Together, We Light the Way

Click link to go to:
Together We Light the Way Index

Study of the Text 7-12-13

II THE EGO AND FALSE AUTONAMY, Paragraph 10
7-12-13
10 Salvation is nothing more than “right-mindedness,” which is not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be achieved before One-mindedness is restored. Right-mindedness leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without attack, and therefore wrong-mindedness is obliterated. The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly. The mind then has only one direction in which it can move. Its direction is always automatic, because it cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres.

In this paragraph Jesus de-mystifies salvation and makes it simple for us to understand. Salvation is nothing more than “right-mindedness,” he tells us. This is why our job is to undo the ego or allow the Holy Spirit to correct our thinking, or to use the term Jesus uses, accept the Atonement. Through our desire for God and with the Holy Spirit’s help, all we are doing is letting go of the wrong-minded belief in separation. The mind will then, automatically go in the direction of One-mindedness. Without the ego thought of separation, there will be no other direction to go.

Jesus said something else that is essential to our process of letting go. He said that the ego cannot survive without judgment. You may want to think about that for a moment: The ego cannot survive without judgment. As we let go of judgment the whole ego thought system comes unglued and falls apart on its own. I am learning to watch my mind for judgment thoughts.

Ego judgments can be subtle sometimes, especially now that I look for them but I am training myself to recognize judgment in all its forms. Jesus has told us in an earlier paragraph that he will substitute for our ego if we want him to. So when I notice I am judging I remember that Jesus is now substituting for my ego and he will judge for me, and his judgment is always that I am innocent.

Sometimes I become frustrated with myself because I still choose ego. I will hear myself say something catty about a fellow worker and cringe as it comes out of my mouth. I will feel regretful because I have taught what I don’t want to learn, and I have set my brother back on his path. This is judgment. I have judged myself as sinful, foolish, thoughtless or whatever other word I want to give it. Now I have a choice. I can accept the ego’s judgment, or I can remember that I don’t have to depend on the ego. I have entrusted my ego to Jesus and his judgment is the Holy Spirit’s judgment. I am innocent.

As soon as the thought of innocence enters my mind sanity begins to return. I remember to ask that my innocence be revealed to me. I ask that the other person’s innocence be revealed to me. As this is done I feel love for myself and for everyone involved. I am forgiven my lapse into judgment and I know I am innocent of any wrongdoing. My mind is returned to its natural state of peace and that peace automatically flows outward to envelope my brothers. It is all so simple and so perfect, and so brilliant.

All that is required of me is vigilant mind watching, and a willingness to be healed. At first the vigilance seemed like hard work, but after awhile, even the vigilance was easy and natural. The outcome of this undoing work is so elevating that I am highly motivated to continue it. The mind recognizes peace and joy and naturally turns to it if not deliberately moved to something else through wrong minded thinking.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this post.

Printable Page

Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text 7-11-13

7-11-13
9 Myths and magic are closely associated, since myths are usually related to ego origins, and magic to the powers the ego ascribes to itself. Mythological systems generally include some account of “the creation,” and associate this with its particular form of magic. The so-called “battle for survival” is only the ego’s struggle to preserve itself, and its interpretation of its own beginning. This beginning is usually associated with physical birth, because it is hard to maintain that the ego existed before that point in time. The more “religiously” ego-oriented may believe that the soul existed before, and will continue to exist after a temporary lapse into ego life. Some even believe that the soul will be punished for this lapse. However, salvation does not apply to spirit, which is not in danger and does not need to be salvaged.

I can hardly believe that I ever mistook the mythological story of birth and death seriously, and it is beyond belief that I still fall for it. The myth holds that we are born of our parents, perhaps to thrive, perhaps not, but always to struggle. Since struggle seems inevitable we elevate the idea and congratulate ourselves when we do seem to survive. There are many variations on this same theme. When they are religious in nature we see God as the sometimes helper and sometimes judge, and always fearful in nature. No wonder we live in such confusion and fear when we believe we cannot even depend on our Creator myth.

None of this that we think of as life has any resemblance to reality. We don’t live at all. We dream of life, the ego’s life, which is only a myth, a fable, a fairytale. It is an ancient story, based on a false belief. How did we convince ourselves of something so absurd, so far from the truth that while life and Life run parallel, they can never meet. They will never reconcile, and so one must be relinquished in order to experience the other.

And even that is an unreal thought because how does one relinquish reality for an illusion? One can only dream of illusions, imagine them, pretend. One cannot actually undo reality in favor of the myth. We sleep and dream until we tire of our repetitious stories. Do you not tire of them now? It is our time to awaken, our time to turn from our mythological pretense and return to Reality. It is our time because we have made that decision.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this post.

Printable Page

Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text 7-10-13

II THE EGO AND FALSE AUTONAMY, Paragraph 8
7-10-13
8 The ego believes it is completely on its own, which is merely another way of describing how it thinks it originated. This is such a fearful state that it can only turn to other egos and try to unite with them in a feeble attempt at identification, or attack them in an equally feeble show of strength. It is not free, however, to open the premise to question, because the premise is its foundation. The ego is the mind’s belief that it is completely on its own. The ego’s ceaseless attempts to gain the spirit’s acknowledgement and thus establish its own existence are useless. Spirit in its knowledge is unaware of the ego. It does not attack it; it merely cannot conceive of it at all. While the ego is equally unaware of spirit, it does perceive itself as being rejected by something greater than itself. This is why self-esteem in ego terms must be delusional. The creations of God do not create myths, although creative effort can be turned to mythology. It can do so, however, only under one condition; what it makes is then no longer creative. Myths are entirely perceptual, and so ambiguous in form and characteristically good-and-evil in nature that the most benevolent of them is not without fearful connotations.

Something that really jumped out at me in this paragraph is that Spirit is unaware of ego. Now he says it, I see that this must be true. The ego does not exist and its pretense is effective only if I believe in it. If Spirit knew the ego, the ego would be real because it was known. Here is a way I visualized this idea that Spirit does not know ego.

What if I imagined a life different than the one I live? What if I imagined that I was Myron in my daily life and as people knew me, but actually was a super hero, much like Clark Kent is to Superman? If I focused on the story of my alter-self, I could create quite a vivid mental experience of it. If I gave it enough attention it would seem very real, and if I lost my hold on Myron, I could get lost in the story and believe it was real and the Myron story was the illusion. I would probably be diagnosed if people noticed this, but assuming I maintained my illusion of “normalcy” I could engage in my imaginative story while continuing my life as Myron, mild mannered sales rep and minister.

Now suppose you were a friend who interacted with me from time to time, or even every day. You would only know Myron. You would not be aware of my super hero identity. I could be living a rich and exciting inner life that I enjoyed way more than the Myron life, but you would not even know it existed. Well, in a way this is exactly what is happening.

I am living a pretend life, and I call this the life of Myron. I pretend to be happy or sad and I make up stories to accommodate these pretenses and to make them seem real to me. I pretend to be in pain and to suffer. Such drama! The story of Myron is actually an anti-hero story. In reality I am the hero playing at being so much less. That’s why I have to pretend to suffer. I can’t actually suffer. I’m like superman without even the single weakness of kryptonite so how could pain suffering and death even be possible to me?

Obviously, this story of Myron is a myth that I made up and then in my enthusiasm, fell for to the point of insanity. I have done such a good job of pretense, and of getting so deeply involved in my story that I have had something like a psychotic break with reality. I actually believe that I am the pretense. I believe that I am weak and vulnerable and often a victim. But believing it cannot make it true and I am beginning to shake off the story. It’s been fun guys, but pretty soon I’m going to be out of here!

In the meantime though, while I do still believe in my story, Spirit, (my true actual Self) does not know about this. It is like the friends in Myron’s life who are unaware of her pretend life. From the perspective of Spirit I am still as I always have been and Spirit would never conceive of it being different since what God creates is unalterable.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this post.

Printable Page

Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text 7-9-13

7-9-13
The Ego and False Autonomy, paragraph 7
7 The ego literally lives by comparisons. Equality is beyond its grasp, and charity becomes impossible. The ego never gives out of abundance, because it was made as a substitute for it. That is why the concept of “getting” arose in the ego’s thought system. Appetites are “getting” mechanisms, representing the ego’s need to confirm itself. This is as true of body appetites as it is of the so-called “higher ego needs.” Body appetites are not physical in origin. The ego regards the body as its home, and tries to satisfy itself through the body. But the idea that this is possible is a decision of the mind, which has become completely confused about what is really possible.

I am continually amazed at my ability to ignore, confuse, and overlook the obvious when studying the Course. I have read this paragraph many times. I have noticed what it says about appetites and even been surprised by it. But there was a resistance in my mind to this idea and I obstinately refused to fully accept what I was reading. I mean, I said the words and repeated them. For heaven’s sake, I taught them, but I never really surrendered to them until now.

What are the body appetites and what am I trying to get through them? Sex is a body appetite and what it offers (falsely) is closeness and joining. Its lie is that it will alleviate the nagging feeling that we are alone and unloved because we are unlovable. It offers the promise of acceptance and desirability fulfilled, the assurance that we are wanted and treasured. It often disappoints because it is ego based and the ego is not about joining and love is not about the body, though when given to the Holy Spirit’s purpose love can be expressed through the body.

How about food appetites? We need food to fuel the body, but what about the cravings? Is the desire for chocolate really divine in nature? I am especially attuned to the appetites for foods as this is my favorite substitute for God’s Love. I can swoon over a perfectly baked coconut cake or creamy pie. I can be driven from my bed to seek out a sweet relief to my craving for some desert or other. What drives these appetites?

I used to think it must be genetic or something, and that my body just longed for sugar and I was victim to that longing. Now of course, I understand the body is just a tool, a way of expressing what is in the mind. Jesus is helping me to understand that my cravings are in my mind and then projected onto the body (which is in my mind). He is also helping me to see that, like sex, food has become, for me, a way to satisfy my deeper longings for love and acceptance, and primarily for the love of God.

Because appetites are ego based, they are guilt based, and so I delight my taste buds (create in my mind a sensation of tasting and pretend it is happening in my body) and feel guilty for it because I see it as further betrayal of God. I push this thought down far enough to keep it from my awareness, but while I can hide from the reason, I cannot hide from the guilt.

The guilt drives me to punish myself and so those sweetly delightful treats settle around my waist and in my hips and I fear to step on the scale. Like any addict, I promise myself I will stop this indulgence and of course, I don’t have any true intention of doing so. I am as addicted to the guilt and punishment as I pretend that my body is addicted to the sugar.

The body appetites are literally a substitute for God’s Love. They do not originate in the body, but in the mind, and so all attempts to control them through suppression or denial, through abstinence or dieting is useless. It is just playing into the ego’s game of guilt and sin. I give my appetites to the Holy Spirit and ask that He heal my mind of my false beliefs about them. I entrust my body and my ego to Jesus and let him teach me their unimportance. I continue to accept the Atonement and allowing my mind to be healed, I undo the ego.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this post.

Printable Page

Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text 7-8-13

7-7-13
II The Ego and False Autonomy, paragraph 6
6 Only those who have a real and lasting sense of abundance can be truly charitable. This is obvious when you consider what is involved. To the ego, to give anything implies that you will have to do without it. When you associate giving with sacrifice, you give only because you believe that you are somehow getting something better, and can therefore do without the thing you give. “Giving to get” is an inescapable law of the ego, which always evaluates itself in relation to other egos. It is therefore continually preoccupied with the belief in scarcity that gave rise to it. Its whole perception of other egos as real is only an attempt to convince itself that it is real. “Self-esteem” in ego terms means nothing more than that the ego has deluded itself into accepting its reality, and is therefore temporarily less predatory. This “self-esteem” is always vulnerable to stress, a term which refers to any perceived threat to the ego’s existence.

“Giving to get” is an inescapable law of the ego. Looking at this idea I first thought of giving money or some valuable object. Do I always give to get? I give money to my children, to charities and to other people who need it. What do I get out of it? If it is my ego that is giving, I get to present a generous ego to the public eye. I get to feel like I am now less guilty than before having made up for my bad acts with good works. I have appeased God. This is ego reasoning, and to the ego any one of these results would be worth a certain amount of money depending on the level of guilt it was feeling at the moment.

Do I ever give for the pure joy of giving? Do I ever give because it is my nature to give? I don’t know because giving is so mixed up with my ego motives that I can’t tell. Trying to purify my motives in giving would be going at it backwards and wouldn’t work. I can only continue to do the work of undoing. When the ego is undone the issue of giving to get will no longer be an issue.

I see that it is not just money and other material possessions that are used in the egos “giving to get” game. It gives compliments to get compliments. It gives kind acts to look kinder than other egos and so look better than others. It works harder at the job to increase its value to the company in the hopes of standing out from the other egos and thus insuring employment.

This giving to get mentality shows up in every special relationship, which is every relationship until it is given to the Holy Spirit for purification. Relationships are reciprocal in every way. The ego dresses to attract, that is, to stand out from other egos. It is kind and loving, not for the joy of it, but in the hopes the other will be kind and loving. It gives whatever it has to the other in the hopes of getting something it thinks it needs in return. Everything the ego gives is in the hopes of getting a return and it hopes that return is greater than the outlay.

The entire concept of giving to get is always born of guilt and so guilt underlies every action.  It wants to make the other feel guilty through it’s giving in the hopes that one will then reciprocate in some way. Or the ego gives because it is trying to fool everyone, especially God, into believing it is not guilty. The ego is like a hamster on a wheel, running, running, running, and never getting anywhere.

The ego works very hard on its self esteem issues so it will seem stronger and better than others, thus proving it is better than those others. The ego will never get anywhere in its race to success because the whole race is a farce. Everything it does is an attempt to prove its existence through proving the existence of other egos, and since egos do not exist it is doomed to failure.

Instead of letting go of the insane idea that ego is real, I try to make my ego look better than your ego. Even as I write this my ego hopes you will be impressed with my writing and will think of me as “special” because of it. It uses even my desire to wake up and my desire to love God as a way to feed its need to be absolved of guilt. Being the ego it thinks that to be guiltless it must look less guilty than others.

My ego thinks like this: It gives its time and effort freely and gets nothing in return. “Look at me, God. I am doing Your work and now You have to love me. See, how others are impressed with me? See how they look to me for answers? Surely You recognize my value now, God. I am Your special teacher, I sacrifice more than anyone for you. Surely You will forgive me for my sins and not punish me for leaving You.” And of course, whom do I look better than? All those other egos, and since they exist I must exist.

It is all very convoluted and very depressing and impossible to fix. As Jesus said, giving to get is an inescapable law of the ego. I cannot fix the ego, repair it, shore it up and make it better. I can only undo it. The ego is the idea of guilt, fear and lack, and therefore can only be those things no matter how hard I try to make it look different. I want to be generous and loving without an agenda. I want this because under the ego façade, it is my nature to be so. True love, true generosity, and true giving is what I am and that is what will bring me joy.

As I accept the Holy Spirit’s healing of my mind and finally give up on the idea of a better ego, I will let that impossible idea go. Just beneath my belief in the ego is my Self, which is not a belief at all and so cannot be lost or damaged by my silly thoughts. Just beneath the belief in the idea of an ego is joy and peace and love, and without ego, I will know what it means to give just for the joy of giving. 

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this post.

Printable Page

Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Page 265 of 380 pages ‹ First  < 263 264 265 266 267 >  Last ›

<< Back to main page of Together, We Light the Way

Featured Store Items

Spiritual Counselor Training — based on principles of A Course in Miracles, including ordination. More….

24 ACIM Practitioner courses including 50-page study guide, CD's or MP3s, with facilitator. More….

Healing Inner Child 8-week program will help you nurture your inner child, connect with your Higher Self and heal relationships.

Listen & Receive 30-Day Home Study Learn to receive insight for your life in a form that is perfect for you …heal fears, find joy & peace. Learn more.

Hey, Holy Spirit, It's Me Again by Rev. Myron Jones. An indispensible guide for anyone on the path of ACIM with insights on the 1st 90 lessons. More…

Gary Renard Workshop CDs and DVDs, including The Art of Advanced Forgiveness, Love Has Forgotten No One, and more.

True Forgiveness by Rev. Jennifer McSween. The Proven Path from Pain to Power and personal happiness in 5 Simple Steps. Learn more.

From the Christ Mind scribed by Darrell Morley Price. A simple, yet profound message that you can immediately apply to current circumstances. More….

Eternal Life and A Course in Miracles by Jon Mundy, Phd. A Path to Eternity in the Essential Text. Sale, 32% discount. Learn more.

Forgiving Kevin Audio book by Rev. Larry Glenz. A moving and inspiring true story of a father/son relationship that withstood seven years of addiction, recovery, and relapse. More….

Healing Family Relationships Applying the Principles of A Course in Miracles 6 CD audio book by Rev. Myron Jones. Learn how family relationships offer fertile grounds for forgiveness and healing your judgments of the world. More.