Putting Aside the Alienation
Living in the
limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to
seem
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the
alienation
Get on with the
fascination
The real relation
The underlying peace
- - Limelight [Rush (Chronicles)]
A recurring theme with students on a spiritual path is the
personal alienation they feel while still being aware of a sense of Wholeness
and Peace beyond. And this is the choice before you: seeking for connection
with others as a person or resting in the Wholeness and Peace that is always
here within you. Your choice is to live in a lack that will never be filled or
to accept the Wholeness That is. You
cannot have it both ways.
The real question is why, when you are aware of Wholeness
and Peace, you still go back into a feeling of loneliness and lack and a desire
for connection to fill the loneliness and lack. The answer is simply that you
are used to being a self and when Peace comes it does not come to the self or
its thought system (ego/personal thought system). You are used to seeking through
the self for fulfillment and when you find that you no longer need to it is
baffling even when it is also a relief. The habit of seeking – the habit of
being a self – takes some time to undo. And there is often a sense of loss,
too. You may have enjoyed seeking. You may have enjoyed “doing”. When you find all of that is unnecessary it
is like the sudden quiet when a loud machine has been shut off. Yes the clamor
was annoying but you had adapted. The sudden emptiness is shocking.
Much of this process comes down to acclimating to – getting
used to – just being and being whole
in Being. It is a process of learning to be without the empty, limited,
always-seeking, always-doing self. Instead of seeking for love and connection
with others, you learn instead to come from the Love (wholeness) already within
you to remain aware that It is already here.
A spiritual path is not going to lead to an emotionally
(ego) satisfying sense of connection with others. If it does, you are coming
from ego, not an awareness of Truth, so the effect is temporary. An awareness
of Truth offers so much more than emotional satisfaction. It lifts you out of
the need for emotional satisfaction, which is a lame substitute for true
Wholeness.
>>>>>
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
When or if I do start having ego palpitations, I now ask inwardly, What is it for? I don't deny the feeling, thing, whatever, I just look at the situation quite differently now - without going any further. I used to feel 'alienated' at first while studying the Course...now I fell a 'sameness' all the time.
"A spiritual path is not going to lead to an emotionally (ego) satisfying sense of connection with others. If it does, you are coming from ego, not an awareness of Truth, so the effect is temporary."
i love the way you said that christine.. (scottish synchronicity this morning!) what i got from it is that eventually we learn to simply CHOOSE, NOW. clear, simple choice for truth, no longer trying to undo the unreal.
When my personal self is trying to fill "alone time" with activities and do-to lists and seeking, I have lost the awareness and the experience of this flow and current.
So choosing Awareness to me does not mean also choosing to feel lonely and unconnected, but choosing to help my personal self experience a different, Real experience of connection. And I have to keep choosing again and again because "feeling lonely" is a sign that I have forgotten again!
I appreciate all the assistance I have had along the way. :-)
ps The address I aways use is yellowjaguar2004@msn.com and not the one shown below.
“As an example, let’s say that a friend promised to pick you up to take you to a job interview that you judged as important for the personal self, They didn’t show up and you did all that you could to reach them in time. But in the end they simply forgot so you missed the interview. You are now angry with them. You see them as guilty for neglecting your needs. What is making you angry, however, is not that they did not pick you up. Your thoughts about them not picking you up are what anger you: “This was an important interview and they made me miss it”, “They are thoughtless, selfish, insensitive”, “My life would’ve been better with this job”, “They don’t care about me”, etc. What you need to forgive, then, is not the person or the situation but your own pain-causing thoughts.”
The writer suggested I was asking people to take an emotional bypass and ignore messy relationships. My response is that I always tell people to not deny their emotions. For one thing, they reveal what they really believe. I was not suggesting anyone pretend a detachment that they do not feel. I was discussing what occurs when detachment comes naturally. None of this process can be forced by pretending an awareness that one has not yet attained.
You really have to go to hell and back to finally say enough to the ego. But what a relief.
'The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.' – Don Juan, Tales of Power
George from the hillside in Wales UK
Question tho: Liz, are you saying that all emotions are derived of ego and that there are no emotions which reflect Truth? That Truth is an emotionless state? I'd have to ponder that one...
Inquisitively yours, Sage
Truth is an emotionless state in Itself. But our awareness of Truth inspires emotions, for example, joy.
Sage I didn't know anything about Massaro so I went to his sight and read some of his blogs. His focus seems to be on how to have a happy life?
If you are willing, eventually you will learn that there is no difference between feeling "good" and feeling "bad" just as you will see that there is no difference between "pleasure" and "pain". You will see that it is all meaningless and irrelevant. Only the Truth is true and only the Truth matters.
I wanted to ask you about this more out of curiosity than anything else. Last night I was reading Wapnick's book called A Vast Illusion. He is describing the role of the decision maker:
"The ego's script was written and chosen by us as decision makers - we are, so to speak, the writers, directors, producers, actors, and actresses."
Is the Course directed to the decision maker?
My experience has led me to a different understanding of what he describes. But the important thing to understand is that as a decision maker you have the choice of to which thought system you will listen: ego or Holy Spirit. Understanding your mind as the decision maker, however, makes it possible for you to detach from the ego and realize it is not you.
I don't know hannahlily, I had picked up A Vast Illusion just to look at before I fell asleep. I don't know what he means, I thought I did but sometimes his analogies get so complicated that my eyes cross and it's just words on a page. From what he says he goes into this in more detail in his other books; that this was just a lead in for this book.
George, I knew her mother was a theosophist but I do not remember learning she was into CS. It would explain why there are so many similarities between the two teachings. This also helps me understand why I have been led in a different direction with regard to the body. I do not know who Groeschel is. A friend of Helen's?
also laughing, in regard to liz' response to george (hi george!), as this is the beginning content of the latest emails ive been receiving with the don juan quotes... while the 'changes in energy' part im not sure about in light of my understanding of acim being that the world itself, as a 'whole' is not heading toward any transformation? ive included it as it may just be a way of describing how teachers/students of truth seem to evolve, to expand in perception toward knowledge.
'According to Don Juan, massive changes in energy are happening at the present time, which will inevitably cause the emergence of a new cycle of warriors. To differentiate them from their predecessors, I have called them modern seers, or seers of the new era. ~ Carlos Castaneda
As more and more of these warriors-seers emerge, the teachings of Castaneda are undergoing a wonderful transformation. As Castaneda said to Armando Torres, the most remarkable thing about them (modern seers) is their capacity of revision. At this time, seekers of knowledge are forced to thoroughly examine everything that has been said in the past, adapting traditional knowledge to the modality of the time, in order for the warrior's way to be truly and finally understood by people.