A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #52 - Review of lessons 6 - 10 - Projection is perception

 Lesson #52

Review of lessons 6 - 10

6. I am upset because I see what is not there.

7. I see only the past.

8. My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

9. I see nothing as it is now.

10. My thoughts do not mean anything.

One of the most significant and fundamental memes from A Course In Miracles is “projection is perception.” Or as Geraldine, one of comedian Flip Wilson’s characters, would say as a punch line “What you see is what you get, honey!” Psychologists call it “selective perception” and a “self fulfilling prophecy.” Nowadays we call it “implicit bias” and “confirmation bias.”

In Alcoholics Anonymous they call it “stinkin thinkin.” In the first three steps we are reminded that our old way of thinking has made our lives unmanageable, and with this realization came to the idea that there must be a better way, and in this search for a better way decided to turn our will over to our Higher Power as the navigational compass by which to guide our lives.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this truth and meaning is most likely to be found in the other six principles not in the idols of the ego.

In reviewing the five lessons today which do you find most resonant with where you are now in your life? For me, it is the tenth, “My thoughts do not mean anything.” Buddhists call it “monkey mind” the constant chatter which is often based on past fears, resentments, frustrations, and grievances. I am coming to realize these thoughts are all bull shit. With this realization I decide to give them up and enjoy the peace and joy which is my natural inheritance.

Spiritual Book Discussion - The Spiritual Child - Chapter Five: The Field Of Love

 

Dr. Lisa Miller writes “Parents often ask me, ‘So, how do you make your child spiritual?’” p.135 No parent makes their child spiritual. A good parent nurtures the child’s innate spirituality. Dr. Miller writes that parents do that by cultivating what she calls the “field of love” which is the relational space which we often think of as family and includes other people as well. This field of love has a transcendent quality and in some religious traditions has been called “ancestor worship” and the “faith of our fathers and mothers.”

Miller gives five suggestions about how to create and nurture this sacred relational space.

1. Create family traditions and rituals.

2. Highlight the importance of quality time rather than material things.

3. Model acceptance of diversity.

4. Teach forgiveness and unconditional love rather than judgment.

5. Mark entrances and exits from the field of love as important times for the system.

Miller ends the chapter with these sentences:

I opened this chapter with the question I am asked so often by parents, “So, how do you make your child spiritual?” The answer emerging from all corners of science and spiritual study is, we don’t “make” our child spiritual at all. We cultivate their spirituality when we recognize the field of love as ground and guide for spiritual parenting. We set our intention to make our home environment and communities, our actions and expectations, and our ways of interacting with one another to be consistent with spiritual values. Family and the expansive field of love are our most important tools for building a spiritual life, for giving our children a spiritual grounding.

Miller, Dr. Lisa. The Spiritual Child (p. 159). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Questions

1. As a child growing up who were the family members you felt most loved by?

2. As a parent who do you think your children have felt most loved by?

3. How are entrances and exits from your child’s field of love acknowledged?

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #51 - Review of lessons 1 -5

 

 Lesson #51

Review of lessons 1 - 5

1. Nothing I see means anything.
2. I have given everything I see all the meaning it has for me.
3. I do not understand anything I see.
4. These thoughts do not mean anything.
5. I am never upset for the reason I think.

Holden Caulfield, the narrator in J.D. Salinger’s classic book, The Catcher In The Rye, called the conditioning by society “The Big Lie.” These first five lessons are teaching us the same thing. The world of the ego is bull shit. It is impermanent, illusionary, and fraught with disappointment, resentment, grievance, anger, and fear. Once we see the world of the ego for what it is, who would want it? But first we must see and admit that what we have been taught by society to value is nonsense. More than nonsense it is insanity.

In the first three steps of Alcoholics Anonymous we are encouraged to realize the same thing. Step one asks us to admit that our lives in the world of the ego are unmanageable. Step two encourages us to acknowledge that there is a power greater than ourselves which can restore us to right mindedness. And in step three we are encouraged to make the decision to let go of the world of the ego and to turn our awareness and actions over to our Higher Power as we understand it. We can live in the world of the ego or the world of the Spirit. The miracle resides in that choice, that power, to make that decision. Before we can make that decision, we have to realize that we have one and that is what these first five lessons are designed to teach us.

In Unitarian Universalism we also are encouraged to question the world of the ego when we are asked to covenant together to affirm and promote the seven principles which are as counter cultural as any principles could be. We are asked in principle four to engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning implying that there is a better way than what we have been taught by society. And what is that better way? A Course In Miracles teaches us that the world of the Spirit as compared to the world of the ego is the path to peace, harmony, and bliss. As UUs like to say, “May it be so.”

We can’t say hello to the future until we say goodbye to the past. The first step in pursuing a life of miracles is to undo what Alcoholics Anonymous calls “Stinkin thinkin.” We have to come to the realization that what we have been conditioned to believe in our society isn’t true. Until we question the shadows on the wall of the cave we will never seek the light. 

A Course In Miracles Workbook reviews

 

Review

What is the purpose of the workbook?

Today we learn that there are review periods for the lessons and today we get introduced to the first review period wherein we will review five lessons for every day for ten days until we cover the initial fifty..  We are asked to review the five lessons at the beginning of the day and again at the end of the day and any time in between when we think of it and feel like it.

As you know and it is good to remind ourselves, the purpose of the lessons is to train our mind to refocus our attention from the world of the ego to the world of the soul. What we think we see in the world of the ego A Course In Miracles teaches is not real but an illusion we have created. Thinking that the world of the ego is real has caused us to forget the world of the soul and the goal of A Course In Miracles is to help us remember it.

The purpose of the review I think is to crystalize and reinforce some of the teachings of the lessons not only in your mind but in your heart as well. It is intended that miracles become not some unusual, esoteric, magical experience, but an ongoing, consistent part of one’s awareness and perceptions. The goal is to train our heart and mind to experience the world in miraculous ways that God intends. 

Like A Course In Miracles, the goal of Alcoholic Anonymous for those who work the steps of the program, is spiritual awakening. Likewise the tradition of Unitarian Universalism is to facilitate covenantal relationships based on seven principles the two most important which bookend the other five are to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and to respect the interdependent web of all existence.

What has been your experience of these first fifty days? To what extent have the lessons seemed unbelievable to you? To what extent has it been hard to do the exercises? Are there any of them that you have found more unbelievable and distressing than others. Are there any of them which you have found not only believable but enlightening and which engendered peace and comfort?

Tomorrow we will begin the 10 day review period.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #50 - I am sustained by the love of God

 

 Lesson #50

I am sustained by the love of God.

We are told by society that money will make us happy. Romance will make us happy. Status will make us happy. The drink or drug will make us happy. How about the new car, the new house, a child, a good job? The ego promises us happiness in various forms and disguises. They all fail us in the end. What never fails us is the Love of God.

The Universalists taught that the Love of God is unconditional and with us always. In A Course Of Miracles we are taught that the Love which is beyond all fears is our natural inheritance. In the eleventh step of Alcoholics Anonymous we are told that through prayer and meditation we can improve our conscious contact with God discerning God’s will for us and the power to carry it out. In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles the seventh of which is a love for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

When we come right down to the ground of our being, we become blissfully aware that we are sustained by the love of God.

Good News for 10/02/20 - There are good people all across America and the world like bus driver, Marcia Woods Johnson.

 

Marcia Woods Johnson is a bus driver in Columbus, Ohio, She was quoted in a brief article in the August/September, 2020 issue of the AARP magazine as saying "But I'm just a firm believer that everybody's job is important. If other people can get up and go out and do their jobs, I should be able to get up and do mine."

For more click here.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. Doing your job in the service of others is one significant manifestation of this principle.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #49 - God's Voice speaks to me all though the day.

 

Lesson #49

God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.

There is the voice of the ego and the voice of the Spirit. In Alcoholics Anonymous they call the voice of the ego “stinkin thinkin.” This is the voice that feels guilty about the past, fearful about the future, and bored or anguished in the present. The voice of the ego wants you to believe that it is in control and that you can be happy if only you do what it tells you will make you happy. It is in step one that we come to realize that the voice of the ego offers no happiness but only insanity.

God’s Voice is below the illusions of insanity which is on the surface of our lives. We have to stop, become still, slow our breathing, and sink beneath the chatter of the ego and simply listen to the silence, to the peace, to the bliss of Unconditional Love which is our natural inheritance.

It is suggested today that we take 5 minutes 4 times throughout the day and just quiet ourselves and listen. We can hear God’s Voice which is with us always if we tune in. All we need do is simply ask, “What would love have me do?” God is always there for us with an answer. We feel it in our heart rather than think it in our head. God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.