Ask: Probing questions about God...
Lesson 65 of ACIM - Workbook for students says: "God gives only happiness, therefore, my function is happiness." Speaking for myself, after witnessing the March 11th, 2011 Japan's massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake followed by 30 feet high tsunami… I am wondering just how can people be happy and fulfill their goals and function of happiness under these devastating situations? I've been pondering on these probing questions while practicing the daily lessons of the Course:
Does God really love us?
Does God have a different plan of survival for us?
Does God exist?
Does God have a different Will than what we will for us?
Does God have nothing to do with what we will in life?
Does God not want us to make this world a better place to live?
Does God have nothing to do with such disasters?
Can you please explain for me? – JJ
I addressed the specific issue of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in an earlier article, and that answer ties into the answers for your other questions. You may wish to read it after you read these answers at http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2011/03/ask-what-comfort-is-there-in-course.html.
1. God is the One Being that is; God is Reality. God is Love, and in God, there is only God, so God’s Love is never directed toward, but simply is. So, the Truth in you, Which is God, is Love. Love is your natural state of being. The idea of yourself as a personal self in a body in a world is the misidentification in your mind that is an obstacle to your awareness that you are God’s Love; it does not come from God. You only have to be willing to put this idea aside, even for only a moment, for you to become aware of God’s Love within you.
2. God has no plan of survival for you, because God only knows God in you, and, in God, you have no beginning and no ending, so you have no need for “survival”. The personal self, being only an idea, also has no need for a plan for survival, though, when you identify with it, you think that you do. Because the personal “life” that you perceive is an effect of your mind, when you center your mind in Truth (God), what you need to do or know to take care of the personal self will come into your awareness as an effect of your awareness of Truth. So, while God does not take care of the personal self, your awareness of God does.
3. If by the word “God” you mean an experience of wholeness, then, yes, God exists. God is the Truth within you, and it is an experience of boundless love, peace, and joy. But, if by “God” you mean an authoritarian being that made the world and that you have to appease through righteous behavior or be punished, then, no, that god does not exist.
4. Because God is the Truth in you, your will is not separate from God’s Will, but, when you identify as a personal self in a body in a world, you think that you have a will that is separate from God’s Will. This is your source of conflict.
5. If by “life” you mean the personal life, then God does not have anything to do with what you want for that life (it’s not really appropriate to use the word “will” for the personal life, because it is only a faulty desire; you can never make it real). But, again, your awareness of God within you has an effect on the personal life in your awareness, which is itself only an effect of your mind. All that you have to do is attend to your awareness of God, which will result in inner peace, and the personal self’s life in the world will manifest peacefully.
6. God does not know of the world, so it is irrelevant to God whether or not you work at making the world a better place. But doing so will be an obstacle to peace for you, because you will be reinforcing the world as real in your mind, as well as reinforcing in your mind the idea that the world causes your experience of peace or conflict. Inner peace is the result of being aware of God within you, and nothing else. This is why you can be at peace in the midst of a hellish, chaotic world.
7. God is formless being, so God has nothing at all to do with the universe of form, or anything that happens in it, like natural disasters in the world. Natural disasters occur according to the “laws” of the universe of form (in this case, plates moving over the surface of the planet); they are not personal. Even though the universe of form is the idea of the opposite of God, everything in the universe of form has no meaning in itself. So, you choose how you want to look at anything that happens in the world. You can use appearances of discord, like natural disasters, to remain in conflict by giving them meaning, or you can use them as reminders to turn within to God and remember that only God is real.
>>>>>
Learn about The Plain Language A Course in Miracles at www.placim.com.
You can get answers by topic at www.acimmentor.com/answersbytopic.html.
If you have a question that you want answered in the ACIM Mentor Newsletter/Blog, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered here.
Does God really love us?
Does God have a different plan of survival for us?
Does God exist?
Does God have a different Will than what we will for us?
Does God have nothing to do with what we will in life?
Does God not want us to make this world a better place to live?
Does God have nothing to do with such disasters?
Can you please explain for me? – JJ
I addressed the specific issue of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in an earlier article, and that answer ties into the answers for your other questions. You may wish to read it after you read these answers at http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2011/03/ask-what-comfort-is-there-in-course.html.
1. God is the One Being that is; God is Reality. God is Love, and in God, there is only God, so God’s Love is never directed toward, but simply is. So, the Truth in you, Which is God, is Love. Love is your natural state of being. The idea of yourself as a personal self in a body in a world is the misidentification in your mind that is an obstacle to your awareness that you are God’s Love; it does not come from God. You only have to be willing to put this idea aside, even for only a moment, for you to become aware of God’s Love within you.
2. God has no plan of survival for you, because God only knows God in you, and, in God, you have no beginning and no ending, so you have no need for “survival”. The personal self, being only an idea, also has no need for a plan for survival, though, when you identify with it, you think that you do. Because the personal “life” that you perceive is an effect of your mind, when you center your mind in Truth (God), what you need to do or know to take care of the personal self will come into your awareness as an effect of your awareness of Truth. So, while God does not take care of the personal self, your awareness of God does.
3. If by the word “God” you mean an experience of wholeness, then, yes, God exists. God is the Truth within you, and it is an experience of boundless love, peace, and joy. But, if by “God” you mean an authoritarian being that made the world and that you have to appease through righteous behavior or be punished, then, no, that god does not exist.
4. Because God is the Truth in you, your will is not separate from God’s Will, but, when you identify as a personal self in a body in a world, you think that you have a will that is separate from God’s Will. This is your source of conflict.
5. If by “life” you mean the personal life, then God does not have anything to do with what you want for that life (it’s not really appropriate to use the word “will” for the personal life, because it is only a faulty desire; you can never make it real). But, again, your awareness of God within you has an effect on the personal life in your awareness, which is itself only an effect of your mind. All that you have to do is attend to your awareness of God, which will result in inner peace, and the personal self’s life in the world will manifest peacefully.
6. God does not know of the world, so it is irrelevant to God whether or not you work at making the world a better place. But doing so will be an obstacle to peace for you, because you will be reinforcing the world as real in your mind, as well as reinforcing in your mind the idea that the world causes your experience of peace or conflict. Inner peace is the result of being aware of God within you, and nothing else. This is why you can be at peace in the midst of a hellish, chaotic world.
7. God is formless being, so God has nothing at all to do with the universe of form, or anything that happens in it, like natural disasters in the world. Natural disasters occur according to the “laws” of the universe of form (in this case, plates moving over the surface of the planet); they are not personal. Even though the universe of form is the idea of the opposite of God, everything in the universe of form has no meaning in itself. So, you choose how you want to look at anything that happens in the world. You can use appearances of discord, like natural disasters, to remain in conflict by giving them meaning, or you can use them as reminders to turn within to God and remember that only God is real.
>>>>>
Learn about The Plain Language A Course in Miracles at www.placim.com.
You can get answers by topic at www.acimmentor.com/answersbytopic.html.
If you have a question that you want answered in the ACIM Mentor Newsletter/Blog, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered here.
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