Thank you for sharing, everyone. We are fellow trekkers. I was with a friend yesterday who likes to label herself "awake". Many folks are deemed asleep. My ego happily joined in her separation talk for a bit, basking in sanctimonious separation from the sleepers. After lunch she noticed a politically motivated sign hanging in the restaurant window. She commented harshly We agreed the sign was a form of virtue signaling and mindlessly declared our own correct position and the restaurant owner's wrongness. When my friend proudly announced she wouldn't be giving the business any of her money and asked if I would frequent that favorite restaurant with the "unacceptable" sign in the window, I finally became conscious. I smiled at my ego's error and admitted I would continue to enjoy the restaurant. She defended her decision saying if enough people didn't give them business they would recognize their error and pull the sign. I told her that was certainly one experimental way to find out. Another might be for her to go talk to the manager, etc., but I told her I had mistakenly fallen into an old pattern of judgement and my way of creating change would be internal. I told her I have decided to send the owner light and love. We had texted each other 2 days ago and I shared my new practice of non violence. Whenever I have conflict I send love and light. It turned out to be a perfect example to my friend of how I had momentarily failed my practice and the restaurant sign would be another opportunity to send love. We enjoyed our ride home. I don't know if she was peaceful but I thanked myself for making the shift and beginning once again on the long trek to inner peace.
Thank you for sharing this, Susan. This is a clear and beautiful statement about application - not just do we understand what the course invites us to do but how do we do it, how do we "bring it into application," as Tara Singh would say. Everything comes down to practice - to the gentle transition from a dream of judgment and separation to a happy dream of acceptance and unity. Thank you. I really appreciate this.
And I LOVE "the long trek to inner peace," because you remind me that it's mad a LOT shorter with good companions sharing the practice :)
I am rattled this morning, Sean. I recognize that the spiritual crisis I perceive in this world is my own. But it seems as a mother, grandmother and former journalist — all ego labels, I know — I cannot be apolitical . . . not today. I don’t think I would be able to step foot in a restaurant displaying certain signs. I am grieving, although I am not sure what exactly I am grieving, and I do not have it in me to choose “a better way.” Trying to give this to Spirit is like throwing a ball into the sky without it coming down. At the moment all I feel is separation. Any and all gentle words of wisdom would be appreciated.
But also, it is a massive cry for help, right? It is a cry for Love at a national scale. The chaos, the uncertainty, the othering, the radical undoing of familiar social scaffolding . . . all of it arises as a cry for love and so the answer is to love it. To give attention to it in love in order to learn how to serve it in love.
It's local, too. It's important for me to look for that - I'm seeing this big upheaval at national and global levels but the effects are local. Who is hurting around me? Who is hungry? Who is scared? Who does not have the resources and agency that I have and how can I use that agency and those resources to be helpful?
It's important to give attention to our dismay, our discouragement, our worry and our fear. Self-love requires this! But also, it's just fear in the many forms fear takes. And we know how to respond to it. There are no mysteries or secrets anymore. Love is the answer. So I acknwoledge my angst and then get up and serve my brothers and sisters as best I can.
Another thing that is helpful to seek and nurture relationships that help us in this work. How do we awaken enough to see the horror as a symptom of fear so that we can respond in love? That work - that readiness - happnes in relationship, so I am very focused on that. Who helps? Who grounds? Who makes me laugh? Who reminds me to be grateful?
Nurture and treasure those relationships and create conditions in which others can find those relationships, too.
We are co-creating a happy dream and part of that requires going deeply into the apparent unhappiness and discovering its cause and then undoing it where it is. The Holy Spirit meets us where we are - if we perceive a shit show externally it's because we are ready to do the work of meeting that shit show in love. You can imagine Jesus gently whispering, "you're ready Cheryl - and our brothers and sisters need you - let's carry the cause of peace and happiness into the world."
We don't have to solve the big problems! We just have to hold them without resistance. We are not alone - not in the cosmic sense and not in the local personal sense either.
In the signs of these times I hear a call to go deeper into healing in order that I might continue to remember how to love. And honestly Cheryl, I am so so glad that you are with me.
Amen. From Ram Dass 1992 - "If you and I are to be instruments of the healing of the world, it is that we are quiet enough to hear our Dharma, our way, and that we live our way as a statement. As Gandhi said, "My life is my message." We live our lives in such a way that, the way you are in the supermarket, the way you are with your loved ones, the way you are when you're facing pain; it is all part of the deepest wisdom statement you are able to make. It is the truth of your deepest being."
I asked for gentle words of wisdom, Sean, and you have offered them. And I am grateful. I wrote a bunch more sentences here and then erased them. There is so much going on in my head that I can at least somewhat identify, but there is also so much stirring deep within that I cannot. I feel that what you said -- holding the big problems (which includes one or two within the family) without resistance -- is key. I am disappointed in myself at how unloving I feel toward so many right now and how unwilling I have been to cut through the debris of my own righteousness to help. You are right. Everything I am experiencing is a call to love. Getting over myself and answering the call with love . . . that is harder work than I ever imagined it would be.
Be gentle with yourself, Cheryl. I know you know this: those deep stirrings you reference are learning opportunities. Not new information necessarily but invitations to hold the familiar hurt, guilt and fear with more intention and less investment.
For what it's worth "the debris of my own righteousness" is a beautiful phrase, and lands in me very helpfully. There is a lot that we need to let go of in order to be more present and helpful.
Thank you for these loving responses. During contemplation this morning I was guided with the words ‘I rest in God.’ Turning to that workbook lesson (109) I read:
You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. ²Each brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. ³We rest together here, for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give today we have received already. ⁴Time is not the guardian of what we give today. ⁵We give to those unborn and those passed by, to every Thought of God, and to the Mind in which these Thoughts were born and where they rest. ⁶And we remind them of their resting place each time we tell ourselves, “I rest in God.”
I really appreciate your honesty and openness Cheryl. It is a battle I’m sure most of us grapple with. I have friends accuse me of complacency and without a backbone to stand against injustice. Can I distinguish between an injustice playing out in front of me that I can act upon and one happening across the oceans that my voice is but a whisper in a thunderstorm?
And then I focus on letting go of the messenger and listening to the message (not my quote but I can’t remember author). What is the message where I reflect judgement and division and harden my heart? Perhaps that is the only injustice I can observe and hand over to Love.
I’m grateful for all of you who share your struggles and humbly teach me. 💖
Thanks Cheryl! I am having a reaction to the events in this world. When I can remember "You are not the victim of the world you see" I can rest in peace. ..for a few moment in time. Once again trying to realize I am caught up in the ego's dance of sin, guilt and fear. Sigh... to ask Holy Spirit how I could see this differently ... all these stick figures are just one more forgiveness opportunity. I am trying to get myself to cancel all political blogs ..... I don't want to give them power too upset me. Gosh ... and a strong desire to keep separate from "them" ha! 🙏
Thank you for this . . . "You are not the victim of the world you see" is a very helpful Course lesson for me at the moment. I am going to keep on repeating that today. I appreciate you taking the time to respond .
Thank you for sharing that, Thomas. I think this is a major part of my practice - becoming responsible for projection, which relieves the other of the burden of my guilt, fear, anger, hatred et cetera but also provides me peace by allowing me to respond to the guilt & fear et cetera where it is, which is internal and at the level of mind. In my experience, ending projection is the easy part (and it's still really really hard) but sitting with the pain - being vulnerable, uncertain et cetera - is the real work. THAT is what I am trying to avoid with projection. It's definitely a process - thank you for being present to it and sharing - we really do heal more deeply and sustainably when we include one another in the process.
Your words touched me so profoundly and in my circumstances ,in constant pain ,waiting for surgery ,the ego and it's noise says you need to do ,worthless because you can't but when I sit with god in the stillness ,he says your love is more than enough ,just be and so I'm now using this time to be closer to god and I trust this is how he wants it and knew it would be ,thankyou as always
Thank you for reading and sharing, Gail. Sitting with God in the Stillness is the answer :) Thank you for saying it so clearly. I'm sorry you're working through some physical stuff & hope you feel relief soon. Thank you again for being here.
Father, our Name is Yours. In it we are united with all living things and You Who are their one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved of all effects our errors seemed to have.
And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made.
Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. Amen.
"...it is quite evident that he does not understand God if he thinks he has something that others lack." and the part of not being the bearer of the special gift who brings healing. This was mind-blowing to me, and your essay as a whole about magical thinking and separation. I am still struggling with the reality of my two very young friends with bad cancer diagnoses and some hateful family dynamics. This has come at the right time as always. The part about being vulnerable is so true. Thank you.
You're welcome, Heidi. Thank you for being here and sharing. Yeah, I like those quotes about specialness as well - it took me a long time to appreciate the deep radical equality of all God's children (broadly defined) that ACIM insists on - which is really fundamentally about oneness. For me it softens my heart and allows me to open up more helpfully to the seemingly super hard stuff like cancer and family dysfunction and so forth. Always seek the innocence of the other works for me, because it forces me to accept my own innocence, which - paradoxically - IS the other's innocence as well. And then the turbulence of world and bodies just doesn't land in the same high impact, high stakes way. It's a journey of learning for sure.
Thank you for sharing, everyone. We are fellow trekkers. I was with a friend yesterday who likes to label herself "awake". Many folks are deemed asleep. My ego happily joined in her separation talk for a bit, basking in sanctimonious separation from the sleepers. After lunch she noticed a politically motivated sign hanging in the restaurant window. She commented harshly We agreed the sign was a form of virtue signaling and mindlessly declared our own correct position and the restaurant owner's wrongness. When my friend proudly announced she wouldn't be giving the business any of her money and asked if I would frequent that favorite restaurant with the "unacceptable" sign in the window, I finally became conscious. I smiled at my ego's error and admitted I would continue to enjoy the restaurant. She defended her decision saying if enough people didn't give them business they would recognize their error and pull the sign. I told her that was certainly one experimental way to find out. Another might be for her to go talk to the manager, etc., but I told her I had mistakenly fallen into an old pattern of judgement and my way of creating change would be internal. I told her I have decided to send the owner light and love. We had texted each other 2 days ago and I shared my new practice of non violence. Whenever I have conflict I send love and light. It turned out to be a perfect example to my friend of how I had momentarily failed my practice and the restaurant sign would be another opportunity to send love. We enjoyed our ride home. I don't know if she was peaceful but I thanked myself for making the shift and beginning once again on the long trek to inner peace.
Thank you for sharing this, Susan. This is a clear and beautiful statement about application - not just do we understand what the course invites us to do but how do we do it, how do we "bring it into application," as Tara Singh would say. Everything comes down to practice - to the gentle transition from a dream of judgment and separation to a happy dream of acceptance and unity. Thank you. I really appreciate this.
And I LOVE "the long trek to inner peace," because you remind me that it's mad a LOT shorter with good companions sharing the practice :)
~ Sean
I am rattled this morning, Sean. I recognize that the spiritual crisis I perceive in this world is my own. But it seems as a mother, grandmother and former journalist — all ego labels, I know — I cannot be apolitical . . . not today. I don’t think I would be able to step foot in a restaurant displaying certain signs. I am grieving, although I am not sure what exactly I am grieving, and I do not have it in me to choose “a better way.” Trying to give this to Spirit is like throwing a ball into the sky without it coming down. At the moment all I feel is separation. Any and all gentle words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Hi Cheryl.
Yes. I hear this. I understand.
But also, it is a massive cry for help, right? It is a cry for Love at a national scale. The chaos, the uncertainty, the othering, the radical undoing of familiar social scaffolding . . . all of it arises as a cry for love and so the answer is to love it. To give attention to it in love in order to learn how to serve it in love.
It's local, too. It's important for me to look for that - I'm seeing this big upheaval at national and global levels but the effects are local. Who is hurting around me? Who is hungry? Who is scared? Who does not have the resources and agency that I have and how can I use that agency and those resources to be helpful?
It's important to give attention to our dismay, our discouragement, our worry and our fear. Self-love requires this! But also, it's just fear in the many forms fear takes. And we know how to respond to it. There are no mysteries or secrets anymore. Love is the answer. So I acknwoledge my angst and then get up and serve my brothers and sisters as best I can.
Another thing that is helpful to seek and nurture relationships that help us in this work. How do we awaken enough to see the horror as a symptom of fear so that we can respond in love? That work - that readiness - happnes in relationship, so I am very focused on that. Who helps? Who grounds? Who makes me laugh? Who reminds me to be grateful?
Nurture and treasure those relationships and create conditions in which others can find those relationships, too.
We are co-creating a happy dream and part of that requires going deeply into the apparent unhappiness and discovering its cause and then undoing it where it is. The Holy Spirit meets us where we are - if we perceive a shit show externally it's because we are ready to do the work of meeting that shit show in love. You can imagine Jesus gently whispering, "you're ready Cheryl - and our brothers and sisters need you - let's carry the cause of peace and happiness into the world."
We don't have to solve the big problems! We just have to hold them without resistance. We are not alone - not in the cosmic sense and not in the local personal sense either.
In the signs of these times I hear a call to go deeper into healing in order that I might continue to remember how to love. And honestly Cheryl, I am so so glad that you are with me.
~ Sean
Amen. From Ram Dass 1992 - "If you and I are to be instruments of the healing of the world, it is that we are quiet enough to hear our Dharma, our way, and that we live our way as a statement. As Gandhi said, "My life is my message." We live our lives in such a way that, the way you are in the supermarket, the way you are with your loved ones, the way you are when you're facing pain; it is all part of the deepest wisdom statement you are able to make. It is the truth of your deepest being."
Thank you for sharing this Susan.
~ Sean
I asked for gentle words of wisdom, Sean, and you have offered them. And I am grateful. I wrote a bunch more sentences here and then erased them. There is so much going on in my head that I can at least somewhat identify, but there is also so much stirring deep within that I cannot. I feel that what you said -- holding the big problems (which includes one or two within the family) without resistance -- is key. I am disappointed in myself at how unloving I feel toward so many right now and how unwilling I have been to cut through the debris of my own righteousness to help. You are right. Everything I am experiencing is a call to love. Getting over myself and answering the call with love . . . that is harder work than I ever imagined it would be.
Be gentle with yourself, Cheryl. I know you know this: those deep stirrings you reference are learning opportunities. Not new information necessarily but invitations to hold the familiar hurt, guilt and fear with more intention and less investment.
For what it's worth "the debris of my own righteousness" is a beautiful phrase, and lands in me very helpfully. There is a lot that we need to let go of in order to be more present and helpful.
Thanks always for being here.
~ Sean
Thank you for these loving responses. During contemplation this morning I was guided with the words ‘I rest in God.’ Turning to that workbook lesson (109) I read:
You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. ²Each brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. ³We rest together here, for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give today we have received already. ⁴Time is not the guardian of what we give today. ⁵We give to those unborn and those passed by, to every Thought of God, and to the Mind in which these Thoughts were born and where they rest. ⁶And we remind them of their resting place each time we tell ourselves, “I rest in God.”
I really appreciate your honesty and openness Cheryl. It is a battle I’m sure most of us grapple with. I have friends accuse me of complacency and without a backbone to stand against injustice. Can I distinguish between an injustice playing out in front of me that I can act upon and one happening across the oceans that my voice is but a whisper in a thunderstorm?
And then I focus on letting go of the messenger and listening to the message (not my quote but I can’t remember author). What is the message where I reflect judgement and division and harden my heart? Perhaps that is the only injustice I can observe and hand over to Love.
I’m grateful for all of you who share your struggles and humbly teach me. 💖
🙏🙏
Amen!🙏
Thanks Cheryl! I am having a reaction to the events in this world. When I can remember "You are not the victim of the world you see" I can rest in peace. ..for a few moment in time. Once again trying to realize I am caught up in the ego's dance of sin, guilt and fear. Sigh... to ask Holy Spirit how I could see this differently ... all these stick figures are just one more forgiveness opportunity. I am trying to get myself to cancel all political blogs ..... I don't want to give them power too upset me. Gosh ... and a strong desire to keep separate from "them" ha! 🙏
Hi Anne,
Thank you for this . . . "You are not the victim of the world you see" is a very helpful Course lesson for me at the moment. I am going to keep on repeating that today. I appreciate you taking the time to respond .
I appreciate this, Anne . . . thank you for sharing . . . hope all is well
~ Sean
I was very angry over someone who “left” me.
I heaped hate and guilt on her everyday, I was broken to pieces and she had done this to me.
Then yesterday I had this clarity come to me.
The cause of my pain and suffering was this ancient unconscious guilt rising up in my mind, and I could not help but see it outside in her.
The pain didn’t stop but it’s cause was seen in me, instead of her, and I released her from condemnation.
I hope that I can look at it, and release myself from this excruciating guilt and fear.
Thank you for sharing that, Thomas. I think this is a major part of my practice - becoming responsible for projection, which relieves the other of the burden of my guilt, fear, anger, hatred et cetera but also provides me peace by allowing me to respond to the guilt & fear et cetera where it is, which is internal and at the level of mind. In my experience, ending projection is the easy part (and it's still really really hard) but sitting with the pain - being vulnerable, uncertain et cetera - is the real work. THAT is what I am trying to avoid with projection. It's definitely a process - thank you for being present to it and sharing - we really do heal more deeply and sustainably when we include one another in the process.
~ Sean
Thank you, when I really saw that the pain and suffering has nothing to do with anyone or anything on the outside, it felt like a cycle was broken.
I was asking HS to heal me, and it is as if He said,
“Wait, you want me to heal your mind outside in someone else?”
Maybe real forgiveness can happen,
God I hope so.
Your words touched me so profoundly and in my circumstances ,in constant pain ,waiting for surgery ,the ego and it's noise says you need to do ,worthless because you can't but when I sit with god in the stillness ,he says your love is more than enough ,just be and so I'm now using this time to be closer to god and I trust this is how he wants it and knew it would be ,thankyou as always
Thank you for reading and sharing, Gail. Sitting with God in the Stillness is the answer :) Thank you for saying it so clearly. I'm sorry you're working through some physical stuff & hope you feel relief soon. Thank you again for being here.
~ Sean
Father, our Name is Yours. In it we are united with all living things and You Who are their one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved of all effects our errors seemed to have.
And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made.
Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. Amen.
(Lesson 184)
🙏🙏
❤️
"...it is quite evident that he does not understand God if he thinks he has something that others lack." and the part of not being the bearer of the special gift who brings healing. This was mind-blowing to me, and your essay as a whole about magical thinking and separation. I am still struggling with the reality of my two very young friends with bad cancer diagnoses and some hateful family dynamics. This has come at the right time as always. The part about being vulnerable is so true. Thank you.
You're welcome, Heidi. Thank you for being here and sharing. Yeah, I like those quotes about specialness as well - it took me a long time to appreciate the deep radical equality of all God's children (broadly defined) that ACIM insists on - which is really fundamentally about oneness. For me it softens my heart and allows me to open up more helpfully to the seemingly super hard stuff like cancer and family dysfunction and so forth. Always seek the innocence of the other works for me, because it forces me to accept my own innocence, which - paradoxically - IS the other's innocence as well. And then the turbulence of world and bodies just doesn't land in the same high impact, high stakes way. It's a journey of learning for sure.
Thanks again for being here.
~ Sean
Sean, wow: this essay breaks open a simple but confounding concept; I feel liberated. Thankyou!
You're welcome, Deborah. Thank you for reading & sharing.
~ Sean
Thank you, Sean
You're welcome, Jennifer. Thank you for reading & sharing.
~ Sean