"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself." ~ Rumi

Leonardo DaVinci:

#spirituality #synergy #perception #mind

Do You Want to be Happy?

"The first thing I want you to understand, if you really want to wake up, is that you don't want to wake up. The first step to waking up is to be honest enough to admit to yourself that...You don't want to be happy. One little test? Let's try it. It will take you exactly 1 minute. You could close your eyes while you're doing or you could keep them open. It doesn't really matter. Think of someone you love very much, ...someone you're close to, someone who is so precious to you, and say to that person in your mind, 'I'd rather have happiness than have you.' See what happens. 'I'd rather be happy than to have you. If I had a choice, no question about it, I'd choose happiness.' How many of you felt selfish when you said this? Many it seems. See how we have been brainwashed? See how we've been brainwashed into thinking, 'How could I be so selfish?' But look at who's being selfish. Imagine somebody saying to you, 'How could you be so selfish that you choose happiness over me?' Would you not feel like responding, 'Pardon me, but how could you be so selfish that you would demand that I choose you above my own happiness?'" ~ Anthony De Mello

#spirituality #happiness #ACIM #acourseinmiracles #mentalhealth

Upgrade Rejected!

I noticed a commotion in the line next to the one I was in. "That's not what I ordered!!!" a woman asserted loudly referring to a drink. A manager behind the counter politely asked, "Ma'am, what did you order." The woman repeated what she had ordered. "Ma'am, that's what this is," assured the manager. "IT IS NOT," shouted the customer. "That's a large. I ordered a medium." "We gave you a free 'upgrade' to a large." "That's not what I ordered! I ordered a medium!!!" shouted the woman as she stormed out of line.

It's all perspective. Gift from the Universe or not paying attention to what I ordered?

I would have taken the large and walked out with a smile on my face thinking the Universes gave me a gift. I know because I've done it before. This woman rejected what I would have interpreted as a gift because what she received didn't exactly match the words that came out of her mouth (ie "large" vs. "medium").

Knowing we're all the same caused me to reflect on gifts the Universe gave me that I might have rejected because it wasn't EXACTLY what I ordered. How many upgrades have I refused?

#acim #acourseinmiracles #spirituality #perception #mind

A Perspective on Karma

Karma, traditionally understood, is the ego's counterfeit for Truth. Traditionally, karma is understood as (primarily) "paying" for "misdeeds" in past lives. This is the ego at it's best, cloaking it's "somebody's gotta pay" song in a "spiritual" and spiritually dense framework. It keeps people bogged down with the past. The Course affirms there is no past.

Authentic "Karma" (for lack of a better word) is here and now and comes from our treatment of others, which is a treatment of ourselves because everything is everything (else). We cannot attack another --- not even with something as seemingly 'innocent' as a negative opinion (whatever is not love is attack) without doing untold harm to ourselves, both psychically and physically (the body is the mind).

Whatever we do to someone else we are doing to ourselves. Since there is no body/mind split a "psychic attack" (anything intended to hurt, attack, mistreat, etc) another manifests in some way in our own body. Whatever we do to another we are doing to ourselves, literally. There is no separation.

#acim #acourseinmiracles #spirituality #karma #life #living

The Course and "God Talk"

On one hand, some folk get hung up and turned off by what they identify as Christian terminology in ACIM. On the other hand, others, get hung up and turned off because they're familiar with the words, but don't understand how the Course uses them. The Course uses words like God, Holy Spirit, atonement, forgiveness, altar. etc. But it uses these words in decidedly non-traditional ways.

As you play with the Course, if you can remember one of the insights from the Course itself, that words are symbols of symbols twice removed from reality, it can help you understand the deeper use of these words, what the words point to, the content not the form.

We have only words, spoken and written (excluding body language for this discussion), with which to communicate. When we really get that words, regardless of the words we use, are merely symbols and then try to move beyond the symbols (the form) into what the symbols are pointing to (the content) it will open our world in ways we cannot imagine beforehand.

Don't let the language of ACIM scare you off. The Course uses religious terminology in a non-traditional way. If you can stay with it, look past the form (the word) to the content (what the word is pointing to) your world will open up in unimagined ways.

#acim #acourseinmiracles

If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him.

You may be familiar with the Zen illustration of the finger pointing out the moon. According to the story, we can become so enamored with the finger that we miss the moon it’s pointing to. So it is with much in life. We focus on the form and miss the content.

Among the opening words of ACIM we read: “The Course makes no claim to finality, nor are the Workbook lessons intended to bring the student’s learning to completion. At the end, the reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit. While the Course is comprehensive in scope, truth cannot be limited to any finite form…"

Among the closing words of the Course we read: “This Course is a beginning not an end…”

The Course isn’t intended to be a destination. By its own admission, it’s a way-station. Like the “good” guru that doesn’t want followers, but wants people to become their own guru, the purpose of the Course is to lead us beyond the Course itself.

Tradition tells us that Sidhartha said, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” The Buddha on the road can appear in most any form --- a person, a place, an event, a book (Bible, Koran, even A Course in Miracles) --- all can be used as an authority external to oneself. To do this with ACIM is to miss the point of the Course in the first place.

The spiritual power we see in those who saw what most of us don’t, people like Sidhartha and Jesus, is that they lived as their own authority. Sidhartha pointed his disciples back to themselves as their own authorities (subsequent generations to him did not). Jesus pointed his disciples back to themselves (“the Kingdom of heaven is within you.”) (subsequent generations to him did not).

ACIM states it is a course in mind training. We might even see it much more like a course in mind-untraining. The Course systematically takes us through steps designed to remove the barriers of our previous social, political, and spiritual/religious training --- previous training that actually blocks our awareness and use of what the Course calls the Inner Teacher. This is the Course’s objective: to turn us back to ourselves as our own authority.

Nothing could be more consistent with the Course than for us to get to the place where we, literally, throw it in the trash. The Course is not a destination. It’s a way-station.

#acim #acourseinmiracles #spiritual #therapists

Keeping It Simple

A prominent public speaker is doing what he does, waxing eloquently in front of an audience. He’s getting a bit complicated in his message so his wife, who’s sitting on the front row, pulls out a tube of lipstick and writes on her white purse: “KISS” Inspired by her message the speaker gets his second wind, and delves even deeper into his topic.

His wife holds up her purse a second time and shakes it at him. The speaker sees the inspiring message, KISS, and, thinking his wife is really getting off on the complexity of his message, he pulls out all the stops and goes even deeper.

 Later that evening as they sit together at home the husband says, “Honey, thank you for sending me your kisses this evening. It really inspired me.” His wife responded, “Darling, I wasn’t sending you kisses. You were getting too complex. I was sending you a message “KISS. Keep It Simple, Sweetheart.”

The Course arose out of conflict and as a response to the statement, “There must be a better way.” The Course’s answer is, “Yes. There is a better way. Here it is.”

Making one’s way through ACIM is a massive undertaking. But for all its complexity, its message is quite simple. A key to its simplicity may be found in the first chapter: “You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave. The Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as you would have them do unto you…The Golden Rule is THE [emphasis mine – fm] rule for appropriate behavior…Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one family, as you perceive both so you will DO [emphasis mine] to both.”

 Okay, the Golden Rule --- we’ve heard it, and can see the wisdom in it. It’s very simple, but not necessarily easy. It’s easy to treat someone the way we want to be treated if we like them, if we share common interests, values, and points of view (especially political and religious), but what of those “other” people?

 Jesus of the New Testament is reported to have said, “If you greet only those who greet you, how are you any different from the ‘bad guys?’ Even they do that.” (my paraphrase – fm)

The above paragraph from ACIM affirms that we are all members of ONE family. There is no distinction between us, except the distinction we create in our own mind (what the Course calls “perception.”)

But if I’m a CNN guy, what about the FOX news people? Answer: There is no difference between us. But if I'm a conservative what about the liberals? Answer: There is no difference between us. But if I’m… (fill in the blank --- the answer is the same --- there is no difference).

 The ego-mind creates duality, differences. In reality, there is no duality, no me and them or this and that. Everything is the same as everything else, and it’s all connected. The ego-mind sees chaos. In reality, there is no chaos. Everything is connected and behaves as one united and continuous whole.

Whatever I do to someone else I do to myself. It’s metaphysically impossible to attack another, even with something as seemingly small as negative opinion, without attacking and doing harm to myself.

The Golden Rule is actually a rule for self-care. It can be paraphrased: “As I do unto others, I am doing unto myself.”

#acim #spirituality #goldenrule #keepitsimple #simplicity

No one is an island...

ACIM has heavy doses of metaphysics and psychology. So much so, one can get bogged down and overlook the stated purpose of the Course.

The Course was refined in the cauldron of interpersonal conflict, specifically, between Bill Thetford and Helen Schucman. It was written as a response to Bill's statement: "There must be a better way." The Course responds "There is and here it is." Everything written after that assists in breaking down barriers we believe separate us from everyone and everything else but which, in reality, are illusory.

There is no separation the Course affirms repeatedly --- not between me and "God," not between me and my brother. The Course affirms that there is no problem between me and God, never was, never will be. The problem exists in the mistaken belief that I'm separated not only from God but also from my brother (that's "the problem" --- ie the belief in separation). When I come to peace with my brother (ie everyone who has been brought into my life), through forgiveness (acceptance) and the atonement (at-one-ment) I then, and only then, experience what the Course calls the "peace of God."

If ever I am to experience peace, in terms of the Course, it has to come through my interpersonal relationships. That's where the Course started. That's where the Course ends. We make it together, you and I.

We see what we think is there.

"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true." ~ John Lilly

Not long ago, I heard this conversation between two men on a reality TV program that followed Sasquatch hunters around in the woods at night:

#1: "Did you hear that?"

#2: "Yeah, I did."

#1: "That was a Sasquatch."

#2: "It sounded like a coyote to me."

#1: "Yeah, that's what they sound like. They sound like coyotes."

I'm convinced had the second hunter said, "It sounded like an owl, to me," the first would have responded, "Yeah, that's what they sound like. They sound like owls." We see (and, as in this case, hear) what we believe is there.

We may not be hearing Sasquatch, but the principle applies. We see what we believe is there. Most of us see a present through the lense of a past we believe is still there. Often fear generated from a past trauma paralyzes us in the present. This paralysis prevents us from extending ourselves into the present.

To my knowledge there's only one remedy for this malady --- systematically retraining the mind. Part of the process is letting go what we think happened in the past. In a word, it's called "forgiving." Forgive the past. Let it go. It's a chain that shackles us to something that no longer exists. When we drop the lenses causing us to see through the past, we can see freshly and what's actually there rather than the specters we believe are there. 

Released From Prison

One spiritual awakening I cherish profusely was the one that opened me to a different way of thinking about God. For years my neck had been under the boot-heel of the ego's portrait of God as judgmental and punitive.

Then I read this: "Can you believe our Father really thinks this way? It is so essential that all such thinking be dispelled that we must be sure that nothing of this kind remains in your mind."

My answer was "No. I can't believe that." And, almost instantaneously, it was as though prison doors had been flung open and I was free.

#spirituality #mind #therapists

Let Go and Move On.

When my mother died she left behind a memento that was one of the most helpful items I've ever received. It was a note that read: "If you're reading this, it means I'm gone. Now get on with your life." That was so much like my momma --- practical, open and honest.

In a very real down-in-the-dirt sense that memento set me free from feeling like I was supposed to grieve the rest of my life. Death is as normal as birth, breathing, and eating. When someone we love dies, it's not personal. It's not something that we, exclusively, experience. It is, however, something that we tend to attach latent grief to. It gives us a reason to express the grief we all have hiding just below the surface of the psyche. But it's misdirected.

Because my mother gave me permission to move beyond grief, I sometimes look at others who grieve for years at the death of a parent or spouse and silently wish they had been given the same gift: "I'm gone. Get on with your life." "Get on  with living." Remaining in grief isn't a sign of loyalty. We have this idea that if we stop grieving that's evidence that we didn't care, that we didn't love. We have this idea that the greater the grief we feel or display the greater the proof of our love. It's simply not true. I know people who feel guilty because, for one reason or another, they haven't or don't visit the gravesite of a loved one. They heap guilt on top of grief. That's not healthy and this is one reason I choose to be cremated. I don't want those I leave behind,  once I move on, to feel the least bit of discomfort because they haven't gone to a plot of ground to pay their respects on a regular basis. I want them to let grief go, to move on and get on with living their own lives. We can't live in grief and joy at the same time. One is of ego, the other is of Spirit.

As I was writing this the thought came to mind, "Perhaps my mother has a message to you through me." If you're grieving the loss of someone you love there's a time for grieving but it's not the rest of your life. My mother may be saying to you, "After you've grieved a bit get on with your life. Get on with living. There's a lot of living to be done!"

A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime

"People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.

"When someone is in your life for a REASON . . . It is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be.Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on.

"When people come into your life for a SEASON . . .Because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

"LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant."

~Author Unknown

#relationships #counseling #acim