Recently while out for a walk, I saw this local street sign and realized it had a metaphysical pun that reminds us to ask ourselves what shenanigans ego has been up to … as always! :-) At any sane moment, we can simply watch (with help from our Inner Kindness Teacher, and therefore without self-condemnation or identification) that insane, duplicitous thought system and it’s maladaptive, ineffective divide-and-conquer attempt-to-hide-in-multiplicity strategy and exclaim: “You’ve been doublin’, haven'(t) you!” :-) As Shakespeare noted in MacBeth, ego’s approach is consistently: “Double, double, toil and trouble.”
Here’s another audio in the weekly series of conversations about A Course In Miracles with Lyn Johnson and Bruce Rawles. Today we talked about Perfect Oneness (which, of course, HAS no opposite as our beloved blue book reminds) – and it’s seeming opposite the illusory, inflammatory, destructive, divisive and dualistic thought system of special love (e.g. in-fat-uation) and special hate (e.g. in-thin-uation.) There’s no separate self in Perfect Oneness, which is why this is such an unpopular curriculum, since every seemingly separate self wants THEIR special idol identity – regardless of whether it’s the object of exaltation or denigration – to be maintained, along with it’s poster child, the body. Fortunately, we can use each and every moment of our dream life in this fantasy realm to undo that identification with forgiveness, turning what was used (by ego) for incarceration into an opportunity for emancipation. :-)
I particularly liked Lyn’s comment as we were wrapping up the hour-long talk about ‘giving up my right to … (grievances, etc.)’ which gives us another excellent tie in to “would you rather be right (polarized, dualistic, divisive) or happy? :-) Lyn directed our attention to the 2nd paragraph in section II (The Power of Holiness) in Chapter 16. THE FORGIVENESS OF ILLUSIONS and the tendency of ego to fragment, divide, split, separate, fracture and destroy:
“T-16.II.2. There is a tendency to fragment, and then to be concerned about the truth of just a little part of the whole. 2 And this is but a way of avoiding, or looking away from the whole, to what you think you might be better able to understand. 3 For this is but another way in which you would still try to keep understanding to yourself. 4 A better and far more helpful way to think of miracles is this: You do not understand them, either in part or in whole. 5 Yet they have been done through you. 6 Therefore your understanding cannot be necessary. 7 Yet it is still impossible to accomplish what you do not understand. 8 And so there must be Something in you that does understand.”
We also read portions of Workbook Lesson 95, where Ken Wapnick points out how ACIM’s author steps back to provide the greater context that it’s not about doing the lessons ‘perfectly,’ but rather doing them imperfectly and then forgiving ourselves for our decision to choose ego (again); we undo ego identification by slowly but surely letting ourselves off the hook for an imaginary choice for an imaginary thought system and our resistance to the constant and unchanging peace to be found beyond that resistance. Here’s a few relevant paragraphs from Workbook Lesson 95:
“Structure, then, is necessary for you at this time, planned to include frequent reminders of your goal and regular attempts to reach it. Regularity in terms of time is not the ideal requirement for the most beneficial form of practice in salvation. It is advantageous, however, for those whose motivation is inconsistent, and who remain heavily defended against learning.
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. Do not, however, use your lapses from this schedule as an excuse not to return to it again as soon as you can. There may well be a temptation to regard the day as lost because you have already failed to do what is required. This should, however, merely be recognized as what it is; a refusal to let your mistake be corrected, and an unwillingness to try again.
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.”
Lyn devotes a lot of time volunteering on Awakening Together Sanctuary (formerly called ACIM Gather), as well as moderating the Disappearance of the Universe Yahoo group.
