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SearchClassic article by Hugh Prather about the pit-falls of the "spiritual ego"!
Description of Article:
The following text is a letter written by a long time Course student/teacher who intricately describes some of the trappings associated with the concept of being a Course teacher. He takes an honest look at what has happened to himself in the direction of attempting to let go of the ego. The article itself is not written consistently from the divine perspective but it brings out many questions and attests to the importance of watching out for the trappings of the spiritual ego. Enjoy!
What is the Course? Will it exist in the 21st Century? By Hugh Prather (1999)
First, a disclaimer: The information I give here about the early days of the Course is sprinkled with a few direct observations but comes primarily from many conversations my wife Gayle and I had with Bill Thetford over the years. If there are any inaccuracies, please chalk these up to my faulty memory of what Bill told us, because nothing here is taken from books and biographies about the Course.
Bill thought it amusing that many "official" details about how the Course came were not what he recalled, even though he was by that time the only one alive who had been there from the beginning. For instance, once he laughed and said, "Now they're saying the Course came over a period of ___ years. I always thought it was ___ years." For reasons that I hope will become clearer as we go along, my purpose is not to correct historical details and for that reason I am not getting into them. "Getting into details" instead of getting into God is what causes all the trouble.
The lesson for Gayle and me was that although Bill disagreed with some of the "facts" that were being recorded about his and Helen's lives, and some of the actions that were being taken in the name of the Course, he did not feel the need to impose his position on other people. However, please note that he did have a position on these and many other subjects, and, primarily as a form of humor, he often would voice his position.
It simply isn't possible to have an ego and yet have no position, no opinions, no attitudes. In fact, when we look at our minds honestly, we see that we have mixed feelings and multiple opinions about almost everything. It is how we respond to our positions, to our own points of view—not staying unaware of them—that determines our sense of wholeness and peace. Bill's gentle example was: Do not become preoccupied with your position—which you inescapably will do if you try to force it on someone else.
In 1978, Gayle and I met Bill Thetford, Judy and Bob Skutch, Jerry Jampolsky, and several other people associated with the Course, all of whom were living in Tiburon at the time. Even though there was an underlying sense of family and mutual support among these people, several of them seemed to be wrestling with two contrasting attitudes toward the Course. One was that the Course needed protecting and promoting. In those days, this point of view was still quite weak because the original thinking—during the period when the Course was being turned over to The Foundation for Inner Peace—was that "the Course is for everyone" and shouldn't even be copyrighted, which of course would mean that no one organization could control it.
There is an interesting parallel between the early days of the Course and the early days of Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy, like Helen, felt that she was writing down a teaching that was coming to her from a higher source. I believe it is no coincidence, especially since this same attitude was present in the early days of Unity and many other spiritual teachings, that Mrs. Eddy's original impulse was not to copyright and not to organize.
In the case of ACIM, this attitude was most clearly embodied in Bill Thetford's light-hearted and humorous perspective that the Course could take care of itself, that it merely pointed to a Truth that could never be contained in words, and that no harm could come from doing what it says, which is: forget it and turn to God. For example, I know of two separate times when Bill advised people who were arguing about "what the Course meant" to "tear the page out," because, he said, "nothing should come between you and your brother." If only one manuscript of the Course existed, and if we had all followed Bill's advice, it is safe to say that by now there would be no pages left. And in many ways, that might be a good thing!
Until Bill died, the Course, for the most part, rocked gently on a sea of flexibility and good humor. And despite some very crazy uses that its words were put to by various individuals and groups, no real harm was done. As a consequence, I naively thought that the Course was going to be the first spiritual teaching to escape becoming a tool of separation. But my thinking that the Course was different was part of the mistake many of us were making. Even though separation had overtaken the teachings of Muhammad, the Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, the Prophets, and even "The Big Book" (AA), how could it happen, I said to myself, to the only teaching that contained nothing but oneness and forgiveness? In other words, how could separation overtake a teaching that was so separate?
It could happen and it has happened. In my opinion, it has occurred for the same reason that many devout Hindus practice subjugation and slavery. For the same reason that children are slaughtered in the name of Mohammed. For the same reason that students of the Buddha make statues of gold in the image of his body. And for the same reason that Jesus, who taught that we should give all we have to the poor, practice total forgiveness, and devote ourselves to each other became the symbol of the most prejudiced and privileged segment of our culture.
But the lesson for those of us who have chosen ACIM as our path, the lesson that we must now take—in fact are being forced to take—into the 21st century, is to distinguish between the book and the Reality that the book points to. Only what is separate about the Course, only the part that is in the world—only the part that you and I have been instructed to forget—can be manipulated. A book is mere words, and in Lesson 1 we have already been gently led—perhaps some would say divinely tricked—into looking at it and saying, "This book does not mean anything."
Merely the Course's words can be seen by egos. Merely the words can be taken away from this person, given to that person, used for money, used for litigation and sanctions, used for titles and certificates, and used to leave behind a now long trail of resentment, anger, financial loss, hurt feelings, and bitter righteousness. But what does God have to do with all that insanity? Nothing. Words are just words, and the Course itself assures us that our need for words is almost over.
Make no mistake; the inevitable march toward separation has nothing to do with the particular egos involved. The world is nothing but separation. Regardless of what individuals do or don't do, everything in the world eventually becomes a force for still more separation. This fact should not sadden us but free us to let go of what was never a part of God in the first place. God is not a book.
As I suggested earlier, it is virtually impossible to do the first lesson in the Course without saying, "This book does not mean anything." But if we really believed that, how could we possibly fight about who should control it or what that control should look like? We can try to control the controllers of the book, or we can turn to God. We can be preoccupied with who is and who is not allowed to make money off the book, or we can turn to God. We can argue about which ego can interpret the book best, or we can turn to God.
So what will happen to the book in the 21st century? My guess is that it will continue to decline in popularity and eventually become so associated with the organizations and personalities that war over it that they will become its meaning in the eyes of the public. The words "A Course in Miracles" will end up symbolizing something quite unlike their true meaning, just as has happened on a much larger scale with the words "Christian," "Jesus," and "the Bible."
But none of this will matter to you because the truth will still be true. Love will still be all around you. The holy light of God will still shine within you. And the One who has never left your side will bring you safely home. I suspect that even in the world, the Source of the thousand courses that have already come will send us a thousand more, and a thousand after that, and still more after that, until at last we see that it is not the form that any true teaching takes that has meaning. All that has meaning is the one Reality they point to.
What, then, is our function regarding the Course in the 21st century? It is to be acutely aware of the world's call to separate and love more God's call to come home.
A few years ago, I attended a gathering where I saw many of the people associated with the Course that Gayle and I had gotten to know in the 70's. As I said earlier, I am aware of no teaching that emphasizes innocence and unity in more straightforward terms than ACIM. I know of no teaching that ranks itself more clearly as just one of many, as a temporary aid only, and as helpful to some but not to all. ACIM simply does not present itself as a superior or even a permanent teaching, and, in my opinion, the heart of the teaching is that we must turn from our belief that we are individually "special" to the recognition that we are not only equal but one with each other and one with God.
What effect does the long-term study of such a teaching have on its students? I was surprised that after twenty years it was the opposite of what I expected. With two or three exceptions, everyone I saw at the gathering was far more separate and egocentric than they were when Gayle and I first met them. In fact, their egos were so large that many of them had lost the ability to carry on a simple conversation. They made pronouncements and listened deeply to no one. I was appalled, and when I returned home, I said to Gayle, "If this has happened to most of our Course friends, is there any chance it hasn't happened to us?"
The answer was that indeed it had happened to us. Even though we had long noticed the unhelpful effects of most religions and spiritual teachings on their students, we had thought that as Course students we were immune—because the Course emphasizes reversing this very dynamic. If the dynamic is not the fault of the teaching or religion itself—and in most cases it clearly is not—what mistakes do students make that cause it?
When Gayle and I finally looked at ourselves honestly, we discovered that although we had been ministers and spiritual teachers for many years and had written over a dozen books on spiritual themes, we personally had not become kinder or even more sane through our devotion. We, like most individuals, started a spiritual path with the intention of becoming better people and finding ways to be truly helpful, only to move in the opposite direction. The more time and thought we had put into teaching and writing about our path, the more self-absorbed we had become. We had ended up less flexible, less forgiving, and less generous than we were when we first started our path!
What we had actually learned was how to mask our egos, act spiritual, and make our own thoughts less conscious. In addition, we had accumulated hundreds of new spiritual concepts, which, unfortunately, is the primary standard by which spiritual teachers are judged (as well, of course, as TV pundits, columnists, politicians, non-fiction authors, talking-head experts, and the like).
As happened to us, most devout people seem unaware that these changes are occurring. They think they are making good progress, until one day—if they are lucky—they come face-to-face with the fact that their worst impulses have been growing in power and influence over them. In lieu of a true awakening, they make an unconscious determination that they have arrived, or that they have come close enough to the end of the journey that the remaining distance is of no consequence and requires very little of their attention.
There are clearly many individual exceptions to these generalizations, but not as many as we thought there would be when we began studying the phenomenon. This discovery has led us to place far greater emphasis on exposing the ways that the ego takes over spiritual efforts. Because the fact is, the day you started your spiritual path, your ego started it also, and for every spiritual motive you have, there is an ego motive as well. This is not reason to be afraid, but it is reason to be more aware.
Those individuals we know intimately who we believe are close to being awake, seem to have no interest in contrasting themselves with other people. Generally speaking, they live simple, ordinary lives. They are comfortable if not restful to be around. Their time is usually devoted to unimportant things and their hearts to "unimportant" people. They have no inflexible concepts or rigid patterns and there is nothing particularly unusual about the subjects they choose to talk about or anything outstanding in the personal mannerisms they exhibit. They are easily pleased, and often they are happy for no apparent reason. Because their own egos are no longer destructive, they find other people's egos amusing and endearing. Above all, they are equal and familiar. They would not be good subjects for a magazine profile. And yet, into the mundane, everyday circumstances of their lives, they quietly pour their comfort and their peace.
Bill Thetford was such a person. He didn't talk the Course. He didn't write books about the Course. He very seldom made public statements about the Course, and then only because someone had pleaded with him to do so. What Bill did was quietly and happily live the Course. And even though he saw that this was the best approach, he never said to his Course friends: "You can either teach the Course or live it, but you probably won't succeed in doing both." In this way he was truly a "teacher of God" because he taught in the way the Manual defines teaching.
Does this mean those who lecture or write about the Course have turned down a dark side road? Certainly not. Does it mean that anyone who loves discussing metaphysical ideas has lost his or her way? Certainly not. But it does mean that those who coat themselves in spiritual concepts run the risk of thinking that they are the concepts. It's not hard to notice that the people in our culture who are conspicuously devout and talk continuously about God usually begin to take on an all-knowing, all-seeing attitude. In other words, in their own minds they have become the God they profess.
"Everyone is on a path," many openly devout people say. But what they seem to be thinking is, "I, however, am on a spiritual path." In other words, "Now that I believe in oneness, I see that you and I are not one."
From having fallen into this trap ourselves, we realize that nothing is more selfish or separating than thinking that you, personally, have a higher approach to life than most other people. How could one person's way possibly be superior to another person's way if God is leading us all?
It's ironic that individuals with strong spiritual beliefs often have larger egos, are more rigid, are more unconsciously judgmental, and are more uncomfortable to be around than people who have little interest in pursuing mystical, religious, or metaphysical teachings. Those who value the concept of oneness often lack the desire to feel oneness and equality with anyone.
The ego part of us does not act independently of our wishes, because it is us—at least that is our evident and deeply felt conviction. If we are still judgmental of our teenager; then we still want to be judgmental of our teenager. If we are still confused about what our partner wants from us, then we still want to be confused. Obviously, believing in oneness doesn't automatically decrease the desire for oneness, and many people both believe in it and practice it. Yet it's interesting how often we trumpet what we ourselves fail to do and criticize in others what we ourselves do regularly.
Ironically, those who think they have the smallest egos usually have the largest egos. The self-proclaimed "seekers of truth" often have personal superiority as their unconscious agenda and end up convincing themselves that they have attained it. Those who think of themselves as normal, ordinary, and equal, and who are quite aware of their many limitations, simply are not tempted to believe that they personally can discover a spiritual truth that other people are unaware of. And yet, by definition, that is what a "seeker of truth" believes.
"A Course in Miracles" can survive in the 21st century, in fact it can transform the 21st century, if those who see the Reality it points to choose to extend themselves beyond their ego boundaries and make the interests of another their own. Awakening is not joining with some shining concept in the sky. It is joining with each other. It is lived and expressed in the hundreds of small encounters, errands, and tasks that fill each day. Only instant by instant do we choose to see our sameness, our equality, and our oneness with others. Only by loving do we wake to Love. Only by extending peace do we wake to Peace.
Every day we have hundreds of little encounters with other people in our activities and in our minds. In each of these contacts we leave something behind, and that something determines whether the Course continues to exist. Only by giving the tiny miracles of understanding, support, forbearance, and happiness can we assure that this precious teaching does not fall on dead ears and dead hearts. Let us walk away from the bloody battlefield where egos fight for the rights to ego words. That was never where the Course was in the first place. God is now. God is here. We never left home. So let us be happy that God's arms are still around us. His heart is still our heart. His eyes are still our eyes. He is all there is.
Hugh and Gayle are parents, ministers, and authors of fourteen books including Spiritual Notes to Myself; Spiritual Parenting; and I Will Never Leave You. Hugh's Pre-ACIM book, Notes to Myself, sold over 5,000,000 copies!
How can I give over my guilt to the Holy Spirit and know that I've been successful at this?
Question:
You say, "Pockets of guilt must be exposed and voluntarily given to the Holy Spirit, and as this occurs it becomes apparent that the guilt was never real." I have tried to do this but I have doubt that I am doing this effectively. My thinking is very literal. The past that I hold in mind was very bad, violent, painful, etc. I have tried to let it go and think of it as just a really bad dream where nothing in it was real. I was/am the dreamer making everything in the dream happen. I constantly ask the Holy Spirit/Jesus to help me with everything I do. This is on my mind almost every waking hour. It is like an obsession to "find my way home." I realize that there is nothing here in this world that is worth anything at all. I asked Holy Spirit about all the problems I seem to have. This is a simplified version of what I believe I have got: I have only one problem, and that problem is that I believe that I can be separate from God. All other problems stem from this one belief and are only distractions to keep me from looking at the original problem. For if I look at the original problem reason will tell me that it is impossible for me to be separate from God. I think this is true but am not sure.
This leads me back to the letting go of guilt idea. I have guilt for something that did not happen. It did not happen because it has no cause. But, I can believe it happened which does not make it real but generates guilt. Is this not insanity? How do I bring guilt for something that never happened to light and give it to the Holy Spirit? How do I know that I have been successful at this? I don't want anything to keep my mind from being healed, from awakening from the dream.
Answer:
Thanks for writing. Your desire to find your way Home is a powerful force and this is pushing all the attack thoughts into awareness. You can relax, there is no need to feel like it is an obsession, since you are giving your mind permission to let the beliefs and thoughts surface. What you are hearing from the Holy Spirit is true: "I have only one problem, and that problem is that I believe that I can be separate from God. All other problems stem from this one belief and are only distractions to keep me from looking at the original problem. For if I look at the original problem reason will tell me that it is impossible for me to be separate from God." All of the "surface issues" (form problems) were made to distract the mind from looking within at the beliefs. Think of the mind like concentric circles with desire in the center. The next ring is belief, followed by thought, followed by emotion, followed by perception. The inner areas determine the outer. You are using your desire (center) to Wake Up as the incentive to question everything you believe, and as false belief is dissolved the thoughts that sprang from the ego are released as well. This in turn releases fearful emotions and perceptions. This is why ACIM talks so frequently about the little willingness—it is this splinter of desire to Awaken (joined with the Holy Spirit) that ignites the undoing of the ego. The Holy Spirit is the "how" and miracles (shifts in perception) are the means. Cause and effect are getting turned back around and this means you are becoming aware that mind is causative. Quickly give over these thoughts to the Holy Spirit and He will show you that the thoughts had no real effects.
Pockets of guilt are fixed beliefs that have not been questioned and are still assumed to be true. The base of these beliefs is the belief that time is linear instead of simultaneous. As the pockets of guilt are released peace returns to awareness. You will know of your mind-training "success" by the peace you feel.
In Peace,
David
How can I convince others that God did not create this world?
Question:
I'm having a tough time with some folks refusing to believe that this "world" was not created by God. They believe that it was created by God, as were we, and that He lives in all the pretty flowers, etc. Now I know that's not so, but how does one handle that kind of rigidity?
Answer:
Releasing the belief in a "they" or "some folks" is yielding to the flow that ends all rigidity. Emptying the mind of all concepts and images releases the belief in knowing anything about this world and opens it to acceptance of Atonement. The experience of now sees no "other,” for love is One. ACIM Workbook lessons 29 & 30 eliminate pantheism (seeing God as indwelling in separate objects) as a possibility and reveal God is in everything I see because God is in my Mind. The purpose of the Holy Spirit unifies perception to a single perspective, and even this holy perception must then give way to the light, the Vision of Christ. The lesson of acceptance is our own, and any upset is a call to release the belief that there is anything outside of mind. Love has no object, for love is whole. God creates only Spirit! True forgiveness rests on the idea that God did not create a meaningless world.
David
I'm searching for my Calling but not hearing anything specific... can you help?
Question:
I have spent the last year in turmoil over losing my house, giving up belongings, garden and pool, lots of space to smaller space; then moving in alone. I have been searching for a calling—the path where I am to be used in the Spirit. It seems as if Spirit is holding out for something, as I am still waiting for direction. Please help.
Answer:
Thanks for writing. Yes, the Holy Spirit is Calling you. Everyone is Called, though in this world few seem to listen to or answer the Call. Yet nothing of the world matters to Eternity. Peace and Happiness are a matter of decision and the willingness to decide for God. The Call can seem to get covered over with many distractions and ego pursuits, yet the Call remains. The Call, if followed, will Guide one toward the Holy Instant in which Love simply Is. Everything I share is Given freely, as assistance in answering the Call. With a little willingness the door to the turnaround will be apparent. Make use of all that is offered. Take the baby steps of a little willingness. And above all expect miracles, for they are natural and a reflection of our Heavenly Inheritance.
Love always,
David
How can I heal my body of parasites without having an attitude of wanting to "kill" or "get rid of" them?
Question:
I have been reading "A Course in Miracles" and am experiencing some confusion.
There is a lot of talk about the attack/guilt sequence, which makes sense to me and I agree with it overall. My particular condition is I have had parasites that have been causing severe symptoms for many years now and have tried an array of different herbal treatments to try to free my body of them, with no success. Now I am reluctantly going the route of conventional antibiotics to purge them from my system. My attitude towards them is not always what I would like it to be, since I directly experience their effects through my body, and I know and appreciate the lessons I have been learning from them in terms of patience, tolerance, compassion, that can come with any disease. My inability up to now to expunge them from my body by meditating on pure light dissolving whatever negative intention that surrounds them has not been fully successful either. So I am looking at discharging them from my body through antibiotics, destroying the bodies of those who would want to remain. In this process it has been very difficult to look upon them with objective love, and not be tempted to have somewhat of a destructionist attitude. I realize that to kill in itself is an illusion, but I am very conscious of what Christ speaks about in terms of we do to ourselves and that which we inflict upon others.
The immune system functions, as my studies reveal, very much like an army. And when foreign intruders (microbes, unfriendly bacteria, etc.) enter the body's system and would cause distress, the different aspects of the immune system work together to systematically level, and in most cases destroy or dissolve the unwelcome guests.
In trying to handle my condition and purge myself of my unwanted guests, I am trying to keep an attitude of higher Love and Understanding which will help me see all this in light of spiritual understandings such as ACIM provides. I have read that all disease is one, in the sense it is all a desire to be separate from our creator. Since my desire is one of unity, I want to carry an intention of this into my dealings with my body.
Answer:
It is true that our deepest desire is one of Unity, for Creation is Pure Unity. The deepest desire of mind asleep, therefore, is to Wake Up and remember the Unity with God that can never be broken. This deepest desire was seemingly covered by clouds of doubt and confusion, the ego, and Awakening is simply going beyond the dark clouds of error to the Light of Truth within. The error was as you have stated it: "...all disease is one, in the sense it is all a desire to be separate from our Creator." The way you bring the intention of unity into all dealings with the body is to accept the Atonement (complete forgiveness), Which is the undoing or dissolving of the ego IN THE mind. This requires unlearning and releasing everything you seemed to believe and learn about yourself (as a person) and the time-space cosmos. Included in this unlearning is the release of the belief that there is any causation whatsoever in form or matter. This will require questioning the belief in the "medical model" which assumes that symptoms and disease have a physical origin. All seeming dis-ease is rooted in an ontological feeling of guilt (the attack-guilt sequence you referred to in the beginning of your e-mail) and this guilt seems to arise from what ACIM calls "wrong-mindedness,” which is belief that there is causation in matter or form.
Acceptance of the healed mind or the forgiven world might be described as seeing that there is nothing apart from mind. This cosmos is the belief that Divine Mind, Spirit, can be made "manifest" as "the physical,” yet Spirit remains forever Spirit and Eternal. The time-space cosmos is the illusion of "temporal, ephemeral, transitory, changing, physical manifestations" and is not Reality, for True Reality is Eternal and Changeless. Forgiveness is an illusion, for in Oneness there is nothing to forgive. Yet forgiveness is the illusion (healed mind) that leads beyond the belief in multiple illusions (specific forms) and toward the remembrance of Christ and God (Whole Mind, Divine Mind). The parasites perceived in wrong-mindedness were a reflection of the belief in dependency and attack, and this belief is a call for Help, a call for forgiveness or right-mindedness. To accept the Correction, Atonement or complete forgiveness, it is necessary to realize that only mind is causative and that there is no world apart from mind. This opens the way for the remembrance of God, the recognition that only Love is Real.
Forgiveness is complete inclusion in mind and thus the seeming release of any scrap of thought that anything could ever be apart from mind. The concept of a parasite is something that feeds off of something else. Right-mindedness sees the wholeness of the tapestry and therefore happily transcends the dualistic concepts of competition and conflict and scarcity and dependency on form, which are the same error: wrong-mindedness. There is no causation in form. Beloved One, if you could but see that all dualistic concepts attempt to veil the Love and Unity of Creation you would be instantly healed. God's Will is for Perfect Happiness, and Awakening is the acceptance that God's Will and our Will as the Christ are One. This is the Unity of Spirit in Which there is no end or limit.
True immunity is immunity of mind: forgiveness, for forgiveness sees the impossibility of attack and defense. In forgiveness there is only inclusion and wholeness, and thus destruction is impossible. As the mind is purged of the unwanted guests (attack thoughts) the result is inevitably an experience of Love and Understanding. By studying and applying ACIM you are focusing your efforts on healing the cause: mind. Our "immunity system" of mind, which is the only immunity system that works, relies on peace of mind. Peace of mind rests on purity of thought. Realize that attack thoughts and grievances are the only "parasites" to release, for they have no place in our Holy Mind. What is perceived as "in the world and apart from mind" is only what is believed. It is well worth the effort to question the false belief in physical causation. "Physical causation" is a contradiction in terms, for only mind is causative.
We are joined in the same Purpose. Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the Peace of God.
I Love You forever,
David
Is the conscious, mystical experience of "I Am" still in the realm of the ego?
Overall description of video:
This question is asked at 4 minutes into the video below. Autonomy is a more subtle form of specialness. God creates and creation is extension. Spirit creates spirit. This is what Jesus calls true autonomy. What counts as autonomy in this world is independence which is a false sense of autonomy. The spiritual path leads to the realization that "I Am-ness" is so more vast than we can imagine. There are many praises of autonomy in Western culture and great fear can arise of losing personal independence. However both personal identity and collective identity are false constructs. Complete God dependence is a feeling of trust and being completely taken care of without any risk.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJMOwl7QgvY#t=4m00s
Can a spiritual path such as the Course be a path of loneliness and isolation?
Question:
Can a spiritual path such as the Course be a path of loneliness and isolation?
Answer:
At times in working with "A Course in Miracles," or many spiritual paths, the ego does experience loneliness. It is a feeling of separation that is buried very deep. I chose to face those feelings by going off to live in a hermitage in the woods, where the lonely feelings came up in my face! So often when you remove distractions, you first become in touch with loneliness and emptiness. The appearances that were given meaning, you withdraw the meaning from. And for a moment, or many moments, it can seem like a meaningless journey. It is just the ego being raised up into awareness.
Love,
David
How can I quiet my mind and come to the experience of consistent Peace?
General description of video:
This question is asked at 1 minute into the video below. Part 3/7 from a three-hour gathering held on Feb 13th, 2011 in San Anselmo, CA with David Hoffmeister and friends. This joy-filled and insightful gathering was all about the practical application of A Course in Miracles to relationships, especially focused on "couple" relationships!
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5E27h8v3Xs#t=1m00s
Why do I keep flip-flopping between ego and higher states of Enlightenment?
Question:
I’ve been doing the lessons of ACIM for the last 34 days. At my first course study group meeting, I felt that salvation was already here with me. Moments of awakening seemed like they would never go away. I returned to Dubai and find that same salvation waxing and waning. The power of the "insight" does not fade, but that ability to BE that ONE again seems somewhat tested from time to time. Every lesson uplifts one a little bit more and at times one feels one is literally flying. Is enlightenment like this? Up one day and slightly less the next? Underneath it all, one feels a peace hard to describe. Flip-flopping is what one awakened one called it. Why flip-flopping?
Answer:
Thanks for sharing your heart! In our joining of Purpose the seeming flip-flopping ceases. This is the final lesson: the Truth is true and only the Truth is true. Truth is beyond a shred or scrap of doubt, and what was the seeming flip-flopping was but doubt of Identity. Certainty takes the place of flip-flopping as surely as Love is Real. One seems to undergo a stage of vigilance until it dawns that there is only One and nothing to "oppose." First one shall seem to unplug the ego, and then it seems as if the ego never was. I rejoice with You as the Spirit Now! Nothing can change Eternal Love.
Love,
David
How can I transcend my fear of being penniless and a burden to my daughter?
Question:
I am sober now nine years. I am very aware of the awakening process that began at that time, and since beginning ACIM and becoming dedicated to the Truth, I have had so many of my ego thoughts just disappear. Meanwhile, I have been able to support myself financially, but at what cost? I am tired all the time—I do things I don't want to do and yet I'm still afraid to do nothing. To just be. I don't want to stay at this job much longer, but I am afraid that if I leave, ”others" will say I'm forever running, never satisfied, always moving from one job to the other, I am so irresponsible and lazy, who does she think she is? You can't just up and leave a job that others would love to have?
I am committed to Joy and happiness and abundance and Love. I want that more than anything. The fear of being penniless and a burden to my daughter is what keeps me stuck I think.
Answer:
Thanks for your devotion to Awakening. As you progress inward it will be more and more evident that you are happily becoming God-dependent. This is the meaning of "Except ye become as little children ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Infants are completely dependent on their parents for survival in this world. Likewise, one must be completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to remember the Christ Self and God's Love. As you follow the Voice for God within, the doubt thoughts will continue to seem to dissolve, and your apparent "needs" as you serve the Plan will be handled miraculously. Now is a time of deepening in our shared Purpose, for this depth is required to take the steps that will surely follow. Be gentle and kind and nurture the Awakening of the mind by addressing whatever is placed before you. Let the tomorrow take care of tomorrow. Concerns and worries about the future are never prudent or practical, for they are always based on the past.
Ease your way into Divine Providence by accepting the Peace within, and watch how effortlessly and miraculously everything is handled for you by the Holy Spirit. You are a messenger of God's Love and God's Messengers are worth their keep while they serve the Holy Spirit's Purpose. Like many, you will benefit from witnesses of being about the Holy Spirit's Purpose. You will seem to take on a lofty function as a miracle worker, for you have been Called by the Holy Spirit to this holy function. The many "doings" on which you will be sent will bring with them much Joy. And these miracles will convince your mind that the "laws" of the world it seemed to believe in and serve were never real. Your "story" will be miraculous, and then you will see that you are far more than any story that ever seemed to be. You are the One!
I am joined with you in Purpose and rejoice with you as the doubt thoughts disappear from your awareness. They will all disappear. All Glory to the One Who creates Perfectly and Eternally!!!
Love,
David