BOOK OF FREEDOM 11

P. 86-94

This is a repetitive theme, but as with most areas explored by these books, it is not simply a rehash of pervious material, the authors go deeper, making it possible to both understand and create beyond your present knowing.

You look around you, you even look inside you—what you perceive*, you created; you are responsible for. 

*(you even create your perception).

A destructive piece of this self-creation is that it is so easy to fall into blame, shame, and guilt.

The painful nature of some of these created feelings is one of the reasons why a person might deny their responsibility.

On the realistic side of the picture, we might also avoid responsibility because it seems that the undertaking of transforming our creations (most of which have been generated by old patterns of thought, and behavior) seems too arduous and demanding. We do want to change. When we aim that we do not know how it is what we might call the “Velveteen Rabbit” syndrome—we “want to become real without these uncomfortable things happening to us.” 

So here we are, again, on the cusp of transformation. Let us presume we have already committed to the leap into “the mystic.” Now, that is a very interesting place because the only thing that might be holding us back is the illusion that we are stuck or fearful. We emphasize illusion because you have already committed yourself beyond your sense of stuckness. Can you get that? Because you are here reading this, you have already committed yourself beyond your fear.

You do not ignore those typical human feelings, but we have reached a point where they become somewhat irrelevant.

“Nobody gets off the hook for what they have chosen, but they may reconceive what they have chosen, and learn from it in a higher way.”

Other words/concepts for karma might be balance or healing. No matter what our actions, intent, or consequences might be, the universe calls for healing and balance (and it is relentless in its quest)—balance/healing will happen!

“To run away from history is not at all the same thing as releasing history. To deny history is not the same thing as moving beyond it as the source of your creations. Perhaps your mother did beat you, perhaps your husband was unkind, perhaps you were harmed as a child. While we don’t deny that these things happened, we do say that how you attend to them decides the life you live with and for you. You are participatory to all of your choices—high, and low, and in between. And incarceration by you, in all cases, is to assume that you are a prisoner of what has been chosen prior.”

Your concept of guilt has been problematic for many of you for much of your lifetime. It only serves a purpose for a brief moment to wake you up to the awareness that you could have done—whatever it is—you could have done it differently. As the Course states—“Choose once again; Choose differently.”

“The alignment to the True Self, who is always free, will begin to break down the walls that you have erected around you in fear or unforgiveness, but your attachment to them being there makes them the beautiful prison we described earlier. You choose your own hells, in some ways, and while these are opportunities to learn, as everything is, you can choose something better if you know you are allowed. The idea of guilt or shame as “emboldening you and making you a better person is preposterous. Guilt can be a handy tool—“I feel badly that I did this thing, I will not do it again”—provided the guilt is not about attaching to cultural mores. “I should have curtsied better at the ball. I will not do it again. We would hope you would throw your skirts over your head at the ball and have a wonderful time, regardless of the quality of your curtsey.”

As we progress, our insight into “self” becomes more and more integrated. The need to use language such as “ego; small self, etc. becomes less important. The language of separation is not longer meaningful. We are open to our ability to choose; we take responsibility for our choices—-realizing as an author one pointed out, “we make all our important liar decisions without enough information.” 

instead of a “mistake” being something wrong, it is simply an additional piece of information we did not have before. Yes, you are still responsible, even though your actions had unforeseen consequences.

“To go into agreement with the True Self is to be in partnership with it, and, as you get comfortable in this partnership, you will actually find that the True Self emerges as the stronger partner, loving you each step of the way. You are not alone or being annihilated. You are being cared for, and, as we have said “prior in our teachings, you are assumed by the True Self in your agreement to be as her.”

It might seem as if choosing love is kind of wimpy and passive. I recall one of my favorite bumper stickers, “If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.” I thought that was great, but then I ha to ask, “What was my outrage getting me? What was it accomplishing for me or anyone else?” And of course,I realized that my outrage was just feeding more outrage as well as more self-justification and separateness. Remember, we are speaking of vibration here, that sometimes is manifest in the material world, and sometimes not. Just because we do not see or feel the immediate manifestation of a loving thought or action, does not men hat nothing has happened. It sour soul that is aware of the consequences of loving, much more than the mind or senses.

“What would it be like,” Paul asks, “if we didn’t speak ill of others? We would have nothing to talk about half the day.” You find entertainment in it. It has less to do with speaking ill of others on a cosmetic level than the intention behind it. The intention behind it is again self-righteousness, which is the agreement to be the small self. “Well, everybody does it,” you say. “We make fun of people all the time. We have our collective villain. It may be another country. It may be someone in politics. We do this every day.”

What is the intention behind it? If you can ask yourself this question and become responsible to the action you take in your intent, do as you wish. But your ill talk about anyone else is something that you are accountable to as a choice. This may be an individual or an institution. If you are not bringing peace or light, what are you doing?”

I am reminded of that wonderful directive from Augustine, “Love God and do what you please.” 

(((Towards the end of our reading tonight, the guides were taking about this “mudra” of moving your arms in a certain way. None of us really understood what that was all about, so I’m just going to leave it for now. If anyone has a vision or revelation about what they re talking about and why, please let us know—-until then—- ))))))

Have a wonderful summer!!!!!!!

FREEDOM 10

REMINDER--We will be taking off the months of July and August and returning after Labor Day. Next Tues. (6/26) will be our last meeting for the summer.

P. 76-86

Some additional thoughts re: these questions.

“Q: The Guides spoke a little bit on your past choices don’t go away, but you understand them from the higher octave. Can they speak a little to guilt and exactly what that is and how to get past that.”

  Someone once mentioned that guilt serves a purpose for the first 30 seconds or so that we are aware of it. In other words, we became aware that we made an error. When we are aware of an error we can begin to create a correction, even if that correction is simply self-forgiveness. To the small self, however, holding onto guilt is a way that it thinks will provide a mechanism for not making the same mistake again. In other words, if I feel really bad about it I won't do it again. Unfortunately that only seems to work for a time. It is never a complete solution.

I might also add that most of what we call mistakes  are really an additional piece of information we did not have before--if we had that piece we would have responded differently. Both joking and serious, an author once suggested that “all of our decision making requires more information than we have.”

The answer here also alludes to what we sometimes referred to as the law of karma or the law of cause and effect or as Jesus put it so succinctly “you reap what you sow.” It is not about judgement, it is simply the truth that all thoughts and actions have consequences.

The higher level with a higher vibration of my awareness the greater my ability to avoid unwanted consequences .

As A Course in Miracles points out “I can choose differently” or “I can choose once again.”

“Q: They also spoke about not seeing yourself as above another because in doing so you’re actually below, but I’d like to ask a question about this difference in vibration because we’re all operating at different octaves, depending on our choices. If you have a family member and you recognize that they’re choosing alcoholism and that that affects you . . . I never feel better but I also don’t like what they’re choosing, and I don’t like the way I feel around this person, so it’s a tricky road to walk to protect yourself and not feel superior, but also to understand that you’re operating at a different level.”

The answer that the guides give to this question is absolutely wonderful. It contains tremendous wisdom and the directives that are expressed are applicable to many life situations. I would encourage us all to read this answer numerous times and to notice how we can free ourselves from judgment as well as to guide us into right thinking and right action.

“A: No, you’re not. In fact, you think you are and you’re actually above the other only in your own idealization of your own behavior. You are not above them, they are not below you. They are having a different encounter with themselves, and perhaps learning through it, and perhaps giving you the opportunity to learn as well. If you assume “that someone is not where they are supposed to be, you have decided for them based upon what you think they should be, or perhaps where or how they should behave based upon your idealization of behavior. Now, if someone is being harmful to themselves, you may offer them help. You may support them or not. You may distance yourself from them, if you wish, if that is the best gift you can give yourself and them. This does not make them wrong. Do you understand this? It doesn’t make you wrong, either, but it certainly doesn’t make you right. The idealization—“I am the healthy one, they are not so healthy”—has implicit separation inviting itself in the announcement. If you can understand that everyone has come to learn—how they learn their lessons is in some ways decided by them at a higher level—you learn not to judge. You don’t have to enable, you don’t have to agree, you don’t have to drink with them, you don’t have to give them money to buy booze. Do you understand this? You can say, “Thank you, no.” In some cases, what they are learning through will be what brings them to the light, and no other way would be found. Do you understand this, yes?”

“Q: The Guides were talking about receiving the Christed Self, and wouldn’t it just be perceiving it, wouldn’t we already be the Christed Self, but our beliefs are in the way and we’re not perceiving it?”

Here is another piece to ponder and meditate upon perhaps one of the simplest and most profound expressions in this book.

“You do not become the Christ. The Christ becomes you.”

“Q: They spoke a little bit of time about seeing lights and a puff of smoke as if we’re seeing in a different octave. Could they explain that a little more?”

I recall when the book made reference to seeing lights, etc. that I found myself becoming attached or self-judging. “What if I am not seeing lights? What if there are not little visions out of the corner of my eye? Am I doing it wrong? Am I not as advanced as I think I should be?” and on and on.

Again the guide's answer simply and profoundly. I am reminded of the beginning stages of the workbook in A Course in Miracles which opens with the  claim “I don't know what anything means.”

What is being encouraged in each one of us more than anything else is to know that our perception of people, places and things goes far beyond the limits of my five senses.

When I say “I see the Christ in you,” that does not necessarily mean that I see a halo around you, although that would be nice. What it does mean is that I see beyond (or I am willing to see beyond) what my physical senses are telling me, and that at a level beyond my human understanding, at this moment in time, you are a perfect reflection of the Divine being that you are.

“Q: For a person who is empathic, when you are in another person’s field and you immediately, automatically, feel what they’re feeling and you feel they’re in a physical pain or an emotional pain like guilt or sadness or control, the very fact that you are perceiving that level, does that suggest that you are operating on the lower level, and if so, if you are operating only in the higher octave, would you only perceive their True Self empathically?”

This is another beautiful answer it contains all sorts of Divine and Supernatural wisdom.

So I will simply present you with the answer again and encourage us all to absorb this wisdom at our own pace.

“A: We have two things to say because it is a good question that has not been asked before. You are not confirming the negative by recognizing it. To pretend it’s not there would be doing a disservice. “Well, she’s a divine being. It doesn’t matter that she wants to jump off the roof.” That’s ridiculous. She is a divine being, and she’s so frightened she wants to jump off the roof. The recognition of the Divine will support you in claiming her back, but you don’t pretend that the other issue is not present. You don’t have to agree with it, which means to move into vibrational accord to it and confirm it for them, which is what they may be wanting. “Tell me it’s not worth living.” “Well, if you don’t want to live, you don’t have to” is actually an honest response, “but the idea that you are not worthy of living is preposterous because the Divine as you is here, no matter what you think.” You should all understand this. The claim “I know who you are, I know what you are, I know how you serve” is always true because it is claimed at the level of the True Self to the True Self of the one you witness. Do you understand this? You are not making them happy. You are not convincing them to be wrong about what you think they are. You are actually bypassing that and claiming what is always true. At this level the transformation may occur in ways you cannot even imagine. It’s the difference between realizing another as capable of change and deciding they cannot change because that’s all they are. Period. Period. Period.”

Whenever I discover myself telling myself a story or pulling up a script (kind of a ready-made set of responses) about you or a life situation that I have experienced before, I begin to realize that I am not in the present moment and I am most likely creating information that is useful to my smaller self, but probably not terribly relevant at all to my Divine consciousness.

Obviously this takes a tremendous amount of awareness which is a state of consciousness I am not always in.

“self-justification, we would say, is always the small self seeking to be right. When you release that need, the need to be right and for another to be wrong, you move toward a kind of liberation in your relationships. You are no longer bartering for who is right. You are no longer playing games of power. You are no longer deciding that your well-being is dependent upon another’s behavior. Nobody has to be right, nobody has to be wrong, but everybody has the right to be.”

So summing up, awareness is the key, but it is quite easy for me to turn awareness into self-judgment--and that’s not it. Awareness does not judge, nor is it about right or wrong, but it is not passive either.

“The claim “I know who you are, I know what you are, I know how you serve” is always true because it is claimed at the level of the True Self to the True Self of the one you witness. Do you understand this? You are not making them happy. You are not convincing them to be wrong about what you think they are. You are actually bypassing that and claiming what is always true. At this level the transformation may occur in ways you cannot even imagine. ”

And that other sublime message:

“You do not become the Christ. The Christ becomes you.”

Peace--have a wonderful week

FREEDOM 9

 “The golden moments in the course of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.” George Elliot

P. 67-76

“What is claimed in the energetic field must become manifest through form.”

This is an expression of Universal Law of Creation. Another way it is sometimes stated is, “Energy follows thought(always).”

ACIM points out that we are always creating—we are either creating consciously or creating by default (unconsciously). Our unconscious creations are usually produced from the perspective of our ego/personality/ limited consciousness. So we look at the world around us  and think—“I don’t want this! How could I have created this mess?” 

Well, you see, it is your semi-conscious self that is observing and asking these questions. It is an awareness, albeit limited, that is aware of your soul’s longing and realizes that this creation made manifest by default, from our limited self, is NOT what I truly desire.

So here is the continuing challenge, If you do not like what you see (what you have created by default) then you must commit yourself to creating from conscious awareness, through your true identity as a Divine Being. Now the catch is that I must KNOW myself as that Divine being, really Know myself, be aligned to the truth of who I am, before I am going to be able to create from that Infinite Power of Love. 

That is what we are working on here, not transforming ourselves so much as stripping away all the stuff that clouds our vision of Truth.

And, yes, the claim of worthiness shows up here again. I must know and claim that I am worth to be recognized as a Divine Being—as a unique expression of God, through my body (bodies), mind, and Spirit.

 “And these choices set ramifications through the world. The child named Sarah behaves rather differently than the child named Cassandra. Sarah may do one thing. Had Cassandra been named, she would have done something rather different. You bought this house and not that house, and the infidelity with the neighbor’s wife would not have happened if you had bought the other house.”

Would having a different name make a difference? That seems to be a rather silly observation, yet as we explored that a little bit more fully we discover that it might really be so. Suppose I was named  after my Uncle Fred. throughout my little existence whether for good or bad I am going to be oared to him; I am going to be continually reminded of characteristics that Uncle Fred has or doesn’t have. Obviously, my name can influence my life in some ways more deeply than I can imagine.

Personal history—My mother had three miscarriage before I was born, and she was pretty much told by physicians that she would not be able to carry a baby to term. This was devastating news. Mom loved kids and wanted a bunch of them. About this time, she came cross this  Catholic saint named Gerard Majella, who, according to Catholic tradition worked a number of miracles for expectant mothers. He was even referred to as the “patron saint of expecting mothers.” Mom prayed to him and promised that if her child lived, she would name it after him.

Well, not too long after that, along I came— 8 weeks premature and weighing about 2 pounds. In the mid 1940’s there was not much hope for a baby that size. Obviously, not expected to live, but here I am, carrying the name of my mother gave me Gerard Majella Boylan. 

My mother told me her story any number of times and I cannot say how much of an influence that had on my life, but I do know that Gerard was a Redemptorist Brother. Do you think that had influence on my life; on my chosen vocation? When I took vows in the congregation I joined, the religious name I chose was Bro. Majella, do you think that influence on my life? (Interestingly enough, the founder of the Xaverian order that I was to join after high school received his novitiate training at a Redemptorist Monastery!)

I am simply suggesting that what might seem to be overly simple might also have profound consequences on our lives. 

The second part of that short paragraph about buying a particular house and the consequences that flowed from that still rests in mystery, but is a little more understandable.

What if I missed the bus today; how will my life be different if I turn left instead of right? What accident did I miss because I had to spend an extra five minutes hunting for my car keys?

This passage is out of sequence, but I think it fits ( from p. 73):

“The claim “I am here” is such a name. That is an utterance of the Divine Self in its claim of you, or you as the idealization of the small self that you have come to know yourself as in a lifetime. The Divine as you knows his name, and because he knows his name, he may be reunited with the Source of his being. But if you believe your name is Sam the accountant and Betty the homemaker and Frieda the attorney, you will be stuck in that parking lot for a very long time, and if you are lucky you will be returned to your home or your attorney office only to be left back in that parking lot again.”

****************

Just sit with this following paragraph from moment. It is absolutely profound in its message that every thought, every action is of absolute importance. 

“Every trajectory of every choice ripples beyond the obvious. The spouse of your neighbor, who releases his wife and then goes off to have three more children with yet another spouse, claims other people into manifestation on this plane, and then the world is changed by their presence. You don’t understand, yet, that even when you smile at a stranger, you may have changed the course of history. You do not see this, but you will when this life is ended and you witness your life as you have claimed it. You will realize that the response to that one smile saved someone’s life, offered him an opportunity, perhaps, to make a different choice than he would have. He was going to leave his spouse. The smile reminded him of his spouse’s smile, and they stayed together forever after.”

Simply think about how differently I would walk into a store or behind the wheel of a car; how differently I would recognize the presence of another being even if I don't know them. How every moment, in my consciousness I agreed operate with sacredness and love. 

The awareness that begins with my embracing of this Holy Instant, this sacred moment, is the beginning of the awareness of who I truly am and, of course, who you truly are as well.

“So much of our work with you has been in re-identification—“I know who I am” as the True Self—in order for this to occur. But you still insist in claiming the old names. “I am the one who was hurt,” “who was damaged,” “who is angry,” “who doesn’t want to deal with anything that he doesn’t want to deal with.” And then you say, “Well, I guess I am not a Divine Self after all. Look at the mess I’m in.”

The mess you claim yourselves in is simply separation from your true identity. Knowing your true identity does“not release you from the requirements of your past choices. It is not a free ticket to go murder someone and then remember who you are and assume you are off the hook. You are still claiming the ramifications of past choice, and you will continue to, but the good news is that as you rise above the level of claim that was present when those choices were made, you no longer align to them, and, consequently, even the repercussions will become transformed.”

********

“The realization of the True Self comes at the cost of the known, and the realization at the cost of the known renders past choices as released because you don’t need them anymore. When you no“longer need the approval of your community, you are in fact free of it. And because you no longer need the approval, you are no longer serving it out of fear, or seeking to appease or be approved of for being who you think you should be.”

Everyday I become aware of some attachments, patterns of thought and behavior that no longer serve me. Even when I realize their uselessness, they are sometimes difficult to let go of. In some ways I have come to believe that they are a part of me—of course, the “me” they are a part of is my limited personality self—not who I truly am. 

I am encouraged to know that I do not need to let go in anger or blame or frustration, but lovingly. My baggage probably served me in some ways and I can bless it for that. I am continually reminded of Jacob wrestling with the angel and saying, “I will no let you go unto you bless me.

Here’s a passage from The Book of Knowing and Worth:

“Now you ask yourself, “What things do I hold that I no longer cherish, that I no longer align to?” and it should not be very hard to create a list of things that no longer serve you. It may not be an easy list to make, but you must understand that by making the list, you are giving yourself permission to see yourself and to see yourself clearly. “I see myself as the one who created this and that,” “I see myself as cherishing this pain,” “As owning this decision that I made that I no longer want,” “That I am claiming my worth as the one who made the error so that I may rectify the mistake.” If you don’t claim the error, how can you make a new choice? How can you decide anew when you are pretending you are not who you are?

Now understand this please: You are not an error. We don’t say that you are an error. But you have made mistakes in your judgment because you have been frightened of yourselves and you have given permission to the world to tell you who and what you are. “I am the woman who lies.” “I am the man who cheats at cards,” “Who is an infidel,” “Who is boastful.” Whatever it is you claim as yourself that you wish to relinquish you may, but you must release the need for these things. There is nothing that you have created in your life, including your pain, that you have not chosen for one reason or another.”

The psychologist Robert Assagiolli would begin his mediations by going through an exercise of releasing ones identification with his/her body; emotions, and thoughts. “I have a body, but I am not my body; I have feelings, but I am not my feelings; I have thoughts and a mind, but I am not my thoughts, I am not my mind.” 

“The idealization of what it means to be in a body must be understood now. You have a body, yes, as a vehicle for experience, and—underline and—as a vehicle of your expression. Imagine a body without a soul. It doesn’t do much. There is no life to it. It lays in a coffin or upon a slab. But the soul itself is expression, and because the soul is expression at its essence, seeking to align and grow and evolve through every exchange or circumstance that she can claim, she must also understand that expression is her nature. You have a body, it expresses as you in form, and the soul that you exist through is in expression as it.

The separation of form and field is confusing to most of you, but if you can understand that Spirit permeates form and is form itself, you can begin to understand that even that separation is an illusion, and is simply an illustration of density and vibration operating in different octaves. The reclamation of the body in the Divine Self supports the body in becoming the vehicle of the expression of the high octave known as you for the good of the world. Underline the world. For the good of the world.”

Nothing is separate, everything is important. My body and much of what my thoughts create is what we call “matter” which is simply the “dense’” substance of the energy we align to. Because of its density it has tangible form that we can connect with through our senses, BUT as we learn here, we begin to realize that form does not have to be only that which applies to the senses. Love might show itself in a particular form, but we also know that it is much greater than the form we observe through our senses. 

In fact,, we can suggest this is true for all abstractions—freedom; compassion, joy, etc. We all know them; we all experience them in material form but also in form beyond the material.

Going “back” to the beginning:

“What is claimed in the energetic field must become manifest through form.”

Peace

In Love and Gratitude