Ask: Can you discuss ACIM's use of the term "specialness"?

           “The word, special or specialness comes up in ACIM so many times, and it is key to understanding so much of what the course is about. However, specialness is so much a part of the culture we are living in now that claiming someone or something is not special is considered an insult. Although you surely have in the past I think this would be a good topic to address in an upcoming Mentor letter as a refresher and reminder for the New Year.” –ESA

Persons are unique, and everyone has a unique part to play in the Atonement (what is unfolding in consciousness/the world), so in that sense you could say everyone is special. However, A Course in Miracles uses the term specialness to describe ego’s attachment to its unique person and its belief that special people or situations will bring it peace and happiness. This is ego’s reality, and it will never change for ego.

So, naturally an ego is offended if you tell them their person is not special. You are attacking their reality! Their person is their identity, their world. And frankly their person is special—it’s just that neither ego nor its person is real! But don’t tell them that, either.

The Course describes ego wonderfully. But you cannot change ego, in your mind or in another’s. You might as well just observe it.

Of course, Spirit is also in consciousness, and when ego recedes Spirit is revealed, mitigating ego and a less egotistical person (consciousness) shows up. Ego is receding and Spirit is emerging in someone who feels moved to study the Course or some other process that depicts Truth coming to conscious awareness If this continues, and how far it goes, is the unfolding Atonement. 

>>>>> 

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ask: What is meant by "extend Love"?

I wonder exactly what is meant by "extend love" or how one extends love. Is it a loving intention toward the person, or a wish for them, or what? Can you give an example? – JO “Extending love” means replacing unloving thoughts in your mind with the awareness of Love in your mind. For example, your peace of mind is disturbed while watching something on television. Your peace is gone because you believe that what you see is reality. You extend Love in this situation by turning inward to Truth (God), feeling Love’s Presence within you, and remembering that It, not the images appearing, is What is Real. It may take you a while to accept that only your own thoughts cause you pain. So at first you may feel that you need to extend Love “out there” to the images that seem to be causing you pain. Or you may extend Love to another who is sharing their painful story with you. You can do this by imagining the situation or the person in a Loving Light. Or you may use some other image to
Read more

If the World Isn't Real, Why Ask For Guidance?

Every now and then a student asks me why they should follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance if the world isn’t real and if it has nothing to do with God. What difference does it make how you live in the world, then? All that you made can serve salvation easily and well. The Son of God can make no choice the Holy Spirit cannot employ on his behalf, and not against himself. (T-25.VI.7) The world is your perception that you are separate from God. Calling on the Holy Spirit to guide you in it corrects this misperception. You are no longer separate from God when you are following the Holy Spirit. What you ask the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Sprit answers is not important. What is important is that you asked and that you accepted an answer . When you follow the Holy Spirit the purpose of every circumstance becomes a means to be with the Holy Spirit. The world that was made to make separation from God real to you becomes a means of remembering you are One with God. It doesn’t matter to God ho
Read more

More on Emotional Satisfaction or Freedom

Last week’s article ( http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2017/02/emotional-satisfaction-or-freedom.html ) about the two possible approaches to spirituality and how one way to characterize them is the pursuit of emotional satisfaction for the self or transcending the self led to a lot of comments and questions that I will try to clear up here. (The article was a follow-up to two other articles I had written on the same topic. Some of the questions readers had could be answered in those earlier articles and links were provided in last week’s article. If you still have questions I suggest reading those as well as last week’s article for a fuller look at the topic). The emotional satisfaction I wrote about in the last article was not referring to what one seeks in relation to others. It was referring to the desire for an emotional connection with Truth (God) that one would characterize as “warm”. I was highlighting how which goal we pursue in spirituality can often be revealed by the
Read more