An Affirming Flame

This excerpt from a poem by Auden moves me to tears, because it could have been written about the thought currents and fears of the world today:

I sit in one of the dives

On Fifty-Second Street

Uncertain and afraid

As the clever hopes expire

Of a low dishonest decade;

Waves of anger and fear

Circulate over the bright

And darkened lands of the earth,

Obsessing our private lives...

Defenseless under the night

Our world in stupor lies;

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic points of light

Flash out whenever the Just

Exchange their messages;

May I, composed like them

Of Eros and of dust,

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and despair,

Show an affirming flame.

Poetry like this is powerful because it points to what we all must face. We have to accept and acknowledge the world around us as we have projected it... "The appreciation of wholeness comes only through acceptance." (A Course in Miracles; T11, V, 13:2) Acceptance means we no longer blame or project, but that we realize what true forgiveness is... "This is the shift that true perception brings: What was once projected out is seen within, and there forgiveness lets it disappear." (ACIM, MT4, 6:1)

Why is seeing and accepting the negation that is the world so important? Aren't we supposed to simply focus on what's good and positive and affirm the nothingness of everything else? This is the common wisdom in new thought traditions. The thing is, by denying what seems to be, we're simply engaging in self-deception. We haven't realized that we're the one projecting it. We may see our thoughts as having cause and effect, but we don't actually see that everything is thought. We're not actually aware that we can only see our own projections, our own interpretations... "Perception is a mirror, not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward." (ACIM; WB304, 1:3-4)

A Course in Miracles reminds us that "Perception can make whatever picture the mind desires to see. Remember this: In this lies either heaven or hell, as you elect." (ACIM; MT 19, 5:2-4) The acceptance of this, taking responsibility for our own projections and perceptions is the first step in true forgiveness, which realizes that "there can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought. Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal." (ACIM; WB198, 9:5-6) Only by facing our own projections, our own shadows, can we finally see that they are all made up. We have done this. And this we undo, day by day, through forgiveness.

We become the Just, the points of light in Auden's poem. We don't deny the world, we transform it. We are the forgiving, affirming flame.

"What cause have you for anger in a world that merely awaits your blessing to be free?" -- A Course in Miracles; T30, II, 4:1