Subject: (no subject)
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 1998 10:14 AM
jc
just a quick addition to my last
think of key 5
what i think i know
what i think i want
is this correct?
#####
Yes. We must have the Humility to let go of our previous interpretations
/beliefs /prejudices /meanings in order to be Open to the Truth.
jc
#####
we can not listen as long as we think we know what things mean
nothing i see means anything
my thoughts (the ones of which I am aware) do not mean anything.
Key 5
Must be realized before true discernment comes about. the seeing of the pairs of
opposites and the transcendent reality of love.
but the "ego" is very tricky egoism to me will immediately
jump on the bandwagon and turn these statements whether from B. or ACIM or anything else
into "I know"
K
#####
K, here is a fine point that must be understood.
Saying "Nothing I see means anything" is a fine method for engendering
humility and the willingness to "LET GO" of previous meanings/beliefs,
but what is the next step after that?
We must Stop and Look/Listen Deeply.
Then what? Do we then say "nothing I see/hear means anything" and
just throw our new found intuition away?
NO !
We must VERIFY it in our life. Only then can we develop the discrimination to
know whether it means anything or not. To always say "nothing I see means anything" without verifying which "things"
in our
consciousness are immature and which are good enough to keep (for the time being at least)
is to regress into nihilism and despair. We must work to separate the wheat from the chaff.
What this means is that we have to decide what has meaning for us, and what does not. We have to decide what to
keep and what to throw away. As we do this we develop the spiritual muscles that
we need in order to progress towards ever greater awareness.
If you see this as an ego trap then you don't understand the necessary role that
our ego is supposed to play. We are not to destroy the ego (personality); we are to
use it as a tool, as a vehicle. The ego has a valuable purpose, otherwise God would
not of gone to the extensive effort and trouble to give us one.
If every time you become aware of your ego's operation in your life you lament and
say "I'm in trouble" then you are hobbling the very tool
you need for your liberation. The attitude should be one of amusement as when one's loving pet does something
naughty. In this way we train the Red Lion.
Your ego/personality is your pet. It must be trained via loving discipline so that our
serpent energy can become a staff and assist us in our ascent up the summit of awareness.
If you beat and berate your pet (Red Lion), or if you neglect him as "meaningless", then you've crippled
yourself.
So "Nothing I see means anything" has its specific place, but it is
by no means the whole story, as I hope I've been able to point out.
jc
#####
So
nothing i see means anything
these thoughts don't mean anything
i am never upset for the reason i think
i see only the past
a bit later (you are correct i think in getting at) a meaningless world engenders
fear and God did not create a meaningless world
K
=================
K,
Thank you for honestly sharing your viewpoints. I have no desire to debate these issues with you, for I realize that
we each have our own path to follow. However, I was (and am) interested in understanding where you are
coming from.
From reading your responses, I must come to the tentative conclusion that you are
following a form of Asceticism (self denial). What you are most denying yourself, I think, is an accurate language
and set of interlinked concepts and practices that have been left for us by those masters who have
gone before. Are these languages/concepts/methods mere gimmicks? I'll let you know what I
discover, but I suspect that they are like a map leading to a mysterious and wonderful
place. The map is not the "Destination" to be sure, but it is a start - IF one is willing
to follow the clues and find out for oneself.
Asceticism is not the path for me, but I understand your viewpoint now. As you
stride out into the "desert" in search of enlightenment, my
thoughts will be with you.
JC
I got your email regarding illusion/matter I have a problem with your
conceptualization on this I said no thing you see means anything. I think you
dissected this rather well it was helpful No thing is separate the world of
separate things is illusory No thing i see means anything can be nihilistically
interpreted it s also true (fortunately or unfortunately)
Only what is present is true would you agree?
K
#####
I'm not sure what your meaning is here, K. If something is Absolutely TRUE, then it is
"present" everywhere,
whether I am consciously aware of it or not. This argument smells like the old "if a tree falls
in the Forrest, and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" argument.
So I would have to say it this way: What is True IS present, regardless of whether I'm
consciously aware of it or not. This is the difference between being lost and LOST,
the difference between being saved and SAVED.
lost, saved, judgment all relate to our limited awareness, and so does your statement "only what is present (to my
awareness) is true".
(I added the parenthetical to your statement, presuming that this is how you intended your statement to be taken. If
not then I'm sure you'll be agreeing with my words here, since in that case we're
both saying the same thing)
However since we are never LOST, are already SAVED, and JUDGMENT is God's
then that which is TRUE is EVER-PRESENT regardless of what we think, say or do.
So the proverbial tree in the forest does in fact make a noise, because God is there
o hear it! Nowhere is God not. Nowhere does Christ not dwell.
jc
#####
And I see only the past.
I see the past in everything I see
#####
Most of the time this is true, since we usually don't STOP and LOOK deeply in the
present moment. However, your statement above excludes the possibility of being in the present moment. I would
therefore quality your statement to only apply when we are not aware of the present moment.
This brings us to the terms "sensation", "percept" and
"concept".
(paraphrased from Ayn Rand's "Objectivism" )
[Start Quotations] Sensation: A sensation is produced by the automatic reaction of a sense organ to a stimulus
form the outside world; it lasts for the duration of the immediate moment, as long as the stimulus lasts and no longer.
Perception: The higher organism possess a much more potent form of consciousness: they posses
the faculty of retaining sensations, which is the faculty of "perception".
Concept: A concept is a mental integration of two or more units which are isolated by a
process of abstraction and united by a specific definition. By organizing his perceptual material into concepts, and
his concepts into wider and still wider concepts, man is able to grasp and retain,
to identify and integrate an unlimited amount of knowledge, a knowledge extending beyond the immediate
concretes of any given immediate moment.
Man retains his concepts by means of language. With the exception of proper names, every word we use is a concept
that stands for an unlimited number of concretes of a certain kind.
....The process of forming and applying concepts contains the essential pattern
of two fundamental methods of cognition: induction and deduction. The process of observing the facts of reality
and of integrating them into concepts is, in essence, a process of induction. The
process of subsuming new instances under a known concept is, in essence, a process
of deduction.
[End Quotations]
Note that "concepts" are related to language. Tarot Key 7 (The
Chariot) is related to the faculty of speech (and thought - inner speech) and represents
"Receptivity to Will" or the concept that we are vehicles
for the One Will. The implication here (I'll cut to the quick - we can discuss in more depth later if you
want) is that GOD Conceptualizes and that God uses Sound/ Vibration/ Language/
Concepts to create the Universe. When we have achieved the state shown by this Key (when we are unrestricted
vehicles for Divine Will) then our speech, our concepts, our thinking will be God's
speech, language, and thinking. So just as we judge less as our awareness grows, so
does our conceptualizing improve as our awareness expands. Like the old saying: "The more I know (the more concepts I
have) the more I know that I don't know (the less I can judge)"
As we judge less, we release subconsciousness from self-conscious domination (see explanation below) and
our awareness grows, and our conceptualizing (language) becomes more accurate - more in line with
Cosmic/Divine Will.
The implication here is not to throw away all conceptualizing (it's not wise to do so
unless you want to regress back to the primordial animal state of consciousness),
but to strive to conceptualize with ever greater accuracy as we increase our Awareness/Mindfulness.
In Tarot symbology Induction is Key 1 (The Magician - Self Consciousness attention/concentration) and deduction is
Key 2 (The High Priestess - Subconscious memory/deduction). The process of becoming involves releasing
subconsciousness from domination by Self-Consciousness (including judgmental seed thoughts) so that subconsciousness
can be a clear reflecting mirror for Super-Consciousness (The Higher Self - Christ). This
process is shown by Key 6 (The Lovers) and represents True Discrimination. (Seeing the Unity behind
the pairs of opposites, or put another way, seeing the face of the beloved behind the mask of appearances).
We release subconsciousness (Eve) from Self-Conscious (Adam) domination by not
judging, but instead Stopping and Looking without judgment. This process (I'm leaving a lot of steps and concepts out)
eventually results in our subconscious (memory or what you call "the past")
becoming a
perfectly clear reflecting mirror - reflecting Super-Consciousness. At this point
our subconsciousness is no longer reflecting "the past", but the
ETERNAL PRESENT. This sequence is shown by the 6th path of spiritual unfoldment in
the Tarot Tableau (Keys 6-13-20) resulting in the state of
"realization" shown by Key 20 (Judgment).
So to sum up, we only see in the past, so long as we have not yet achieved "realization".
jc
#####
Therefore nothing I see means anything because I have given everything I see all
the meaning it has for me.
K
#####
To put it more specifically, as long as our subconsciousness is held captive by Self-Conscious judgments, it cannot reflect
the true vision of what IS.
This means that whatever meaning IS there, is not yet accessible to us, because
we are still seeing our own shit, instead of what is REALLY THERE.
Thus a better way to phrase this phenomenon is to say:
"Nothing I see, means what I think it means, because I'm still just
looking at my own shit instead of the THING itself!"
OR like what I said in my last email:
I would use a more positively phrased sentence to capture the truth about the
world of form. I would say this:
"Fear not, for nothing I see means what I think it means."
This statement alludes to the fact that behind the illusory mask of form lies
the face of the beloved, and it acts as an encouragement to STOP and LOOK deeper.
That's all for now folks!!!
May all of our "Conceptualizing" progress forward towards ever
greater harmony with God's Will.
About "Nothing I see means anything, etc..." We had a discussion
about this awhile back. One of the characteristics of ACIM is that while it uses
common English terms, it gives them a different meaning. By redefining ones
language, one also redefines ones own THINKING! This is probably why the
material is so difficult and requires reading and re-reading. In trying to
understand the material, the person undergoes a process of transformation in
that to understand the material they undergo a transmutation of their emotional
reaction to certain terms and concepts such as sin, guilt, the meaning of what
they see and experience, etc...So the process of struggling with and digesting
the material is an integral part of how the "Course" goes to work on
YOU!
HOWEVER, this presents a very difficult problem when one then tries to help others understand the material, as other
people still have the mass-mind based understanding of the terms that you are using to mean different things.
So you have at least 3 choices:
Use the terms with the ACIM meaning, without explanation, and watch the
blank stares on people's faces as they try to understand what the heck it is
you're trying to say to them.
Use the terms with the ACIM meaning, but explain how the term's meaning
differs from how most people would define it. (probably your best bet ) and
what the implications of this teaching are.
Use terms that have a commonly understood meaning. A universal language.
I would suggest that you begin by laying out a set number of primary concepts
that ACIM teaches, then going term by term explaining what they mean. Below are
a few examples of what I mean:
TERM 1:
Nothing I see in this room (on this street, from this window, in this place)
means anything
EXPLANATION OF TERMS:
"See" (5 sense perception) : .....
"Meaning" of Perception: .....
IMPLICATION:
Does this mean that nothing means anything? If life has not meaning then why even bother?
TERM 2: I have given everything I see in this room (on this street, from this
window, in this place) all the meaning it has for me.
EXPLANATION OF TERMS:
"I..have given meaning": We create our own reality. Do we?
IMPLICATION:
Does this mean that there is no reality other than what I want to create for myself? Isn't this an example of
"relativism", where "anything
goes" ?
TERM 3:
I do not understand anything I see in this room (on this street, from this
window, in this place)
EXPLANATION:
"I do not understand anything I see": If we base our knowledge
strictly upon physical 5 sense impressions then we will not understand the
reality that is actually there, or at least we'll only understand a very small
part of what is actually there.
IMPLICATION:
If the 5 senses cannot provide us with understanding of WHAT IS, then what can? Is it possible to understand, or is it all just
a pointless exercise in
futility?
TERM 4:
These thoughts do not mean anything
EXPLANATION:
Mean anything to who? If they mean something to me, then they mean something. If
you're saying that my thoughts have no power then I must disagree with you K.
Our thoughts have tremendous power, as "thought" is just as REAL as
anything else in this universe is. So either EVERYTHING is REAL or NOTHING IS
REAL.
Implication:
If nothing is real, then why bother? Why not just play music, or watch TV. At
least these activities provide me with a degree of comfort and pleasure while
the ACIM concept just seems invite oblivion by saying that our thoughts (our
"thoughts" are what makes us real to ourselves) mean nothing.
TERM 5:
I am never upset for the reason I think. I am upset because I see something that
is not there
EXPLANATION:
Never? What am I seeing then? Could I be upset because I am seeing the
"mask" instead to the face of the beloved behind the mask?
IMPLICATION:
If you're telling us that we're always seeing what is not there AND not seeing
what really is there, then how do we get out of this conundrum?
TERM 6:
I see only the past
EXPLANATION:
"I see" . My self consciousness awareness is aware of only what is
passed to it via subconsciousness, and subconsciousness is conditioned by
patterns which give raw sense impression some organization or "meaning".
IMPLICATION:
Our interpretations of experience are conditioned by past experience. So to really see, we must purify our
subconsciousness of all erroneous patterns.
How do we do this? We must release guilt via forgiveness so that we can let go
of old patterns, while at the same time working to instill new patterns which
will enable us to "SEE" more accurately and thus make us aware of more
of the reality that is there before (and within) us.
TERM 7:
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts
EXPLANATION:
Part of the problem is that we are always holding on to the past. Past habits,
past erroneous meanings, past patterns of interpretation of what we see, etc...
IMPLICATION:
The solution is to let go of the past, so that we can BE IN THE NOW. Forgiveness
is how we can learn to let go.
TERM 8:
My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world
EXPLANATION:
If the world seems to have no meaning it is because my thinking is in error. My
past subconscious patterns of erroneous interpretation are painting a ghastly picture of unreality for myself. I'm living a
waking nightmare of my own
creation.
IMPLICATION:
We gotta wake up and smell the frickin coffee, man! How do we effect a necessary
healing of this rift between my waking nightmare and the underlying Love and
Unity of God? We can make a start by forgiving and by looking deeply without
judgment.
