Commentary on ACIM Lesson 67
©2010 Rev. David Seacord
Love created me like itself.
For the most part, my experience is that religion teaches us 'how we should be', and sometimes, 'how we could be'. To me, what spirituality is about is experiencing who we actually are. How to tell the difference? Easy. A religion is a culturally-shared 'suit of beliefs' you put on. What you put it on is your spirituality, which originally 'has no culture', and is inseparable from the Authentic You.
I know if I'm 'believing the right religion' when 'I am it' without making any effort to have it fit me. When I am Attracted (not forced by guilt etc), then I know it is useful for my spirit as a learning school. This of course, is very much unacceptable to most orthodoxy, which requires 'believers' to conform and convert to the dogmas of the faith. The reason given for this is that we must humble ourselves before God in order to be worthy of His Forgiveness, and accept that we are sinners, and ask for the mercy of being 'saved'. This is the still-existent 'old paradigm', which currently limits the thinking of the world and our ability to simply Love Each Other (no matter what). Therefore, to orthodoxy, the teachings of the Course are both heresy and non-understandable. And therefore, the Course is attacked as a false teaching by orthodox believers, who answer that all visible evidence of its soul clarity is 'the (old paradigm) work of the devil'. This must simply be accepted as lawful human karma, for every soul is absolutely free to create the environment of its choice to grow within. My very respectful 'sociological rule of thumb' (but certainly NOT 'the truth'): The more fear-based the souls karma, the more restrictive the spiritual environment (church) it will chose. It all comes down to the 'faith-created safety nest/net' needed to be willing to learn of God's Love, (which is a function of 'the woundings that must be healed').
I do not know exactly when I began to realize my religion of birth did not have acceptable-to-me answers to all my questions, but it was, I'm sure, quite early in my life. My parents were in that denominations clergy, and it is a blessing that they knew love well enough that I always knew their love for me. But they certainly did not understand why God would lead their twenty-something son around the world for years on a pilgrimage from Master to Master, and from faith to faith, from ashram to temple to guru, to seek something they believed was available in the pews of the church they raised me in.
I am very happy to report to you that they were right, and that 'it' was available. Because God is everywhere, so was (and is) His Love. While I did find God everywhere across this world and in every faith I studied/practiced, I have come to see that even within the most dogmatic rigid fundamentalistic faiths, God is there too, guiding with his Love to the degree He is Allowed. And who is to say what is 'the better way' for any particular soul? Many very 'only way' faiths carry tremendous currents of holiness which light a lot of formerly 'lost' people up. It seems that way to me, at least as long as you stay 'in the flock'. (Which you are generally encouraged to do, as I was. Unless... you began asking un-answerable questions persistently--- then you might get escorted to the door...) Anyway...... it's an old and common story ....
An amazing man named Dr. John Ray (who founded and taught a miraculous healing modality called 'Body Electronics') once said: "All beliefs are ultimately false". It is from this 'ultimate falseness of our beliefs' that our freedom to trust our direct experience arises. Do you not have the direct experience that to connect with another in Love is a rich goodness? And do you not have the opposite direct experience that to be consumed by hating another being is a poison to your being? Good, IF you are willing to trust those knowings. And, have you not also experienced that the world will often give you reversed interpretations.... saying in effect that your goodness was bad, and your poison was good? I think this comes with the territory of being alive. And this is why the Course is focused upon 'the truth is true, and the false is false'.... to 'cut through' 'the illusion' to our spiritual and mental and emotional freedoms.
Let me ask you....If this Course were to liberate you from such confusion and insanity, and were to give you a life where you became a powerful beacon of God's 'un-judging Love-without-discrimination', would you chose to serve? That is the question we actually contemplate today, as it lies under all the practices given by the lesson. God is calling both you and I to be His Teachers of Love. In all probability, we have already accepted. For our ego to realize this would be good, for once it understands there is no hope of continued existence within its delusions, it is much easier for it to relax and enjoy being Loved also.
It is not necessary to kill the ego, for it is not real in the first place. A much better way is to dissolve it with our Love, which is. This I teach, that I also might learn it is so. :-)
Namaste,
David
©2010 Rev. David Seacord
Love created me like itself.
For the most part, my experience is that religion teaches us 'how we should be', and sometimes, 'how we could be'. To me, what spirituality is about is experiencing who we actually are. How to tell the difference? Easy. A religion is a culturally-shared 'suit of beliefs' you put on. What you put it on is your spirituality, which originally 'has no culture', and is inseparable from the Authentic You.
I know if I'm 'believing the right religion' when 'I am it' without making any effort to have it fit me. When I am Attracted (not forced by guilt etc), then I know it is useful for my spirit as a learning school. This of course, is very much unacceptable to most orthodoxy, which requires 'believers' to conform and convert to the dogmas of the faith. The reason given for this is that we must humble ourselves before God in order to be worthy of His Forgiveness, and accept that we are sinners, and ask for the mercy of being 'saved'. This is the still-existent 'old paradigm', which currently limits the thinking of the world and our ability to simply Love Each Other (no matter what). Therefore, to orthodoxy, the teachings of the Course are both heresy and non-understandable. And therefore, the Course is attacked as a false teaching by orthodox believers, who answer that all visible evidence of its soul clarity is 'the (old paradigm) work of the devil'. This must simply be accepted as lawful human karma, for every soul is absolutely free to create the environment of its choice to grow within. My very respectful 'sociological rule of thumb' (but certainly NOT 'the truth'): The more fear-based the souls karma, the more restrictive the spiritual environment (church) it will chose. It all comes down to the 'faith-created safety nest/net' needed to be willing to learn of God's Love, (which is a function of 'the woundings that must be healed').
I do not know exactly when I began to realize my religion of birth did not have acceptable-to-me answers to all my questions, but it was, I'm sure, quite early in my life. My parents were in that denominations clergy, and it is a blessing that they knew love well enough that I always knew their love for me. But they certainly did not understand why God would lead their twenty-something son around the world for years on a pilgrimage from Master to Master, and from faith to faith, from ashram to temple to guru, to seek something they believed was available in the pews of the church they raised me in.
I am very happy to report to you that they were right, and that 'it' was available. Because God is everywhere, so was (and is) His Love. While I did find God everywhere across this world and in every faith I studied/practiced, I have come to see that even within the most dogmatic rigid fundamentalistic faiths, God is there too, guiding with his Love to the degree He is Allowed. And who is to say what is 'the better way' for any particular soul? Many very 'only way' faiths carry tremendous currents of holiness which light a lot of formerly 'lost' people up. It seems that way to me, at least as long as you stay 'in the flock'. (Which you are generally encouraged to do, as I was. Unless... you began asking un-answerable questions persistently--- then you might get escorted to the door...) Anyway...... it's an old and common story ....
An amazing man named Dr. John Ray (who founded and taught a miraculous healing modality called 'Body Electronics') once said: "All beliefs are ultimately false". It is from this 'ultimate falseness of our beliefs' that our freedom to trust our direct experience arises. Do you not have the direct experience that to connect with another in Love is a rich goodness? And do you not have the opposite direct experience that to be consumed by hating another being is a poison to your being? Good, IF you are willing to trust those knowings. And, have you not also experienced that the world will often give you reversed interpretations.... saying in effect that your goodness was bad, and your poison was good? I think this comes with the territory of being alive. And this is why the Course is focused upon 'the truth is true, and the false is false'.... to 'cut through' 'the illusion' to our spiritual and mental and emotional freedoms.
Let me ask you....If this Course were to liberate you from such confusion and insanity, and were to give you a life where you became a powerful beacon of God's 'un-judging Love-without-discrimination', would you chose to serve? That is the question we actually contemplate today, as it lies under all the practices given by the lesson. God is calling both you and I to be His Teachers of Love. In all probability, we have already accepted. For our ego to realize this would be good, for once it understands there is no hope of continued existence within its delusions, it is much easier for it to relax and enjoy being Loved also.
It is not necessary to kill the ego, for it is not real in the first place. A much better way is to dissolve it with our Love, which is. This I teach, that I also might learn it is so. :-)
Namaste,
David
posted by Rev. David Seacord at
8:05 AM
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