Issue 34 -
September 2012
Quarterly
Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Inner Peace
Michael Dawson
PO Box 125, Point Lookout
North Stradbroke
Island,
Queensland 4183,
Australia
Email: mdawson@acfip.org
Web site: http://www.acfip.org
___________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
* Thinking Is Not Going To Get You There
* Nisargadatta
Maharaj Quotes
* Kenneth
Wapnick Interview No 3
* Adyashanti
- The Fear of
Awakening
* Adyashanti - Rest as Awareness
* Workshops
* Books and Audio Materials for Sale
* Links
* Inspirational Quotations
If you wish to read previous issues please go
to http://www.acfip.org/newsletterarchive.html.
If your email address ends with .au I put your
address on my Australian list for advance notice of workshops
I am giving in Australia. If you do not want to be on this
list please let me know. If you reside in Australia and want
to be on this list, but you address does not end in .au,
please email me and I will include it.
If you are new to the Course you might find my
summaries of help.
You can find them at http://www.acfip.org/sum.html and http://www.acfip.org/art4.html
New
1. Healing the Cause -A Path of
Forgiveness.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
2. A Course in Miracles - Explanations
of Major Themes
New book in eBook format
3. Forgiveness - A Path to Inner
Peace.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
The eBook versions can be read on
Kindle, iPad, Microsoft eReader, Nook, PDF readers (Mac and
PC) and most eBook readers.
¥ Downloadable MP3s of my Healing the Cause self-help CDs
now available.
See below for details.
For more details and how to purchase please
visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Regards
Michael Dawson
Thinking Is Not Going To Get You There
Michael Dawson
Those who remember always that they know
nothing, and who have become willing to learn everything,
will learn it. But whenever they trust themselves, they will
not learn. They have destroyed their motivation for learning
by thinking they already know. Think not you understand
anything until you pass the test of perfect peace, for peace
and understanding go together and never can be found alone. A Course in Miracles. T-14.XI.12.
When I was in my 20s, I lived in London. Most
Saturdays would find me looking at books in esoteric
bookshops, eager to find a meaning to life and discover inner
peace. Over the years I must have collected more than 1000
books! I believed that one day I would find a book that
contained the truth, and then I would really know.
I would read about all manner of fascinating
subjects, and summarise and synthesise the information. I then set
about creating a spiritual path for myself. I
received pleasure, stimulation and pride in doing all of this
- above all else I was in control. I did not know anywhere
else to look apart from the mind. Where do you go if you donÕt
go to the mind?
Although many of the books pointed to something
beyond the mind, I did not seem to be directly aware of it.
Looking back I realise I did have
an intuition that I sometimes allowed to guide me, but I
explained it away as part of my reasoning and logical mind. My
friends would refer to me as Spock - the very logical Vulcan
from the Star Trek series of the 60s. (I think they meant to
insult me, but I took it as a compliment.)
It took me quite a few years to realise the limitations of the mind,
although it is wonderful and necessary for the practical
necessities of life. The American teacher Adyashanti refers to that part of the
mind as Òtoolbox mindÓ. Without it you could not read this
article, speak, go to work, etc. Adya
also commented that the most intelligent action of the mind is
to know its own limitations. It is not designed to understand
or find truth. That is because truth or love is beyond the
mind, beyond space and time and therefore beyond our
understanding. But the mind can be used to recognise the obstacles to truth, so
they may be forgiven and released.
The course does not aim at teaching the
meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It
does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness
of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. T-in.1.
Your task is not to seek for love, but
merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it. It is not necessary to seek
for what is true, but it is necessary to seek for
what is false. T-16.IV.6.
The mind does not like to give up its
dominant position; it believes it is all
powerful. It says, ÒGive me enough time and I will
find the truth for youÓ. It likes to keep busy. Above all
else, it seeks to understand. For the mind to find it cannot
understand truth is very humbling and is resisted. The Course
quote at the beginning of the article reminds us that total
peace comes with total understanding. If we havenÕt got peace
then we understand nothing of importance. This concept will be
resisted strongly by the mind. However, as we start to see the
limitations of the mind we begin to relax and become more
comfortable with not knowing. We realise
the books have their place and can be very helpful at the
start of our journey. We also need to see when they need to be
given up - otherwise they become a hindrance.
The Course is written on many different levels.
HereÕs a quote that might be referred to as an end-of-the line
teaching.
Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all
thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you
have learned about the world; all images you hold about
yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks
is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it
judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is
ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not
bring with you one thought the past has taught,
nor one belief you ever learned before from
anything. Forget this world, forget this course,
and come with wholly empty hands unto your God. Lesson 189
Notice that in the last line of the quote Jesus
even asks you to let A Course in Miracles go.
If you have just started reading and understanding the Course
then obviously this guidance is not relevant to your stage of
learning. First, you need to master concepts before you can
let them go. However, the time will come for all of us when
books must be set aside and we only follow the guidance from
within.
Having relied so heavily on our minds for
everything during our lives, expect the mind to launch quite a
battle against simply being relegated to practical duties.
ÒYou still need me,Ó it will cry. ÒWithout me everything will
be chaos!Ó ÒI know how to take you to God, truth and love.
Instead of turning to your mind when you feel troubled, the
Course gives the following advice:
When your peace is threatened or disturbed
in any way,
say to yourself,
I do not know what anything, including
this, means.
And so I do not know how to respond to it.
And I will not use my own past learning as
the light
to guide me now.
By this refusal to attempt to teach
yourself what you do not know, the Guide Whom God has given
you will speak to you.
He will take His rightful place in your
awareness the instant
you abandon it, and offer it to Him. T-14.XI.6.
To begin to move from trying to understand
and sorting everything out yourself to allowing an inner
guidance to lead you, is a huge
step in learning. As we start to attempt this
the ego often masquerades up as the Holy Spirit and
gives us the answers we prefer to hear to our problems. It is
difficult initially to know if we receive true guidance and
only time will tell - the result will be an increase in peace.
Beware of any guidance accompanied by excitement and
enthusiasm. This is always an indication that the guidance is
coming from the ego. True guidance comes from a quiet place
within us, a quiet knowing what
to do.
Thanks be to
you, the holy Son of God. For as you were
created, you contain all things within your
Self. And you are still as God created
you. Nor can you dim the light of your
perfection. Lesson 197
Who we really are has never changed, nor is
capable of change as it was created outside of time. It simply
waits to be recognised by us.
What prevents us becoming aware of it?
The memory of God comes to the quiet
mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for
a mind at war against itself remembers not eternal
gentleness. T-23.I.1.
A quiet mind is all you need. All else will
happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on
rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect
changes in the mind. In the
light of calm and steady self-awareness inner energies wake
up and work miracles without any effort on your part.
Nisargadatta
Maharaj from I Am That
This is why the Course stresses forgiveness. With
forgiveness comes a quiet mind. As we learn to look without judgement upon
ourselves and the world (forgiveness), our mind
starts to become quiet creating an opportunity for the truth
to reveal itself to us. Using the analogy of the sun as truth,
we have placed clouds of judgement
in front of it. Our task is to become aware of
these clouds without judging them and allow them to be removed
by spirit. This is the process of forgiveness that the Course
teaches. As the clouds become less the sun of truth begins to
shine through to our minds. Love and truth start to dawn upon
us.
For the mind to become quiet, it needs to release
the importance of not just 'negative thoughts' but also
so-called 'positive thoughts'.
These thoughts do not mean anything...None
of them ("good" and "bad' thoughts) represents your real
thoughts, which are covered up by them. The "good" ones are
but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight
difficult. The "bad" ones are blocks to sight, and make
seeing impossible. You do not want either. Lesson
4
My real thoughts are the thoughts I think
with God (peace, love, co-creation).
I am not aware of them because I have made
my thoughts to take their place.
Lesson 51
When the mind is relegated to its (suitable)
'toolbox function' and kept away from its search for truth,
our lives become full of grace. There will arise quiet knowing
of what to do, what to say and where to go. We will start to
develop spiritual vision where we look at life through the
eyes spirit and not through the ego.
Above all else I want to see.
Recognizing that what I see reflects what I
think I am, I realize that vision is my greatest need. The
world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image
I have made. If I would remember who I am, it is essential
that I let this image of myself go. As it is replaced by
truth, vision will surely be given me. And with this vision,
I will look upon the world and on myself with charity and
love. Lesson 56
What does it look like to have spiritual vision,
to look through the eyes of spirit at the world? We will no
longer take sides, which is the hallmark of ego perception.
Labels such as "right" and "wrong", "good" and "bad" fall
away. ItÕs not that we do not see all the pain in the world;
now we will simply not judge it. Without judgement
an energy is released in us which
will be appropriate and helpful in a situation. We will not
know ahead of time how we will act in some crisis, that was
the way of ego thinking. The wisdom from beyond the mind will
arise and guide. Now our judgement
will be that of the Holy Spirit.
There is but one interpretation of
motivation that makes any sense. And because it is the Holy
Spirit's judgment it requires no effort at all on your part.
Every loving thought is true. Everything else is an appeal
for healing and help, regardless of the form it takes. Can
anyone be justified in responding with anger to a brother's
plea for help? No response can be appropriate except the
willingness to give it to him, for this and only this is
what he is asking for. T-12.I.3.
Simply put, the Holy Spirit sees people either
asking for love or giving love. When spiritual
vision dawns in our awareness this is how we will see the
world as well. If someone is pointing the gun at you and
asking for your money, spiritual vision will see this as
someone asking for love. You will be guided to the appropriate
response, although you cannot tell what this will be
beforehand. The following story, from my own teacher Dr.
Kenneth Wapnick, is a good
illustration of this.
Several years ago, I was awakened in the
middle of the night by the sudden realization there was
someone standing in my room. After the momentary
shock, I remembered Òthere is
nothing to fearÓ (Lesson 48), and calmly asked my uninvited
guest: ÒWhat can I do for you?Ó The
situation was not obscure, however. It was clear
that the man was on drugs and desperately needed money for
his next fix; burglars
rarely enter occupied apartments. He
threateningly held his hand in his jacket as if he had a
gun, to punctuate his demand. My defenselessness
seemed to change the atmosphere in the room, however, and
the man soon began apologizing for having broken in and
disturbing my sleep. I gave him whatever money I
had in my wallet, and the man paused as he took it and then
returned a couple of dollars, saying: ÒThis is
all your money, I canÕt leave you with
nothing.Ó And he went on
apologizing. I assured him it was all right, and
urged him to do what he had to do. As I ushered
the man to the hall, waiting with him for the elevator, I
said: ÒGod bless you.Ó His final words
as he disappeared into the elevator were: ÒPlease
pray for me.Ó I assured him I would, although I
knew that this holy encounter had been the
prayer. No injustice had been done, for there had
been no real loss. The amount of money was a
small ÒpriceÓ indeed for the blessing of forgiveness that
had been given and received as one.
from The
Meaning of Forgiveness by Kenneth Wapnick. p.101
In the above story Ken experienced the miracle,
the shift of perception from the ego's fear-based view of the
world to spiritual vision. With vision there is no fear. The
quiet mind, the forgiven mind, receives the guidance from a wisdom beyond the egoic mind and simply carries it out
as directed to achieve a win-win result for all concerned.
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. Lesson 48
___________________________________________________________________________
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Quotes
from "I AmThat"
¥It is your idea that you have to do things that
entangle you in results of your efforts-the motive, the
desire, the failure to achieve, the sense of frustration-all
this holds you back. Simply look at whatever happens and know
that you are beyond it.
¥If you just try to keep quiet, all will come -
the work, the strength for work, the right motive. Must you
know everything beforehand? DonÕt be anxious about your future
- be quiet now and all will fall into place.
¥You need not gather any more (experience),
rather you must go beyond experience.
¥When the mind is in its natural state, it
reverts to silence spontaneously after every experience or,
rather, every experience happens against the background of
silence.
¥You can be happy in the world only when you are
free of it....To believe that you
depend on things and people for happiness is due to ignorance
of your true nature; to know that you need nothing to be
happy, except self-knowledge, is wisdom.
¥A personal problem cannot be solved on its own
level. The very desire to live is the messenger of death, as
the longing to be happy is the outline of sorrow.
¥As long as you feel competent and confident, reality is beyond your
reach. Unless you accept inner adventure as a way of life,
discovery will not come to you. p.499
¥The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real,
because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and
it will dissolve into thin mist.
¥You need not gather any more (experience),
rather you must go beyond experience.
¥When you are no longer attached to anything, you
have done your share. The rest will be done for you.
¥To think yourself to
be something, or somebody, is death and hell.
¥Doership is a myth
born from the illusion of ÔmeÕ and Ôthe mineÕ.
¥Keep quiet, undisturbed, and the wisdom and the
power will come on their own.
¥Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen
spontaneously and quite naturally, without any interference on
your part.
¥Abandon all desires, keep your mind silent and
you shall discover.
¥Pain and pleasure go always together. Freedom from one means freedom from both.
If you do not care for pleasure, you will not be afraid of
pain.
¥Sex is an acquired habit. Go beyond. As long as
your focus is on the body, you will remain in the clutches of
food and sex, fear and death. Find yourself and be free.
¥Desirelessness is
the highest bliss.
¥Once you realise
that the person is merely a shadow of the reality, but not the
reality itself, you cease to fret and worry. You agree
to be guided from within and life becomes a journey into the
unknown.
___________________________________________________________________________
The Quiet Center: An interview with Ken Wapnick
February 2010
by Susan Dugan
http://www.foraysinforgiveness.dreamhosters.com/interviews
During a recent visit to The Foundation for A
Course in Miracles in Temecula, California to attend a
workshop with friend and fellow Course student Deb Shelly, I
interviewed premier Course scholar Ken Wapnick,
PhD, about his journey with the Course.
I wanted to know how Ken perceived his role
in communicating the CourseÕs unique message, how he viewed
awakening, how he avoided specialness, how he handled
celebrity, and how his application of forgiveness has evolved
since his early days with Helen and Bill. His answers may
surprise you as much as they did us.
I have never been around an enlightened
beingÐmy teenage daughter notwithstanding JÐbut must say that
sitting in KenÕs presence with Deb felt healing for both of us
in ways we found difficult to describe. He offers the gift of
his complete, unwavering attention, and seems to listen more
deeply and carefully than the hundreds of people I have
interviewed over the years. His answers resounded with truth,
and led to my decision to publish them in their entirety
(except for minor editing and restructuring for flow) rather
than weaving truncated quotes into a narrative as I normally
do.
NOTE: Clinical Psychologist, Teacher and Author
Kenneth Wapnick, PhD, has been
studying A Course in Miracles since 1973, and worked
closely with Course Scribe Helen Schucman
and Collaborator Bill Thetford in preparing its final
manuscript. With his wife, Gloria, he is president and
co-founder of The Foundation for A Course in Miracles (http://facim.org)
in Temecula, California.
How do you avoid
making your role as a Course teacher special?
ItÕs the difference
between form and content. A line I always like to quote is
where Jesus says ÒTeach not that I
died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating
that I live in you.Ó Teaching is demonstration and what you
want to focus on is making yourself as ego-free as possible
and then whatever you do will be joyful;
whether youÕre teaching the Course, being a parent, washing
dishes, writing an essay, taking a walk. It doesnÕt make any
difference.
ThatÕs how you get away from the specialness
of the form. Because thatÕs a real seduction, you know? To think that what IÕm doing is important
because IÕm teaching A Course in Miracles.
Well, why is that any different from building a hotel or
raising children or anything else? So when you get away from
the form, the content will always be the same.
ThereÕs that lovely phrase in the Course
about the quiet center. And while the image is not used, itÕs
implicit in it that if you think of a hub of a wheel thereÕs
that quiet center where you live and the spokes that emanate
from it are your various roles: wife, teacher, mother, etc.
The spokes are not important. WhatÕs important is that you
stay in that quiet center and the love in there infuses
everything you do; whether you teach the Course or whether
youÕre playing with your grandchildren. In a sense it should
all be the same and to the extent that you recognize that itÕs
not the same then you recognize that you still have work to
do. ThatÕs where the process comes in.
ItÕs really a trap when you get
seduced by the form into thinking the form is something.
You teach JesusÕ message by living it;
not by preaching it. IÕve often said you could give a
wonderful workshop just reading the phone book and if you read
it with love and that love infuses every name you read; then
you teach it. It doesnÕt matter that you have the theology
straight or the dynamics of the ego straight. Anybody can learn it, memorize
it. But thatÕs not how you teach it. ThatÕs not how
people learn.
So itÕs about using
the things that seem to arise in your life and forgiving
yourself when you catch yourself making it special?
Yes. If you think back to your grade school
years what you remember is not the things the teachers taught
you. You remember those teachers that were mean and those that
were loving; you donÕt really
remember how they taught you reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The teachers who stand out in your mind years later are the
teachers who were kind or cruel. ThatÕs what it means to be a
teacherÐwhat you demonstrateÐwhether youÕre teaching child-rearing or arithmetic. The line
from the text I also quote frequently about the New Year:
ÒMake this year different by making it all the same.Ó
Everything is the same.
You have a lot of
people who want a lot of things from you all the time. How
do you deal with that?
Again, if you really just focus on that quiet
center and donÕt identify with the spokes. Whether someone
says that was a great class or someone says that was terrible
or boring or someone asks you the same question over and over
again.
I get asked a lot how can you stand to teach
the same thing over and over again. People listen to tapes I
made 25 years ago and itÕs basically the same thing. And I
sometimes make a joke; I can say the same thing over and over
again because I donÕt listen to myself. But really itÕs
because itÕs always for the first time. So if someone makes a
Òdemand,Ó the personÕs just always
talking to me for the first time. Otherwise I
couldnÕt do what I do. ItÕs all for the first time.
And certainly you donÕt take personally what
people say. You learn that in grad school in psychotherapy
because patients are constantly projecting; they either love
you or hate you. Either way it has nothing to do with you.
When you become a public figure, the whole trick is to
stay in that quiet center. I want to help people to be more
happy and peaceful and kinder but itÕs not how you define
yourself. You define yourself by that quiet center and
then whatever people do or donÕt do; you just try to be
present.
IÕve read that in the
early days of the Course you and Helen and Bill and others
would ask for specific guidance from Jesus or the Holy
Spirit around bringing the Course into the world, for
example. How has your experience asking for help from Jesus
or the Holy Spirit shifted over time?
Well, to be honest Helen and Bill were very
used to asking for very specific help; what street corner
should we stand on to get a taxi cab,
which is no small feat in New York City. And they were very,
very good at getting taxi cabs at
the height of the rush hour; it could be raining. And I never
felt comfortable with that. I could do it, and I would do it
but it never seemed quite kosher to me. And as youÕve heard me
say; The Song of Prayer
pamphlet came out of that. And so I think what has evolved is
not so much my understanding but the way I talk about it. It
was never anything I did prior to meeting Helen and Bill and
it just seemed a way to circumscribe that internal presence.
In that one message I quote a lot Jesus said
to Helen youÕre trying to make my love more manageable. It was
a way of managing him. I used to say a lot instead of worrying
about which voice youÕre hearing and what the voice should
tell you why not ask to hear what you should do to remove the
blocks so that you can hear the voice better. So itÕs not that
asking for specifics is not valid or it canÕt help you but in
the long run itÕs not where you want to go. That will just
help you live better in the world. I knew Helen knew better
and Helen did know better; it was just part of her
costume.
Did you have any level
confusion early on or did it all make sense from the
beginning?
I think it all made sense from the beginning.
I remember Helen once asked Jesus why I didnÕt have problems
with all this and his answer was because thereÕs no time for
it. And actually there wasnÕt. I couldnÕt have done or do all
I do. It was never an issue.
How has practicing the
CourseÕs unique form of forgiveness changed your life; your relationships?
Honestly I donÕt think it has. I was really
never an angry person. I donÕt think anything really changed.
What the Course did was it gave a specific context for what I
was (already) experiencing but it was not really an issue for
me. Not that I didnÕt make mistakes but I didnÕt hold grudges
and I was not angry, even as a child. I had some experiences
with my parents where IÕd get upset, you know; typical adolescence. But it never
really went anywhere. I was never one to hold on to
disagreement; it didnÕt matter.
Did you experience any
undoing? Do you feel that you came into this world in a
healed state of mind?
I had issues,
I had problems. I look back on my
life and see a difference. But by the time I first saw the
Course and read it, it was like I was reading it from the
inside. And while I certainly would not have said things the
way the Course says them when I read them I understood they
were true.
I donÕt have a sense of the process (with A
Course in Miracles). I think for me the process occurred
earlier. My greatest spiritual teacher was Beethoven. I
started listening to his music in high school and that was my
teacher. I sensed something in his music that over a period of
time I was growing into. I was very clear about that from high
school, college, graduate school, and beyond. What was more
important to me than anything else in my lifeÑmy schooling, my
work, my first marriageÑwas getting closer and closer to what
I felt was the real heart of his music. It was very clear that
was a process of hearing his music over and over and hearing
his process.
The ego was gone right at the end of his
life; you wouldnÕt have known it from his life but you can
hear it in the last quartets, especially. So I saw my whole
life at that point as a process of growing into that music
until I felt one with it. When I first heard it in high school
I knew I wasnÕt there yet, so that was the journey. So that
part of the journey was completed by the time I first saw the
Course. After that it was just a kind of crystallizing of
everything I knew was true.
What is it like to
basically be peaceful all the time?
Really nice.
Is it hard to relate
to other peopleÕs stuff?
No, not at all. The first professional work I did that I did
enjoy the most was working with disturbed children in the
school system. I really enjoyed working with psychotic people.
I could enter into their thought system. It was like going
into their water but I still had a foot on dry land. I could
always relate. I could hear, I could understand, and I could
help bring them through and out of it.
It actually makes you much more empathetic
and compassionate because no needs are imposing on it. And
another thing thatÕs greatÐbecause I am very, very busyÐis it
helps you become very, very efficient in time because thereÕs
nothing interfering. No conflict. If thereÕs a pile on my
desk, if there are calls to make; I
just do it. Often everything happens at once. It makes your
life easier. You get so much more done. And it allows you to
be more compassionate because you can really hear peopleÕs
pain and kind of touch it and try to help without anything
interfering.
IÕm still fairly new
to the Course and very new to teaching. I feel very joyful
and present writing, teaching, or just spending a lot of
time with the material. Then something just seems to come up
out of nowhere and I feel unloved and unloving. My
self-worth plummets and IÕm just a mess. Can you speak about
whatÕs going on with the egoÕs backlash?
I think itÕs an example of such a common
experience almost everyone has regardless of their spiritual
path and that is as you become more and more serious about
letting your ego go the part of you that identifies with the
ego gets terrified. Jesus says when you take my hand on the
journey the ego retaliates. He says in that same passage I am
beyond the ego so when you take my hand youÕre going beyond
the ego. So part of you still believes youÕre Susan and all
the things that go into making Susan, while all of them are
not pleasant; theyÕre comfortable. So it becomes
terrifying and thatÕs when the love turns to hate and the
peace turns to fear and you start attacking yourself or
attacking others.
ItÕs very important to understand that and,
as you work with this material, to have a healthy respect for
the ego which means a healthy respect for your own
identification with the ego. Because if you donÕt youÕll be
blind-sided. Here I am teaching and writing and feeling so
kind and loving and boom; I get hit in the back of the neck.
And it shouldnÕt be a surprise after a while. When it happens
you just say oh, thatÕs what happened, thatÕs what egos do.
You know, itÕs just a book. Books are
harmless; itÕs nothing. ItÕs when you take it seriously that
you have a problem. You donÕt want to dismiss your ego. You
want to respect it but you donÕt want to give it a power it
doesnÕt have.
Some A Course in
Miracles teachers present themselves as awakened. Is
there an inherent danger in this?
I think typically people who are truly
awakened donÕt talk about it. IÕm a little suspicious of
people who say theyÕre awakened. I mean, why would you make
that claim? You just let your life speak for you. I
donÕt think Jesus said he was enlightened. That doesnÕt mean
someone may not be enlightened who says he or she is but as a
rule of thumb I think you would tend to not talk about that.
We can lose sight of the process by focusing
on being awakened. When people make that claim it really tends
to induce specialness and breed separation. Really you just do
what you do and behind what you do is that awareness that says
weÕre all the same. You want to focus on the process otherwise
you skip steps.
What would you say to
Course students/teachers who believe they/we can experience
peace of mind (in a sense return directly to God/oneness) without
practicing the CourseÕs forgiveness in our
relationships?
When you read the Course
itÕs obvious itÕs a process of hard work and you have to
practice and practice and practice. I would be very suspicious
of people who claim to be enlightened and people who claim
they can just go straight to their right mind. I would say
99.999 percent of the time thatÕs denial. ItÕs not that it
canÕt work once in a while but unless youÕre ego-free you
canÕt do that and if youÕre ego-free you donÕt need
forgiveness. The Course makes it clear this is a practice and
a process. WeÕre in a world of time. IÕm leery of people who
say you donÕt have to deal with the ego because if you say
that youÕve already made it real by saying IÕm not going to
deal with it.
People frequently ask
you questions about their relationships and problems in
their personal lives in these workshops. The Course seems to
be leading us to bring those questions to our inner, loving
teacher. Is there a danger of students becoming dependent
for answers on the external form;
on you?
Obviously itÕs a danger.
I think what makes it OK is I donÕt foster that and I donÕt
identify with that but I think a certain amount is helpful in
the beginning stages just like a child has to begin by
depending on his parents. A childÕs not going to grow and
learn if he or she is not dependent on the parents. But at
some point the parents let the child go and you have trouble
when parents donÕt do that. And IÕm certainly aware of all
that having done therapy for many years.
People easily will project both good and bad
onto me but I would not foster anyoneÕs dependence. Certainly
I would say to some people if I can be of help to you, why
donÕt you ask me? ThereÕs a line in the Course that says in
effect the aim of any teacher is to make himself
dispensable. You donÕt want people to be dependent on you once
theyÕre able to be on their own. ItÕs a danger, but I donÕt
think itÕs a problem.
Do you have to set
boundaries with your students? If so;
when and how?
ThereÕs no right or wrong. There are times
when you really have to place very strict boundaries and times
when you just have to give people slack. With some people
placing a limit would not be helpful. Other people I do stop.
ItÕs something you have to feel when itÕs loving and when itÕs
not loving. To be firm sometimes is the most loving thing you
can do; other times itÕs not. ItÕs the same thing with
children. Sometimes you overlook something a child does; other
times you need to be very clear. ItÕs hard to know without
feeling it from inside. But if you begin to feel badgered then
you should place limits because otherwise youÕre dealing with
a sense of sacrifice and thatÕs not helpful. If you canÕt
freely give; then donÕt give.
So overall your
advice to those of us starting to teach is to just be that
kind and loving presence as much as possible and try to get
the ego out of the way so you can hear what would be most
helpful to people?
Yes. ThereÕs a problem, too, with excessive
humility. If you have the ability to help people and you donÕt
exercise it; thatÕs not helpful. If you have some information
or expertise or thereÕs something about you as a person that
could be helpful, to withhold it and say well IÕm really just
like you are, while true on the level of content, is not true
on the level of form. So to withhold an ability to help people
would be silly and unkind.
The idea is you donÕt identify with it as we
were talking about before. ThatÕs the key. You donÕt identify
with what you do or with what people say about you, you
identify with the love that you feel in that quiet center.
ThatÕs where you always want to stay and let the spokes lead
out from there.
_________________________________________________________________________
Who Hears This Sound?
The Fear of Awakening
Adyashanti
The process of coming into a full and mature
awakening requires courage, as not only our view of life but
life itself transforms to align itself with the inner mystic
vision. A sincere heart is a robust and courageous heart
willing to let go in the face of the great unknown expanse of
BeingÑan expanse which the egoic
mind has no way of knowing or understanding.
When oneÕs awareness opens beyond the dream state
of egoic consciousness to the
infinite no-thing-ness of intuitive awareness, it is common
for the ego to feel much fear and terror as this transition
begins. While there is nothing to fear about our natural state
of infinite Being, such a state is
beyond the egoÕs ability to understand, and as always, egos
fear whatever they do not understand and cannot control. As
soon as our identity leaves the ego realm and assumes its
rightful place as the infinite no-thing-ness/every-thing-ness
of awareness, all fear vanishes in the same manner as when we
awaken from a bad dream. In the same manner in which my
grandmother said, ÒGetting old is not for wimps,Ó it can also
be said that making the transition from the dream state to the
mature, awakened state requires courage.
Sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage are
indispensable qualities in awakening from the dream state of
ego to the peace and ease of awakened Being. All there is left
to do is to live it.
from: The Indispensable Qualities of Awakening. Adya
Fear and insecurity always wait for any and all
who dare to probe the depths of the Unknown. The true seeker
of liberation must have an uncompromising desire to discover
Eternal Truth, a desire that outweighs any tendency to
hesitate and contract in the face of fear. It is only when the
fear of the Unknown is openly embraced that it begins to
transform into the positive energy and intensity necessary to
awaken from conditioned existence.
It is not uncommon in the presence of a powerful
teacher, and under ideal conditions, to have a glimpse of
enlightenment. But all too often most seekers are unwilling to
surrender to the overwhelming implications of that revelation.
The profound intimacy and vulnerability inherent in true
freedom marks the destruction of the ego's boundaries to such
an extent that all beings and all things become the content of
one's own Self. To most seekers this is simply too much
because the limitlessness of the Self leaves no room for any
separateness from the whole. It is this complete lack of
separation from the whole which is
the very definition of selflessness and love.
from: That Which Thought Never Touches. Adya
___________________________________________________________________________
Rest as Awareness
by Adyashanti (from his DVD)
Rest as awareness is the heart of my teachings.
That's the teaching, the method, that's the technique, the
thing to do.
Which is different from trying to be aware, it's
not an awareness practice, trying to be more aware or
enhancing awareness, or even trying to be more present, more
here, more now, more aware of eating your food, more aware of
the steps you take, or more aware of anything. It's not an
awareness enhancement practice. In fact, it's not something
you really do. In most awareness practices, you're told "this is what you going to do with
awareness". You're going to focus it here, enhance it here,
keep it in the here and now. You could be directed to be the
witness to everything that arises. All of that is
fundamentally different from rest as awareness.
Resting as awareness is not doing. What can you
do to rest as awareness? What can you possibly do? All of you
are doing, which would mean efforting,
struggle in any way, would be actually not to rest as
awareness, but being engaged in a process of seeking, me
trying to do something. You can't do awareness. You can't do
consciousness. You can do focused attention. Giving your
attention to something. To rest as awareness you need to
relinquish doing something, understanding something. The basis
of spirituality is not what you know rather it's undoing what you know. The
problem most people have spiritually is not that they do not
know enough it's that they know too much. They have spiritual
libraries in their head.
To rest as awareness the first thing you have to
relinquish is to understand something. This is a big surrender
for most people, to stop trying to figure everything out. It
does not take any understanding to rest as awareness, because
awareness is already present. Awareness allows us to see what
we see, hear what we hear etc. All of our senses, including
our mind, can only function through awareness. Our experience
right now is flooded with awareness. Even your daydreams need
awareness to be perceived. Nothing would be without awareness,
consciousness. Awareness is there before you understand it,
before you focus it, before you try and do anything with it,
and before you try and
enhance it.
The first step in resting in awareness is to
acknowledge that it's fully here already. What ever is
happening is happening within the field of awareness. If you
really start to rest you'll notice the awareness is not
something separate from what's arising. Awareness in other
words is not a witness. Awareness is not the watcher. This is
not about enhancing the watcher or the witness. The witness is
an egoic construction. Can anyone
find a watcher or witness to awareness? You have to make it up
in your mind. Can you find a witness that is separate from
what it's witnessing? (The observer is the observed as J. Krishnamurti often stated - Michael.)
Is awareness a witness, because the witness always has a
certain position, and a certain relationship? Awareness is not
being the watcher or the witness. Both of those are what egos
do. Egos can get more or less skilled at being the witness or
the watcher. Or being more or less
present. All of that is something the ego may become
good at if it tries hard enough. But none of that is really
what I'm talking about.
Resting as awareness is not a state of doing but
a state of being. You can't really do resting as awareness.
Your mind will say, all this sounds nice but what can I do?
What can you do, awareness is already present? Is doing
something even relevant? You have to surrender or relinquish
the doer, that thing within your mind that
always try to get it right, do it correctly,
understand it, wants to know how do I do this, how do I
perfect etc. The way you do resting as awareness is to
relinquish the doer. Pat the doer on the head and tell it it's
irrelevant, and just rest. It's a state of letting be. It's
letting go the neurotic need to understand and do. Then there
can be a resting.
For most people it is difficult to rest just for
a few moments, because their mind tries to entice them. It
might say, if you only understood this one last thing it would
help you, you would rest so much easier. It acts as a tempter.
The mind wants to keep going with its do, do, do. But you
don't do awareness. That's why the first word I use is rest. Rest as awareness immediately get
you out of the egoic mind state.
You can't be resting and in the egoic
mind state at the same time. You can't be in the neurotic mind
state trying to conceptualise
everything if you are resting as awareness. You're no longer
dominated or caught by the ego mind state. Egos cannot do
being, because being is not an ego mind activity.
If you did this one simple thing consistently
that would be amazing. To do this with any real consistency,
and by that I don't mean you sustain it for a long time, just
not being moved into the mind trying to figure everything out.
Because the hardest thing to do is to stay with one simple
thing with any kind of consistency because it's a hard thing
for the ego mind to do, it's a little nervous when it has not
got much to do. It's easy to stay with something complex.
If resting as awareness really starts to happen
for you, then at some point it will dawn on you that you and
awareness are not two different things. That you are not
someone who's actually resting as awareness, that was actually
a notion, an idea of you. Actually, awareness is much more
what you are, than all the ideas you've had about yourself
in your life. So by doing this one simple thing, which
is the state of being and not doing, you kind of let it happen
rather than making it.
Waking up is much more like going to sleep then
waking up. The more you try to awaken spiritually the more you
stay in the dream state. ItÕs the dream of me that is
doing all the struggling.To
go to sleep at night we need to relinquish consciousness.To spiritually awaken
you relinquish everything in consciousness.
To Òbe awarenessÓ, you just have to relinquish
effort, struggle, striving, obsessive thinking, trying to get
it right, trying to understand what that even means when
someone says rest as awareness. The mind will go Òwhat does
that mean?Ó It's like someone says go to sleep, and you reply
how? There really is not an answer to Òhow do I go to sleep?Ó
In the spiritual pursuit, we relinquish
everything but consciousness, but awareness. So to rest as
awareness, this means relinquish everything else but
awareness. You don't have to understand anything, you don't
have to control anything, you don't have to make your mind more quiet, you don't have to change
the way you feel, you don't have to solve all your life
issues, you just rest as awareness. You relinquish the
obsessive need to do everything, anything, other than to
relinquish it all and rest.
So in a very strange and paradoxical way, we wake
up spiritually very much in the same manner as when we fall
asleep. (Listen to KirtanaÕs,
ÒFall AwakeÓ song - Michael.) The only difference is you are
relinquishing content rather than consciousness. You
relinquish the attachment to content. And that is all that can
be done. You can't do anything more than that. It's rather a
non-doing.
We normally asked teachers to tell us what to do,
but what we really need to be told is what we need to let go
of doing. It is not so much about what you do it's about what
you let go of doing, or stop doing. Or just rest from doing.
When you do that this very simple shift of perception can
happen. It's much harder to happen when we are busy with
doing. It's not impossible, but it is harder. Awakening can
happen to anyone, at any time no matter what they are doing.
Nothing is absolute, but generally the waking up happens when
you're not doing all the things to try to make the waking up
happen! And that is such a commonality, not in every single
case, but only in 99% of the time.
So just this simple
non-doing. Just rest as awareness.
And you will see that it doesn't take struggle to do it. You
don't have to get anything right to do it. All you have to do
is stop trying to get it right. In fact, you only have to stop
trying to know how to do it at all. You
donÕt have to know how to do it. Awareness is, is it
not? You may not know what it is,
no one knows what it is, just know that it is. Consciousness
is. Awareness is. It's the only thing you can be certain of.
You don't have to do it, make it more creative. That's the
beautiful thing about it.
___________________________________________________________________________
Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in
Miracles
in Australia and Germany
For up to date information on my workshops go to http://www.acfip.org/fws.html
Australia 2012 Dates
Healing Meditations Series 2
When: 4 consecutive Thursday evenings 6,
13, 20, 27 Sept; 5.45-7.15pm
Where: ÔCarolinaÕ, 25 Lucinda
Crescent, (Last house on right) Pt. Lookout [park
by water tower]
Cost: $40 for 4-session series, or
$15/ session at door payable to Orgnsr.
Organiser: Jackie Harris
Email: <cframpton@iprimus.com.au>
Tel: 07-3409 8498 Mob:
0410 446 226
What: It is common for us to carry within
us unhealed, unforgiven pain from
our past. Part of us wants to let it go and another part wants
(unconsciously) to hold onto it - otherwise it would be gone.
These pains can become our identity, shape our lives and can
lead to ill-health.
The four evenings will give us the chance to
go within, see what pain we carry and decide whether it is
time to be free of them. The focus will be on individual
issues and process. Guided meditation exercises will be given
to help lead us to the awareness of what needs to be forgiven
and released. Each evening will also include a brief
talk on healing and forgiveness, as well as illustrative
stories. Each person will work at the pace and level
that they choose.
The evenings will be gentle and supportive with time
for sharing.
What to bring: Guided meditation
exercises may involve sitting or lying on the floor, mats or
blankets to make yourself comfortable.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Brisbane
Relaxation Centre
BRISBANE - 1 day - Sunday 25 November,
2012
9.30a.m. to 4.30p.m.
Healing Our Relationships: The Path Home
A Course in Miracles workshop
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. Whenever two Sons of
God meet, they are given another chance at salvation. Do not
leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving
it yourself.
A Course in Miracles T-8.III.4.
Relationships provide the mirror in which we see
what needs to be forgiven in ourselves.
Any time we lose our peace in relationships is a
red flag to what needs healing in ourselves.
In moving from anger and dependence to
forgiveness and honesty we start the journey of our spiritual
awakening.
No knowledge of A Course in Miracles is
required.
VENUE:
Relaxation Centre,
15 South Pine Road
Alderley
Brisbane 4051
COST
$55
BOOKINGS:
Relaxation Centre
07 3856 3733
(Please do not book through me)
The Brisbane Relaxation Centre has informed
me that many people are increasingly booking at the last
moment.
I check the number of participants on Friday
morning before the workshop.
If numbers are small I cancel the workshop so
those the are booked can be
informed and make other plans for their weekend.
If you wish to attend the workshop please
book by the Thursday before.
___________________________________________________________________________
Germany 2013 Dates
Bonn
June 15 and 16, 2013
10.00am to 6.000pm
Relationships: A Fast Path to Spiritual
Awakening.
A Course in Miracles workshop
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.
from A Course in Miracles T-8.III.4.
Our relationships can become our daily
classroom of forgiveness. "Relationships" does not just refer
to our partners but everyone we meet. How we react to our
family, colleagues, strangers, animals, people
in the media mirrors what is contained in our minds. Daily we
walk around in a hall of mirrors and when we lose our peace we
are being shown something unhealed, unforgiven
in our minds.
The Course seeks to take our difficult
relationships and change their direction towards the goal of
holy relationships in which we practice honesty and
forgiveness.
As we learn to look at ourselves
and others without judgement
(forgiveness) we gradually remove the obstacles to the love
and peace within us. Judgement is
gradually replaced by compassion, and instead of separation,
true acceptance, friendship and genuine intimacy become
possible.
The workshop will contain exercises to help
understand and heal painful dynamics found in ego-based
relationships, allowing our natural state of peace and joy to
be uncovered.
An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri 14th June 2013
7.30pm
to 9.30pm
Contact:
Albert-Schweitzer-Haus
Beethovenallee 16
Bonn 53173
tel: 0228 - 36 47 37
http://www.albert-schweitzer-haus-bonn.de
Freiburg
June 22 and 23, 2013
10.00am to 6.000pm
Relationships: A Fast Path to Spiritual
Awakening.
A Course in Miracles workshop
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.
from A Course in Miracles T-8.III.4.
Our relationships can become our daily
classroom of forgiveness. "Relationships" does not just refer
to our partners but everyone we meet. How we react to our
family, colleagues, strangers, animals, people
in the media mirrors what is contained in our minds. Daily we
walk around in a hall of mirrors and when we lose our peace we
are being shown something unhealed, unforgiven
in our minds.
The Course seeks to take our difficult
relationships and change their direction towards the goal of
holy relationships in which we practice honesty and
forgiveness.
As we learn to look at ourselves
and others without judgement
(forgiveness) we gradually remove the obstacles to the love
and peace within us. Judgement is
gradually replaced by compassion, and instead of separation,
true acceptance, friendship and genuine intimacy become
possible.
The workshop will contain exercises to help
understand and heal painful dynamics found in ego-based
relationships, allowing our natural state of peace and joy to
be uncovered.
An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri 21 June 2013
8pm
- 9.45pm
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
Biography
Michael discovered A Course in
Miracles whilst visiting the Findhorn Foundation in 1982.
He subsequently became a member of the Foundation for about
six years and involved himself with healing and teaching. In
1994 he published Healing the Cause - A Path of
Forgiveness which serves as an
introduction to the Course. His second book, The Findhorn
Book of Forgiveness (Findhorn Press) uses exercises,
stories and case histories to guide the reader to inner peace
through forgiveness. Michael now lives in Australia and gives
workshops on the Course world-wide.
______________________________________________________________
PLEASE NOTE: The Australian Centre
for Inner Peace is not a counselling
or psychotherapy centre;
therefore we do not offer telephone or email service or counselling, therapy, or crisis
intervention for personal problems. Please see
the Contacts section at the end of this newsletter.
___________________________________________________________________________
BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael
Dawson
New teaching and healing materials - eBooks
and downloadable MP3s:
Ebooks:
1. Healing the Cause -A Path of
Forgiveness.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
2. A Course in Miracles - Explanations
of Major Themes
New book in eBook format
3. Forgiveness - A Path to Inner
Peace.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
The eBook versions can be read on
Kindle, iPad, Microsoft eReader, Nook, PDF readers (Mac and
PC) and most eBook readers.
For more details and how to purchase please
visit: www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Downloadable Mp3s:
1. Healing the Cause: Self-Help
Exercises 1
This MP3 contains the identical four exercises as
the CD
2. Healing the Cause: Self-Help
Exercises 2
This MP3 contains the identical four exercises as
the CD
3. Healing the Cause: 3 Self-Help
Exercises in English with German translation
This MP3 contains the identical three exercises
as the CD
For more details and how to purchase please
visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Books:
Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness.
Findhorn Press 1994
Also available in
German, Romanian, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese.
The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness. Findhorn
Press. 2003
Also available in
German, French, Polish and Romanian.
For more details and how to purchase please
visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
MP3s (see above) and CDs:
Healing the Cause:
Since 1986 I have been conducting healing
workshops in the UK and abroad, and have continually
experimented to find healing and forgiveness exercises that
are effective. I have found that a particular exercise
can be effective for one person but not another. Accordingly,
I was led to develop a series of exercises. Over the years
workshop participants asked if these exercises could be put
onto audio cassettes and CDs so
they could repeat them. This has resulted in the Healing
the Cause - Exercise series - Tapes 1 to 4 (2
exercises on each tape) and CD1 and 2 (4 exercises on each CD)
CD - 3 Healing Exercises in English
with German translation. 10 Euro
Content:
Ex1. Forgiving Ourselves.
Ex2. Changing Perception and
Finding peace.
Ex3. Changing Perception of another - exercise
for two people.
These exercises are similar to existing exercises
already available on CDs but are translated into German.
Workshops:
1. Three Steps of Forgiveness.
This workshop concentrates on the process of
forgiveness from the perspective of A Course in Miracles.
Includes 3 healing exercises.
Recorded at the Annual Miracle Network
Conference in London, November 2001. 1
hour 12 mins. One CD
2. Finding and Eliminating the Blocks to
Receiving Guidance.
This talk investigates what stops us hearing the
guidance that is ever present in our lives. Recorded at
the Annual Miracle Network Conference in London, October 20001
hour. One CD
For more details and how to purchase please
visit: http://www.acfip.org/audio.html
___________________________________________________________________________
CONTACTS and COURSE INFORMATION
Search Engine for
ACIM Sites, Definitions and Articles by Joe Jesseph.
A
Web search engine dedicated to finding discussion and
definitions of terms and concepts found in
A Course in
Miracles as well as Web sites, articles and other writings
related to the Course.
Question and Answer Service from
the Foundation
for A Course in Miracles.
Their electronic outreach
section has a question and answer service on the theory and
practice of the Course. Their database of 1,400 questions and
answers is searchable. They no longer take new questions as
they feel all possible questions have now been put.
Foundation for Inner Peace..........................Publishers
of
A Course in Miracles and responsible for the translation
programme. On-line mail order.
Foundation For A Course In
Miracles................FACIM is the official
teaching organisation of the
Foundation for Inner Peace and the copyright-holder of_A Course in Miracles and all
related materials. Publishes the quarterly Lighthouse newsletter.
They have extensive on-line mail order for their books, CDs
and DVDs.
The Foundation was started by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick and has moved to Temecula in
California. Kenneth is my teacher of A Course in
Miracles.
Their publications can also be ordered in
Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Kenneth Wapnick ......ÉÉÉ Biographical information and
excerpts from his writings
Glossary
of ACIM terms from FACIM
"The Most
Commonly asked Questions about A Course in Miracles"
by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick
Index of Links to
Miracle Studies Resources ...ÉÉ....... A rich
resource of materials on A Course in
Miracles by an ex-staff member of the Foundation
For A Course In Miracle. Joe also has
a blog and has recently published A Primer of Psychology According to
A Course in Miracles.
miraclestudies.net ÉÉÉÉ A Course in
Miracles Resource Web Site for ACIM Students
A Course in
Miracles Study groups
Search for A Course in Miracles Study
Groups Around the World.
The Foundation for Inner peace also has a
study group search engine.
Miracles Studies Australia http://www.miracle-studies.net.au
lists
study groups for Australia and new Zealand
ACIM
Historical Recordings & Video
A Course In Miracles Pen Pals:
The Miracle Network http://www.miracles.org.uk hosts
a A
Course in Miracles pen pals group:
To join
this e-mail discussion group, send your e-mail address
to e.pals@miracles.org.uk.
They will send you
updated lists of other e.pals
and inform them of your e-mail address.
Belief.net ACIM discussion:
This Belief.net web-based
discussion is hosted by Joe Jesseph.
http://community.beliefnet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=151
______________________________________________
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTATIONS
About three times a week I send a short quotation
from some spiritual teacher or poet to people who have
requested some uplifting thoughts. I have included some below.
If you wish I can add your name to the email list.
How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the
game of sin? Shall we not put away these sharp-edged
children's toys? How soon will you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin.
Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven
back? How long, O holy Son of God, how long?
A Course in Miracles Lesson 250
Do understand that you are destined for
enlightenment.
Co-operate with your destiny, don't go against
it, don't thwart it.
Allow it to fulfil
itself.
All you have to do is to give attention to the
obstacles created by the foolish mind.
Nisargadatta
Maharaj
I Am That
When you listen to the voice in your head, that
is to say, do not
judge. You'll soon realize: there
is the voice, and here I
am listening to it, watching
it. This I am
realization, this sense of your own
presence,
is not a thought. It arises from beyond
the mind.
Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now
One is more likely to awaken through surrender
than through seeking to waken. The effort to awaken is the
effort of ego, whereas to surrender is to give up all efforts
and to place oneself in the hands of a vast force that is more
powerful than any realization of non
duality.
When one finally gives up one's futile attempts
to make reality conform to one's own wishes, and allows it to
unfold on its own terms, all the energy that was tied up in
foolish attempts to manipulate the universe is freed up.
Mariana Caplan
Halfway Up the Mountain - The Error of
Premature Claims to Enlightenment
__________________________________
Michael Dawson
PO Box 125
Point Lookout
North Stradbroke
Island
Queensland 4183
Australia
EMAIL: mdawson@acfip.org
WEBSITE: http://www.acfip.org