Allan Ramsay
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Carly Simon sang, “You're So Vain.” Was she talking about me…or you?

10/28/2015

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Dictionary.com defines Vain:
excessively proud of or concerned about one's own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited. 

Hmmm. Seems to me being judgmental goes hand in hand with vanity. To be vain one must be judgmental about one's self (and others). How else could one be “excessively proud” about one's self? 

Judgment is one of the topics I got from today's Lesson 301. In fact, the Lesson triggered the following thoughts as I meditated on it.

Father, unless I judge I cannot weep. Nor can I suffer pain or feel I am abandoned and unneeded in the world.
When I judge the world I perceive, I may weep because my perception is faulty. I perceive a dream.

This is my home because I judge it not. And therefore is it only what You will. 
When I “see” this world without judgment, I see God's Will. His Love.

Let me today behold it uncondemned through happy eyes forgiveness has released from all distortion. Let me see Your world instead of mine. And all the tears I shed will be forgotten, for their source is gone. 
I can (must) choose again to see God's world. His Will. My body's eyes cannot do that, but my Mind can.

Father, I will not judge Your world today.
I choose to judge nothing, and especially God's Holy creation.

Lately, I've been wearing the T-shirt you see above. When I wear it I am constantly reminded that judgments; placing expectations on people, events and situations; making demands on people and the world around me; and, living in illusion—that none of those are what I wish to do. When I wear the T-shirt out in public, I imagine maybe a person will read the words and think about them as well.

Crazy? Might be. But in my novel, Computing Love, those four ideas are key to the development of the story's main characters. In fact, Kyle Williams learns in one scene how dispensing with those behaviors opens a clear channel to the Holy Spirit, which he calls his Teacher, Voice for God and Right Mind at various times.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 35 that recounts a meditative experience Kyle had when he reached the “Oneness,” which is the term he uses to mean God's Real World, or Heaven. 

                                                                    •   •   •

During the next morning's meditation―the longest of the day on most days―Kyle found himself in a state of mind, a mental “place” of stillness and peace that had become familiar. In that “place” he  imagined the Oneness as a  blanket of Love that enfolded everything God had created. Perhaps only the tiniest corner of the blanket touched him―or even just a single thread—to bring him to that “place” he knew as the Oneness.

He opened his eyes and the feeling of being in the Oneness persisted. He walked to the edge of the lake and half way around it, mindfully aware of each footstep and of each thought that slipped into his awareness from his Right Mind. Forgiveness empowers us while we're here. It isn't needed and doesn't exist in the Oneness. There, it's impossible there would be anything to forgive. But for a while, during your dream, forgiveness is the foundation that leads to true Vision, Knowledge and Love.

That wisdom settled into his mind as he pondered how forgiveness could be restored to the world. His Right Mind spoke with its always subtle voice. Forgiveness is silent and does nothing but choose to ignore the illusions of the ego. It restores the Peace you were given when you were created apart from time. It allows Love to reappear, while all thoughts of conflict and fear fade away. Forgiveness brings a new light to the world. The light of Love.

An image coalesced in Kyle's mind. He saw, in his mind's eye, an image of the planet; a rotating globe spinning slowly in the blackness of space. He saw himself as a giant, standing on its surface with each foot on a different continent. Yet as he looked at himself he noticed the image appeared almost plastic, an unreal likeness of a man; a cartoonish mimicry. A man who was living his life on a fabricated, false, unreal and rather comical stage. He saw he was an imaginary character on an imaginary world. 

He recognized his gigantic body monstrously straddling continents and oceans, and thought he might be visible from thousands of miles away in space because he was so huge. Yet that gigantic body standing on the earth was but a silly dream that meant nothing and had no reality. Kyle stared at that image. From the giant's vantage point a thousand miles above the planet, that mimicry of Kyle looked down upon a world blanketed in pockets of war with bombs falling, people dying. He saw fear in every corner. And he knew that when he no longer judged the world he saw, all those false perceptions would fade to nothingness.

He knew his Right Mind had given him the image. He knew it would become a permanent memory, an understanding that would never fade away. An image he could recall vividly for the rest of his life. A memory that would remind him, no matter what might seem to be happening, that he―Kyle, the individual―was nothing more than a construct.
 

He thought: I, Kyle, am a joke. A joke my ego played on me. My life isn't real. I'm not real. The world I perceive isn't real. Thank you for showing me this image.

His awareness rested on the image. This person I've always thought I am…it's a fabrication. That cartoon man is just a dream body thinking certain things matter. Nothing matters! Nothing he thinks or believes is real. He goes about his life with fears and worries and loves and hates. With preferences and attitudes and beliefs and perspectives that sometimes seem so profound and deep. None of that is real. He's a puppet of the ego. He looks so huge, standing on the planet with each foot on a different continent. How silly. How insane.

The image faded from his mind and Kyle knew he would be able to recall it any time his ego tried to make something seem important. Any time he felt put upon. Any time he was tempted to judge another person or event. Any time his ego tried to take the upper hand in his thinking. Thank you, Voice for God, for showing me this dream!

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How Weird Is This? We Must Kill to Survive.

10/23/2015

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In meditating on Lesson 296 “The Holy Spirit speaks through me today,” a sentence jumped out at me:

“I would be savior to the world I made.”

In meditation, for a moment, I thought this: The world I made as I dream in the ego mind is one that's horrible in so many ways. The world I made is filled with wars. Terror. Fear. Hate. Anger. Conflict. But it gets even more insane.

I mean, just in order to survive we need to kill other living things. Cows, pigs, fish, even plants—all to keep our little bodies alive. Our bodies can't last more than a couple weeks unless we kill something so we can eat it. How barbaric is that? With all God gave us in our creation, couldn't we have done a better job of making a universe and a world? Of course! We could have made a universe where nothing needs to be killed simply to sustain our insignificant bodies. We could have created a universe powered by love.

Think about it. When God extended Himself to create the Sonship, He endowed us with All He Is. We are a “part” of God, created in His image of love. So why, with all that God gave us, did we create such a world? 

But then came the next sentence of the Lesson.

“For having damned it [the world], I would set it free that I may find escape and hear the Word Your holy Voice will speak to me today.”

Ah, yes. I have damned it. Blamed it. I've pointed out how insane it is. I've wondered why, and how, we chose to make it so terror-filled. I listed all the flaws it has.

But all those thoughts are of my ego. I can choose to see the world from my ego, and when I do, I see the horrors. But I can set it free and find escape and hear the Word the Holy Spirit speaks through me today.

For me, that's the lesson of Lesson 296. As the Course constantly teaches, I can choose to see the Real World. The Lesson concludes with this:

“We teach today what we would learn and that alone. And so our learning goal becomes an unconflicted one and possible of easy reach and quick accomplishment. How gladly does the Holy Spirit come to rescue us from hell when we allow His teaching to persuade the world through us to seek and find the easy path to God!”

And so…once again, I choose the Voice for God. Thank you for this reminder.





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How to Find the Stillness through Breathing

10/20/2015

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The study of A Course in Miracles is a study like no other. For me, it requires reaching a deep stillness of mind so I can truly absorb its teaching. Then, as learning each new idea the Course presents becomes less important, I find I need an even deeper stillness that opens me for a direct experience to hear the Voice for God.

A few years ago I spent time at a Buddhist center in Florida. One of the teachers there introduced me to a way for reaching deep states of stillness. It's known as Yoga Nidra. I'd like to share the meditative aspect of it with you in the event you find it helpful for reaching deep  stillness as you meditate on the Course lessons.

The teacher was a cool guy who went by the nickname “CK.” While the principal guru, Amrit Desai, "Gurudev," dressed in white, as did most of his followers, CK (short for Chandrakant) dressed in black. I don't know why, but of course it doesn't matter.
​
Here's what he taught me that has helped me reach deep levels of meditation, which in turn helps me better KNOW the lessons of the Course.

This is about a breathing technique. After you've found a comfortable position, sitting or lying down, do this:
  • Take a breath in through your nose. When your lungs are comfortably full, hold that breath for a count of three to five seconds. Don't hold it so long it becomes uncomfortable. Just hold it until you're moved to release it. You don't really need to “count” three to five seconds. You might use your heartbeats to count…or you might simply let the pause happen on its own. Simply let your inhale hold itself for a moment. 
  • As you release that breath, let it go through pursed lips. Imagine you are exhaling through a straw that restricts your out-flowing breath just a bit. A straw, or your pursed lips, restrict the speed of your exhale. Let it out slowly, through your lips. Maybe it takes ten or twelve seconds to exhale.
  • Then, at the end of that exhale, simply relax before beginning the next inhale. Relax for a count of three to five, and don't inhale again during that count. Relax after you've exhaled in a way that feels comfortable. Again, there's no need to count. Relax into allowing yourself to sit at the “bottom” of your breath once the air is expelled from your lungs. No hurry. No pressure. Just be with the stillness of sitting without breathing for a moment.
  • You'll find that your body is perfectly oxygenated. The little pauses at the top and bottom of each breath won't leave you feeling short of breath. Practice this technique of breathing in and out with a pause at the top and bottom of each breath for a few cycles. Let it happen.
  • As you repeat this process, you may notice the pause at the end of the inhale, and especially the pause when you've finished exhaling, brings you to a state of stillness. A state of “no mind.” A quietness. Those three to five second pauses create a “space” where the mind rests without chattering.
  • Just relax and notice the stillness at the top and bottom of breathing. Notice how the chatter stops. You won't need to think about it. You'll simply experience a stillness, a quietness of mind. 

As you continue this breathing technique you may find the “no mind” state begins to expand. Just let it happen as it will.

I don't know why this works; why I find myself in stillness at the top of each inhale and the bottom of each exhale. I haven't tried to figure it out. It works. That's all I need to know. 

This breathing practice brings me to the state of mind Lesson 189, paragraph 7, asks us to find. Or, as Kathryn, our Monday night ACIM study group leader said, it's the state of a newborn who knows not who he or she is; knows nothing. Is open. A blank slate.

It's a perfect place to let the Voice for God and God Himself enter.

I hope you find this helpful.
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Peace and Love, my friends.

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