submitted, coming in at 400 words.
What I know about forgiveness I learned from Jesus. He implored from the cross:
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Luke 23: 34
He was referring to the people and the rulers and the soldiers, asking that they be forgiven because they were dreaming, living falsely in a world they made up, thinking they were bodies, punishing another body, not realizing that they were as God created them, children of God, their spirits created by God.
For a moment in His suffering, Jesus also forgot His heritage as God’s Son. That’s why He cried out:
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15: 34
This cry was met with silence because God did not forsake him, knowing not of this world; Jesus forsook His true identity in His forgetting. This was simply a mistake, not a sin.
Yet, soon after, He remembered His true identity, saying:
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Luke 23: 46
He is proclaiming that the will of God is now all He wants to follow, not His false will, not mine, but Thine.
Finally, after His resurrection, He says to His followers on the way to Emmaus that He fulfilled the prophecy by resurrecting:
Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
Luke 24: 46
True forgiveness is the recognition that you are as God created you, not as you dream yourself to be.
Today, Jesus is alive and well, giving us His unworldly masterpiece,
A Course in Miracles, dictating it over a seven-year period (1965-1972) to Helen Schucman, a psychologist at Columbia University. Believing in the reality of the body in the dream and forgetting your Source as the Son of God is simply a mistake, albeit a mistake with grave consequences, and recognizing this mistake is called forgiveness, as expressed in this passage from Jesus’ Course:
Father, I was mistaken in myself,
because I failed to realize the Source
from which I came. I have not left that Source
to enter in a body and to die.
My holiness remains a part of me,
as I am part of You. And my mistakes
about myself are dreams. I let them go
today. And I stand ready to receive
Your Word alone for what I really am.
A Course in Miracles, Lesson 228
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
When Words Spark on the Page: Catching Reflections of My True Self
My friend, Lucy, knowing that I love to read Emerson, e-mailed me a link to his address delivered to the senior class of the Harvard Divinity School on Sunday evening, July 15, 1838. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), the kindred spirit of Teachers of A Course in Miracles, wrote essays of poetic prose that come to us from across the generations, expressing the truth of who we are, the holy Sons of God.
Before reading the address on the internet, I was curious to see if I had read it as a sophomore at Kalamazoo College in the fall of 1960, when I took an American Literature class, my first class as a recently-declared English major. Over the years through all the moves, I kept a copy of one of the texts for that class, The Selected writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, (Modern Library Edition, 1950). This precious, dog-eared book has weathered the years, the pages browning at the edges.
Sure enough, a few paragraphs into the essay, I saw the first faint pencil under-linings made by me as a nineteen-year-old kid. I was amazed that he even read the entire essay, thirty-four paragraphs spread over seventeen pages. As I leafed through the pages, I was astonished at what he had thought significant. I could not believe that the passages that he underlined, asterisked, and circled still stood out as highly significant to me today, almost fifty years later. I only remember a young, lean athlete with a crew cut, five feet nine inches tall, 165 pounds primarily concerned with playing football, running track, his physical conditioning, and delighting in the delicious cafeteria food that was dished out generously with an “all you can eat” policy. This was two years before foreign study in France, two years before his first serious romantic relationship (ending with a broken heart), and three years before graduation.
Before I take a look at the sparks that he saw in the words and phrases and sentences of Emerson’s address, I want to outline briefly what Emerson was expressing in his address. He tips his hand in the third word of the first sentence, “refulgent.”
In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life.
It means “shining brilliantly” from the Latin refulgere, “ to shine back, reflect.” Emerson is seeing a reflection of his own bright mind. He is seeing through the eyes of Christ, standing before the seniors who invited him to speak, experiencing the light of his true Self.
This is one way Jesus expresses it in His Course in Miracles.
The world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is transformed into the light that it reflects. And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came. W-p.II.249:5-7
And here is another.
In this world you can become a spotless mirror, in which the holiness of your Creator shines forth from you to all around you. You can reflect Heaven here. T-14.IX.5
And now let us enjoy what Emerson sees all around him in his magnificent first paragraph.
In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers. The air is full of birds, and sweet with the breath of the pine, the balm-of-Gilead, and the new hay. Night brings no gloom to the heart with its welcome shade. Through the transparent darkness the stars pour their almost spiritual rays. Man under them seems a young child, and his huge globe a toy. The cool night bathes the world as with a river, and prepares his eyes again for the crimson dawn. The mystery of nature was never displayed more happily. The corn and the wine have been freely dealt to all creatures, and the never-broken silence with which the old bounty goes forward, has not yielded yet one word of explanation. One is constrained to respect the perfection of this world, in which our senses converse. How wide; how rich; what invitation from every property it gives to every faculty of man! In its fruitful soils; in its navigable sea; in its mountains of metal and stone; in its forests of all woods; in its animals; in its chemical ingredients; in the powers and path of light, heat, attraction, and life, it is well worth the pith and heart of great men to subdue and enjoy it. The planters, the mechanics, the inventors, the astronomers, the builders of cities, and the captains, history delights to honor. (To read Emerson's essay in its entirety, click on the link at the end of this post).
But, and Emerson does begin his second paragraph with a “But,” because he recognizes that, although he is seeing a bright reflection of his Self, the members of his audience are most likely seeing only a projection of the self, a small speck of their mind that has no source in reality, a small part that serves as an instrument to interpret the world in which our senses converse. But when their minds open to the state of mind of the peace of God, when they experience themselves as created by God, then the mind opens. Thus, he begins his second paragraph in this way.
But when the mind opens, and reveals the laws which traverse the universe, and make things what they are, then shrinks the great world at once into a mere illustration and fable of this mind. What am I? and What is? asks the human spirit with a curiosity new-kindled, but never to be quenched.
In this opening of the mind, man can recognize this huge globe a toy, and fable of the mind, simply the result of a small part of his mind that is projecting, interpreting the world with the senses.
In the third paragraph, he goes on to amplify what he means by the mind opening, revealing the laws which traverse the universe, beginning with this sentence.
A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue.
“Sentiment” comes from the Latin, sentire, meaning “to feel.” “Virtue” comes from the Latin virtus, meaning “worth.” When a man feels his worth as the son of God, that he is truly as God created him, his instruction begins.
Then he is instructed in what is above him. He learns that his being is without bound; that, to the good, to the perfect, he is born, low as he now lies in evil and weakness. That which he venerates is still his own, though he has not realized it yet. He ought.
Even though man is on a journey lying in evil and weakness, he can, now, recognize that he is virtue, that his is light.
And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came.
W-pII.249:5-7
He knows the sense of that grand word, though his analysis fails entirely to render account of it. When in innocency, or when by intellectual perception, he attains to say, — `I love the Right; Truth is beautiful within and without, forevermore. Virtue, I am thine: save me: use me: thee will I serve, day and night, in great, in small, that I may be not virtuous, but virtue;' — then is the end of the creation answered, and God is well pleased.
Within this context, this point of view, Emerson goes on to warn the seniors who are about to graduate from divinity school of two defects of traditional Christianity.
The first:
In this point of view we become very sensible of the first defect of historical Christianity. Historical Christianity has fallen into the error that corrupts all attempts to communicate religion. As it appears to us, and as it has appeared for ages, it is not the doctrine of the soul, but an exaggeration of the personal, the positive, the ritual. It has dwelt, it dwells, with noxious exaggeration about the person of Jesus. The soul knows no persons.
The second defect of the traditionary and limited way of using the mind of Christ is a consequence of the first; this, namely; that the Moral Nature, that Law of laws, whose revelations introduce greatness, — yea, God himself, into the open soul, is not explored as the fountain of the established teaching in society. Men have come to speak of the revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. The injury to faith throttles the preacher; and the goodliest of institutions becomes an uncertain and inarticulate voice.
Now we can see why Emerson was objectionable to so many clergymen that the officers of the School disallowed responsibility of his address. Nearly thirty years passed before Emerson was invited again to speak at Harvard. However, Brooks Atkinson noted in his Introduction to Emerson’s Selected Writings:
Not everyone understood what he was talking about, or approved. Young people seemed to follow him more easily than their elders. A Boston attorney said Emerson’s lectures are utterly meaningless to me, but my daughters, aged 15 and 17, understand them thoroughly.”
With this context established, I can now turn to a sampling of the under-linings of my young self as he noted the particular words and phrases and sentences that caught his eye, sparking from the pages.
Here is the first.
The sentiment of virtue is a reverence and delight in the presence of certain divine laws. It perceives that this homely game of life we play, covers, under what seem foolish details, principles that astonish.
And a couple of pages later.
So much benevolence as a man hath, so much life hath he. For all things proceed out of this same spirit, which is differently named love, justice, temperance, in its different applications, just as the ocean receives different names on the several shores which it washes.
This sentence deserved a circle.
Life is comic or pitiful, as soon as the high ends of being fade out of sight, and man becomes near-sighted, and can only attend to what addresses the senses.
This passage was circled and asterisked.
Alone in all history, Jesus estimated the greatness of man. One man was true to what is in you and me. He saw that God incarnates himself in man, and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his world. He said, in this jubilee of sublime emotion, `I am divine. Through me, God acts; through me, speaks. Would you see God, see me; or, see thee, when thou also thinkest as I now think.'
These lines drew under-linings and and circles.
The spirit only can teach. Not any profane man, not any sensual, not any liar, not any slave can teach, but only he can give, who has; he only can create, who is. The man on whom the soul descends, through whom the soul speaks, alone can teach. Courage, piety, love, wisdom, can teach; and every man can open his door to these angels, and they shall bring him the gift of tongues.
Finally, he circled God is.
It is the office of a true teacher to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.
As I said above, when I perused the under-linings throughout the essay, my first thought was astonishment, but my second was why be astonished? Since we are walking around in the world, but not of the world; since we are as God created us; since we are the light of the world, it is the most natural thing in the world to experience light sparking.
Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. (Psalm 82:6)
It is inevitable that our Godliness break through, that we see sparks, that we see our light reflected, that the thin veil part between our self and our Self, that we experience the holy instant.
In the holy instant nothing happens that has not always been. Only the veil that has been drawn across reality is lifted. Nothing has changed. Yet the awareness of changelessness comes swiftly as the veil of time is pushed aside.
T-15.VI.6:1-4
In the holy instant, in which you see your Self as bright with freedom, you will remember God. For remembering Him is to remember freedom.
T-15.I.10:7,8
During the time I was writing this essay Peg, my musician friend, came up to me, eager to tell me about her recent experience. She said that the other afternoon, while listening to music in her apartment, she remembered a powerful experience she had in college while playing in the school orchestra.
When I was in college, I had an undeniable experience of God while performing with our orchestra. We were playing Shostakovich's 5th symphony. During the slow (Largo) movement, I became aware of a moment of intense focus, where everyone in the hall, performers and audience alike, was completely joined in the event. I was barely breathing. It seemed as though the performance would fall apart, and yet it felt that we were playing perfectly. I could hear every part, and the music was gorgeous! There was nothing else happening at that moment -- just the music and everyone's experience of it. At that time, I called this an experience of extreme intensity. Now, I think it's more accurate to call this a holy instant, simply a personal experience of God.
The reason she was so eager to tell me of this holy instant is because, in the same moment, she had thought of me reading Emerson, knowing that I probably had similar experiences. I looked at her in utter amazement and said to her, "Yes. I am writing about it right now!"
Again, on the one hand, I am truly amazed; on the other, this communication, this communion, is the most natural thing in the world, joining with your brother who is also in the world but not of it.
That Peg and the young guy experienced these sparks demonstrates the inevitability of recognizing our birthright.
It is certain because it is impossible.
This motto is one of the first things you see when you cross the threshold into the lobby of Endeavor Academy. It is certain that you are as God created you because it (what you have made of yourself) is impossible.
It does not surprise, nor astonish me, to remember that Kalamazoo College’s official motto is Lux esto, “Let there be light.”
Here is today’s lesson.
The Son of God is my Identity.
My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts
of holiness of which I now conceive.
Its shimmering and perfect purity
is far more brilliant than is any light
that I have ever looked upon. Its love
is limitless, with an intensity
that holds all things within it, in the calm
of quiet certainty. Its strength comes not
from burning impulses which move the world,
but from the boundless Love of God Himself.
How far beyond this world my Self must be,
and yet how near to me and close to God!
Father, You know my true Identity.
Reveal It now to me who am Your Son,
that I may waken to the truth in You,
and know that Heaven is restored to me.
W-pII.252
There is a plan.
To read Emerson's address, click here.
Before reading the address on the internet, I was curious to see if I had read it as a sophomore at Kalamazoo College in the fall of 1960, when I took an American Literature class, my first class as a recently-declared English major. Over the years through all the moves, I kept a copy of one of the texts for that class, The Selected writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, (Modern Library Edition, 1950). This precious, dog-eared book has weathered the years, the pages browning at the edges.
Sure enough, a few paragraphs into the essay, I saw the first faint pencil under-linings made by me as a nineteen-year-old kid. I was amazed that he even read the entire essay, thirty-four paragraphs spread over seventeen pages. As I leafed through the pages, I was astonished at what he had thought significant. I could not believe that the passages that he underlined, asterisked, and circled still stood out as highly significant to me today, almost fifty years later. I only remember a young, lean athlete with a crew cut, five feet nine inches tall, 165 pounds primarily concerned with playing football, running track, his physical conditioning, and delighting in the delicious cafeteria food that was dished out generously with an “all you can eat” policy. This was two years before foreign study in France, two years before his first serious romantic relationship (ending with a broken heart), and three years before graduation.
Before I take a look at the sparks that he saw in the words and phrases and sentences of Emerson’s address, I want to outline briefly what Emerson was expressing in his address. He tips his hand in the third word of the first sentence, “refulgent.”
In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life.
It means “shining brilliantly” from the Latin refulgere, “ to shine back, reflect.” Emerson is seeing a reflection of his own bright mind. He is seeing through the eyes of Christ, standing before the seniors who invited him to speak, experiencing the light of his true Self.
This is one way Jesus expresses it in His Course in Miracles.
The world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is transformed into the light that it reflects. And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came. W-p.II.249:5-7
And here is another.
In this world you can become a spotless mirror, in which the holiness of your Creator shines forth from you to all around you. You can reflect Heaven here. T-14.IX.5
And now let us enjoy what Emerson sees all around him in his magnificent first paragraph.
In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers. The air is full of birds, and sweet with the breath of the pine, the balm-of-Gilead, and the new hay. Night brings no gloom to the heart with its welcome shade. Through the transparent darkness the stars pour their almost spiritual rays. Man under them seems a young child, and his huge globe a toy. The cool night bathes the world as with a river, and prepares his eyes again for the crimson dawn. The mystery of nature was never displayed more happily. The corn and the wine have been freely dealt to all creatures, and the never-broken silence with which the old bounty goes forward, has not yielded yet one word of explanation. One is constrained to respect the perfection of this world, in which our senses converse. How wide; how rich; what invitation from every property it gives to every faculty of man! In its fruitful soils; in its navigable sea; in its mountains of metal and stone; in its forests of all woods; in its animals; in its chemical ingredients; in the powers and path of light, heat, attraction, and life, it is well worth the pith and heart of great men to subdue and enjoy it. The planters, the mechanics, the inventors, the astronomers, the builders of cities, and the captains, history delights to honor. (To read Emerson's essay in its entirety, click on the link at the end of this post).
But, and Emerson does begin his second paragraph with a “But,” because he recognizes that, although he is seeing a bright reflection of his Self, the members of his audience are most likely seeing only a projection of the self, a small speck of their mind that has no source in reality, a small part that serves as an instrument to interpret the world in which our senses converse. But when their minds open to the state of mind of the peace of God, when they experience themselves as created by God, then the mind opens. Thus, he begins his second paragraph in this way.
But when the mind opens, and reveals the laws which traverse the universe, and make things what they are, then shrinks the great world at once into a mere illustration and fable of this mind. What am I? and What is? asks the human spirit with a curiosity new-kindled, but never to be quenched.
In this opening of the mind, man can recognize this huge globe a toy, and fable of the mind, simply the result of a small part of his mind that is projecting, interpreting the world with the senses.
In the third paragraph, he goes on to amplify what he means by the mind opening, revealing the laws which traverse the universe, beginning with this sentence.
A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue.
“Sentiment” comes from the Latin, sentire, meaning “to feel.” “Virtue” comes from the Latin virtus, meaning “worth.” When a man feels his worth as the son of God, that he is truly as God created him, his instruction begins.
Then he is instructed in what is above him. He learns that his being is without bound; that, to the good, to the perfect, he is born, low as he now lies in evil and weakness. That which he venerates is still his own, though he has not realized it yet. He ought.
Even though man is on a journey lying in evil and weakness, he can, now, recognize that he is virtue, that his is light.
And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came.
W-pII.249:5-7
He knows the sense of that grand word, though his analysis fails entirely to render account of it. When in innocency, or when by intellectual perception, he attains to say, — `I love the Right; Truth is beautiful within and without, forevermore. Virtue, I am thine: save me: use me: thee will I serve, day and night, in great, in small, that I may be not virtuous, but virtue;' — then is the end of the creation answered, and God is well pleased.
Within this context, this point of view, Emerson goes on to warn the seniors who are about to graduate from divinity school of two defects of traditional Christianity.
The first:
In this point of view we become very sensible of the first defect of historical Christianity. Historical Christianity has fallen into the error that corrupts all attempts to communicate religion. As it appears to us, and as it has appeared for ages, it is not the doctrine of the soul, but an exaggeration of the personal, the positive, the ritual. It has dwelt, it dwells, with noxious exaggeration about the person of Jesus. The soul knows no persons.
The second defect of the traditionary and limited way of using the mind of Christ is a consequence of the first; this, namely; that the Moral Nature, that Law of laws, whose revelations introduce greatness, — yea, God himself, into the open soul, is not explored as the fountain of the established teaching in society. Men have come to speak of the revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. The injury to faith throttles the preacher; and the goodliest of institutions becomes an uncertain and inarticulate voice.
Now we can see why Emerson was objectionable to so many clergymen that the officers of the School disallowed responsibility of his address. Nearly thirty years passed before Emerson was invited again to speak at Harvard. However, Brooks Atkinson noted in his Introduction to Emerson’s Selected Writings:
Not everyone understood what he was talking about, or approved. Young people seemed to follow him more easily than their elders. A Boston attorney said Emerson’s lectures are utterly meaningless to me, but my daughters, aged 15 and 17, understand them thoroughly.”
With this context established, I can now turn to a sampling of the under-linings of my young self as he noted the particular words and phrases and sentences that caught his eye, sparking from the pages.
Here is the first.
The sentiment of virtue is a reverence and delight in the presence of certain divine laws. It perceives that this homely game of life we play, covers, under what seem foolish details, principles that astonish.
And a couple of pages later.
So much benevolence as a man hath, so much life hath he. For all things proceed out of this same spirit, which is differently named love, justice, temperance, in its different applications, just as the ocean receives different names on the several shores which it washes.
This sentence deserved a circle.
Life is comic or pitiful, as soon as the high ends of being fade out of sight, and man becomes near-sighted, and can only attend to what addresses the senses.
This passage was circled and asterisked.
Alone in all history, Jesus estimated the greatness of man. One man was true to what is in you and me. He saw that God incarnates himself in man, and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his world. He said, in this jubilee of sublime emotion, `I am divine. Through me, God acts; through me, speaks. Would you see God, see me; or, see thee, when thou also thinkest as I now think.'
These lines drew under-linings and and circles.
The spirit only can teach. Not any profane man, not any sensual, not any liar, not any slave can teach, but only he can give, who has; he only can create, who is. The man on whom the soul descends, through whom the soul speaks, alone can teach. Courage, piety, love, wisdom, can teach; and every man can open his door to these angels, and they shall bring him the gift of tongues.
Finally, he circled God is.
It is the office of a true teacher to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.
As I said above, when I perused the under-linings throughout the essay, my first thought was astonishment, but my second was why be astonished? Since we are walking around in the world, but not of the world; since we are as God created us; since we are the light of the world, it is the most natural thing in the world to experience light sparking.
Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. (Psalm 82:6)
It is inevitable that our Godliness break through, that we see sparks, that we see our light reflected, that the thin veil part between our self and our Self, that we experience the holy instant.
In the holy instant nothing happens that has not always been. Only the veil that has been drawn across reality is lifted. Nothing has changed. Yet the awareness of changelessness comes swiftly as the veil of time is pushed aside.
T-15.VI.6:1-4
In the holy instant, in which you see your Self as bright with freedom, you will remember God. For remembering Him is to remember freedom.
T-15.I.10:7,8
During the time I was writing this essay Peg, my musician friend, came up to me, eager to tell me about her recent experience. She said that the other afternoon, while listening to music in her apartment, she remembered a powerful experience she had in college while playing in the school orchestra.
When I was in college, I had an undeniable experience of God while performing with our orchestra. We were playing Shostakovich's 5th symphony. During the slow (Largo) movement, I became aware of a moment of intense focus, where everyone in the hall, performers and audience alike, was completely joined in the event. I was barely breathing. It seemed as though the performance would fall apart, and yet it felt that we were playing perfectly. I could hear every part, and the music was gorgeous! There was nothing else happening at that moment -- just the music and everyone's experience of it. At that time, I called this an experience of extreme intensity. Now, I think it's more accurate to call this a holy instant, simply a personal experience of God.
The reason she was so eager to tell me of this holy instant is because, in the same moment, she had thought of me reading Emerson, knowing that I probably had similar experiences. I looked at her in utter amazement and said to her, "Yes. I am writing about it right now!"
Again, on the one hand, I am truly amazed; on the other, this communication, this communion, is the most natural thing in the world, joining with your brother who is also in the world but not of it.
That Peg and the young guy experienced these sparks demonstrates the inevitability of recognizing our birthright.
It is certain because it is impossible.
This motto is one of the first things you see when you cross the threshold into the lobby of Endeavor Academy. It is certain that you are as God created you because it (what you have made of yourself) is impossible.
It does not surprise, nor astonish me, to remember that Kalamazoo College’s official motto is Lux esto, “Let there be light.”
Here is today’s lesson.
The Son of God is my Identity.
My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts
of holiness of which I now conceive.
Its shimmering and perfect purity
is far more brilliant than is any light
that I have ever looked upon. Its love
is limitless, with an intensity
that holds all things within it, in the calm
of quiet certainty. Its strength comes not
from burning impulses which move the world,
but from the boundless Love of God Himself.
How far beyond this world my Self must be,
and yet how near to me and close to God!
Father, You know my true Identity.
Reveal It now to me who am Your Son,
that I may waken to the truth in You,
and know that Heaven is restored to me.
W-pII.252
There is a plan.
To read Emerson's address, click here.
Monday, August 20, 2007
A Sleeping Dream and Waking Up
Last night I had this remarkable dream.
I am at some sort of a conference, and then we are leaving. I am riding in a car with Ramona and Monty, Monty’s driving. Suddenly, he drives off the road, I mean really off the road, and we are in the air looking down at the ground a couple of miles away. Somehow we have become separated from the car and we are slowly floating to the earth.
The thing is there is absolutely no fear, no apprehension, we are just falling to the end of this particular existence.
I did not experience the impact of hitting the ground; the next thing is that I am walking around looking for Monty and Ramona, and I run into Ramona and we are so happy to see each other, and she says, “Isn’t that amazing, there are no regrets.” Then we run into Monty, happily embracing.
Then I look around and see other people in the same situation, and there is a sense that we are gathering for whatever is next, and there is only joy.
I am writing this the morning after the dream. After reading today’s lesson, Now will I seek and find the peace of God, (Lesson 230) I decide to open the Text at random and read a section. I opened to The Temple of the Holy Spirit. (T-20.VI) “At random”. . . highly unlikely. These sentences, in particular, caught my attention, still basking in the memory of the dream.
Then lay aside the body and quietly transcend it, rising to welcome what you really want. And from His holy temple, look you not back on what you have awakened from. For no illusions can attract the mind that has transcended them, and left them far behind. (9:5-7)
Ramona’s comment, “Isn’t that amazing, there are no regrets” is echoed in this phrase, look you not back on what you have awakened from.
The fact that we are walking around in bodies at the end of the dream reminds me that we are in the world but not of the world. At every moment in this world, now, we have an opportunity to remember the truth of who we are, the holy Sons of God, even though we are tempted to believe that the body is real. The moment of remembering is the holy instant, and in this moment we are free to look for each other with the eyes of Christ and see in our brother’s face the face of Christ.
You who are learning this may still be fearful, but you are not immobilized. The holy instant is of greater value now to you than its unholy seeming counterpart, and you have learned you really want but one. This is no time for sadness. Perhaps confusion, but hardly discouragement. Perhaps you fear your brother a little yet; perhaps a shadow of the fear of God remains with you. Yet what is that to those who have been given one true relationship beyond the body? Can they be long held back from looking on the face of Christ? And can they long withhold the memory of their relationship with their Father from themselves, and keep remembrance of his love apart from their awareness? (T-20.VI.12)
Finally, the dream is especially powerful because of the irony that it is a fall into eternity, unlike Adam’s fall to earth, as described in elementary school primers,
“In Adam’s fall,
we sinned all.”
. . .Then I look around and see other people in the same situation, and there is a sense that we are gathering for whatever is next, and there is only joy.
The song of rejoicing is the call
to all the world that freedom is returned,
that time is almost over, and God’s Son
has but an instant more to wait until
his Father is remembered, dreams are done,
and only Heaven now exists at all.
W-p11.2. What is Salvation? 5:2
I am at some sort of a conference, and then we are leaving. I am riding in a car with Ramona and Monty, Monty’s driving. Suddenly, he drives off the road, I mean really off the road, and we are in the air looking down at the ground a couple of miles away. Somehow we have become separated from the car and we are slowly floating to the earth.
The thing is there is absolutely no fear, no apprehension, we are just falling to the end of this particular existence.
I did not experience the impact of hitting the ground; the next thing is that I am walking around looking for Monty and Ramona, and I run into Ramona and we are so happy to see each other, and she says, “Isn’t that amazing, there are no regrets.” Then we run into Monty, happily embracing.
Then I look around and see other people in the same situation, and there is a sense that we are gathering for whatever is next, and there is only joy.
I am writing this the morning after the dream. After reading today’s lesson, Now will I seek and find the peace of God, (Lesson 230) I decide to open the Text at random and read a section. I opened to The Temple of the Holy Spirit. (T-20.VI) “At random”. . . highly unlikely. These sentences, in particular, caught my attention, still basking in the memory of the dream.
Then lay aside the body and quietly transcend it, rising to welcome what you really want. And from His holy temple, look you not back on what you have awakened from. For no illusions can attract the mind that has transcended them, and left them far behind. (9:5-7)
Ramona’s comment, “Isn’t that amazing, there are no regrets” is echoed in this phrase, look you not back on what you have awakened from.
The fact that we are walking around in bodies at the end of the dream reminds me that we are in the world but not of the world. At every moment in this world, now, we have an opportunity to remember the truth of who we are, the holy Sons of God, even though we are tempted to believe that the body is real. The moment of remembering is the holy instant, and in this moment we are free to look for each other with the eyes of Christ and see in our brother’s face the face of Christ.
You who are learning this may still be fearful, but you are not immobilized. The holy instant is of greater value now to you than its unholy seeming counterpart, and you have learned you really want but one. This is no time for sadness. Perhaps confusion, but hardly discouragement. Perhaps you fear your brother a little yet; perhaps a shadow of the fear of God remains with you. Yet what is that to those who have been given one true relationship beyond the body? Can they be long held back from looking on the face of Christ? And can they long withhold the memory of their relationship with their Father from themselves, and keep remembrance of his love apart from their awareness? (T-20.VI.12)
Finally, the dream is especially powerful because of the irony that it is a fall into eternity, unlike Adam’s fall to earth, as described in elementary school primers,
“In Adam’s fall,
we sinned all.”
. . .Then I look around and see other people in the same situation, and there is a sense that we are gathering for whatever is next, and there is only joy.
The song of rejoicing is the call
to all the world that freedom is returned,
that time is almost over, and God’s Son
has but an instant more to wait until
his Father is remembered, dreams are done,
and only Heaven now exists at all.
W-p11.2. What is Salvation? 5:2
Friday, July 13, 2007
If Your Brothers Ask You For Something "Outrageous," Do IT.
The other day I came across this very puzzling opening sentence of a paragraph in Chapter 12, Section III, The Investment in Reality in Jesus’ Course in Miracles.
Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something "outrageous," do it because it does not matter. T-12.111.4:1
I find this sentence puzzling because, certainly, my brothers often do ask for what, at the moment, seems outrageous, meaning “to exceed the bounds of what is reasonable, or expected.” So, according to this sentence, in the face of these unreasonable requests, I am supposed to be just a “patsy” and say “Yes” no matter what? I should just walk around being passive, a victim of their whims? My refusal would be somehow wrong? And if it does not matter, why do it in the first place?
(Dear Reader, I suggest that you bring to mind the most recent "outrageous" brother request).
I kept re-reading the paragraph and slowly began to catch a glimpse of Jesus’ teaching.
Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. 4:2
There it is. Understanding the sentence depends on the point of reference for the second “it,” it does not matter. It does not matter because your brother is in the wrong state of mind. And, the point is, if it does matter to you, then you, too, are in the wrong state of mind. This “it” refers to the false world projected by the split mind. This split mind, having no source in reality, projects a world of fear; this is the illusion, the dream, the world made up by an ego that is a substitute for the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, if I automatically refuse, it means that for a split-second I, too, have identified with “it,” and because I am not in my right mind, I am in lack. That is why Jesus begins this section with this paragraph, establishing a context for what is to follow.
I once asked you to sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me. This is what I meant: If you have no investment in anything in this world, you can teach the poor where their treasure is. The poor are merely those who have invested wrongly, and they are poor indeed! Because they are in need it is given you to help them, since you are among them. Consider how perfectly your lesson would be learned if you were unwilling to share their poverty. For poverty is lack, and there is but one lack since there is but one need. T-12.111.1
There. If my response to my brother’s request is an automatic outrage, then I have impoverished myself, and therefore, reinforced his poverty. Now, back to the third sentence of the paragraph I began with.
It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. 4:3-5
Now, for a moment I remember, and it’s always a matter of remembering and forgetting, that it is all going on in my mind, and it all depends on what state of mind I am in. If I am experiencing my split mind, I cannot join with my brother, and I see him as impoverished. If, however, I am in my whole mind, the state of mind of the peace of God, this is salvation for both of us, and I will automatically offer to him this gift of salvation.
Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No “outrageous” requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else. 4:7,8
Let’s look at the complete sentence, again:
Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something “outrageous,” do it because it does not matter.
I realize that the once puzzling sentence comes together now when I understand that the entire sentence pivots on the first “it,” do IT because it does not matter. IT stands for, Herein lies the peace of God, and because of that recognition, I know that:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists. T-Intro.2:2-4
And
“Will ye first the Kingdom of Heaven,” and you have said, “I know what I am and I accept my own inheritance.” T-3.V1.11:8
I am reminded of something I overheard years ago in a mall when two women walked by and one said to the other, “Well, it’s a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” When I am in my right mind, “it” does not matter because I know the truth of what I am, the Holy Son of God. The thing to watch for is, even if I am in my right mind, how quickly, automatically, habitually, unconsciously I can be drawn into split mind. Vigilance is all. Recognition. Recognize what does not matter. This is doing IT.
IT is salvation, meaning to step back for a moment, ask for help, and experience the truth of what I am, and what my brother is, the holy Sons of God. It also helps me to remember that he is also asking for salvation.
He is asking for salvation, as you are. Salvation is for the mind, and it is attained through peace. This is the only thing that can be saved and the only way to save it. 4:6, 5:1,2
IT is the heart of A Course in Miracles, and IT is expressed in a variety of ways, as Atonement, Self, Identity, the Holy Instant, and Forgiveness.
Atonement remedies the strange idea
that it is possible to doubt yourself,
and be unsure of what you really are.
This is the depth of madness. Yet it is
the universal question of the world.
What does this mean except the world is mad?
Why share its madness in the sad belief
that what is universal here is true?
Nothing the world believes is true.
It is a place whose purpose is to be a home
where those who claim they do not know themselves
can come to question what it is they are.
And they will come again until the time
Atonement is accepted, and they learn
it is impossible to doubt yourself,
and not to be aware of what you are.
W-p1.139.6,7
If you will recognize that all the attack you perceive is in your own mind and nowhere else, you will at last have placed its source, and where it begins it must end. For in this same place also lies salvation. The altar of God where Christ abideth is there. You have defiled the altar, but not the world. Yet Christ has placed the Atonement on the altar for you. 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. Yet to find the place, you must relinquish your investment in the world as you project it, allowing the Holy Spirit to extend the real world to you from the altar of God. T-12.111.10
Once I shift into a state of Oneness, I experience my Self and offer IT to my brother, and in our joining is the experience of what is Real.
My holy brother, think of this awhile:
The world you see does nothing. It has no
effects at all. It merely represents
your thoughts. And it will change entirely
as you elect to change your mind, and choose
the joy of God as what you really want.
Your Self is radiant in this holy joy,
unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable,
forever and forever. And would you
deny a little corner of your mind
its own inheritance, and keep it as
a hospital for pain; a sickly place
where living things must come at last to die?
And so again we make the only choice
that ever can be made; we choose between
illusions and the truth, or pain and joy,
or hell and Heaven. Let our gratitude
unto our Teacher fill our hearts, as we
are free to choose our joy instead of pain,
our holiness in place of sin, the peace
of God instead of conflict, and the light
of Heaven for the darkness of the world.
W-pI.190.6,11
And here IT is expressed as Identity.
Deny your own Identity, and you
will not escape the madness which induced
this weird, unnatural and ghostly thought
that mocks creation and that laughs at God.
Deny your own Identity, and you
assail the universe alone, without
a friend, a tiny particle of dust
against the legions of your enemies.
Deny your own Identity, and look
on evil, sin and death, and watch despair
snatch from your fingers every scrap of hope,
leaving you nothing but the wish to die.
Yet what is it except a game you play
in which Identity can be denied?
You are as God created you. All else
but this one thing is folly to believe.
In this one thought is everyone set free.
In this one truth are all illusions gone.
In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed
to be forever part of everything,
the central core of its existence and
its guarantee of immortality.
W-pI.191.3,4
You experience IT by an action of your mind, shifting from illusion to truth, experiencing the Holy Instant.
Then is each instant which was slave to time
transformed into a holy instant, when
the light that was kept hidden in God's Son
is freed to bless the world. Now is he free,
and all his glory shines upon a world
made free with him, to share his holiness.
W-pI.194.5:3
Finally, and firstly and always, what is required is Forgiveness.
Be merciful today. The Son of God
deserves your mercy. It is he who asks
that you accept the way to freedom now.
Deny him not. His Father's Love for him
belongs to you. Your function here on earth
is only to forgive him, that you may
accept him back as your Identity.
He is as God created him. And you
are what he is. Forgive him now his sins,
and you will see that you are one with him.
W-pI.192.10
Forgive, and you will see this differently.
These are words which give
you power over all events that seem
to have been given power over you.
You see them rightly when you hold these words
in full awareness, and do not forget
these words apply to everything you see
or any brother looks upon amiss.
W-pI.193.5:1, 6:3,4
Even though this is reasonable and clear in my mind, in the next moment, I will probably forget, and strike out again when I am given an opportunity by my brother to remember. In fact, while writing this essay for the past few days, I have often found myself outraged by brothers' requests, forgetting to see them as opportunities. But that’s all right. Even 3 out of 10 would not be a bad average, .300 is a solid average for a Big League baseball player. In perspective, Ted Williams, the Splendid Splinter, averaged .406 in 1941, and that record has lasted for 66 years.
So, here’s the pep talk.
Take it easy on yourself.
You have choice.
Step up to home plate.
Take your stance.
Ask for help.
Keep your eye on the ball.
Swing freely.
Remember where you are already standing,
Home.
Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something "outrageous," do it because it does not matter. T-12.111.4:1
I find this sentence puzzling because, certainly, my brothers often do ask for what, at the moment, seems outrageous, meaning “to exceed the bounds of what is reasonable, or expected.” So, according to this sentence, in the face of these unreasonable requests, I am supposed to be just a “patsy” and say “Yes” no matter what? I should just walk around being passive, a victim of their whims? My refusal would be somehow wrong? And if it does not matter, why do it in the first place?
(Dear Reader, I suggest that you bring to mind the most recent "outrageous" brother request).
I kept re-reading the paragraph and slowly began to catch a glimpse of Jesus’ teaching.
Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. 4:2
There it is. Understanding the sentence depends on the point of reference for the second “it,” it does not matter. It does not matter because your brother is in the wrong state of mind. And, the point is, if it does matter to you, then you, too, are in the wrong state of mind. This “it” refers to the false world projected by the split mind. This split mind, having no source in reality, projects a world of fear; this is the illusion, the dream, the world made up by an ego that is a substitute for the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, if I automatically refuse, it means that for a split-second I, too, have identified with “it,” and because I am not in my right mind, I am in lack. That is why Jesus begins this section with this paragraph, establishing a context for what is to follow.
I once asked you to sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me. This is what I meant: If you have no investment in anything in this world, you can teach the poor where their treasure is. The poor are merely those who have invested wrongly, and they are poor indeed! Because they are in need it is given you to help them, since you are among them. Consider how perfectly your lesson would be learned if you were unwilling to share their poverty. For poverty is lack, and there is but one lack since there is but one need. T-12.111.1
There. If my response to my brother’s request is an automatic outrage, then I have impoverished myself, and therefore, reinforced his poverty. Now, back to the third sentence of the paragraph I began with.
It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. 4:3-5
Now, for a moment I remember, and it’s always a matter of remembering and forgetting, that it is all going on in my mind, and it all depends on what state of mind I am in. If I am experiencing my split mind, I cannot join with my brother, and I see him as impoverished. If, however, I am in my whole mind, the state of mind of the peace of God, this is salvation for both of us, and I will automatically offer to him this gift of salvation.
Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No “outrageous” requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else. 4:7,8
Let’s look at the complete sentence, again:
Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something “outrageous,” do it because it does not matter.
I realize that the once puzzling sentence comes together now when I understand that the entire sentence pivots on the first “it,” do IT because it does not matter. IT stands for, Herein lies the peace of God, and because of that recognition, I know that:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists. T-Intro.2:2-4
And
“Will ye first the Kingdom of Heaven,” and you have said, “I know what I am and I accept my own inheritance.” T-3.V1.11:8
I am reminded of something I overheard years ago in a mall when two women walked by and one said to the other, “Well, it’s a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” When I am in my right mind, “it” does not matter because I know the truth of what I am, the Holy Son of God. The thing to watch for is, even if I am in my right mind, how quickly, automatically, habitually, unconsciously I can be drawn into split mind. Vigilance is all. Recognition. Recognize what does not matter. This is doing IT.
IT is salvation, meaning to step back for a moment, ask for help, and experience the truth of what I am, and what my brother is, the holy Sons of God. It also helps me to remember that he is also asking for salvation.
He is asking for salvation, as you are. Salvation is for the mind, and it is attained through peace. This is the only thing that can be saved and the only way to save it. 4:6, 5:1,2
IT is the heart of A Course in Miracles, and IT is expressed in a variety of ways, as Atonement, Self, Identity, the Holy Instant, and Forgiveness.
Atonement remedies the strange idea
that it is possible to doubt yourself,
and be unsure of what you really are.
This is the depth of madness. Yet it is
the universal question of the world.
What does this mean except the world is mad?
Why share its madness in the sad belief
that what is universal here is true?
Nothing the world believes is true.
It is a place whose purpose is to be a home
where those who claim they do not know themselves
can come to question what it is they are.
And they will come again until the time
Atonement is accepted, and they learn
it is impossible to doubt yourself,
and not to be aware of what you are.
W-p1.139.6,7
If you will recognize that all the attack you perceive is in your own mind and nowhere else, you will at last have placed its source, and where it begins it must end. For in this same place also lies salvation. The altar of God where Christ abideth is there. You have defiled the altar, but not the world. Yet Christ has placed the Atonement on the altar for you. 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. Yet to find the place, you must relinquish your investment in the world as you project it, allowing the Holy Spirit to extend the real world to you from the altar of God. T-12.111.10
Once I shift into a state of Oneness, I experience my Self and offer IT to my brother, and in our joining is the experience of what is Real.
My holy brother, think of this awhile:
The world you see does nothing. It has no
effects at all. It merely represents
your thoughts. And it will change entirely
as you elect to change your mind, and choose
the joy of God as what you really want.
Your Self is radiant in this holy joy,
unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable,
forever and forever. And would you
deny a little corner of your mind
its own inheritance, and keep it as
a hospital for pain; a sickly place
where living things must come at last to die?
And so again we make the only choice
that ever can be made; we choose between
illusions and the truth, or pain and joy,
or hell and Heaven. Let our gratitude
unto our Teacher fill our hearts, as we
are free to choose our joy instead of pain,
our holiness in place of sin, the peace
of God instead of conflict, and the light
of Heaven for the darkness of the world.
W-pI.190.6,11
And here IT is expressed as Identity.
Deny your own Identity, and you
will not escape the madness which induced
this weird, unnatural and ghostly thought
that mocks creation and that laughs at God.
Deny your own Identity, and you
assail the universe alone, without
a friend, a tiny particle of dust
against the legions of your enemies.
Deny your own Identity, and look
on evil, sin and death, and watch despair
snatch from your fingers every scrap of hope,
leaving you nothing but the wish to die.
Yet what is it except a game you play
in which Identity can be denied?
You are as God created you. All else
but this one thing is folly to believe.
In this one thought is everyone set free.
In this one truth are all illusions gone.
In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed
to be forever part of everything,
the central core of its existence and
its guarantee of immortality.
W-pI.191.3,4
You experience IT by an action of your mind, shifting from illusion to truth, experiencing the Holy Instant.
Then is each instant which was slave to time
transformed into a holy instant, when
the light that was kept hidden in God's Son
is freed to bless the world. Now is he free,
and all his glory shines upon a world
made free with him, to share his holiness.
W-pI.194.5:3
Finally, and firstly and always, what is required is Forgiveness.
Be merciful today. The Son of God
deserves your mercy. It is he who asks
that you accept the way to freedom now.
Deny him not. His Father's Love for him
belongs to you. Your function here on earth
is only to forgive him, that you may
accept him back as your Identity.
He is as God created him. And you
are what he is. Forgive him now his sins,
and you will see that you are one with him.
W-pI.192.10
Forgive, and you will see this differently.
These are words which give
you power over all events that seem
to have been given power over you.
You see them rightly when you hold these words
in full awareness, and do not forget
these words apply to everything you see
or any brother looks upon amiss.
W-pI.193.5:1, 6:3,4
Even though this is reasonable and clear in my mind, in the next moment, I will probably forget, and strike out again when I am given an opportunity by my brother to remember. In fact, while writing this essay for the past few days, I have often found myself outraged by brothers' requests, forgetting to see them as opportunities. But that’s all right. Even 3 out of 10 would not be a bad average, .300 is a solid average for a Big League baseball player. In perspective, Ted Williams, the Splendid Splinter, averaged .406 in 1941, and that record has lasted for 66 years.
So, here’s the pep talk.
Take it easy on yourself.
You have choice.
Step up to home plate.
Take your stance.
Ask for help.
Keep your eye on the ball.
Swing freely.
Remember where you are already standing,
Home.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
It's Your Decision: Either Old Experiences, Beliefs, Perceptions, or New Experiences, Beliefs, Perceptions
If you were completely honest with yourself, you would have to admit that no matter how much you have tried to put together a life, there are times when you say to yourself, “There’s something seriously wrong here, and there must be a better way.”
Fortunately for you, for all of us, not only is there a better way, but this way has been mapped out in a how-to-manual that appeared on this planet in 1975, A Course in Miracles. This unworldly masterpiece was scribed by Helen Schucman who heard an “internal voice,” Jesus’ voice, say to her on October 21, 1965, “This is a course in miracles, take notes.” For the next seven years, she dutifully transcribed the Text, Workbook, and Manual for Teachers. (Kenneth Wapnick, Absence from Felicity: The Story of Helen Schucman and Her Scribing of A Course in Miracles, Foundation for A Course in Miracles, 1991, p. 199.)
You are in the fix you’re in because you faithfully followed the instructions of an unwritten manual, folklore passed down through the generations, teaching you that seeing is believing. You eagerly learned early on to trust as real what you see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Whatever was not sensed was unreal. This way of seeing seems completely natural.
Let’s test out this belief by being real specific. Let’s take a look at what is around us. I’ll go first.
I am sitting on my couch looking out of my window, gazing at the landscape bathed in the sunlight of a beautiful day in June. I close my eyes and make the decision that when I open them, I want to see only the objects before me.
I see the cylindrical, mesh bird feeder containing black sunflower seeds. A Cardinal alights and pecks at the seeds. I am reminded of an incident when I was 6 or 7, and a friend and I were shooting at birds with BB guns. We wounded a Blue Jay, and we were chasing it through the neighborhood, when an old lady came running out of her house, chastising us for killing birds, and we said it was a Blue Jay, and she immediately let us off the hook because that was OK by her, Blue Jays menaced other birds.
And other associations immediately flooded in. At that time, my mother, father, sister and I lived in a little village, Moorepark, Michigan—my parents owned a general store, and we lived in the back in one room separated from the store by a curtain; no running water, only well water from a pump, an outhouse in the back; we went to a one-room schoolhouse, grades K-8, one teacher, Mrs. Steininger; across the street was a gunsmith, Bergie Hughey, who also ran a one-pump gas station; my friend, Rudy, and I played in the fields and swamps all day, exploring and hunting frogs with bows and arrows.
Whew. Now, I am back from that trip down memory lane, and I am going to try it again. This time, I will close my eyes, and when I open them, I will make the decision to look at only the space between objects, wanting to see, in effect, only the air.
Now I am looking with soft eyes, in fact, I am not seeing as much as experiencing. Gazing in this manner, I find that my mind is peaceful, still, unoccupied, and tranquil. I am scanning what is before me, but I am not naming objects, and since I am not naming things, I am not flooded with associations. I am simply content; my mind is empty. When I do look at something, like a bird at the feeder, I experience only love. I continue gazing with soft eyes, becoming increasingly mellow, content, tranquil, loving, peaceful, unified and free. A tree branch, laden with green leaves, lifts and falls in the soft breeze, the leaves shimmering, the tops green and the undersides flashing gold.
While writing the draft of this essay, I did the exercises and then wrote about my experience, and at this point, I went so far out, losing all sense of being a body, fading into a state of consciousness of oneness, of light, so that what was inside my mind and what was outside were blended together. At this point, I just decided to stay there, and I put down my pen for the day.
Now I am back, and this passage comes to mind.Beyond this world there is a world I want.
I choose to see that world instead of this,
for here is nothing that I really want.
Then close your eyes upon the world you see,
and in the silent darkness watch the lights
that are not of this world light one by one,
until where one begins another ends
loses all meaning as they blend in one.
W-p1.129.7:3-5
This is seeing through the eyes of Christ.
And so today, this instant, now, we come
to look upon what is forever there;
not in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ.
W-p1.164.1:2,3
The world fades easily away before
His sight. Its sounds grow dim.
W-p1.164.2:1
There is a silence into which the world
can not intrude. There is an ancient peace
you carry in your heart and have not lost.
W-p1164.4:1,2
Now, Dear Reader, you try it.
First, close your eyes and decide when you open them that you will want to see only objects, name them, and let your mind be flooded with associations.
* * *
Thank you.
Now, close your eyes and decide when you open them that you will look only at the space between objects, wanting to see only the air, if you will, allowing your mind to be free.
* * *
Thank you.
If you managed to let it all go, you may find it difficult to come back to reading this essay. Good!
Take your time.
What you may have experienced is a paradox, that seeing and naming objects now seems unreal; while looking at the air seems more Real.
A “paradox” is defined as “a situation that seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact may be true.” It comes from the Latin paradoxum, “contrary to opinion,” from dokein, meaning “to think.”
Here is the paradox that underliesthe making of the world. This world is not
the Will of God, and so it is not real.
W-p1.166.2:1,2
In the Course Jesus teachers you to recognize that what you unconsciously, habitually, take for granted is not so. And in this recognition is an opportunity to experience something else, that which is Real.
You do not seem to doubt the world you see. You do not really question what is shown you through the body's eyes. Nor do you ask why you believe it, even though you learneda long while since your senses do deceive.
That you believe them to the last detail
which they report is even stranger, when
you pause to recollect how frequently
they have been faulty witnesses indeed!
Why would you trust them so implicitly?
Why but because of underlying doubt,
which you would hide with show of certainty?
W-p1.151.2
All along you have been trying with underlying doubt to make the unreal, objective world, Real, thereby preventing yourself from experiencing what is Real. That is why you are in the fix you’re in, and indeed, there is another way.
Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind.“Abstraction” is defined as “a state in which one is deep in thought and not concentrating on the surroundings.” “Abstract” comes from the Latin abstrahere, meaning “to drag away.” Our objective world seems to be natural, but in fact, it is unnatural, and our natural condition is to be dragged away from the objective world, from our surroundings.
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.
The purpose of all seeing is to show
you what you wish to see. All hearing but
brings to your mind the sounds it wants to hear.
Thus were specifics made.
W-p1.161.2,3:1
. . . what you wish to see. Remember, in your practicing you closed your eyes and instructed yourself in what you wished to see. You have the power of decision to see either the unreal, or the Real. When you choose to see the unreal, you carve it out of unity.
You live by symbols. You have made up namesfor everything you see. Each one becomes
a separate entity, identified
by its own name. By this you carve it out of unity.
W-p1.184.1:1-3
Now, everything is in place for you to begin to experience a better way. The word “experience” comes from the Latin experiri, meaning “to try out.” You just “tried out” seeing objects. This experience of seeing leads to beliefs and beliefs lead to perception. For your entire life, objects have seemed Real, leading you to trust that seeing is believing. Then, a moment ago, you practiced seeing with soft eyes. This experience could lead you to seeing something more real than objects, and this can lead you to a belief in the Real beyond the objective world.
T-11.V1.1:4,5
The good news is that you can begin, right now, to change your beliefs by having new experiences, resulting in new interpretations and new beliefs, leading to new perceptions.
Experience does teach.
This course is perfectly clear. If you do not see it clearly, it is because you are interpreting against it, and therefore do not believe it. And since belief determines perception, you do not perceive what it means and therefore do not accept it. Yet different experiences lead to different beliefs and experience does teach. I am leading you to a new kind of experience that you will become less and less willing to deny. Learning of Christ is easy, for to perceive with him involves no strain at all. His perceptions are your natural awareness, and it is only the distortions you introduce that tire you. Let the Christ in you interpret for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs that are unworthy of God's Son. For until Christ comes into his own, the Son of God will see himself as Fatherless.
T-11.V1.3
You no longer have to tire yourself out by maneuvering in your surroundings that have no source in Reality. You can be aware of new experiences that will lead to new beliefs and new perceptions.
You can practice by looking at the space between objects.
Finally, you are always looking into a mirror, what is first “inside” is then “outside.” You see what you decide to see, as the preceding exercise demonstrated. If you decide to see old beliefs projected out, you will see in your mirror an objective world. If you decide to see through the eyes of Christ, you will see the reflection of love and peace that is your natural inheritance.
This is the way Jesus expresses it in a sonnet.
to you. And somewhere in your mind you know
that this is true. A memory of home
keeps haunting you, as if there were a place
that called you to return, although you do
not recognize the voice, nor what it is
the voice reminds you of. Yet still you feel
an alien here, from somewhere all unknown.
Nothing so definite that you could say
with certainty you are an exile here.
Just a persistent feeling, sometimes not
more than a tiny throb, at other times
hardly remembered, actively dismissed,
but surely to return to mind again.
W-p1.182.1
This is not your Home, but you can learn to experience Home here by deciding to see in a better way by looking through the eyes of Christ.
It is always your decision.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
No-Mind is a Worldly Concept; the Holy Instant is an Unworldly Experience: A Savior's Dialectic
Philip Chard, a psychotherapist, writes a regular column, “Out of My Mind,” that appears in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His most recent article (May 22, 2007) is entitled, “Paying no mind to the ego can help reduce stresses.” He tells of a woman, Connie, an advanced student of meditation who can induce "no-mind," a state of consciousness in which one's sense of self temporarily fades or evaporates. Consequently, she experiences interludes when there is no discernible "me" in her awareness.
She was able to draw on this discipline when she was confronted by her boyfriend-turned-stalker.
She was able to draw on this discipline when she was confronted by her boyfriend-turned-stalker.
Eyeball-to-eyeball with this bully, she intuitively used her spiritual training to remove her "self" from the confrontation.
"I stood there, got centered and entered a no-mind state," she recalled. "In any ego sense, I mostly disappeared."
This goon screamed at her and brandished his fist, but Connie remained steadfast in no-mind awareness. There was a tense pause until, inexplicably, he backed away, gave her an irritated but bewildered stare and then took off.
This appears to be a victory for Connie, and it seems that training in no-mind meditation offers protection from ego conflicts and bad things that happen in the world. This is a rather seductive account.
But before you begin searching for a meditation center in your area, I would invite you to take a hard look at the premises of this story. The word “premise” comes from the Latin praemissa, meaning “to set before.” A premise, then, is a proposition that forms the foundation of an argument. The foundation of her story is based on four main premises:
1. There is a world.
2. We are victims of the world.
3. There are other people out there.
4. My ego-personality is real.
Before I take on the premises one-by-one, let’s imagine that you are hearing the story by listening to Connie tell it as if she were having a sleeping dream. That’s right. You are sitting by her bed listening to her narrate the story deep in a sleeping dream.
“I am walking along a deserted street at night, and suddenly I run into my ex-boyfriend who has been stalking me. He begins yelling at me. ‘You are a horrible person. You treat me terribly. I am so disappointed.’ He raises his fist as if he’s going to strike me. I just stand there, entering into a no-mind state. He continues yelling, then he pauses, steps back, gives me a bewildered look, and runs away.”
Because you know that she is simply recounting a dream, the story does not have the impact and seduction that it might have once had. And, if we take it one step further, when Connie awakes from the dream, the events will quickly fade away into the nothingness from which they came.
As you listened to the narration of the dream, it was obvious that it was all going on only in her mind. As the center of the dream, all the images were seen through her eyes. She was peopling her world based on her past experiences. She was describing a world of time and space that existed only in her mind.
You may be catching a glimpse of a well-kept secret that there is absolutely no difference between a sleeping dream and a waking dream. If Connie were to wake up from her dream and see you sitting there, she is, in fact, not waking up at all; she is simply falling into another dream. Look at the parallels: Everything is going on only in her mind. She is peopling her world with images based on her past experiences. She is making up a world of time and space based on what she sees, hears, tastes, smells, and touches. And her basic premise is that seeing is believing. It seems that the waking dream is more real than the sleeping dream, but this is not so.
Now we are in a position to take a hard look at the premises of Chard’s article, and replace them with new premises based on the transformation of your mind.
1. There is a world.
New premise: There is no world out there separate from our image making.
New premise: There is no world out there separate from our image making.
2. We are victims of the world we see.
New premise: We cannot be victims of a world we made up in the first place, unless we choose to be.
3.There are other people out there.
New premise: There are not people out there, separate from the peopling I do in my own mind, projecting images.
4. My ego-personality is real.
New premise: My ego-personality is the dreamer of the dream, both sleeping and waking.
The only way to see the truth of these premises is to recognize that there is no difference between a sleeping and a waking dream. This recognition requires the experience of non-dreaming state of mind, a place in your mind where you experience the peace of God. It is quite possible to discover this state through the mind training provided by Jesus’ other-worldly masterpiece, A Course in Miracles.
Listen to Jesus describe dreams.
Dreams show you that you have the power to make a world as you would have it be, and that because you want it you see it. And while you see it you do not doubt that it is real. Yet here is a world, clearly within your mind, that seems to be outside. You do not respond to it as though you made it, nor do you realize that the emotions the dream produces must come from you. It is the figures in the dream and what they do that seem to make the dream. You do not realize that you are making them act out for you. In (sleeping) dreams these features are not obscure. You seem to waken, and the dream is gone. Yet what you fail to recognize is that what caused the dream has not gone with it. Your wish to make another world that is not real remains with you. And what you seem to waken to is but another form of this same world you see in (sleeping) dreams. All your time is spent in dreaming. Your sleeping and your waking dreams have different forms, and that is all. Their content is the same. They are your protest against reality, (This is the key—dreaming is a defense against experiencing the peace of God, your Reality as the truth of what you are). In your waking dreams, the special relationship is your determination to keep your hold on unreality, and to prevent yourself from waking. And while you see more value in sleeping (unreality) than in waking (Reality), you will not let go of it. T-18.5
This description by Jesus of the similarity of sleeping and waking dreams may still not be enough to convince you of the truth. It might be helpful to demonstrate exactly “how” it is that we dream.
Projection makes perception.
The word “projection” comes from the Latin, projectum, meaning “something thrown forward.” We throw an image-thought into the “world,” and then see it there. Perception comes from the Latin percipere, meaning “to seize completely”. So, what we decide to seize from what we “see out there” is that which we threw “out there” in the first place. It’s as if we are playing catch with ourselves. We throw a ball into the air and then we run under it and catch it. Throwing and receiving is like projecting and perceiving, and this happens so rapidly that we forget the connection. We go around and around in a causal loop, forgetting that we are the cause, and what we see is the effect. Our thoughts are the cause, and the "world" is the effect of our thoughts. That is why we can say there is no world, other than the world you see made up of your thought-images.
The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy. Nothing perceived without it means anything. And where there is no meaning, there is chaos. T-21.1
When you perceive through the eyes of the ego, you see chaos. When you look through the eyes of truth, you see with vision. That is what it means to change your mind. You can shift from the causal loop of perception to vision, when you ask for help to relinquish your images that are defending you from the peace of God. This vision is your inheritance because you are as God created you, His most Holy Son. And you are not alone. The Holy Spirit’s mission is to help you awaken from your dream.
Correction is for all who cannot see. To open the eyes of the blind is the Holy Spirit's mission, for he knows that they have not lost their vision, but merely sleep. He would awaken them from the sleep of forgetting to the remembering of God. Christ's eyes are open, and he will look upon whatever you see with love if you accept his vision as yours. T-12.V1.4:1-4
To look with vision rather than with ego eyes means to look through appearances since appearances are simply our thought-images projected out. Here is an analogy to convey what it means to say that you can see through and experience a reflection of your peaceful state of mind. Yesterday, on a bright summer morning, I was sitting on our deck reading the Course, and I came across these two sentences:
When you perceive through the eyes of the ego, you see chaos. When you look through the eyes of truth, you see with vision. That is what it means to change your mind. You can shift from the causal loop of perception to vision, when you ask for help to relinquish your images that are defending you from the peace of God. This vision is your inheritance because you are as God created you, His most Holy Son. And you are not alone. The Holy Spirit’s mission is to help you awaken from your dream.
Correction is for all who cannot see. To open the eyes of the blind is the Holy Spirit's mission, for he knows that they have not lost their vision, but merely sleep. He would awaken them from the sleep of forgetting to the remembering of God. Christ's eyes are open, and he will look upon whatever you see with love if you accept his vision as yours. T-12.V1.4:1-4
To look with vision rather than with ego eyes means to look through appearances since appearances are simply our thought-images projected out. Here is an analogy to convey what it means to say that you can see through and experience a reflection of your peaceful state of mind. Yesterday, on a bright summer morning, I was sitting on our deck reading the Course, and I came across these two sentences:
When the peace in you has been extended to encompass everyone, the Holy Spirit’s function here will be accomplished. What need is there for seeing then?
T-19.1V.3:6,7
At that moment, experiencing gratitude and peace, I looked up and saw peace reflected because I was staring at the lush green of the pine boughs and the leaves of the lilac bushes and the trees, and it all appeared blurry, seeing everything as One. I was looking with soft eyes because I was, inadvertently, looking through the thick lenses of my reading glasses. This is what it means to look through appearances because I was not distinguishing one thing from another, naming this and that, thereby experiencing (seeing) the reflection of the peace of God. This is what it means to see with the vision of Christ.
The Holy Spirit keeps the vision of Christ for every Son of God who sleeps. In his sight the Son of God is perfect, and he longs to share his vision with you. He will show you the real world because God gave you Heaven. Through him your Father calls his Son to remember. The awakening of his Son begins with his investment in the real world, and by this he will learn to re-invest in himself. For reality is one with the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit blesses the real world in Their Name. T-12.1V.4:5-10
When you have seen this real world, as you will surely do, you will remember Us. Yet you must learn the cost of sleeping, and refuse to pay it. Only then will you decide to awaken. And then the real world will spring to your sight, for Christ has never slept. He is waiting to be seen, for he has never lost sight of you. He looks quietly on the real world, which he would share with you because he knows of the Father's Love for him. And knowing this, he would give you what is yours. In perfect peace he waits for you at his Father's altar, holding out the Father's love to you in the quiet light of the Holy Spirit's blessing. For the Holy Spirit will lead everyone home to his Father, where Christ waits as his Self. T-12.V1. 5
And now with these premises firmly “set in front of our eyes,” we can take a look at Chard’s column with the eyes of Christ, engaging in a Savior’s dialectic. “Dialectic” comes from the Greek dialektike, meaning “the art of investigating truth through discussion.” In the following discussion, we are looking through the falsity of the illusion with the truth of Christ’s Vision.
In the following dialogue, Chard’s column is in italics.
PAYING NO MIND TO THE EGO CAN HELP REDUCE STRESS
When the ego state of mind seems real, it can be either stressful or peaceful. If it’s stressful, slipping into no-mind seems to be a peaceful alternative. It is, in fact, exchange, a way to reconcile the opposites. It is, in fact, a denial of the role you are playing in the dreaming of the dream.
Connie knows how it feels to mentally disappear.
An advanced student of meditation, she can induce "no-mind," a state of consciousness in which one's sense of self temporarily fades or evaporates. Consequently, she experiences interludes when there is no discernible "me" in her awareness.
The “self” that fades is the ego, and her awareness shifts away from stress to another ego-state, but Connie still remains in her dream because her awareness has not shifted to her only Real state of mind, her Christ Self, where she can see with vision.
In Him you have no cares and no concerns,
no burdens, no anxiety, no pain,
no fear of future and no past regrets.
In timelessness you rest, while time goes by
without its touch upon you, for your rest
can never change in any way at all.
You rest today. And as you close your eyes,
sink into stillness. Let these periods
of rest and respite reassure your mind
that all its frantic fantasies were but
the dreams of fever that has passed away.
Let it be still and thankfully accept
its healing. No more fearful dreams will come,
now that you rest in God. Take time today
to slip away from dreams and into peace.
W-p1.109.5
W-p1.109.5
Resting in God is different than copping a moment of respite in no-mind awareness. For a moment, you seem to be not a victim of a world that seems real, while resting in God, on the other hand, is experiencing timelessness, the holy instant, an unworldly experience.
For many, that's a scary prospect, but non-meditators get a taste of no-mind when they are totally absorbed in an activity. At such moments, self-awareness dissipates, time slows and the boundary between me "in here" and a separate world "out there" blurs.
We have already established that there is no separate world out there.
The images you make cannot prevail
against what God Himself would have you be.
Be never fearful of temptation, then,
but see it as it is; another chance
to choose again, and let Christ's strength prevail in every circumstance and every place
you raised an image of yourself before.
you raised an image of yourself before.
For what appears to hide the face of Christ
is powerless before His majesty,
and disappears before His holy sight.
T-31.V111.4:1-3
No-mind is more than detachment. Imagine your identity as a drop of water and the rest of the universe as an ocean. When you experience no-mind, that drop (self) falls into the sea (all) and merges with an omnipresent unity.
This can be a helpful analogy, if you see that identity refers to the Self, as God created you, and that awareness of your Self is a holy instant, just as seeing with soft eyes shows us an omnipresent unity.
In the holy instant nothing happens that has not always been. Only the veil that has been drawn across reality is lifted. Nothing has changed. Yet the awareness of changelessness comes swiftly as the veil of time is pushed aside. No one who has not yet experienced the lifting of the veil, and felt himself drawn irresistibly into the light behind it, can have faith in love without fear. Yet the Holy Spirit gives you this faith, because He offered it to me (Jesus) and I accepted it. T-15.V1.6:1-6
In quiet listen to your Self today,
and let Him tell you God has never left
His Son, and you have never left your Self.
W-p1.125.8:4
This state is certainly not no-mind; this is the holy instant.
In addition to furthering spiritual development, no-mind has practical applications, as Connie discovered in dramatic fashion.
Almost a year after breaking up with her boyfriend-turned-stalker, he confronted her in a potentially dangerous altercation. This misogynistic brute assailed her with a torrent of verbal abuse and physical intimidation.
Eyeball-to-eyeball with this bully, she intuitively used her spiritual training to remove her "self" from the confrontation.
"I stood there, got centered and entered a no-mind state," she recalled. "In any ego sense, I mostly disappeared."
This goon screamed at her and brandished his fist, but Connie remained steadfast in no-mind awareness. There was a tense pause until, inexplicably, he backed away, gave her an irritated but bewildered stare and then took off.
As dramatic as this confrontation is, it is crucial to remember that it is a dream sequence. Sinking into no-mind is a substitution for experiencing the Christ Mind, the eternal Self. The difference between the experiences of these mind states is about as subtle as the “b” in subtle because they feel quite similar. However, recognizing the different frames of reference is the key. The reference for the value of no-mind goes to the premises that there is a world, I can be a victim of this world, there are other people out there, and my ego is real. The reference for Christ Mind is that there is no world separate from my projected/perceived thought-images, I am not a victim of this world because I made it up, the other people are figures in my mind, and the ego personality has no source in Reality.
"Guys like him want to hurt your ego," she speculated. "Maybe when mine went away, he lost his target."
Like Connie, meditators sometimes employ no-mind consciousness to address real-world challenges. Because mental dysfunction is often tied to one's sense of self, loosening the ego's control can reduce emotional distress and alter vexatious interpersonal dynamics.
. . . real-world challenges. Real-world is an oxymoron.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
T-p1.Intro.2:2-4
We are not born with a defined identity. Instead, through years of interaction and social brainwashing, we acquire one that, while necessary, is largely contrived.
As philosopher Alan Watts pointed out, "Our precious 'self' is just an idea, useful and legitimate enough if seen for what it is, but not our real nature."
. . .useful. Yes, we can learn to utilize our dreams by forgiving them, by relinquishing them. In the moment of letting go, we can come to experience the truth of what we are. This requires open-mind, not no-mind.
How do the open-minded forgive? They have let go all things that would prevent forgiveness. They have in truth abandoned the world, and let it be restored to them in newness and in joy so glorious they could never have conceived of such a change. Nothing is now as it was formerly. Nothing but sparkles now which seemed so dull and lifeless before. And above all are all things welcoming, for threat is gone.
No clouds remain to hide the face of Christ. Now is the goal achieved. Forgiveness is the final goal of the curriculum. It paves the way for what goes far beyond all learning. The curriculum makes no effort to exceed its legitimate goal. Forgiveness is its single aim, at which all learning ultimately converges. It is indeed enough. M-4.X.2
While not easily learned, the ability to enter no-mind awareness reduces one's identification with the ego. Consequently, this skill can be applied to many challenging ego-driven scenarios - interpersonal confrontations, managing stress, defusing anger, etc.
If we simply take “time out” in a no-mind state, we are still making the ego real. However, the practice of no-mind is valuable if it enables you to reduce the identification with your ego-state and replace it with the recognition of your Christ-Mind.
Philosopher Thomas Carlyle said the ego is "the source and summary of all faults and miseries." When that source is put in its proper place, those faults and miseries often diminish accordingly.
When it comes to the ego, less is clearly more.
It is never a matter or more or less; it’s always a matter of Real or unreal.
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