FACIM D5: Roscoe Memories
At some point this morning Ken mentioned that the rest of the workshop would be “nice”. The class issued a collective sigh of relief.
Here’s a sampling of notes:
• To think this world is a nice place is to deny the one opportunity you have to get back to the cesspool in your mind.
(I thought he said he was going to be nice??)
• We use special love to numb and cover our guilt/fear and make ourselves feel good; we use special hate to blame and judge to make ourselves feel good. Neither strategy works.
• When you judge/project there is a hangover (effect). It is very, very helpful to remember how sick you felt so that you would be motivated to not go there again. If you can remember there was an effect to your attack then you’d stop and say, “I don’t want the effect.” Jesus uses this simple motivation: “If you forgive, you’ll feel better.”
• “I need do nothing” — the crucial word is need. When we need do something (e.g. be seen as loving, caring, brilliant), it’s coming from our wrong-mind. When we are in the right mind we don’t have specialness needs, and love can quietly move through us effortlessly, in the most loving and caring way for everyone involved.
• Why does it say, “ABOVE ALL, be not afraid”? Because that’s what motivated us to leave the mind, to make up a world and special relationships to hide the error.
• The practical application of “Nothing here is real” is to say, “Nothing here has power over me, to make me happy or sad.” So I look at my choice to allow things to have power over me, and notice this without judgment, forgiving myself for all the pain it has cost me.
• There is no wrong-minded thought system; only a belief in it. When you look at it, it disappears.
After we came back from the morning break Bonnie played “Celtic Lament” on her violin, and it sounded like it touched a lot of people by the warmth in the applause.
We spent lunch at Raymond and Mary Pat’s apartment with about 25 other students. They had pictures of Ken, Gloria, Bill, Helen, Louis, and Judith from the 70s-80s, and another great couple Ron and Jeanne had a photo album with pictures of Roscoe — the nicest ones I’ve seen yet. Also heard lots of great stories and anecdotes from various people with great memories of when the Foundation was in Roscoe.
After class was over I spent some wonderful time with Ken, and then in the evening the now-usual gang all hung out… Lonni, Marie, Gayle, Yvonne, and Bonnie. I don’t think we solved the world’s problems, but we did solve the problem of which chocolate to eat first… Marie (who is here from Switzerland) brought some of what she said was Switzerland’s finest. The group soon agreed it was the richest and creamiest we’d ever tasted.
Speaking of rich and creamy, Gary will be here tomorrow, so we look forward to meeting and having lunch with him.
