Commentary on ACIM Lesson 80
©2010 Rev. David Seacord
Let me recognize my problems have been solved.
How do we answer a query or request from a friend? We often say, "Not a problem", "No sweat", stuff like that. Sometimes we mean it, sometimes we don't.
What if we always did mean it, because we understood deeply what the Course is speaking to today? I get a sense that we would all be 'floating' (down the river of life) and 'flowing' a lot more than we might be right now. Personally, I gauge my state day to day by how un-hookable I am being. Or, if I am hooked, how quickly I let go.
This is all simply a function of training (which, if I can be trained to get, so can you). It only takes 'your life', meaning, making it a true priority. And then, being around someone who you can 'catch on' from. And right now, lightworkers who are grounded enough to get 'ignition' from are everywhere, it seems. This is very good, and means we live live in the 'luckiest of times'.
Yet, we all are 'needed' (meaning, our 'presense' is...). Given the magnitude of the error (of 'separation', which fills the entire world, and hemorrhages at us through every media) there is plenty of work to be done. And as the Course says, the assignments are specific. I have received a vision recently that this is all 'in the plan'..... that as thousands of saviors 'work locally' using the shade given by the planetary Voices for God, that we are being 'like overwhelming, man, to the egoic defense system' in a way similar to how our healthy immune-fighting white blood cells overwhelm an invading virus. (I say this as an analogy, as personally, I am not sure that description of scientific 'reality' is dead-on, but we do all recognize the conversation.)
Bottom line is still: All lightworkers are needed, and all need 'training'. That is why I am 'leading you through the Course'. Because it 'trains' both of us. To what? To think outside of self-centered-ness. To immediately forgive. To see others as ourselves. To 'not know', before 'being shown by God'. And above all, to trust God Absolutely. Remember Jesus, on the cross.... his cry out to God? "Why have you forsaken me?". That was the 'final death-throe rattle' of his ego. I'm not saying that to offend anyone who believes in the doxology of 'His divine perfection' where the idea of Jesus having an ego is incomprehensible... but going through the death experience does mean letting go of the body, which is the fundamental reality of an ego. What I see is: If we have a body, we have an ego. If we are 'trained' well, the possibility is it might not 'have us'.
How we demonstrate that it doesn't 'have us' is to not make up problems. That does not mean not seeing 'the problems' that others see. But it does mean seeing through them, and recognizing them as 'not a problem'. People will cancel your vote and think you live in lala-land if you simply completely deny 'their problem'. And that is not compassion, anyway. But if you can stand next to them 'in the problem' and be unaffected, they will notice that while you are being burned at the same stake they are, you are not sizzling like they are. (Whoa.... IT'S AN ANALOGY!) Anyway, the best teaching is 'by example', so the analogy holds. :-).
When the Zen teachings say "Simply say, when doubts arise, NOT TWO...", that is meant in a completely unlimited way. The temptation to egoically opt-out for 'the separation' is what we are being trained to face. It will be our graduation test too. Whatever our bogeyman is, it is going to knock on the door sometime. Whether it is going to 'be real' (or not) is up to us 'being with God' (or being without God) at that moment. Which is why "Being Present" is a moment-to-moment thing. Where was Gandhi the moment before the bullet? "Ram". The moment of the bullet? Same thing...."Ram". (For readers that this makes no sense to.... Gandhi's spiritual practice was the unending repetition of the mantra "Ram", which is a Hindu name of God.)
With God, we can face anything. Actually, we can welcome anything. Actually, we can 'be love' to anything. The purpose of a spiritual community, a training circle, being a group of ACIM students---whatever the label--- is to practice this. So that we can take our place, our 'rightful place'--- as the lesson today reveals, 'in the plan'.
We are all called to be lightworkers. And we must necessarily know 'whereof we speak'. Peace of Mind is our gift to give when we can demonstrate it. (It comes from not making up problems.) So is forgiveness, when we have learned to forgive. So is true faith, when we have that.
Obviously, it is already a demonstration of the 'reversal of the world's thinking' when the idea of not being anything but 'filled up on God' lights us up. Don't Worry. You're in the right place.
Namaste,
David
©2010 Rev. David Seacord
Let me recognize my problems have been solved.
How do we answer a query or request from a friend? We often say, "Not a problem", "No sweat", stuff like that. Sometimes we mean it, sometimes we don't.
What if we always did mean it, because we understood deeply what the Course is speaking to today? I get a sense that we would all be 'floating' (down the river of life) and 'flowing' a lot more than we might be right now. Personally, I gauge my state day to day by how un-hookable I am being. Or, if I am hooked, how quickly I let go.
This is all simply a function of training (which, if I can be trained to get, so can you). It only takes 'your life', meaning, making it a true priority. And then, being around someone who you can 'catch on' from. And right now, lightworkers who are grounded enough to get 'ignition' from are everywhere, it seems. This is very good, and means we live live in the 'luckiest of times'.
Yet, we all are 'needed' (meaning, our 'presense' is...). Given the magnitude of the error (of 'separation', which fills the entire world, and hemorrhages at us through every media) there is plenty of work to be done. And as the Course says, the assignments are specific. I have received a vision recently that this is all 'in the plan'..... that as thousands of saviors 'work locally' using the shade given by the planetary Voices for God, that we are being 'like overwhelming, man, to the egoic defense system' in a way similar to how our healthy immune-fighting white blood cells overwhelm an invading virus. (I say this as an analogy, as personally, I am not sure that description of scientific 'reality' is dead-on, but we do all recognize the conversation.)
Bottom line is still: All lightworkers are needed, and all need 'training'. That is why I am 'leading you through the Course'. Because it 'trains' both of us. To what? To think outside of self-centered-ness. To immediately forgive. To see others as ourselves. To 'not know', before 'being shown by God'. And above all, to trust God Absolutely. Remember Jesus, on the cross.... his cry out to God? "Why have you forsaken me?". That was the 'final death-throe rattle' of his ego. I'm not saying that to offend anyone who believes in the doxology of 'His divine perfection' where the idea of Jesus having an ego is incomprehensible... but going through the death experience does mean letting go of the body, which is the fundamental reality of an ego. What I see is: If we have a body, we have an ego. If we are 'trained' well, the possibility is it might not 'have us'.
How we demonstrate that it doesn't 'have us' is to not make up problems. That does not mean not seeing 'the problems' that others see. But it does mean seeing through them, and recognizing them as 'not a problem'. People will cancel your vote and think you live in lala-land if you simply completely deny 'their problem'. And that is not compassion, anyway. But if you can stand next to them 'in the problem' and be unaffected, they will notice that while you are being burned at the same stake they are, you are not sizzling like they are. (Whoa.... IT'S AN ANALOGY!) Anyway, the best teaching is 'by example', so the analogy holds. :-).
When the Zen teachings say "Simply say, when doubts arise, NOT TWO...", that is meant in a completely unlimited way. The temptation to egoically opt-out for 'the separation' is what we are being trained to face. It will be our graduation test too. Whatever our bogeyman is, it is going to knock on the door sometime. Whether it is going to 'be real' (or not) is up to us 'being with God' (or being without God) at that moment. Which is why "Being Present" is a moment-to-moment thing. Where was Gandhi the moment before the bullet? "Ram". The moment of the bullet? Same thing...."Ram". (For readers that this makes no sense to.... Gandhi's spiritual practice was the unending repetition of the mantra "Ram", which is a Hindu name of God.)
With God, we can face anything. Actually, we can welcome anything. Actually, we can 'be love' to anything. The purpose of a spiritual community, a training circle, being a group of ACIM students---whatever the label--- is to practice this. So that we can take our place, our 'rightful place'--- as the lesson today reveals, 'in the plan'.
We are all called to be lightworkers. And we must necessarily know 'whereof we speak'. Peace of Mind is our gift to give when we can demonstrate it. (It comes from not making up problems.) So is forgiveness, when we have learned to forgive. So is true faith, when we have that.
Obviously, it is already a demonstration of the 'reversal of the world's thinking' when the idea of not being anything but 'filled up on God' lights us up. Don't Worry. You're in the right place.
Namaste,
David
posted by Rev. David Seacord at
6:56 AM
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