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Showing posts from December, 2013

Ask: Does thinking ever stop?

“…A question occurred to me thinking about consciousness/knowledge/awareness. I can experience awareness of Christ around and within me; I can ‘sense’ this awareness as being enveloped in the arms of Christ/God/Holy Spirit; and I wonder: what about abstract thoughts, i.e. connected to ideas of logic, are they – where? Form? I remember reading/hearing a long time ago that real thinking never stops. Do you agree?...”  - T             Once, many years ago, while meditating I slipped into a Place Where there was no thought or ideas. I had expected there were no words in Truth but not no thoughts or ideas at all. I experienced pure being . No forms (thoughts, ideas); no doing (thinking). It was so alien to my usual experience that I would not have been able to conceive of it if I had not experienced it. It what total bliss! What release and freedom! No boundaries of any kind. I had no idea what a burden thoughts and thinking are, no matter their form. So I will say that, thankfully, t

Ask: Does ACIM teach that consciousness expresses itself in form?

“ I am trying to reconcile the teaching of the Course which teaches everything is an illusion that is not God with the teachings of other spiritual teachers of consciousness which state that everything we see is ultimately consciousness. For example, Eckhart Tolle teaches that when you are with nature, you can sense the presence beneath....consciousness expressing itself as that form.  In the Course it seems to teach that everything is illusion.  Does the course not believe that consciousness expresses itself in form?”  – MB                         Because you seem to experience a reality that is apart from Reality (Truth, God), A Course in Miracles discusses your mind as though it has two levels – Truth and illusion. The level of Truth it calls God, Reality, or Knowledge. The level of illusion it calls perception, consciousness, or awareness. Truth is formless so form is an illusion. Consciousness, then, is not Truth. It is form and expresses itself through form. At its high

Ask: Does it make sense for me to spend time caring for the natural world?

“…The Course challenges me in two ways that I haven't yet figured out. First, as an example, I recently finished my cherished monthly National Geographic that describes Lions and their often brutal behavior toward their population and also their cubs. That makes me wonder (not facetiously), did they also have a 'tiny mad idea' of separation or are they or their behavior illusions of ours? That leads into my second question as an environmentalist who grew naturally into being appalled by man's arrogance in manipulating and destroying what we see as our natural world. My concern is that thinking this is our illusion, our creation, our dream, doesn't that reinforce that role of human as ruler of all we see, to be used for whatever selfish ego based experience we desire? So I wonder, does what I spend my time on in advocacy, conservation and care for the natural world still make sense?… – DM             To answer your first question, here is a response to a quest

Ask: Why do babies continue to be born to learn and grow?

“ …I have been studying ACIM for 6 years now and I understand and have accepted that some things just have to be taken on faith.  I want to get your views on this: Given that this world of form is illusion – given that the ego is typically in charge here and that we have maintained this mode of thought because we rebelled against a god and created this mistaken experience; What is the best way to wrap my mind around the idea that babies continue to be born (Souls) coming to Earth School – to learn lessons and grow in knowledge and divinity.  That is one avenue of thought that I have always heard.  Does this make sense because the Holy Spirit uses our errors and mistakes to further God’s Divine purpose for us?  That Souls continue to be reincarnated and come to Earth to gather experience, or so that God can experience through us?   Sometimes it feels like this doesn't make sense to me – simplistic, then again – I have not found an answer on my own.” – AG You do not have to tak