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!!!!!!!
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