Watching the Witness: A Loving Juxtaposition of Osho and A Course in Miracles

Yesterday, I read just the first five pages of Osho’s  “Meditation:  The First and Last Freedom,” and it had a very profound impact on me.  I started practicing Watching right away.

So meditation is not against action.  It is not that you have to escape from life.  It simply teaches you a new way of life:  you become the center of the cyclone.

Your life goes on, it goes on really more intensely—with more joy, with more clarity, more vision, more creativity—yet you are aloof, just a watcher on the hills, simply seeing all that is happening around you.

You are not the doer, you are the watcher.

Doing continues on its own level, there is no problem:  chopping wood, drawing water from the well.  You can do small and big things; only one thing is not allowed and that is, your centering should not be lost.

That awareness, that watchfulness, should remain absolute unclouded, undisturbed. (p. 4)

A crow is crowing. . .you are listening.  These are two—object and subject.  But can’t you see a witness who is seeing both?—the crow, the listener, and still there is someone who is watching both.  It is such a simple phenomenon.  You who is watching both.  It is such a simple phenomenon.  You are seeing a tree: you are there, the tree is there, but can’t you find one thing more?—that you are seeing the tree, that there is a witness in you which is seeing you seeing the tree. (p. 6)

object                               noise                      crow

subject                             listener                   witness

watcher                            watcher                  watcher

And now, Gentle Reader, let’s become watchful:

Please close your eyes, breathe in and breathe out, and become aware of something outside, or an inner thought.

Become aware of your witnessing the event, or thought.

Sink into your awareness of watching the witnessing of the event.

Thank you.

(This became particularly powerful to me when I realized that the witness is standing on the foundation core beliefs, a slippery slope, indeed.  Fortunately, this practice enables me to sink below this interpretation of event, and rest in peace.)

Now, as if that is not exciting enough, this morning I read the Lesson for the day, 33, There is another way of looking at the world, and I was astonished.

Today's idea is an attempt to recognize that you can shift your perception of the world in both its outer and inner aspects. A full five minutes should be devoted to the morning and evening applications. In these practice periods, the idea should be repeated as often as you find comfortable, though unhurried applications are essential. Alternate between surveying your outer and inner perceptions, but without an abrupt sense of shifting.

Merely glance casually around the world you perceive as outside yourself, then close your eyes and survey your inner thoughts with equal casualness. Try to remain equally uninvolved in both, and to maintain this detachment as you repeat the idea throughout the day.

The shorter exercise periods should be as frequent as possible. Specific applications of today's idea should also be made immediately, when any situation arises which tempts you to become disturbed. For these applications, say:

There is another way of looking at this.

Remember to apply today's idea the instant you are aware of distress. It may be necessary to take a minute or so to sit quietly and repeat the idea to yourself several times. Closing your eyes will probably help in this form of application.

In this Lesson, hear the echoes of Osho’s words.

outer         outside               situation
inner         inner thoughts    disturbance
surveyor   detachment         awareness

When we look through the eyes if the witness, we are looking through the body’s eyes; when we look through the Watcher’s eyes, the surveyor’s eyes, we are seeing with Christ Vision.

We are being instructed to train our minds, so that we are vigilant, aware, of our inner and outer worlds, and in this awareness we are receptive to be guided by the Holy Spirit, whose still, small Voice is speaking to us all through the day.

Once you are aware of all these three, they all become joined into one phenomenon.  And when all these three are one—functioning together perfectly, humming together, you can feel the music of all the three; they have become an orchestra—then the fourth happens, which you cannot do.  It happens on its own accord.  It is a gift from the whole, it is a reward for those who have done these three. (p. 8)

The Watcher is a gift from the whole:

I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole,

shining in the reflection of His Love.

In me is His creation sanctified

and guaranteed eternal life. In me

is love perfected, fear impossible,

and joy established without opposite.

I am the holy home of God Himself.

I am the Heaven where His Love resides.

I am His holy Sinlessness Itself,
for in my purity abides His Own.
(What am I? 1)

I sat quietly, and then I wrote these Haiku:

What do I do next?
just chop wood and carry water
you will be guided  

I am receptive
breathing in and breathing out
and this Haiku comes        

I am “in” the world
and, Thank God, not “of” the world
that awareness:  Peace

A Course in Miracles: What It Says

Because of A Course in Miracles, Master Teacher, and the Bible, I am awakening from the dream.  I walk through the world knowing full that I am “in” the world, and not “of” the world; I am in form, yet formless, and I ask for help to wear the garment of the world, loosely.

I often wish that I had a succinct explanation to give to people who ask me questions about the Course.

The other day, my friend, Dan Maynard, called me up all excited and said, “I just read the Preface to the Course, and it is so good, particularly, the last section, What It Says."

I went straight to the Text, read it, and said to myself, "This is what I have been looking for, and it was right under my nose."

So, here it is, easily accessible—pass it on.

  This preface was written in 1977, in response to many requests for a brief introduction to A Course in Miracles. The first two parts How It Came; What It Is Helen Schucman wrote herself; the final part What It Says was written by the process of inner dictation described in the Preface.

How It Came

     A Course in Miracles began with the sudden decision of two people to join in a common goal. Their names were Helen Schucman and William Thetford, Professors of Medical Psychology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. It does not matter who they were, except that the story shows that with God all things are possible. They were anything but spiritual. Their relationship with each other was difficult and often strained, and they were concerned with personal and professional acceptance and status. In general, they had considerable investment in the values of the world. Their lives were hardly in accord with anything that the Course advocates. Helen, the one who received the material, describes herself:

Psychologist, educator, conservative in theory and atheistic in belief. I was working in a prestigious and highly academic setting. And then something happened that triggered a chain of events I could never have predicted. The head of my department unexpectedly announced that he was tired of the angry and aggressive feelings our attitudes reflected, and concluded that there must be another way. As if on cue, I agreed to help him find it. Apparently this Course is the other way.

Although their intention was serious, they had great difficulty in starting out on their joint venture. But they had given the Holy Spirit the little willingness that, as the Course itself was to emphasise again and again, is sufficient to enable Him to use any situation for His purposes and provide it with His power.

To continue Helen's first-person account:

Three startling months preceded the actual writing, during which time Bill suggested that I write down the highly symbolic dreams and descriptions of the strange images that were coming to me. Although I had grown more accustomed to the unexpected by that time, I was still very surprised when I wrote, This is a course in miracles. That was my introduction to the Voice. It made no sound, but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation which I took down in a shorthand notebook. The writing was never automatic. It could be interrupted at any time and later picked up again. It made me very uncomfortable, but it never seriously occurred to me to stop. It seemed to be a special assignment I had somehow, somewhere agreed to complete. It represented a truly collaborative venture between Bill and myself, and much of its significance, I am sure, lies in that. I would take down what the Voice said and read it to him the next day, and he typed it from my dictation. I expect he had his special assignment, too. Without his encouragement and support I would never have been able to fulfil mine. The whole process took about seven years. The Text came first, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for Teachers. Only a few minor changes have been made. Chapter titles and subheadings have been inserted in the Text, and some of the more personal references that occurred at the beginning have been omitted. Otherwise the material is substantially unchanged.

     The names of the collaborators in the recording of the Course do not appear on the cover because the Course can and should stand on its own. It is not intended to become the basis for another cult. Its only purpose is to provide a way in which some people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher.

What It Is

     As its title implies, the Course is arranged throughout as a teaching device. It consists of three books: a 669-page Text, a 488-page Workbook for Students, and a 92-page Manual for Teachers. The order in which students choose to use the books, and the ways in which they study them, depend on their particular needs and preferences.

     The curriculum the Course proposes is carefully conceived and is explained, step by step, at both the theoretical and practical levels. It emphasises application rather than theory, and experience rather than theology. It specifically states that a universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary (Manual, p. 77). Although Christian in statement, the Course deals with universal spiritual themes. It emphasises it is but one version of the universal curriculum. There are many others, this one differing from them only in form. They all lead to God in the end.

     The Text is largely theoretical, and sets forth the concepts on which the Course's thought system is based. Its ideas contain the foundation for the Workbook's lessons. Without the practical application the Workbook provides, the Text would remain largely a series of abstractions which would hardly suffice to bring about the thought reversal at which the Course aims.

     The Workbook includes 365 lessons, one for each day of the year. It is not necessary, however, to do the lessons at that tempo, and one might want to remain with a particularly appealing lesson for more than one day. The instructions urge only that not more than one lesson a day should be attempted. The practical nature of the Workbook is underscored by the introduction to its lessons, which emphasises experience through application rather than a prior commitment to a spiritual goal:

Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.

Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required (Workbook, p. 2).

     Finally, the Manual for Teachers, which is written in question and answer form, provides answers to some of the more likely questions a student might ask. It also includes a clarification of a number of the terms the Course uses, explaining them within the theoretical framework of the Text.

     The Course makes no claim to finality, nor are the Workbook lessons intended to bring the student's learning to completion. At the end, the reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit. While the Course is comprehensive in scope, truth cannot be limited to any finite form, as is clearly recognised in the statement at the end of the Workbook:

This Course is a beginning, not an end No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do; how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word (Workbook, p. 487).

What It Says

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.

     This is how A Course in Miracles begins. It makes a fundamental distinction between the real and the unreal; between knowledge and perception. Knowledge is truth, under one law, the law of love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. It can be unrecognised, but it cannot be changed. It applies to everything that God created, and only what He created is real. It is beyond learning because it is beyond time and process. It has no opposite; no beginning and no end. It merely is.

     The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on interpretation, not on facts. It is the world of birth and death, founded on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and death. It is learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations.

     From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because God and His Creation share one Will. The world of perception, however, is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills, in perpetual conflict with each other and with God. What perception sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world of illusions, a world which needs constant defence precisely because it is not real.

     When you have been caught in the world of perception you are caught in a dream. You cannot escape without help, because everything your senses show merely witnesses to the reality of the dream. God has provided the Answer, the only Way out, the true Helper. It is the function of His Voice, His Holy Spirit, to mediate between the two worlds. He can do this because, while on the one hand He knows the truth, on the other He also recognises our illusions, but without believing in them. It is the Holy Spirit's goal to help us escape from the dream world by teaching us how to reverse our thinking and unlearn our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's great learning aid in bringing this thought reversal about. However, the Course has its own definition of what forgiveness really is just as it defines the world in its own way.

     The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. Projection makes perception (Text, p. 445). We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. If we are using perception to justify our own mistakes our anger, our impulses to attack, our lack of love in whatever form it may take we will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy and despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not because we are being good and charitable, but because what we are seeing is not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted defences, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognise our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or forgive. At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking past our distorted self-concepts to the Self that God created in us and as us.

     Sin is defined as lack of love (Text, p. 11). Since love is all there is, sin in the sight of the Holy Spirit is a mistake to be corrected, rather than an evil to be punished. Our sense of inadequacy, weakness and incompletion comes from the strong investment in the scarcity principle that governs the whole world of illusions. From that point of view, we seek in others what we feel is wanting in ourselves. We love another in order to get something ourselves. That, in fact, is what passes for love in the dream world. There can be no greater mistake than that, for love is incapable of asking for anything.

    

 Only minds can really join, and whom God has joined no man can put asunder (Text, p. 356). It is, however, only at the level of Christ Mind that true union is possible, and has, in fact, never been lost. The little I seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions and external love. The Self that God created needs nothing. It is forever complete, safe, loved and loving. It seeks to share rather than to get; to extend rather than project. It has no needs and wants to join with others out of their mutual awareness of abundance.

     The special relationships of the world are destructive, selfish and childishly egocentric. Yet, if given to the Holy Spirit, these relationships can become the holiest things on earth... the miracles that point the way to the return to Heaven. The world uses its special relationships as a final weapon of exclusion and a demonstration of separateness. The Holy Spirit transforms them into perfect lessons in forgiveness and in awakening from the dream. Each one is an opportunity to let perceptions be healed and errors corrected. Each one is another chance to forgive oneself by forgiving the other. And each one becomes still another invitation to the Holy Spirit and to the remembrance of God.

     Perception is a function of the body, and therefore represents a limit on awareness. Perception sees through the body's eyes and hears through the body's ears. It evokes the limited responses which the body makes. The body appears to be largely self-motivated and independent, yet it actually responds only to the intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to use it for attack in any form, it becomes prey to sickness, age and decay. If the mind accepts the Holy Spirit's purpose for it instead, it becomes a useful way of communicating with others, invulnerable as long as it is needed, and to be gently laid by when its use is over. Of itself it is neutral, as is everything in the world of perception. Whether it is used for the goals of the ego or the Holy Spirit depends entirely on what the mind wants.

     The opposite of seeing through the body's eyes is the vision of Christ, which reflects strength rather than weakness, unity rather than separation, and love rather than fear. The opposite of hearing through the body's ears is communication through the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, which abides in each of us. His voice seems distant and difficult to hear because the ego, which speaks for the little, separated self, seems to be much louder. This is actually reversed. The Holy Spirit speaks with unmistakable clarity and overwhelming appeal. No one who does not choose to identify with the body could possibly be deaf to His messages of release and hope, nor could he fail to accept joyously the vision of Christ in glad exchange for his miserable picture of himself.

     Christ's vision is the Holy Spirit's gift, God's alternative to the illusion of separation and to the belief in the reality of sin, guilt and death. It is the one correction for all errors of perception; the reconciliation of the seeming opposites on which this world is based. Its kindly light shows all things from another point of view, reflecting the thought system that arises from knowledge and making return to God not only possible but inevitable. What was regarded as injustices done to one by someone else now becomes a call for help and for union. Sin, sickness and attack are seen as misperceptions calling for remedy through gentleness and love. Defences are laid down because where there is no attack there is no need for them. Our bothers' needs become our own, because they are taking the journey with us as we go to God. Without us they would lose their way. Without them we could never find our own.

     Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven, where the need for it would be inconceivable. However, in this world, forgiveness is a necessary correction for all the mistakes that we have made. To offer forgiveness is the only way for us to have it, for it reflects the law of Heaven that giving and receiving are the same. Heaven is the natural state of all the Sons of God as He created them. Such is their reality forever. It has not changed because it has been forgotten.

     Forgiveness is the means by which we will remember. Through forgiveness the thinking of the world is reversed. The forgiven world becomes the gate of Heaven, because by its mercy we can at last forgive ourselves. Holding no-one prisoner to guilt, we become free. Acknowledging Christ in all our brothers, we recognise His Presence in ourselves. Forgetting all our misperceptions, and with nothing from the past to hold us back, we can remember God. Beyond this, learning cannot go. When we are ready, God Himself will take the final step in our return to Him.

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"I have a dream" and A Course in Miracles

Wednesday, August 28, 2013, marks the 50^th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s masterful oration, “I have a dream.” In an article in USA TODAY, Rick Hampson clearly demonstrates how King, after reading from his prepared text for ten minutes, stepped aside from his text, totally inspired.

This is one of my favorite themes:  Stepping back allows the Holy Spirit to come through us.  This inspiration is clearly expressed in A Course in Miracles, Lesson 155, I will step back and let Him lead the way.

Step back in faith and let truth lead the way.

You know not where you go. But One Who knows

goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest.
(10:3)

Here is Rick Hampson’s account:  

 King had worked on his speech over the previous four days, finally finishing a few hours before dawn in his suite at the Willard Hotel.

When he was more than halfway through a recitation that had been well received but was, as King biographer Taylor Branch would write, "Far from historic" and in places "clubfooted."

Then, King looked up. He put aside his text, and in Taylor Branch’s words, “He took flight extemporaneously.”

"I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. It is a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

Some on the platform noticed that he was disregarding his prepared text, including Clarence Jones, a King adviser who had worked on the speech. "He's off. He's on his own now. He's inspired," Jones told Taylor Branch in 2002, four decades later.

Mahalia Jackson, who had performed earlier and was one of King's favorite gospel singers, cried, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin!"

Having raised his eyes, he now had to raise his voice to be heard over the growing applause. He continued to profess his dream, repeating the refrain seven more times, moving from justice and equality to something deeper - a human bond transcending race.

To his wife, Coretta, it seemed King had forgotten time itself, that his words flowed "from some higher place."

He ended suddenly, returning to the speech that had been lying unread on the lectern for the last line: "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty - we are free at last!"
For a moment the audience was stunned. Silence. Then, a rocking ovation.

At the White House, President Kennedy - who with King would produce much of 20th-century America's memorable oratory - turned to an aide: "He's damn good."

King created a masterpiece on the fly, "like some sort of jazz musician," said David J. Garrow, whose King biography, Bearing the Cross, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. "It's the spontaneous parts of the speech that people remember."

Why did King decide to insert the "dream" section? He never really explained, and no one pressed him. When he spoke with Donald Smith, a graduate student, later that year, he didn't seem sure himself:

"I started out reading the speech, and I read it down to a point, and just all of a sudden  this thing came to me that I'd used many times before, that thing about 'I have a dream.' I just felt I wanted to use it. I don't know why. I hadn't thought about it before that speech."

After the march ended peacefully - not a single marcher was arrested - Kennedy met the leaders of the march at the White House.

When he walked into the Cabinet Room, the president looked at King and grinned. "I have a dream," he said. (Rick Hampson, “What you didn’t know about King’s ‘Dream’ speech,” USATODAY, August 13, 2013, Section A, pp.1,2)

“Then, King looked up. He put aside his text. . .”
I will step back and let Him lead the way.