Today was a much more effective day than yesterday as far as A Course in Miracles workbook is concerned. I wrote the thought of the day (Salvation is my only function here) on an index card. Because of the way my work is at this time I cannot stop for five minutes each hour. I managed to spend about an hour in the beginning of the day remaining in a still meditative sate repeating:
Salvation is my only function here.
Salvation and forgiveness are the same.
While I was in that deep meditative state my body disappeared and all that remained was the light, peace, happiness…
That set off the rest of the day in a wonderful way. Then every time I would get a chance I read: “Salvation is my only function here. Salvation and forgiveness are same.”
If something was starting to bother me even slightly I would read the other side of the index card: “Salvation is my only function. God is still love and this is not her will.”
***
From ACIM workbook:
Salvation and forgiveness are the same. They both imply that something has gone wrong; something to be saved from, forgiven for; something amiss that needs corrective change; something apart or different from the Will of God. Thus do both terms imply a thing impossible but yet which has occurred, resulting in a state of conflict seen between what is and what could never be.
Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. The impossible becomes the thing you need forgiveness for, salvation from. Salvation now becomes the borderland between the truth and the illusion. It reflects the truth because it is the means by which you can escape illusions. Yet it is not yet the truth because it undoes what was never done.
How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be reconciled within a mind where both of them exist? The mind that sees illusions thinks them real. They have existence in that they are thoughts. And yet they are not real, because the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate from God.
What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and Thought which are forever One? What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize the need illusions bring, and offer means by which they are undone without attack and with no touch of pain? What but a Thought of God could be this plan, by which the never done is overlooked, and sins forgotten which were never real?
The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him within the Mind of God and in your own. It is apart from time in that its Source is timeless. Yet it operates in time, because of your belief that time is real. Unshaken does the Holy Spirit look on what you see; on sin and pain and death, on grief and separation and on loss. Yet does He know one thing must still be true; God is still Love, and this is not His Will…
***
As I mentioned earlier today went real well. I will now do another long meditation based on today’s thought.
The meditation took about half an hour. I was at great peace and as I said that salvation and forgiveness are the same I remembered a few occasions where people had apparently mistreated me and instead of taking umbrage I forgave and was happy. Again I suppose a great question to ask is, “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy.’
In order to be happy you have to love unconditionally and forgive unconditionally. As A Course in Miracles says, when you forgive it is that it did not happen. Forgiving makes it disappear and bring salvation in stead of vengeance, hurt and illusions.
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Today was an interesting day in as much as I just could not get into the exercises for the day. Weather wise it was raining hard and then extremely windy, sunny, hot, cold, more rain and so on. I could not do the exercise as desired five minutes every hour but did it a little but just could not get into it.
From today’s ACIM workbook:
Today is a day of special dedication. We take a stand on but one side today. We side with truth and let illusions go. We will not vacillate between the two, but take a firm position with the One. We dedicate ourselves to truth today, and to salvation as God planned it be. We will not argue it is something else. We will not seek for it where it is not. In gladness we accept it as it is, and take the part assigned to us by God…
Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept the happiness that God has given you? Is it not worth five minutes hourly to recognize your special function here? Is not five minutes but a small request to make in terms of gaining a reward so great it has no measure? You have made a thousand losing bargains at the least…
Each hour today give Him your tiny gift of but five minutes. He will give the words you use in practicing today’s idea the deep conviction and the certainty you lack. His words will join with yours, and make each repetition of today’s idea a total dedication, made in faith as perfect and as sure as His in you. His confidence in you will bring the light to all the words you say, and you will go beyond their sound to what they really mean. Today you practice with Him, as you say:
I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.
In each five minutes that you spend with Him, He will accept your words and give them back to you all bright with faith and confidence so strong and steady they will light the world with hope and gladness. Do not lose one chance to be the glad receiver of His gifts, that you may give them to the world today.
Give Him the words, and He will do the rest. He will enable you to understand your special function. He will open up the way to happiness, and peace and trust will be His gifts; His answer to your words. He will respond with all His faith and joy and certainty that what you say is true. And you will have conviction then of Him Who knows the function that you have on earth as well as Heaven. He will be with you each practice period you share with Him, exchanging every instant of the time you offer Him for timelessness and peace.
Throughout the hour, let your time be spent in happy preparation for the next five minutes you will spend again with Him. Repeat today’s idea while you wait for the glad time to come to you again. Repeat it often, and do not forget each time you do so, you have let your mind be readied for the happy time to come.
And when the hour goes and He is there once more to spend a little time with you, be thankful and lay down all earthly tasks, all little thoughts and limited ideas, and spend a happy time again with Him. Tell Him once more that you accept the part that He would have you take and help you fill, and He will make you sure you want this choice, which He has made with you and you with Him.
As I mentioned earlier (at top of the post) I kept repeating the thought for the day and I just could not get into it.
However just now as I was reading “And when the hour goes,” at exactly the time I read the word hour the movie I was watching said hour. A minor synchronicity but even so one.
I suppose some thoughts work better than others and also some days one is not ready for the exercises. That is one the reason there review periods.
The only thing that happened today was that as I kept repeating the thought of the day it changed from I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation to I accept my role in God’s plan for salvation. First of all as I think about it now it makes sense to drop the word will. If you will do something it remains in the future all the time. It is like affirmations are supposed to be in the present tense.
Part, role – I suppose six of one and…
Since we are here:
The original prisoner was brilliant.
The remake forgivable as well as forgettable.
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I used to be an absolute materialist along Newtonian lines. Then as I studied physics and discovered modern ideas such as relativity and quantum mechanics I modified my materialism to include the results of these.
Later I had some mystical experiences when experimenting with mind altering substance (as a scientist). When I was doing neurochemical research (biochemistry of the brain) I started thinking about the existence of consciousness.
I remained a materialist and since I did not appreciate (philosophically) dualism, I came up with the idea that consciousness is a basic fifth property of matter (along with gravity, electromagnetism, the weak and strong nuclear forces).
By this time I had become a radical monist (only one thing the Ultimate Reality exists) and at the same time I was learning philosophy and practicing mysticism.
As research in the 1980s demonstrated the truth of quantum mechanics and what Albert Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” my radical monism was further proved by modern science.
At the same time my meditations and other practices allowed me to experience that truth is one and the underlying reality is information not matter itself. Another name for this information is spirit.
Now, adding unity of all we get Spirit – the underlying Ultimate Reality – the totality of all that is.
So, to me it is scientifically obvious that I am spirit. At times in deep meditation I experience the fact that I am spirit. I still need to do much more practice to experience that fact all the time.
***
From ACIM workbook for today:
Today’s idea identifies you with your one Self. It accepts no split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. It simply states the truth. Practice this truth today as often as you can, for it will bring your mind from conflict to the quiet fields of peace. No chill of fear can enter, for your mind has been absolved from madness, letting go illusions of a split identity.
We state again the truth about your Self, the holy Son of God Who rests in you; whose mind has been restored to sanity. You are the spirit lovingly endowed with all your Father’s Love and peace and joy. You are the spirit which completes Himself, and shares His function as Creator. He is with you always, as you are with Him.
Today we try to bring reality still closer to your mind. Each time you practice, awareness is brought a little nearer at least; sometimes a thousand years or more are saved. The minutes which you give are multiplied over and over, for the miracle makes use of time, but is not ruled by it. Salvation is a miracle, the first and last; the first that is the last, for it is one.
You are the spirit in whose mind abides the miracle in which all time stands still; the miracle in which a minute spent in using these ideas becomes a time that has no limit and that has no end…
The Holy Spirit will be glad to take five minutes of each hour from your hands, and carry them around this aching world where pain and misery appear to rule…
Begin these happy exercises with the words the Holy Spirit speaks to you, and let them echo round the world through Him:
Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world.
Expressed through you, the Holy Spirit will accept this gift that you received of Him, increase its power and give it back to you.
Offer each practice period today gladly to Him. And He will speak to you, reminding you that you are spirit, one with Him and God, your brothers and your Self. Listen for His assurance every time you speak the words He offers you today, and let Him tell your mind that they are true. Use them against temptation, and escape its sorry consequences if you yield to the belief that you are something else. The Holy Spirit gives you peace today. Receive His words, and offer them to Him.
My experiences for today:
- I went to the gym and started to say over and over again, “I am spirit.” Very soon I heard myself repeating you are spirit silently to everyone I saw in the gym.
This put me at ease and I felt a great peace and calmness.
In the sauna, someone walked in with loud music and I felt my peace disappearing. As I said to him silently, “You are spirit,” my tranquility returned.
- As I’m eating my only meal of the day (I was fasting earlier), I thank the Spirit and say to the food, “You are spirit.”
This makes the food taste so much better and I’m sure more nourishing.
- I also noticed that when I say silently to people, “You are spirit,” I project love and smile at them from the bottom of my being.
I was going to write heart, but being is even deeper.
So this is the end of a most wonderful day. I have to remember to use the fact that others are the children of God and so on. When I do that, I live a happier and more blessed peaceful life. The important thing to remember is that love is one of those things that the more you give, the more you have.
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Interesting day:
I was supposed to drive seventy miles to Hollywood from Dana Point to donate blood at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA0 and then continue on another five to ten miles to Glendale to get a hair cut and see a friend. I left aboput five minutes earlier than I had planed so I was happily ahead of my own schedule.
After twenty minutes of driving I noticed that I had forgotten to take my cell phone.
Normally this would not have mattered but in this case I had told my friend that I would phone him to say when we were to meet once I got to the hair dresser and noticed the length of the line.
So, I turned around and drove back as quickly as possible, picked up my phone and got back to the freeway as fast as possible. So I was about half an hour later than I had hoped last night.
I had the thought of the day written on the back of an old business card. But by this time I was quite frustrated and could not read the thoughts:
Salvation comes from my one Self.
Its Thoughts are mine to use.
I could not concentrate, and then the traffic got progressively worse and worse. Thus by the time I arrived at the Children’s Hospital, I was both frustrated and anxious for I thgought I may not be able to see my friend. By this time the main parking lot was full and it took me a few minutes of being lost to find the annex parking lot.
There was a long line at the information but when I got to the blood bank there were two people only there.
Now, before I write about my stupidity, you must understand that over the last eighteen years I had donated sixty five pints of blood at CHLA, and normally I get VIP treatment (there are less than five people who may have donated more than me).
So here I am late and anxious and I end my form before another gentleman who was waiting longer and yet once he filled up his form they called him in and I was just waiting ten, fifteen minutes later I lost it and complained angrily. The person at the desk calmed me down and five minutes later I went in and discovered that most of the nurses and personal were away at a mobile blood drive.
I felt very ashamed at blowing up and anyway I apologized and explained about leaving my phone home and returning and things like that and soon we were all friends again.
So what is the lesson here?
We are all like the children in “Lord of the flees.” We may even study A Course in Miracles, meditate, practice unconditional love and yet we are only one step away from losing it and savagery.
***
Later, I went to the gym, and after working out I spent most of an hour in the sauna repeating at first, “Salvation comes from my one Self. Its thoughts are mine to use.” Soon as I was repeating the thoughts of today they changed to, “Salvation comes from the one Self,” and then, “Salvation comes from the Self.”
Tat Tuam Asi – that thou art.
Or the self is the Self – the illusory self (the ego in terms of A Course in Miracles) is the real Self (God, Ultimate Reality, The Spirit, The One, and so on).
***
After writing the above I did a meditation on theone self but I was so tired that I went to sleep from the meditation. I do not remember anything from the meditation.
However, whereas earlier I was anxious and concerned, now, I’m at peace and calm.
***
Before I go to sleep I think:
Salvation is – Self is – Peace is!
Surely salvation is there all the time (actually time is not according to ACIM but it is difficult to talk about unspeakable concepts in language) – it is only a question of awareness of it.
The choice is between love, peace, forgiveness, that is to say being awake or remaining in the nightmare world of duality with anger, lack of peace and lack of happiness.
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Philosophically I am a radical monist. This means, I believe that only the whole of whatever is has ultimate reality. I used to think of the whole universe from beginning to the end in a four dimensional space time continuity (basically bringing in Einsteins special and general relativity) as the whole. Later I had to include the effects of quantum mechanics and yet later information theory, cognitive science, string theory, brane (multiple universes), and so on were added to the whole.
Now, I suppose I just define the whole as the whole and leave it there. I just want to say that every thought that any being has ever had is part of the w hole so the whole is material and non-material (information, thoughts, fantasies, dreams, hallucinations) and perhaps many other levels of reality that I cannot even imagine. it does not matter what it is. As far as I am concerned that is (the totality) the only thing which is real.
Anything less than that (say this universe, this galaxy, this solar system, this planet, this person and the computer that this person is writing this on) are all illusory. They are all produced by reductionism or deletion done by the mind (there is only one mind in reality) as part of the illusion of the ego in a skin.
This is what A Course in Miracles calls the illusion of separateness. So in reality everything is part of the One. So I am one Self, united with the Creator. I automatically changed my creator as I was doing the exercises for today. I analyzed it later and thought that if we talk about “my” Creator we are tending to say that I exist to have “my” anything.
Perhaps it would be better to say: “Self exists. Self is the Creator.”
From ACIM workbook for today:
Today’s idea accurately describes you as God created you. You are one within yourself, and one with Him. Yours is the unity of all creation. Your perfect unity makes change in you impossible. You do not accept this, and you fail to realize it must be so, only because you believe that you have changed yourself already.
We will attempt today to be aware only of what can hear and see, and what makes perfect sense. We will again direct our exercises towards reaching your one Self, which is united with Its Creator. In patience and in hope we try again today.
The use of the first five minutes of every waking hour for practicing the idea for the day has special advantages at the stage of learning in which you are at present. It is difficult at this point not to allow your mind to wander, if it undertakes extended practice. You have surely realized this by now. You have seen the extent of your lack of mental discipline, and of your need for mind training. It is necessary that you be aware of this, for it is indeed a hindrance to your advance.
Frequent but shorter practice periods have other advantages for you at this time. In addition to recognizing your difficulties with sustained attention, you must also have noticed that, unless you are reminded of your purpose frequently, you tend to forget about it for long periods of time. You often fail to remember the short applications of the idea for the day, and you have not yet formed the habit of using the idea as an automatic response to temptation.
We will, therefore, keep to the five-minutes-an-hour practice periods for a while, and urge you to omit as few as possible. Using the first five minutes of the hour will be particularly helpful, since it imposes firmer structure.
The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. Let us therefore be determined, particularly for the next week or so, to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day’s idea. This tolerance for weakness will enable us to overlook it, rather than give it power to delay our learning. If we give it power to do this, we are regarding it as strength, and are confusing strength with weakness.
When you fail to comply with the requirements of this course, you have merely made a mistake. This calls for correction, and for nothing else. To allow a mistake to continue is to make additional mistakes, based on the first and reinforcing it. It is this process that must be laid aside, for it is but another way in which you would defend illusions against the truth.
Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. This is the truth, and nothing else is true. Today we will affirm this truth again, and try to reach the place in you in which there is no doubt that only this is true.
Begin the practice periods today with this assurance, offered to your mind with all the certainty that you can give:
I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every
aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace.
Then close your eyes and tell yourself again, slowly and thoughtfully, attempting to allow the meaning of the words to sink into your mind, replacing false ideas:
I am one Self.
Repeat this several times, and then attempt to feel the meaning that the words convey.
You are one Self, united and secure in light and joy and peace. You are God’s Son, one Self, with one Creator and one goal; to bring awareness of this oneness to all minds, that true creation may extend the allness and the unity of God. You are one Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the truth about yourself.
You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all that there will be. You are one Self, the holy Son of God, united with your brothers in that Self; united with your Father in His Will. Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts. This is your Self, the Son of God Himself, sinless as Its Creator, with His strength within you and His Love forever yours. You are one Self, and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all your illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth in you.
Your own acknowledgment you are one Self, united with your Father, is a call to all the world to be at one with you. To everyone you meet today, be sure to give the promise of today’s idea and tell him this:
You are one Self with me, united with our Creator in this Self.
I honor you because of What I am, and What He is,
Who loves us both as One.
Today went differently and I did repeat the thoughts for the day many times but while at work so I could not formerly sit down and meditate in silence and in peace. However later on I used a variation of the above thought with others and I felt great peace, love, and compassion toward others.
I think the feeling of unity with others is more important than anything else as this leads to peace, love and ultimately forgiveness and happiness.
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This is another of those truisms and yet A Course in Miracles does not quite mean what we may mean by the words, “I am as God created me.” In reality we cannot ever be what we are. As I keep mentioning the only choice we have is to be awake (like the Buddha) and aware that we live in an illuision or not. And if we are not aware, I’m not sure if there’s any problem with that.
Some may be totally aware of the Ultimate Reality, and other may be totally asleep. Some may be very peaceful and joyful in spite of no awareness and living in consensus reality. Some on the journey to the truth may be very unhappy and suffering.
If reincarnation and karma (not as punishment and vengeance but as evolution of the soul toward unity with the Spirit) are true then we have all the time and tools needed for ultimate salvation. As A Course in Miracles mentions, “This is a required course,” and the only choice we have is over when we take the course. I do not think the required course is A Course in Miracles but re-Union with the Truth is the required course.
And we have an infinite lifetimes to achieve that union with the Godhead.
***
From ACIM workbook for today:
Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation; the one statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless; the one thought which renders the ego silent and entirely undone. You are as God created you. The sounds of this world are still, the sights of this world disappear, and all the thoughts that this world ever held are wiped away forever by this one idea. Here is salvation accomplished. Here is sanity restored.
Today we will again devote the first five minutes of each waking hour to the attempt to feel the truth in you. Begin these times of searching with these words:
I am as God created me.
I am His Son eternally.
Now try to reach the Son of God in you. This is the Self that never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. This is the Self that never left Its home in God to walk the world uncertainly. This is the Self that knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death.
Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself; and wait in silent expectancy for the truth. God has Himself promised that it will be revealed to all who ask for it. You are asking now. You cannot fail because He cannot fail.
If you do not meet the requirement of practicing for the first five minutes of every hour, at least remind yourself hourly:
I am as God created me.
I am His Son eternally.
Tell yourself frequently today that you are as God created you. And be sure to respond to anyone who seems to irritate you with these words:
You are as God created you.
You are His Son eternally.
Results of today’s exercises:
- Since I know I will not have opportunities to do five minute long exercises each hour today I did a forty five minute long meditation. In this meditation I first (by stages) give unconditional love to the whole multiverse for all time. Then I get in touch with the One and go beyond to no-One, no-place, no-time, no-name and ultimately even the negatives are negated by getting to no-No!
This takes about five minutes and is one of the deepest meditations I do.
After this I kept repeating the thoughts for today.
At first I felt shame and guilt in the Presence.
I knew this was not real but my ego projecting its thoughts.
Then I saw an image of a child playing hide and go seek with the parent looking on approvingly.
It was a most wonderful feeling. Yes, I think I’m sinful (I make many mistakes in the realm of consensus reality). Yes, I feel ashamed.
God knows it is only maya – only play acting.
God knows that the separation is a the game of hide and go seek.
God is happy with the creation.
- The Creator – creation – one.
I did a huge amount of repetition of the thought for today while waiting and walking at work. At the same time my mood was tending to be awful. But thanks to the idea that I am as God created me all went well in spite of the objective problems I was having.
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This morning I did a meditation on the light – I was catching up with yesterday’s practice. I felt a great wonderful peace and happiness as I allowed the light to heal, unconditionally love and forgive all.
This inner light and joy and peace are the same. When you are still (calm, relaxed mind/body/soul/spirit, at total peace) you allow the light to be seen. As I have mentioned many times before, the light of God is with you all the time. You are a part of God – you are the only begotten child of God in the terminology of A Course in Miracles and the only choice you have is to be aware (awake like the Buddha) of the God and light within, or you can listen to the monkey mind.
***
From ACIM workbook for today:
In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your creation:
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself.
You are what God created or what you made. One Self is true; the other is not there. Try to experience the unity of your one Self. Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the love from which It was created. Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. Let It come into Its Own. Here you are; This is You. And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.
You may not be willing or even able to use the first five minutes of each hour for these exercises. Try, however, to do so when you can. At least remember to repeat these thoughts each hour:
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
Then try to devote at least a minute or so to closing your eyes and realizing that this is a statement of the truth about you.
If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. Should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell him silently:
Light and joy and peace abide in you.
Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
You can do much for the world’s salvation today. You can do much today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned to you. And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.
Since there were so many shorter long practice periods I am just reporting on my experiences for the whole day:
- I felt great joy and peace as I realized (felt) the unity and the light in everyone – even in people I may have resented in the past.
I do not harbor resentment for people I know and meet.
I used to disapprove people I thought were hurting others. These included mainly politicians, leaders financial institutions and other thieves. The since I began doing these ACIM workbook exercises challenge has been how to love all and yet resist the apparent evil people do.
As they say, “Love the sinner – resist the sin!”
Note it is not hate the sin as that would bring even more wrongs (resentment and hatred) into the world – resistance is perfectly OK – especially peaceful resistance like Gandhi’s or Martin Luther King’s resistance.
Another important fact is to call it sin meaning missing the mark rather than evil.
- I felt great peace and love for all.
As the meditation continued I felt a feeling in my third eye. It is a feeling that I get at times. It is as though the third eye was activated. It was a good calming and yet energizing feeling.
Very relaxed and full of vigor.
Life is great.
- It is not so easy to remember light, joy, peace, love when your feet are hurting!
In fact it is just when it is needed.
- A friend is depressed.
I suggested he starts studying A Course in Miracles.
I doubt if he will do it. Exactly when things hurt is when we avoid the best medicine (say ACIM or something similar).
As a note – I’m working from morning till late most days and sometimes I cannot do the practices the way written in the workbook. I need to think of a better way of doing things.
Peace!
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From ACIM workbook for today:
Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its Own. Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again, and be as One.
Let us give twenty minutes twice today to join this meeting. Let yourself be brought unto your Self. Its strength will be the light in which the gift of sight is given you. Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body’s eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.
Morning and evening we will practice thus. After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in trust. Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived.
First long practice:
- This was another of those experiences when I reached the light very rapidly and the whole material world disappeared.
Often unfortunately the scientist in me takes over and I try to remember what is going on so I can report about the experience here in this blog.
That stops me from going as deep as I would if I was not writing this.
It is a two edged sword.
This time the experience was pure – just light – deep – and no memory.
So there!
Tat tuam asi – that thou art.
Second long exercise period:
- Again I went very deep. The light was ultra bright and loving. I allowed the light to love all unconditionally.
The all includes myself and every cell of my body. My attitude is that I am not a body, but I do have a body which needs be healed.
In the English language the word health is related to the word whole. When you are whole (at peace so different parts are not in conflict) you are healthy. You may even be dieing of an “incurable” illness but when you are at peace you are healthy.
- So I felt the light giving me the strength to forgive and love.
Again this was all encompassing and included myself as well as others.
- Finally when the practice was over I felt at great peace, calm and very happy.
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Today we start a new set of thoughts. A Course in miracles workbook continues by stating that miracles are there all the time. It is just that we don’t see them in darkness. This is confirmed by my own mystical experiences when I have experienced unity with the all. At these times I know that the unity exists all the time. It is impossible to get away from it. What happens is that we are not aware of it.
When prince Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha he was so radiant that people came to him and asked:
Are you an angel?
No!
Are you a God?
No!
Then what are you?
At this the Buddha replied, “I’m awake.”
That is the only choice. You cannot lose your inner truth. You are who you are (A Spiritual being incarnated – ensouled in flesh). You are the only begotten. You have lost awareness of your reality. It is maya – illusion. Both of these words have the same root in their respective source languages (Sanskrit and Latin). They mean play as play acting. Yesterday I mentioned the myth of separation and the splitting of the One to the many. It is part of the plan so it really does not matter how you play the game.
The point is to appreciate the game and enjoy life no matter which life you have selected.
***
From ACIM workbook for today:
Three times today, set aside about ten minutes for a quiet time in which you try to leave your weakness behind…
Begin the longer practice periods with this statement of true cause and effect relationships:
Miracles are seen in light.
The body’s eyes do not perceive the light.
But I am not a body. What am I?
The question with which this statement ends is needed for our exercises today. What you think you are is a belief to be undone. But what you really are must be revealed to you…
If you are not a body, what are you?
If you are not a body, what are you? Ask this in honesty, and then devote several minutes to allowing your mistaken thoughts about your attributes to be corrected, and their opposites to take their place. Say, for example:
I am not weak, but strong.
I am not helpless, but all powerful.
I am not limited, but unlimited.
I am not doubtful, but certain.
I am not an illusion, but a reality.
I cannot see in darkness, but in light.
In the second phase of the exercise period, try to experience these truths about yourself…
Relax for the rest of the practice period, confident that your efforts, however meager, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His Thoughts. It is from Them that your strength will come…
Five or six times an hour, at reasonably regular intervals, remind yourself that miracles are seen in light. Also, be sure to meet temptation with today’s idea. This form would be helpful for this special purpose:
Miracles are seen in light. Let me not close my eyes because of this.
First long practice period:
- This ended up as a very cerebral exercise.
I was thinking that if I lost an arm, I would still be me.
Now continuing the thought experiment let’s lose another limb, and then another…
Well, it would be still be the same person.
I would still be me – the I’ness would remain.
- I was once a baby, then toddler and so on.
And one day I’ll die – or at least my body will…
And if I still exist – then I’ll still be me – and then no body.
Or perhaps I won’t exist – who knows.
- Excellent question – who knows…
Or is it who nose?
- It goes back to the who-ness.
Who am I?
- I am not the body.
I have a body
- I am not the mind
I have a mind
- I am n0t my thoughts
I think.
- I am not my perceptions
I perceive
- And so it goes…
- But still
Who am I?
And that’s the crux of the whole issue – who am I?
I know I haven’t a clue and and yet I write I know I haven’t a clue.
So who the hell (or heaven) is this I who does not know.
***
Second long practice period:
- I get stuck at this thought: “I am not an illusion, but a reality.”
The whole point is that the I that I associate with is the illusory I and perhaps that’s all.
Anyway that’s enough for today.
And that was yesterday – phone dead – no DSL – no Internet.
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OK this is total crap and that’s the miracle that it’s perfect. I just wrote the original version of this post for an hour when I have no time and I lost it all. And I was being so poetic or is pathetic – it’s been one of those two days.
So to start again – the last two days have been very hectic and very full of conflict and grievances. Not on my behalf but all around me and there was nothing I did that made things any better. Chances are that I did not make things any worse but there were people fighting each other being angry and hateful I suppose that’s all alright…
Here I need to write a myth but before an explanation of what I mean by myth. Myths do not have physical or historical truth but do have spiritual and psychological truth. So the central meaning of the myth of Genesis are that the universe was created as an evolving entity and human beings are made in the image of Divinity as male/female (or genderless) spiritual beings…
The omni myth
So the myth goes:
There was omni-being (you know all that crap like omnipotent, omniscient, all good and so on) who was doomed to exist forever (and the same way there are many infinities – read Canter – there are many eternities and this is the largest eternity say aleph-aleph-eternity) being doomed and damned to boredom.
Just imagine you can do anything and have anything for ever and ever and ever. So omni-sad.
So this super being decides to split up to an infinity of pieces. Each piece is in fact stil an omni-being with all the power the original had. Even more boring. You may say infinitely more boring. Until they forget…
Now they are limited and they have problems…
***
The four review thoughts for the two days are:
I am entitled to miracles
Let miracles replace all grievances
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved
Let me recognize my problems have been solved
I did the exercises in a weird way as I had no time. I did them while walking around. I kept repeating I deserve miracles (and variations on the other review ideas) and nothing happened until all hell broke lose with anger and disgruntlement. And there was nothing I could do to make things better.
Then tonight I felt very hyper and happy and all was alright. Even losing the one hour of the original version of this post was OK. So that’s when I remembered the above myth of creation of our dream of separation.
We are weak (well we imagine it) because we have forgotten who we are but that’s good. We have problems and nothing wrong with that. We have grievances and so on…
Earthquakes happen. Innocent people die. Human beings are so cruel and unloving. We are so greedy and that is all by design…
Anyway, tomorrow the series goes back with new ideas.
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