"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
Showing posts with label Idols. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Idols. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, July 28, 2008
Do You Think You Know?
CAUTION: Only proceed if you are looking for disillusionment.
"What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 1:1-3
I love the above quote from ACIM. "Do you think you know?" Ha! And then there's this quote: "The ego is nothing more than a part of your belief about yourself. Your (Real) life has continued without interruption, and has been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate it." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 4, Section VI, 1:6-7) Isn't dissociation grand? After all, how can we be responsible for something we don't even know is there? Ha! It becomes obvious that disillusionment and the unmasking of the ego are our only hope in this world!
"What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 1:1-3
I love the above quote from ACIM. "Do you think you know?" Ha! And then there's this quote: "The ego is nothing more than a part of your belief about yourself. Your (Real) life has continued without interruption, and has been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate it." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 4, Section VI, 1:6-7) Isn't dissociation grand? After all, how can we be responsible for something we don't even know is there? Ha! It becomes obvious that disillusionment and the unmasking of the ego are our only hope in this world!
As we follow the meandering dream we call our life, we may have the illusion of progressive growth and wisdom. I say illusion, because all external results are a part of the great dissociation. As ACIM puts it, "Everything you perceive as the outside world is merely your attempt to maintain your ego identification." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 12, Section III, 7:5) It's all and always an attempt to separate and dissociate from the Allness of God, the only Truth there Is. Have you noticed how 'old friends' always seem to call just when we're wanting to solidify a new or old identity? Ouch. But true, isn't it?
Have you ever noticed how your ego dreams that someone around you is noticing how much you've changed for the better? And how you think this is an indication that you're on the right track? Do you think you know? Ha! And have you noticed how much we love it when people think we're wise or that we're happier or more peaceful or different somehow? What is this but another idol, another descent into the dream, and more dissociation? "All idols of this world were made to keep the Truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself (attention and approval) to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VII, 6:1-3)
When we think we know, we are clinging to idols. When we smugly think we are being strong in faith, remember that the priests that started the Inquisition thought the same thing. ACIM cautions us to never underestimate the sneakiness of the desire to protect and defend our imagined selves. It is the motivation for literally all our thoughts and decisions and so-called moral stands in this world. The desire for comfort and security simply morph into their spiritual disguise of spiritual pride and superiority... or sometimes inferiority... of seeing others as 'out there' or as not really there at all, as better than us, worse than us, but always other than us.
While there is a separate self and an 'other', illusory questions of helping or not helping arise. They're about ego identities, too (should I do this or should I do that?), not about alleviating suffering or helping. If it was really about alleviating suffering or you really thought it would help and you really cared, you would be doing it no matter what questions arose. Not because it's real or because it's this or that, but because your Beloved Self is calling out to be re-membered in some way.
If you find yourself growing uncomfortable reading this blog, you can be sure my ego felt exposed writing it! Ha! Being uncomfortable is only experienced by the ego. The Self remains ItSelf, Awake and Aware in the midst of all. Dan Millman said, "One sure sign of growing awareness is that you "feel" as if you're getting worse. Awareness is literally a disillusioning process." Feeling uncomfortable and exposed is a VERY good sign. It's when you think you know that you're in trouble. It's when you think you've finally gotten it. Do you think you're getting it? Do you think you know? Ha!
"When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly your Self." -- Tao te Ching, translation by Stephen Mitchell
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A Brighter Day
"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God." -- The Bible; Revelation 12:6
My whole life I have been withdrawing from one thing or another. Always, like the woman in Revelation, I have withdrawn to a quiet wilderness in one form or another, a place where I can breathe and hear the Voice again. This "place prepared of God" doesn't have to be literal, in the external. It can and must eventually be the wilderness within... the unexamined stories and assumptions that make up your particular life stream. Within your unexamined stories, hidden by them, is the "place prepared of God." It's always with us. Immanuel, God with Us. Always.
There is of course nothing wrong in withdrawing, nor is there anything right about it. It is simply one way of gaining perspective, of seeing through the dream. The only danger lies when we think it is the external act that is the point. The external matters not at all. Its only significance is that it may seem to lead us to the "place prepared of God" within us.
There is nothing to fear in the dream, and certainly nothing to run and withdraw from. And yet there is a need felt by every heart for silence and a deeper knowing. We long for home, for the deepening awareness of God that is our True Self. We have an innate longing for clarity and Truth. Sadly we settle for substitutes, distortions of truth. Just as we substitute for real nutrition with processed foods that don't nourish the body, we substitute for our Spiritual Reality with manufactured truths, dreams and idols that leave the soul starving.
So how do we withdraw from the world of half-truths, this world of slow spiritual starvation? How do we find the "place prepared of God" that is our salvation from the nonsense we have perpetuated in the name of being 'good' or 'practical' or whatever? How do we find our way when our own stories and manufactured values are designed to obscure the way? They are the ego's insurance policy that we will never walk away. Because, so the story goes, if you walk away you will be bad, or irresponsible, or cruel, or thoughtless, or crazy, or (fill in the blank).
What stories bind you? What keeps you from withdrawing, from gaining the perspective that distance will bring you? They are now and always your own creations... they are all made up. Not one of them has any power or any hold on you other than your own determination to be right in choosing them. Give it up. Would you rather be right than happy?
A brighter day dawns when we are willing to withdraw every single day to the "place prepared of God," to spend time listening to a different Voice. This Voice speaks always of Love and Goodness. This Voice never blames, and gently guides us in paths of Good for All. This Voice has no favorites, and no exceptions from its Love. This Love is All-in-All. And yet this Love appears to be obscured by our unexamined stories of praise and blame. And so we flee into the wilderness of our own stories, braving the savage wildness to find our "place prepared of God." It's here, always here. But we have to brave the wilderness to find it.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." -- The Bible; Psalm 30:5
My whole life I have been withdrawing from one thing or another. Always, like the woman in Revelation, I have withdrawn to a quiet wilderness in one form or another, a place where I can breathe and hear the Voice again. This "place prepared of God" doesn't have to be literal, in the external. It can and must eventually be the wilderness within... the unexamined stories and assumptions that make up your particular life stream. Within your unexamined stories, hidden by them, is the "place prepared of God." It's always with us. Immanuel, God with Us. Always.
There is of course nothing wrong in withdrawing, nor is there anything right about it. It is simply one way of gaining perspective, of seeing through the dream. The only danger lies when we think it is the external act that is the point. The external matters not at all. Its only significance is that it may seem to lead us to the "place prepared of God" within us.
There is nothing to fear in the dream, and certainly nothing to run and withdraw from. And yet there is a need felt by every heart for silence and a deeper knowing. We long for home, for the deepening awareness of God that is our True Self. We have an innate longing for clarity and Truth. Sadly we settle for substitutes, distortions of truth. Just as we substitute for real nutrition with processed foods that don't nourish the body, we substitute for our Spiritual Reality with manufactured truths, dreams and idols that leave the soul starving.
So how do we withdraw from the world of half-truths, this world of slow spiritual starvation? How do we find the "place prepared of God" that is our salvation from the nonsense we have perpetuated in the name of being 'good' or 'practical' or whatever? How do we find our way when our own stories and manufactured values are designed to obscure the way? They are the ego's insurance policy that we will never walk away. Because, so the story goes, if you walk away you will be bad, or irresponsible, or cruel, or thoughtless, or crazy, or (fill in the blank).
What stories bind you? What keeps you from withdrawing, from gaining the perspective that distance will bring you? They are now and always your own creations... they are all made up. Not one of them has any power or any hold on you other than your own determination to be right in choosing them. Give it up. Would you rather be right than happy?
A brighter day dawns when we are willing to withdraw every single day to the "place prepared of God," to spend time listening to a different Voice. This Voice speaks always of Love and Goodness. This Voice never blames, and gently guides us in paths of Good for All. This Voice has no favorites, and no exceptions from its Love. This Love is All-in-All. And yet this Love appears to be obscured by our unexamined stories of praise and blame. And so we flee into the wilderness of our own stories, braving the savage wildness to find our "place prepared of God." It's here, always here. But we have to brave the wilderness to find it.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." -- The Bible; Psalm 30:5
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Vigilance
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." -- The Bible; Matthew 6:33
"When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 495, Lines 14-16
"The question is: are we willing to put in the hours of devotion; are we willing to make the effort required to train ourselves to be conscious of the Presence of God, instead of seeking some form in which God is to appear? There is the whole secret. It is up to us." -- Joel Goldsmith
"Belief does not require vigilance unless it is conflicted. If it is, there are conflicting components within it that have led to a state of war, and vigilance has therefore become essential. Vigilance has no place in Peace. It is necessary against beliefs that are not true, and would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the untrue. When you believe something, you have made it true for you. When you believe what God does not know, your thought seems to contradict His, and this makes it appear as if you are attacking Him. While you believe two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, your need for vigilance is apparent." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section VI, 7:3-8, 8:11
It has taken a lot of seeming time and apparent attention, i.e. a lot of vigilance, to experience the lie of the world as fragmented and lacking and suffering. It takes a lot of vigilance to keep up the illusion of this fictional world that is the opposite of God, the antithesis of Good. What is this supposed power made of, if not God? And when we drop our guard for even a moment, where is it? Isn't it funny how moments of Peace and Reality sneak up on us in spite of ourselves? They are the ground of our True Being all along, always the Truth. What comes and goes and comes to pass is the fiction, the sleight of hand. Let it go.
To be vigilant only for God requires an act of will at first, simply because we have worked so long and hard to NOT be aware of the Truth. As the old Rodgers and Hammerstein song goes, we have been 'carefully taught' to believe and value the cultural fictions of the world. So even though resting in God and our Awareness of the Kingdom of Self is the most natural, effortless thing in the world, the closest we come to Reality while in the world... still, in order to reverse ourselves within the dream it requires not only willingness, but vigilance and commitment.
So what do we really want? As Joel Goldsmith's quote asks, what are we devoted to? Whatever gets the lion's share of our time and attention is where we believe the power is... these are the idols that populate our personal pantheon of false gods. Idols are illusions that we are devoted to. Devotion is time and attention. So what do we really want? And are we willing to reverse ourselves?
No one else can make this decision for us. We may be long-time veterans of spiritual paths and still be primarily devoted to physical forms and results. We may be very intellectually aware of the 'truth', and yet we use it only to re-enforce our human identities, to make ourselves more comfortable. It's not that this is bad or wrong. It's that, except for short term illusions, it's not possible. The nature of illusions are that they are unstable and temporary.
The reason Jesus and Joel and Mrs. Eddy all tell us to 'seek first the Kingdom,' to have no other gods or devotions, is of the utmost practicality. By giving our mind and heart only to God and the Divine Ideas that continually radiate through us as His children, we reflect only the Good and Eternal even in this world of illusion. Only God is Real, only Divine Love is the currency of Life and so it is the currency of our True Devotion. This devotion and commitment means that we have no other gods, no other needs but to know God, and thus our True Self, aright. And the Good that is then reflected in our life and world is the icing on the cake... the added things spoken of in Scripture. But the shadow or reflection can never be mistaken for Reality.
"Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section V, C
"When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 495, Lines 14-16
"The question is: are we willing to put in the hours of devotion; are we willing to make the effort required to train ourselves to be conscious of the Presence of God, instead of seeking some form in which God is to appear? There is the whole secret. It is up to us." -- Joel Goldsmith
"Belief does not require vigilance unless it is conflicted. If it is, there are conflicting components within it that have led to a state of war, and vigilance has therefore become essential. Vigilance has no place in Peace. It is necessary against beliefs that are not true, and would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the untrue. When you believe something, you have made it true for you. When you believe what God does not know, your thought seems to contradict His, and this makes it appear as if you are attacking Him. While you believe two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, your need for vigilance is apparent." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section VI, 7:3-8, 8:11
It has taken a lot of seeming time and apparent attention, i.e. a lot of vigilance, to experience the lie of the world as fragmented and lacking and suffering. It takes a lot of vigilance to keep up the illusion of this fictional world that is the opposite of God, the antithesis of Good. What is this supposed power made of, if not God? And when we drop our guard for even a moment, where is it? Isn't it funny how moments of Peace and Reality sneak up on us in spite of ourselves? They are the ground of our True Being all along, always the Truth. What comes and goes and comes to pass is the fiction, the sleight of hand. Let it go.
To be vigilant only for God requires an act of will at first, simply because we have worked so long and hard to NOT be aware of the Truth. As the old Rodgers and Hammerstein song goes, we have been 'carefully taught' to believe and value the cultural fictions of the world. So even though resting in God and our Awareness of the Kingdom of Self is the most natural, effortless thing in the world, the closest we come to Reality while in the world... still, in order to reverse ourselves within the dream it requires not only willingness, but vigilance and commitment.
So what do we really want? As Joel Goldsmith's quote asks, what are we devoted to? Whatever gets the lion's share of our time and attention is where we believe the power is... these are the idols that populate our personal pantheon of false gods. Idols are illusions that we are devoted to. Devotion is time and attention. So what do we really want? And are we willing to reverse ourselves?
No one else can make this decision for us. We may be long-time veterans of spiritual paths and still be primarily devoted to physical forms and results. We may be very intellectually aware of the 'truth', and yet we use it only to re-enforce our human identities, to make ourselves more comfortable. It's not that this is bad or wrong. It's that, except for short term illusions, it's not possible. The nature of illusions are that they are unstable and temporary.
The reason Jesus and Joel and Mrs. Eddy all tell us to 'seek first the Kingdom,' to have no other gods or devotions, is of the utmost practicality. By giving our mind and heart only to God and the Divine Ideas that continually radiate through us as His children, we reflect only the Good and Eternal even in this world of illusion. Only God is Real, only Divine Love is the currency of Life and so it is the currency of our True Devotion. This devotion and commitment means that we have no other gods, no other needs but to know God, and thus our True Self, aright. And the Good that is then reflected in our life and world is the icing on the cake... the added things spoken of in Scripture. But the shadow or reflection can never be mistaken for Reality.
"Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section V, C
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Gift of Opposites
"What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. Let not their form deceive you. Idols are but substitutes for your Reality. In some way, you believe they will complete your little self, or have the power to supply your lacks. An idol is a false impression, or a false belief; some form of anti-Christ, that constitutes a gap between the Christ and what you see." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 1:1-3, 2:1-4, 3:1
"In erring mortal thought the Reality of Truth has an antipode, the reality of error. God has no opposite in Science. To Truth there is no error. As Truth alone is Real, then it follows that to declare error real would be to try and make it truth." -- No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 5, Lines 4-9
We live in a dream world of mental constructs. The thing about constructs is that they are constructed ON something. A house is constructed on a foundation. Mental constructs are either constructed on the foundation of assumed material reality or on the Truth of Oneness. These are the only two choices, and assumed material reality is the foundation for the mental constructs of opposites that populate our dream world.
Jeshua ben Joseph spoke in parables to illustrate such things. He reminded us over and over that judgment is not our function here, and that when we judge (see things as this or that), we remain asleep and lost in the dream. He told the following parable about hearing this, but not practicing it:
"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell. And great was the fall of it." (The Bible; Matthew 7:24-27)
So it's not that we shouldn't judge... it's that we can't. How can you build a world (or a true idea) on what is constantly shifting and changing? Like the house built on sand, we fall again and again. There is no truth (not some truth, but NO truth) in the ideas of the world, and there is absolutely no true cause and effect nor reality in matter.
Mary Baker Eddy said it this way: "If disease is real as health, and is itself a state of being, and yet is arrayed against being, then Mind, or God, does not meddle with it. Disease becomes indeed a stubborn reality, and man is mortal. A kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation." (No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 5, Lines 18-22) How can the Oneness and Allness of God, the unchanging Good ItSelf, contain or behold anything other than ItSelf? When we base a world on this insane possibility, we are indeed a kingdom divided against itself.
This world of seeming opposites becomes a gift when we heed the words of Christ. When we see what shifts and changes and vacillates from this to that, we know it is not true. We would not build our house upon the sand. Instead, we look for what is unchanging in every seeming circumstance and appearance. We build our house on the Ground of Being that lies beneath every seeming person, place, or situation, unchanging and sure.
The gift of seeming opposites is that they are so easily and transparently seen as arbitrary judgments, based on selective and exclusionary mental tactics. We mentally try to split Reality in two. There is in Truth nothing opposing Reality... nothing at all. There is only One, and this unchanging One holds All in its changeless embrace.
The gift of opposites is that through ceasing to judge them, we come to see that only thoughts in isolation project our illusory world of separation and loss and pain. They are a "thought without the power to change one blade of grass from something living to a sign of death. Their form is nowhere, for their source abides within your mind where God abideth not. Where is this place where What Is Everywhere has been excluded and been kept apart? Christ's enemy is nowhere. It can take no form in which it ever will be real." The real gift of opposites is revealed as we forgive and rejoin what has been separated only in our dreams. And the memory of Wholeness dawns at last.
"God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:1-2
"In erring mortal thought the Reality of Truth has an antipode, the reality of error. God has no opposite in Science. To Truth there is no error. As Truth alone is Real, then it follows that to declare error real would be to try and make it truth." -- No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 5, Lines 4-9
We live in a dream world of mental constructs. The thing about constructs is that they are constructed ON something. A house is constructed on a foundation. Mental constructs are either constructed on the foundation of assumed material reality or on the Truth of Oneness. These are the only two choices, and assumed material reality is the foundation for the mental constructs of opposites that populate our dream world.
Jeshua ben Joseph spoke in parables to illustrate such things. He reminded us over and over that judgment is not our function here, and that when we judge (see things as this or that), we remain asleep and lost in the dream. He told the following parable about hearing this, but not practicing it:
"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell. And great was the fall of it." (The Bible; Matthew 7:24-27)
So it's not that we shouldn't judge... it's that we can't. How can you build a world (or a true idea) on what is constantly shifting and changing? Like the house built on sand, we fall again and again. There is no truth (not some truth, but NO truth) in the ideas of the world, and there is absolutely no true cause and effect nor reality in matter.
Mary Baker Eddy said it this way: "If disease is real as health, and is itself a state of being, and yet is arrayed against being, then Mind, or God, does not meddle with it. Disease becomes indeed a stubborn reality, and man is mortal. A kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation." (No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 5, Lines 18-22) How can the Oneness and Allness of God, the unchanging Good ItSelf, contain or behold anything other than ItSelf? When we base a world on this insane possibility, we are indeed a kingdom divided against itself.
This world of seeming opposites becomes a gift when we heed the words of Christ. When we see what shifts and changes and vacillates from this to that, we know it is not true. We would not build our house upon the sand. Instead, we look for what is unchanging in every seeming circumstance and appearance. We build our house on the Ground of Being that lies beneath every seeming person, place, or situation, unchanging and sure.
The gift of seeming opposites is that they are so easily and transparently seen as arbitrary judgments, based on selective and exclusionary mental tactics. We mentally try to split Reality in two. There is in Truth nothing opposing Reality... nothing at all. There is only One, and this unchanging One holds All in its changeless embrace.
The gift of opposites is that through ceasing to judge them, we come to see that only thoughts in isolation project our illusory world of separation and loss and pain. They are a "thought without the power to change one blade of grass from something living to a sign of death. Their form is nowhere, for their source abides within your mind where God abideth not. Where is this place where What Is Everywhere has been excluded and been kept apart? Christ's enemy is nowhere. It can take no form in which it ever will be real." The real gift of opposites is revealed as we forgive and rejoin what has been separated only in our dreams. And the memory of Wholeness dawns at last.
"God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:1-2
Friday, March 7, 2008
No Other Gods
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." -- The Bible, Exodus 20:3
“And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? For ye are the Temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -- The Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:16
"My House shall be called of all nations a House of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." -- The Bible, Mark 11:17
"All idols of this world were made to keep the Truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him. No idol takes His place. Look not to idols. Do not seek outside yourself." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VI, 6:1-4
First, one more reminder: The weekly ACIM conference call every Saturday morning begins at 9 a.m. central time. All are welcome. The call-in number is 605-475-4333, and the access Code is 101546.
It's sometimes hard to see, let alone agree, that every belief in a power or motivation outside of oneself is an idol, a god whose graven image we worship; and this includes the people and things we think are good and those we think are evil, and everything in-between. They are idols, false gods, because we have invested what has no reality or life, our own dream, with the power to control or motivate the Son of God. This can never be. We have given it all the meaning it appears to have, and it is all made up. That's why, as ACIM reminds us, "You will weep each time an idol falls."
ACIM also asks us, "What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power they have." And what does the Temple of God, your BEING, have to do with idols? Nothing. Whether it's the belief that a particular person is good for you or bad for you or meant for you or wrong for you; or that money can buy peace of mind or cause you suffering or bring you anything at all; or that drugs can kill or hurt or cure or heal; or that a certain way of eating and exercise can create life and health... every false idea is an idol, a god that you live with daily and invest with great meaning and importance... and it's all made up. It's your belief in the BEING of a person or thing or activity, and not the person or thing itself, that seems to hurt or help. In Truth, it does nothing... except delay your return to your Father's House.
You are the Temple of God, the House of God. Not your body, which is just another idol... your BEING. And we have made of God's House a den of thieves by welcoming false ideas and encouraging them to set up booths for exchange of other false ideas throughout the Temple. When Jeshua ben Joseph threw the money-changers out of the Temple, he was throwing out false ideas of BEING. The thieves and money-changers are our own false beliefs, the idols and false gods that populate what A Course in Miracles calls "the great projection." The world that we see and invest with such power and importance is nothing but projection, and is all smoke and mirrors.
Of course, every Biblical and scriptural passage, without exception, is talking about ways of BEING. And we have even made scripture an idol, when we make it something outside of us that is literal and necessary for our 'salvation.' We might as well cast it in gold and prostrate ourselves before it. THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF US, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF GOD. And we are the Temple. We are IT.
We live and move and have our BEING in GOD. In the Oneness and Allness of Being, there is no outside. As I have said before, it's an inside job. :-))
"There can be no salvation in the dream as you are dreaming it." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IX, 4:1
“And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? For ye are the Temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -- The Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:16
"My House shall be called of all nations a House of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." -- The Bible, Mark 11:17
"All idols of this world were made to keep the Truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him. No idol takes His place. Look not to idols. Do not seek outside yourself." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VI, 6:1-4
First, one more reminder: The weekly ACIM conference call every Saturday morning begins at 9 a.m. central time. All are welcome. The call-in number is 605-475-4333, and the access Code is 101546.
It's sometimes hard to see, let alone agree, that every belief in a power or motivation outside of oneself is an idol, a god whose graven image we worship; and this includes the people and things we think are good and those we think are evil, and everything in-between. They are idols, false gods, because we have invested what has no reality or life, our own dream, with the power to control or motivate the Son of God. This can never be. We have given it all the meaning it appears to have, and it is all made up. That's why, as ACIM reminds us, "You will weep each time an idol falls."
ACIM also asks us, "What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power they have." And what does the Temple of God, your BEING, have to do with idols? Nothing. Whether it's the belief that a particular person is good for you or bad for you or meant for you or wrong for you; or that money can buy peace of mind or cause you suffering or bring you anything at all; or that drugs can kill or hurt or cure or heal; or that a certain way of eating and exercise can create life and health... every false idea is an idol, a god that you live with daily and invest with great meaning and importance... and it's all made up. It's your belief in the BEING of a person or thing or activity, and not the person or thing itself, that seems to hurt or help. In Truth, it does nothing... except delay your return to your Father's House.
You are the Temple of God, the House of God. Not your body, which is just another idol... your BEING. And we have made of God's House a den of thieves by welcoming false ideas and encouraging them to set up booths for exchange of other false ideas throughout the Temple. When Jeshua ben Joseph threw the money-changers out of the Temple, he was throwing out false ideas of BEING. The thieves and money-changers are our own false beliefs, the idols and false gods that populate what A Course in Miracles calls "the great projection." The world that we see and invest with such power and importance is nothing but projection, and is all smoke and mirrors.
Of course, every Biblical and scriptural passage, without exception, is talking about ways of BEING. And we have even made scripture an idol, when we make it something outside of us that is literal and necessary for our 'salvation.' We might as well cast it in gold and prostrate ourselves before it. THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF US, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF GOD. And we are the Temple. We are IT.
We live and move and have our BEING in GOD. In the Oneness and Allness of Being, there is no outside. As I have said before, it's an inside job. :-))
"There can be no salvation in the dream as you are dreaming it." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IX, 4:1
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