That's One Way of Looking At It


“And now he must attain a state that may remain impossible to reach for a long, long time. He must learn to lay all judgment aside, and ask only what he really wants in every circumstance.” (W-4.I.A.7)

The quote above describes what A Course in Miracles calls the “period of unsettling”. I did not realize when I entered this stage that the judgment it was talking about was judgment on this mind. Although now that I have learned this, it makes perfect sense. The first judgment is against Truth. It results in a diminishment of Limitless Mind to a limited split-mind identified with a limited self. All other judgments follow from this.

Since I have written about the self-concept falling away from this mind as self-identification begins to fall away, I am often asked by clients if I still hear the ego (personal thought system). Yes, I hear, but I don’t listen. It goes by pretty quick. However, sometimes I get hooked and follow the trail of its thoughts. This happened to me the other day and its attacks (judgments) on me were brutal. I just allowed them without judgment or resistance. And into the midst of the attacks came quietly and without charge this thought, “That’s one way of looking at it.” Of course! The ego presents a point of view; actually, usually many points of view.  But that is all they are.

The awareness that I was locked into just one way of looking at the self and this mind freed me from the ego’s attacks immediately. It also allowed me to find the “hook”. I had doubts about the fictional writing that I’m doing. And that made a gap in my mind into which the attacks came flooding. I also allowed the doubts, without judging or resisting. And in a little while I was very clearly assured that I’m doing what I am to be doing at this time. With the doubt gone the gap was gone. The personal thought system’s attacks no longer had meaning for me and could no longer hook me.

ACIM teaches us to use the thought, “I want another way to look at this” when our peace of mind is disturbed. That was useful to me for a long time. It opened my mind to the Holy Spirit’s point of view. And I needed that as long as I was identified with a self. However, that does not work for me anymore. In fact, it makes me disoriented.  It is more helpful to me now to see that any point of view is just that. This does leave me with the sense I’m floating in the air without a place to put my feet, but it seems more honest at this point. So I’ll just float.

It is very humbling to realize I do not know how to look at this self and this mind. What arrogance to think I ever did! Since I am no longer so certain I am due condemnation, I have become much more gentle with myself.

>>>>> 
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Comments

hannah said…
you see you did not know what your judgement was for :) ANCHORS AWEIGH!
laurie said…
You ended the second paragraph with the sentence "all other judgements follow from this".

It reminded me of a very helpful statement that has recently been popping into my mind these days when I finally recognize all the relentless self-judgements I am laying on myself AS ONLY self-judgements and not the Truth. I'm sure it stems from all the crime novels I have been reading recently, and I have to be in my right mind to even allow this statement to occur to me, but it is this:

It's all "fruit of the poisonous tree. Once the separation is made real, what else could follow"?

It turns out that the Holy Spirit really can use ALL of our special relationships to help us out of the dream....:-)
will said…
When your awareness is primarily the Holy Spirit what is happening as you go through your day. Are you in silence with no thought? Or in a state of receiving where you think like always by are aware it is from a different source? To me thinking is something that naturally goes on, yet I am aware of the considerable effort that is being made upon me. Are you not putting effort into keeping thought going but in a relaxed state of receiving?
ACIM Mentor said…
Will, thoughts continue. Most is ego babble. Some is from the HS. Some thoughts I pursue; others just arise. None of that has really changed. What *has* shifted is making it matter. What goes on in this mind is completely irrelevant. The whole level of awareness (consciousness, perception) is nothing. In other words, I do not concern myself with what is or is not going on in this mind anymore. I allow and observe without judgment. It is all passing clouds.
Unknown said…
I guess we have to make clear, yet again, that 'ego' is the idea of 'separation from God', e.g. dreaming of bodies with differing interests...
(AND in the dream of bodies, we have personal minds, SPLIT minds, wrong and right minds...). That has turned into the idea of 'ego' being selfish, egotistic, a bad person - but that is NOT the original idea of ACIM...
So, it doesn't matter 'what way we look at a thing'HERE IN FORM - the course says 'Let's make this year a year where we make 'all things' the SAME...
What only matters is: go inside, look within, with the Holy Spirit, and say: help me see this differently !
And, the Course says: there are only TWO groups of thoughts: LOVE or CALL FOR LOVE !!
So, if you are experiencing the latter (judgment of yourself or another), you'll have to ask H.S. to be reminded of the former !
That's all! It's all you have to 'do'...
That's why 'I need do nothing' - this is a course in LOOKING (without judgment/with H.S.) and NOT in DOING...
ONLY LOVE IS REAL !!

Peace and love to everyONE...
Unknown said…
And, further more, we also have to remember NOT to try and bring the light (the Holy Spirit) INTO THE ILLUSION (the world, the little self) - we must bring the illusion (the world) TO THE LIGHT - and be reminded of the THRUTH and the correction (the right answer, the Self) THERE...
nicci said…
thank you for this Bente. it resonates with my practice at this time, and addresses aspects of the Course teaching i have been going deeper with. so i am taking this moment to absorb your sharing here and walk it through . . .

"of myself i can do nothing because i am not of myself" (chapter 8). when i am identified with a personal self i can do nothing because i am identified with an illusion and can only perceive illusion. there is no receiving or extending of healing possible in this contracted state.

"i do not need to seek for Reality, It will seek for and find me when i meet it's conditions" (also chapter 8 maybe). when i align in my mind with the HS and look with Him (at myself or a perceived other), He shows me Love calling for Itself, and bids me to join with Him in answering the call by extending Love. there is no trying in this moment, i experience a union... a holy encounter ... an internal quieting ... a radical relaxing ... a sense of space where before there seemed to be a me. and it is all floating in Love.

the experience of these miracle moments are continuing, along with episodes of resistance. i am learning to watch them all from the vantage point of the HS in the Garden he has prepared there for me, a lovely visual picturing from an early chapter i have embraced. where i would usually find a sense of personal self, i am now at times finding instead a sense of expansion. i don't know what this is, only that i trust it fully. there are episodes of painful resistance also, but they are lessening and there is always a morning.

thank you all, for the help and Light i find here.

endless Love, nicci
Unknown said…
Thank you for sharing :)
Anonymous said…
Thank you every one for the helpful comments, they show a lot of love. Liz, you mention the Holy Spirit's point of view, then you say that It does not work for you anymore, It makes you disorientated.Then you say, ANY point of view is just that. The Holy Spirit's point of view is God's point of view, surely ? I'm puzzled, I,m sure I've misunderstood you,Sorry, Liz .
George Fordham said…
I am not Anonymous ! I'm George Fordham !
ACIM Mentor said…
George, the Holy Spirit is the thought system in your mind that is aware of God (Truth). It presents a point of view from that awareness, but it is not God's point of view because does not know of the world. God only knows God. It *is* the helpful POV while you still need one. It's just that I'm past needing one so it disorients me to try to pick one POV over others.
Unknown said…
I was reminded recently that the choise between POV's is rather simple, as there are only TWO groups of thoughts (judgments): looking at what you seem to experience and choose the TEACHER with whom you look (ego/person or HS): is this LOVE - or CALL for love (and so it must come from some kind of FEAR) ??
(but, of course, we are all tempted to find a PERSONAL opinion about this or that...)
nicci said…
i am still in need of the Holy Spirit's instruction, for i am still learning to withdraw identification from the false self and to accept His correcting of my perception. when i perceive fear, lovelessness in myself or another, and am open to His Help, He shows me then that what looks like fear is a call for Love (or sometimes even Love calling for Itself). He then helps me to join with Him in calling upon the Love Within (myself, another, both, the world), so extending the blessing, the miracle. this does not unfold as an opinion in me, but as an experience, one that brings a feeling of peace and joy to my mind that lasts until the personal self takes over again. it is a process of returning and remembering, and the peace or the lack of peace i experience in any day is directly connected to how much or how little it am up for joining with Him and accepting His Corrected Perception.

Liz, i am grateful for the descriptions you have been giving for your experience as you move more deeply into-beyond the period of unsettling and so beyond any POV. it gives me a sense for what lies ahead and that is very helpful. it feels like i am still experiencing relinquishment and some continued value sorting. in addition though, i am getting some glimpses of an unsettling occurring as the identification with a personal me is increasingly loosing its feeling of realness... and it is unsettling.

in deep gratitude for everyone's Love, n
ES said…
Since giving up studying acim, I return to this blog every now and then to see if there might be something interesting to read or learn from which occasionally does occur. This week for example, I was astonished to read that even after over 30 years of practice and study, Liz stills gets “brutal [ego] attacks”, in this case about simply trying to embark on fiction writing.

I am convinced that I made the right decision in giving it up. In fact, an acquaintance who taught the course for years told me about the “Direct Path” and the dozens of Rupert Spira (just one of several teachers) videos on youtube in which he explains in simple experiential terms how to practice it. In comparing the two, I came away with the opinion that despite its essential truth - anything that begins with the sublime and profound, “Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists”, has to be on to something - acim as a tool for transformation is blunt, convoluted, and antiquated. The course is a magnet for those of us (like me) who are attracted to intellectual pursuits like analyzing concepts, looking for hidden meaning etc. While studying it however, I found myself mired in a jungle of concepts, doctrine, and labyrinthine, inscrutable, intellectual highways and byways (new meanings for old words; hunting the elusive Holy Spirit; Jesus literal or metaphor) – so much so that I lost sight of the forest for the trees. Ironically, the “Direct Path” has been around for ages but rarely taught or studied because people seem more comfortable with paths that rely on a heavy structure.

I suppose acim works for some but if you are frustrated with it try something different. For sorting out “nuts and bolts” type problems of daily living involving relationships, setting boundaries etc. I still found Liz to be a great help and my go-to gal for resolving them.

Best wishes everyone.
nicci said…
hi ES. i read your comments here with great interest. you have described potential aspects about this path i have also noted. what has enabled me to not get too lost in all the intellectual theorizing has been the awareness of an Inner Presence within me for as long as i can remember, through which i have been able to process the theory and most important, to practice it's teachings (this Inner Presence keeps the structure simple). and what has kept me dedicated to it has been the deepening of the relationship with that Inner Presence.

i check in with Robert Spira's Direct Path teaching regularly and find it helpful. and i have friends who, like you, have shifted entirely to it, as well as other similar Direct Inquiry approaches. may we meet and join together where our journeys intersect in Love.

nicci
Unknown said…
Hi everyONE,

the Course itself admits it is not the only way - it is 'A' way - but would be pretty fast (if you do it right...) - and Kenneth Wapnick emphasizes that too, AND that it was given to two highly educated intellectual people...
So, it is not recommended to follow ACIM if it gives you more fear, anger, despair, frustration etc. - quite the opposite ! Find a way that gives you more peace (even if it takes 'longer'...). ACIM even says, 'some are not ready for more than a gentle smile (now)'...
Lots of love to everyONE..
ES said…
Bente,
You missed my point and sound a bit condescending.
Unknown said…
I'm sorry to hear you perceive it that way- at least it wasn't meant that way - only 'to be helpful' ...

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