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
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.
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.
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.