Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Disappearance of the Universe vs Conversations with God

In this Note, Arten and Pursah compare what they are teaching in Gary Renard's books - The Disappearance of the Universe and Your Immortal Reality - and what J is teaching in A Course in Miracles, to the Conversation with God books by Neale Donald Walsch. Now, Arten and Pursah, as always, don't make such comparisons to put down other teachers and what they are teaching, and only make these type of comparisons merely for clarification purposes, in order to demonstrate that what they are teaching, and what J is teaching in his Course, is not the same thing in a different package, although it is saying some of the same things.

I read the Conversation with God series back in the 1990s and they were certainly helpful in some ways to me at the time. However, I found myself moving on to the next item in the 'spiritual buffet line' where as with Gary's books, I have found them to be my 'be-all and end-all' of spirituality as they have left me with no unanswered questions, and confirmed a lot of what I already believed to be true from experience. Of course, they're not for everyone, as Gary's teachers don't sugarcoat anything, and there is much unconscious resistance to what they are saying - but they definitely speak the truth! But of course, I needed the Neale Walsch's as well as the Wayne Dyer's and all the many others whose books I studied as stepping stones to prepare me for Gary's books and the Course.

DU p 126
Arten: In the 1990s, one of the most popular spiritual books ever written will have God Himself saying that He created fear! That is an inaccuracy so major we cannot stress too much how completely false it is. God does not create anything that is not the perfect oneness of Heaven. As J puts it very early in his Course, when describing anything that doesn't reflect the thought system of the Holy Spirit, 'Everything else is your own nightmare, and does not exist.' And, 'You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awakening to reality.' ACIM T p 4 & ACIM T p 182

DU p 8 & 9
Pursah: The word correction is not used by us in the usual way, because to correct something usually means you fix it up and keep it. When the false universe is finished being corrected by the Holy Spirit, it will no longer appear to exist. I say it will no longer appear to exist because it does not exist in reality. The true Universe is God's Universe, or Heaven - and Heaven has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the false universe. However, there is a way of looking at your universe that will help you return to your true home with God.

Gary: You're talking about the universe like it's some kind of a mistake. But the Bible says that God created the world, and most everybody believes He did, not to mention all the world's religions. My friends and I think that God produced the world so He could know Himself experientially, which I guess is a pretty common New Age belief. Didn't God create polarity, duality, and all of the opposites in this world of subject and object?

Pursah: In a word, no. God did not create duality and He did not create the world. If He did, He would be the author of 'a tale told by an idiot,' to borrow Shakespeare's description of life. But God is not an idiot. We'll prove it to you. He can only be one of two things. He is either perfect Love, as the Bible says when it momentarily stumbles upon the truth, or He's an idiot. You can't have it both ways. J was no idiot either, because he wasn't taken in by the false universe.

YIR p 82 & 83
Gary: Well, there are people who think that God couldn't experience Himself in Oneness, and the only way He could experience Himself was to make this world and live in it. A lot of them seem to listen to authors and teachers who say so, like the Conversations with God books.

Pursah: If they looked deeper, they'd realize that they're regarding God as insane. You've had the mystical experience of what it's like to be with God in Heaven, Right?

Gary: Yeah.

Pursah: And how does Heaven compare to this world?

Gary: There is no comparison. In Heaven, you are God.

Pursah: But it's an experience, like an awareness, isn't it?

Gary: It sure is! It's a far greater experience that anything this world has to offer.

Pursah: All right, then. The idea of thinking that God would have to make this world in order to experience duality so he could appreciate and enjoy Himself is the equivalent of the idea that in order to experience and enjoy sex, you would have to also experience getting shot in the gut. No. Pain is the result of the guilt that came from thinking you separated yourself from God, and you don't have to experience pain in order to experience the pleasure of reality. But you do have to forgive pain and suffering and give it up in order to return to reality. J couldn't be any more clear about that in his Course, and he is the one you should listen to:

From the ego came sin and guilt and death, in opposition to life and innocence, and to the Will of God Himself. Where can such opposition lie but in the sick minds of the insane, dedicated to madness and set against the peace of Heaven? One thing is sure; God, Who created nether sin nor death, wills not that you be bound by them. He knows of neither sin nor its results. The shrouded figures in the funeral procession march not in honor of their Creator, Whose Will it is they live. There not following His Will; they are opposing it.' ACIM T p 417

Gary: Boy, he's gonna have to stop holding back and say how he really feels. So here are people saying that God made opposites so He could experience Himself, and here's J saying that what's all-encompassing can have no opposite, and that only the insane would think either that it could or that it should. Is that a fair statement?

Pursah: Yes.

DU p 118 (Arten)
The Course is not a movement; there are more than enough of those. You don’t have to take over the world. It doesn’t matter whether the Course is popular or not. J knows what he’s doing! Those who are ready for the Course will find it. His Course is unique. It gives an individual a chance to learn that he or she is not an individual, and that they are never alone. It gives you the opportunity to commune with the Holy Spirit and ultimately, God. It accelerates your return to God by helping the Holy Spirit heal you. ('You' meaning your seemingly separated mind, which most people mistake as the soul.)



God Is

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHY then did ego and separateness ever come into existence? And if this "world" is my mistaken illusion how is it that so many others experience this illusion separately? I want to understand...

giddyupmikey said...

Well, the ego and separateness never did not come into existence except in a dream. And in this dream there is only one ego (appearing as many) and you're it. There are no others, there's nobody else out there, just symbols of what's in your own unconscious mind.

The practice of true forgiveness will wake you up from the dream. If you haven't read The Disappearance of the Universe, I highly recommend it - it explains everything. If you have read it, I highly recommend rereading it. Peace.

John said...

I read disapearance of the universe first and I'm now reading conversations with god and the different opinions about "god created the world" left me wondering what to believe now. But I see that Arten made a really clear statement about that ;)
So Thanks for the quotes

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I just read the disappearance of the Universe and I totally resonate with it It really makes sense. In the second book I came at the part about conversations with God, a series of books I cherished... Yet Yes I do understand what Arten is saying and it makes perfectly sense to me..ButIt was also hard for to abandon the CWG books messages since I became pretty fond of them (I met NDW a few years ago great guy but I was also sometimes confused with his messages and costly retreast) I will thank you for calling the CWG books stepping stones yes that works for me too I was now more ready for the ACIM message

Thank you!

Ferry
Verhoeve
Netherlands