How to Not Be a Blissninny

           “Blissninny” was a term coined by Ken Wapnick to describe students of A Course in Miracles who claim everything is lovely, all is love, they see Christ in everyone, etc. without ever having gone through anything difficult to get there. He pointed out that if you are really working the Course as it is intended, it will be difficult. Ego facing itself is not a pleasant stroll in the park. If it seems to be, you are in denial; you are repressing.

The way to avoid being a blissninny can be summed up in one phrase: Radical self-honesty. There is no value in denying what you really experience, unless your goal is to deceive yourself. And many do go through life like that, wearing a mask even with themselves. But that is exactly what the Course means to strip away, so why pick it up and pretend to practice it if you are not going to, well, practice it? Of course, appearing to practice it when you really don’t is a mask.


Don’t confuse struggling to put the Course into practice with pretending to just to feel good about yourself. Many, if not most, struggle with the lessons in the Workbook or suggested practices from the Text. If you are grouchy, confused, or feel defeated about practicing the Course, you are honestly trying to use it. If all is going perfectly well and you love every lesson, you are being a blissninny.


You first must be honest with yourself to be honest with others, including the teacher of truth in your mind. And honesty is difficult for ego. It does not want to look at itself. It conjures up guilt and shame to defend against exposure. And those ideas and feelings of guilt and shame are exactly what you must look at with the teacher of truth. You will never come to see that they are not real if you do not look at them.


If you want true peace, not a sham peace that will be stripped away at the first undeniable conflict, then you’ve got to be honest and you’ve got to face what you truly think and feel. It’s not comfortable, but the way out of ego is through it, not through denial of it. Ken Wapnick also pointed out that the measure of a Course student’s advancement is not that ego never comes up, but how quickly they get past it. The Course helps you learn how to live with ego, how to go past it, how to find a measure of peace despite it still being in your awareness.

 

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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.

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will said…
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4:32 AM
will said…
The comment was for Jesus not to you guys.
4:55 AM
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