GATHERING 4

During the class I made this arcane reference to an old Dylan song, “MY Back Pages”, I was speaking of our ego consciousness and its need to defend and protect itself, and how there will come a time in our spiritual understanding that we will realize there is nothing we need to protect ourselves from. The highlighted line popped into my head. 

“Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.”

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Please let me know if this class is going the way you want. I am open to any suggestions.

Also, this class is open to anyone you might think would be interested. Even if you start at the middle of things. It would be very easy to catch up since many of the topics and themes will be covered more than once.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

I was kind of bits and pieces this week, and maybe as I am putting this together some central ideas might jell.

Chap. 5 (13-16) 1 “The world is meaningless.” (You will find this theme in ACIM many times as well, e.g.. “My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.” 

This is a theme that will come up quite often, and we will end with this idea as well.

Chap. 6 READ OVER     (19-23) (24) 5

Purpose of the Heart and Open to the Light

Chap. 7 (1-5) 1 Judgment is like a knife that cuts the Son of God to pieces.

Focus on your healing first.

Chap. 8 

Jesus is a symbol of:

Healing

The healed Son of God

The One son of God

A symbol is a “thing” that represents something else. It is a model, not the “real” thing, like the menu in a restaurant. 

It is very easy to make Jesus (or what we think we know about Jesus) into something or someone unreachable. 

This course will reinforce many times that Jesus as a model is simply a reminder of  who you truly are.

When chapter 8 talks about “the unhealed son” first notice the word is in small case letters, meaning the ego/limited consciousness rather than the “healed Son of God”, the consciousness of the Spirit, the consciousness of the Heart.

Please note also that it is our perception of ourselves that “makes” us healed or unhealed. As it sys later on in Chap. 9 (18-26) 2 “I am here to give you new sight.” In other words, “I am here to let you see yourself as God sees you, whole, perfect, healed and One.”

(18-22) 3-5 and Chap. 9 (18-26) 

Know that you don’t know. Know that you do not know what you need, but be willing to ask for what you need, and when you ask be as completely open as you can for the answer. Let go of your expectation of how the prayer, desire or request should be answered. That expectation limits your vision and puts you in a place where you might miss what is given to you.

Chap. 9 also addresses Judgment again

The theme of non-judgment will run all through this course.

We will be reminded not only no to judge, but to always begin to see our brother/sister as innocent (not always an easy thing to do). 

The premise here, which will also come up often is that judgment is always of the ego, and it is always a defense or an attempt to deny the ego’s own sense of guilt.

Some ideas/questions to ponder.

How do I begin to realize “old habits and old ways of thinking” [Chap. 9(14-17)]

No longer serve me?

How do I let them go?

Thought for next week: You might recall we began with Chap. 5 (13-16) 1 “The world is meaningless.”

In chap. 10 (26-31) 2 it states, “I say to you, the world is not real.”

Of all the concepts from NTI and other pieces of spiritual literature, I find this one the most challenging. 

I am not after an intellectual answer to the puzzle, but I do want to understand it better in my heart.

Next week we will focus on the above questions as well as Chap. 10-11.

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You have probably notice that this is a pretty “meaty” book. Every sentence is packed with meaning, and we could probably spend years on each little bit. For instance, just recall the first sentence, “Joseph had a question in his mind, and he was unsure about what he should do.” I could sit with that one for a long time.

I believe our intent together is not to know everything, but to continue to use this book and its ideas along with our openness to Spirit to guide to a deeper sense of Truth--who we really are and our sense of Oneness with God and all things.

Peace,

Gerry

Thank you for you love and support.

I am also attaching The Real World, a section from the book The Other Voice, A Companion Text of the Course Chapters 1-15  

I would suggest simply reading it over. You don’t have to digest the whole thing. I still get heart-burn with it. Just allow yourself to take in what you need to take in. If anything gets your attention, bring it with you next week.

Please keep in mind the PURPOSE OF THE HEART, the only purpose, to more deeply realize our ONENESS.