When I read The Disappearance of the Universe for the first time in the spring of 2007, it made total sense to me mainly because I had already had the many of the experiences Arten and Pursah were talking about. However, one thing I had to really think about was on page 9 in the first chapter where Pursah tells Gary that God did not create the world. I had never heard that one before, and I thought I had heard everything at that point. I never even thought to question it, which is very unusual for me, considering my track record with such things. Anyway, the exact words Pursah said to Gary:
‘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." But God is not an idiot. 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.’ Gary says in response on page 13, ‘If I told people that God didn’t create the world, I have a feeling it would probably go over about as big as a fart in an elevator.’
And since we’re on the subject, God is neither a He nor a She, God is an It, and Arten and Pursah are just staying consistent with the metaphorical language J uses in the Course in order to correct the Bible. DU p 97 & 319
So, a few months prior to my first reading of Disappearance - I’m almost finished with my12th reading now - I was bouncing around some ideas in my head about God and forgiveness. I was thinking that if God forgives us for something we did, that would imply that God originally condemned us, and after a few minutes I came to the conclusion that if God is really sane, then God wouldn’t do that; God wouldn’t think like us idiot humans.
So later in the book on page 178, Gary says, ‘God doesn't have to forgive me; I need to forgive myself by forgiving others instead of attacking them. Even if it's just a mental judgment and I don't say or do anything, an attack thought is still an attack thought. That's why I have to monitor my thoughts. Whether I attack or forgive, I do it to myself because these people aren't real anyway - they're just symbols of what's in my mind, just as I'm a symbol in the collective mind. The world doesn't need God's forgiveness; people need to forgive themselves by forgiving the images they see.'
Arten responds, 'Yes. Absolutely. The Course couldn’t be any more clear about that: God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself. Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness. Fear condemns and love forgives. Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God. For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation. It is the means by which illusions disappear.' ACIM W-73 (Lesson 46:1:1-5 & 2:1-5)
Once I read that quote that God does not forgive because he never condemned, I put two and two together, and made the connection, the idea that God did not create the world now made perfect sense to me.
DU p 125 (Arten)
God could not have created this world. It would not be in His nature. He is not cruel, and as J points out to you, ‘If this were the real world, God would be cruel. For no Father could subject His children to this as the price of salvation and be loving.’ ACIM T-236 (13:Intro:3:1-2)
Of course, there really is no world, it’s just a dream, and dreams aren’t real. But that’s a subject for another time.
DU p 343 (Arten)
Don't ever forget that the goal of the Course is the only thing worth having, and this world isn't. You think the universe is of value because you're used to it and it's all you remember. But as the Course asks you, ‘God's teachers can have no regret on giving up the pleasures of the world. Is it a sacrifice to give up pain? Does an adult resent the giving up of children's toys? Does one whose vision has already glimpsed the face of Christ look back with longing on a slaughter house? No one who has escaped the world and all its ills looks back on it with condemnation.’ ACIM M p 33 (13:4:2-5)
Of course, that leads to another topic I’ll briefly mention: Suicide. As Arten puts in on page 79 in Gary’s second book Your Immortal Reality, ‘Suicide is the biggest problem in the world that the world is in total denial of. Sure, people know about suicide, but they have no idea how widespread it is. Nobody wants to talk about it . Nobody wants to examine it. If someone is depressed, the system will put them on drugs and never look at the reasons. That’s because the ego doesn’t want to look at the issue of unconscious guilt, which is the real cause of suicide.' And I might add, the unconscious guilt is real cause of all the madness in the world.
Arten also says on page 176 in DU, ‘Those who commit suicide, in any manner, seek to end the intolerable psychological pain of their guilt and suffering. Since their unconscious guilt remains intact, they merely end up reincarnating and keeping the problem unresolved. Death is not a way out. True forgiveness is the way out. As the Course teaches, ‘The world is not left by death but by truth.’ ACIM T-51 (3:VII:6:11)
So yeah, some people think they can escape their problems by killing themselves but they can’t, because it’s impossible to kill yourself. The body is nothing, the mind, not to be confused with the brain, keeps right on going afterwards. It’s not until you discover the truth of what you really are, not just intellectually but in your experience, that you will be free of the world. Otherwise, you keep reincarnating over and over again, like we already have been doing for eons. Of course, no matter how many problems somebody may think they have, there really is only one problem. As the Course puts it, ‘A sense of separation from God is the only lack you need correct.’ ACIM T-14 (1:VI:2:1) Any other seeming lack, is symbolic of that first and only lack.
And there is only one solution, as the Course clearly teaches, ‘The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way.’ W-422 (256:1:1-2) Of course, we're talking about forgiveness in the true sense of the word, and then once that is accomplished, then all there’s left is Heaven.
A few more quotes to close this puppy out:
DU p 107 (Arten)
When J told you to make the world meaningless to you, he was talking about giving up the value that you have given it, and accepting the Holy Spirit's meaning for it instead. For example, he says in the Text, ‘To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold.’ ACIM T-499 (24:Intro:2:1)
DU p 349 & 350 (Pursah)
When you have a deep desire for anything then you must think you're a body, or separate from God in some way. What else could want something? If you're spirit, or joined with God, then you need nothing. If you remember that you're not a body then you can step back and see that what you desire is valueless. We're not talking about giving up everything physically; we're talking about the way you look at it.
DU p 342 (Arten)
When J said, 'Renounce the world and the ways of the world; make them meaningless to you,' he meant that what you are seeing doesn't exist. It's nothing because it's not really there. How can nothing mean anything? If you make it mean something, good or bad, then you're trying to change nothing into something. The only thing you should make it is meaningless.
DU p 245 (Pursah)
You have work to do along with the Holy Spirit to uncover your eyes and get your mind into the condition where you can awaken from the dream and become aware of what you really are, and where you really are. All your lifetimes have been just one big, gigantic mind trip going nowhere. To get to the point where that truth becomes your experience, it takes work.
So, I’ll wrap up this post by saying that God is a Non-Idiot – yay!
Giddy up!
God Is....and nothing else is
Monday, March 1, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Projection Makes Perception
ACIM Preface xi
The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference - the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception." 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 defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognize 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.
ACIM T445 (21:1:1-9)
Projection makes perception. 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.
ACIM T38 (3:II:2)
Innocence is not a partial attribute. It is not real until it is total. The partly innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. It is not until their innocence becomes a viewpoint with universal application that it becomes wisdom. Innocent or true perception means that you never misperceive and always see truly. More simply, it means that you never see what does not exist, and always see what does.
DU p 112
Gary: Are you saying I'm gonna have to see everyone, no matter what, as being totally innocent?
Pursah: That is correct. Once again, don't expect it to happen right way.
Gary: I don't know. How can a man like Hitler be innocent?
Pursah: That's a typical question, and the answer doesn't have anything to do with Hitler. As one who remembers my Jewish lifetimes very well, I'm not exactly a fan of the Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, or any of the other mentally injured groups. The reason they are innocent has nothing to do with the level of form. Hitler and everyone else in the world, including you, are equally innocent because what you are seeing is not true. This is your dream. As the Course teaches, the dream is not being dreamed by somebody else. ACIM T623 (29:IX:6:3)
Mikey's Note
Seeing innocence everywhere is certainly easier said than done. But each must take responsibility for his or her dream at the level of the mind in order to be free of it. Otherwise, you're building house upon the shifting sands of change, rather than on the rock. As the Course teaches, 'As you see him you will see yourself.' ACIM T142 (8:4:2) The question is, do you want to see yourself as innocent, or as a 'guilty little bastid?' Even though it may give one a transitory state of satisfaction, projecting your own unconscious guilt on to others only keeps it in tact, while forgiving it may not always come with the instant gratification we all desire, it will gradually undo all the unconscious guilt buried in the mind, and then we'll be free of it. And all that will be left is innocence.
God Is....and nothing else is
The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference - the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception." 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 defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognize 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.
ACIM T445 (21:1:1-9)
Projection makes perception. 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.
ACIM T38 (3:II:2)
Innocence is not a partial attribute. It is not real until it is total. The partly innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. It is not until their innocence becomes a viewpoint with universal application that it becomes wisdom. Innocent or true perception means that you never misperceive and always see truly. More simply, it means that you never see what does not exist, and always see what does.
DU p 112
Gary: Are you saying I'm gonna have to see everyone, no matter what, as being totally innocent?
Pursah: That is correct. Once again, don't expect it to happen right way.
Gary: I don't know. How can a man like Hitler be innocent?
Pursah: That's a typical question, and the answer doesn't have anything to do with Hitler. As one who remembers my Jewish lifetimes very well, I'm not exactly a fan of the Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, or any of the other mentally injured groups. The reason they are innocent has nothing to do with the level of form. Hitler and everyone else in the world, including you, are equally innocent because what you are seeing is not true. This is your dream. As the Course teaches, the dream is not being dreamed by somebody else. ACIM T623 (29:IX:6:3)
Mikey's Note
Seeing innocence everywhere is certainly easier said than done. But each must take responsibility for his or her dream at the level of the mind in order to be free of it. Otherwise, you're building house upon the shifting sands of change, rather than on the rock. As the Course teaches, 'As you see him you will see yourself.' ACIM T142 (8:4:2) The question is, do you want to see yourself as innocent, or as a 'guilty little bastid?' Even though it may give one a transitory state of satisfaction, projecting your own unconscious guilt on to others only keeps it in tact, while forgiving it may not always come with the instant gratification we all desire, it will gradually undo all the unconscious guilt buried in the mind, and then we'll be free of it. And all that will be left is innocence.
God Is....and nothing else is
Thursday, January 28, 2010
A Course in Miracles vs The Power of Now
Arten compares A Course in Miracles with The Power of Now
YIR, p 27 (Gary asks Arten):
What about being in the now?
Where the practice of “be here now” will get you is here. Sure, it will relax you, but it won't get you home. One aspect of that kind of a system is to watch your judgments. But watching your judgments is not forgiving them. And the now that is experienced is not the eternal always of Heaven, which can only be consistently experienced when the ego has been completely undone by the Holy Spirit. That requires that you do your part to forgive, and the Holy Spirit takes care of the part of the job you can't see, deep within your unconscious mind.
YIR p 192 – 194 (Arten)
What we’re about to say isn’t meant to be anything but helpful. It’s said with the understanding that everyone is completely innocent, and that they’re doing their best to further whatever philosophy or method they sincerely believe in. That having been said, there are many spiritual teachers who are diluting the message of A Course in Miracles by teaching methods they claim are in agreement with the Course when they actually are not. This confuses the student by diverting attention from what the Course is teaching to something different, which the teachers of apparently don’t even understand are different, or else they wouldn’t be presenting them as though they’re the same by quoting the Course out of context to support their teachings.
One good example is the teaching that one should be in the now. Keep in mind that we’re not saying there’s anything wrong with the idea that there may be some good in focusing on the now rather than the past or the future. The quality of life would be improved. The problem is that doing so cannot remove the unconscious guilt over the original separation from God that is still hidden in the deep recesses of the mind. Because of that, it makes each experience of being in the now temporary by definition, because it fails to remove the blocks that prevent that experience from being permanent. All of which is to say that there's not just a minor difference between the approach of The Power of Now and the real power of A Course in Miracles. It's the difference between being temporarily in the now of an illusion, or being permanently in the presence of reality.
It's absolutely essential to remember that unless and until all unconscious guilt is removed from the mind, you cannot stay in the endless present on a permanent basis. It's impossible. Any attempt to remain in the now is doomed to failure without doing the work of true forgiveness. Until you've completely forgiven that which you made and projected outside of yourself, you are not forgiven in your own unconscious mind, and until you are, the cycle of birth and death cannot be broken. Being in the now does not heal your unconscious guilt and undo the ego. True forgiveness, on the other hand, removes the blocks to the awareness of love's presence that is your natural state of being, undoing the ego completely and making it possible to remain in the eternal "always" simply because that's all that's left.
Any attempt at eternity is a nonstarter as long as there’s any unconscious guilt in the mind, period. That guilt must be healed before you can permanently stay free of the past or future. And the way to undo it is not to ignore it, which is exactly what’s going on when you shut off and deny the past or future. It’s when you forgive the past and your concerns about the future that they are undone, and the endless present becomes truly available to you. That forgiveness always takes place now. Remember, we said that there’s no difference between forgiving the original separation at the time it appeared to happen, and forgiving it right now, for they are one and the same.
God Is
YIR, p 27 (Gary asks Arten):
What about being in the now?
Where the practice of “be here now” will get you is here. Sure, it will relax you, but it won't get you home. One aspect of that kind of a system is to watch your judgments. But watching your judgments is not forgiving them. And the now that is experienced is not the eternal always of Heaven, which can only be consistently experienced when the ego has been completely undone by the Holy Spirit. That requires that you do your part to forgive, and the Holy Spirit takes care of the part of the job you can't see, deep within your unconscious mind.
YIR p 192 – 194 (Arten)
What we’re about to say isn’t meant to be anything but helpful. It’s said with the understanding that everyone is completely innocent, and that they’re doing their best to further whatever philosophy or method they sincerely believe in. That having been said, there are many spiritual teachers who are diluting the message of A Course in Miracles by teaching methods they claim are in agreement with the Course when they actually are not. This confuses the student by diverting attention from what the Course is teaching to something different, which the teachers of apparently don’t even understand are different, or else they wouldn’t be presenting them as though they’re the same by quoting the Course out of context to support their teachings.
One good example is the teaching that one should be in the now. Keep in mind that we’re not saying there’s anything wrong with the idea that there may be some good in focusing on the now rather than the past or the future. The quality of life would be improved. The problem is that doing so cannot remove the unconscious guilt over the original separation from God that is still hidden in the deep recesses of the mind. Because of that, it makes each experience of being in the now temporary by definition, because it fails to remove the blocks that prevent that experience from being permanent. All of which is to say that there's not just a minor difference between the approach of The Power of Now and the real power of A Course in Miracles. It's the difference between being temporarily in the now of an illusion, or being permanently in the presence of reality.
It's absolutely essential to remember that unless and until all unconscious guilt is removed from the mind, you cannot stay in the endless present on a permanent basis. It's impossible. Any attempt to remain in the now is doomed to failure without doing the work of true forgiveness. Until you've completely forgiven that which you made and projected outside of yourself, you are not forgiven in your own unconscious mind, and until you are, the cycle of birth and death cannot be broken. Being in the now does not heal your unconscious guilt and undo the ego. True forgiveness, on the other hand, removes the blocks to the awareness of love's presence that is your natural state of being, undoing the ego completely and making it possible to remain in the eternal "always" simply because that's all that's left.
Any attempt at eternity is a nonstarter as long as there’s any unconscious guilt in the mind, period. That guilt must be healed before you can permanently stay free of the past or future. And the way to undo it is not to ignore it, which is exactly what’s going on when you shut off and deny the past or future. It’s when you forgive the past and your concerns about the future that they are undone, and the endless present becomes truly available to you. That forgiveness always takes place now. Remember, we said that there’s no difference between forgiving the original separation at the time it appeared to happen, and forgiving it right now, for they are one and the same.
God Is
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
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
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Unconscious Mind
YIR p 64 (Gary)
People think it’s the beliefs that they have in their conscious mind that runs them, and that they can control their mind by changing their thoughts from negative to positive ones. That’s not true when it comes to the big picture. It will only have a temporarily helpful impact. What really runs us are the beliefs we have that are unconscious to us, the things we can’t see. A Course in Miracles presents a way to actually heal and remove the things that are hidden in the deep canyons of the unconscious mind. Very few spiritual teachings do anything on that level.
DU p 159 (Pursah & Arten)
Your real life is in Heaven, but you can also achieve peace and joy during your temporary life here. Those are your motivations for quitting grievances. Sometimes those motivations won't seem like enough. What's going to happen is that when you try to forgive, sometimes you'll be able to. Yet if you're really trying to do the Course, then just as often you're going to come up against a lot of things that you don't want to forgive and you don't want to give up. That's how your resistance and your hidden, unconscious hatred shows up. Those are the things you're going to have to look at that you don't want to look at.
My Note: Two very potent Course quotes associated with this:
No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the
way they are protected. T p 202 (11:V:1:1)
To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. T p 499 (24:Intro:2:1)
Then, a DU quote to add to this as a follow up:
DU p 225 (Pursah)
The Holy Spirit knows your afraid of your unconscious. The purpose of the Course is peace, not to scare the hell out of you. The more prepared you are, and the better you do your forgiveness work, the less scary your journey with the Course will ultimately be.
God Is
People think it’s the beliefs that they have in their conscious mind that runs them, and that they can control their mind by changing their thoughts from negative to positive ones. That’s not true when it comes to the big picture. It will only have a temporarily helpful impact. What really runs us are the beliefs we have that are unconscious to us, the things we can’t see. A Course in Miracles presents a way to actually heal and remove the things that are hidden in the deep canyons of the unconscious mind. Very few spiritual teachings do anything on that level.
DU p 159 (Pursah & Arten)
Your real life is in Heaven, but you can also achieve peace and joy during your temporary life here. Those are your motivations for quitting grievances. Sometimes those motivations won't seem like enough. What's going to happen is that when you try to forgive, sometimes you'll be able to. Yet if you're really trying to do the Course, then just as often you're going to come up against a lot of things that you don't want to forgive and you don't want to give up. That's how your resistance and your hidden, unconscious hatred shows up. Those are the things you're going to have to look at that you don't want to look at.
My Note: Two very potent Course quotes associated with this:
No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the
way they are protected. T p 202 (11:V:1:1)
To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. T p 499 (24:Intro:2:1)
Then, a DU quote to add to this as a follow up:
DU p 225 (Pursah)
The Holy Spirit knows your afraid of your unconscious. The purpose of the Course is peace, not to scare the hell out of you. The more prepared you are, and the better you do your forgiveness work, the less scary your journey with the Course will ultimately be.
God Is
Thursday, October 8, 2009
A Course in Miracles and Forgiveness
ACIM T p 138
Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions.
DU p 109
The peace of God is the goal of the Course because it must be attained in order to regain the awareness of your reality in the Kingdom.
YIR p 139
It’s through your own choice for the Holy Spirit and His thought system instead of the ego’s that your mind is returned to peace. That has to happen first in order for you to go home. You can’t skip your forgiveness homework. Everybody wants to skip to the end and be enlightened now, but it doesn’t work that way. If peace is the condition of the Kingdom, then the mind must be at peace in order to fit in. And in order for the mind to be at peace, you have to forgive. It’s as simple as that.
DU p 147
Without its practical method of forgiveness, the Course would be nothing but a beautiful and useless book - fuel for debate and the games of the ego. Fortunately, as J says in the Introduction to the Clarification of Terms, p 77: This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness.
What is Forgiveness? ACIM W p 401
Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven.
Forgiveness is the key to happiness. ACIM Lesson 121 W p 214
Here is the answer to your search for peace. Here is the key to meaning in a world that seems to make no sense. Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever finding quietness and peace. Here are all questions answered; here the end of all uncertainty ensured at last.
Forgiveness offers everything I want. ACIM Lesson 122 W p 217
What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always? Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?
All this forgiveness offers and more. It sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. It soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rest upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace. All this forgiveness offers you, and more.
DU p 343
We came here to give people a spiritual message, a message that not everyone is ready for yet, and this is it: When you are ready to accept that the only thing that really matters in your illusory lifetime is the successful completion of your lessons of true forgiveness, then you will be truly wise indeed.
DU p 221
True forgiveness is the real purpose of life, but you've got to choose it in order to make it yours. Remember, practicing real forgiveness can't help but lead you home.
YIR p 128
You can't wake up from a dream as long as you're stuck in it. Awareness of dreaming breaks the hold. And the more you forgive, the more you become aware that you're just dreaming.
Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. ACIM Lesson 62 W p 104
It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light. It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see. Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore, in your forgiveness lies your salvation.
God is the Love in which I forgive. ACIM Lesson 46 W p 73
God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself. Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness.
The words, Forgive(s), Forgiven, Forgiveness, Forgiving, and Forgivable show up in the Course a total of 842 times.
Forgive and let live.
Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions.
DU p 109
The peace of God is the goal of the Course because it must be attained in order to regain the awareness of your reality in the Kingdom.
YIR p 139
It’s through your own choice for the Holy Spirit and His thought system instead of the ego’s that your mind is returned to peace. That has to happen first in order for you to go home. You can’t skip your forgiveness homework. Everybody wants to skip to the end and be enlightened now, but it doesn’t work that way. If peace is the condition of the Kingdom, then the mind must be at peace in order to fit in. And in order for the mind to be at peace, you have to forgive. It’s as simple as that.
DU p 147
Without its practical method of forgiveness, the Course would be nothing but a beautiful and useless book - fuel for debate and the games of the ego. Fortunately, as J says in the Introduction to the Clarification of Terms, p 77: This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness.
What is Forgiveness? ACIM W p 401
Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven.
Forgiveness is the key to happiness. ACIM Lesson 121 W p 214
Here is the answer to your search for peace. Here is the key to meaning in a world that seems to make no sense. Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever finding quietness and peace. Here are all questions answered; here the end of all uncertainty ensured at last.
Forgiveness offers everything I want. ACIM Lesson 122 W p 217
What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always? Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?
All this forgiveness offers and more. It sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. It soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rest upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace. All this forgiveness offers you, and more.
DU p 343
We came here to give people a spiritual message, a message that not everyone is ready for yet, and this is it: When you are ready to accept that the only thing that really matters in your illusory lifetime is the successful completion of your lessons of true forgiveness, then you will be truly wise indeed.
DU p 221
True forgiveness is the real purpose of life, but you've got to choose it in order to make it yours. Remember, practicing real forgiveness can't help but lead you home.
YIR p 128
You can't wake up from a dream as long as you're stuck in it. Awareness of dreaming breaks the hold. And the more you forgive, the more you become aware that you're just dreaming.
Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. ACIM Lesson 62 W p 104
It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light. It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see. Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore, in your forgiveness lies your salvation.
God is the Love in which I forgive. ACIM Lesson 46 W p 73
God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself. Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness.
The words, Forgive(s), Forgiven, Forgiveness, Forgiving, and Forgivable show up in the Course a total of 842 times.
Forgive and let live.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
True Perception
When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself. ~ACIM Text p 142 (8:III:4:1-5)
The key to enlightenment lies in a secret that very few people have ever known, but which J knew well. The way you will experience and feel about yourself is not determined by how other people look at and think about you. The way that you will experience and feel about yourself is actually determined by how you look at and think about them. Ultimately, this determines your identity. You will identify yourself either as a body or as perfect spirit, as either divided or whole, depending on how you see others. And once you understand that, I would think you'd want to get pretty damn careful how you think about other people! ~YIR p 17
Always remember that your state of mind and the resulting goal you will achieve are in your own hands, because there are really only two things you can do - judge as an expression of fear, or forgive as an expression of love. One perception leads to the peace of God and the other perception leads to war. As the Course teaches, 'You see the flesh or recognize the spirit. There is no compromise between the two. If one is real the other must be false, for what is real denies its opposite. There is no choice in vision but this one.' ~DU p 397,398
God Is
The key to enlightenment lies in a secret that very few people have ever known, but which J knew well. The way you will experience and feel about yourself is not determined by how other people look at and think about you. The way that you will experience and feel about yourself is actually determined by how you look at and think about them. Ultimately, this determines your identity. You will identify yourself either as a body or as perfect spirit, as either divided or whole, depending on how you see others. And once you understand that, I would think you'd want to get pretty damn careful how you think about other people! ~YIR p 17
Always remember that your state of mind and the resulting goal you will achieve are in your own hands, because there are really only two things you can do - judge as an expression of fear, or forgive as an expression of love. One perception leads to the peace of God and the other perception leads to war. As the Course teaches, 'You see the flesh or recognize the spirit. There is no compromise between the two. If one is real the other must be false, for what is real denies its opposite. There is no choice in vision but this one.' ~DU p 397,398
God Is
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