Mindshifters Group - Empowered to Heal

Last night the Mindshifters group in Crystal Lake watched the second half of the lecture, "Empowered to Heal" by Dr. Michael Ryce.  This lecture looks at how we create not only our emotional experience of life moment to moment, but also our physical dis-ease.  The lecture discusses a collection of ancient wisdom and modern science which describes the process of denying and suppressing "negative" or disintegrative Mind energy, which eventually causes physical pain and cellular decomposition.  This was a particularly timely presentation as several of the people who attended the group last week had mentioned issues with aches, pain, or discomfort of some sort.  Then on Monday the Mindshifters Internet show featured a discussion of the role of emotional upset in physcial pain, especially back pain.  The work of Dr. John Sarno, http://www.healingbackpain.com/, was discussed as well as some personal stories of people who have learned that different specific physical pains are related to mental and emotional energies they have yet to deal with.

"Mindbody medicine pioneer, Dr. John E. Sarno, is Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and attending physician at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center.

Since 1973, Dr. Sarno has conducted research and clinical practice on disorders relating to musculoskeletal pain. Through his ground-breaking experience, Dr. Sarno has identified the cause of most common back, neck, shoulder and limb pain, and has developed a revolutionary Mindbody treatment program which has helped many to become free from chronic pain."

I have had numerous personal experiences and worked with many patients in my clinical psychology practice who have experienced the quick and sometimes total relief of pain which results when the trapped emotional energy which is behind the pain is released or dismantled.  I have personally had the experience of intense hip pain, which was making it nearly impossible for me to walk, be resolved immediately when I used a Mind/Body energy technique which identified the emotion I was holding and released it.

The Mindshifters Radio internet show about this topic from Monday is available at the following web page.  It is  the October 24, 2011 show: http://www.whyagain.com/mindshifterradio_October2011Archive.php
And you can listen to the show each weekday from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time by calling
1-646-200-4169 or logging on to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/earthangelsradio/2011/10/27/mind-shifters-radio-with-the-forgiveness-dr-michael-ryce

Once again, this is a free resource - like so much of the work done by Dr. Michael Ryce and his wife Jeanie - offered to make these tools available to anyone who needs them.

The power of the reality management worksheet to dismantle and remove painful "realities" from one's mind is truly a wonder to behold.  Try it for yourself.  Download the worksheet and use it to dismantle and cancel any "reality" or belief you hold which is related to any uncomfortable mental, emotional, or physical experience you are having.

I would love to hear about your experiences.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love.  Everything else is false.

An Aramaic Definition of Forgiveness

This coming Sunday, October 16th, 20011, I will be giving the sermon at the Unity Church in Crystal Lake, IL.  Then following the service, I will be giving a two and a half hour workshop titled, "Why Is This Happening To Me Again?".  The workshop will not require a fee, but a suggested donation of $12 will be accepted for those who are able to pay.  There will be pot luck at the church between the service and the workshop.  For details you may visit the UCCL website at http://uccl.org/dr.timse.html.

The talk during  the service will introduce the concept of the difference between the ancient Aramaic definition of forgiveness and the modern concept of "pardoning" someone who has "wronged" you.  Then during the workshop, we will explore and question how the processes of anger, fear, and blame drive many of our human interactions and what we can do about it. 

I will present a tool as offered by Dr. Michael Ryce for cancelling and removing any thoughts and beliefs which result in negative emotions within the human mind/body system.  This time-tested tool is available for free from Dr. Ryce's website.  Please feel free to visit this site if you are not able to attend the workshop.  Simply visit www.whyagain.com/worksheets.php and download the first four links on that page.  These include an explanation of the tool, with step by step instructions, the seven step worksheet itself, and two hour-long audio files of Dr. Ryce's internet show in which he works with two different callers to complete the worksheet process.

This tool has the potential to change your life.  I say potential because it only works if you pick it up and use it.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love.  Everything else is false.

"You Can't Handle The Truth!", Or Can You?

For years now I have been trying to explain to people in therapy how there is a part of my mind which believes it is being protective by hiding from me things which "it" has determined are too intense,  too painful, too scary, too anger producing, too overwhelming, etc.  It is as though this part of my mind, which is outside my own awareness, is consantly monitoring everything that happens around me, and my internal response to those events.  Whenever it feels that the outside event, or my response to that event is too much for me to handle it quickly and effectively hides it from me by pushing it into my unconscious.

The difficulty here is that it is my own mind energy which has been used to block my awareness of the event and my reaction to it.  It is also my own mind energy which has to be used to keep this event and my reaction to it, hidden from my conscious awareness.  Now, when I am young, and have lots of energy, and not very many events and reactions that "have to be hidden from me", I don't really notice the drain on my mental energy system, and the added weight of the unconscious material I am carrying around with me.  However, after I reach my third or fourth decade of using my mental energy to hide things from my awareness, and I accumulate more and more unconscious baggage to carry around with me, I begin to run low on resources.  I become more easily overwhelmed, tired, irritable, and inflexible because I have less energy to think through and respond to situations and events, and to process my emotional reactions to them.

It came to me the other day that I avoid looking at the material stored in my unconscious because "I" have placed it there following the conclusion reached by a "protective" part of my mind, saying, "You Can't Handle This!!!"  This reminded me of the movie, A Few Good Men, in which Tom Cruise plays an attorney in the military searching for the truth, while Jack Nicholson plays an officer who is hiding the truth.  In the most memorable scene in the movie Jack Nicholson's character shouts, "What Do You Want From Me?" to which Tom Cruise's character replies, "I Want The Truth!" and then it happens... Jack Nicholson's character replies "You Can't Handle The Truth!!!"

It dawned on me that each time I hide something in my unconscious, it is as though I create another Jack Nicholson character who will shout at me whenever I am about to look at that hidden material, "You Can't Handle The Truth of what I have hidden from you!!!"  "So turn around and look the other way!"  It is as though I have used my own mental energy to create a "guard" for each element I store in my unconscious and that "guard" is my own mental energy yelling at me to turn away from the Truth of my experience and memories and reactions.  It tells me to run toward some form of distraction or escape, or blaming of someone, or something else for what I am feeling.

The solution to this false dilemma is for me to begin to develop that part of my mind which can monitor this process and strengthen the part of my mind that Loves Truth.  Just as in the movie the character played by Tom Cruise decides to fight to uncover the Truth, despite the fact that no one wants him to do that.  He fights to uncover the truth despite the fact that he is threatened with the ending of his career as an attorney, and possibly the end of his career as a military officer.  I must Love Truth enough to face down that part of my own mind which screams at me that, "You Can't Handle The Truth!!!", and remind it that not only can I handle it, I have already lived through it!  I have also continued to function in life despite spending a considerable amount of my own mental energy to keep that Truth hidden from myself.

Contrary to what I have been taught by the culture and society, no one else can make me feel anything.  The Truth is that: "My reality is strictly internal, is unique to me, and is created out of my own thoughts."  I am causing my own pain and frustration, fatigue and overwhelm, by continuing to believe the false notion that "I can't handle the Truth" and that I must keep it hidden from  myself.  I would offer that there is a way to live life which is much lighter, and more energized if I can only teach myself to Love Truth and test the words of the man you said: "Know the Truth and the Truth shall set you Free."

"We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love.  Everything else is false."

Dr. Michael Ryce is Coming to Cary, IL - August 21st - 27th

Dr. Michael Ryce will be appearing at the Center for Spiritual Evolution:
The Center for Spiritual Evolution is located at 204 Spring St. in Cary, IL 60013

Sunday August 21st from noon until 3:00 PM he will be doing the workshop titled: "Why Is This Happening To Me Again?"

This will begin a series of Free workshops which will then move to Monday through Friday from 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM.

Monday night will be: "On Creating Consciously",
Tuesday night will be: "Healing Through Relationships",
Wednesday night will be: "Circle Of Life And How To Play It",
Thursday night will be Codependence To Interdependence", and
Friday night will be: "Naturopathic Keys To Health".

All these workshops are being offered for free. Donations will be accepted but are not required.

Saturday August 28th Dr. Ryce will offer an "Intensive on Mindshifters and StillPoint Breathing", if there are enough prepaid participants. There will be a $125.00 fee for this intensive experience which will run from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM on Saturday.

Again the address is 204 Spring St., Cary, IL 60013

To get a sample of Dr. Ryce's work you can follow the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PlanetaryHealing?blend=13&ob=5


Please email me if you have any questions. thayes@ch4cs.com

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

A New Audio That Will Help Give You Tools To Change Your Life

On Tuesday August 2, 2011 on the Mindshifters Radio Internet Show, a woman called the show and worked through a Reality Management Worksheet, with the host Dr. Michael Ryce. The audio from that show is available at www.whyagain.com/worksheets.php. This audio is a powerful example of how the worksheet process and several other tools offered by Dr. Ryce can work together to dismantle the roots of negative emotions and resentments that many of us carry for years, if not decades.

I highly recommend this audio and the worksheet which are both available for free download at the web page shown above. You can also listen in, and call in to the Internet show which airs five days a week at 1:00 PM Central Time, find more info at this location http://www.whyagain.com/mindshifterradio.php

In the audio file of this show you can hear an outstanding example of what can be accomplished in a very short time, if one has the proper tools and willingness to face things that seem unpleasant and emotionally intense. The results are beyond words. Listen in to hear for yourself.

Thanks again Lynne!

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Blogging About Anger - Or - How To Really Stir Up Your Audience's Reaction

Just two days ago I wrote a blog entry about the purpose and usefulness of anger. Since then I have received more comments than any other blog entry I have ever written. It seems that just bringing up the topic of anger stirs anger and defensiveness in people. It truly amazes me how much emotion was stimulated by the words I wrote in my blog. It makes it much easier for me to see how people could go to war over money, property, religion or perceived physical threat, when simply typing some words about thoughts regarding the proper usefulness of anger can stir such intense emotion.

Thank you to all who read those words and responded. Thank you to those of you who disagreed with what was written, and thank you to those of you who agreed with it and were appreciative.

I would offer that it is instructive for all of us to realize just how much denied and suppressed energy of emotions we carry within our mind/body systems, which is just laying there waiting to be stimulated by a word, picture, action or event from the outside. I would also offer, once again, that the only way to deal with that energy constructively is to understand and accept that I have been carrying that energy within me and that it was not caused by the word, picture, action or event from the outside. I would refer here to another recent blog post regarding the chocolate syrup in the glass of white milk. http://ccandf.blogspot.com/2011/07/it-is-all-inside-job-or-hersheys.html

If I accept that I am the only one who can create the internal reality I experience, then I can begin to work with what I am experiencing and learn to create something more pleasant and loving. The tools offered by Dr. Michael Ryce and others like him are designed to be applied to my daily life to help me create a more loving and peaceful life for myself, regardless of the external situations and the choices of those around me. This is not a philosophical debate or theoretical exercise. This a set of tools for practical, effective change in the experience of life which I create for myself, day after day.

Thanks again to all those who have commented. I would offer that for anyone who has become aware of a strong emotional reaction to the words written in this, or any other, blog post or article it could be very useful to dismantle the thoughts, beliefs and traumas in your mind/body energy system which are creating that reaction within you. Dr. Ryce makes his reality management worksheet available for free on his website at the following location, for this very purpose. www.whyagain.com/worksheets.php The first three links on that page provide the tools you need to rid yourself of any negative emotional energy you are experiencing.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Emotions As Valuable Warning Signals

In the work we do in the Mindshifters group, we teach tools for dismantling the thoughts and beliefs which lead to negative emotions. There have been times when people visiting the group have been vehemently opposed to dismantling the thoughts which lead to their anger. They have made statements like, "I need my anger because it protects me.", or "I use my anger to fuel my creativity.", or "I don't want anyone judging me and telling me that my thoughts or feelings are wrong. If if is a part of me then it is not wrong and I don't want to get rid of it, I want to embrace my anger and pain."

Well, in some ways I have to agree with part of those protests. Emotions are a natural part of my experience and they serve a valuable function in my life, if I know what that function is, and how to use my thoughts and emotions to my advantage. The difficulty arises when people want to use their emotions to solve their problems, or to pressure someone else to do, or stop doing something. This is like using a perfectly good tool for the wrong job. I run the risk of ruining the tool and either failing to complete the job, or taking a lot longer than necessary, and creating other problems along the way.

I would offer that my negative emotions are a warning system to notify me that I am doing something wrong. As Dr. Michael Ryce teaches us, "If I am in pain, I am in error.". In this case, my anger, frustration, confusion, hurt, sadness, are like the alarm system for my mind/body energy system. They are telling me that I am in error, or I have 'missed the mark' with whatever I was trying to do. Often this warning system tells me that I have made the mistake of thinking that I can and should control things that I cannot control. At other times the warning system tells me that I have judged myself, someone or something as being wrong and thereby set up a belief that I am right and I need to fight whatever is happening.

Guy Finley offers that when I am angry at someone, the degree to which I am angry with them is an indication to me of how right I am and how wrong they are. How can my pain, prove that I am right? He goes on to say that, "My anger and pain does not prove that I am right. It only proves that I don't know what "rightness" is."

If I were right, wouldn't I be feeling happy and loving?

The following insight came to me last night while listening to Mindshifters Radio - the replay of the August 2, 2011 show -

"Anger is only as productive for resolving a situation I don't like, as a fire alarm is for putting out a fire. Clinging to my anger and raging at another person or situation is like blasting the alarm at the flames and expecting the fire to be extinguished."

This is not to say that a fire alarm is useless or should be eliminated. It is simply recognizing that the role of the alarm is to mobilize me to take corrective action to find the source of the problem and remedy it. The alarm is not the solution! It is only an indication of the presence of error and the need for a solution!

My negative emotions are very valuable, but only in their role as an indication to me that I am in pain because I am in error. When I become aware of my negative emotional states, I can then choose to apply the many tools which are available to dismantle the false realities in my mind which are causing my pain. By doing this, I restore my awareness to my original and constant source as the energy of Love, and temporarily end the dream of separation.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

We Must Forego The Protection Afforded by Judgment

In order to grow and heal,"We must forego the protection afforded by judgment."

What does this mean? This means that whenever we judge another we are hiding from ourselves the things within us that we don't want to see. We cannot judge another without declaring that the same is true about ourselves. It is not possible for me to even recognize something outside of myself, if it does not resonate with or stir up something that is already inside of me. I cannot be upset about something I see, unless I am already judging myself negatively for having said, thought, or done the same thing at some point in time.

So, when I judge someone or something else as being wrong, I am hiding from myself the things I am unhappy with in myself, by focusing my attention outside of myself. This "protects" me from the discomfort of dealing with those aspects of myself which are uncomfortable for me.

That is why I say that in order to grow and heal, I need to "Forego the protection afforded by judgment.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

It Is All An Inside Job - Or - Hershey's Chocolate, A Key To A Spiritual Truth

One of the most horrific lies ever forced upon us as human beings is the idea that other people cause our thoughts and feelings. This one simple lie changes our view of ourselves from creator to victim. This one simple lie is the source of all unnecessary psychological and emotional pain.
The fact is that our thoughts create our emotions and that our emotions simply shadow our thoughts. Since we are each endowed with the infinite capacity to choose the focus of our conscious awareness at any given moment, we have the free will to choose our thoughts.

This means that we create our emotions by choosing the thoughts which produce those emotions. Now, I realize that for almost everyone reading these words, their cultural and family conditioning goes directly contrary to what I am offering here. That does not make it right or wrong. This is simply something for each of us to observe in our own lives, as it is happening. If one observes that thinking happy thoughts leads to happy feelings/emotions, and that thinking sad thoughts leads to sad feelings/emotions, and that thinking angry thoughts leads to angry feelings/emotions, then one has demonstrated the truth to one's self.

Most of us have been conditioned to think that other people offend us, and that other people hurt our feelings, and that other people make us angry. What has happened here is that we have been trained to mistake "the trigger" for the cause. The cause of one's emotions, as we can easily observe, is the choice of one's thoughts. When we choose to believe that what happens outside of us, or what someone else does, is the cause of our emotions we simply mistake the "triggering event" as the cause. When this happens we see ourselves as having been "made" to feel a certain way. Without realizing it we have defined ourselves as victims. We then quickly try to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of being the helpless victim by blaming, or attacking the person, or thing, we think has caused our internal discomfort or emotional pain.

I would offer that blaming someone or something outside of me for causing my psychological or emotional pain is mistaking the trigger for the cause. I remember when I was younger how we used to get a large glass of cold milk and pour Hershey's chocolate syrup into the glass. The chocolate syrup would pool at the bottom of the glass, leaving 95% of the glass filled with cold, white milk. If I took a drink from that glass, I would taste nothing but the cold, white milk. Now let's imagine that I have two nice tall glasses of white milk and I pour chocolate syrup into one glass and leave the other as just plain white milk. When I taste these two glasses of milk they will both taste like cold white milk. Now imagine a spoon coming into my posession and I vigorously stir the milk with the chocolate syrup pooled at the bottom. The glass will soon be full of dark, rich chocolate milk. However, if I use that same spoon and vigorously stir the glass of white milk, without any chocolate syrup in it, it stays a nice cold glass of white milk.

The spoon is just a stimulus, a trigger, for the chocolate to be disturbed from its resting place at the bottom of the glass. The spoon did not cause the milk to be chocolate. The spoon can only stir up what is already in the glass. I could stir the glass with the white milk in it for hours, and it will not turn chocolate. So we can plainly see that the spoon is simply a stimulus, it is not the cause for the milk to turn brown and chocolatey.

Blaming someone else for the anger I feel is like blaming the spoon for making the milk chocolatey. Blaming someone else for my choice to think sad or bitter thoughts is like deciding to spend days and days stirring the glass of white milk, hoping that if I stir it enough it will turn to chocolate milk. The spoon only stimulates and stirs up what is already in the glass.

To continue this analogy, let us imagine that I had the willpower to refrain from drinking the chocolate milk once the syrup had been stirred up and spread evenly throughout the glass. Let's imagine that I am able to put it back into the refrigerator, (where no one else drinks it either), and I let it rest, without any exposure to the spoon for several long hours. When I finally take the milk out of the refrigerator I will see that 90% of the glass is filled with cold white milk, and the syrup has once again settled to the bottom. If I take a drink from the glass, I will taste only cold, white milk. Does this offer me proof that the spoon caused the milk to be chocolately, because when the milk was away from the spoon for several hours, it returned to its state of being mostly cold, white milk? Do I prove that the spoon caused the milk to be chocolatey by re-introducing the spoon to the milk and stirring it up once again until it becomes chocolate milk once more.

In much the same way, we have been trained to think that other people, who by the way only introduce us to parts of ourselves which are hidden from our awareness, are causing our anger, sadness, hurt, insult, offense, confusion, etc. Then when that person goes away, and we are alone or with other people, we feel much better, more calm, happy, focused, loving, etc. This seems to prove to us that the other person was responsible for our negative emotions, because we only feel those things when we are with them. REMEMBER THE SPOON!

Other people, places, situations and events can only stir up within us what is already there.

Please don't believe me about this. Observe for yourself the way your thoughts and emotions interact and what is happening in your thought process when you are feeling happy, sad, angry, confused, or fearful. Once you are armed with accurate observations about how your thoughts and feelings interact, and your ability to choose the focus of your conscious awareness, you will be better able to make the choice to Teach Only Love.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Blog Post From Jayem about ACIM and The Way of Mastery

This topic came up again last night in the Mindshifters group and so I thought I would re-post the blog from Jayem. The point is that one should not get caught up in the words, thinking that words are truth. Words cannot tell us Truth. Words can only point us in the direction of experiences which show us Truth.

A student recently asked: "What is the difference between ACIM (A Course in Miracles) and Way of Mastery and where do they conflict?"

First, perceived conflict - when looking upon teachings that come from the very highest levels of Wisdom - is not in the teachings themselves, but reveals the current limit of our own limit of awareness. Having said that, let me begin by sharing a critical, universal truth that all seeking awakening must begin with. This is the way Jeshua put it to me many years ago:

Teaching is an art, not a science,

and all forms of teaching but serve to sever

the mind or soul from its infatuation with the illusions

it has generated, and then entered into.

The wise teacher speaks the language of the student first, then leads them beyond the very limits they do not know imprisons them.

Both ACIM and The Way of Mastery (WOM) are expressions of this teaching art aimed at reaching downward into the labyrinth of where the student is, and providing ways and means to enter and – depending on the devotion, desire, and commitment of the student – to move through the process of enlightenment.

I am not an ACIM student. I am a disciple of Jeshua, who is the Master Teacher ‘in charge of the Atonement.’ He has selectively led me to small segments of ACIM, and – as far as I can tell – there is no conflict at all if one goes far enough in the enlightenment process. I have had many, many Course students come to me – and to WOM – who, frankly, seem to be suffering in a ‘stuckness’. It appears that they get stuck in a purely mental approach to waking, and this is a very common malaise that can occur if one doesn’t have access to teachers who have themselves gone beyond the level of purely mental/intellectual understanding, for they will be limited to meeting the student’s deeper obstructions with little more than recourse to ideas and statements about Reality, but don’t necessarily have the skillful art that can operate at subtle/deep levels of soul itself, nor even know how to “seduce” the mind out of its ruts of thinking/perceiving.

In a nutshell, SOME students, following the lead of some ACIM teachers, say the body and world are simply unreal (there is a sense in which this is true) and thus tend to discount feeling, breath, and any need to participate in growing one’s capacity to serve others.

Personally, I know that phase of the waking process. It’s actually found in many forms of spirituality around the world. Unfortunately, it can be a clever way to avoid any really ownership of egoic patterns, as well as submission to real transformation. Seeing the unreality of world, self, and purpose of Creation is actually a first step; as extraordinary as it may seem. What is often missed is the overall context of ACIM and a lack of understanding of where it fits along the spectrum of awakening, and the audience it relates to. There are certainly passages in it that reveal what comes once the radical correction in what I call the ‘seat of the soul’ is truly completed.

This correction, by the way, has already been mapped out and described in certain universal spiritual pathways, and has been already spoken of by countless mystics and masters. Here, let’s just call this non-duality. There is a radical and absolute reconciliation between what seems to be the duality of spirit / matter, eternity / time, God / self, form / formlessness, without falling into the temptation to explain all realms of form away!

Many ACIM students have found their way beyond this first step, and gone on to share and teach from deeper levels. For example, Brent Haskell’s Journey Beyond Words is one example. Marianne Williamson’s work can hardly be said to be limited by this first step in waking. Rather, she models a much deeper level which we find permeates WOM, and the PathWay Jeshua has led me to go through and develop for others over the past twenty years. He calls this ‘servantship’:

being moved by such compassion

that one’s whole life is submitted to

personal transformation;

is moved by, and for, the very love of God/Reality.

And you know what? Everybody who takes up the path of genuine spirituality committed to fully waking is going to struggle, get lost, and find themselves in dilemmas they couldn’t possibly imagine before their journey begins! It’s part of the ‘rights of passage’ inherent in the waking process itself.

WOM contains the "ascending current" and absolute metaphysic found in ACIM, that yes, this is a dream, but in the sense of how we perceive it from contraction into the duality of a self separate from God/Reality. It also emphasizes feeling as central to the process of turning Mind back upon itself to penetrate the roots of separation/duality itself, and ends in a very radical non-dualism.

You see, Mind has depth. It is more that just the component that forms mental concepts affecting perception. Feeling –in the context of cultivating presence, witnessing, and a growing capacity to meet all arising with Love itself – is a deeper level of Mind! Working at this level broadens profoundly the waking process, revealing revelation, insight, and capacity to enfold Creation not available at the limited level of thought and concept.

One way, I think, to show the broad stages of genuine awakening is to borrow Ramana Maharshi's famous mystical syllogism. Here, we can see three distinct domains of consciousness, and gain some insight into what some students of ACIM (and some teachers) may be doing with it, and why:

ACIM (as it tends to get interpreted in what I feel is a bit unfair to ACIM itself) would say with the first domain stated by Ramana:

Brahman (Reality/God) alone is Real.

The world is illusion.

An absolute dualism, and not uncommon in world spiritual traditions to certain stages of development. Note, it’s the first step referred to earlier! And then Ramana takes the shocking leap that requires stages of awakening beyond the levels of mind dealing with subject-object perception and interpretation, or ‘intellect’ as we commonly use the term, to reveal:

Brahman is the world!

This just cannot be grasped from the first step of awakening (one which, by the way, the spiritual ego just loves to latch onto!) This final and extraordinary leap is probably found in ACIM, but just won’t be seen until the student has matured the capacity to be able to see it! It’s made explicit in WOM, in the final chapters of Book Three, The Way of Knowing, namely, that there is only God.

ACIM says of itself that its purpose will not answer every question a teacher of god will have, and that its goal is a return to peace SO THAT one is willing to turn every decision over to the "Holy Spirit" (which, of course, is the most natural of the natural where the distortion of separation contracting awareness into separation is gone…. that is, spirit leads, not ego). Logically, this implies it is NOT any kind of final word, nor a complete explanation or pathway in itself. Its fundamental modus operandi is to use reason to defeat our ideas about ourselves, and to point to higher possibilities.

But a spiritual journey isn’t about ideas and words. Its about becoming the ‘living Word’, which is about a quality of Being that, in the end, really can’t be contained in any teaching device, and that includes ACIM and WOM!

I have a sneaking suspicion that if Jeshua had felt "complete" with ACIM, there would have been no need for The Way of Mastery. I don’t quite see WOM as just another form of what ACIM calls the universal curriculum.. Many curriculums share common goals, but not all curriculums share all goals, or revelations. WOM and ACIM both serve the skillful art of assisting the Mind/soul to;

1) wake up from false identity

2) to see Reality/Creation more and more clearly

3) to serve and participate in and as Creation itself.

I hear often from ACIM students (and beginning WOM students) say that ‘its all just illusion. It’s unreal. I am only dreaming.’ I, too, entered and was identified with that, too. After all, we all pass into the First Step sooner or later. Hoping the beginning equals the end is a temptation to guard against! Those statements are true enough at their own level, but are only partial revelations of a full enlightenment.

In essence, if I insist an object (thing, person, experience) is illusion in the sense of not real at all, I have JUST MADE my idea of it VERY REAL and am actually what ACIM refers to as ‘twice removed from Reality’. What does that mean? Something is arising. Mind forms an Idea about it, and then formulates a statement to represent the Idea. This is where we live incessantly until we begin to awaken from the Dream of Separation. And then the ego aspect insists upon it, and argues for it!

And what is Reality?

If we are to say anything at all, it is immediate and immediately known by being it, not by arguing about it or against what is immediately arising by calling it ‘illusion’, or ‘unreal’. What is unreal is the need to move two levels away from Reality in the first place! This is to recapitulate the primordial Separation in this moment. What ACIM refers to as the ‘Holy Instant’ simply isn’t available in any mediated level of attention/use of awareness.

I feel that a common obstacle all students (and many teachers, especially if they cease being students!) risk is the hope that what they are studying is the ‘final word’ about Reality, unaware that they are settling for a new ‘translation / understanding’, rather than entering the way of radical transformation which opens one’s very being to the immediate apprehension in, of, and as, Reality as such.

And the one word that is a symbol of the Idea that most perfectly reflects Reality has only four letters:

LOVE

God IS, Love.

It is QUITE true, of course, that as ACIM says, "what is real cannot be threatened, and what is unreal does not exist." Yes to that!! What IS real is not opposed to, or in conflict with anything at all. This is why Jeshua teaches us that Love “allows all things, trusts all things, embraces all things, (and in this way) transcends all things.”

Love is not a dreamer, for it is not a separate "one". And only Love is real. And it’s everywhere as the only thing that is actually real. We just aren’t seeing it, being it, allowing it because we are contracted in fear and guilt at the core of our deepest core. I have come to see into this radically in my own case, and in the case of thousands, even many who have been intellectual students, meditators, etc for years:

Until one can feel fully all the way into this core grip of fear and guilt, one will unconsciously defend it, and project a defense by ‘going up’ into the mind, clinging to ideas about the Big Three: Self, Reality/God, Creation. My ideas give me a place to hide as it were, but Love is never fully realized behind the buffer of ideas, no matter how lofty they may seem.

We are contracting into mediating – and thus separating from – Reality, or (and this is the goal of all genuine spirituality) we are directly knowing the radiant, shocking, liberating, infinite immediacy of Reality. We are in, and being moved by, Love!

There is an immediacy of Presence that drops the soul into eternity, and opens creation infinitely, in a simple raindrop on a roof, or the falling of a tear, or a vision to end world hunger, or to write a love song to God, or cook the most loving meal your friends have ever had.

ACIM says it very clearly, actually:

Heaven is here, there is no other place.

Heaven is now, there is no other time.

WOM may go farther than ACIM in making it abundantly clear that this is true, and therefore, creation is already timeless and infinite and ceaseless in its unfolding, and invites us all to go all the way BACK INTO A CREATION UTTERLY TRANSFORMED and renewed and enfolded, and celebrated!

The key theme of ACIM is essentially forgiveness, and of course, it is also a necessary condition of WOM. What WOM adds is the call to join the dance of creation without reservation anymore; to discover what it means to know GOD IS, and that heaven is here and heaven is now. It invites us to see more deeply that our waking requires us to come back down and into this world just as it is, for we do not fully awaken until we take up what he refers to as Servantship. This arises only as we come to see that our true Nature, and the nature of Reality are but one: Love.

As Love is restored or re-membered, compassion for the whole of creation arises, and the very energy of desire goes through its final quantum shift: from desire for egoic safety, fulfillment, and meaning, through the desire to awaken from ego, and into the desire to serve Love’s healing of God’s ‘one Son’; every being yet imprisoned in the suffering of a fully illusory separation, fused to the vicious cycle of guilt, fear, and projection of these.

This is why there is no liberation FOR the self, but only FROM it, INTO, Reality. Behold! For God looked upon all He created and said, "It is very good." And when there is seeing with God Consciousness, what is seen is suffused in Holiness. And what is Holy drips and oozes with Beauty. The sipping of a cup of coffee becomes what it could never be while the veil of a separated ego-self seemed to yet demand contraction in fear and guilt.

To become ‘ego-less’ is not to see that nothing really exists, but that what ego projected was unreal. It is to awaken as Love itself in and under all conditions. It is not to be finally obliterated, but finally and fully Existent as the essence of Existence itself. What we all need to do is, I think, give up the notion that one form of teaching is complete, and then cling to it doggedly, thus confusing the very purpose of the teaching as a tool with the real goal the teaching was designed for. Let us all be ceaselessly devoted to learning the power of innocence, of deepening Presence in wonder and curiosity, letting every moment teach us more deeply of the Love that God IS, of the potential of Love for dissolving all that may yet impede the extension of True Creation in, as, and for, this moment; this one, precious, eternal, Moment. For it IS heaven itself.

Do we yet see it? Do we yet live it? Are we yet lived in it and by it? Are we really the presence of Peace, Trust, and Power? Are we truly liberated from the grip of fear and the need to ‘save’ a self that never was? Are we ceaseless students, eager to learn more and more of how to truly be helpful? Are we given fully to Love’s extension, or are we yet moved by our ‘love’ of our personal comfort? If not, regardless of one’s treasured from of spirituality, there are clearly further steps to be taken, a further depth to be plumbed, a further purification from illusion to be lived.

In the end, ACIM and WOM are not the least bit important. What matters is the fruit they blossom in us, as us, through us, and for all beings in every single moment, and with each and every breath.

I am only interested in the journey of all souls into their own immediate and fulfilled enlightenment. I will leave it to the academically inclined to compare and contrast ACIM and WOM. I think, somewhere, Jeshua has stated that is exactly what ego does!

Jayem

Comments (5 posted):

Pasted from <http://www.wayofmastery.com/jayem/blog/3328.html>

Thought for each moment of each day.

On this day when so many are celebrating the death of a human being -

Please remember that you have the infinite capacity to choose the focus of your conscious awareness in each moment, and that these choices create your experience of life.

Please remember that only Love heals.

Please choose to spend part of each moment remembering that your true nature is Love.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

EFT Class At Relax 4 Life April 30th

I will be teaching The Emotional Freedom Technique once again at Relax 4 Life in Barrington on April 30, 2011. The class runs from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and is held at the beautiful and fragrance free setting at Relax 4 Life, where they have a spacious facility and three labyrinths on the property for those who are inclined to walk and relax during the lunch break.

I love teaching there because of the wonderful energy and the beautiful view. It is a wonderful way to gain exposure to, and practice, one of the most simple, efficient and powerful healing tools I have learned in my 36 years of doing therapy. Learning The Emotional Freedom Technique is learning to give yourself, or someone else, an acupressure treatment for anything that bothers you either physically, mentally, or emotionally.

I teach this technique to any of my patients who are willing to learn it and I highly recommend it as a therapeutic tool for physicians, physical therapists, massage therapists, psychotherapists and anyone who regularly works with clients in a therapeutic setting.

I hope you will consider joining us for this fabulous learning experience.

For more information or to register click here: Relax4Life EFT

Something Completely Differrent

I usually write about the Mindshifters Group meeting here, but today I would like to share three short videos from TED.com which have a very strong relevance to the work we do in the Mindshifters Group and the goal of all that work, which is: To make the world a better place by making ourselves better people.

The first video is only four minutes long:

http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bezos_a_life_lesson_from_a_volunteer_firefighter.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-03-22

The second video is about the need to bring back the Golden Rule and actually bring it back to life in our daily lives.

http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_armstrong_let_s_revive_the_golden_rule.html

The last video is yet another real life example of what Guy Finley describes as, "Lessons Ride In On The Back of Events", "And the intensity of my resistance to an event is in direct proportion to the importance of the lesson I need to learn from the event."

http://www.ted.com/talks/stacey_kramer_the_best_gift_i_ever_survived.html

Enjoy!

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Dr. Michael Ryce - Communication: "Did You Hear What I Think I Said?"

Tuesday night the Mindshifters group listened to the first half of the lecture by Dr. Michael Ryce on Responsibility Communication. Dr. Ryce clearly defines Responsibility Communication as being distinctly different from what most of our culture practices. Most of us are taught to use projection communication, which is based on blaming other people and situations for what we are feeling and experiencing.

Responsibility Communication is only possible when we realize that we are creating what we call our "reality" and that this "reality" is unique to each of us, and is caused solely by where we choose to focus our conscious awareness. When I create an experience for myself and then choose to blame someone, or something else for what I experience, I am practicing projection communication. Any communication which "blames" is projection communication. Any communication which clearly identifies me as the creator of my experience is Responsibility Communication.

Dr. Ryce introduces us to a Responsibility Communication worksheet during the lecture and it is available for free to download from his website at:www.whyagain.com There is also a wonderful book by Robert Bolton titled People Skills, which details much of the same essential skills for effective communication and can give some assistance with the mechanics of "Reflective Listening". Dr. Ryce however is able to add depth and power to the process of Responsibility Communication by integrating the knowledge of the Forgiveness Process and difference between what actually happens and "the reality" I create in my own mind about what has actually happened.

I highly recommend the lecture for the examples he gives of two different letters which were written using Responsibility Communication, one for a personal issue and one for a business issue. These two letters and an understanding of the principles behind their construction make this video a must see for people who want to be empowered by their communication rather than frustrated by their mis-communication.

Once again the group provided a loving and supportive atmosphere for discussion and the space for me to work through a Reality Management Worksheet. My thanks to all those in attendance for your support and holding the energy of Love as I worked through the worksheet.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Forgiveness: Who Really Needs It?

On Sunday I had the honor of addressing the congregation at the Unity Church in Crystal Lake, IL.
This Unity Church is the host of our Mindshifters Group, for which I am most grateful! www.uccl.org
To listen to the meditation and or the talk, follow this link. Click Here

Your Comments are welcome as always.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Dr. Hayes Teaching EFT Class April 30th, 2011

EFT is a remarkable self-healing technique that uses your body’s natural stress reduction points to produce rapid change. Stimulation of these points by touching or tapping has been scientifically demonstrated to quickly reduce anxiety, depression, and phobias often leading to the reduction of physical symptoms like headaches, muscle stiffness etc. EFT also has the potential to improve your mood, boost your vitality, and dramatically improve your performance at work, school, sports, losing weight, stopping smoking or other habits, and managing anger. EFT has been written about in national magazines, the Wall Street Journal, and on national TV.

I will be teaching this class once again at the fabulous facility at Relax 4 Life in Barrington, IL on:
Saturday, April 30th 2011 $100 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

If you are a social worker, counselor, teacher or massage therapist and want 6 CEU's for this workshop ($5 additional processing fee per class date).

Click here for more details
http://relax4life.com/eft.htm

Dr. Michael Ryce - Prayer - An Ancient Definition

Dr. Michael Ryce is the director of an institute which is charged with the translation of the oldest known copy of the New Testament, directly from the ancient Aramaic into English. One of the most powerful concepts I have heard him speak about is the definition of the word prayer. From the ancient Aramaic one interpretation of the meaning of "prayer" is, "to set a trap for God". This does not make much sense in our western way of looking at things, but in the ancient world, God was understood to be the energy of creation, or Love. If God is thought of as energy then it makes sense for me to "tune" myself to be able to receive and express that energy.

In this way I may think of myself as having the ability to tune myself to certain thoughts and energies, much like a radio can be tuned to different frequencies of radio waves which are always there and available for reception. In my mind/body energy system I can think of my spiritual faculty of Choice as the tuning mechanism. I can make conscious choices to "tune" my thoughts to Love, and the thoughts and behaviors which are compatible with that energy of Love. I can choose to engage in behaviors and interactions with people that express that energy of Love and extend that Love in every relationship I have with every person and everything in my life. When I choose to do this, I set myself up to receive the energy of Love, or God, much the same way that I would tune a radio to receive the signal of my favorite station.

I would like to echo Dr. Ryce's call to all of us to make a choice for Love, to choose the thoughts and behaviors which reflect and extend the energy of Love that we are made of. In this way it is possible to make one's life a prayer, by choosing to "tune" ourselves to the energy of Love and God and in that way, to "set a trap for God".

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

A Course In Miracles - A New Beginning

Last Tuesday night the Mindshifters group watched the Dr. Michael Ryce lecture, A New Beginning. It was very well received and sparked a lot of conversation and introspection as all these lectures do. Today I received an email from one of our regular Mindshifters attendees and I was so moved by it that I asked her permission to share it on this blog. She graciously agreed. She begins with the core idea of the lecture which resonated with her the most deeply.

If I really want a day of Love, Gentleness & Respect I must give that day away!! I must give that day away with My Actions, My Words (keep words positive) and with My Thoughts (mind energy).

This has been going through my head over and over again since last week. Since I heard it from Michael Ryce on Tuesday, Feb. 15th.

Would not everyone want their day to be a day of gentleness, of love and one of respect? What would that day look like? The people I would encounter would treat me with kindness & helpfulness. People would treat me, my feelings & ideas with respect, which doesn't mean they would always agree with me, just respect my differences without judgment. I would feel the love and respect of the Universe in a quiet & gentle way. In the way of oneness.

Now, how would I give that day away? How would I treat the people I meet? How would I be loving, gentle & respectful to everyone, everything, every creature, every situation and occurrence of my day? The same way I would want to be treated of course is the easy answer. I keep rolling this around in my head and in my heart & soul. It feels right...it feels good...it feels loving & gentle & respectful of myself & of the universe. Ahhh, the ego tries to tell me that this will be too hard to do for one whole day let alone every day and with everyone in every situation. After all, others won't treat me that way so why should I treat them gently & lovingly, treat them with respect when they will not respect me back and after all I am RIGHT!! But...my heart & soul still like this idea. The softness of it. The way it makes me feel, all warm and safe inside. Yes, it makes me feel safe, like being home after a long, hard day. Like being in the arms of Spirit...Mother Earth. Here is the other thing I realize. If I treat others with love, gentleness & respect that means I must also treat myself with love, gentleness & respect, and I deserve it, I need it & I want it. Everyone of us deserves it, needs it and wants it. No matter who or what they believe about themselves or others.

I heard this in a lecture on the same evening I had some huge challenges come up. Isn't that the way it often seems to work? When we need something the most, If we are listening, paying attention we will hear what we need to hear to grow, to learn, to change & hopefully become more then what we were before. When all of life seemed to be falling around me (once again) I just kept repeating it to myself and while it wasn't always easy and I didn't remember it every time or seem able to use it or implement it every time, to keep the love & gentleness, much less the respect present I did my best and it felt easier & I felt calmer and I think I made better decisions and behaved more lovingly, less judgmentally. Even after the waters have calmed, I still keep repeating this to myself because it just feels so right, it feels so good and I feel myself soften. I feel myself become more accepting, less judgmental of others and myself. I feel myself open a little and the universe open a little more for me. I just wanted to share this with you because it feels so important to me and I believe we all could be a little more loving, gentle & respectful of each other, the world and ourselves.

Namaste

Kris Blum
www.inspiredart.us

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.