THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

June 7, 2009 at 10:05 pm (Uncategorized)
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“God breaks no barriers; neither did He make them. When you release them they are gone. God will not fail nor ever has in anything. Decide that God is right and you are wrong about yourself.” 

 From A Course in Miracles

I could not wait to share the above quotation with you when I experienced the freedom that came with accepting it as true if only for a moment.

To decide that we are wrong about ourselves is not as easy as it may seem. We are very enamored of our character in the dream– that one that bears our name.

 In ACIM Jesus tells us we must deny the denial of truth since the truth is already present and available. Awareness of it is blocked only by our belief in the world and the body– the denials of truth. Neither exist according to A Course in Miracles.

You can see why there is so much resistance to doing this Course and following a Teacher that points us out of the dream. Shall we continue?

Yesterday, while taking a walk in the park, I was inquiring into a specific matter that was keeping me quite involved in the dreaming of the world.  As anyone who believes they are actually living here in the world I was also following the ego’s plan for solution. Blame somebody. Anybody. 

Just then my right mind kicked in, and I was wisked off the battleground. This is not something I can take any credit for other than having devoloped some willingness over the years to be mistaken about everything I think I know about any given situation. It has take time to learn that all problems are the same problem.

From above the battleground I could look back at the dream without any investment in the outcome. This looking without judgment at the dream is forgiveness. We obviously cannot forgive from within the dream. The ego, who wants to be special,  does not forgive. It can however pretend to for the sake of its self image.

A few things became  clear to me as I looked back from outside the dream.

First,  all relationships, are opportunities to get over ourselves. This includes the ones we think we  hate and the ones we think we love. Either one can be used to strengthen our image in the dream. Our self concept, good or bad, kind or mean, loving or unloving , is what the ego is. When we are identified with it we are asleep and following the ego’s plan.

From the ego’s point of view everyone is used to build our self concept. The purpose of special relationships, be they hate or  love, is to keep us preoccupied with our self image be it one of pain and suffering or one of pleasure and self congratulation. What gives value to the dream and its dream figures is our self concept, aka specialness.  

Our special relationships– those that exist between two bodies– are the means that the Course in Miracles has given us for our awakening so we ought to pay attention to them. Said more accurately we ought to pay attention to how we use our relationships to build an image that we are promoting of ourselves. That’s what makes them special. They satisfy a need that we are not up front about.

Everyone who thinks they are living in a world has special relationships. To deny that we do is to deny the means of our awakening. The ego, sensing threat on this topic, will counsel that you are the exception– you do not have such a thing as a special relationship. That is called denial.

The special relationship we are talking about is really not about someone else. It is about the relationship we have with our ego, our self concept. The “other persons” that appear outside and separate are no more real than our own self concept. This is our magical fantasy that we call living. It is the ego’s plan to keep individuality. As long as we remain preoccupied in the dream the ego is safe from us learning that we have a mind and that mind can chose against it (the ego). It is a brilliant plan but fortunately it is not God proof.

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IT’S LEONARD COHEN DAY

June 4, 2009 at 9:38 pm (Uncategorized)

The concert, Leonard’s last in his world tour,  is tonight at Red Rocks and I’m going to hear the master of word and song be honest, humble and most gracious with us in his wise and elegant way.

Cohen doesn’t appear to hide anything from himself showing us the whole process of undoing from looking at those parts of ourselves that make us cringe to what is left standing if we are willing to go through the process. He himself says  in Closing Time “it looks like freedom but it feels like death.” What remains is a  self that needs no defense.

Cohen described his own Teacher/Zen Master as someone who “deeply didn’t care” about the personal giving him the opportunity to become more himself. In the presence of someone like that you either let go of who you think you are or you run.

  At 74 years of age the maestro is touring again, ending his concert in London with,  ”I’m still working for your smile”  as if he were talking to an intimate lover. He is humble enough to love everyone.

I’m hoping he’ll sing “A Thousand Kisses Deep”, a song about Boogie Street (Cohen’s code word for the world). In a recent interview he was asked to comment on his life as a Zen monk living in the monastary at Mt. Baldy and his life as a musician. His wry comment with smile was, “it’s all Boogie Street.” Indeed it is and you can tell he knows it.

Cohen seems to have forgotten how to judge himself or others and God knows we need to see what innocence looks like. On the outside it looks like wisdom, kindness,  and  graceful elegance for which he is known. On the inside it must feel like peace.

Here are a few words from “In My Secret Life” if you have never had a taste of Cohen’s wisdom:

“I smile when I’m angry,

I cheat and I lie.

I do what I have to do to get by.

But I know what is wrong, and I know what is right,

and I die for the truth in my secret life.

Hold on, hold on, my brothers,

My sister hold on tight,

I finally got my orders,

I’ll be marching through the morning,

marching through the night,

Movin’ cross the borders of my secret life.”

 

Leonard has learned to look without judgment at himself and the world and then share it with all of us who are too defended to do so.

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Purpose

April 17, 2009 at 5:39 pm (Uncategorized)
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Following is a letter to a friend who is in prison for a crime committed during one of his many bouts with addiction to cocaine. He wants to wake up but is fixated on his particular dream demonstrating the impossibility of waking up while holding on to our sleeping dream.

I have known Charles for ten years and during this time he has been incarcerated four times. This time it is for ten years. Prior to this he had been incarcerated at least five times, all while on a cocaine rampage. He will be released at the age of 50 having spent most of his life in prison.

Without a purpose to wake up Charles’ situation would be hopeless. My point in sharing this letter is that without the same purpose we are all hopelessly caught in our pitiful little dream, be it lovely or painful.

Charles:

 

This answer to some of your concerns about your incarceration comes from the heart. May it go to the heart, find its mark and awaken.

 

Prison is a metaphor for the situation we all find ourselves in. The prison I am referring to is the mind that is ruled by the ego, the ego being the belief in separation. It is a prison of our own making. As if that were not bad enough, we make it our daily practice to inflict pain upon one another instead of helping one another to escape. Of course I am speaking metaphorically. The escape from the prison house we have all made is accomplished only by awakening.

 

We need someone who has awakened to help us because no one asleep and dreaming knows the way out of the dream of sickness, pain, suffering and death which are symptoms of separation. Prison is particularly difficult because I doubt there are many awakened beings there. Perhaps you will be the first.

 

No matter what the nature of our dream is—lovely or miserable—both are dreams. To believe in either you must be asleep. (See the attached quotes on dreaming from The Course.) So wherever we find ourselves, in prison like you or on a tropical island with our perfect soul mate, we each share the same purpose to wake up. Your situation is the perfect one for you. The beautiful fantasy dream may be the perfect opportunity for someone else. It depends upon which one you are most likely to be fixated by. Remember, the ego wants you to remain asleep by keeping you fixated on the dream.

 

Changing the circumstances of our life is not a change at all because it is the mind that needs to change. It is not hard to see that we take the thought system that we live by with us wherever we go. To use a common analogy, changing circumstances is like shifting around the deck chairs on the Titanic. What difference will it make? The mind ruled by the ego is a sinking ship. It needs a new captain, not a change of location.

 

One of the common mistakes that people make on the spiritual path is to become involved in manipulating the dream in order to make it more to our liking. The ego loves this because it is just another way to keep us fixated on the dream while believing we are being spiritual. Our interest is in awakening from dreaming. To accomplish this you must question the reality of your dream—lovely or miserable. To be awake in the dream is the new nobility of our time. You can be nobility in any environment by being fully awake.

 

Once you have made the decision to withdraw belief in your dream the outcome is as certain as God. How long the journey takes depends upon your trust in The Teacher to lead you out of the dream. Whenever you are relying on your own strength you are listening to the voice of the ego and it will lead you nowhere.

 

The journey takes place in your mind (not to be confused with your brain) and is made by choosing between the ego’s thought system and the Holy Spirit’s thought system. This choice is the only power the mind has.

 

 

The ego’s thought system is the thought system of separation. It goes like this:

 

1.      The other guy is the guilty one.

2.      If it weren’t for him (the other guy), my life would be peaceful and happy. My anger is justified.

3.      There must always be a winner and a loser. The ego is always jockeying for position. Either position, victim or victimizer, will keep us fixated on the dream.

4.      Somebody should pay, and it’s not me. I’m innocent.

5.      The other guy should be the one to suffer. I want him dead.

 

Behind every encounter with anyone, the above 5 mentioned things are always going on when the ego is in charge of your mind. It only takes one person to stop playing this game. You. To learn how to stop playing you will need The Teacher.

 

The ego thought system is always exclusive. Its fundamental attitude in relationship is “one or the other/me or you” because they maintain separation.

 

The Holy Spirit’s thought system, which you have chosen to learn because you are a student of A Course in Miracles, sees your brother differently. He sees

1.      The other guy is innocent regardless of appearances to the contrary.

2.      He is here to rescue you from your dream of separation, suffering and death.

3.      There can be no loss to anyone. Both parties must gain.

4.      Your brother offers your innocence to you. That makes him your savior.

5.      You and your brother are One. There is no death in Oneness.

 

The mark of the Holy Spirit’s thought system is one of inclusion. “Together or not at all” is His mantra in all relationships.

 

You get to choose between the ego as your teacher or the Holy Spirit as The Teacher. That makes you the Decision Maker. To choose the Holy Spirit as your Teacher you must be willing to recognize when you are operating in the ego’s thought system, acknowledge that you no longer want it to rule your mind and turn to the Holy Spirit for His Teaching instead.

 

Everyone you meet is your savior. They are there to awaken you by giving you the opportunity to recognize the ego thought system in you and make the better choice for the Holy Spirit. When we see all, not just some, of our relationships in this way every day becomes an exciting chance to awaken and remember our true undivided nature. Purpose is everything! Now you know why you are here.

 

Everyone engaged in dreaming is trying to get rid of his or her guilt by dumping it on someone else. Be alert to your own ego and no one else’s. Don’t project your guilt. Refuse to blame the other guy for your misery. (The real source of your misery is that you want to be a special individual, separated from others and from God.) Ask the Holy Spirit for help. No one asleep and dreaming can awaken himself. You must trust The Awakener because you clearly do not know the way. “Humility asks that you not be content with less than greatness that comes not of you.”

 

Blessings,

Lyn 

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On Dreaming

April 16, 2009 at 10:05 pm (Uncategorized)
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“Could it be some dreams are kept, and other wakened from? The choice is not between which dreams to keep, but only if you want to live in dreams or waken from them.”

From Dream Roles, A Course in Miracles, Text p.612

 

“You cannot dream some dreams and wake from some, for you are either sleeping or awake. And dreaming goes with only one of these.”

From Dream Roles, A Course in Miracles, Text p.612

 

“The dreams you think you like would hold you back as much as those in which the fear is seen. For every dream is but a dream of fear no matter what the form it seems to take.”

From Dream Roles, A Course in Miracles, Text p.612

 

 

“The dreams you think you like are those in which the functions you have given (your special relationship) have been filled; the needs which you ascribe to you are met. It is the idea that they (dreams) exist from which the fears arise. Dreams are not wanted more or less. They are desired or not. And each one represents some function that you have assigned; some goal which an event, or body, or a thing should represent, and should achieve for you. If it succeeds you think you like the dream. If it should fail you think the dream is sad.”

From Dream Roles, A Course in Miracles, Text p.612

 

 

“You cannot wake yourself. Yet you can let yourself be wakened. You can overlook your brother’s dreams. So perfectly can you forgive him his illusions he becomes your savior from your dreams.

Whom you forgive is given power to forgive you your illusions. By your gift of freedom it is given unto you.”

From God’s Witnesses, A Course in Miracles, Text. P. 611. p.3

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The Chooser

March 17, 2009 at 11:12 pm (Uncategorized)
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We are all severely handicapped by the belief that eyes see, ears hear, hands touch, and brains think. They don’t. They merely report what we have already decided to believe about ourselves.

Prior to entering the dream and becoming a dream figure a more fundamental decision was made and that was the decision to separate. It was a crazy idea and in that moment it was innocent enough. Had it been simply laughed at and forgotten it would have amounted to nothing. But it wasn’t forgotten and that’s how we wound up in a dream. It is a little more complicated than that in the mind that thought this act could be accomplished but this is  not the time nor place for the discussion of how the impossible could have happened. For now let’s just say, “It didn’t! You merely think it did, hence the dream state.

The Chooser is who you really are……… not the character in the dream.  You choose between a thought of separation and a thought of oneness. The character in the dream is just the manifestation of the idea of separation in your mind. It is like a wooden puppett in a wooden box.  You, the chooser, decides what it will see and hear and think based upon what you think you are.

The Chooser is in your mind not your brain. They are not the same. The brain reports, the mind chooses. Since the choice for separation there are two voices in your mind instead of one resulting in a loss of peace. The Chooser is always choosing between the two voices depending upon what it wants the truth to be– separation or union.

This choice determines the eyes you see with, the ears you hear with, the thoughts you think. The choice is between truth and illusion, love or fear, life or death. Each voice leads to its respective  goal.  One awakens. The other does not.

To be awakening in the dream is the new dawning of a new humanity. The light of our awakening is shared by all minds in much the same way that a rising tide raises all ships.  Enlightenment is a universal experience, not a personal one.

The Teacher has spoken.

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The True Shape of Our Own Being

March 16, 2009 at 8:56 pm (Uncategorized)

The shape of our character in the dream is the expression of our intimate inner conversations.  Nothing borrowed will do. The true shape of our own being must be the result of the laborious excavations of our depths and the treasures we find there.

In our giving ourselves away there is more at stake than just the possibility of the recognition of others. We work for our own sake. The way in which we raise our family, tend our garden, compose a song, or manage an office is the way we teach ourselves that the God we have met is not capable of anything but love.

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The Choice

March 10, 2009 at 9:08 pm (Uncategorized)
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For more than 20 years I have taught the metaphysical principles that lead us to sincerely ask the question, “What am I?” Understanding these principles is essential to opening our minds to the possibility that we don’t know the answer and then motivating us to reside in the question that invites the answer to be given.

 

The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that the mystery  is an ongoing, ever new revelation that when possessed dries up, leaving me alone and asking once again, “What am I?”

 

Now for the choice. I say the choice because there is only one to make. It is the choice between truth and illusion, awakening or sleep, life or death, love or fear. It will be made over and over again until we arrive at knowing once and for all that we are what we are. This is the process of awakening in the dream.

 

We sleeping ones are caught in the trance of a dream, mistaken about our own identity. The sleep state consists of believing we are a person with needs and wants, capable of perceiving our own best interests, living in a world with other persons in which our main goal is to satisfy those needs and wants. We assume we are capable of knowing our needs and wants and that their fulfillment will bring us happiness.

 

The real question is “Who is it that wants and needs? 

 

 The scarcity principle is central to the lives of all those who believe they are a dream figure, living in a body in a world. In case you hadn’t noticed the body is perpetually needy. The next meal, the next pleasure, the next breath is of paramount concern. If Lyn doesn’t get her next breath she’s dead. That’s pretty needy. To deny our neediness is to miss the motivation to wake up.

 

The central character in the dream—you/me—is a special, unique, individual. This is who we think we are. We are each different from the other characters in the dream. We are better than if we are good at getting our needs satisfied and our dream fulfilled and less than if we don’t. The purpose that dreamers give others is to validate their existence as dream figures, painful or pleasurable—in other words, we exploit others, although we would never admit it, to fulfill our concept of ourselves. Again, it doesn’t matter if your view of yourself is a triumphant one or a pitiful one—you are asleep and dreaming

 

Here is the problem with being a figure in a dream. All dreams without exception end in death, often preceded by a long dress rehearsal in which we practice our suffering. Our belief in death is the evidence we never made the choice to wake up. All dream figures die. Why? Because the purpose of our individuality and specialness is to deny the Source of Life by being consumed with our personal dream/trance, which we mistakenly call our life. The choice therefore is really a matter of life or death. Eventually we will all choose to wake up because we will all eventually chose life. Only the time is up to us.

 

(Note: A Course in Miracles is the voice of Jesus, coming into the dream, where it is needed, through a scribe, Dr. Helen Schucman. Having been a figure in the dream and having overcome death he is the perfect voice to teach us that the resurrection, which he accomplished, is for all of us. Once accomplished in one mind, it is accomplished in all minds because at the mind level we are one. We need only accept it by our willingness to let go of who we think we are. )  If you are interested in finding out some simple basics about A Course in Miracles click www.acim-ebook.com/TheBasics.html

 

 

The choice to wake up is preceded by the recognition, however dimly, that the life we appear to be living, even at its highest attainment, can’t be what a God of Love intended for us if its underlying principle is scarcity ending in death. The scarcity I am talking about here has nothing to do with our ability to possess and accumulate or not. Scarcity is the absence of knowing and being what I am—an instrument in the hands of Love that when played feels sublime pleasure without ownership. Even while we appear as a figure in a dream, seen by other figures, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not. As Wordsworth once said: “trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home.” 

 

The process of exposing the fabrication of the character we imagine ourselves to be in the dream requires penetrating honesty and a willingness to look without flinching at our exploitative and opportunistic use of others. Here is where we can see what we have been up to, not just in some but all our relationships. This psychic excavation would not be possible without the help of others to show us what we believe about ourselves. The right use of our relationships is to help us wake up by exposing our core neediness and scarcity that comes from our estrangement from our Source. This becomes the motivation to turn within and ask the Inner Teacher to take us home.

 

An important piece of information that will save you tons of time once you decide to wake up is this: the character in the dream—Lyn, John, Sue, does not wake up. The belief in the character is withdrawn as the Inner Teacher leads us to our True Self beyond the dream. What remains when scarcity, seeking, neediness, desiring, wanting are undone is what I am, and have always been. The false, unreal, small self dissolves, revealing the One Self beyond all dreaming. There is no specialness in Oneness. Unfortunately we have Oneness associated with annihilation, but that’s a topic for another day.

 

What happens to the body, the figure that still remains visible to the world?  The awakened Self, Who is not identified with the body at all, uses the body as a communication device to point to beyond it to the Truth. The body itself is completely neutral. Having no life of its own it is a willing servant of The One who decides how it will be used. Where formerly it was used to serve the special interests of the dream figure trying to get its needs met, it now serves the good of all.

 

That’s the choice. Everything or nothing. Oneness or specialness. Awakening or sleep. Life or death. Eventually we will all chose to wake up. I hear Bob Dylan,s impatience as he drones “When Ya Gonna Wake-up?” but I prefer Leonard Cohen’s “Waltz Me to the End of Love.”

 

“There is no compromise. You are your Self or an illusion.”

A Course in Miracles, T. p. 601

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The Most Important Thing

February 21, 2009 at 7:05 pm (Posts)

The most important thing is to know the most important thing.

 I am not a painter nor a songwriter nor a poet though I have huge admiration for their ability to reach into our minds and inspire change. If I had to put a name on the artistic expression that comes most naturally to me I would call it teaching, While teaching is not regarded as warmly and enthusiastically as other arts, I see it that way. I have sat in a room with hundreds who have been no less moved by the message of a teacher than by that of a sculptor or a conductor of a symphony. An artist can take you to the place in your mind where he gets his inspiration.

 

My love of the medium of teaching started in first grade. I attended a one-room schoolhouse/church/town library combined in rural New Hampshire. A huge black wood-burning stove was the unifying amenity in an otherwise stark room that housed 21 students, grades 1 through 4, and our little desks.

 

Mrs. Amos, my teacher, was a tall, thin, very erect woman with flame red hair that she wore in a sausage roll at the nape of her neck. Gold wire rim glasses magnified her large, soft brown eyes making them appear to be out of proportion to her thin face. The low healed lace-up brown shoes on her feet were practical and sturdy like Mrs. Amos herself.

 

Mrs. Amos was my first experience of teaching as art. She innately knew what each child needed to contribute to be an active participant and she gave them that chance. Pudgy Goodwin brought in the fire wood and stoked the stove satisfying his need to move a lot and also to offset his lack of interest in academics. Georgiana Greenwood had a garden in the south facing windows where she was experimenting with sprouting seeds under different conditions. Janet Pierce, trouble maker that she was, got the perfect job for her—taking care of the pens with mice, hamsters and gerbils.

 

You would think our humble little school would have lacked opportunity, but Mrs. Amos had a huge bag of tricks at her disposal, and she used them all. We listened to classical music on Friday afternoons, followed by all 21 of us playing our Tonettes. Our art room consisted of a closet with an easel and shelves filled with paints that Mrs Amos bought with her own money. The art closet was a special place because we could only get 2 or 3 artists in there, and only if we shut the door. Once that was accomplished it was more like a hideout and it was here that I heard some things I had never heard about before.

 

Mrs. Amos gave me the task of tutoring classmates in reading. I loved words and they co-operated by almost never stumping me as to their pronunciation and meaning. It was on the back stairway that led to the library on the second floor, that these tutoring session took place that I first felt the pleasure of teaching. Ever since that time whenever I want to accelerate or deepen my understanding of anything, I teach it. I teach to learn.

 

My present and perhaps final thing that I want to teach and learn is The Most Important Thing. The most important thing is a question. It really is the only question, but it can take many years and possibly lifetimes to ask with sincerity. Most of us ask a question having already decided what the answer is, more or less, so we are not really learners at all. We ask for directions but we don’t really listen to the answer because we have some idea of where our destination is.

 

To ask the most important question we have to come to it with empty hands—no prior understanding, no intended outcome, no idea of how or when the answer will arrive and what it will mean for us.

 

The most important question is “What am I?”

 

 I am learning how to ask that question with sincerity and to live in the mystery of not knowing the answer. Standing in that humble attitude is the holy ground where God has His Way with me and I experience the ultimate pleasure of His Will of perfect happiness for me.

 

 

Next Time: The Choice

 

 

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