Ask: Can you give examples of personally extending or creating?

“…Please can you give specific examples of how you personally "extend or create" as Truth?  My understanding is that as egos we extend and this is seen in all examples of projecting and then believing our projections as truth.  But egos' projections are illusions that end in chaos. For the awakened mind, instead of projecting it "extends or creates" in Truth.  Can you translate how as a unified One we constantly create? I recently read that Albert Einstein described himself as someone "just wanting to know the thoughts of God."  When I try to commune with Truth I try to just center myself on Truth so I might be able at some point "download" intuitive thoughts or feelings from the Truth. Creating peace. Don't know if perhaps this communing with the Truth inside me is the "extending or creating in Truth"?  Can you elaborate?” – SS

            As it does with so many terms, A Course in Miracles re-defines the word “creation”. In the world we think of “creating” as bringing something into being that was not there before. In ACIM, “Creation” means the infinite extension of God’s Being (Truth). It’s really just another way of saying that Truth is one and the same throughout. As you can tell by this definition the experience of Truth is wholly unlike the personal experience, which has multiple levels and variations.
True Extension only happens in Truth so I cannot give you examples of personally extending Truth. If my mind is on the personal, or form at all, I am blocking my awareness of Truth’s Infinite Extension.
            Projection is extension plus denial. It’s the same mechanism as extension except you deny that what you see are your own thoughts. You “project” your thoughts away from you onto a meaningless universe of form. The meaning that you project is what makes form seem real to you. They are illusions because they are just ideas and interpretations, not facts.
            Extension is something that occurs in the mind. It goes inward, not outward, because it is the recognition that there is no “outward”! You can practice extension (though not True Extension, which only occurs in Truth) by choosing to come from your awareness of Truth in your interactions with the world. In this practice you are aware of the Truth within you and you choose to attend to It and overlook the ego’s (personal thought system’s) projections of meaning onto the universe of form. Your awareness of Truth therefore extends (grows) in your awareness. You are no longer projecting because you are aware that your perception of the world is in your own mind.

            As for Albert Einstein I suspect that since he was a physicist the universe of form was very real to him and he thought that by understanding its laws he would understand the mind of some god that supposedly made it. But of course all it could lead him to are physical laws that have nothing to do with Truth.

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Comments

will said…
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will said…
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will said…
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ACIM Mentor said…
1. No, the mind is not the brain nor is it thought. The brain is a part of the body and both are ideas in the mind. Ideas in the mind are not the mind, however. Mind is What is. It is the aspect of Being through which Being knows Itself.
2. The personal mind is the part of the split mind that thinks it is a self in a body in a world. And, yes, it gives meaning to form to make it seem real.
3. Correct. Form is a meaningless projection of the split mind. Seemingly-individual split minds projected from the split mind give meaning to form from their own stories.
4. No, extension occurs in the mind, not in the brain.
5. No, coming from your awareness of Truth is not an activity of the brain. It occur in the mind. Yes, it is remembering your experiences of Truth and extending them in your awareness by choosing to be aware of them rather than to focus on what is appearing.
6. Your extending your awareness of Truth is how you practice, or invite, miracles. The actual miracle is when you have a shift in perception toward Truth because of this.
will said…
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ACIM Mentor said…
No, number 2 means the mind identifies with the body. But the brain is never the mind. When you identify with the body you seem to put your mind under the laws of the body. But this is a choice of the mind so the mind is always in charge.
On number 4: You extend from your awareness of Truth (Holy Spirit) not from the personal thought system or the brain.
The same for number five. You are a mind that has a choice of thought system - personal mind/ego or awareness of Truth/Holy Spirit. You are always coming from one or the other.
will said…
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Anonymous said…
People always think that the mind is "them/who they are" but that is never the truth. Real Truth is The Silence found within the gap where nothing exists but serene bliss where there is no "brother" or dis-ease, just BEing. And that's it.
ACIM Mentor said…
When you use the personal mind, or ego, you identify with the human. This choice does not come from the body (brain). It comes from your mind, which then experiences the body as though it is itself.
will said…
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ACIM Mentor said…
"You" the mind reading this blog. The person is only an idea or identification in your mind.
will said…
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ACIM Mentor said…
Then I don't know what to tell you, Will. You are a mind before you think anything. You are a mind before you identify with a body. Mind is what is.
will said…
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will said…
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Christine said…
I just re-listened to a Ken Wapnick tape on "Special Relationships" Part II and he said: "It is somewhat paradoxical that the Course is written on such a high intellectual level and yet it really defies the intellect...you have to set the intellect aside..." He stated Jesus says to "Trust me and have faith in what I'm teaching you...you won't be misguided." And Ken went on to say, "The intellect is part of the ego." And if you really think this is your path to Trust and have faith that the Course is your path." Hope this helps, Will.
will said…
Your right, he's right. I wanted to break some of the Course down and try to speak to the person I was who was struggling to understand in the first five years. But it isn't time or I'm not the one to be doing it. Either is fine, I'm kind of tired of thinking about it anyway. Interestingly I was led almost immediately to Chapter 21 which is where I need to focus. In the past six months I have experienced very specific and direct instructions on what to do next. This weeks blog was just perfect for me to get caught up in and then burn out. Ch. 21 goes directly to the heart of this.
will said…
Practicing Again…
If you have problems with not doing things perfectly, not giving yourself a break when you make mistakes, doing penance in your mind with negative self talk to try and lessen the guilt and shame, all that kind of stuff then Chapter 21 is a good place to go. In the subsection The Responsibility for Sight, Jesus (HS) is being pretty up front about “your little willingness” or lack of it. He wants us to take responsibility for what we are thinking and the results it brings. If you don’t take the action to change how you think, how you react, then nothing is going to change. You can read it for yourself. In my morning quiet time I was thinking about my mental laziness, my undisciplined mind. Getting started practicing is a lot like starting to exercise. You can be gung ho at the start but it falls away pretty quick. When I was talking about practicing to stay focused it went really well until I hit a small bump in the road and the ego rushed in to fill the gap. To my mind all this start/stop is a natural part of practicing the course or lifting weights.
will said…
This morning I have been thinking about having been raised Catholic. That was 50+ years ago. I’m reading about miracles in Chapter 21 and last night I picked up Wapnick’s A Vast Illusion which is also about miracles. When you are Catholic the game is rigged so that I couldn’t win. Kind of like a carnival game. The idea of sin keeps you in your place. You have to ‘earn’ God’s grace so I could try and try but never get there because I really liked to sin so it kept pulling me back and I went round and round doing this with my self esteem getting lower on every pass. You don’t earn miracles you just ask for them and they are gladly given. That’s the point of the Course. But I can still feel the catholic thinking. Like I have to earn miracles. You learn something as intense as religion and the learning stays with you even though you are unaware of it.
will said…
Sin is pervasive. If you believe in it and play by its rules you can't win. The game is set up where if you are human then you have sin. You'd have to turn into and alien to get away from it. The game is rigged.
Christine said…
Aliens have their own stories of separation, guilt, and fear, too! Kidding...what we need is to be "alien" to the ego thought...don't recognize it, don't answer it, etc. All it is is a smoke screen.

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