Sean, here you go again :) Your statement is exactly where I am: "The commitment to undoing projection means sitting with both beauty and difficulty, and not trying to change, reject or possess either. It means encountering life on terms I don’t set and can’t control. I have to sit with uncertainty and powerlessness." The difference for me now is joy when doing this; before I resisted or relented. Father Thomas Keating is also speaking to me: "If you want to be free... enter your inner room – the office, where the Divine Therapy takes place. Close the door so you don't run away. Quiet your interior dialogue so that you can listen to what the Spirit is saying to you." I so love this quote. Spiritual transformation is not about escaping humanity, but embracing it to reveal the divine. The divine is not remote; it is within us right here, right now. Yes, the Course brought me here...now I turn to my heart.
Thank you Susan. I'm glad it resonated - the Keating quote is right on. And yes - the juncture where we turn to the heart - and the cave within the heart. So much joy in discovering how much can be let go!! And the ease of being present - of just being able to lend a hand, share a laugh, et cetera. I am very grateful.
Sean, many years ago I realized that, on my worst day, people were getting married, having babies, finishing manuscripts, falling in love, and more. And on my best day, people were getting mugged, raped, or murdered, or were losing a child. And I realized that if we are truly all connected, then my spiritual practice had to be “getting my arms around all of it,” and that is still how I characterize my practice. I thought of that again as I read your post. As usual, you point me to deeper strata of “getting my arms around all of it.” I’m grateful.
Thank you, Margaret. Yes - arms around all of it, love offered to all of it. I've been feeling a sense lately of becoming smaller and smaller - like "the work" is the work of many generations of us, and I am just a tiny link - holding up my little light, making the case for unconditional love, welcoming the coral reefs and cheetahs into the family same as people. And I get tired then - like, we've been doing this for literally centuries. But then I remember women like Sojourner Truth (or Harriet Tubman) and all those beautiful people and I think, well, I can't quit. I can't fix it - it's too big etc. - but I can keep trying. I think our presence to love - our insistence on it, even when we fall short - is important witnessing, and joins us with spiritual ancestors (and heirs) who need us to do our part. I believe in Eden - it's probably the most reckless thing about me. And I believe one day we'll get there.
Thanks for reading and sharing, Margaret. I'm very grateful.
This perspective, getting small within the context of the generations of brothers and sisters before us, is empowering and very helpful to me. Stepping out of me as the center of the universe, once again.
Thank you, Sean, for sharing your thoughts in this post. It’s funny (maybe not🙏) that I have been thinking/writing about studying the Course as an avenue the ego can use to keep me wedded to its thought system over the past few days. This came out of interactions with former clients and friends who want to know what I’ve been doing. I cannot ‘explain’ the course without my ego stepping in to say that the explanation has to be perfect so that people don’t think I’m crazy. Ego, indeed!
I have always loved to study and ‘think’. The metaphysics of the Course isn’t clear at first so studying it from this perspective is enticing. And, I think, important but…two decades of experiencing the lessons and being taught by my Inner Teacher, reinforced with a kind of understanding of the text, laid down a foundation that is quite firm. So, when, after retiring, I had time to study the text and Manual with dedicated attention, I was so grateful. Knowing how easy it is for me to get lost in ‘intellectual’ pursuits, and being prompted by a niggling thought that the course cannot really be explained in words, I remembered that ‘this is not a course in philosophical speculation… it is concerned only with Atonement’ (C-Intro.1:1-3) and that a ‘universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. (C-Intro.2:5-7).
I am willing to sit with open hands and am grateful for you and for everyone in this community. With appreciation, love and light.
Thank you, Joanne. It's a tricky needle to thread. There is (for me) a lot in the course for which I'm grateful and which has been very productive over the years. But I'm definitely holding it a LOT more loosely than I used to, and I find that helpful, too.
I do think the sentence you quoted - we're not indulging philosophical / metaphysical ruminations - is actually really helpful. Ego loves nothing more than a vigorous defense of (or attack on) ACIM, or any other spiritual path and practice. Vigilance and discernment are never out of place for me :)
I too am grateful for everyone who reads and shares. This is not an easy path to follow, and following it with friends is a good thing.
Thank you, Joanne. This mention is really helpful to me: ‘this is not a course in philosophical speculation… it is concerned only with Atonement’ (C-Intro.1:1-3) and that a ‘universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. (C-Intro.2:5-7). It reopens my hands…
Hi Sean, I love your writing, and your ideas. Lots of egoness to let go of, today it feels ok to let go. To see where I am investing in the projection and the ways I can see it is not happening to me, but for me. Lots of freedom there, no investment in the theatre except as a where to see me and what I believe. All the thoughts are not me really, I am what I think with the Father. Loving you brother. I know it works, at least today this moment. Until we can accept The Real World it will not be real or wanted. I know I have not given up anything, but only gained.
Empty hands, open to receive and also to hold another...heart open as well. We never know where we are except when we are there, totally present. It's the only place where we can really ever be. Thank you Sean...and yes, it's not like we haven't made up answers and forged pathways and tried solutions...but it all comes down to a truth that we can only know when we know it in our heart. Again, thank you!
It means encountering life on terms I don't set and can't control... that sentence pointed so directly to me in how I do set terms for how life should appear, and how those internal terms are like a reflex.
Thank you Sean for your honest sharing. I feel what you are saying here. Keep getting humbler and humbler in an inward spiral. Practicing not to believe in what ego presents as to who I am. So much identification with ego stuff, this old playbook as you nicely put😊 so it is very humbling process of letting go of my ideas about what everything means and how everything should work 😊
You're welcome, Aysin. Thank you for being here. It's a practice for sure - over and over showing up and letting a little more of the old patterning and conditioning go. I really appreciate you sharing - we are in this together 🙏🙏
Yes! I am ready to let go of everything that obstructs my awareness of that Love. That love that binds us and pushes us forward. That love that keeps us on the straight and narrow.
Sean, here you go again :) Your statement is exactly where I am: "The commitment to undoing projection means sitting with both beauty and difficulty, and not trying to change, reject or possess either. It means encountering life on terms I don’t set and can’t control. I have to sit with uncertainty and powerlessness." The difference for me now is joy when doing this; before I resisted or relented. Father Thomas Keating is also speaking to me: "If you want to be free... enter your inner room – the office, where the Divine Therapy takes place. Close the door so you don't run away. Quiet your interior dialogue so that you can listen to what the Spirit is saying to you." I so love this quote. Spiritual transformation is not about escaping humanity, but embracing it to reveal the divine. The divine is not remote; it is within us right here, right now. Yes, the Course brought me here...now I turn to my heart.
Thank you Susan. I'm glad it resonated - the Keating quote is right on. And yes - the juncture where we turn to the heart - and the cave within the heart. So much joy in discovering how much can be let go!! And the ease of being present - of just being able to lend a hand, share a laugh, et cetera. I am very grateful.
~ Sean
Sean, many years ago I realized that, on my worst day, people were getting married, having babies, finishing manuscripts, falling in love, and more. And on my best day, people were getting mugged, raped, or murdered, or were losing a child. And I realized that if we are truly all connected, then my spiritual practice had to be “getting my arms around all of it,” and that is still how I characterize my practice. I thought of that again as I read your post. As usual, you point me to deeper strata of “getting my arms around all of it.” I’m grateful.
Thank you, Margaret. Yes - arms around all of it, love offered to all of it. I've been feeling a sense lately of becoming smaller and smaller - like "the work" is the work of many generations of us, and I am just a tiny link - holding up my little light, making the case for unconditional love, welcoming the coral reefs and cheetahs into the family same as people. And I get tired then - like, we've been doing this for literally centuries. But then I remember women like Sojourner Truth (or Harriet Tubman) and all those beautiful people and I think, well, I can't quit. I can't fix it - it's too big etc. - but I can keep trying. I think our presence to love - our insistence on it, even when we fall short - is important witnessing, and joins us with spiritual ancestors (and heirs) who need us to do our part. I believe in Eden - it's probably the most reckless thing about me. And I believe one day we'll get there.
Thanks for reading and sharing, Margaret. I'm very grateful.
~ Sean
This perspective, getting small within the context of the generations of brothers and sisters before us, is empowering and very helpful to me. Stepping out of me as the center of the universe, once again.
"Stepping out of me as the center of the universe, once again" is beautiful and clear - thank you Denise!
Thank you, Sean, for sharing your thoughts in this post. It’s funny (maybe not🙏) that I have been thinking/writing about studying the Course as an avenue the ego can use to keep me wedded to its thought system over the past few days. This came out of interactions with former clients and friends who want to know what I’ve been doing. I cannot ‘explain’ the course without my ego stepping in to say that the explanation has to be perfect so that people don’t think I’m crazy. Ego, indeed!
I have always loved to study and ‘think’. The metaphysics of the Course isn’t clear at first so studying it from this perspective is enticing. And, I think, important but…two decades of experiencing the lessons and being taught by my Inner Teacher, reinforced with a kind of understanding of the text, laid down a foundation that is quite firm. So, when, after retiring, I had time to study the text and Manual with dedicated attention, I was so grateful. Knowing how easy it is for me to get lost in ‘intellectual’ pursuits, and being prompted by a niggling thought that the course cannot really be explained in words, I remembered that ‘this is not a course in philosophical speculation… it is concerned only with Atonement’ (C-Intro.1:1-3) and that a ‘universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. (C-Intro.2:5-7).
I am willing to sit with open hands and am grateful for you and for everyone in this community. With appreciation, love and light.
Thank you, Joanne. It's a tricky needle to thread. There is (for me) a lot in the course for which I'm grateful and which has been very productive over the years. But I'm definitely holding it a LOT more loosely than I used to, and I find that helpful, too.
I do think the sentence you quoted - we're not indulging philosophical / metaphysical ruminations - is actually really helpful. Ego loves nothing more than a vigorous defense of (or attack on) ACIM, or any other spiritual path and practice. Vigilance and discernment are never out of place for me :)
I too am grateful for everyone who reads and shares. This is not an easy path to follow, and following it with friends is a good thing.
Thank you again for being here.
Love,
Sean
Thank you, Sean🙏
Thank you, Joanne. This mention is really helpful to me: ‘this is not a course in philosophical speculation… it is concerned only with Atonement’ (C-Intro.1:1-3) and that a ‘universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. (C-Intro.2:5-7). It reopens my hands…
🙏
Hi Sean, I love your writing, and your ideas. Lots of egoness to let go of, today it feels ok to let go. To see where I am investing in the projection and the ways I can see it is not happening to me, but for me. Lots of freedom there, no investment in the theatre except as a where to see me and what I believe. All the thoughts are not me really, I am what I think with the Father. Loving you brother. I know it works, at least today this moment. Until we can accept The Real World it will not be real or wanted. I know I have not given up anything, but only gained.
Thank you for reading and sharing Cyndi. I'm glad that we can share this path - it's so much easier with friends :)
~ Sean
Empty hands, open to receive and also to hold another...heart open as well. We never know where we are except when we are there, totally present. It's the only place where we can really ever be. Thank you Sean...and yes, it's not like we haven't made up answers and forged pathways and tried solutions...but it all comes down to a truth that we can only know when we know it in our heart. Again, thank you!
You're welcome, Josef - thank you for reading and sharing - yes to all of this🙏
~ Sean
“We never know where we are except when we are there, totally present.” That is the letting go, the emptying of hands. Thank you.
It means encountering life on terms I don't set and can't control... that sentence pointed so directly to me in how I do set terms for how life should appear, and how those internal terms are like a reflex.
Thank you
You're welcome, Amanda. Thank you for reading and sharing. "Reflex" is exactly the right word - thank you 🙏
~ Sean
Thank you Sean for your honest sharing. I feel what you are saying here. Keep getting humbler and humbler in an inward spiral. Practicing not to believe in what ego presents as to who I am. So much identification with ego stuff, this old playbook as you nicely put😊 so it is very humbling process of letting go of my ideas about what everything means and how everything should work 😊
Thank you 🙏
You're welcome, Aysin. Thank you for being here. It's a practice for sure - over and over showing up and letting a little more of the old patterning and conditioning go. I really appreciate you sharing - we are in this together 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Yes! I am ready to let go of everything that obstructs my awareness of that Love. That love that binds us and pushes us forward. That love that keeps us on the straight and narrow.
Thank-you God.
🙏🙏