Ask: Why do I have sudden thoughts about perceived attacks in the past?
“Let's say I'm
going about my business feeling no stress, conflict or pain and suddenly,
"out of the blue" comes some disturbing thought about a
person/incident from the past which feels like I'm under attack, requiring me
to defend and counterattack etc. I haven't seen this person for years, they're
not in my life but there they are. While I believe that circumstances and
people don't create feelings in us but rather we project our feelings onto them
(it's entirely my movie), what I don't get is the suddenness, and absence of
current context for these thoughts. Why now?...” – ES
What you describe is when something
of which you are not conscious, or not fully conscious, triggers a memory of a
person or circumstance. It may be some object your eyes light upon, a snatch of
music or another sound, a body memory, or a train of thought that you had not been
consciously following. It may also be that if the ego (personal thought system)
in your mind feels threatened by your spiritual practice and experiences it
recalls people and incidents to distract you. It may use the “rewards” of feeling
a victim as soon as you, often unconsciously, glance its way. Sometimes these
memories come up because of a chemical change in the body that induces feelings
that cause you to recall when you had those feelings before.
So there is a current cause for the thoughts. You are just
not consciously aware of it. In any case the cause is not important. What’s
important is these memories still evoke a strong emotional reaction in you.
This indicates that you still have unconscious beliefs in guilt and fear to
undo. So these memories, no matter how they are evoked, give you an opportunity
to undo your obstacles to peace.>>>>>
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.
Comments
Gratitude
What I meant by turning certain ideas back on the ego is understand that is speaks for itself, not for you. When it is threatened what is says is true for it but not for you. For example, when it tells you that you will be obliterated by God. It's true that God does undo the ego in your mind. But obviously God does not undo you since God is your Being. Practicing this is one way to detach from the ego.
You commented last week that "some who come to ACIM have yet to make that first step of being aware of truth, that has to come first." I'm not sure what you mean by 'aware of truth' could you be more specific? Thanks.
Last week in the comments section you said “When you read ACIM always remember it was for Helen Schucman; her mind and where she was in her awareness of Truth. It was specific to her. The rest of us have to generalize her lessons for ourselves. Helen could hear the Voice. She experienced Truth as she wrote ACIM. So she had it to go to, to practice the forgiveness described in ACIM.”
I vehemently disagreed with this at the time. The idea that she scribed 1500 type written pages over a seven year period that was specific to her seemed a little much. It is kind of hard to wrap my head around, but after a week of mulling it over and reading the Forwards again I think your right. Does that mean it was originally intended solely for Helen and Bill, I don’t know. A couple of months ago I bought the Original Edition sometimes referred to as the Hugh Lynn Cayce version and in the forward it says this:
“The Original Edition faithfully reproduces the original transcript of the book that was produced as a result of the collaboration between Schucman and Thetford, whom many believe were involved with each other in the “holy relationship” described in Chapters 17 through 22 of the Text. This edition preserves the original language of the dictation of those chapters, which were addressed to the two collaborators as they worked together to produce the manuscript. Later editing of the manuscript changed the focus of these important chapters and addressed them to a solitary reader, removing the mutuality that is explicit in the original dictation.”
When I read the Text with that change in paradigm it reads different than before. It really does change things.
http://www.facim.org/online-learning-aids/excerpt-series/jesus-the-manifestation-of-the-holy-spirit/
When the ego read your comment last week it went into the attack mode.
In gratitude for the gift that you are
Your brilliance shimmers like a Christmas star
The light within, the Heaven of your mind
Is the star that lights in darkness and shines
Look up to the night sky on Christmas Eve
There is where I will join with Truth and be
The first star shining and twinkling bright
A reflection of God's Peace, Love and Light
It will represent the gift we all are
Oneness of the holiest Christmas Star.