Ask: Did the ego ask for the world and then for a better way?
“Liz the ego's
way into the world began with the thought ‘Is there something better?’ and a
way out of the ego's world began with Bill Thetford's thought ‘There must be a
better way’. Is it possible the ego asked both of these questions? The
first question responded to by the Father (God) and the second by a son Jesus?” – ESA
God (Truth), being All, must think of Its Own opposite. But being All, God cannot have an opposite. The idea of not-God arose and was undone immediately by God’s All-encompassing nature. It is as though God said, “What’s my opposite? Oh, wait, I am All; I cannot have an opposite” and the idea was done. So there is no intention behind the idea of not-God. Like God, it merely is. But unlike God it has no meaning because it is impossible. Only in time, which is part of the idea of not-Truth, does it seem that the idea of not-God began long ago and will be undone in some indefinite future. So only in time, in not-Truth, does lack and a need to fill the lack seem to have meaning. There is no lack in God. So no part of God went looking for “something better”.
The
world and the ego are part of not-God (the universe of form) and arose
simultaneously as expressions of that idea. The ego was not there before the
world. It is not a part of God’s Mind that went looking for something better.
In
the story of the undoing of not-Truth, which is the story of the universe of
form, the Undoing shows up as certain minds looking for a way out of the pain
of the experience of not-Truth. Helen Schucman
and Bill Thetford were two of those minds. They opened to “a better way” and
received A Course in Miracles via a
Voice within Helen which she experienced as “Jesus”. The Voice was the
universal Christ Mind, the part of every mind that remembers Truth.
It
is not the ego in one’s mind that seeks a way out of pain. Every mind in the
world is split between ego and Christ (Holy Spirit). In the moment a split-mind
hopes that there is a way out of pain, they are hoping that there is a way that
is not the ego’s way. This is unconscious, of course. They don’t know that
their pain is caused by following a thought system ACIM labels “ego”. But this
is the opening the Christ in every mind needs to come into a split-mind’s
awareness and provide a “better way”.
>>>>>
Sometimes the “better way” does not
seem better! Once you invite Truth into your mind it gets worse before it gets
better because you have to face your obstacles to Truth. If you want support
and guidance on the “better way” email me at Liz@acimmentor.com
to set up a telephone appointment. Learn more at www.acimmentor.com.
If you have a question the answer to
which you think will help others, email it to me at Liz@acimmentor.com
and indicate that you want it answered in the newsletter/blog.
Comments
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This is the place where we must leave our identity as students of ACIM.