General Lessons vs. Specific Answers

As you perceive more and more common elements in all situations, the transfer of training under the Holy Spirit's guidance increases and becomes generalized. Gradually you learn to apply it to everyone and everything, for its applicability is universal. When this has been accomplished, perception and knowledge have become so similar that they share the unification of the laws of God. (T-12.VI.6)

A Course in Miracles tells us that we need to generalize the lessons of the Holy Spirit. This means that we need to take what we learn in a specific situation and learn that that lesson can be applied to every other situation as well. For example, while the first time you see your holiness reflected it is in a specific person, that experience of holiness must be applied to every relationship and situation for you to understand what holiness is. This is generalizing the lesson that holiness is everywhere. If it wasn’t, holiness would be specialness. If you exclude one person or situation from holiness you still believe that some parts of God are separate from God. The mind is whole and is general, or abstract. It is everywhere. No part of it can be separate for it to be what it is.

Last time I wrote about how specific answers from the Holy Spirit to specific questions about life in the world are meant for the specific asker of the question at that specific time (http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2007/06/one-limit-to-holy-spirits-guidance.html). This does not contradict the idea that the Holy Spirit’s lessons must be generalized. Specific answers to specific questions are not lessons in themselves. When you ask the Holy Spirit something and get an answer the lesson is that the Holy Spirit is real, is within you and can guide you through this world to awaken to your True Identity. The specific answer you receive will help you in your specific circumstance at the moment but it has no lasting value in itself. What you must generalize – or apply in every situation – is that you can trust the Holy Spirit to guide you in every situation.

The world is simply a tool the Holy Spirit can use to reach you. That is all of its value. Specific situations have value only when you give them to the Holy Spirit so that you can learn that you and the Holy Spirit are One. Specifics will pass away but the general lessons the Holy Spirit uses them for remind you of the eternal.

>>>>
View the archive for this blog by topic at www.acimmentor.com.Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ask: What is meant by "extend Love"?

I wonder exactly what is meant by "extend love" or how one extends love. Is it a loving intention toward the person, or a wish for them, or what? Can you give an example? – JO “Extending love” means replacing unloving thoughts in your mind with the awareness of Love in your mind. For example, your peace of mind is disturbed while watching something on television. Your peace is gone because you believe that what you see is reality. You extend Love in this situation by turning inward to Truth (God), feeling Love’s Presence within you, and remembering that It, not the images appearing, is What is Real. It may take you a while to accept that only your own thoughts cause you pain. So at first you may feel that you need to extend Love “out there” to the images that seem to be causing you pain. Or you may extend Love to another who is sharing their painful story with you. You can do this by imagining the situation or the person in a Loving Light. Or you may use some other image to
Read more

Committed to the Spiritual Process

If you’ve been reading my blog/newsletter for the past few weeks then you know significant things have occurred in the life of this mind. Four years ago the ego (personal thought system) fell away. I didn’t realize it fully and I spent three and a half years personally in a rather barren place in this mind, though there was peace in the rest of my mind. I did feel done with the world, but I didn’t know what that meant. I just stayed with the feeling, wondering what would come next. The next thing arrived in this mind last summer with a subtle shift from emptiness to a delicious Spaciousness. This was followed by beautiful Golden Light, Love, and Joy filling the Space. Bewilderingly, an effect of this was a romance novel! From there, the Light and the shifts continued. During this time a client in Australia whom I have called Zelda in these articles, but whose real name is Hannah, became a friend as well. We grew closer over several months and began to experience a lot of sync
Read more

Evolving Practice with ACIM

           The Course was dictated to two who had a sense of Spirit working in their lives. After all, they were taking down the Course itself! The Universal Christ Mind sought to develop and grow their awareness of Spirit through the lessons in the Workbook as well as simply in discussion with them, privately and through the Course . And for those who find the Course and already have an awareness of Spirit, even if only dimly, the Course functions in the same way. Through the practice suggested, they develop their trust in Spirit. But for many who come to the Course , the discernment of Spirit within has not yet occurred. For them, practice is the means of opening to the awareness and experience of Spirit. Those who do not understand this often feel frustrated and even angry with the Course for suggesting that they should be having experiences that they do not yet have. They feel that they fall short when they read the instructions and descriptions in the lessons, when the appr
Read more