Undoing the Ego

28 Dec 2012 Comments Off on On This Clean Slate Let My True Function Be Written for Me

On This Clean Slate Let My True Function Be Written for Me

love blackboard

It’s almost January 1st.  Time for a new beginning.

And where better to start than the loving classroom of A Course in Miracles?  To bring in the new year right-mindedly, I’d like to share with you some phrases from the Course that are so simple and beautiful they lift the heart, bring tears to the eyes, and open the doorway to Heaven.

In one of the early lessons, Lesson 12, we’re told, “If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy.”  It goes on to say, ” … you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be.  … Beneath your words is written the Word of God.  The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His.”

Lesson 65 gives us an exercise to help us discover the function God gave us, “On this clean slate let my true function be written for me.”

And Lesson 276, “The Word of God is given me to speak” asks and answers, “What is the Word of God?  My Son is pure and holy as Myself.”

The Course explains that the entire ego thought system is based on guilt.  When we allow God’s Word to be written, we discover our Innocence.  This Innocence has nothing to do with naivete, purity or the body.  It is the Innocence of Unity.  What is Unified cannot be guilty of anything for It is Joined in an Absolute Loving State of Mind.  It is a return to Love.

Ask yourself, “What is the Word of God?”  Then answer, “I am pure and holy as God Himself.”  This year, open to receive the Loving Message God has for you.  How powerful and beautiful to be a clean slate …

If you are interested in using the ACIM Workbook practice as a means to awakening, perhaps you’d like to join us in Workin’ the Workbook.  Click here to find out more.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom, What is A Course in Miracles?

16 Dec 2012 Comments Off on Even, and especially, with the Sandy Hook tragedy, practice forgiveness

Even, and especially, with the Sandy Hook tragedy, practice forgiveness

Many people, including President Obama, are weeping, feeling the unspeakable ache of the immensity of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut reverberating through our hearts.

As Course students, what do we do when confronted by human tragedy? We feel all the powerful, devastating feelings course through us. We grieve and we join, we unite and we undo. We love and we hug. We step back and let Him lead the way. We practice forgiveness.

Consider the extraordinary example of the Amish community who dealt with a very similar incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 2006, when a gunman shot school children, ages 6 – 13, and then killed himself in their school. Forgiveness and reconciliation was the response of the Amish community–watch the movie Amish Grace, based on the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher.

ACIM teaches us, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it” (T-16.IV.6).   When we are willing to seek and find these barriers to love, this opens us to feel at our core the peace of God in any and all circumstances (even as the personality struggles).  In so doing, we become the light at the end of the tunnel for others who cannot feel peace.

The Workbook teaches us how to accept guidance from the Holy Spirit and give all our barriers to Him. This purifies us and opens us as a conduit for God’s Loving Light. Transferring this Loving Light is what we can “do” when faced with something like the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown two days ago.

There is a Sufi expression, “An open heart is its own best protection.” ACIM teaches the same thing in Lessons 135 , “If I defend myself I am attacked” and 153, “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” Opening ourselves to the Beingness of God’s Loving Light makes us aware that there is an unshakable peace within us, even as the personality and the body rumbles with shock, despair and rage. Let it rumble and choose to change your mind, where all questions are always answered with Love.

Let us pray:
Holy Spirit, help us ease the pain of all who suffer by recognizing What We Already Are even as they do not. Help us see through your vision the Christ in every brother, without exception, and know that acts of violence are cries for help, that belief in death and the body is a mistake, and that we can know the Peace of God in this holy instant. Amen.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Undoing the Ego

02 May 2012 Comments Off on The Temple Within

The Temple Within

Darling Beloved,

It has been three months since I have written here, and though I thought of you often, those three months were much needed and well spent. I have been settling into my new home in Florida and working on some health issues that needed to be addressed. I am feeling much better now! I have organized my home and provided myself with a meditation hall/yoga studio. The house is uncluttered, spacious, and filled with the face of Christ.

For a long time I have wanted to maintain better eating habits and in April something called Cleanse America appeared in my email box. Because of how easy and inspiring they made this 10-day raw food cleanse for all of us who participated, and because Scott joined with me for the 10 days, I finally kickstarted a way of eating that has me feeling healthier and freer in my body than ever before. It’s not just the good eating habits. It’s my spiritual practice increasing in me day by day. String together over 20 years of undoing one day at a time and 20 years feels like a holy instant of priceless transformation.

As a result, I would like to share a beautiful vision I keep having with you. The inside of my body keeps appearing to me as levels of an inner temple. It reminds me of Damanhur in Northern Italy. A spiritual center built underground filled with the most beautiful mosaics, meditation alcoves, stained glass and sacred nooks and crannies filled with color, light and sound.  Within me, the experience is of one room stacked above another–just as if my chakras were rooms of gorgeous reflective light in jeweled tones of ruby, citrine, emerald, sapphire and diamonds.  Rooms revealed through a practice of spring cleaning my internal physiology by using food as medicine.

As the documentary, Forks Over Knives demonstrates, food can be more powerfully healing than medication.  Used well, food cleanses the colon, helps the liver and kidneys do their job of detoxification, nourishes us, builds strong bones and muscles, sharpens brain function and removes the sludge and blockages that the ego relies on to keep us in a state of forgetfulness of our God nature.

The vivid clarity with which I’m experiencing my insides being gorgeous rooms filled with kaleidoscopic Light led me to design a new Course in Miracles workshop called, “How to Use the Body While You Think It’s You.”  I’ll be presenting this material for the first time at the Who Are You Really? ACIM Conference coming up in June. 

Song of Vajra by Nicholas Roerich

The difference between intellectual comprehension and personal experience is the difference between gazing at the beauty of the ocean from the shore and immersing your body in the water.  As the Course says, “The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete things.”  As we learn to use the body for the Holy Spirit’s purpose we experience a Godly state of Mind–we uncover the Love, Peace and Joy within us:  The Temple Within.  If you would like to go there with me, I would love to share with you in person at the upcoming ACIM conference.  Cleveland never looked so good 😉  It should be a lot of fun!

Namaste~
Amy


by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Undoing the Ego Tags: ,

07 Feb 2011 Comments Off on Inexplicably Predictably Happy

Inexplicably Predictably Happy

white lilyRecently a phrase popped into my head, “Inexplicably predictably happy.” That’s one way I experience God — words come to me and I can tell they are not mine (some people call this “channeling”).

I was actually grieving at the time I “heard” those words, but even though I was grieving, I remembered to ask God to remind me of who I really was. In that moment, as I cried, I felt my heart expand and a peace move through me that was filled with joy. There was no logical explanation about why I needn’t grieve — I just felt at peace, even as I wept.

There was a smile inside me that said, “Inexplicably predictably happy” and I knew it to be True. “Inexplicably” because the joy of God is beyond words and explanations. “Predictably” because God is reliable, and if I ask Him for help, I will receive His help. “Happy” because God is full — full of joy, peace, love, eternal life, infinite creativity, and there is no way I cannot be happy because God’s treasures are my inheritance. Joy, peace, love, eternal life, infinite creativity are always mine — I just forget.

These days I remember my inheritance more and more and life is so interesting, full of wonderful surprises and beautiful people. I know that when I’m scared and overwhelmed that I’ve just forgotten Who I really am, and knowing that is a great comfort. Another name for the Holy Spirit is The Comforter, and He really is. When I accept Him, I am inexplicably predictably happy 🙂  And then comes the realization, just like A Course in Miracles says: there is no “me”!

Copyright © 2011 Amy Torres.  All rights reserved worldwide.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom

25 Jan 2011 Comments Off on Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory

Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory

The original 12 steps were scribed by Bill W. when he was illuminated with the idea to establish Alcoholics Anonymous.  No doctor was able to help him in his desperate attempts to end his addiction to liquor.  Only the Holy Spirit instructing him to help his brother was successful.  I say the 12 steps were scribed because it’s my sense that they flowed through Bill as opposed to his deliberate writing of them.  I’m opening the Big Book right now to double-check my facts and I’ll be back to revise them if I’m mistaken.  (In the past, I would have said “if I’m wrong,” but now I spontaneously use the word “mistaken”–much gentler, and, of course, open to correction.)

Step 10:  Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step 10 grows out of Step 4–Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. After we have written down a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, taking our time to be ruthlessly self-examining, we naturally cultivate a taste for using this process on daily basis.  Part of this process is sharing what we’ve written with God and with a trusted witness.  That person is usually a sponsor in the 12-step program, but in my case it was my psychotherapist who participated in 12-step programs himself, so he had a good understanding of what this was about.

It is crucial that the listener we choose is non-judgmental.  That way, through his ability to see the light in us, we begin to experience ourselves as worthy of forgiveness–this often takes time.  When we do finally get it that we are deserving of forgiveness, we are much more able to extend forgiveness to others.  Sometimes this works conversely: as we notice how generously we extend forgiveness to others, we begin to experience ourselves as deserving of the same kindness, understanding and generosity from others.

It is very similar to miracle principle #3 in A Course in Miracles:  “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.  The real miracle is the love that inspires them.  In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”  Doing a 10th step on a daily basis is a way of loving ourselves and others.

There is something I’ve come to believe about the 12 steps which I want to share.  They were written by an alcoholic who got into all kinds of trouble and hurt lots of people along the way.  That is a certain kind of person, and that type of person has amends to make to lots of other people.  But in the case of the codependent, the one who depends on the alcoholic, and often enables the alcoholic, the type of person is more likely to hurt herself.  In this case, the amends and the character defects are most needed toward oneself, rather than others.

This is important because it occurs to me that a customized 10th step for me might read, “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were right promptly admitted it.”  I was right that the alcoholic’s drinking was harmful to both of us.  I was right that the atmosphere of an alcoholic household was toxic.  I was right that my feelings of depletion and despair evaporated when I was in a healthier environment, such as a yoga class, a support group, a spiritual retreat, or with people who were sober and in recovery or psychotherapy in some shape or form.

In other words, for the codependent the essential task is to build a sense of self, to trust ourselves more, to listen to our intuition, and to develop more inner strength.  As we believe in ourselves, we can take better care of ourselves and become emotionally self-sufficient and financially independent.  These are the healing tasks for earnest people like me who unconsciously turned to alcoholics for a more daring, playful approach to life.

Of course I sometimes need to make amends to other people.  Al-anonics, or codependents, tend to feel victimized and so we blame others for being mean or self-centered or emotionally unavailable.  The truth is we need to be a little more self-centered in order to meet our own needs before catering to other people.  We only do that because we hope that once they are well, they will partner with us, or take care of us. This is all well and good if they would–but if they are not inclined to heal, we have to cut our losses and heal ourselves with God’s help.

We are not victims and no one is to blame for anything.  We are all immature in our own particular way, and we are learning to grow up.  Jerry Seinfeld said he liked being grown up because it meant he could eat cookies before dinner if he wanted to!  Many of us feel that being grown up robs us of carefree fun and imprisons us in a life of endless responsibilities and obligations.  But A Course in Miracles says, “Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated.”  It explains that, “You have no enemy except yourself, and you are enemy indeed to him [any person in our life we are upset with] because you do not know him as yourself.”

The teaching is that as we see the Light of Forgiveness in ourselves, we realize that underneath the personality of ourselves and others is a spiritual Light which is our Truth.  As long as we insist that there is someone to blame, we block God’s Light.  This is not to condone bad behavior–it is to empower us to realize that bad behavior is a call for Love.  Sometimes Love means we take care of ourselves first and pray for another without having to take a concrete action on their behalf.

I’ll be writing more on the 12 steps and how I’ve customized them to myself.  I hope this makes their message even clearer and more useful for people like me–people who tend to take ourselves for granted and haven’t realized we’ve blamed ourselves or hurt ourselves in ways that deserve forgiveness toward ourselves.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Twelve Step Work, Undoing the Ego Tags:

13 Jan 2011 Comments Off on Lesson 6: I am upset because I see something that is not there.

Lesson 6: I am upset because I see something that is not there.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

This lesson equalizes all upsets.  It calmly, with authority, states that I am seeing something that is not there, namely, the illusory world, the world of form.  I am seeing something that is not there, and then I am attributing my upset feelings to a world that is not there.   I am projecting my upset feelings outward, in order to avoid awareness of what caused my upset feelings.  As I practice the exercises in Lesson 6, there is an undoing process that takes me back to the original upset–the tiny, mad idea that I could separate from my Father’s Mind.

LESSON 6

I am upset because I see something that is not there.

The exercises with this idea are very similar to the preceding ones.  Again, it is necessary to name both the form of upset (anger, fear, worry, depression and so on) and the perceived source very specifically for any application of the idea.  For example:

I am angry at _________ because I see something that is not there.
I am worried about __________ because I see something that is not there.

Today’s idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you, and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose.  However, the three or four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the search.

Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:

There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.

And:

I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go.  For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Today's ACIM Lesson, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom, Workin' the Workbook Tags:

13 Jan 2011 Comments Off on Lesson 5: I am never upset for the reason I think.

Lesson 5: I am never upset for the reason I think.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

It seems to us as if we’re upset for a never-ending number of reasons.  But the metaphysical explanation that A Course in Miracles offers us is that we believe we’ve separated from God, and the terror and the horror we feel at the thought that we are exiled from Heaven permanently, is the only reason we are ever upset.  Everything that we think we are upset about is just an ego distraction.  The ego believes it will be annihilated if we wake up.  And it will disappear back into the nothingness from which it came.  In the meantime, we can practice “I am never upset for the reason I think.”

The lesson goes on to say we can apply it to specific personal situations, as well as to whatever comes to mind.  I can fill in, “I am not angry at Mayor Bloomberg for raising the subway fare and bridge and tunnel tolls for the reason I think.  I am not afraid of my bills going up for the reason I think.  I am not worried about money for the reason I think.”  And what’s more, all upsets are equal.  A splinter, a tumor, a scratch on the new furniture, a death in the family–it is all the same.  The ego gloats at the obscenity of equalizing what, to it, clearly have different levels of importance.  We will never choose God if He is so insensitive to our feelings.  But the truth is that God knows us as we Are.  Our “work” is to undo the layers of forgetfulness which “cover” our True Nature.

“I am never upset for the reason I think” is one of the best reminders I have.  I apply it as often as I manage to remember and it always helps.

LESSON 5

I am never upset for the reason I think.

This idea, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain.  Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to you.  The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different.  This is not true.  However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper subject  for the exercises for the day.  Applying the same idea to each of them separately is the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same.

When using the idea for today for a specific perceived cause of an upset in any form, use both the name of the form in which you see the upset, and the cause which you ascribe to it.  For example:

I am not angry at _____________ for the reason I think.
I am not afraid of __________________ for the reason I think.

But again, this should not be substituted for practice periods in which you first search your mind for “sources” of upset in which you believe, and forms of upset which you think result.

In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater weight to some subjects than to others.  It might help to precede the exercises with this statement:

There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.

Then examine your mind for whatever is distressing you, regardless of how much or how little you think it is doing so.

You may also find yourself less willing to apply today’s idea to some perceived sources of upset than to others.  If this occurs, think first of this:

I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them as all the same.

Then search your mind for no more than a minute or so, and try to identify a number of different forms of upset that are disturbing you, regardless of the relative importance you may give them. Apply the idea for today to each of them, using the name of both the source of the upset as you perceive it, and of the feeling as you experience it. Further examples are:

I am not worried about _________________ for the reason I think.
I am not depressed about ________________ for the reason I think.

Three or four times during the day is enough.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Today's ACIM Lesson, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom, Workin' the Workbook Tags:

13 Jan 2011 Comments Off on Lesson 4: These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place.]

Lesson 4: These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place.]

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

This lesson asks us to look at our thoughts–watch them parade by, and then, apply today’s idea, “These thoughts do not mean anything” to some of the specific thoughts I am having.  It explains that what I consider “good” and “bad” thoughts are really neither, since they are often contradictory, which is why they don’t mean anything.  Ramana Maharshi just said the same thing in Regina Dawn Aker’s new book, The Teachings of Inner Ramana, “If all of the concerns for one day are written down, it may be seen that concerns and imagined solutions conflict with one another, so that no true peace can be found with the mind.”

Lesson 4 goes on to say that good thoughts are “but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult.  The ‘bad’ ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible.  You do not want either.”  After reading this, Bowl of Saki arrived in my email box and Hazrat Inayat Khan had this to say, “When you stand with your back to the sun, your shadow is before you; but when you turn and face the sun, then your shadow falls behind you.”Synchronicity.  Reinforcements of The Message :) I’ve often thought that good thoughts are the way the ego keeps us tempted to stick with it and bad thoughts are the way the ego keeps us narrowly consumed with a problem, therefore endlessly distracted from our True Nature.

Towards the end Jesus says, “Do not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so.  You are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied.”  This makes me bust out laughing.  I have a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied with nonsense all day long … I guess I feel understood, lol.

LESSON 4

These thoughts do not mean anything.  They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

Unlike the preceding ones, these exercises do not begin with the idea for the day.  In these practice periods, begin with noting the thoughts that are crossing your mind for about a minute.  Then apply the idea to them.  If you are already aware of unhappy thoughts, use them as subjects for the idea.  Do not, however, select only the thoughts you think are “bad.”  You will find, if you train yourself to look at your thoughts, that they represent such a mixture that, in a sense, none of them can be called “good” or “bad.”  This is why they do not mean anything.

In selecting the subjects for the application of today’s idea, the usual specificity is required.  Do not be afraid to use “good” thoughts as well as “bad.”  None of them represents your real thoughts, which are being covered up by them.  The “good” ones are but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult.  The “bad” ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible.  You do not want either.

This is a major exercise, and will be repeated from time to time in somewhat different form.  The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful.  It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within.  It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.

In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today, identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains, for example:

This thought about ______________ does not mean anything.  It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on].

You can also use the idea for a particular thought that you recognize as harmful.  This practice is useful, but is not a substitute for the more random procedures to be followed for the exercises.  Do not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so.  You are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied.

Further, since these exercises are the first of their kind, you may find the suspension of judgment in connection with thoughts particularly difficult.  Do not repeat these exercises more than three or four times during the day.  We will return to them later.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Today's ACIM Lesson, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom, Workin' the Workbook Tags:

13 Jan 2011 Comments Off on Lesson 3: I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

Lesson 3: I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

The instructions state, “The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them.”  We are asked to keep an open mind and suspend judgment.  In the world, if I keep an open mind and suspend all judgment, couldn’t I get into trouble?  But when Jesus firmly suggests that I follow his instructions and have my own experience, how can I refuse?  I gaze around the room and find that my mind softens … I, who love precision, have no desire to even assign words to what I’m seeing … there is a blur of familiar objects devoid of names or relevance.  My heart eases in my chest as some internal pressure I live with daily abates.  Something widens expansively, moving through the heart, the lungs, the arms, and radiates beyond the body.  Here is the love, peace and joy the Course promises.

LESSON 3

I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

Apply this idea in the same way as the previous ones, without making distinctions of any kind.  Whatever you see becomes a proper subject for applying the idea.  Be sure that you do not question the suitability of anything for the application of the idea.  These are not exercises in judgment.  Anything is suitable if you see it.  Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for you.  Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else.

The point of these exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to  you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them.  It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to be applied.  For this purpose one thing is like another; equally suitable and therefore equally useful.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Today's ACIM Lesson, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom, Workin' the Workbook Tags:

13 Jan 2011 Comments Off on Lesson 2: I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.

Lesson 2: I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

In Lesson 2 we are held accountable for assigning meaning to what we see.  Years ago, I was distressed and aggravated when Louise Hay told me I was responsible for choosing my parents in You Can Heal Your Life. Now Jesus is telling me I’m responsible for the meaning of everything!   The ego experiences this as an accusation and a burden of responsibility.  But then there is a glimmer within of … being pulled back in time, sliding backward along some continuum, so there is a telescopic view of how “little me” thinks.  From this long view comprehension comes that the collective ego “I” has assigned meaning to everything “seen”–everything I hurl out of me so that I don’t have to feel the terror of being separate and alone.  Lesson 2 suddenly makes sense, and there is a sense of promise that forgiveness, salvation and Atonement are what’s truly True. :)

LESSON 2

I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.

The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the first one.  Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea to whatever your glance rests on.  Then increase the range outward.  Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side.  If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you.  Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will introduce strain.

Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative importance to you.  Take the subjects simply as you see them.  Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a or a floor, an arm or an apple.  The sole criterion for applying the idea to anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it.  Make no attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is specifically excluded.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

by Amy Torres in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Today's ACIM Lesson, Undoing the Ego, Unlearning Classroom, Workin' the Workbook Tags:

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