See No Evil

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." -- 17th Century Japanese Proverb

Sometimes the oddest things inspire me.  This proverb, which comes from a carving above the door of the Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko, Japan, has been a part of our culture as long as I can remember.  It's one of those things that everybody says, but nobody actually does.  There was a hilarious movie (See No Evil, Hear No Evil with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder) that played on that very thing.  Part of their promo line was, "The blind guy couldn't see it.  The deaf guy couldn't hear it."  Obviously when you're blind, you have no choice but to see no evil... or anything else.

But of course this proverb refers to a deeper meaning, one that is embedded in collective consciousness, even though we choose to ignore it.  There is no real evil.  There is only an upside-down projection, and our reaction to those projections (after all, the word 'evil' is the word 'live' spelled backwards!).  Action (projection) and reaction to our own projections maintains the momentum, and is the karmic wheel of suffering referred to in eastern philosophy.  

Another way to put it is in terms of quantum physics.  There is nothing there until we look at it.  It is only energy, waves of energy, until we look and project that something is there.  This is called the complementary principle, and says that it is the observer that creates the appearance (particles) upon observation (projection).  Until then, everything remains pure potential, pure unconditioned energy.

Jeshua ben Joseph, whose birth we're celebrating at this time of year, said it this way: "Resist not evil." (Matthew 5:39)  And later in the Bible we're told to "Overcome evil with Good." (Romans 12:21) You could paraphrase this to say, you can't fight evil by seeing it (that is what gives it the illusion of reality!)... but you can dissolve the reality of illusion by knowing this Truth and seeing only the Good, which is another name for God. 

I found this passage in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy: "We must learn that evil is the awful deception and unreality of existence.  Good is not helpless; nor are the so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit Secondary.  There is but One primal cause [GOD, Who is All-Good].  Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only Cause.  The spiritual Reality is the scientific fact in all things." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 207, Lines 9, 20, and 27

The scientific fact in all things is Spiritual Reality.  Quantum physics couches it in different terms, but says the same thing.  It really is the scientific reality... and spiritual wisdom has been telling us this in all cultures and all languages for all of recorded history.  This everyday proverb is a good example. 

But how?  How do we do this?  Well, how do you see anything differently?  You can change your mind about a person, so that one who was previously someone you liked or even loved, you now find offensive, or vice versa.  What changed?  Your mind.  Who changed it?  You did.  You can change your mind about most anything, and do on a daily basis.  The problem is not the ability to change how we see things.  It's what we're basing those choices on.

We are constantly looking 'out there' for reasons and validity, not remembering that it's our projection in the first place... we're reacting to our own mental constructs, not reality.  These 'false gods' give us the illusion of not being responsible... but at what price?  If we base our changing mind on trying to manipulate or change something 'out there', we're basing our choices on phantoms, on illusions, the false gods and idols of the world we've projected  by our split mind.  However, if we first understand the Truth of Being, that we live and move and have our being in the Allness and Oneness of God, of All-Good, then that's all we can project and see.  We begin to take responsibility for sight, and understand the Biblical injunction to "Choose this day whom you shall serve."

A Course in Miracles happily reminds us, "The images you make cannot prevail against what God Himself would have you be.  Be never fearful of temptation [evil] then, but see it as it is; another chance to choose again." (ACIM Chapter 31, Section VIII, 4:1-2)  And again, "You are as God created you, and so is every living thing you look upon, regardless of the images you see." (ACIM Chapter 31, Section VIII, 6:1)  We have a choice about what we project and therefore see in this world... but no choice in Reality.  Our Reality is safe in God.  To see no evil in this world is the result of remembering that Truth. 

"Nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life IS God." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 228, Line 5

"Learn then, the happy habit of response to all temptation to perceive yourself as weak and miserable with these words:  I am as God created me.  His Son can suffer nothing.  And I am His Son." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section VIII, 5:1-4

The End of Denial

"By knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the Allness of God... utter reliance upon the One God, to Whom belong all things." --Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 9, Line 28, & Page 10, Lines 9-10

Have you noticed that we all have a tendency to interpret our spirituality personally and selfishly? When confronted with unpleasantness, like starving children or human trafficking or animal abuse, or even the reality of where the meat we insist on eating is coming from and how barbarically the animals are treated, the tendency is to fall back on, "It's not real anyway." And then we do whatever we want and pretend it's not there. This is not the proper use of denial. This is the co opting of denial by the little, imaginary self, that wants its own comfort and survival and pleasure above all else.

Not one thing in this world is true, and that is certain. And yet, whatever we encounter in our own consciousness is true for us, and therefore must be forgiven, not avoided by sticking our heads in the sand. And as we forgive, I guarantee the Holy Spirit will urge us to action within the dream to reinforce that there is nothing to fear, nothing to avoid. The thing about the courage to walk our talk is that we are saying 'no' to what is not real, saying no to the fear and appearance of suffering encountered in consciousness. Everything is met in consciousness. There is nothing else.

The actions we take in the world are symbols in the dream, symbols of where we are in consciousness. I notice that Jeshua ben Joseph did not continue to sit on the mountain top or in the desert, but was actively led to the poorest, neediest, most despised people and places. He looked it all in the face and knew it was not of God, and therefore not real... and yet he walked and talked and healed and comforted while knowing the Truth. "Jesus taught us to walk over, not into or with, the currents of matter, or mortal mind." (Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 11, Lines 3-4)

So when we turn away from suffering by saying it's not real, we're really just acknowledging that to us, it seems scary and real and we don't want to go there. "Whatever you accept into your mind has reality for you. It is your acceptance of it that makes it real to you." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section V, 4:1-2) The trick is, as Tolkien said, to "...take care of the evil in the fields that we know..."; we do what we can, moving over the illusion, untouched by it, while silently knowing the Truth in consciousness, the Allness of God and the Nothingness of suffering and death.

The end of denial comes as we realize there is nothing to deny. We don't need to pretend as we go through life... we simply meet whatever we meet in consciousness, knowing the Allness of God and our Oneness with Her... and we willingly meet any and all challenges in consciousness as the nothingness they are. World problems or family problems, the healing is the same. Fear not... there's nothing and no one but God. We learn to play our part with the assurance that it's our own True Self we are always meeting.

"Relationships in this world are the result of how the world is seen." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 19, Section IV, i, 12:1

"All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother, or God." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 3, Section III, 2:1

Sweet Adversity

"Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of humanity: "Sweet are the uses of adversity; which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head." Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proof of God's care. Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of Divine Goodness and Love." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 66, Lines 1-16

"We must understand that God is Infinite in Its Individuality. Because that is true, you can say, 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,' or 'I and my Father are One'... anything that will give you this sense of 'I' in the midst of you, and that will, at the same time, subordinate human selfhood, not glorify or gratify it." -- Joel Goldsmith

Because words are symbols of symbols, and have no objective reality, they are tricky. Writing about what is Eternal and Unchanging with symbols that shift and change according to who's writing and who's reading means that only a few will ever see and hear the inner meaning. Mary Baker Eddy knew that. Joel Goldsmith knew that. And this means that our egos will always hear what they want to hear in any given passage, given half a chance. This is why Joel said to seek the state of mind that dwells in the awareness of God within, yet that does not gratify or glorify the human sense of selfhood. And why Mary Baker Eddy wrote that adversity is sweet... it does not gratify the human sense, nor does it glorify it. It humbles our human selves at every turn, burning away false desires and illusions of every description, leaving only what is Real and Eternal and True.

Both Joel Goldsmith and Mary Baker Eddy eschewed organization. Yes, they both left behind active organizations, but both took whatever steps they could to limit them. Why? Not because organizations are good or bad... they are neither. They do, however, take on a life of their own; once that happens, all the energy of any entity will go into the preservation of self, not the knowing of Self.

We can use this wisdom in our own lives. We can welcome whatever asks us to step out of our human sense of self, to move beyond the perceived limitations of our personal self. We can welcome the challenges and problems as sweet adversity, with the jewel of Self-Realization as the only purpose for all of it. And we can practice self-awareness, noticing when defensiveness and defendedness signal the posturing of the illusory personal.

In the human story, we are always looking for answers to problems. From an Awakened perspective, there are no problems. God is All. So every imagined problem is our best friend, our ticket to see what lies behind the illusion. What fun! As A Course in Miracles puts it, "Your life is not as you imagine it." The very problems and challenges we avoid and run from are simply veils that hide the face of The Beloved... they are to be welcomed and known fully as Goodness ItSelf. There is not one problem or situation, no matter how seemingly painful, that will not simply melt to reveal the Truth when you no longer judge and resist. Forgiveness gives us the Peace of Mind to be able to rest in and welcome whatever is in our face, today and every day.

Sweet are the uses of adversity, indeed. Don't be fooled by old judgements about problematic situations... they are the ego vying for attention and reality that it can never have in Reality. When we argue for our limitations and problems, insisting on fighting them and thus pretending they are real, we are simply arguing for the illusory self. This is what Mary Baker Eddy calls 'evil,' missing the mark. Our problems are no problem at all. For behind the veil of every encounter there is revealed the Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient Presence of God... All Good, Always Available, and Always Our True Self.

"Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of Truth. It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It is unreal, because it presupposes the absence of God, the Omnipotent and Omnipresent. Every mortal must learn that there is neither power nor reality in evil. Evil is self-assertive. It says, "I am a real entity, over-mastering good." This falsehood should strip evil of all pretensions. The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It can never destroy one iota of Good." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 186, Lines 11-20