Search in this category
SearchHow should I handle it when conflict arises in a relationship and emotions escalate?
General description of video:
This topic is brought up around 26 minutes and 55 seconds into the first video, and the discussion continues on into the second video below. Part 4 and 5 from a 7-part, 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 videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvPqI3shf-8#t=26m55s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOQg8e2VRNo
What do you think about our state of affairs in terms of the "new world order" and other secret societies?
Question:
What do you think about our state of affairs in terms of the New World Order and secret societies? Do you have some practical insights in that area?
Answer:
Thanks for writing and sharing your questions. The New World Order is wonderful to behold with the Holy Spirit, for there is an awareness of the Divine Order. Everything is in perfect alignment with the Purpose of the Holy Spirit. This Perspective is not the ego's version of the "New World Order" which always emphasizes control and a particular distribution of "power" and "resources." There is nothing new or spontaneous or inspired in the ego's apparent hierarchy of illusions. It matters not how the deck chairs of the Titanic are arranged or rearranged, for the Vastness of the Ocean of Spirit inevitably swallows up the entire "ship" in a Stillness that is the Allness of God.
As for secret societies, there is nothing that can BE kept secret or mysterious in the Holy Spirit's Gentle Light. Society is a construct of the ego, which believes in private thoughts and private minds that come and go and group and regroup and arrange and rearrange. Groupings, rumors, and secrets are the attempt to play hide and seek with Christ, yet the recognition of Christ is obvious and direct to the Mind that is whole and unified. The veil of duality falls away in the experience of Union, as dark gives way to the dawning of Light. Everything is openly revealed in Christ, and what seemed to imprison vanished before the coming of the Light.
Enlightenment is practical because it is inevitable. Heaven is Now, is Present, and is thus immediately Known. There are no mysteries in God, and the only seeming mystery was one of mistaken identity. Prayers are thus Answered: Christ is forever Christ, at One with God Eternally. No war was ever fought, for Eternity enters not into time, Truth never descends into error, and Infinity can never be made finite and broken into bits and pieces and degrees and measures. Present Peace is not a small Gift, and the Purpose of forgiveness is not difficult to grasp for the willing mind. It seemed difficult indeed to keep a secret identity apart from the Whole. An artificial concept of ordered images was impossible to uphold with the dawning of the Light. Now all that remains is to rejoice that illusions were never true!
Love & Blessings always,
David
What is illusion? What of the beauty I see in the world?
Question:
I often wonder what is illusion and what is real? Is it illusion to want to be of service to another? Is it illusion to leave “stability” in order to seek other expressions, only to find that I just wander? I go from one job to another and I find no purpose but the interaction between those I touch or touches me....is this illusion?
I work hard, and do a good job, but still I am restless when work and praise are the only results, so I move on to find what other expressions will teach me something. And there is my beloved husband of over 30 years who sort of flows with it all, and a grown daughter who simply loves and watches her mom bounce from here to there...is this an illusion?
I have a voice within that tells to "settle down, be real" - are you real? I am one who walks a fence all too often, hearing many voices and sometimes realizing that it is the voice of God that i can hear...
Answer:
Thanks for writing and pouring out what is crossing your mind. It is our Purpose to see that there is never, at any moment, a need to attempt any compromise or walk any fence of doubt. Clarity of Identity brings an end to doubt forever, and the Voice for God is ever Present within to Answer any mistaken thought of identity with the Experience of Truth. You are the Christ, Beloved of God forever and ever and ever. Nothing can change the Truth of our Oneness in God, for God creates Eternally in Spirit.
Compromise may seem to be a good thing in the world of dualistic perception, but I offer that Salvation is no compromise of any kind. Truth would not be Truth if there were exceptions to Truth, and there is no middle ground among what seems to be different illusions. The question "What is illusion?" is a version of the question: "What is the ego?" Here is what the Christ Mind expresses in "A Course In Miracles" Manual for Teachers on this subject:
"What is the ego? But a dream of what you really are. A thought you are apart from your Creator and a wish to be what He created not. It is a thing of madness, not reality at all. A name for namelessness is all it is. A symbol of impossibility; a choice for options that do not exist. We name it but to help us understand that it is nothing but an ancient thought that what is made has immortality. But what could come of this except a dream which, like all dreams, can only end in death?
What is the ego? Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. Yet could God's Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? Who asks you to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real, and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so.
There is no definition for a lie that serves to make it true. Nor can there be a truth that lies conceal effectively. The ego's unreality is not denied by words nor is its meaning clear because its nature seems to have a form. Who can define the undefinable? And yet there is an answer even here.
We cannot make a definition for what the ego is, but we can say what it is not. And this is shown to us with perfect clarity. It is from this that we deduce all that the ego is. Look at its opposite and you can see the only answer that is meaningful.
The ego's opposite in every way, -- in origin, effect and consequence -- we call a miracle. And here we find all that is not the ego in this world.
Here is the ego's opposite and here alone we look on what the ego was, for here we see all that it seemed to do, and cause and its effects must still be one.
Where there was darkness now we see the light. What is the ego? What the darkness was. Where is the ego? Where the darkness was. What is it now and where can it be found? Nothing and nowhere. Now the light has come: its opposite has gone without a trace. Where evil was there now is holiness.
What is the ego? What the evil was. Where is the ego? In an evil dream that but seemed real while you were dreaming it. Where there was crucifixion stands God's Son. What is the ego? Who has need to ask? Where is the ego? Who has the need to seek for an illusion now that dreams are gone?
What is a Miracle? A dream as well. But look at all the aspects of this dream and you will never question any more. Look at the kindly world you see extend before you as you walk in gentleness. Look at the helpers all along the way you travel, happy in the certainty of Heaven and the surety of peace. And look an instant, too, on what you left behind at last and finally passed by.
This was the ego -- all the cruel hate, the need for vengeance and the cries of pain, the fear of dying and the urge to kill, the brother less illusion and the self that seemed alone in all the universe. This terrible mistake about yourself the miracle corrects as gently as a loving mother sings her child to rest. Is not a song like this what you would hear? Would it not answer all you thought to ask, and even make the question meaningless?
Your questions have no answer, being made to still God's Voice, Which asks of everyone one question only: "Are you ready yet to help Me save the world?" Ask this instead of what the ego is, and you will see a sudden brightness cover up the world the ego made. No miracle is now withheld from anyone. The world is saved from what you thought it was. And what it is, is wholly uncondemned and wholly pure."
The ego is a question that Christ never asked. The mind that seems to have forgotten its Identity and Source is nowhere and nothing - seemingly asleep and dreaming, believing Eternal Love no longer exists. "What am I?" was the first question of the big bang of a time-space cosmos that in truth never happened. The Holy Spirit is the Answer to the impossible identity question and the Answer is the Experience of "I am as God created Me,” and "I am Spirit."
The perceptual world is learned. The perceptual world is transitory and finite. The perceptual world is limited. It is false belief which is seeming layers and layers of make-believe concepts that God did not create. As the ego belief system is questioned and released, you first seem to become aware that you are not the limited concepts and roles that make up the self-concept. These limited identity concepts and roles are the illusion, for the illusion is one of littleness.
Forgiveness offers an alternative to littleness, the big picture of wholeness, a tapestry undivided. A healed mind perceives a healed world, for such a mind serves one Purpose that has been Given from the Holy Spirit. Without a split purpose, the mind is unable to perceive a conflicted world.
"Is it illusion to want to be of service to another?" As one surrenders into the desire to be truly Helpful and Serve as the Holy Spirit directs, it dawns in awareness that there is no "other" but the Christ. “Love ye one another" dissolves into the recognition of Love Thy Self as God created Thy Self. Thy Christ Self is Love ItSelf. Forgiveness of illusion reveals that there is nothing apart from one mind—that there are no private, separate minds.
"Is it illusion to come from stability, to seek other expressions only to find that I just wander?" Following anything the world (or ego) says or defines IS the feeling of wandering. Peace of mind comes from releasing the ego concepts and goals (bigger, better, faster, more, personhood, time, space, private mind, etc.) and accepting forgiveness as the one goal of all seeming effort. The actual experience of the Perspective of forgiveness is without effort and can be thought of as Divine Ease, because the belief in opposites is undone and there is nothing to put forth effort for or against.
"I work hard, and do a good job but still I am restless when work and praise are the only results, so I move on to find what other expressions will teach me." The Holy Spirit has a function that brings only happiness. This Purpose is increasingly applied to everyone and everything, every seeming separate situation, until the misperception of separate people, places, things, events, situations, and linear time dissolves with a Final Miracle of Atonement. The Atonement is one's only responsibility, for It restores the awareness of the Singularity of Mind. Oneness is real and Eternally changeless, and forgiveness is the gateway to the remembrance of What Is without beginning or end.
"And with all there is my beloved husband of over 30 years who sort of flows with it all and a grown daughter who simply loves and watches her mom bounce from here to there loving the world she sees. Is this an illusion?" Christ teaches this: "Who is my father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, daughter, son? -- Whosoever knows the Will of our Heavenly Creator knows All as the Family of God in Spirit. No one is more or less special, no one is more or less kin or relation. No one is closer, no one is distant. No one is different in Christ's Holy Presence, for there is none other than the One. Forms which appear to differ are naught but illusion, for Sameness prevails in the Holy Spirit's Perspective.
"I have a voice within that tells me "Settle down, be real...." Are you real?
This Lovely, Kind, Gentle Voice for God always reminds: "Forgive illusions and Be Real, for You are as God created You." Yes, Spirit is Real. Yes, the I Am Presence is real. Yes, I am real, for I am not "David" and there is but One Self -- the Christ. Thanks be to God for creating All is One!!! All Glory to God!!!
Love,
David
Through the Holy Spirit's eyes, what form would a marriage take? Would there still be physical expressions of intimacy?
Question:
It is quite an extraordinary journey with ACIM. It has quietly and surely gone about its business of undoing and healing my false belief system. It truly seems to be doing what it promises: changing my view of the world, others and myself. Most times I am really excited and grateful with the process and trust the Holy Spirit to do what needs to be done.
But I have been married for fifteen years and am starting to wonder what being married looks like or will look like from the HS perspective. Will we still be sleeping in the same bed? Do I still kiss her when I drop her off at work? Do we touch? If the goal is true communication, then why would sex, touching, hugging even be an option? Sex and intimacy have always been strong elements of who I believe I am and a real source of so called "love" for me.
In our groups I have always enjoyed the hugging aspect in the welcoming process. This has changed for me over time and now I don't need to touch or have a physical presence to join. I am also very aware that I don't want the same change of beliefs regarding my partner and wife. ACIM is now getting really close to home!
I have come to realize that I don't know how to be a good friend or how to be truly helpful. I don't know how to say hello or goodbye, and now, how to be a husband, partner, how to be in this so-called skin and bones. Is there a place for marriage when there is only One True Relationship? It feels like the foundation that marriage and everything else in this world has been based on is false.
Your comments and sharing are most welcome. My wife and I DO want to go all the way in Love, not fear. Thank you for being such a wonderful example and inspiration!
Answer:
Thanks for your sincere and heartfelt email and for pouring out what is on your mind and what you are experiencing. It is so beautiful and wondrous to actually shift from the ego's purpose to the Holy Spirit's Purpose, and this is now coming into awareness. Marriage is Union, and you are opening to the Union of Mind that is the Oneness of Christ. God's Love is Christ's Love and knows ItSelf as One. Agape Love is unconditional. There are not different kinds of Love, nor are there degrees of Love. This Enlightenment experience transcends the body entirely, and thus it transcends the concepts involved with the body (including concepts of interpersonal relationship and companionship). Past sensations and past associations had been held in mind with regard to the concepts of intimacy and union and companionship. Now you are approaching the Holy Instant, the Present Moment. In your work with "A Course In Miracles" you have at one time or another come across many passages that point toward transcending all body thoughts and entering into True Relationship. Here are a few examples:
"The presence of fear shows that you have raised body thoughts to the level of the mind. This removes them from my control, and makes you feel personally responsible for them. This is an obvious confusion of levels." (T-2.VI.1)
"Let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay your progress to salvation, nor permit temptation to believe the world holds anything you want to hold you back." (W-128.4)
"Perception did not exist until the separation introduced degrees, aspects and intervals. Spirit has no levels, and all conflict arises from the concept of levels." (T-3.IV.1)
"The Holy Spirit cannot teach through fear. And how can He communicate with you, while you believe that to communicate is to make yourself alone? It is clearly insane to believe that by communicating you will be abandoned. And yet many do believe it. For they think their minds must be kept private or they will lose them, but if their bodies are together their minds remain their own. The union of bodies thus becomes the way in which they would keep minds apart. For bodies cannot forgive. They can only do as the mind directs....The illusion of the autonomy of the body and its ability to overcome loneliness is but the working of the ego's plan to establish its own autonomy. As long as you believe that to be with a body is companionship, you will be compelled to attempt to keep your brother in his body, held there by guilt." (T-15.VII.11-12)
"You see the world you value. On this side of the bridge you see the world of separate bodies, seeking to join each other in separate unions and to become one by losing. When two individuals seek to become one, they are trying to decrease their magnitude. Each would deny his power, for the separate union excludes the universe. Far more is left outside than would be taken in, for God is left without and taken in. If one such union were made in perfect faith, the universe would enter into it." (T-16.VI.5)
"This is the function of your holy relationship. For what one thinks, the other will experience with him. What can this mean except your mind and your brother's are one? Look not with fear upon this happy fact, and think not that it lays a heavy burden on you. For when you have accepted it with gladness, you will realize that your relationship is a reflection of the union of the Creator and His Son. From loving minds there is no separation. And every thought in one brings gladness to the other because they are the same. Joy is unlimited, because each shining thought of love extends its being and creates more of itself. There is no difference anywhere in it, for every thought is like itself." (T- 22.VI.14)
"God's peace is recognized at first by just one thing; in every way it is totally unlike all previous experiences. It calls to mind nothing that went before. It brings with it no past associations. It is a new thing entirely. There is a contrast, yes, between this thing and all the past. But strangely, it is not a contrast of true differences. The past just slips away, and in its place is everlasting quiet. Only that. The contrast first perceived has merely gone. Quiet has reached to cover everything." (M-20.2)
In Awakening, first your perception will seem to expand and become all-inclusive. One relationship is every relationship. No one is excluded from the Family of God, the Family of Divine Mind. What once seemed limited and possessive and private and exclusive will fade and grow dim and disappear, replaced by wholeness. Being aware that Love is within and joined with the Holy Spirit, this Holy Spirit Perspective includes everything in mind and thus nothing is excluded or rejected. There are no "couples" or "congregations" in healed perception, for there is no duality or multiplicity in wholeness. True Companionship is Oneness with God, and this Relationship is in Spirit. The thought of bodies (who is with who, who broke up with who, who is attracted to who) was the past. Private "minds" with private "thoughts" was the ego's basis for its "interpersonal relationship." It is only possible to be in Love with All, for such is the All-inclusiveness of God's Love. Love has no opposite and cannot be broken apart into meaningless bits and pieces and parts.
There is a unifying Purpose that the Holy Spirit offers that is important to accept, and this Purpose stabilizes one's perception of the world and all seeming relationships:
"A common purpose is the only means whereby perception can be stabilized, and one interpretation given to the world and all experiences here. In this shared purpose is one judgment shared by everyone and everything you see. You do not have to judge, for you have learned one meaning has been given everything, and you are glad to see it everywhere. It cannot change you would perceive it everywhere, unchanged by circumstance. And so you offer it to all events, and let them offer you stability." (T-30.VII.4)
I am joined with you in accepting this Purpose. Accepting the Atonement is the sole responsibility, and Enlightenment is Certain. Many aspects of "interpersonal relationship" contained the ego's specialness or the "attraction to guilt." In "A Course In Miracles" it is explained: "It is impossible to seek for pleasure through the body and not find pain." (T-19.IV.B.12) The Holy Spirit undoes the sick attraction to guilt through the Joy of the miracle! Glory to God for the miracle Correction (Atonement) that dissolves fear and guilt and pain and offers only Blessings!
In Loving Kindness,
David
Can it be guided to leave a relationship? How to discern?
General description of video:
This question is asked at 25 minutes and 35 seconds into the video below. Part 2/7 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=9pb4ZsUmozM#t=25m35s
What are ACIM's views on sacred sexuality and romantic relationships?
Question:
Please could you share the understanding of ACIM's views on sacred sexuality and relationships of a romantic nature.
Answer:
A little more than nine chapters (15-24) in "A Course In Miracles" are devoted to releasing specialness, special love & hate relationships, and opening to the experience of holy relationship. Attraction to the body is the attraction to guilt. Enlightenment is a recognition of the Spirit beyond the body and the experience of Divine Innocence. The seeming Awakening "process" is an unlearning or undoing of the ego in which the mind is emptied of all specific concepts to make way for forgiveness (seeing the false as false). Miracle impulses are the Call to return Home to God, yet they become distorted in consciousness as appetites, fantasies, and "getting mechanisms" when they pass through the ego's filter of lack and need. Agape Love knows no need or lack. Romantic "love" springs from the attempt to find "love" in form. True joining opens communication and dissolves the filter, allowing miracle impulses to reach consciousness directly. Relationship is truly only a means for working miracles and extending Love and this Purpose shows the body as meaningless and reveals the Spirit as All.
Learning to give in the fullest sense will draw one out of the sense of having a separate will apart from God's Will. As long as one holds on to a self-concept one must want to get something outside of One Self, and must believe it is possible to do so. Your assignment with your partner, indeed with everyone you meet, is to learn how to give totally, completely, without distinctions or conditions of any kind.
Your partner is calling on the Sacred. Respect your partner's devotion to God, for it is yours. Listen carefully to the Spirit, for what your partner is asking for is what you are asking for. And what you give to your partner, you give to yourself.
This is what is meant by the path of devotion. In devoting yourself to one goal, forgiveness, you lose all sense of separate interests and separate selves. No request is too large or small in this Perspective. You can only join in this Perspective, the Perspective of the dreamer—never in the dream. Love does not oppose. There is nothing to fight, defend against, or be right about. And devotion requires trust, for trust in the Spirit dissolves all doubt.
At your current awareness, you perceive yourself as "in a situation." By learning to give without distinctions, you will learn to experience your Self beyond "situations,” as Everywhere and Everything! All that you need do is trust, step back, and do not interfere with an experience that will come of Its own accord. True Giving will reveal Itself to you and as You.
You will come to the realization that relationship is not personal. The only Real Relationship is Christ and the Creator God. It is not between persons, for thought-form associations deny the only Real Relationship. You cannot experience what True Relationship is until you have first realized the impossibility of the attempt to make past associations take the place of Reality. If the attempt is made to raise body thoughts to the level of mind (causation), and behavior is thought to be autonomous or independent of mind, you will not experience your Self as you are in True Relationship. Body thoughts are unreal effects, from an unreal "cause." Images do not relate to images, bodies do not relate to bodies, and persons do not relate to persons. There is no real relationship on the horizontal plane, for relationship and communication (communion) are in the Mind of God, and in that way are vertical. Our Reality and God are in eternal relationship and direct communication, or "communion."
All concepts of relationship must give way to forgiveness, seeing the false as false, and understanding that thought-forms cannot be meaningfully associated, ordered, or arranged. Time is simultaneous, not linear and sequential. Forgiveness does not attempt to change the past to compensate for a feeling of lack or guilt or inadequacy or incompletion. It sees the past as over and gone. By seeing that the image of the world cannot change, being all the same, the mind is freed from attempting the impossible and can recognize Itself as Changeless Mind!!! The awareness that illusions are one opens the Way for the Recognition that Mind is One! This is the realization that Love is All there Is!
Christ and God remain in an Eternal Relationship in the Mind of God. On earth relationships offer rich unlearning opportunities to release every grievance and every scrap of fear and guilt. True Union is the Christ Mind, and as all ego attempts to make a "union" in form are exposed and released the Memory of Union with God returns to full awareness. In Atonement all "individual relationships" have dissolved, and the Perspective of the Holy Spirit is all-inclusive. Nothing remains as private, possessive, or separate in the forgiven world. Healed perception sees the whole as whole.
I am joined with everyone in the Perspective of wholeness. Now earth reflects the Light of Heaven, and only dear, dear blessing remains. Glory to the One that is Love Eternal! Amen.
Love always,
David
What are ACIM's views on motherhood/parenthood, and how can I deepen my spiritual journey while raising a child?
Question:
I have had several new developments in my "life" recently, one being that I am expecting a baby. I am in my 7th month. As you can imagine this has been a very exciting and challenging time in my life on many levels. I would definitely say that many of my unconscious belief systems are coming up to be unlearned. It has been painful to be quite honest but joyful also. When the fears and pain come up I continually pray and ask for guidance from the Spirit within. I guess I would like your thoughts on the experience of motherhood/parenthood and how the Course sees it. And also how to continue to deepen my walk with Spirit while also "raising" a child.
Answer:
Thanks for sharing what is on your heart and for your willingness to use everything for Awakening. Everything that seems to happen in this world is truly just a backdrop to allow the ego's unconscious belief system to come up and be unlearned. Rest assured that all things work together for good and chance plays no part in salvation from illusions. While some spiritual traditions emphasize going off to a monastery or a convent or to the woods or mountains, the Course is a path that involves releasing judgments and grievances in the context of mind, including what appears in awareness as perceived interpersonal relationships. Motherhood and parenthood are aspects of personhood, and this is the construct one is freed of in Enlightenment. The Holy Spirit uses the symbols of the little make-believe "self" and gently Guides the mind into broadening vistas of consciousness. You are far more than a mother or parent, yet this backdrop of parenting will be a rich opportunity for the undoing of the Authority problem. You will behold the forgiven world.
This world was the belief that it is possible to author a self different from the Christ Self that God creates Eternally in Spirit. The simple word for this insane belief is pride. Pride is false authorship. God is the only True Parent or Author, the Creator of Reality. And so it can be said that "parenting" with relation to bodies and body thoughts is the opportunity for the undoing of pride. The path before you is filled with many, many seeming opportunities to release the belief in self-authorship and control, the belief that a body can be a separate self that can be a "separate, unique individual." The body symbolizes the belief in private minds with private thoughts, which IS the ego. Yet given over to the Holy Spirit the path before you is a rapid undoing of every scrap of ego pride and control and resistance.
A child is a mirror of what you believe you are, as long as the belief in differences persists in awareness. A child is an ancient unconscious belief system coming up into awareness to be unlearned. To love as God Loves, unconditionally, the obstacles to the awareness of Love's Presence must be exposed and released. A child presents the opportunities to forgive every seeming grievance in the sleeping mind, so that Divine Love can be expressed without doubt or reservation or limit. This is a moment of gratitude and Joy, for Now can the lesson be learned that there is no concept to hide and no concept to protect from the Healing Light of the Holy Spirit. Now can the mind be emptied of every opinion and judgment it sought to lay upon itself. For Innocence is real, and the Christ Child within is ever Innocent of error. Accept the Christ Child within by becoming willing to behold the Perfect One and completely unwilling to behold error of any kind. When you see that the Child abides in You and literally is You, the Spiritual Self, the need for time and lessons is no more.
May Blessings of Love shower upon You and Bless You, Holy One. I rejoice with You in this precious opportunity. I am with You every seeming step on the road to our Home, and because of the One Who goes with Us there is Great Joy! Angels hover over and keep watch, for the time of Awakening is nearer than a breath. There is a sparkle in the eyes of the one who knows of the many miracles that will be bestowed in this happy dream. There is a playfulness and lightness everywhere, for Christ has come to behold the Eternal Innocence that is the Heavenly Inheritance of everyone who seemed to go their way separate and alone. The illusion of separation cannot continue to seem to last, for the Light has come. Let our Light shine, and be the Beacon to light the way that once seemed dark and alone. Now the Christ Child can be no longer hidden from awareness. And we give thanks that this is so!
In overflowing Love,
David
Do we attract others through vibration?
Question:
You have spoken of attracting others through vibration. Could you explain?
Answer:
When I meet people I often feel that I have known them forever. It is not like a relationship of this world. We don't have to catch up on things or try to fill in the blanks, because we recognize each other. To recognize someone, it means you have known them before.This has nothing to do with the physical form, but it is a recognition of the vibrations. It is as if before we fell asleep, we all laughed and celebrated together and said: I will find you. And then when we seem to find each other, we rejoice and we laugh and we dance, and we lose track of time altogether. So this community of vibrations has no boundaries. As you open to this vibration, everyone is your dear friend. You are not your brother's keeper; you are your brother! And so, however you treat others is how you treat yourself, and you know that it is okay to love your Self. Love is wonderful.
Love,
David
David, do you ever give unsolicited advice to people you meet along your travels who you can see have magical beliefs or certain issues?
Description:
This question is asked at 17 minutes and 46 seconds into the following audio, which is part of an interview of David by DavidPaul & Candace Doyle.
Listen to the audio here: http://www.livingmiraclescenter.org/MP3/QandA_audios/DC11.mp3
When I have an upsetting experience with someone, does that person see the same "movie"?
Question:
When I have an experience that is upsetting, like an argument or some conflict, it is like a film in my mind. Does the other person see that same "movie"?
Answer:
All judgments are part of a personal, private mind. It seems as if some of these tapes are shared, but that is not the case. It is as if you are looking with blinders and making up everything that you are seeing. It could accurately be said that no two people are seeing the same world. For example, you may have ten eye-witnesses to an auto "accident,” but none will agree on the details. This is profound when you stop to think about it. It's why there is no peace in this world: because there is no universal agreement on perception.
Even if you ask a million people to tell you the color of the sky, you would need only one exception to prove that perception is not universal. Most will say the sky is blue, but several who are colorblind would disagree. The only way there can be peace and harmony is to see the world from the Holy Spirit's perspective. This is the perception that Jesus achieved by aligning his mind with Holy Spirit. In this perception there are no enemies. Everyone is seen as an equal and as one. This perspective makes no distinctions.
So in answer to your original question, when you are looking through the ego lens, you are seeing a private world that is entirely subjective, colored by judgments, and that cannot be shared with anyone else. From the ego's lens, arguments and conflict are inevitable. This is why even in the best human relationships, when two people seem to be dear friends or soul-mates, there will still be differences of opinion. Until the ego is undone completely, the relationship is used by the Holy Spirit to flush up unconscious beliefs so that they can be released to the Holy Spirit.
People usually enter into friendships and marriage to gain a stronger sense of intimacy and connection. The relationships may seem to have a positive goal. For example, the goal of marriage would be union, and the same with friendship. What A Course In Miracles teaches is that the only true union is at the level of the Christ mind, where the Creator and Christ are one. So we can say from this that a more practical goal for a friendship or marriage is the undoing of the ego. This is not usually in one's marriage vows! If you keep the undoing of the ego as the context for all your relationships, this will help your work with "A Course In Miracles." Those who work with the Course and expect all their relationships to improve immediately are often very disappointed. The Course helps take the cover off, exposing expectations and false beliefs, lots of people-pleasing mechanisms that are built into the relationship. So if we use relationships as a topic, this can help us approach a deeper understanding of forgiveness.
Love,
David