GATHERING 3

NTI UNITY OF MIDDLETOWN GATHERING 3    9/20/11

Paraphrasing Marianne Williamson, “We don’t need to know any more facts or ideas, we know enough. So instead of just buying more books and attending more workshops let us know that what we are after will come from going deeper into what we have already learned.”

I would like to hold this as our purpose.

We were supposed to be focusing on Chapters 7-8, but of course I backtracked and found some things in Chapters 5&6 that I wanted to explore for a bit.

We sort of jumped around between these chapters last night. I will try to keep the ideas in some kind of order and understandable flow.

Matt. 5 (1-16) “The world is meaningless….” 

This is a theme that will be running through this book. 

A brief reflection:

1) My thoughts are stories I am telling myself;

2) My mind makes up (or decides) what something means with insufficient information and the thoughts and meanings the mind produces are continually influenced by past hurts or woundedness, defenses that you have built up to protect yourself, doubts, fears, addictions and compulsions, ego needs to impress or get attention, and so many other factors both conscious and unconscious. 

How many times have you said to yourself, “Why the heck did I do that?”

This is not a suggestion of irresponsibility; it is a suggestion that you remove judgment, to leave judgment in God’s hands where it belongs.

3) The mind is never constant in its meaning. It is always changing. (This is one of reasons we call it “meaningless or not real or not true or an illusion.” There is no consistency, no stability in our thoughts or our thinking).

Echoes ACIM in the workbook, Lessons # 11 and 13

Quote from the Workbook:

Lesson 11
“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.”

 It seems as if the world determines what you perceive. Today’s idea introduces the concept that your thoughts determine the world you see. Be glad indeed to practice it in this initial form, for in this idea is your release made sure. The key to forgiveness lies in it.

Lesson 13
“A meaningless world engenders fear.”

Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. It represents a situation in which God and the ego “challenge” each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space which meaninglessness provides. The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own “ideas” there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own unreality. And on this alone it is correct.

It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and accept it without fear. If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes which it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist. To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego.

Back to NTI

Chap. 5 (38-48) on Judgment read this over and join it with Chap. 7 (1-5) and (12). 

There are several sets of metaphors that are used throughout this work. I believe they are all interchangeable, and carry a similar meaning.

Love and fear

Light and darkness

Willingness and resistance

Life and death

Awake/Aware and asleep/unconscious

Purpose of the Heart and purpose of the world

Truth and illusion

Oneness and separateness

Real and unreal

I would encourage you to notice when you come across a new one of these and add it to the list. Each metaphor will bring us to a deeper understanding of Truth (this will not happen through intellectual understanding, but through the understanding of the Heart).

Another theme which will repeat itself is in Chap. 5 (33-37)

“It is not what you say or what you do that is important. It is what you mean by what you say and do that matters.” 

Here again is where openness to the guidance of the Spirit is so essential.  

That idea leads right into NTI’s version of the Lord’s Prayer Chap. 6 (9-13).

First let me note in NTI as well as the Old New Testament, it is never suggested that we quote this prayer verbatim. The words are a model containing the important elements of a conversation with the Divine Self.

I’d suggest reading his over a number of times and taking it in.

In the model of this prayer we are constantly being drawn back to self-awareness.

I did get thrown off by the word “evil” which crops here and a number of times. I have a lot of baggage around that word, so I had to look at tit with new eyes. My impression is that it fits with that list of metaphors mentioned previously. Evil is the left side. It doesn’t really exist except for the energy we give it in our minds.

(19-23) 3 reminds me of another quote from the Course. “It is the ego’s function to continually seek but not find.”

(25-34) a beautiful piece about listening to and trusting God, and continually bringing our focus back to the truth. No blame, shame or guilt, just encouragement to be Aware.

Chap. 7 Themes

Judgment produces separation

Look to your own heart and be open to healing. You own healing is essential so that you can begin to see others as whole.

Know that you don’t know; don’t ask for what you want or even for what you think you need. Ask be open. What you need will be given to you.

Chap 8 Themes

Begin to look at Jesus as a symbol for the healed One Son of God; 

That is who we are as well, we just don’t see ourselves that way yet.

How do I know (that I am listening to the Spirit; that the guidance I am hearing is the truth, etc.)?

(23-27) I will be peaceful with it.

This is deep inner peace, not just a feeling or an emotion and now just a temporary thing. The ego and our thinking mind might create a lot of turmoil around something, but part of this course is practicing to be in touch with that peace inside that is always there. 

See (28-34) What does it mean, “The thoughts that are in your mind that you think are yours are not yours.”?

I loved that fact that we had a lot of feedback, questions and interaction even though we had a smaller class than usual. I hope we can all bring that energy next time.

If you get the chance read over Chapters 9-10 and again notice anything that gets your attention.

Thank you all, 

Peace,

Gerry