Finding Defenselessness in Vulnerability: a discussion of what the Course means by defenselessness
In this Course conversation video, Susan Dugan and Bruce Rawles look at ACIM Workbook Lesson 153, “In my defenselessness my safety lies,” which tells us “The world provides no safety. It is rooted in attack, all its ‘gifts’ of seeming safety are illusory deceptions.” Believing our secret wish to experience the thought of separation as a real attack on God, we believe we deserve punishment for our “sin,” project that guilt on the world and each other, and experience ourselves as constantly vulnerable. We spend our days fielding seeming incoming “attacks” while trying to prove we really exist apart from God but it’s not our fault (it’s those attackers), completely unaware we’re attacking, too.
Our vulnerability as bodies identified with a personal self within the ego thought system of one or the other seems completely justified based on the constant challenges and threats that seem to arise out of nowhere beyond our control. But we are not powerless victims of the world we experience. When we’re willing to question the cause of our reactivity to threats that seem to be constantly aimed in our direction and look at them instead with our loving inner Teacher who holds the memory of our true innocence and invulnerability as one Child of God outside the dream, we can drop our defenses and connect with our shared interest of finding our way home to the one Love we never really left.
Among other related topics, the video addresses this submitted question:
“My question about defenselessness has to do with, who is the one defending? Or who is defenselessness for? Is defenselessness for the ego or the Self? It must be for the ego, but why would the ego seek to be defenseless. Wouldn’t defenselessness destroy the ego?
In my own life when I try and to practice defenselessness, an enormous amount of fear rises up in me. I feel so vulnerable, naked, and unsheltered. I know there has to be something that comes prior to defenselessness, and that is trust. I don’t think I can be defenseless without trust. Is that true?”
(This video was recorded on February 21, 2020.)
If you have questions or comments about this video, prior videos in this ACIM-related video series or other Course-related topics, please email them via the ACIMblog.com contact form. Susan and Bruce will review and try to respond to questions and suggestions for future conversations. We look forward to extending the conversation with you!
Here are some prior ACIM-related conversations with Susan Dugan and Bruce Rawles.