A Course in Miracles Monk

Hurry up, dude! The Big Cat’s gunna post again soon!!!

Just finished the preface. Lots of good stuff. A couple of the things I liked:

~ Experience through application vs. a spiritual goal (like reading the text as an end)

~ A universal experience is necessary (i.e. to see beyond duality an experience that is all-inclusive is necessary.)

~ “We seek in others what we feel is wanting in ourselves”… This is pretty funny when you think about it. Because of our tremendous unworthiness we fall in “love” with people who see in us what we don’t see in ourselves. They admire and respect us, see worth in us… which means at a very basic level we disagree with the person we’re in love with. And because of our insatiable need to be right, we WILL prove to them we are unlovable and un-respectable.

~ “Love is incapable of asking for anything” (because it sees no lack).

~ “No one who does not choose to identify with the body could possibly be deaf to His messages of release…” This made me think of how we take the miracle impulse of the desire for release, and turn it into the physical impulse of the desire for sexual release. It’s always a compromise with the body. A temporary “solution”. I will create all of this sexual tension (or emotional, or food-related, or career-related, or money-related, or sports-related, or health-related) as a way of sort of re-creating the tension I feel over the split in my mind, and instead of changing my mind, I will release the tension physically, and be satisfied that something was accomplished, that relief has been achieved, no matter how temporary. Our entire lives become about these compromises, and none of them work… well, they work for the ego. They make the body real. They make the body’s needs the domain of the problem and the ’solution’, rather than the mind. You’d think we’d cotton on to this. The only plausible explanation is that we don’t want to see.

~ “Defenses are laid down because where there is no attack there is no need for them.” (When we see ‘calls for help’ and not attack, we no longer need defenses.)

~ And my favorite line of the preface: “The forgiven world becomes the gate of Heaven.”

Woke up before sunrise and finished today’s reading just as the sun was getting ready to crest the mountains. Everyone is familiar with the “that wasn’t in the text the first five times I read it” phenomenon; it will be interesting if along the way we share those quotes/lines we could swear were inserted since our last reading. I haven’t run across one yet, but this is a line that stood out for me from today’s reading:

“You do not need guidance except at the mind level” (T-2.VI.3:5).

It ties in nicely with the “this means” part of this next quote:

“The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself. This means you recognize that mind is the only creative level, and that its errors are healed by the Atonement. Once you accept this, your mind can only heal” (T-2.V.5:1-3).

A couple of my faves:

“The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. It is curious that an ability so debilitating would be so deeply cherished” (T-3.VI.5:6-7).

“What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and nothing but perfect equality? Perception becomes impossible” (T-3.V.8:1-2).

…this really speaks to the idea that the way out of hell is to forgive your misperceptions (your perceptions of differences), the result of which is the perception of sameness. Once we perceive sameness, we won’t long perceive.

If you need a nap today, I recommend your blue blanky and pillow. ;) {{hug}}

My favorite quote from today is the last line of the reading:

“This vision (eternity, Self) frightens the ego because it is so calm. Peace is the ego’s greatest enemy because, according to its interpretation of reality, war is the guarantee of its survival. The ego becomes strong in strife” (T-5.III.8:6-8).

The idea of separation, being untrue, needs constant reinforcement. While the idea of an individual self remains meaningful, we will generate that reinforcement — conflict — out of thin air. And the perception will seem justified. But “beware the temptation to feel unfairly treated.” It’s not what it seems. It’s the ego’s insecure cry for attention — I exist! Look who’s being treated unfairly! I am! This body. Me. By you. Another body.

And behind the pain, if you listen carefully, you will hear an “ahhhhh”. The ego lives to fight another day.

Thought this was super-important:

“Guilt is more than merely not of God. It is the symbol of attack on God. This is a totally meaningless concept except to the ego, but do not underestimate the power of the ego’s belief in it. This is the belief from which all guilt really stems” (T-5.V.2:10-12).

Guilt isn’t real (it’s a meaningless concept as God cannot be attacked), so the problem is not guilt but rather our belief in it. This delineation is such an important part of the Course, and here it is in black and white.

As I’m reading the text I’m watching Ken’s DVDs on the text. In the first one where he is giving an overview of the text, he says the following, which I thought might be a nice (?) companion quote for our 100 day journey:

“One doesn’t enjoy a Beethoven symphony or one of his great works any more than one should enjoy this text. This is not an enjoyable read. It IS meant to upset us. And just as Beethoven plummeted* the depths of his own psyche and his own ego to emerge triumphant at the end, so are we asked to follow Jesus through this Symphony.”

* I listened three times, all three sound like Ken said “plummeted”. I think he meant to say “plumbed” as he uses this same word ten minutes later in reference to our work with the Course:

“One should stand before the Course with that same sense of wonder and humility (as one would stand before Michelangelo’s David statue / any masterpiece) that one has standing before something that is totally greater than oneself…. If one sees the Course as just another spiritual text, as just another spiritual path, just another form of the spiritual smorgasbord that’s out there, one can certainly benefit from it, but one will not plumb its depths.”

Yesterday’s reading really seemed to kick things into a new gear. I felt like sharing about 15 quotes, and feel the same today.

Just read:

“The only way out of the error is to decide that you do not have to decide anything. Everything has been given you by God’s decision. That is His Will, and you cannot undo it” (T-7.X.6:8-10).

There’s a comforting sigh in there somewhere.

I think this is one of the most important passages in the entire Course, because it clearly explains the practice of what it is to be a Course student, and why this must be our practice. So many students twist the practice into something else (e.g. why does the Course/Ken focus so much on the ego/the ‘negative’??), or try to skip steps by circumventing the process entirely (blissninnying), or try to avoid the practice altogether (by leaving the Course for another path). All of these defenses are simply the same problem the practice of the Course attempts to undo: Our belief in the ego, and our fear of choosing against it. That’s why the practice is avoided, regardless of the defense used to avoid it.

“No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way they are protected. There is no need to shrink from illusions, for they cannot be dangerous. We are ready to look more closely at the ego’s thought system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not want it, you must be ready. Let us be very calm in doing this, for we are merely looking honestly for truth. The “dynamics” of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to see beyond it, since you have made it real. We will undo this error quietly together, and then look beyond it to truth.

What is healing but the removal of all that stands in the way of knowledge? And how else can one dispel illusions except by looking at them directly, without protecting them? Be not afraid, therefore, for what you will be looking at is the source of fear, and you are beginning to learn that fear is not real. You are also learning that its effects can be dispelled merely by denying their reality. The next step is obviously to recognize that what has no effects does not exist” (T-11.V.1:1-6, T-11.V.2:1-5).

“…by attacking you have not done anything. Once you realize this you will no longer see any sense in attack, for it manifestly does not work and cannot protect you” (T-12.V.2:4).

The “you have not done anything” part really struck me.

“The moment that you realize guilt is insane, wholly unjustified and wholly without reason, you will not fear to look upon the Atonement and accept it wholly” (T-13.X.8:6).

“Yet no one sees himself in conflict and ravaged by a cruel war unless he believes that both opponents in the war are real…Yet if he could but realize the war is between real and unreal powers, he could look upon himself and see his freedom” (T-13.XI.1:2,4).

“Have faith in only this one thing, and it will be sufficient: God wills you be in Heaven, and nothing can keep you from it, or it from you. Your wildest misperceptions, your weird imaginings, your blackest nightmares all mean nothing. They will not prevail against the peace God wills for you” (T-13.XI.7:1-3).

Hi Missy: Manifest here means “extending it” aka teaching it. And you can only extend or teach what you have first chosen in the mind. So as you extend love (choose guiltlessness), you will teach yourself more and more of its reality. (You learn what you teach, or: You reinforce and increase your faith in whatever thought system you choose.)

In your decision for peace you undo your brother’s belief in his guilt by showing him his choice for the ego has had no effect on you, his brother, and therefore none on your Father.

Anne TX and Nina: You were asking about:

“You will recognize which you have chosen by THEIR reactions” (15.II.4:6).

Them who????

This is not speaking of how other bodies react to you, but how YOU perceive other bodies reacting to you. Are you perceiving attack or love (or a call for love)? By this you will recognize which teacher you have chosen.

This Course is not speaking to bodies, but to the mind. To our perceptions, interpretations, choice of teachers.

The explanation of the above quote can be found in the passage below, the most important sentence being:

“If he [your brother] speaks not of Christ to you, you spoke not of Christ to him” (T-11.V.18:6).

Full passage:

“Every brother you meet becomes a witness for Christ or for the ego, depending on what you perceive in him. Everyone convinces you of what you want to perceive, and of the reality of the kingdom you have chosen for your vigilance. Everything you perceive is a witness to the thought system you want to be true. Every brother has the power to release you, if you choose to be free. You cannot accept false witness of him unless you have evoked false witnesses against him. If he speaks not of Christ to you, you spoke not of Christ to him. You hear but your own voice, and if Christ speaks through you, you will hear Him” (T-11.V.18:1-7).

Halfway point! (Puff puff puff.)

How many are still on da bus? (Or jogging behind it?)

Almost. Just, um, ten more minutes.

“You can be sure indeed that any seeming happiness that does not last is really fear” (T-22.II.3:5).

Hi Hanora: Nice to meet you. I read principle #42 sort of like this:

“One of the really awesome things about miracles is they make you feel a whole helluva lot better.”

And yes, one miracle would be enough to make you feel a whole helluva lot better.

Regarding a slight irritation being the same as a full-blown rage: They’re no different on the level of the mind. Choosing the ego is choosing the ego is choosing the ego on the level of content. i.e. You can’t be a little bit pregnant. You’re either “pregnant” with ego or you’re not. Doesn’t matter if it’s a boy (rage) or girl (irritation), you’re preggers.

As far as principle #1 goes: “It’s no harder to decide to feel a whole helluva lot better over [this] than it is over [this], because there is no order of difficulty in accepting the extended hand of Jesus. His hand is always a holy instant away, which means it’s always right here.”

Hope this helps!