Seek Truth, Not Its Effects
A few weeks ago I wrote about Truth and Its effects and not
confusing them. What inspired that article was my reading of Jan Frazier's
book, When Fear Falls Away. While the book was directly useful to me by
validating my experience and helping me to delineate the distinction between
psychological wholeness and spiritual Wholeness, I felt something was missing
from her story. And that was Truth Itself. This is what reminded me to turn
inward to Truth. And, as it always does, this caused important shifts for me.
I first
wrote about this in March, 2017, after I’d realized, with great relief, that
love and peace, and joy were only effects. Like everyone I chased these, but
chasing them misses the point. Truth is the point, not Its effects. They are important
because they indicate Truth is here, but to seek them for themselves is to lose
sight of Truth.
When the
Golden Light of Love burst into my mind in August of ’17 I was so caught up in
It that I almost forgot about Truth Itself. When I remembered, I felt relief.
All tension left me.
I had this
experience again when I was going through the dismantling of my former life. I
was so consumed with it I’d forget the shifts were caused by my awareness of
Truth. Truth, not the shifts in my consciousness or in my outer life, is What
matters. Because Truth is the truth!
And it happened
again the other day. I was comparing the ego’s (personal thought system’s)
limited world and the Vision of Spirit, Which reflects the Love I am back to
me. At the time I was putting together my next collection of articles for
publication and came across an article in which I discussed the difference
between a Revelation (a direct experience of Truth) and a higher miracle
(reflection of Truth). I finished that article with “But I can tell you, as
joyous as the reflection is, it is as different from Heaven as a photon is from
the sun.” And woooosh! All the tension left my body.
Only the Truth is
true. Anything else, even Its reflections (miracles), are illusions. To chase
Truth’s reflections is to chase illusions. The reason I feel relief each time I
remember Truth is, well, truth, is
because I experience the true forgiveness that A Course in Miracles teaches. The higher state of consciousness
that results, where the Love I am is reflected back at me everywhere, always,
is not forgiveness, but the state of
forgiveness. It is an effect, not a cause.
It doesn’t make
sense to seek a higher state of consciousness. Instead, grow your awareness of
Truth and the higher state of consciousness will result.
>>>>
If you want
to benefit from my experience and lighten your process, email me at Liz@acimmentor.com
to set up an appointment for mentoring. Learn more at www.acimmentor.com.
Comments
The Course can be difficult because it gives no ground. We can fall into worshipping Love and peace and joy, A New Age ecstasy. "This is the goal of the Course," only it isn't. It is a sign post shaped like an arrow saying "This Way."
Thank you, Liz for writing this article for me - so I can now shut my PC down and enjoy the still conversation with Truth :)
The working my way through understanding what you are saying leaves me with a very profound awareness of the difference between understanding and experience.It is a strong reality check. A little awe inspiring what you are going through.
You are a student of ACIM.
ACIM teaches you the ego does not exist.
You understand ACIM to say you must get rid of the ego to make progress.
That is the ego talking to you.
If you must get rid of it then it must exist.
Around and around you go.
my experiencing of peace and joining in Love only ever occur as the effect of forgiving when i am aligned in the holy instant with my Inner Teacher, the HS. they don't occur for me as a result of self identification. the ego can and will easily slip in the back door and commandeer the experience, and i recognize this has happened because the quality of the experience, particularly the peace, shifts noticeably, and becomes an identity rather than an effect of resting in the Presence ("abiding in the word"). it is then a matter of training my mind in choosing to shift my attention back to the Inner Presence that is my teacher.
i share this for those of you listening who have also had this experience of being in the "Presence of the Alternative". to realize it is from a Source not of the personal self is not worship. it is trust building. and the developing of that trust is what we are assured will lead us to the Truth.
endless Love, n
Your other post: ACIM says you must come to see the ego is not real. That's a little different from saying you have to get rid of it. You are correct that fighting it or pushing it away only makes it more real to you. Seeing it is not real dissolves it in your mind.
Actually, I use Truth for God and Awareness of Truth for the Holy Spirit.
It took me 3 1/2 years to recognize the ego had fallen away. The recognition has been gradual, as I seem to have adjusted to each "new normal" along the way and only finally put together what happened earlier this year.
The starting line is words.
About two or three months ago someone new to the blog was making a comment to you about people getting caught up in the ego wanting to kill itself. I'm paraphrasing from my rather poor memory:) Anyway I couldn't for the life of me understand what he meant. The comment I made above about the ego coming in the back door was my realization of what he was saying and what it meant to me.
When I stumbled onto ACIM my searching phase ended which was and is a relief. One of the problems with searching is you begin to mix up different paths. A little of this, a little of that. Learn some of the lingo for one and the next has a little bit of a different shade to it. There are only so many words to choose from Ha! This leads to skipping across the surface of all of them.
Spira's path puts consciousness or awareness as the goal with the intent being this is God. In Chapter 3 of the text puts consciousness and perception coming from the same source. It is saying (text) God can only create or extend himself. Perception does not meet that criteria.
The Buddhist faith is moving towards a different end point than ACIM. Which is fine, all of it is fine! But for students the mixing of paths eliminates depth. You are back to skipping the surface like a rock when it is thrown.
thank you for sharing your experience of practicing forgiveness. it has given strength to mine today.
endlessly grateful, n