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Study of the Text VII. Creation and Communication, Paragraph 7 9-13-13

VII. Creation and Communication, Paragraph 7
9-13-13
7 God has kept your Kingdom for you, but He cannot share His joy with you until you know it with your whole mind. Revelation is not enough, because it is only communication from God. God does not need revelation returned to Him, which would clearly be impossible, but He does want it brought to others. This cannot be done with the actual revelation; its content cannot be expressed, because it is intensely personal to the mind that receives it. It can, however, be returned by that mind to other minds, through the attitudes the knowledge from the revelation brings.

At first I was a little uncertain about revelations. I think I confused them with miracles because when miracles first began appearing in my mind and life they seemed so extraordinary. But having experienced revelation, I see it cannot be mistaken for anything else. When I gave a workshop recently, I was so completely in the flow of God’s Love that I was uplifted and inspired. I was joyful in a way that I do not experience normally.

This was miraculous because it was like being without ego for awhile and because it did not come from my mind but through my mind. But as wonderful as it was, it was not revelation. I have had a sudden knowing, not an understanding through the mind, but a knowing that appeared in the mind, from outside the mind. That was miraculous, but it was not revelation.

I have experienced revelation and I wish I could tell you about it, but though I have put words to the experience, they are so inadequate as to be meaningless. So I cannot share this experience with you, but what I can and do share is the conviction that came from it. I know that I am not this body and this story. I know that God is real and that we are meant to experience God. This conviction informs my words and my actions and so are helpful to others.

I am in that interesting and frustrating place of knowing that I am not even really here where I appear to be and yet, I feel like I am here and act like I am here. I forget for long moments at a time that this is an illusion and sometimes get so involved in the story that I suffer. And yet, no matter how confused I become, how emotionally involved I become, I know this is not right. I know I am not what I am temporarily believing. Well, the good that comes from this, and there is always a good use for ego when we give it to Holy Spirit, is that I can speak about ego clearly and can speak about spirit as well.

In the meantime, God keeps my Kingdom safe for me. He keeps my identity safe from my illusions. He keeps my creations safe while my mind wanders. But what He cannot do is share His joy with me while my mind is split. My split mind has shut down much of our channel of communication. I have tasted joy, not the anemic happiness experienced through the illusion, but real joy directly from God and I want more. I am highly motivated to continue to undo the ego. I want to open that channel fully. I know that what I felt was not complete because the channel is not completely open, and though I cannot imagine more love than I felt in that moment, I want it anyway.

Do you think that you cannot experience revelation? That you are not ready? That you are not worthy? God does not make any of His children special. If it is for any one of them it is for all of them. In fact, God wants to reveal Himself to you. He is just waiting for you to open to His love. He wants to experience His love through you and He wants you to take this love to all His children. So it is not God Who is holding back from you, but you who, in your fear, are blocking God.

I understand this. When I think I want this experience again and ask for it, I feel a reluctance to receive. I know; it’s crazy, right? I want it and yet I hesitate, and that hesitation is the split in the mind. The part of my mind that is attached to the story instinctively knows that too much God and I won’t come back. Ego really, really, doesn’t want to go there. That is why I must undo the ego. I am not guilty for this reluctance. God simply waits patiently for me to change my mind as He knows I will.

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Study of the Text VII. Creation and Communication , Paragraph 6 9-12-13

VII. Creation and Communication, Paragraph 6
9-12-13
6 The Bible repeatedly states that you should praise God. This hardly means that you should tell Him how wonderful He is. He has no ego with which to accept such praise, and no perception with which to judge it. But unless you take your part in the creation, His joy is not complete because yours is incomplete. And this He does know. He knows it in His Own Being and its experience of His Son’s experience. The constant going out of His Love is blocked when His channels are closed, and He is lonely when the minds He created do not communicate fully with Him.

In this paragraph more is revealed about the nature of God. The good news is that God does not have an ego. If you tell me how wonderful I am my ego is going to inflate. It loves that kind of thing. My ego perceives positive words from you as good things and negative words as not good. But God does not have an ego; He is not needy, and so He is not dependent on reassurances about Himself, nor does he perceive, He simply knows, and in knowledge there is nothing to judge. It is typical for us to project onto the idea of God our own experience. To the degree I perceive, judge, and crave acceptance and praise, I will tend to believe this about God. Thus, I am reminded here that I am the one with an ego, not God.

It seems simple to say that God does not have an ego, but to really understand what this means is not so simple. The next part of the paragraph further describes the nature of God. Here is what it seems to be saying to me. God created me through extending Himself. This feels confusing to me because I refer to God as a He, and this implies a body and my mind cannot compute a body extending itself. So I have to remind myself that the use of pronouns is just a convenience and not literal.

So God extends “Its Self” and thus creates. This brings God joy and this joy is ongoing. It seems to me that Jesus is telling us that creation is a continuous process and so God experiences joy through that process continuously. As well, God experiences joy through His experience of His Son’s experience. So God is aware of not only His own experience of creation, but is also aware of His son’s experience of creation, and the awareness is one of joy.

The part of our mind that is asleep is no longer creating and is no longer in full communication with God, so His joy has been blocked. Jesus says that He is lonely when the minds He created do not communicate fully with Him. Lonely implies both judgment and need so I am sure that it is just a way of trying to communicate within the limits imposed by words, the same way we say “He” when we refer to God even though God is neither a body/personality, and certainly not gender specific, not gender anything since gender is just another part of the illusion of separation.

But even though it is not possible to find words to adequately explain God, I think I get the picture. God, Which is Love, extended Itself in an act of joyful creation. The nature of creation is such that It must continue to create in the same way, extending Itself as God did. Communication throughout all of creation is joyful. When part of our minds took a side trip into something that is not creation, this communication was curtailed because God knows only creation and does not share in our delusions. Creation was not undone, but it was, in part, disrupted, and when communication was disrupted, so was joy.

If I were to think of this in a way I can readily relate to, I would think that my Father created me out of love, and that it makes Him very happy when we talk. Then one day I wandered away on an adventure and forgot all about my Father. He no longer shares in my life and no longer enjoys our communications. He misses me and longs for me to return home.

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Study of the Text 9-11-13

VII. Creation and Communication
9-11-13
5 God, Who encompasses all being, created beings who have everything individually, but who want to share it to increase their joy. Nothing real can be increased except by sharing. That is why God created you. Divine Abstraction takes joy in sharing. That is what creation means. “How,” “what” and “to whom” are irrelevant, because real creation gives everything, since it can create only like itself. Remember that in the Kingdom there is no difference between having and being, as there is in existence. In the state of being the mind gives everything always.

This is not a very long paragraph, but several things hit the radar for me. God as Divine Abstraction is the first thing I noticed, probably because yesterday I was wondering what God is. I know He is not a body or a man but I don’t really have another category. Thing or It doesn’t fee right either. Father, Creator, these are just titles given to help my comfort level. I cannot define God; only label Him. I cannot understand God from this place I find myself, and maybe I cannot understand Him ever.

I can associate God with certain attributes. He created me like Himself through extension of Himself, thus I understand Him to be generous and loving and giving. From A Course in Miracles and from the answering response in my heart, I attribute God with kindness, gentleness and strength. And as I write this I realize it would be truer perhaps to say He is not kind and gentle and strong, but He is Kindness and Gentleness and Strength itself and thus so am I, having been made in His likeness.

As I am created like God, everything I exhibit that is unlike God cannot be true. It can only be errant thought taking shape through the power that is mine, through a mighty will that is mine, but that has been distorted. Not creation, but a pale shadow of creation, a child’s game of make believe. Because of who I am, because of Who my Creator is, my play is not without effects but it is limited to play.

Another thing which jumped out at me is that we, as we were created, are beings and we are individuals, and yet we are encompassed by God. In other places in the Course we learn that we are one mind and that we are one with God. We are not separate which is the whole point of the Course. So how can there be one of us and yet be more than one. The more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Sometimes in my ignorance I will think and even write so as to indicate I know something. This is hilarious and I invite you to laugh with me when you notice I do this.

I wonder if I can ever understand the nature of God, and the nature of creation, but perhaps that is because I stuck, temporarily, in this dense state, with at least partial amnesia. Perhaps all will become clear as I awaken. Right now I am reminded of Star Trek and the Borg. They were many individuals but they operated from a single mind. In the story they were not the good guys, but isn’t that typical ego, to imitate reality and then distort it to something reality could never be.

The most important thing I see in this paragraph is that God, Reality, Oneness, is Divine Abstraction. God gives. There is nothing He does not give. In creation there is no separation. There is no singling out, no giving to one and not another. He does not give at certain times and withhold at others. God simply gives and this giving creates more of Itself. Later the Course will tell us that to have, give all to all. Be as God. Create as God.

I will be honest; I cannot imagine this. I can understand it in my head, but I cannot see myself being divinely abstract. I cannot see myself giving all to all. I label everything. I categorize it according to importance to me. I can’t even make up my mind what remains in which category. It can change day to day or moment to moment. I give only reluctantly. I give money and compared to what I used to do, I am very generous. Compared to some others I am absolutely miserly. But when I give, I choose carefully where the gift goes. I categorize and judge and decide who is worthy of my gift. And who is not.

Money is just a symbol, but this applies to everything. I give my love only after considering if the recipient is worthy. I have, over the years as I studied the Course and allowed my mind to be healed, greatly enlarged the circle of worthy people, but I still give only to some and withhold from others. I hate to write that. I hate to see it in myself, but I know that it is true for me right now. I am willing that it not be true.

You know, maybe I do have a clue what it means to be divinely abstract. I am moving, albeit slowly, in that direction as I become more and more willing to have all obstacles to Love removed from my mind. This is, after all, the miracle, the point of all my study and practice of the Course. I forgive and thus the ego is undone in my mind and I am left with only the truth of my being. Since I am an extension of my Creator Who is Divine Abstraction, I must be that too, so how can it be a mystery to me? How can my nature be unknown to me? I must know.

“God, please reveal my Self to me.”

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Study of the Text 9-10-13

VII. Creation and Communication
9-10-13
4 Existence as well as being rest on communication. Existence, however, is specific in how, what and with whom communication is judged to be worth undertaking. Being is completely without these distinctions. It is a state in which the mind is in communication with everything that is real. To whatever extent you permit this state to be curtailed you are limiting your sense of your own reality, which becomes total only by recognizing all reality in the glorious context of its real relationship to you. This is your reality. Do not desecrate it or recoil from it. It is your real home, your real temple and your real Self. 

I see how my ego is very specific about communication. Not only does it have specific reasons or goals in communication with each specific person, but vast numbers of people stand outside the small circle of people it deems worthy of communication. I would give money to a beggar, but would I be interested in his story, would I open my mind and heart to him, or would I give and quickly shy away? I have been known to stand really still in a dark room waiting out the Jehovah’s Witness knocking on my door. For a long time I avoided the sick, the mentally ill, the old. But Spirit kept sending them to my door until finally I began to open it.

For many years animal lovers have baffled me. They seemed to in some way attuned to their pets and to have such deep love for them. I couldn’t understand this. In my mind they were just animals and while I would be kind to them, I felt no love and would never consider communicating with them. I no longer feel like they are “just” animals, but I still am not drawn to them in the way some people are. I have no doubt though, that communication with them is possible.

My feeling is that words are just one way to communicate and probably not the most effective. I have a feeling that if I let go the self-imposed boundaries of body-to-body communication I would feel something else. I sense it right there just out of reach, hindered only by my need to be separate. I suspect that I limit my communication because I have boundaries that I defend against encroachment. My body is my most important fortification; my ego resides “safely” behind its walls and all else is rebutted. My judgments further hinder communication, as some are deemed worthy and others repelled or disregarded.

You know, as I write this I feel tired. How much of myself goes into preventing communication? How much effort, attention and energy do I expend preventing communication? If being naturally communicates with all, then I must be working very hard to be unaware of this communication. I don’t know how to let down my defenses and be my Self. What I can do is become willing to communicate on whatever level I am aware.

I can remain vigilant for self-imposed restrictions on communication. One way I can do this is to give each person I speak to my total attention rather than allowing my mind to wander. I can begin each conversation with the silent prayer to know this brother, to hear this brother in whatever way he needs me to hear him, to hear with my Heart not just my ears. I can release whatever judgments arise because those judgments are a block that keeps me from hearing my brother.

I can become willing and ever more willing to allow communication at the deepest levels I am capable at this time. I sense that full communication with all things is a wonder to be embraced, rather than a danger to be defended against. I give my willingness to move into this and though I don’t know how, I know it is possible and it is my right. I know it is my true nature. My ego wants separation, but I am not my ego.

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Study of the Text 9-9-13

VII. Creation and Communication
9-9-13
3 In contrast, spirit reacts in the same way to everything it knows is true, and does not respond at all to anything else. Nor does it make any attempt to establish what is true. It knows that what is true is everything that God created. It is in complete and direct communication with every aspect of creation, because it is in complete and direct communication with its Creator. This communication is the Will of God. Creation and communication are synonymous. God created every mind by communicating His Mind to it, thus establishing it forever as a channel for the reception of His Mind and Will. Since only beings of a like order can truly communicate, His creations naturally communicate with Him and like Him. This communication is perfectly abstract, since its quality is universal in application and not subject to any judgment, any exception or any alteration. God created you by this and for this. The mind can distort its function, but it cannot endow itself with functions it was not given. That is why the mind cannot totally lose the ability to communicate, even though it may refuse to utilise it on behalf of being.

What I do when I talk is so far from communication as it is meant to be that they are hardly related at all. I think I will be communicating when I talk to people today. I will talk to my boss when I get to work. There are things I will say to him about work. I will police my words so that they are close to what he wants to hear, because I am using them to gain his approval and secure my job. This is not communication as described here. It is not complete and direct communication.

I will talk to my team members, the small group of us that work in sales. I will share with them on a different level. I won’t be as careful with my words as I am with my boss, but my words will have a specific purpose. I will share something of my personal life and ask about theirs. I want to build a sense of camaraderie with them. I want them to have a pleasant feeling when they think of me so they will be willing to help when I need them. I like the feeling of friendship, too. It makes me feel part of something. This is not communication either. It is specific to this group of people and has a specific purpose. It is not universally applicable and is subject to judgment.

How I speak to the other people in the office it is different as well. They are not part of our group. We are in competition in small ways. For instance, there is just so much money to go around and they want it for operations, and we want it for sales. We would like to have tablets instead of the cumbersome laptops we now use, but if they use the money for their own equipment then we can’t have our tablets. Also, they have a different boss and so they do things differently. Another difference is that I don’t need as much help from them, nor do I have as much influence regardless of how I communicate with them. So I communicate differently with this group of people.

The level of communication, what I say to them, how often I speak, the tone of voice I use, every part of communication is specific to the people I am speaking to. It is all based on what I want from this particular person, or how I categorize them. The subject under discussion makes a difference as well. Some things I talk about freely, and other things will cause me to be more guarded. Certain words or ideas when expressed will trigger the desire to defend and attack.

In true communication there are none of these differences. It is hard for me to imagine communication that is not specific, however I saw as I was writing this that I am very slowly coming closer to true communication. Once in a while, when my boss says something that feels unfair or threatening to me, I disregard that feeling, and respond in love.

I have developed sincere feelings of care and kindness for the members of my team and gratitude for the other people who work for us, and not because they are useful to me, but because I have, through my study and practice of the Course, deepened my connection to others. I feel the oneness a little more as I let go of separateness with its competiveness and defenses. I am excited to go to work this morning and open my heart to the Holy Spirit while I talk to my co-workers. I love the idea of spirit communicating through me rather than ego and look forward to experiencing the difference.

I am a long way from true communication, but I am closer than I used to be and my desire for awakening is motivation to be vigilant for opportunities to remove the blocks to communication. It is true that I have distorted my innate ability to truly communicate, but God created me by this and for this and so I can recover my ability to communicate fully. I am intrigued that true communication is synonymous with creation. I am willing to return my mind to God and I long to remember what it is to truly create.

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Study of the Text 9-6-13

VII. Creation and Communication Paragraph 2
9-6-13
2 Everything the ego perceives is a separate whole, without the relationships that imply being. The ego is thus against communication, except insofar as it is utilized to establish separateness rather than to abolish it. The communication system of the ego is based on its own thought system, as is everything else it dictates. Its communication is controlled by its need to protect itself, and it will disrupt communication when it experiences threat. This disruption is a reaction to a specific person or persons. The specificity of the ego’s thinking, then, results in spurious generalization which is really not abstract at all. It merely responds in certain specific ways to everything it perceives as related.

The ego is only interested in protecting itself and that means to keep the idea of separation going. It will attack anything or anyone who threatens this idea. The separation idea includes many ideas such as specialness, guilt, fear, and rage. Thus the ego will protect against spirit when spirit moves away from these ideas. Also, the ego will judge each situation separately as if they are each discreet and have nothing to do with each other. That is part of the belief in separation. And further, in each case the ego establishes the truth according to its specific needs in that moment.

Knowing its goals and its means, it is easy to see that the ego is not interested in communication as a way of joining, but only as it can be used to separate and thus maintain the idea of ego. The moment we choose to communicate as love, the ego idea ceases to exist. So the ego discourages this kind of communication using fear tactics. It tells us that fear is our protection and that all safety lies in separateness. It encourages us to build defenses against others for our own good.

In order for this to work the ego must keep us deeply involved in the story. Take the situation with Syria. The ego says that we need defenses against this country. There are specific reasons and at first glance it could seem very reasonable. The Course says attack is never justified. But ego says it depends on the circumstances. It is easy to see how the ego works. It makes up the rules as it goes along so that its choices are always justified. It makes different rules for different situations and this keeps our minds so mired in the complexities of it that we cannot find our way out as long as we continue to listen to the ego.

What if in every situation we knew that attack, anger, fear and guilt are never justified? No matter what seems to be happening, no matter whose fault it seems to be, no matter what the circumstances seem to suggest, attack, anger, fear and guilt are never justified. If we knew that these reactions are out the door, what would we do? How would we think? What would we communicate if we had no interest in communicating hatred and fear? If we were not busy isolating through defense and attack, would we then join through love and acceptance?

The ego fights with every weapon at its disposal to keep these questions unanswered. It is not interested in union, only in separation. It uses its biggest guns which always involves fear. If we don’t stop them what comes next? What other horrible thing will they do? Will they do it to us? Ego uses righteousness as a defense. What if we hadn’t stepped in when the Nazis were destroying the Jews? What if we had stepped in sooner? Thinking about this the mind can easily move into fear and doubt. We might begin to think that maybe the ego is right in this case. And this is the way the ego keeps separation going.

Egos biggest deterrent is the belief that it fosters that we are these bodies and this story we are living is actually our life. As long as it can keep this idea alive, it has us. This is the sticking point. If I am this body I must defend it. If this is my life then what happens in it is of the greatest concern to me. My purpose is to wake up from the dream of separation, to forgive all I have made to take the place of reality, and to return my mind to its rightful place with God. If I think I am a body and this life is real, that purpose makes no sense and I will throw it out the window the moment the body is threatened.

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Study of the Text 9-5-13

VII. Creation and Communication
9-5-13
1 It is clear that while the content of any particular ego illusion does not matter, its correction is more helpful in a specific context. Ego illusions are quite specific, although the mind is naturally abstract. Part of the mind becomes concrete, however, when it splits. The concrete part believes in the ego, because the ego depends on the concrete. The ego is the part of the mind that believes your existence is defined by separation.

Here is how I understand this. I notice that I am worried about losing a customer. It doesn’t actually matter if I lose this customer because the whole situation, Myron, the customer, the company I work for, the money I hoped to make from this sale, the world this story is taking place in, all of this is an illusion. How could it be important what the outcome is?

However, the situation is useful. The part of my mind that has become concrete, the part of my mind that believes my life is defined by the separation which is made up of specific and separate instances, will learn more readily if I see the correction as specific. When someone presents a new idea, I will often ask for an example, because I will understand it better if I can see how it is used. This is why the situation involving the customer is useful.

I can see in this situation that I still hold onto the idea of lack and loss, and this gives me another opportunity to allow this belief to be corrected. As I look at my fear I see that it stems from the idea that if I lose this customer I will lose money which I feel I need, and certainly in this illusion I do need money. This shows me I believe in both lack (I could lack what I need) and loss (even if I have it I can lose it) and therefore I have every reason to be afraid even when things are going well.

My fear shows me that if I lose this customer I could lose my standing in the eyes of my boss. This could cause me to lose not just the commission from that sale, but lose the confidence my company has in me, which could cost me my job and therefore my entire income. Lack and loss. My fear shows me that losing this customer will affect my self-worth so I evidently believe I am defined by what I do. Lack, loss and the belief that my behavior defines me.

So this specific situation reveals to me the beliefs in my mind that are keeping me tied to the ego self. I am afraid, and because I identify with the ego mind I turn to the ego for protection. The ego says it will protect me through my fear. If I am afraid of losing everything then I will be careful with my customers and try to do everything right.

When I think I should ask that my mind be healed so that I am not living in fear the ego warns that fear is the only thing protecting me from lack and loss. This is the ego trap, but the Holy Spirit is the way out of this trap. All that is required is trust. I trust that I will be healed and that healing is a good thing. I accept the Atonement in this situation (the undoing of the ego in this situation) and allow my mind to be healed. I feel light and free and happy.

The more often I do this, the less likely I am to doubt the outcome and so I am motivated to continue the work until the job is done and the lesson is generalized. Then I won’t need specific instances. Each time the thought of lack and loss appear in the mind, I will have no attachment to it and it will just go back to where it came from.

This is funny when you think about it. The ego mind thinks I am this body and this life is all I have. Actually, it is only a series of specific examples of what it is like to believe in separation. If I believe the ego, that is identify with that concrete part of the mind that believes in separation, I will live this dream as if it is actually life and I will suffer. If I use this dream to recognize the ego beliefs so that I can ask the Holy Spirit to undo what I have done, I will wake up from the illusion and begin to live.

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