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| Random quote: Fill me today with all that Thou art...I don't want to be this presence of a personality any longer. Fill me with the Light and reveal Me to me...reveal Yourself to me as Me...and exalt my poor perception of myself into its natural, primitive state of Divinity.....Raj - (Added by: Field of Flowers) |
 August 2007 GatheringsModerators: Sun~Rose Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [60 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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Location: New York | August 18, 2007 ©NWFFACIM PAUL. Okay. … Welcome Back! (Laughing) … I don’t, this is me Paul, I don’t think we’re going to be getting into the book tonight, but he could surprise me, I just want to say, before we begin, to everybody here, and those listening on the internet, that … I am well. I’ve actually been well, … let’s say recuperated from the surgery, … since, let’s say March. But I’ve had an interesting experience, which I’m not going to go into in at any length right now. I’ve had an interesting experience of … coming out of it … with a new sense of myself, … that I can’t yet explain. Things that were important to me are not important to me. Things that weren’t so important to me are important to me now. So as to be a little bit helpful, I’ll explain by saying that for one thing I found myself not really charmed by or interested in … wonderful social chitchat. My habit in the past has been to be … a socially friendly person, and … and I can see now that I’ve had styles of behavior, when I’m socializing, which now – it’s very clear to me – were um … false. They were there to … make an impression. They didn’t express me genuinely. … I have been, since December, rather … private. One of the reasons being that … if I were to get involved with people, I would end up saying what I really felt. And my Guidance hasn’t said that doing that was appropriate yet. And I believe that it’s because I would be doing it from a place of emotion, rather than from a place of … quiet, peaceful, grounded perspective. … It’s a strange experience to find yourself … being differently, … and it’s made me think a lot about what Raj has been saying, especially … from July on to December of last year when he spent a lot of time talking about me. Because the topic was healing…..a great deal of it was about healing. … And that healing is another word for correction, which the Course speaks a lot about. Correction meaning actually being involved in being changed. And somehow … through – through … the time that I was in the hospital, change occurred and I have experienced myself, as I’ve said briefly, in new ways. … It’s not uncomfortable. I do not find it uncomfortable, but I don’t know how to play my old games well from this new experience of who I am. And so I found myself at a loss, feeling … incompetent. … I can’t get control of the situation quickly, because (laughing) … because the me that I am now doesn’t want the kind of control I used to want. And I know- I only know how to get the control I used to want. And so situations require me to … draw from some new sources- … No … it causes me to draw from a Source I’ve been familiar with – which haven’t been my old resources. And that’s the key. I – in the way I find myself experiencing being now, – really have to ask Raj: What is appropriate? What does this mean? How do I respond? … In a way, the Paul that Raj was describing … that went to Disneyland … disappeared. And I guess what I’m - I guess what I’m learning is that, just as when we start a Gathering, I … I say: … I allow only for that which expresses … the Christ-Consciousness. And I allow only for that which is in harmony with the purpose of Be-ing – capital B Be-ing – meaning God. And I continue – in other words, Thy will, not mine, be done. Let the reign of Divine Truth … Life and Love be established in me and rule out of me all self-will. Those are strong words. Sort of like the word extinction is a strong word…. ‘and rule out of me all self will’….Wow! Nevertheless, at the beginning of each Gathering I always said that, … and then finished: And may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them. See, I’ve invited His word to enrich my affections and govern me. And … and it ends by wishing the same thing for everyone else. Now, I’ve done that at the beginning ea- the beginning of each Gathering. Since December, it’s like – it’s like I’m being required to start every day with that, whether anybody’s around to hear me talk, or not. … Umm … it’s like that’s the requirement. It isn’t what I feel inclined to spontaneously do. And, I suppose I’m sharing this because I know that what I’m going through is …is part … of correction occurring, and is part of healing occurring. Not healing of what I went in the hospital for, but healing of the use of my mind, healing of the use I’m putting my mind to, so that … my mind is changed. And as a result of that, my experience of everything is changed. Why is my experience of changed? Because I can’t respond to it out of my old habits, and so I have to be present … without any confidence as to what is appropriate. I have to be present in the experience, with an inquiring mind that says: … What is appropriate now? I have to stand there … … … letting Divine Truth, Life and Love be established in me, and rule out of me … all of my old inclinations, to take hold with all of my old habits of being sociable and presentable and respectable, and never offending anyone. … So … it’s one thing – once a week – or … or at Gatherings – to sit down and make commitment to: “Thy Will, not mine, be done.” It’s another thing to engage in that every day. As many of you know Raj has been saying for a long time, to me: “Let Me respond to everything.” In other words, turn- I am to turn to Him and let Him respond to the gas station- to the gas station attendant, or the grocery- grocery clerk, or the friends, or the one’s who want to be sociable and meaningless and silly, and so on, and so forth. And, you know what? My … my … my conclusion here may be false, but it’s my sense that there aren’t thousands of people clamoring to listen to Raj because Raj doesn’t please everyone’s egos. Raj puts everyone else, as well as me, right on the threshold of being willing to acknowledge that we don’t know what anything means – that we don’t know what anything is really for – and that as long as we’re trying to behave on the basis of … developed habits of socializing, we will not allow for what we genuinely are to come forth, and we will not be out from the Place of Excellence in us that is utterly original, never repetitive…… And so, if one is going to listen to what Raj is saying and implement it, it is going to mean that we’re all going to have to … stand, in any moment of our day, whether things- whether we judge things to be going well or not … and, … reach for Knowing that goes beyond our best judgments, and our best … thinking habits, and stand in that vulnerable place … where the miracle can occur. … What’s the miracle? A sudden shift of perception. … A change in our mind. A change in the way we are looking - A change in the way we’re willing to perceive. … … A Be-ing made new. So, again, since last December, although I’ve had wonderful physical healing, I have had a not-so-fun time of adjusting to not being in charge, from my head. And of having to dare to step out into the Unknown many times during the day, rather than once a week when Raj is going to talk. … … so … It hasn’t been the most fun, but I- I’ll tell you something. … I feel … like progress is occurring. I feel change occurring. Not self-directed change, but change that is coercing me – in my intention to live out old habits – to … abandon them, and not operate on the basis of … the comfort that they always provided me. And so, for whatever it’s worth, I can, today, which I couldn’t do … last November, look at any one of you … and say: … … Let it be rough if it’s rough. … The only thing that makes it rough is the reluctance you bring into play – the resistance you present to being changed. … … It’s worth it. And just because it’s rough doesn’t mean you’re doing something … wrong. … It means something truly right is happening and your ego doesn’t like it at all. And that’s all it means. So, I’ve missed … these get-togethers, and … I’m really glad to be … together with everyone, again. So let’s take a few moments to be quiet, … and find out what Raj has to say. Quiet Time. RAJ. Okay. Good Evening. And welcome to everyone who’s joining us on the internet. … … … Well, what a wonderful bunch of bullshit Paul just delivered to you. [audience laugh] … … … I … I say that because who on earth was he speaking to? He was speaking to all you orphans out there, giving you encouragement as to what you might experience in the last stages of your orphanhood; and perhaps to inspire you to uh … listen to Guidance a little bit more than you’ve been inclined to, which isn’t a bad point. But he demonstrated what all of you get easily caught in: you get caught in … a sense of self that is progressing, … getting better and better. And you poor ones who are getting better and better just got a wonderful pep talk apparently from someone who’s getting better and better. Right? … And, as long as you don’t catch that when it happens, you’re stuck in the state of being an orphan. There’s no way for there to be progress. … Paul slipped right back into his old sociable habit of being friendly and being nice and saying intelligent things that were couched in language that was – we‘ll say, inspiring. … (small laugh) But he was not in a position to look at what he was saying and … describe it as bullshit, which I did in my first sentence [small audience laugh] … … The one who gave the opening remarks is the one that’s getting left behind: the sense of self that this one has identified as Paul, in the past. And who you presently think you are is what you’re going to leave behind, as you abandon your apparent capacity to speak intelligently and … oh, insightfully and encouragingly and inspiringly. You see? Waking up is a matter of abandoning that sense of self – that improving sense of self. The one who’s refined his soul through centuries and lifetimes. … You aren’t that. And you haven’t been that. And you can’t get out of being that, because you never have been that. And so you literally – and Paul was right about this – you literally have to be willing to abandon that – at the beginning of your day, and as many times during the day as you realize that you have slipped back. But, again, this won’t be because the poor little orphan that you are is becoming better and better. … … When you go to the zoo it says: Please don’t feed the animals. And you need to have a sign on your refrigerator door, or on the dashboard of your car, that says: Please don’t feed the orphans. Don’t nurture the orphans. … Just to remind you that you’re not there to spontaneously be out from your best thinking, your best habits, your best presentations. You’re there to treat each moment as though it is far more than anything you are imagining. You’re to treat every moment as though it is Divine – Sourced from God – fully in that moment, and therefore, a Divinely awesome event – which it is your Birthright to be experiencing awesomely. The reason for … having this … outlook is so that you will constantly look beyond your best current judgments and interpretations of everything; because if you’re not willing to look beyond – if you’re not willing to be incompetent to understand what’s happening in Its Fullness, you will not be open to the fuller experience … of what is going on. Now, we are … we are going to resume … reading the Course, but I’m going to ask something. I’m going to ask all of you who are willing – from this night on – to no longer think of yourselves as students of A Course In Miracles. … … … As long as you define yourself as a student of A Course In Miracles, or a student of this, or a student of that, … you withdraw … yourself from your relationships with your fellowman, into a very … … narrow … interpretation of everything. It is as though you provide a sieve, … that will only let things fall through that are of a certain size, and the rest can’t go through. ‘Oh, I’m a student of A Course In Miracles. That means I am not a student of … biology. I am a student of this; it means I’m not a student of that. A Course In Miracles better be – for lack of better words – an adjunct to your being – and please don’t misunderstand me – a human being. I mean by that … an unpretentious, not special, presence who experiences certain needs, who knows what fulfillment is, and who exists in relation to other … human beings, who also are un-special. In the lack of specialness, … you can relate to each other without falsehood, … without pretense, because you haven’t forgotten Who You Are. The minute you say: ‘Oh, I’m a student of A Course In Miracles, you’ve forgotten Who You Are and you’re not whole- wholly available to your brothers and sisters. Now, in the simplicity of Be-ing, you, right now, want to know what Truth is. You desire to know what Truth is– … whether it’s called A Course In Miracles, or whether it’s called the Bible … … or whether it’s a cartoon strip. You want to know the Truth, because you care about what’s important. You care about what is of value. Why do you read whatever you read? So that you might learn how to more effectively be a brother to a brother – a brother to a sister – a sister to a sister – and a sister to a brother. … … I will probably offend someone with this statement, but I indeed find many, if not a majority, of students of A Course In Miracles to be … consistently unkind to their fellow students of A Course In Miracles, and to everyone, but especially to other students of the Course. This can be equally said about chess clubs, members of chess clubs; any group … that might be formed. Here’s a question for you: Can you become still within yourself … and hear the Holy Spirit speak to you? Can you become still and hear your guide speak with you? Some of you can. Most of you can’t. And you know what? Those of you who can’t … have no grounds for being arrogant with your fellow students of the Course, … or with anyone, because you’re not doing so hot. … What it means is that – we’ll say – arguing with your fellow students about a point of Truth is more important to you than connecting with that Place of Excellence within yourself – the Altar within you – where your connection with the Holy Spirit is forever … functioning, and where your connection with your Guide is always open. ... If you’re going to be happy, I want you to be happy for the right reasons, not for reasons that are bullshit. … Meaningless. Now, many of you, for the last eight months, have … waited … for this night. You have waited for Me to return. You’ve waited for Paul to be able to … let Me speak. And many of you, when you found that We were going to get together this evening, were overjoyed. Well, you know what? I want you to be overjoyed when you’ve heard Me within yourself. I’m not demeaning … your recognition of the value of what transpires in these circumstances, but…. don’t be happy for the wrong reasons. Be happy that I am here, tonight, expressing these ideas that put you in the position of having to go within – to this so-called Altar that you may never have experienced before. Somebody just told you there was an Altar in the Centre of your Be-ing, placed there by God. Well, isn’t that wonderful. That could be bullshit too, … and you’ll never know until you go within; with commitment, and with resolve, and with a genuine … spirit because you really need … to know the Truth about something, and you don’t know it – on your own. It’s in that place of vulnerability and incapacity that your … desire … … becomes full enough to get a response, if I may put it that way, because you’re not messing around. You’re not bullshittin’ God. You’re being real within yourself. When Paul sat down tonight, after eight months of not sitting down on any night, he was nervous. But he had to put himself in that position – as he does every time he let’s Me speak – of not knowing, of being incompetent. He even approached this evening with the attitude: ‘Well, I’m not going to set a fantastic goal for myself.’ – this was what he said. And he was encouraged to do this by his son, Christopher. ‘I am going to do the best I can. And then I can’t fail, even if Raj never talks, and even if everything that happens is a … total … flub.’ Let’s get this straight. The orphan will not be able to confidently sit down and connect with his Guide. The orphan will always have doubts. The orphan will be uneasy. In fact, it will never be the orphan that sits down to listen to his Guide. But the orphan will be there as the Real One that each One of you is, sits down to talk to his Guide. And that orphan will kibitz you and say: ‘Probably isn’t going to work. Aw, c'mon, you know there really aren’t such things as Guides. You know these people are all fooling themselves, who are in touch with their Guides. Oh they’re just really just fanatics who … who say they’re overcome by the Holy Spirit. The orphan joins you – as you sit down to listen. Because the only one who will sit down, to actually listen, to learn, to connect with the Experience of Truth, is the Divine One that You Are, Who is registering in your mind enough to cause you to abandon the instructions that your ego is giving you – to abandon the habits that the orphan, that you had thought you were has been bringing into play, over and over again, that keeps you from waking up. … . … … Now … when you sit down and … desire to know the Truth. When you sit down and are willing to abandon your best judgments and your social habits of behavior, and the costume you have been wearing, and you are present in whatever circumstance is going on, without preconceptions, with a true desire to know how to be appropriate, how to be utterly appropriate and to identify fulfillment in that moment, you WILL be in-filled, if you genuinely desire to know. If you are more intent on Knowing than being influenced by … the orphan sense of self that you have thought you were, which is kibitzing you and discouraging you. What you bring yourself fully to … will open up to you fully. … What you bring yourself to, in part – in a carefree … abandon – in a … a … a silly irrelevance – you will get nothing … from. Nothing will open up to you. … Usually, …that which causes you to desire to know something, unequivocally, is an experience of need that has overwhelmed your arrogance – that in you which thinks it can handle anything – need that causes you to experience need – rather than triggering … confidence that you have – causes you to be … Real – causes you to be … genuinely honest within yourself. Unfortunately need is one of that few things that will cause you to arrive at that kind of inner commitment and genuine honesty. And it’s a shame, but it’s better than nothing bringing you to it. … So be grateful when the time comes. Be grateful when you really are forced to lean into and rely upon Something other than your best goddamn sense of who you are in this world – and who you have turned yourself into – and made yourself to be. ‘Well, so you want me to give up everything meaningful? … .… … Um, can You make it any more palatable than that, please?’ … No. You can make it easier for yourself by daring to risk the chance that there’s a God … without having to get at the end of your rope, and without feeling need so greatly that you have to abandon any capacity you thought you had to cope with it, and …ask for help ... while you still think you do have the capacity to cope with it. You can make it easier for yourself by abandoning the capacity to cope that you think you have, and asking … for … help – asking for … a miracle. Asking for the Holy Spirit or your Guide, or Me or the Father … to bring about a sudden shift of perception – a changed mind; not at your hand, but at the hand of the Father. At the hand of One who Knows – with a capital K – Who You Really Are, … and will help change your mind, bringing it into alignment with the Truth about you, so that you are strengthened by your own clearer experience of the Real You, and What makes It Real and what makes It of Value. … You know what? The Course In Miracles is not so great. What’s in it can promote stuff in you. That’s great. It can promote in you a capacity to be willing to be with your brother or sister, without arrogance, coming from a simple genuineness of Love, within you, that allows you to feel the need your brother has, and not discount it – and to want to know what would meet the need. Not so that you can escape anything, but so that you can be present, as need is transformed into … correction. Need is transformed into healing. Why? Not because you have magic words of Truth – or well-developed ‘spiritual power’ – but because you found it more valuable than anything else, to be willing to be present – in the presence of the experience of need, and not try to escape it – and wish to know the Truth. Not the Course in Miracles Truth! Not the Catholic Truth. Not the Christian Science Truth. Truth Itself. Truth. Truth is what God Is Be-ing at any given moment, in any given spot. You want to Know the Truth. You see, Truth isn’t an intellectual string of words. Truth is the Experience of What’s Real. Truth is the Experience of What God Is Be-ing. Truth is the Experience of what capital G Good is Be-ing – right here, right here, right here, right there. … … Your brother’s need isn’t going to be met by a string of words, but by an Experience of What is True – an Experience of What God Is Be-ing right there in their experience. And you can have no idea on your own … what will cause that miracle to occur. That sudden shift of perception. But you can be the Presence of Love that cares enough … to not hold your dear book learning up in your brother’s face to heal him with – (in a really funny voice – but to value what you read there enough … to be present with your brother Be-ing the Presence of Love – Be-ing the Presence of the desire to Know the Truth that will constitute the correction … by being willing to be a Brother or a Sister … in all the Fullness of the Meaning of those words. … … The Presence of Living Love that is- that it is your Function to Be – is very different from being the presence of the capacity to spout words of Truth … which are only spouted because it’s saving you from having to get into that simple place of genuine – genuineness, where you genuinely feel need – in the absence of personal capacity to meet the need – and reach out for … help, because you care – either enough about yourself or enough about your brother or sister to want to Know what … will cause change to occur – transformational healing – beneficial – truly beneficial … healing, and relief, and release. … If you’re spending more time reading a book than you are relating to your brothers and sisters – one on one – in a real and genuine way – don’t call yourself a student of Mine, because that’s not what I Teach, and that’s what I’m not here – and that’s what I’m … and that’s what I’m not here to encourage you to do. I am here to encourage you to do that which heals. … Every single one of you who’s hearing My Voice actually knows enough – actually knows all you need to know … in order to justify not getting hung up on words and daring to turn to your brother and sister with care, and with Love. Those brothers and sisters who are- who come into your experience, who you find that you’re faced with and have to deal with – in finding them to be all the justification you need for saying: ‘Father, what do I need to know here?’ ‘Oh, well it’s sort of a messy situation I’m faced with. (in a wistful voice) ‘Can’t I just sit down with my nice, clean little book with all the pretty words that are so neatly spaced and … they’re not disturbing. They’re so orderly. I get peace just looking at the page.’ … … You’ll only be faced with a messy situation until you stop thinking that you ought to be able to be somewhere else, doing something else. Not faced with this, not being called upon … to get into that situation where you don’t know what to do, and where you have to acknowledge that you don’t know what to do. And then, you have to say: ‘I ask … that Place of Excellence in Me – that Excellence of My Be-ing – to reveal to Me what will meet the need here.’ And stick with it, genuinely, and I’m going to ask you to look up the word ‘importunately’:– i – m – p – o – r – t – u – n – a – t – e – l – y. Importunately, with resolve, and steadfastness, until you get the answer; because, once the commitment and the genuineness is there, and you really mean your desire, as I said, everything becomes present that is necessary for the situation to bring forth and reveal to you the Wholeness that is the answer to the need. … You watch Paul do this every time We get together. … … I wish I had a bell to ring; a bell that would say to you: ‘It’s a wake-up call here.’ You need to do this. You need to do what Paul is doing. You need to put your … self in that Void – in that place of not-Knowing, and reach into It with commitment … and resolve, so that your hand is filled; so that your Be-ing is filled … with miracles – with sudden shifts of perception, which will inevitably and unavoidably become manifest as things to do in your experience, or steps to take, or places to be at a certain time, in order for … wonderful and unexpected things to occur that – I’m going to say physically identify fulfillment, beyond your imagination. So that you can walk through your day and see what you’ve always been seeing, but suddenly you can … see God in it. And you can see that everything that you’ve been confronted with has been significant. And it’s been escaping your notice. … … … So, I’m just encouraging all of you to come down off your pedestals, and be real, with each other and with yourselves, and do this awful thing … of asking for Help – of asking for Clarity – even though you feel perfectly competent to cope with it all yourself. It’s this … self-reliance – this isolated, private self-reliance – that effectively blinds you to Reality. And I can’t put it any more simply than that. Now, I will be back. And I will tell you this again, and again, and again. … Not to improve you but – I will say – to wear down your resistance – … to let that which seems foreign become less foreign because it’s more familiar, intellectually. It’s all right for you to be clearer and clearer intellectually, when the clarity is in closer alignment with Truth; because when you are moving into closer alignment with Truth, you are not moving into closer alignment with … your orphanhood, … and the developing of skill, and remaining asleep a little longer. So … I Love You All … … … and I look forward to being with You next week. And I hope your week has a little rigour to it, rigour that you’ve brought – a strength that you’ve brought, in terms of determination; determination to Know the Truth so that you can simply Be the Presence of Love with your brother and your sister … without any particular set of words, without a teaching. How many of you have had a hug from someone who really knows how to give a hug. You didn’t need a teaching to feel it. Concepts weren’t employed. I’m talking about that kind of connection. And I’ll tell you. Steer clear of a hug from a student of A Course In Miracles (slight audience laughing) and steer clear of the hug from a Catholic (a little more laughing), and steer clear of a- a- a hug from an astrophysicist (a little more laughing) – from somebody who thinks they’re Somebody. You see … what I mean? If an astrophysicist, or a student of the Course, or any of these try to give you a hug, don’t avoid them. Just give them a hug. You don’t have to take their … structured hug. You can be the one – maybe the first one who hugs them – wonderfully and suddenly they feel what a hug from a nobody feels like – a hug from somebody who’s not a Somebody feels like. And they’re touched, and it makes them look at their life a little differently. Okay. You have the picture. … (small laugh) Good night. Audience: Good Night. Attachments ----------------  August18, 2007 Christine's proofreading.doc (57KB - 4 downloads) | ||
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Location: New York | August 25, 2007 ©NWFFACIM PAUL. Okay, before we have our get on the same page. If you’re in the Sparkly Book, it’s the beginning of Chapter 13, page 302 If you’re in the Second Edition, it’s page 258 And if you’re in the JCIM, it’s page 127, the beginning of chapter 13. Let’s take a few moments to be quiet together. Quiet time. RAJ. Okay! … Good evening. … And welcome to everyone who’s joining us on the internet. … There is a lesson in the Course that says: “Above all else, I want to see.” … At the bottom line, this is … the impulse everyone feels, every moment of existence. Existing, for lack of better words at this point, is an embodiment of the desire to see. Another way of putting it is: a desire to understand, a desire to comprehend. “Above all else I want to see.” … The next lesson adds a little bit of a punch to it. “Above all else, I want to see differently.” … You could say that as … babies and as toddlers and children, you all wanted to see. And everything was a different seeing. Differentness was constantly your experience. And you were fresh to embrace what was different, and you did not try to get everything to fit into a perspective you had the day before. That came as you got older. “Above all else I want to see.” And: “Above all else” – now that you’re grown up, you have to add – “I want to see differently.” I want to see, minus … my conditioned responses to what I see. I want to see beyond … my best judgments about everything. … And then we have the prayer, words of Mine, which Paul turned into a prayer, that was discussed at the last Gathering, in December. I want to see everything through Your Vision. – capital V Vision. This is a prayer to Me: I wish to see – I want to see –everything through Your – capital V – “Vision.” (And I’m adding the word ‘Jesus’.) – which is Your Gift to me, from God. Now this is … a little bit more intimate and personal expression of what you find in the book of John, in the Bible, that says: “Let that mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. [see note at end] It’s more intimate and personal because you’re saying to Me: “I want to see everything through Your capital V Vision, which is Your Gift to me, from God.” My Gift, to you, from God. What you need to become free of … are the definitions you each have put into place – either all by your original little self, or along with the help of others – teachers, parents, … who taught you definitions, which you accepted. And, once they were in place caused you to stop looking with innocent eyes, caused you to stop looking with curiosity to … wonder if there’s more here in this glass of water than what you’re used to seeing: two different forms of matter. Well, wait a minute; maybe … maybe it’s two different experiences of the Energy of Spirit – Spirit with a capital S … – the Presence of God – a Holy … Encounter with that which is Divine. Ah! Now you have reason to be curious. … And I am asking you, I am encouraging you, I am inviting you to go through your day, every day, with this attitude. “Above all else, I want to see” … the more. “Above all else” – Above all else that I’m engaged in at the moment, in my daily life, I want to see differently. I want to see the more that is there. And, ultimately, the element that is essential that gets you out of your private, arrogant, independent sense of self that’s quite capable of doing everything quite well, without any help. And that is: Above all else, I want to see everything through Your capital V Vision. Ah. Abandoning isolation. Joining, … cooperating with an acknowledgement of, which is Your Gift to Me. Mm. Something I didn’t originate. It’s Your Gift to me. Insulting as it is, You’re asking me to let Something in that I didn’t originate, and I can’t take credit for, and You’re telling me that this might be life-changing, that this might be transformational. I’m not sure I want transformation that doesn’t occur at my hand. Thank You very much, … even if You’re Jesus. If You were really Jesus, You would show me how to do this by myself! … … You wouldn’t ask me to do something that is insulting to me. You wouldn’t ask me to do something that is demeaning to me. You wouldn’t ask me to do something that would put me in second place, subservient to something else. Ah! But this Gift to you is a Gift given to me by God to give to you. … … ‘Well that’s a very, heavy-duty convincing argument Jesus. When you put it that way, it makes it hard for me to discount it offhandedly. But I’m going to … I’m gonna … I’m going to put it off until I feel … more like … doing this thing.’ … … Now last week, … I suggested that … all of you stop thinking of yourselves … as students of A Course In Miracles … students of … the words in a book. But, you know what? … … I do want you to take the ideas … and be willing to act upon them. I do want you to take the ideas that we’re talking about right now, and act upon them, by being willing – in spite of your reluctance – in spite of your desire to continue a little longer with your independence – to risk the chance that wanting to see through – like through a pair of binoculars – through My Vision – … to risk the chance that looking at everything through My Vision, which is My Gift to you, from God, will – will annihilate sin, disease and death; … which will annihilate vulnerability; which will uncover to you your … incapacity to be hurt, harmed, damaged. … To risk the chance that … if you actually were willing to Join with Me and see through My Vision, and abandon your … autonomy, that war will end – that all kinds of inharmony will end. And that, whether it’s this piece of paper or this glass (a ping), or that sound (more pinging on a glass), it’s a Divine Event, embodying the Fullness of the Perfection of the Love that God is Be-ing – that It is an awesome Event – that will be far from dull, that will be more satisfying than the word satisfaction has ever meant to you before. … Would you like to levitate? Would you like to fly? Would you like to be able to move from one place to another instantly? And I don’t just mean from one place on your planet to another but from one place in the Infinitude of Be-ing to Another. Are any of those things … worth … abandoning your autonomy for? … … You think autonomy is synonymous with individuality – in-di-vid-ual. … … Individuality, you think, has a boundary, or it wouldn’t be Individuality. But I want you to think of it this way; here is a way you might be able to conceive of It: … If you were standing where Paul is- or if you were sitting where Paul is, and you had a view of the entire Universe, from this Position in the Universe, … that could be called an experience of Individuality. … If you were to be sitting where Michael is sitting, about five feet away from Paul, observing the whole Universe that, … would be like Individuality. And yet, all that would constitute the difference would be – for lack of better words – the perspective – the vantage point. … Individuality is not a private thing! Individuality is not a private thing. It has nothing to do with autonomy. You will not lose individuality … by abandoning the idea that you – like Paul sitting in the chair – are in the middle of a whole Universe – but not the whole Universe yourself … PAUL. I’m sorry, this is me, Paul. I lost it. Just a moment. … RAJ. My point is this: when you abandon autonomy, your individuality can become an all-inclusive, universal experience. … That’s not loss, that’s gain! … Now, this chapter is called From Perception To Knowledge. … Perception is constituted of the definitions you all have made up about everything. Perception is … what you have determined this glass is. … But what this glass is can be known. Not just perceived as this definition or that definition. ‘Oh well, it’s a pretty glass. It’s a- Actually, more popularly defined, it’s a glass mug. It’s an attractive mug, but not nearly as attractive as some I’ve seen.’ You (We) have definitions perspectives, perceptions … that have nothing to do with … the fact that this exists. And I’ll tell you something: Seen truly, it is as awesome as the glass that you would call an ugly glass. Awesome because … Its Substance is Living Love. It is Alive. It is God Expressing Himself, there. So how do you move … from a perception of a glass to the Experience of Knowing … the glass? That’s what this chapter is about. So, let’s begin. “All therapy” – Oh dear, it doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? 19:44:2 “All therapy is release from the past.” … … … “All therapy is release from the past.” … … “All therapy is release from the past.” Well that’s not quite so bad, is it? (small laugh) Because one can release the past, … by means of a simple choice. If making the choice requires encouragement, then it could be called therapy. But – “All therapy is release from the past. That is why the Holy Spirit is the only therapist. He teaches that the past does not exist, a fact which belongs to the sphere of knowledge,” – not perception – “a fact which belongs to the sphere of Knowledge, and which, therefore, no-one in the world knows.” (whispered) “-no-one in the world knows.” Mm. Makes it sound like that- faulty, false- a faulty thing that’s- that’s a world that doesn’t exist. And you know – that the past does not exist; that’s a fact that belongs to the Spirit of Knowledge, and which, therefore, “no-one in the world knows.” Well, it all depends on where- where you’re looking at the world from, … as to whether you’re in it or not. If you’re in the world, you’re in the definitions you’ve made up about the world. ‘Oh, this is a rough part of town. Oh, this is a great part of town. … The people here, you don’t have to worry about. The people here you really have to be careful about.’ … … Someone who isn’t in their definitions might be standing in both places … in his or her Peace, looking through My Vision. … Not looking as … a tiny body, little eyes – through which it looks at … the big world out there. But as the Conscious Experience of Be-ing – you might say the Mind in which all this is … being experienced: this part of town, or that part of town, or the people here, or the people there. But the thing is that when one is not identifying himself as a body, and … looking at definitions that have been created and embraced and trusted, … that one does not experience himself as being tiny. Many of you have had experiences – momentary experiences of suddenly feeling huge; not physically huge, but all-embracingly huge. And in that experience, Everything is Part of You. And Everything is … at Peace, non-threatening to you, or to Parts of Itself. … You feel … Its Perfection. And you’re not in the world, because You’re not in the definitions you’ve created about it. Now, how do you get out of the definitions you’ve created about everything. You get out of the definitions you have created about everything by inquiring of Someone Who Knows … better than you – by asking the Holy Spirit … – by asking Me – by reaching out to the Father, and asking … for Their Vision. … You have to relinquish the trust and faith you have been placing in your own best thinking, and your own best definitions, so that you might be able to get beyond them. So the Holy Spirit “teaches that the past does not exist, … a fact which belongs to the sphere of Knowledge,” – of Knowing – “and which therefore no-one in the world knows.” … No-one caught in their definitions still, knows. “It would, indeed, be impossible to be in the world with this Knowledge.” As I said, when you’ve abandoned that- … when you’ve abandoned the perceptions that you have developed, for the Experience of Knowledge, then you don’t find yourself … in the world. You don’t find yourself … in the locale where you suddenly have this experience of being huge – … and where everything is part of You. And where place – the word ‘place’ means nothing. And actually, the word ‘size’ means nothing. And you’re not in something or out of something. And You’re not here, or there. … But all of Creation still exists … is still available to you, which you will still Experience, but not as though You’re in It. “It would, indeed, be impossible to be in the world” – It would be impossible to be in your perceptions with this Knowledge; because with that Knowledge, you would have abandoned your perceptions. That’s why it would be impossible to be in that world, created or … coloured by your perceptions. “For the Mind that Knows this unequivocally, Knows also that It dwells in Eternity, and utilizes no perception at all.” – Utilizes no definitions at all; utilizes no personal, private function of the mind that reasoning and coming to conclusions and then placing faith in conclusions, and coming to a place of feeling credible and worthy and worthwhile, as an independent individuality. … “It therefore, does not consider where It is, because the concept "where" does not mean anything to It. It knows that it is everywhere.” And we could say: It knows that it isThe Everywhere, “just as It has Everything, and Forever.” Now, you can see that what I’m talking about, and what is being described here, is a movement into an experience … – not an intellectual grasping of an idea – not a development of the better perception; … but a new experience of everything that you’ve already been experiencing. … … We’re talking … about making a shift. … What? A shift in the way you sit? A shift in the way you stand? A shift in the different- in the- in a- the way you hold yourself, as you walk? No. … A shift in … the manner of the way you’re choosing to look at everything. A shift away from your own private observation, evaluation and conclusions – into an active curiosity – as I’ve said before – to see the More of What Is Here than what you’re seeing. You see, that’s why you have to say: “Above all else I wish to see.” And: “Above all else I wish to see differently.” And I want to do it the only way that is available to do it, and that is by asking Jesus, by asking the Christ … to share with me … His Vision, … because that Vision was given to Him for me, by God. Why? Why was it given to Him for me by God? Well, very simply, because it’s not your Birthright to suffer. It’s not your Birthright to not know Who You Are. It’s not your Birthright not to have available to you the incredible Ultimate of What You’re Capable of. Not what you’re capable of as a … incredible, private, human being, but What You’re Capable of because of What You Are … … What You Are – not what you were raised to think … you are. “The very real difference between perception and Knowledge” – and you know that I tend to use the word Knowing – with a capital K – more than the word Knowledge – but “The very real difference between perception and Knowledge” – or Knowing – “becomes quite apparent if you consider this: There is nothing partial about Knowledge.” … … There’s nothing partial about the Experience of Knowing. It is an Infinite Experience. It’s an all-inclusive Experience. 32:26:9 In Australia, in one of the Gatherings that we did there, we were in a large room, and the ceiling was not flat. It … it stepped up, in graduation, from a low, outer edge of the ceiling to a higher, inner portion of the ceiling. And as Paul was sitting there, and I was speaking, Paul had the experience of … the Wholeness of the room, and the Integrity – or Integratedness – of the room. And what this meant was that where he could see the … the steps moving up toward the raised, center portion of the ceiling, where those steps of plaster and material of- were, there was also open space below it … that allowed you to see the shape. And he experienced the fact that that emptiness was full – was an integral part of his experiencing the solid, stepped-up shape of the ceiling. And that the two: the emptiness and the form – complemented each other perfectly and were absolutely essential to each other. They constituted a living partnership … … … – a living partnership. It wasn’t just an arrangement of space and solids. The two,… – for lack of better words – cooperated with each other. And this was true of the exterior part of the building, and the space that went on out, to the stars, as it met the shape of the roof and the sides of the building, and formed a partnership, if you will. Everything was exquisitely engaged in a Cooperative and Conscious Act – Infinite Act … of Relationship. ... And It was Holy. It was a fleeting experience for Paul, but it has remained indelible … in his mind. And it expresses what we’re talking about here, when it comes to a shift of experience. Paul had seen buildings … as long as he could remember. So the building wasn’t something new, and the space wasn’t something new, … but, all of a sudden, it was unlike anything he had experienced before; because it was- it wasn’t inanimate matter and empty space, … having a certain relationship because somebody decided to knock together some pieces of wood and lath and plaster, and so on. No. It was an experience of the Presence of God being All There Is. Right there and Everywhere. An Experience that is available to him all the time, although he does not yet experience It. And It’s … an Experience that is available to you all the time, even though you don’t choose to experience It. You don’t choose to experience It because most of you haven’t been told often enough that there’s More to experience. But, if this chapter in this book is to mean anything to you that’s valuable, you must come to understand what- that this is what the words mea- “From Perception to Knowledge mean. Not from perception – mental definitions – to knowledge, a … a mental experience of permanent eternal facts. No. A Movement from perception – definitions of everything – to an Innocent and Fresh, ongoing willingness to look at everything without preconceptions, so that you might see the Freshness of the Movement of God in every moment, … in every thing. But again, here’s the hooker: … you can’t move from perception to Knowledge all by yourself. Perception is an alone, isolated, … on-purpose act … of independence. Knowledge – or the Experience of Knowing – only occurs in a Joined … state. 38:45:8 I want – Above all else I want – Above all else I want ... to experience- to see everything through Your – capital V –Vision, which is Your Gift to me, from God. … … Again, “The very real difference between perception and Knowledge becomes quite apparent, if you consider this: There is nothing partial about Knowledge.” That was what Paul learned in Australia, in that Gathering. “Every aspect is Whole, and therefore, no aspect is separate.” There’s not separate space and separate form. “Every aspect is whole, and therefore no aspect is separate. You are an aspect of Knowledge, Be-ing in the Mind of God Who Knows You.” Now, because that’s True, … and I’m continuing: “All knowledge must be yours,” – in other words, Knowing must be the natural State and Function and Action of your Be-ing. “All Knowledge must be yours, for in you IS all knowledge.” Why is all Knowledge in you? Because you are the State of Knowing. … There can’t be anything else in Knowing, except What Is Known! Now, “Perception at its loftiest, is never complete. Even the perception of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception can be,” – in other words, the perception of the Holy Spirit is “as perfect as perception can be” – “Even the percption of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception can be, is without meaning in Heaven.” … “Perception can reach everywhere under His Guidance, for the Vision of Christ beholds everything in Light. Yet no perception, however holy, will last forever.” Now, this is very important. “Perfect perception, then, has many elements in common with Knowledge,” – in other words, “perfect perception” can involve … the awareness of That which can be Known – “making transfer to it possible. Yet the last step must be taken by God, because the last step in your redemption, which seems to be in the future, was accomplished by God in your creation.” Now, … did that sound complicated? Let Me read it again. “Perfect perception, then, has many elements in common with Knowledge, making transfer to it possible. Yet the last step must be taken by God, because the last step in your redemption, which seems to be in the future,” – after all, you’re workin’ toward it, aren’t ya? – “which seems to be in the future, was accomplished by God … in your creation.” Way back when: “In the beginning”. (Note: first three words in the Bible) Now this really isn’t … that complicated. … … … We’re talking about shifting from perception to Knowledge. Perception … is what you engage in when you think that you're a private, autonomous little … piss-ant human being, … born of a sperm and an egg, part of the … process of evolution on planet earth, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You know. Perceptions. Definitions. Right? Perception … is what you experience when you insist upon acting private – claiming privacy. … You can have nothing else available to you expect- except the experience of perception. Perception, … therefore, … is not something that can ever become totally perfect(ed), because perception is held by something that doesn’t exist in actuality – a sense of yourself – a concept of yourself – a definition of yourself that you’ve made up – and super-imposed upon What You already Divinely Are. You- you- you’ve found in the Course many places where it says – in so many words – that God must take the last step. … (small laugh) Well, let’s put it this way: when you got a divorce from God, and said: ‘Father, I’d rather see it my way. I’d rather do it my way. Sayonara.’ – you claimed an independence that you couldn’t really ever have. And you behaved as though the independence was actual. And you stepped away from God. You stepped away from That Which … was your very Source. You stepped away from That Which … was Be-ing You – and continued to Be You – Source You – even while you were insisting on believing that you were quite independent and on your own; and doing quite well at it, and feeling really good with yourself about it. The reason that the Course says that the Father must take the last step – or that the Father will take the last step – is that at the end of the undoing of your dream – at the end of the undoing of your attempt to be something that you can’t be – you yield your so-called right to be an independent, autonomous thinker. You yield that up to God. You yield back to God. You yield back to That … Which has been all there is to you … since the beginning. That’s what it means: The last step must be taken by God. (small laugh) It might seem that it’s- the last step is being taken by God because when you arrive at the point where you take your last independent … step, and you abandon taking steps forever! – That Which has been Be-ing You forever suddenly infills you. You are reminded by the Presence of God of What You Are. And you come back into your Sanity. And so, in that sense, God takes the last step, because you’ve … stopped taking steps … on your own. And in the absence of your private self-assertion, God, Be-ing All There Is Of You, is able to become your Experience once again. And you … rediscover the meaning of the word Sanity. … “Yet, the last step must be taken by God because the last step in your redemption, which seems to be in the future, was accomplished by God in your Creation.” What was accomplished? God Be-ing You was what constituted Your Existence. … That was what was accomplished by God in Your Creation. And that was … What was never altered. And that is what will … fill you up – bless you, you might say, when you abandon taking private steps yourself, ever again. “The separation has not interrupted it.” Your fantasy never caused Reality to be interrupted, or altered. Creation cannot be interrupted. “The separation is merely a faulty formulation of Reality” – an imagination – … And oh, you’re all so good at imagining. It doesn’t take much of an event in your day to cause you to run off with wild imaginings, about what she really meant – or what she was really trying to say – in spite of what the words were that came out of her mouth. And on and on. “The separation is – or was – merely a faulty formulation of Realit- of Reality, with no effect at all.” … … But, you want to know something? In spite of the fact that it has had no real effect at all, you are suffering from the effects of it. … If you are experiencing suffering in any form, you are … experiencing your suffering from the effects of it. … … Now … … We need to take a moment to remember the great importance of the word ‘need’. … Needs ... are like a fulcrum. They are- They are a pivot-point. They are- They are a place in which sudden shifts of perception can occur. … Or they are places where you can – even through using the words of this book … – turn yourself into a cold, hard-hearted bastard – or bitch – … who self-righteously stands over and against her or her brother or sister – letting them know: ‘Well, you created your problems. … … You’re not an innocent victim. … What do you expect when you do this and this and this and this? I can show you in the Course here – I’d be glad to show you in the Course here – where- where it tells you exactly what you’ve been doing wrong. And that you can’t really expect … to have any different experience. Yes, it’s … very clear-cut, black and white. Mm hm. So don’t complain to me. You know. Get hold of your life. And, uh, hey, you know, give me a call when you’re feeling better.’ … That’s not a response to need. That’s a way to avoid being involved in … the blessing that need holds out. … … You know … spiritual teachings … – and especially the Course – are not here to help you not be bothered by suffering. … … … How can I put it? … You are here to alleviate suffering. You are here to do something about suffering. You are here to be the agent for change, which brings about correction … to suffering. You’re here to get your hands dirty! … – and become involved, by what? … Shifting from perception to Knowledge. By being willing to look into your brother’s eyes, who is suffering, … and not spew forth some … crap. Spiritual crap. Metaphysical crap. ‘Course in Miracles 8: … You are creating this for yourself.’ ‘Well, you know, you don’t even exist!’ … These are not healing answers. These are not corrective answers. These don’t indicate that a- an event has occurred – a shift from perception to Knowledge. They don’t indicate that you’ve … stood there and done what Paul and Susan are calling the two-step. Where something that happens – and the first step is that you step back – before you respond. And the second step is to ask God what needs to be known here – or to ask your Guide, or the Holy Spirit. You need to learn to do the two-step – all the time – because that’s what you’re here for. You’re here to come from Knowledge! You’re here to come from the Experience of Knowing, because that’s your Function! You’re not here to breed more and more perception. … You’re not here to father more and more perception. You’re not here to let your imagination go wild, … and tell somebody exactly why they’re suffering, and that it’s their fault, and then … tell them to do something about it and walk off! … No. You must do the two-step. … Let me ask you all something: if you go where no correction is called for, … and you go there, all day, every day, at the end of the day, what can you say you’ve contributed? And what of your purpose for Be-ing can you say that you have performed or expressed? … … Can you go to bed at night and say: ‘Well, today I got up, and … I … looked for places where need was occurring. I looked for places where suffering was occurring, … so that I might do the two-step, and bring to that situation what would end the suffering. … And did I hang in there with my brother because he’s- was worth my spending the time … to do the two-step?’ If your brother- brother’s down in the pit, you have to go down into the pit with your brother, and walk him back out. … And you may indeed go down into the pit and say: ‘I see exactly how you got yourself here. And because I see exactly how you got yourself here, I can show you the way out: It’s as simple as the way you got in.’ … That’s evidence of shifting from perception to Knowledge. … … … “Above all else, I wish to see.” “Above all else, I wish to see differently.” ‘Above all else, I wish to see everything through Your eyes – … Holy Spirit – or Your eyes, Jesus. I wish to look through Your Vision, Which is Your Gift to me. And You’re giving it to me as You’re performing Your Function, … which is Your Gift to me from God. And, you know what? I ask for it so that I might give it to my brother.’ … … Wow, no isolation there, is there? ‘I wish to see everything through Your Vision, Jesus, so that I might give it to my brother.’ That’s the answer. The whole answer is embodied in what We’ve said tonight – in what little we’ve read of this chapter tonight. … So, again, I’m encouraging all of you to get off your duffs; and to abandon intellectual, metaphysical, or spiritual pursuits. … And translate all of this that We’ve been reading – and that you’ve been studying for years – into a new Way of Be-ing that involves the practice of the two-step. It really involves the practice of everything that’s in this book. Oh, many years ago … there was a catchy little phrase, … that made its rounds: Engage in – quote – ‘random acts of kindness.’ It was a neat little thought, catchy so it would stay in your mind, and remind you that you could do spontaneous little things, random acts of kindness – not well-planned out … kind acts – but a little nod of the head, a smile at somebody, or … opening the door for somebody – or whatever might occur. (?) a random thing. Well, let- Let the two-step be a similar thing to remind you during the day. To remind you to find and see where need is occurring, so that you might be able to do the two-step and bring into play that which corrects the need, resolves the need. … … I Love You All. … And I look forward to being with You, not next Saturday, but the following Saturday. … We will skip Labor Day weekend. Note: The Gospel of John does have references like this Bible verse which are most probably the genesis of it, such as John 10:30: “I and My Father are One.” – The exact verse is Phillipians 2:5. Attachments ---------------- August 25, 2007.doc (61KB - 5 downloads) | ||
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