There Are No Private Thoughts
Q: I figure I may as well put my personal life and struggles out there and own it, right? There are no private thoughts.A: When the Course says "There are no private thoughts" (T-15.VII.14.4, W-pI.19.2:3 etc.) it's not talking about our lives and personal thoughts here, - we don't think here, we only think we're thinking - it's talking about the thoughts we think in our mind. Since there are only two thoughts in the mind - ego or Holy Spirit, separation or Atonement - it's saying, "You can't think on your own because when you think you're thinking on your own (with the ego), you're not thinking at all." In other words, it's saying what it's always saying: Separation is not real. Therefore, separate (private) thoughts are not real. Which is to say... there are no private thoughts.
posted by acimmonk @ 12:23 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
To all those who are interested,
As we study the course and come closer to God, I wonder if we can actually tell if we are thinking within the true mind or if we are still using our ego's thought system. With proper mind training as the Course provides, I would hope that we would be able to know the difference. Does anyone out there have any personnel experience they can share?
andrewjohn2008@gmail.com
Hi Andrew,
I think, especially in the beginning, it can be quite difficult to tell. We're always getting guidance, whether it's from the Holy Spirit or the ego. The problem comes when we have an agenda - when we want to hear a certain answer; when we've already decided what would be best for us; when we can't get ourselves out of the way. It's easy to convince ourselves of what we already want, and rationalize the "guidance" we receive (give ourselves). Our ability for self-deception is obviously great. Just take a look around. We've convinced ourselves the impossible is possible. After such a feat I don't think it's unwise to take things slow and with as much humility as we can muster.
As we go deeper into the Course and its mind training, we do become better able to discern when we're fooling ourselves - by then we would have had much practice of watching exactly that, and wouldn't be as prone to repress, deny or project it... rather watching it with a calm smile, thinking, "There I go again".
Note: The only true guidance we ever receive from Jesus is the guidance to forgive. The only guidance we ever receive from the ego is to judge/attack.
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