ACFIP Newsletter
Issue 73 - June 2022
Quarterly
Newsletter of the Australian Centre for
Inner Peace
- from the perspective of A Course in Miracles
CONTENTS:
A Course in Miracles asks us to challenge our conventional wisdom about who we think we are and what the world really is. Until we do this we are walking around asleep and suffering will be our constant companion. The above quote states that, "Nothing unreal exists", which means if something is not eternal (i.e. never born) its nature is that of a dream. In the Workbook Jesus states, "There is no world. This is the central thought the course attempts to teach." W-p1.132.6:2-3
If it is the 'central thought', then we need to pay close attention to it.
So what does exist? A man walking at dusk mistakes a coiled rope for a poisonous snake and is terrified. He sees what appears to be a real problem that needs an urgent solution and he will not hear otherwise. It might take considerable persuasion from someone who knows the truth that there is nothing to fear in this situation. The 'snake' is a projection of the man's mind and has no inherent existence. Some Buddhist schools would say it is empty and "does not exist from its own side", and that everything we perceive or think is likewise empty or void, without any inherent reality or existence.
I believe the Course agrees with this, referring to the ego as a dream that will disappear back into nothingness when we so choose just as darkness vanishes (not hides) when the light appears. Whilst we identify with the ego we make it real and therefore we insist we exist as an individual. To maintain the illusion of individuality we need to defend against the truth by concentrating on the unreal - a world empty of any inherent existence.
So who am I? This trunk with four limbs and a head? Do I feel diminished if I trim my nails and have a hair cut? Or lose a limb? No - the 'I' thought remains. What of our thoughts and the emotions they generate? We can watch them come and go, we can stand back and observe them or their absence so we can't be them. Are we a collection of our body parts, thoughts and emotions? Again no, for if we can't be found in the parts we cannot exist in the collection.
The thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying to think without God. What I call "my" thoughts are not my real thoughts. My real thoughts are the thoughts I think with God. I am not aware of them because I have made my thoughts to take their place. Lesson 51
The concept of an individual self is made up by the mind - it is just another thought taken as important. Our body, mind and feelings are just like the coiled rope and have no inherent existence. We have simply given a meaning to them or labelled them as 'me'. The early Workbook lessons emphasise this point. Lesson 1 states: "Nothing in this room means anything". In the review of Lesson 1 (see Lesson 51) it says, "The reason this is so is that I see nothing, and nothing has no meaning. It is necessary that I recognise this, that I may learn to see". In Lesson 7 Jesus uses the example of a cup saying, "What do you know about this cup except what you learned in the past? You would have no idea what this cup is, except for your past learning. Do you, then, really see it? Look about you. This is equally true of whatever you look at." This is another way of saying we label everything we perceive and give it meaning it does not possess of and in itself.
What God did not create does not exist. And everything that does exist exists as He created it. The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist. Lesson 14
When the first letter of the alphabet was written on the board, in our first reading class as children, we did not see an 'A'. Perhaps we saw a tent or a mountain. We had to be taught to label it an 'A' and that is how we now see it. But it is not an 'A' in and of it itself but a series of strokes. Even the word 'stroke' is a label.
Imagine for a moment that through self-forgiveness we let go of our personal identity as a man, woman, parent, child, worker, etc. Who is left to want gain, praise and a good reputation? Who is left who wants to avoid loss, blame and a bad reputation? Then we will know the peace of God and finally remember who we are - not an individual but Christ - the one eternal, formless spirit that God created in His Mind.
Such is each life; a seeming interval from birth to death and on to life again, a repetition of an instant gone by long ago that cannot be relived. And all of time is but the mad belief that what is over is still here and now. T-26.V.13:2-4
To achieve the goal of the Course we need to practise forgiveness. To understand the Course we need a knowledge of its metaphysics which includes time. Forgiveness collapses time, speeding the moment of spiritual awakening when we finally accept the Atonement - the awakening from the illusion of time and space.
Jesus states we need new ideas about time but also says how difficult it is for us to understand these ideas. Linear time is what we take as the truth, whilst Jesus tells us that time is holographic - everything is happening in one moment. However, we can at least understand time's purpose and allow our deeply rooted ideas of time and space to be shaken a little. As we proceed along the Course's path of awakening we will encounter experiences that will seem shocking and fear-provoking to our egos. It will be helpful therefore to meet these times with some foreknowledge so that awe and not fear is experienced. (T-1.VII.5).
The ego uses time to preserve itself. It tells us that in the past we decided to separate from God and achieved this. To save us from the resulting overwhelming guilt it advised us to deny this ever happened. This imagined sin in the past is experienced in the present as guilt leading to a fear of punishment in the future. All our fear stems from this unconscious guilt from a separation that never really happened.
In contrast the Holy Spirit reminds us that the "tiny mad idea" (see below) of separation was undone by the Holy Spirit the moment it was thought.
God gave His Teacher to replace the one you made, not to conflict with it. And what He would replace has been replaced. Time lasted but an instant in your mind, with no effect upon eternity. And so is all time past, and everything exactly as it was before the way to nothingness was made. The tiny tick of time in which the first mistake was made, and all of them within that one mistake, held also the Correction for that one, and all of them that came within the first. And in that tiny instant time was gone, for that was all it ever was. What God gave answer to is answered and is gone. T-26.V.3:1-7
In that "tiny tick of time" the whole universe was born, evolved and died along with all the thoughts we experienced.
"All thinking produces form at some level." (T-2.VI.9:14), and so all these thoughts manifested in time and space. This is somewhat similar to parallel universes hypothesised by some quantum physicists - that all possible results of an experiment exist and the participating scientist chooses one of them to manifest. Although everything was corrected in that 'original instant' we have chosen not to accept the Holy Spirit's correction and perversely continue as if we are still special individuals separated in space and linear time.
The world of time is the world of illusion. What happened long ago seems to be happening now. Choices made long since appear to be open; yet to be made. What has been learned and understood and long ago passed by is looked upon as a new thought, a fresh idea, a different approach. Because your will is free you can accept what has already happened at any time you choose, and only then will you realize that it was always there. For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again; reviewing mentally what has gone by. TM-2.3:1-5
To help make this a bit clearer I will use a couple of analogies. There are currently available fiction novels which give the reader a choice of which plot to develop. At the end of each chapter you choose from a choice of plots; for example, if the hero gets married or decides to say single. You are then directed to the appropriate page and the story continues based on your previous choice of plot. A multiple, but not infinite, story line. In that original instant of seeming separation we also had an enormous, but not infinite, number of stories which we now reviewing in our time and space theatre.
Dr Kenneth Wapnick, in his excellent book, A Vast illusion - time according to a Course in Miracles, uses the analogy of the VCR. The sleeping son of God or decision-maker is sitting there watching video tapes of what occurred in that "tiny tick of time". He has a choice between two huge and equal piles of video tapes - the ego tapes and tapes of their correction by the Holy Spirit. One of the correction tapes is entitled 'Atonement' in which the sleeping son of God finally wakes up and joyfully realises he never left his Father's home and that time and space are illusions. At this point he stops the pointless practice of viewing videotapes of what has already occurred.
It is important to realise that the way of awakening, like everything else, has already happened and can't be changed.
The time is set already. It appears to be quite arbitrary. Yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. W-pI.158.3:1-4
But when we decide to view that tape is not.
This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. T-in.1-5
As the course emphasizes, you are not free to choose the curriculum, or even the form in which you will learn it. You are free, however, to decide when you want to learn it. And as you accept it, it is already learned. M-2.3 : 6-7
That is the purpose of the spiritual path - to speed the time of awakening. As Jesus states a few times in the workbook, we could save thousands of years (many reviews of ego tapes) if we did a particular lesson correctly. Thus time can be collapsed through forgiveness. As an example, your partner may suddenly die and leave you heartbroken. In that original instant you may have had two thoughts - to turn to drugs to alleviate the pain or dedicate your life to finding a peace that no death can take away - the choice of two videos to review. If you turn to the Holy Spirit for guidance He will urge you to review the latter and so save time.
Due to our fixation with linear time it is hard for us to realise the all our problems are solvable instantly. The correction video has always existed and we need not delay in reviewing it.
I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. I believe that the problem comes first, and time must elapse before it can be worked out. I do not see the problem and the answer as simultaneous in their occurrence. That is because I do not yet realise that God has placed the answer together with the problem, so that they cannot be separated by time. The Holy Spirit will teach me this, if I will let Him. And I will understand it is impossible that I could have a problem which has not been solved already. W-pI.90.3.
This also relates to the teachings in the text about the Laws of Chaos were it states there is no hierarchy of illusions, no order of difficulty in miracles. Any problem, irrespective of its seeming magnitude, has already been corrected and is simply waiting acceptance. Our job is to turn to the Holy Spirit and ask His advice on what video to review thus speeding the time to when we review the Atonement video.
To you who still believe you live in time and know not it is gone, the Holy Spirit still guides you through the infinitely small and senseless maze you still perceive in time, though it has long since gone. You think you live in what is past. Each thing you look upon you saw but for an instant, long ago, before its unreality gave way to truth. Not one illusion still remains unanswered in your mind. Uncertainty was brought to certainty so long ago that it is hard indeed to hold it to your heart, as if it were before you still. T-26.V.4
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We know that you know that inner peace is a challenge. Unconditional peace that does not require anyone or anything to change is a tall order. It is something that the spiritual master hopes to attain in a lifetime. We want you all to know that this is your mission at this time. Your mission is to be peace, to exude peace, to hold peace in your hearts, in order to be of service to the entire collective, to yourselves, and to those who are experiencing a lack of peace right now. You can be the examples and hold the vibration, and you can send that peace out to everyone and to every place that needs it right now.
You can also look within yourselves for where you have inner conflict, and you can seek to resolve that inner conflict by simply letting go of the fight. Let go of the struggle, and become one unified whole that is un-fragmented, that is ready to recognize yourself as a being of pure love and light, as all that is.
It's alright to make mistakes - wisdom from the Arcturians
It is all right when you decide that you need to turn to an addiction just to feel normal. It is all right when you find yourselves in such dire straits that you need to move back in with your parents. It is all right to have had relationships that didnÕt work out or marriages that ended in divorce. Humanity is not getting further along in the evolution of its consciousness by judging yourselves and others harshly. When you experience yourself looking at another human being and saying to yourself that they should be different, they should be better, they should no longer believe what they are believing, you are essentially saying that about yourself....
Trust us when we tell you that you will have your opportunities to be of even greater service to humanity. But right now, we would like to see more of you looking to just be happy. We would like to see more of you giving credit to yourselves for continuing to exist there on that challenging in that challenging dimension. And so, we will continue to praise you, to celebrate you, and to shine our unconditional love upon you.
Extract from:
Humanity
Was Set Up to Fail, But
You WonÕt °The 9D
Arcturian Council,
Channeled by Daniel
Scranton
Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in Miracles - 2022 (Zoom) and 2023 (Bonn and Freiburg)
Flight restrictions and quarantines ( I am unvaxxed ) means I can't travel this year 2022 to Germany.
Workshop dates for 2023:
Bonn 17 and 18 June
Online Zoom workshops
Zoom allows for questions, sharings,
meeting in virtual rooms for pair exercises and sharings.
Beziehungen - Unser Weg nach Hause.
- Frieden finden und Wachstum erleben im Spiegel von Beziehungen - Ein Seminar basierend auf ãEin Kurs in WundernÒ
"Wenn
du jemandem begegnest,
so erinnere dich
daran, dass es eine
heilige Begegnung ist.
Wie du ihn siehst,
wirst du dich selber
sehen. Wie du ihn
behandelst, wirst du
dich selbst behandeln.
Wie du Ÿber ihn
denkst, wirst du Ÿber
dich selbst denken.
Vergiss dies nie, denn
in ihm wirst du dich
selbst finden oder
verlieren."
Ein Kurs in Wundern
T-8.III.4.
Unsere Beziehungen kšnnen zu unserem tŠglichen Klassenzimmer der Vergebung werden. "Beziehungen" bezieht sich nicht nur auf unsere Partner, sondern auf jeden, dem wir begegnen. Wie wir auf unsere Familie, Kollegen, Fremde, Tiere, Menschen in den Medien reagieren, spiegelt das wider, was in unserem Verstand enthalten ist. TŠglich laufen wir in einem Spiegelkabinett herum, und wenn wir unseren Frieden verlieren, wird uns etwas gezeigt, das in unserem Geist noch nicht geheilt, noch nicht vergeben ist.
Der Kurs zielt darauf ab, unsere schwierigen Beziehungen in eine Richtung zu lenken, die zu heiligen Beziehungen fŸhrt, in denen wir Ehrlichkeit und Vergebung praktizieren.
Wenn wir lernen, uns selbst und andere ohne Verurteilung (Vergebung) zu betrachten, beseitigen wir allmŠhlich die Hindernisse, die der Liebe und dem Frieden in uns im Wege stehen. An die Stelle des Urteils tritt allmŠhlich MitgefŸhl, und anstelle von Trennung werden wahre Akzeptanz, Freundschaft und echte IntimitŠt mšglich.
Der Workshop enthŠlt †bungen, die helfen, schmerzhafte Dynamiken in Ego-Beziehungen zu verstehen und zu heilen, so dass unser natŸrlicher Zustand von Frieden und Freude sichtbar werden kann.
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