Greg Mackie's Blog Archive August 2005

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August 28, 2005

One question Course students often ask is this one: Who is the "you" the Course addresses itself to? When the Course says that "you" should listen to the Holy Spirit instead of the ego, to whom is it referring? One reason this question comes up is that it seems there are only two things to which "you" could refer: 1) your true Self, the Christ, Who already knows the truth and doesn't need to be taught, or 2) the ego, which cannot learn the truth and has no incentive to do so anyway. Who, then, is the "you" who doesn't know the truth, can learn it, and does have a genuine incentive to learn it? Are "you" some sort of third entity?

Robert addresses this question in a definition from his Glossary of Terms from 'A Course in Miracles.' Here is his definition of "you" as the Course uses the term:

The person the Course addresses itself to. A sleeping Son of God, who remains in Heaven, part of the Christ and at one with God, yet who dreams that he is an ego, a frail, sinful human being living in a body in the world of space and time. The tiny part of your total identity that is asleep and needs redemption, that has a separated or split mind, that thinks private thoughts, experiences painful emotions, and can choose…between the ego and the Holy Spirit. Not the ego, for the ego is only an idea in your mind, a self-concept you have mistaken for yourself. It is not real and cannot be redeemed. Not the Christ, strictly speaking, for the Christ cannot fall asleep. However, since in Heaven part and whole are one, the part of you that is asleep and dreaming is one with your entire Self, the Christ. It is already perfect and redeemed. See T-6.IV.6.

To sort things out in light of our question about who "you" are, here is a quick summary of the options this definition lays out:

  1. The Christ. This is your true Identity, for Whom the Holy Spirit speaks. When you turn to the Holy Spirit, He tells you, "Christ is your true Identity."
  2. A sleeping Son of God in Heaven. This is the "you" the Course addresses. Your true Identity is actually the Christ, but because you have fallen asleep and are dreaming, you now believe your identity is the ego. But you can change this belief by choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit instead of the ego.
  3. The ego. This is an idea in your mind, a false idea of your identity. When you turn to it, it tells you, "I, the ego, am your true identity."

Notice that even though there are three options listed here, "you" are not really a third entity. The Christ is actually the only real entity in all this. The ego is not an entity at all, but just a belief you have about yourself. And "you," the one who has this belief, are the Christ as you have always been, but you are currently in a state of mind in which you falsely believe you're the ego.

This may sound confusing, but a good way to make sense of it is to use the analogy of a person with amnesia who now thinks he's someone else. Let's say I've forgotten who I am and now think I'm Napoleon. In that case, the situation would look just like my list above. Here are the options:

  1. Greg. This is my true identity. The doctors and friends and family who know this are like the Holy Spirit. They're telling me, "You're not Napoleon. You're really Greg."
  2. Me in my current amnesiac state. My true identity is actually Greg, but because I have amnesia and a delusion, I now believe my identity is Napoleon. But (assuming this particular amnesia is curable) I can change this belief by choosing to listen to my doctors and friends and family instead of the delusional thought in my head that says I'm Napoleon.
  3. Napoleon. This is simply a delusional thought in my head, a false idea of my identity, just as the ego is. When I turn to it, it tells me, "You're Napoleon."

In our eyes, a guy who thinks he's Napoleon is crazy, but in the Course's eyes, we're all just as crazy. Each of us is a holy Son of God who has forgotten who he is and is now convinced that he's Bob or Jane or Joe or Sue. Each of us is the "you" the Course addresses. We don't know the truth now, but we can learn it, and we have every incentive in the world to do so. With the Holy Spirit's help, each of us has the power to answer the Course's call and remember who we really are. Respond to this post

August 23, 2005

I experience more fear in the course of a typical day than I like to admit, even to myself. Now, I don't feel abject terror, and my fear usually isn't of anything in particular. Rather, it is something like what the psychologists call "free-floating anxiety," low-grade nervousness that isn't attached to any particular thing or situation. It's not a pleasant feeling, and I would love to be free of it. But how can I undo this fear?

There is a line from the Course that suggests a solution I never would have thought of on my own. The line, from the Text section entitled "The Message of the Crucifixion" (T-6.I) is a simple chain of logic that goes like this:

Projection means anger, anger fosters assault, and assault promotes fear. (T-6.I.3:3)

What does this line mean? Based on material from the surrounding paragraphs and from elsewhere in the Course, I think it is basically saying this:

This chain completely reverses the way we usually look at fear. Normally, we think we feel afraid because someone or something is attacking us (or is at least threatening to attack us). But we really feel afraid because we are attacking them. Our projection of blame for separation, the anger that follows from that projection, and the assault that follows from that anger are all attacks on another person for something that is really our doing. We ourselves are solely responsible for any feelings of separation we may have. But we choose to blame and attack others for "causing" those feelings, and this attack is what causes our fear. Even if we consciously deny that we've attacked, deep down we know what we've done, and so we walk around in trepidation-waiting for the inevitable counterattack, waiting for the one we attacked to take his sweet revenge, waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for God's justice (or the law of karma) to even the score.

So, the solution to my fear problem is simple, if not always easy: if I want my fear to go, I must give up all attack. I must stop blaming others for my feelings, stop getting angry at them for what they've "done to me," and stop assaulting them, whatever form my assault takes. Another challenging Course passage reinforces this point:

Safety is the complete relinquishment of attack. No compromise is possible in this. Teach attack in any form and you have learned it, and it will hurt you. Yet this learning is not immortal, and you can unlearn it by not teaching it. (T-6.III.3:7-10)

That last line is very reassuring: the painful learning my attacks have brought me is not immortal, and so I can unlearn it. I may not be able to completely relinquish attack overnight, but with the Holy Spirit's help and the magnificent program of practice Jesus has provided in the Course, success is guaranteed in the end. When I finally give up attack, my mind will no longer be afraid, because "the protection of God [will dawn] upon it, assuring it that it is perfectly safe forever" (T-6.III.3:3). I will know deep in my heart-as all of us will when we abandon attack and embrace God's protection-that there is truly nothing to fear. Respond to this post

August 14, 2005

Those of us who started the Workbook on January 1 of this year are now in Part II. In Part II, we are to spend our morning and evening meditations and our hourly practice periods quietly waiting for God our Father to reveal Himself to us as He has promised. "So our times with Him will now be spent" (W-pII.In.4:5).

I don't know about you, but I don't always feel the Presence of God when I do these meditations. Some of my sessions are real duds. At times, I've caught myself thinking that I'm just not a very good meditator and these promised meetings with God just aren't going to happen. But today, something shifted. I remembered how many times the Workbook encourages us to practice with confidence, confidence that our practice really will produce the results we desire. For example:

We will…try to understand that only what God would have us do is what we want to do. And we will also try to remember that we cannot fail in doing what He would have us do. There is every reason to feel confident that we will succeed today. It is the Will of God. (W-pI.45.5:1-4)
We will try actually to hear God's Voice reminding you of Him and of your Self. We will approach this happiest and holiest of thoughts with confidence, knowing that in doing so we are joining our will with the Will of God. He wants you to hear His Voice. He gave It to you to be heard. (W-pI.49.3:2-5)
Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard you and answered you. You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed be sure that it is given you and you will yet receive it. Try, as you attempt to go through the clouds to the light, to hold this confidence in your mind. Try to remember that you are at last joining your will to God's. Try to keep the thought clearly in mind that what you undertake with God must succeed. Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and yours be done. (W-pI.69.8:1-6)

In all of these examples, we can feel confident we will succeed because it is God's Will that we do so, it is also our true will that we do so, and whatever we will with God must succeed. The introduction to Part II of the Workbook speaks in much the same vein:

We know that You will not forget us now. We ask but that Your ancient promises be kept which are Your Will to keep. We will with You in asking this. The Father and the Son, Whose holy Will created all that is, can fail in nothing. In this certainty, we undertake these last few steps to You, and rest in confidence upon Your Love, which will not fail the Son who calls to You. (W-pII.In.7:4-8)

So, I tried to actively bring this confidence into my practice periods today. As I entered each one, I said to myself, "I am confident that I really will feel God's Presence in this meditation. It is His Will and mine that I do so. I cannot fail." And you know what? It really made a difference. My meditations went deeper than usual, and I really did feel God's Presence, at least more than I normally do. I can't say that I had any mind-blowing enlightenment experiences, but I can say that I felt genuine peace and a sense of connection with my Father.

Bringing an attitude of confidence into my practices has really worked wonders for me today. If you've been struggling with meditations that don't seem to be working very well, I recommend giving this a try. Respond to this post

August 11, 2005

Here at the Circle, we recently published a revised and expanded version of Robert Perry's Course glossary, retitled Glossary of Terms from 'A Course in Miracles': Nearly 200 Definitions to Help You Take an Active Role in Your Study of the Course. I was poking around in it the other day, and was drawn to the definition of "justice":

Root meaning: A principle of fairness which says that everyone should receive only what they deserve. This must be assessed based on an impartial account of how well they have conformed to the law. Conventional: A principle separate from love which punishes sinners for their crimes, taking vengeance on them. A process of deciding who is the guilty one and taking from him to give back to the innocent. ACIM: A principle which gives love and forgiveness to everyone with complete impartiality and without limit, which gives no punishment and asks no penalty. This is true fairness because no one has broken God's laws. Everyone is still the Son of God, still innocent. Thus, the miracle is everyone's just due….The world's justice is really injustice. It is simply a justification for attack, and all attack is unjust. It also makes us believe that God's Love is separate from His justice, which makes Him seem fearful….See T-25.VIII-IX, M-19.

We can boil this down to two major points:

  1. The principle of justice says people should get what they deserve according how well they obey the law.
  2. Since no one has really broken God's laws, the principle of justice says everyone deserves only love, not punishment.

What fascinates me about this definition is the logical implication that flows from it: if we really did break God's laws-if we really, truly sinned-we really would deserve punishment, because justice would demand it. The Course itself unequivocally makes this very point:

If sin is real, then punishment is just and cannot be escaped….The sinful warrant only death and pain….Pain is the cost of sin, and suffering can never be escaped, if sin is real. (W-pI.101.2:1, 4; 3:2)

Strikingly, there is a sense in which the Course is actually in accord with those who promote vengeful "eye for an eye" justice. It concurs with them that if a real crime has taken place, it must be punished-even with the death penalty, if the crime is severe enough. The Course ultimately disagrees with vengeful justice, but its rationale for that disagreement is not that crime shouldn't be punished, but rather that there is no real crime.

It seems to me that this is the exact opposite of the approach generally used by people who advocate a kinder, gentler approach to criminals (a cause I certainly support). Usually, people in this camp will say, in essence, "Well, the crime is definitely real, but civilized people should be humane and show love and mercy to the criminal in spite of his guilt." The Course turns this completely around. It says, in essence, "If the crime is real, then justice requires us to punish the criminal severely. Fortunately, the crime is not real, so justice actually requires us to show love and mercy-not in order to be civilized and humane, but because that's exactly what this innocent person deserves."

Intriguing, isn't it? The conclusion I draw from this is that however much we may want a kinder, gentler approach to criminals, it probably isn't going to happen to any significant degree until people begin to seriously question the reality of crime, which ultimately means questioning the reality of the entire world in which crime takes place. We can certainly reform the system to a certain degree without this questioning, and I think any step in the direction of love is a good thing. But as long as we believe that sin is real, it will be difficult for reform to really stick, because that principle of justice within us will kick in and demand punishment regardless of how much we want to be more "civilized." There will always be a tension in our minds between our sense of justice and our desire to love. Only when we really let go of the idea that sin is real will the tension be resolved, as we see that justice and love are one and the same: loving and forgiving the "sinner" is the only thing that is truly just. Respond to this post

August 4, 2005

For those who began the Workbook with Lesson 1 on January 1, today's lesson is Lesson 216, the review of Lesson 196, "It can be but myself I crucify." Since many people are reviewing this lesson today, I thought it might be helpful to share a guided meditation I did for the Circle's Workbook class. You can read this meditation to yourself and do what it guides you to do as you read, or you can read it onto a cassette tape and then use the tape to guide you. I would strongly recommend reading Lesson 196 before doing this meditation, since it provides the theoretical background. I hope you find this meditation a rewarding experience.

Lesson 196 Guided Meditation

Think of a time recently when you attacked another person.

Perhaps it is someone you actually attacked in person, verbally or physically.

Perhaps it is someone with whom you are angry,

against whom you hold a grievance.

Get in touch with your feelings toward this person.

Your attack on this person reflects your belief

that you can attack others and remain free yourself.

This belief has nailed you to a cross.

Deep down, your attack on this person

has made you fearful of a murderer outside you.

You are afraid of the world's attacks upon you,

the world's retaliation for your attack.

You are afraid of God's vengeance and punishment,

which takes the form of the world's attacks on you.

You're constantly looking over your shoulder,

waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Get in touch with this feeling.

The truth, though, is that you cannot actually attack others.

When you try to do so, you only crucify yourself.

As scary as this sounds, this is good news.

Because you haven't really hurt the world,

you need not fear its vengeance and pursuit.

You need not fear God,

because He is not angry and is not trying to punish you.

Only you are doing this to yourself.

This, however, leads to another fear that must be faced.

Since you are doing this to yourself,

you fear a murderer within you,

eager for your death, intent on plotting punishment for you

until the time when it can kill you at last.

You fear that there is a monster in you

with its hands clutching your throat.

As calmly as you can, get in touch with the terror you feel.

See if you can find this murderous impulse within you.

To help you do this calmly,

remind yourself that this murderer is pure illusion.

There is nothing to fear here, really. It is totally unreal.

Seeing the murderer within is also good news,

because this is the instant in which salvation comes.

Salvation comes because fear of God has disappeared,

and so you can call on Him.

You can call on Him to save you from illusions by His Love,

calling Him Father and yourself His Son.

Do this now.

Call upon your loving Father to shine this illusory murderer away.

Let Him reveal to you the innocent Son of God you really are.

Step back from fear, and make advance to love.

There are no obstacles that still remain

between you and the holy peace of God.

Bask in the everlasting Love of God.

Let it wash dark illusions away and reveal your shining purity.

How kind and merciful is the idea we practice!

Give it welcome, as you should, for it is your release.

It is indeed but you your mind can try to crucify.

Yet your redemption, too, will come from you.

It has come to you, with God's Help.

Thank your Father now for the precious gift of salvation.

Amen. Respond to this post

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