Sunday, October 28, 2007

Getting better or worse?

Ken Wapnick says at some point something similar to: if a new student's life get better and not worse after he starts studying The Course, he probably has not really understood it.

That's funny. Well, I think so. :)

Why would you want to study a thought training system which makes your life worse? Well, even if it may last for a while, it's still only temporary. And it's the only way out. Not the Course, but the way through all the mess is the only way out.

Think of it like this: everybody has a room in their house which is full of radioactive waste. And only those who open the dreaded door and face it head on will ever get rid of it. But those people will also have an awful mess on their hands for a while.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Wapnick interview

Wapnick interview video.

Quitting the game

Corinne Edwards talk about spirituality, including The Secret (the popular movie), which teaches how make things happen by thinking Right. Here's a dialogue with her:

Me:
I am wondering, though: after ACIM, is The Secret not a step back? Strongly desiring certain things to happen in The Dream? Instead of forgiving The Dream and letting the HS direct life?

Corinne said:
Dear Eolake -
Thanks for your comment. Happy to connect with you.
The Secret is based on the work of Esther and Jerry Hicks. Look up their book, The Power of Intention. [Update: "The Power of Intention" was written by Dr. Wayne Dyer not Esther and Jerry Hicks. The Hicks wrote "Ask and It Is Given".] Or their website. It is interesting. They were not included in the Secret because the publisher wanted too many rights to their material. Their work is helpful. Coming from a different direction from ACIM but interesting. Very much like the Seth materials.
I think the book serves its purpose. Might get a certain type of person going on their life.
There is nothing on the planet to compare with A Course In Miracles. I think it is important to note that it is a spiritual thought system and not a religion.
As far as wanting things as we live in the “Illusion,” I think it is like my nine year old grandsom who plays video games. Loves them. He knows they are not real but he still wants to win the game. Then he goes out and shoots some baskets in the driveway. He knows he is not in the NBA but he still enjoys gettting the ball in the basket.
My thought is that if we are in the “game” here, why not play it to win!

I said:
Fair enough.
I think, though, that there is tendency to see Mind-Over-Matter as being *spirituality*, when it’s most of the time simply Playing The Game better. It looks like spiritual progress, but it just gets you to higher levels in the video game, and will never get you out of it.

Some of the most heinous and materialistic people in history have used “The Secret” very successfully. They weren’t spiritual, they were just hot-shots on the joystick.

And like you say, your grandson sometimes quits the games console and goes out. A Course In Miracles is the way to do just that, so you’re not stuck in the game forever.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Hicks

It's just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one.
-- Bill Hicks


It's my opinion that Bill Hicks was a better philosopher than he was a comedian.

To stop being a victim

Article on how to forgive by Corinne Edwards. (I looked her up on the web after seeing on DVD a nice interview she conducted with Ken and Gloria Wapnick about A Course In Miracles, and it turns out she has a rather active blog.)

I think the ACIM way goes beyond it, because it realizes that the offense never took place. But sometimes we can't readily reach this point.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Friends

Isn't it funny how it's much easier to conceive of forgiving when it's other people's?

This week one of my oldest friends is accusing me of the wildest things. And if it was somebody else it happened to, it would be so easy to see that it's simply a matter of forgiving, nothing else is important.

And I'm working on it, and making progress. But I still have many moments where the only thing that I can think of is to argue with him. "You idiot, where is your head? Can't you see?!..."

Advanced forgiveness is so much easier to preach than to practice!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Bradley

"The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring." - Francis H. Bradley

Monday, October 1, 2007

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen says in the documentary "I'm Your Man" that he studied under a Japanese zen master not because of zen, but because of the master himself. Under this study, Leonard's 'self' unraveled, and the smaller it became, the better he felt. Clearly he had hit upon one of the "thousand ways to god", one of the ways of undoing the ego.