Ask: If we are all one how can we have such disparity?

…When sitting with family yesterday, it occurred to me that each of us has such a wide and varying approach and take on what is real.  If we are all one, and not various and individual souls/persons, how can we have such disparity in our beliefs?  Why isn't your awakening or Jesus’ awakening more of an influence on all of us if we are one consciousness?  Why does guilt seem so individualized when we are not individuals? - JG

You will notice that A Course in Miracles says that your perception of yourself as an individual mind (ego) among other individual minds (egos) is an illusion. You are not experiencing the one and only Mind (God) when you perceive the disparity of many minds. You are looking at an illusion. It is this mistaken belief in what is real that ACIM seeks to help you transcend.
It isn’t really accurate to say that “we are all one”. It is more accurate to say that there is only one mind. Any time you apply a plural to “mind” you are looking at the illusion. But you can turn away from the perception of many minds and turn inward, away from the ego, to the one-Mind-that-is.
Jesus and other seemingly-individual teachers who are aware of the one-Mind-that-is can point your seemingly-individual mind inward to It. But your awareness of the one-Mind-that-is will influence you only to the degree to which you are open to It.  In your seemingly-individual mind you alone have the choice of what influences your mind and how much it influences it.

Guilt only seems individualized when you think that individuals are real. In fact, it is the belief that individuals are real that is the source of guilt. It is the belief that formless Reality (God/the one-Mind-that-is) has been attacked and a new reality of many-minds-in-form has been made real. So when you look away from individual minds and turn inward to the one-Mind-that-is you see that there is no guilt. Nothing has been attacked. Only one Mind is real.

>>>>>
Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, 4 Habits for Inner Peace, and Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.
If you have a question the answer to which you think will help others send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in the ACIM Mentor Newsletter/Blog.

Comments

Anonymous said…
We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. Either you swallow the Kool-Aid, or you learn something different.
6:14 AM
will said…
What's that supposed to mean?
8:32 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

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 ...
Read more