A Course In Miracles, Third Edition

Brand new:
A Course In Miracles, Third Edition

Leonard Cohen

"I found that things became a lot easier when I no longer expected to win."
- Leonard Cohen

Stroking the ego

I've found out that I need to be stroking the ego while I'm murdering it.

Being undone is the source of the most amazing pain and fear for the ego. Which makes it hard for you too, obviously.

So be kind to the ego on a regular basis while you're forgiving. Give it some nice things. Get it some admiration. Some sex. Some candy and whine. Entertainment. Take care of its "security".

And doing these things is also each time an opportunity to look with the HS at the thinking of the ego, while seemingly endulging it. The looking undoes it too.

Jung

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
-- Carl Jung

Posts

Two important posts on my other blog:

Peace Pilgrim

Irv Thomas

Quote from the top one:
You see, the ego is never in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfort and convenience on the part of the body, by demands of the mind, and by outbursts of the emotions. But the higher nature controls the body and the mind and the emotions. I can say to my body, "Lie down there on that cement floor and go to sleep," and it obeys. I can say to my mind, "Shut out everything else and concentrate on this job before you," and it's obedient.

I notice one difference between her philosophy and the Course: she recommends getting rid of all possessions you don't "need". The course might say that this is making the possessions real. What you do is forgiving your need for the possessions in your mind. What you do in the physical universe is not real and does not matter, except where you change your mind at the same time.

Another difference is that she recommends doing things in the world that need doing. The Course says "there is no world". The mind creates the illusion of the world, so only changing the mind will help.

Your own strength

From ACIM workbook lesson 48:
"The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength. The awareness that there is nothing to fear shows that somewhere in your mind, though not necessarily in a place you recognize as yet, you have remembered God, and let His strength take the place of your weakness. The instant you are willing to do this there is indeed nothing to fear."

This is perhaps one of the hardest lessons to learn. Certainly for a person like me, who has had it as a hardcore, unshakable tenet in his life that your own strength is the only thing you can ever count on. The only thing you must ever count on.

Giving up your own strength for a "higher power" was seen by me as a weak position. A ridiculous position. A patently, obviously, wrong position.

And yet consider that what seems to the ego like a "higher power" is in actuality your own real self. And that even the strongest person in the world is ridiculously weak. A few days in the wrong temperature or without water, and he is dead.

It that's not enough, even if you could build your power to god-like proportions, it would still only be the power to move illusions around.

I am one of the strongest people I know. And yet I have found in my subconscious absolutely ridiculous amounts of fear. So it's clear that "strength" in the ego sense is no solution at all. It's not easy, but I'm giving it up in favor of the Higher Self.

Giving and receiving.

I have come to believe that giving and receiving are really the same. Giving and receiving - not giving and taking.
-- Joyce Grenfell

I think that's a wise observation. Deep.
And the course says the same thing. At least as regards miracles.

Of course "taking" involves force and the ego. It has no value.

But both "giving" and "receiving" are at the deepest level a form of miracles. They are joining two apparently separate egos, and thus undoing the ego.
And it does not matter which illusory ego does the giving and which does the receiving.

"Take me to Truth"

Interesting interview and book.

“... awakening is not a glamorous affair. It’s really a demolition project. The ego loves to spiritualize the whole awakening process by suffusing it with the special beauty or power of certain objects, places and practices. It thrives on intellectual knowledge and is enthralled by amazing phenomena."

Isn't that the truth! If we're not careful, we can stay forever in fascination of ghosts, crop circles, UFOs, blah blah blah.

The dark night of the soul

Spiritual or psychological novices may be quite surprised to find that not only is the process a difficult one, but that they paradoxically begin to experience darkness more than light, especially after the initial "honeymoon period" that so frequently occurs. Once again, the Course provides us with descriptions of this seeming paradox of sincerely desiring the light, yet at the same time choosing, if not embracing the darkness:

"The more you approach the center of His [God] thought system, the clearer the light becomes. The closer you come to the foundation of the ego's thought system, the darker and more obscure becomes the way" (T-11.In.3:4-5).

[Later]
It should go without saying that the pain inherent in undoing the special relationship is not the Will of God, or the "plan" of the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is the certain consequence of our resistance to accepting the truth about ourselves.

Again found here.

All thought systems...

"...every thought system centers on what you believe you are." - A Course In Miracles

Pain

In looking at the special relationship, it is necessary first to realize that it involves a great amount of pain. Anxiety, despair, guilt and attack all enter into it…
(ACIM T-16.V.1:1-2)

"one does not journey to the light without experiencing great difficulties and pain."
- Ken Wapnick article

This is apparently generally denied, you certainly don't hear a lot about it. But I think we need to know about, simply because normally pain indicates something is wrong and so you run away.

Not There

A friend said:
"However you look at it, it still sounds like something imperfect came from something perfect."

It's one of the most challenging points.
And I suspect it's one of those points which we simply have to give up understanding with human minds.
The good news is we may not stay human forever.

I also suspect it has something to do with The World not existing.
"There is no world" is one of the absolute statements of The Course, they say.
If you say it to a human, even bright ones like you and me, we'll say: "yeah, sure, I get it, but..." and thump a wall. We just know it is there.
But I have had several intense experiences of perceptions where I in a split-instant saw that the world (or a bit of it) was not there. *Really* not there. Not "sort of not there" or "ultimately not there", but totally, absolutely not there.
This brought hints of great relief, so I'm looking forward to more certainty and experience with this.