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Showing posts from September, 2023

Ask: What if someone's request is harmful?

  “Our Course group…(is) stumped as to what it says in Chapter 12-3:4…We understand, as Ken says, if someone asks you to jump off the Brooklyn bridge you don’t do that. What if someone is obviously taking advantage of you? Allowing them to is not helpful to them or to you. Examples would be most helpful!” – SB   You refer to T-12.III.4:   “Recognize what does not matter , and if your brothers ask you for something ‘outrageous,’ do it because it does not matter. Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. He is asking for salvation, as you are. Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No ‘outrageous’ requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else.”   A Course in Miracles was first for Helen Schucman and Bill Thet

Ask: Can you share how the world of form can be seen as "quite lovely"?

  “…Was hoping you will consider sharing in the blog your mind’s experiences when right minded and extending love with particular emphasis on how the world of form can seem ‘quite lovely’ since it’s seen with holy vision (cleansed perception).” - RW   The real world , as A Course in Miracles uses the term, is not the material world, but a formless world of perception that extends in consciousness. As such, it is not possible to describe what is “seen” as a perceptual experience rather than a material form. It is an experience of wholeness and love and lighthearted joy. It reveals the material world, and ego’s projections of meaning onto it, to be false. But as the material world is a neutral appearance in consciousness, the perception of the real world extends to it as well, blanketing it with loveliness, much as when you fall in love or have happy news everything in the world suddenly seems lovely. Only, this is a much more intense experience. It is understood in the experience th

Ask: Can you be in the world without ego?

            I am often asked if it is possible to be in the world (in consciousness) without ego. It’s a trick question from ego, which can only conceive of its own world (or consciousness). You cannot be in ego’s world without ego, of course. But there is no ego in Spirit’s world (or consciousness), what is called in A Course in Miracles the real world or true perception . But I think what is often truly being asked is if consciousness, expressed as the appearance of a person, goes on without ego. And as you can see from the above paragraph, the answer is yes. However, the answer may come down to how ego is defined. For some, ego and the person mean the same thing. But my experience has shown me to apply these labels to different things. For me, the term person refers to a body and personality, a neutral expression of consciousness. And ego is the asserted experience that ego and consciousness, represented by the person, are the same and are real. So, you can see how ego thi

Ask: Is practicing a form of art a way to experience God?

            “…I've read about painters, dancers, actors, etc., using their talents to discover something higher.  Is any activity, especially art, simply a way to experience Our Source and advance our spiritual progress?  I suspect many of us who read your blog enjoy and/or practice an art form…I know you have also published fiction.” – RL   Nothing in consciousness causes an experience of God. But any activity, including art, can be shared with God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) in consciousness and can therefore be used as a means to grow your awareness of Spirit. And an experience of God’s Spirit may inspire creativity. For example, the two works of fiction ( find here ) I published came through in the months preceding the shift in consciousness here from ego- to Spirit-consciousness. It was a time I call The Golden because the golden Light of Christ had come into my mind. This led to a burst of creativity, and although the experience was filled with Light and Love for me, as

Accepting the Wisdom of the Ages

            What I see now I cannot adequately express. When I tell others that consciousness (the world) is wholly unlike God (Truth), they often point to wars and lack and personal conflicts. But it’s much more than that. The whole experience of consciousness is completely unlike God. All forms, all thoughts, all feelings…well, everything . Even Spirit is only the Idea of God in consciousness. Although It comes from beyond consciousness, It is shaped to consciousness to function in it. The contrast between consciousness and God is so stark that it’s easy to see how someone who already believed sin and guilt were real would come away from a mystical experience of God feeling those beliefs reinforced. Not because sin and guilt are real, but because the contrast between God and what they are used to is startling that when ego says, “This is so unlike God what could it be but sin?” it seems reasonable. The only way out of the interpretation of consciousness as sin is to come to see