What Are Others, Then?
As students learn that all that they see is in their mind, they tell me that they become confused about how to see others. A Course in Miracles tells you that others are part of you, but it also seems to talk about others as, well, others. This is because the Holy Spirit recognizes that you experience others as something outside of you, so it needs to use these relationships to return your mind to Oneness.
I wrote before about how the miracle unites your mind. Extending love to others is a miracle that begins the process of bringing your mind back to Oneness. Your mind seems to be split between a mind in you and a world outside of you. So if you imagine your mind as a cloth that is split in two, extending love from your mind to a body that seems outside your mind is like extending a stitch from one cloth to the other to sew them back together. Instead of seeing a body and projecting an ego onto it, you choose instead to extend Christ from within you to encompass your perception of the body that you see “out there”. Now bodies become a means to see Christ instead of ego. Instead of representing separation to you, bodies – “others” - can now represent Oneness to you.
It begins with you making an effort to do this as often as possible with those “others” who disturb your peace of mind. They may disturb your peace of mind because you have formed a special “love” relationship with them or because you hold grievances against them. You must practice this with every relationship, be it casual and passing, or very intimate and lifelong. Then one day you will see your Self reflected in another without you making much effort to do this. This is a Holy relationship. The other may or may not share this experience with you, but you can be certain you will never be the same! The Holy relationship is the experience of Oneness in the world that unites your mind, and that reflects your Oneness with God in Heaven. Once you experience the Holy relationship it can extend naturally to all of your relationships if you let it. In fact, once you experience seeing your Self reflected in one “other” you become aware in every relationship that you have the choice to extend Christ or to project ego. Extending the Holy relationship everywhere is how you heal your whole mind by bringing it all back into Oneness. When you have done this, your mind will then be ready for the Oneness of God.
Each time you extend Christ in place of the ego’s projections you can imagine it is another stitch that is bringing your mind back to Wholeness. The Course emphasizes relationships because they are important to you and because they are used very effectively by the ego to keep you in ego and separation from God. But they are all in your mind, so they are all one. Others, then, are opportunities to heal your mind.
I wrote before about how the miracle unites your mind. Extending love to others is a miracle that begins the process of bringing your mind back to Oneness. Your mind seems to be split between a mind in you and a world outside of you. So if you imagine your mind as a cloth that is split in two, extending love from your mind to a body that seems outside your mind is like extending a stitch from one cloth to the other to sew them back together. Instead of seeing a body and projecting an ego onto it, you choose instead to extend Christ from within you to encompass your perception of the body that you see “out there”. Now bodies become a means to see Christ instead of ego. Instead of representing separation to you, bodies – “others” - can now represent Oneness to you.
It begins with you making an effort to do this as often as possible with those “others” who disturb your peace of mind. They may disturb your peace of mind because you have formed a special “love” relationship with them or because you hold grievances against them. You must practice this with every relationship, be it casual and passing, or very intimate and lifelong. Then one day you will see your Self reflected in another without you making much effort to do this. This is a Holy relationship. The other may or may not share this experience with you, but you can be certain you will never be the same! The Holy relationship is the experience of Oneness in the world that unites your mind, and that reflects your Oneness with God in Heaven. Once you experience the Holy relationship it can extend naturally to all of your relationships if you let it. In fact, once you experience seeing your Self reflected in one “other” you become aware in every relationship that you have the choice to extend Christ or to project ego. Extending the Holy relationship everywhere is how you heal your whole mind by bringing it all back into Oneness. When you have done this, your mind will then be ready for the Oneness of God.
Each time you extend Christ in place of the ego’s projections you can imagine it is another stitch that is bringing your mind back to Wholeness. The Course emphasizes relationships because they are important to you and because they are used very effectively by the ego to keep you in ego and separation from God. But they are all in your mind, so they are all one. Others, then, are opportunities to heal your mind.
Comments
There can be confusion because on one hand I think of others as not even being there while on the other I am supposed to think of them as wholly innocent and one with god.