No Need to Face the Void of Consciousness

 I very briefly considered becoming a contemplative when I was young and just starting out on my spiritual path. My path has been A Course in Miracles from the start, and as that is not the way of the Course, I was very shortly led away from it. But for a very long time I still felt drawn to a life of contemplation of God because I had experienced God directly and wanted to know God…more.

But somewhere along the way this desire dissolved. And it did so because I discovered it was not necessary to spend my life sinking deeply into my mind to find God. I now know what I would have discovered was my mind (consciousness) but that did not mean I would have found God. In fact, it could have been a way to avoid God as God is right here, right now. I never had to reach for God. Reaching for God can sometimes mean reaching past God, like when reaching for the mayo in the refrigerator and missing it because it’s right up front and you are looking for it beyond it.

Some clients and readers hear of contemplatives facing a void or terrible emptiness and are afraid this will happen for them one day, too. That void is consciousness, which is ultimately empty. Some find only the void of consciousness and become terrified and/or nihilistic. But many eventually find God in the void of consciousness (Spirit, God’s Extension into consciousness) or find God past it (Christ, God’s Extension to consciousness). However, it is not necessary to find the void to become aware of God. It is simply the consequence for some who spend hours a day for years looking deeply into their mind.

We are only into the second generation of A Course in Miracles in the world. We do not yet have a deep lineage of students’ and teachers’ stories, as do other religious and spiritual traditions that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years. But if we did, what you would discover is you don’t have to be or do anything extraordinary to be with God now. That is the central teaching of the Course and all any “successful” student and teacher could reveal to you. Our lives are ordinary and lived with or in Spirit here and now, just as yours is to be if you are a student of the Course. Trust the path.

>>>> 

If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and I will answer it in this newsletter/blog.

Comments

will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
4:47 PM
nicci said…
sister,
every time you remind me of the importance to trust, the trust grows stronger.
endlessly grateful, n
7:58 AM
will said…
There are levels to contemplation. It is also prayer.
11:17 AM
will said…
"You need do nothing" is about the obstacles in your mind.
11:42 AM
will said…
The holy relationship is not about, "a little mound of clay." T-19.IV.B.4
12:16 PM
will said…
The perception of the body, yours or another's, is the 'Great Obstacle' to experiencing the holy relationship.

"I am within your holy relationship, yet you would imprison me behind the obstacles you raise to freedom and bar my way to you."
12:44 PM
will said…
For students, the Course (the Mind), appears to have many layers like peeling an onion.
Your learning and contemplation with Jesus is greatly needed to access them.
1:03 PM
will said…
In this universal curriculum we are called to be teachers. Use the blog to practice this.
7:11 PM
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