Greg Mackie's Blog Archive April 2006
April 19, 2006
Yesterday I worked with Workbook Lesson 108, "To give and to receive are one in truth." The lesson assures us that "to learn that giving and receiving are the same...can be tried so easily and seen as true" (W-pI.108.6:1). It then gives us a practice in which we actually try giving the gifts of God to our brothers in our minds, in order to see for ourselves whether we receive them. Here are the practice instructions:
So we begin the practice periods with the instruction for today, and say:
To give and to receive are one in truth.
I will receive what I am giving now.
Then close your eyes, and for five minutes [or as long as you like] think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours. You might, for instance, say:
To everyone I offer quietness.
To everyone I offer peace of mind.<<br/> To everyone I offer gentleness.
Say each one slowly and then pause a while, expecting to receive the gift you gave. And it will come to you in the amount in which you gave it. You will find you have exact return, for that is what you asked. It might be helpful, too, to think of one to whom to give your gifts. He represents the others, and through him you give to all. (W-pI.108.8:1-9:5)
What always amazes me is that every time I do this practice, I really get the results Jesus promises. I spent my day yesterday extending gifts of God to everyone I thought of or encountered: my wife, my family, my friends, the clerks at the post office, the person I had an argument with earlier, drivers who didn't use their turn signals, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden-everybody. Without fail, when I extended peace, love, joy and other spiritual gifts to them, I felt these very things welling up in my heart. It really works! But don't just take my word for it-why not give it a try? Respond to this post
April 9, 2006
The first section of Chapter 9 of the Text, "The Acceptance of Reality," speaks of how we fear God's Will because we think it is different from our own will. Included in this section is a fascinating discussion of two forms our illusory conflict with God's Will can take: atheism and martyrdom. The Urtext version of this discussion is especially thought provoking:
No mind can believe that its will is stronger than God's. If, then, a mind believes that its will is different from His, it can only decide either that there is no God, or that God's Will is fearful. The former accounts for the atheist, and the latter for the martyr. Martyrdom takes many forms, the category including all doctrines which hold that God demands sacrifices of any kind. Either basic type of insane decision will induce panic, because the atheist believes he is alone, and the martyr believes that God is crucifying him. Both really fear both abandonment and retaliation, but the former is more reactive against abandonment and the latter against retaliation. The atheist maintains that God has left him, but he [the atheist] does not care. He will, however, become very fearful, and hence very angry, if anyone suggests that God has not left him. The martyr, on the other hand, is more aware of guilt, and believing that punishment is inevitable, attempts to teach himself to like it.
The truth is, very simply, that no-one wants either abandonment or retaliation. Many people seek both, but it is still true that they do not want it. (Urtext version of T-9.I.8:1-5)
Here we see two options available to us if we believe that our will is different than God's. First, we have the atheist. On the surface, she says there is no God--her own will is the only game in town. Beneath the surface, though, the atheist does believe in God, but believes that God has abandoned her. She claims not to care about this--she may even exultantly proclaim that "God is dead"--but she is really terrified of being all alone. Beneath this terror, though, lies yet another terror: the fear that God has not abandoned her and is poised to retaliate against her for her "sins." This is why the militant atheist gets angry at anyone who suggests that God actually exists. Methinks she doth protest too much.
Second, we have the martyr. On the surface, he says he loves God and gladly sacrifices himself for the sake of doing God's Will. Beneath the surface, though (or perhaps on the surface, right next to his joyful sacrifice), the martyr is terrified of God's retaliation for the "sins" he's sure he has committed. Beneath this terror, though, lies yet another terror: the fear that God will abandon him. He'd rather have a punishing God than no God at all. This is why he convinces himself to like God's punishment. He says with Job, "Though [God] slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15). Like an abused spouse, he fears being left all alone and clings to the abuser. Like the fraternity pledges being paddled in Animal House, he says, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"
All of this is totally nuts. Though we ask for abandonment and retaliation as long as we identify with the ego, no one really wants these things, because both are against the will we share with God. The good news is that in the end, all of us will recognize that our will and God's are the same. When we recognize this, we will ask only for what we really want--the limitless Love of God:
Ultimately everyone must remember the Will of God, because ultimately everyone must recognize himself. This recognition is the recognition that his will and God's are one. In the presence of truth, there are no unbelievers [atheists] and no sacrifices [martyrs]....God is Love and you do want Him. This is your will. Ask for this and you will be answered, because you will be asking only for what belongs to you. (T-9.I.9:1-3, 7-9) Respond to this post
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