Ask: Who is the "I" in the affirmations of your 4HIP book?


Liz in your book the ‘4 Habits for Inner Peace’ you state at the beginning of each chapter on the four habits an affirmation that contains the word ‘I’. Who is the ‘I’ that is making these affirmations?...” – E St. A

            Well, since you’re reading the book, hopefully you! You, the mind asking the question. You, the mind that is seeking an experience other than the one you have had. You, the mind that wants to remember What it is in Truth.
            I suspect that behind your question is your wondering where your mind fits into the whole Truth and illusion thing. Or maybe the different levels of mind, blah, blah, blah. You don’t have to question this. You don’t have to doubt yourself or your experience of yourself. Just have the experience you’re having without judging it or trying to understand how it fits in to a bunch of theories. You are you, a mind seeking to better understand itself. You are you, a mind reading that book. You are you, a mind with this question.
The Truth will become apparent to you in time as you have new experiences of yourself. But your mind will always be your mind, though how it knows itself changes. In other words, you will always feel like you. So you can trust feeling like you now.

>>>> 
NEW BOOK! The ACIM Mentor Articles, Volume 3, covering 2014 thru 2018, is now available in paperback and on Kindle at www.amazon.com.

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

will said…
E, Liz is exactly right in reading her book. But..

I struggled for years trying to make sense of the text with the "I" and "you" and the seeming flipping from personal mind to Christ Mind without warning. I remember years ago complaining to Liz that there should be some indication of what Level was being referred to in a sentence.
The Course teaches about two Levels often in the same paragraph.
I never found a solution for it and if it was all just in my head well it was stuck in there pretty good. I just wanted to validate your question of it was referencing what I had trouble with.
will said…
E, I also read years ago 'somewhere' that the entire Course was speaking to the part of the split mind that is asleep in an effort to wake it to what was happening. So I went full speed ahead with that until I was throwing the text across the room! Ha!
Deb said…
Thank you. I appreciate the simplicity of this guidance. I am discovering how relaxing it is when the loud voice of complexity seems to grow quiet. Sure it strikes first still, is watched, not judged and then a true perception is received. So simple.

Blessings of Love and Peace.
nicci said…
thank you deb, for clarifying this teaching further, (and e for asking). being asked to lay aside all elaboration and come empty into the Presence. your words reassure. n
will said…
My interests lie with students who are trying to make a go of this Course. Caught in the incredible complexity of ACIM they are years away from the mind growing quiet. My understanding of what Jesus is teaching is that his teachers will will give back what was freely given to them. The years of struggling to understand the Text, the constant ego attacks that come with it, may be only happening to a few. But I doubt it.
Maryanne Cosmo said…
Love the simplicity of just experience the experience without judging or trying to make it fit a theory. The first thing my personal mind did was want to complicate the question by saying "I" is just awareness; but my personal mind still likes to complicate and seek but never find.
will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
nicci said…
the part of my mind that appeared driven to understand ACIM is the part of my mind invested in my not doing so. i have given it over to the willingness to practice returning to the holy instant. here i forgive my errors and allow the miracle to come into my mind, and not get so deep into the study that i miss the Presence, the Stillness.

That Presence is revealing to me the direction i am to take on this journey of return. always there is study. sometimes there is resistance and discomfort. but more and more, the call to deepen my relationship by coming into the Quiet with Him, allowing the forgiving and release to move into and through my mind. building trust one holy instant at a time. the crazy self cannot find me there.

endless L, n
will said…
That's fine, whatever works for you.

nicci said…
one more observation:

i notice that the seeming complexity of ACIM has fallen away over the years with the practice of its teachings. i am nowhere near to getting all the principles, but am assured i understand enough for the transfer of training to practice. when i am under the Guidance of my Inner Teacher it is so elegant ... simple ... beautiful. without the commitment to practice (and no small amount of patience and effort) i would be lost.

i have often not felt ready for active engagement of the teachings. what has made the difference is not being willing to let that stop me. this is how the "little willingness" has shown up for me. so far.
will said…
For the first two or three years I would go up to my bedroom at about 6pm sit at the head of my bed with text, dictionary and various Wapnick material and try to understand what it was saying. I have said before many times on my first picking up the text out of curiosity within minutes i knew in my mind this was not written by a human. I had never seen anything in my life that was anything like it. Not remotely. I didn't know what it was saying but I knew it was something special.
I lost a girl friend who tired of watching and listening to me struggle with it. She hates the Course with a passion.
I believe Jesus dictated the Course. And there is the crux of the thing. I stumbled onto a book written by Jesus and I believe that every sentence, every meaning that he is teaching has significance.
He is saying "This is what I want you to do." I mean I have a book Jesus wrote!
But that is just me. I know what other people do is their own business but sometimes it gets by me. With this week's question it took me back to the old days...
will said…
To me Jesus is clearly saying I Wrote This For You (for everyone). The idea this was written for two people makes no sense. Why would anyone bother to put the dedication into studying a book written for Helen?
Jesus says he wrote it and people don't believe that but dedicate huge parts of their life to learning it. But I digress... It ain't none of your business Will.
nicci said…
will,

i do not know who these people you speak of are. in my connections with ACIM students there is general agreement and acceptance of the author's identity.

the Inner Teacher ACIM has awakened in me and the Course author are One. Jesus as an identity is taking on a larger meaning as my relationship with Him develops. a boundary-less one...

and He always brings me back to this holy moment, and opening to His Help.

i'll meet you there. n
will said…
Liz's understanding of the course is that it was written on for Helen and Bill and we should understand what it is saying in that way.

Nicci when you say you will meet me there, are you not there yet?
will said…
Nicci,
If I can talk plainly without attack. When I read what you are describing I understand what you are referring to. I can be in that state anytime I want to for as long as I want to. I will quiet down in meditation and then stay in that place when I am done. Nothing to it, very easy and comfortable.
When I read Liz documenting what is happening with her I hear about peace and love but I also hear the struggle continuing. The ego not going down without this long protracted fight. That is what I read with the recent comments from Australia. Your posts sound like you have found a way to bypass all this.
Perhaps I misunderstand what you are describing. It sounds so New Age. And that’s fine if that is what is going on. But I don’t understand how you are bypassing this protracted fight with the ego, with the personal mind. The quiet mind I mentioned pushes it out of awareness and will give a sense of being gone but as we see with Liz it is alive and continuing the fight.
The bottom line is I don’t trust it when people present themselves in a state of calm with Jesus all the time. I don’t trust that it is not the ego coming in the back door.
nicci said…
will,

from an earlier comment on this blog: "sometimes there is resistance and discomfort". i am in a state of calm only when i am in the holy Instant with Him. the rest of the time i am in coco puff- ville. and have never intended to give any other impression. i do find my gratitude welling for that little shift into Peace, and find myself expressing it at times. gratitude is a new experience for me.

someone, perhaps liz, or ken wapnick, once said, "If your ego isn't struggling against this Course it is because it has embraced it and made it its own." i keep this quote in my ACIM diary to reassure me the struggle i experience is part of the journey. the ego does object and with increasing volume. i am learning not to take it so seriously. humor is a new experience for me also.

since beginning this path i have discovered that every time i think i am perceiving ego in another, i am inevitably shown, with the greatest of Love, that it is only my own mistaken identity i am perceiving. i can't get away with the slightest assumption any more. and there is relief. this goes on all the time and i welcome it as part of my mind training.

"I will meet you there" (a wonderful line from Rumi) is a statement of acknowledgement for those inner holy encounters with Jesus and others i am experiencing with increasing frequency (the miracle). the rest of the time i am driving with two wheels in the ditch. as i have said before, i am in no way already there. ( i don't even think in those terms.) fortunately, i have determination and the realization i can choose again. and for this i am grateful. and also dear brother, for you, and the Field where we meet.

endless L, n


will said…
NOW I can see your endless Love:) Thank You.


will said…
I am well aware that my mind is about half crazy this week. I'm in here looking at it. You did very well not to jump in here with me.
ACIM Mentor said…
Will, just to clarify so no one is mislead about this stage...yes, the echo of the ego is still in this mind, but I don't struggle with it. It's a distraction when I don't push it aside easily (it gets easier and easier), and it distorts, and it is uncomfortable because of this. But struggling with it would turn discomfort into pain. If I do lament it being here I recognize that I am coming from the echo itself which laments the echo being here and teaches it should be otherwise (while resisting falling away, the contradictory thing), so I compartmentalize it. It's a little voice, after all, that grows more faint as I step more and more into What I am.
will said…
Thank you.
will said…
By the by, the appropriate response when a conversation has or is about to go off the rails is, "I'm not going to do this with you." End of your participation. It's a counselor thing.
ACIM Mentor said…
Rare has been the time I've had to use that, and only in emails with those who wish to argue concepts, words, phrases, etc.
will said…
Yes, it is most helpful with teens or a spouse. In the heat of battle it may need to be repeated endlessly...
will said…
I of course meant a person's own children, spouse, significant other. In an argument it becomes like a mantra. As long as you don't buckle you have the upper hand.
ACIM Mentor said…
Hmm. Is the "upper hand" desirable in a personal relationship? I don't experience them as contests.

As a mentor, I use it simply because I see nothing about which to argue. I can accept that others have a different interpretation or POV, so I feel no need to argue. In a personal relationship, however, if I felt the conversation was going off course or somewhere unproductive I'd just state that and ask if we could get back on track or step away for a bit, cool off, center ourselves, and come back to it later (if the conversation was one which needed to continue).
jonart said…
For myself, I, too, sometimes wonder who is this I. For now, I understand it as the "thinking" I trying to reach Truth. I've been seeing lately the word "identify" related to Truth. Maybe that's closer to "Being", but not sure of the true experience of that. All I can say is that after many years of reading studying the course, I am more at peace in everything. As an artist, I am buried in peace while painting. I'm sure I am still 'relinguishing" the ego nonsense, but that's ok. Maybe after all 'being' will be an ultimate peace and love within. Keep on keeping on::)))
Annette said…
Liz, thank you so much for the last three newsletters! They are so very helpful. I am halfway through Jan Frazier’s book. Maybe there’s hope for me yet, as I ask The Holy Spirits help to help me let go of my fear. And from today’s letter it reaffirmed that I am doing my best to grow my faith in the Holy Spirit, because I do ask Him to be with me in everything I do! Thank you!
will said…
Most of us don't have the luxury of living with a Ms. Hannah.
ACIM Mentor said…
Unfortunate, but true, Will.
hannah said…
lol be careful what you 'ask for' will... some luxuries are quite hard work hahaha! :D ;)

but seriously tho...

these past months have been nothing like i expected, and i had thought i was coming into it pretty expectation free, after my romantic feelings toward Liz fell away (which happened before she had left to come here, but we knew we were experiencing this holy relationship, this joining of minds in one 'goal' so to speak, and that was always at the heart of our coming together anyway). this occurring had brought up for me how much expectation/specialness i had in fact had, and though i knew i still had to grieve the 'loss' of that particular expectation of how this relationship might look, i thought i had dealt with the expectations of what this HR might look like.
but it turns out i also had romanticised views of what the joining of minds in one goal would entail.. i didnt expect a total walk in the park, but what has come up is like.. ok, say you know you have a DEEP well where there is a lot of shit floating on top of the clear, delicious water. (scuse the blunt language!) not a pleasant mix, but the way you normally access it is bucket by bucketload, bit at a time, and the rope youre using doesnt go deep enough to bypass the shit altogether, and even in those rare moments it seems to be longer than usual, you still seem to get a bit of shit bringing the bucket back up. and seeing as this is what youve always brought up from the well, it seems like thats just normal, that mix in varying proportions.
well i feel like the whole well has been upturned 'on' my head.. upturned IN my head lol! so while there are many more experiences of the deep still water, there is also all the shit at once. the inherent Presence of the water makes it 100% clear that the shit is just 'floaty' surface stuff and not the actual deep content of the well, so there is much less angst than you normally felt when you thought the shit was mixed all the way through the well. BUT! its all there at once! it STINKS! its easier and easier to just drop it.. much easier in fact than its ever been before.. but the 'it' you are dropping feels less diluted AT THE SAME TIME as being very apparently less what the well (the Will!) is 'about' at all.

i know that liz, too, came into this 'expectation free', and also discovered there were vestiges (her echos) of specialness, doubt etc clinging, and watching how quickly she passes through them has been so damn helpful. deeply. like.. they are sharp, intense.. and then gone.
hannah said…
i said i 'know', because that is what i have felt as well as observed from liz.. and (for example) after one such episode she apologised for her viciousness, and i finally apologised in that moment for my own! she herself may have a different version of events, or words she finds more accurate ;) (winking at the words theme, laugh!). in this realm of course, the 'awakening' realm, the word know is NEVER going to be truly accurate.. i perceive would be better! while much of what liz and i perceive in each other is accurate, or close to, there has also been much cloudy water that has taken a bit of clarifying! i have had deep hyper-sensitivities rise up, (i think after this day of fury ive had this might be healing.. we'll see!) which obviously always clouds perception, and liz finds my mind/thinking opaque!
will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
will said…
A Rant: I don't know if other Kindle Fire users have this going on but, in the above comment to Hannah it reads "Would go describe" instead of what I wrote which was "would you describe." This new Fire insists on putting in the words it wants instead of what you put in. The damn thing has an ego, I swear!
will said…
Hannah I shouldn't have put you on the spot. Wasn't thinking.
ACIM Mentor said…
Will, there should be a setting you can change on your Kindle so it does not auto-"correct" (a misnomer if ever I've heard one).
will said…
A misnomer? How so my wise friend?
will said…
Oh lord Liz now you've done it. I'm stuck in a quandry. There was indeed an auto correct misnomer that can be turned off. But then I'll be responsible for the mistakes! Do I leave it on and continue to call this Kindle Fire junk or do I start taking responsibility for all the mistakes. I can feel a crises coming on...
ACIM Mentor said…
"Misnomer" because its "corrections" rarely seem to be. Mostly they seem responsible for some either confusing or humorous replacements. (If I can find it I will email you a link to some truly hysterical texts caused mostly by auto "correct").

Yes, alas, now you will be responsible for your own mistakes. I pity you.
will said…
Oh hot dog! Pity.
hannah said…
hey no worries will, i just havent had the headspace to reply yet. been focused on the shift that is occurring, or rather.. not focused so much as just being mentally stiller.

laughed out loud at you hot dog! pity comment.

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