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ACFIP Newsletter
Issue 18 - September 2008
Quarterly Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Inner Peace


Michael Dawson
PO Box 125, Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island,
Queensland 4183,
Australia

Email: mdawson@acfip.org 
Web site: http://www.acfip.org

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CONTENTS:
*  The AAA Approach to Forgiveness
*  Grow as the Flower Grows
*  And there was Light
*  Workshops
*  Books and Audio Materials for Sale
*  New CD - 3 Exercises with German translation
*  Links
*  Inspirational Quotations


If you wish to read previous issues please go to http://www.acfip.org/newsletterarchive.html.

If your email address ends with .au I put your address on my Australian list for advance notice of workshops I am giving in Australia. If you do not want to be on this list please let me know. If you reside in Australia and want to be on this list, but you address does not end in .au, please email me and I will include it.

If you are new to the Course you might find my summaries of help.
You can find them at http://www.acfip.org/sum.html and http://www.acfip.org/art4.html

Regards
Michael Dawson
http://www.acfip.org

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THE AAA APPROACH TO FORGIVENESS

Awareness - Acceptance - Asking for help.

Awareness - The Undoing of Denial

Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. A Course in Miracles W-pII.333.1:4

For the process of forgiveness to begin we need to realise the problem is in our mind and not in the world where our ego asserts it is. If we get upset at dictators like Hitler it is because we have a Hitler in our own mind. It is uncomfortable and painful to realise what we have kept covered in our minds and we resist this process. However, until we realise what needs to be forgiven we are destined to keep our problems. Further, if we allow our ego defences to be undone, the Holy Spirit would enter our minds and shine away the ego, and this is our greatest fear - the end of our uniqueness and specialness.

It is not necessary to seek for what is true, but it is necessary to seek for what is false. T-16.IV.6:2

The main thrust of the Course is not in affirming the light and love within us but discovering and forgiving the ego blocks we have built to love's presence. When they are removed in the process of forgiveness the light and love of God will automatically dawn upon our minds. Jesus asks us to use our relationships as mirrors to discover all that is unhealed in us. For this we need awareness and this is our responsibility. As Jesus reminded Helen Schucman:

You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind's miscreations. T-2.VI.4:6

Acceptance - Not Taking Our Ego Seriously

It is sin's unreality that makes forgiveness natural and wholly sane, a deep relief to those who offer it; a quiet blessing where it is received. It does not countenance illusions, but collects them lightly, with a little laugh, and gently lays them at the feet of truth. And there they disappear entirely.
W-pI.134.6:1-3

When we discover, through awareness, that the problem is in us, the ego tries to regain its lost ground by using our newfound insights to accuse us of our sin. There is a great temptation to believe this and our accusing finger now points at our own head. Our response makes the ego's world real again. However, this drama of ours is still occurring in the dream of separation from God and nothing is really happening. Just as you awake from a nightmare to realise nothing actually occurred, so Jesus asks us to learn to laugh gently at our ego dreams. Nothing we do can harm our Christ nature - otherwise sin would be possible.

To look at our guilt with acceptance is the shift of perception the Course calls a miracle. Anything we resist persists, but that which we accept will be healed. The Course is asking us to look into the darkness of our minds and accept without judgement what we find there. We are not asked to suppress our anger or transform it but to simply to watch it with gentle acceptance, waiting patiently for the time when it will no longer be there.
The cause of all our pain comes from our desire to maintain the seeming separation from God and thus keep our individuality preserved.

He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while. You judge effects, but He has judged their cause. T-27.VIII.9:3-4

Asking for Help - Offering Our problems to the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit asks of you but this; bring to Him every secret you have locked away from Him. Open every door to Him, and bid Him enter the darkness and lighten it away. At your request He enters gladly. He brings the light to darkness if you make the darkness open to Him. But what you hide He cannot look upon. T-14.VII.6:1-5

When we decide to be happy and not right we are inviting the Holy Spirit into our minds to shine away the guilt we have been grasping onto.

It is important to realise that it is not ourselves that heal our mind - we simply allow the blocks to God to be removed by the Holy Spirit. We don't need to understand how this happens. Our work is in the first two stages of this process - Awareness and Acceptance. To be healed we need help from outside our ego thought system. This help must wait until it is called for as it would never force itself upon us against our free will.

Next time you feel you have lost your peace it can help if you stop a moment and become aware of where in your body you feel uncomfortable. This area is a reflection in your body of an unforgiveness in your mind. Place your hand on this area in a gesture of simple acceptance and tell yourself it all right to feel this way. When you feel ready, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the problem in your life a different way.

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GROW AS THE FLOWER GROWS

Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes.
The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all.
A Course in Miracles. Lesson 188



The Futility of Seeking
If there is something wrong with our body we attend to it. For example, if a finger is cut we would cover it with a plaster. We normally would not try to pretend it was not bleeding. But if there is something wrong in our minds we often seek to escape from the problem. For example, we might turn to alcohol to try to escape from sorrow. To heal the mind we must stay with the problem so it can be healed through forgiveness.

One escape from the pain of living in the ego's judgmental mind is to seek the light or God. It is not easy to see that the pain in our mind and the object of our search are both created by the ego. Now the solution to the suffering in our mind may appear to lie somewhere in the future instead of in the present moment, the only place where the Holy Spirit can help us with the aid of the holy instant or miracle.

We think by searching we can find truth/God which also implies we will recognise it when we find it. We can't search for something we cannot recognise - otherwise how will we know when we find it? It must be similar to something we already know. But what if God is totally beyond what we are familiar with, as the mystics have assured us it is? We are then doomed never to find the goal of our search. "Seek and do not find" (T-12.IV.1:4) is the ego's dictum.

So don't seek to become free of desire or "achieve" enlightenment. Become present. Be there as the observer of the mind. 'The Power of Now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment' by Eckhart Tolle.

You can do nothing to bring (the awareness of God) about, but you can avoid creating obstacles.  'I Am That' by Nisargadatta Maharaj

When the mind is no longer seeking, no longer breeding conflict through its wants and cravings, when it is silent with understanding, only then can the immeasurable come into being.'Commentaries on Living. Third Series' by J Krishnamurti


The Trap of Dependence
During this hopeless search for God we may be tempted to depend on a guru or teacher to lead us to truth. This reminds me of a story from Anthony de Mello's book 'One Minute Wisdom':

To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, "You may live with me, but don't become my follower."

"Whom, then, shall I follow?"

"No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth."

Jesus asks us to follow his guidance which becomes clearer as we practice our daily forgiveness lessons. We can, of course, learn from other teachers and spiritual disciplines but should not forget we carry our teacher with us in our right minds. Our task is to remember that we can always turn to this teacher instead of the ego.


God Knows The Way To Us
It is the arrogance of the ego that thinks it knows the way to God. Jesus reminds us gently that we are but confused children lost in our dream of separation and driven mad by guilt. Put that way it perhaps make sense not to trust our own good intentions!

Is it not He Who knows the way to you? You need not know the way to Him. Your part is simply to allow all obstacles that you have interposed between the Son and God the Father to be quietly removed forever. God will do His part in joyful and immediate response.
A Course in Miracles. Lesson 189

Thus Jesus is telling us to relax and stop striving after God. Let us just do our part and then God will do His - but in His own time, not ours.

When one finally gives up one's futile attempts to make reality conform to one's own wishes, and allows it to unfold on its own terms, all the energy that was tied up in foolish attempts to manipulate the universe is freed up.
'Halfway up the Mountain - the Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment' by Mariana Caplan. Hohm Press


Realistic Goals
In reading the lives of saints we can discover people who seem to have reached exalted states and we can be tempted to desire the same for ourselves. After all, who would not want to be one with God? However, can the unenlightened judge who is truly enlightened or are they forced to always be dealing with their own ideas and projections of what the enlightened state is? Is a permanent union with God a realistic goal and is it actually possible whilst we still desire to exist as bodies?

Sometimes a teacher of God may have a brief experience of direct union with God. In this world, it is almost impossible that this endure. It can, perhaps, be won after much devotion and dedication, and then be maintained for much of the time on earth. But this is so rare that it cannot be considered a realistic goal. If it happens, so be it. If it does not happen, so be it as well. All worldly states must be illusory. If God were reached directly in sustained awareness, the body would not be long maintained. M-26.3.1:8

The body, which was created so we could hide from God, could not last long in the presence of what it was originally designed to hide from.

The goal of A Course in Miracles is peace, brought about by forgiveness. With peace the memory of God returns and who we really are - the formless, eternal Christ. This is a realistic goal and one that is promised to all of us.


Daily Practice
Once we begin to realise that seeking the light is but an escape from facing our pain and that we cannot know the path to God, we can really begin our journey home. When we realise the movement away from what is actually happening in our minds to the pursuit of some far-off solution is a false and useless journey, we can start the real work which will lead to peace of mind and the return of the awareness of God's love for us. Every day we are presented with fresh opportunities to look at our self-created pain, accept it and let it go with Jesus's help. The ego's advice to deny our guilt and project it onto others can now be chosen against. A constant vigilance or awareness of our ego thoughts is required so we can give them to the Holy Spirit for healing. This is not easy, as indicated in this remark to Helen Schucman by Jesus, "You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind's miscreations." (T-2.VI.4:6 ) When we fulfil our part in the plan for salvation we will experience peace.
.
Deepen and broaden your awareness of yourself and all the blessings will flow. You need not seek anything, all will come to you most naturally and effortlessly.
'I Am That' by Nisargadatta Maharaj

Our yearning for permanent peace and happiness can now be set aside and this energy directed into the daily classroom of our relationships. And we can smile gently at our desire to be enlightened in this life and leave the timing of that in God's hands.

Grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air. So must you press forward to open your soul to the Eternal. But it must be the Eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not desire of growth. For in the one case you develop in the luxuriance of purity: in the other you harden by the forcible passion for personal stature.
'Light on the Path' by Mabel Collins

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AND THERE WAS LIGHT

Lack of forgiveness is like a wall erected against the ever-present light that is shining on us. Forgiveness removes bricks from this wall, letting the light in to do its work of dissolving our unforgiveness and restoring us to peace. We do not understand the ways of spirit, our inner guide, nor do we need to know. What is required of us is a willingness to be helped to see the situation we are in differently. With this invitation, our inner guide can step in and heal our mind.

The idea of surrendering the last part of the process of forgiveness to an invisible power within us will not be welcomed by our egos. After all, by its very nature the ego believes it alone can solve all problems. After living on this planet for a few years the ego feels it has the experience it needs to handle any situation. What it doesn’t accept, is ego got us into trouble in the first place. Without the guidance of a higher part of us we are spiritually blind, trying to live on the advice of our ego. Being blind, we continually ‘bump’ into situations that cause us pain.

The following book extract describes how Jacques Lusseyran, who was accidentally blinded in both eyes when he was eight years old, came to rely on inner help to navigate his world. Jacques discovered to his surprise that an inner light was available to help him. When walking down a tree-lined road he could sense where the trees were. If he was sufficiently at peace within himself he could even sense where the branches were positioned. When his childhood playmate ran away from him he could still follow her as she left a ‘red trail’ behind her. The book also illustrates how he could lose touch with this guidance. His story mirrors our own lives and our spiritual blindness when we try to do everything by ourselves.

Still, there were times when the light faded, almost to the point of disap- pearing. It happened every time I was afraid. If, instead of letting myself be carried along by confidence and throwing myself into things, I hesitated, calculated, thought about the wall, the half- open door, the key in the lock; if I said to myself that all these things were hostile and about to strike or scratch, then without exception I hit or wounded myself. The only easy way to move around the house, the garden or the beach was by not thinking about it at all, or thinking as little as possible. Then I moved between obstacles the way they say bats do. What the loss of my eyes had not accomplished was brought about by fear. It made me blind. Anger and impatience had the same effect, throwing everything into confusion. The minute before I knew just where everything in the room was, but if I got angry, things got angrier than I. They went and hid in the most unlikely corners, mixed themselves up, turned turtle, muttered like crazy men and looked wild. As for me, I no longer knew where to put hand or foot. Everything hurt me. This mechanism worked so well that I became cautious. When I was playing with my small companions, if I suddenly grew anxious to win, to be first at all costs, then all at once I could see nothing. Literally, I went into fog or smoke. I could no longer afford to be jealous or unfriendly, because, as soon as I was, a bandage came down over my eyes, and I was bound hand and foot and cast aside. All at once a black hole opened, and I was helpless inside it. But when I was happy and serene, approached people with confidence and thought well of them, I was rewarded with light. So is it surprising that I loved friendship and harmony when I was very young? Armed with such a tool, why should I need a moral code? For me this tool took the place of red and green lights. I always knew where the road was open and where it was closed. I had only to look at the bright signal which taught me how to live. [From:  'And There Was Light – The autobiography of a blind hero in the French Resistance' by Jacques Lusseyran. Floris Books, 1963]

The inner light that guided Jaques also helped him discern whom he could trust and whom he could not. This talent helped him become the leader of a large group of French resistance fighters in the Second World War. The one time he went against this inner knowing resulted in him being arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp. His reliance on his inner guide allowed him to survive the harsh conditions of the camp and to go on to become a university professor after the war.

Reprinted from 'The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness' by Michael Dawson.  Findhorn Press

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PLEASE NOTE: The Australian Centre for Inner Peace is not a counselling or psychotherapy centre; therefore we do not offer telephone or email service or counselling, therapy, or crisis intervention for personal problems related to the Course. Please see the Contacts section at the end of this newsletter.
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Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in Miracles
in Australia and Germany
Australia 2008 Dates



Clare, South Australia
September 27/28    2008
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)



Awakening to Our Spiritual Reality.
A Course in Miracles workshop

You do not have to seek reality.
It will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions.
A Course in Miracles  T-8.IX.2:4-5


The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God. Identification with our bodies and personalities blinds us to our spiritual reality. The Course teaches us how to awaken from this dream of separation from God and to experience joy and peace. If our intention to awake is sincere and we have the humility to realise we know nothing and are willing to be taught by spirit we will meet the conditions of awakening.

Topics will include:
What is enlightenment?
Why we fear to awaken
Traps on the spiritual path
Pointers on the path
Not knowing-the need for humility
The need for a full heart and an empty mind.
Sinlessness
Forgiveness
Undoing our blocks to guidance


Exercises will be used to help remove the obstacles to peace and open to the guidance within.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.


TIME:
Sat September 28 - 9.30am TO 5.30pm
Sun September 29 - 9.30am TO 4.30pm


BOOKINGS:
Tel: 08 8842 3114
PO Box 614
Clare, SA 5453

Cost
Deposit: $60 to cover basic costs ($30 non-refundable)
plus a donation for the workshop.
Food provided.

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Hillier (Gawler),  South Australia
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide)
October 4/5 2008


The Key to Inner Peace.
 Moving from a somebody to a nobody
A Course in Miracles workshop


You are not special.
If you think you are, and would defend your specialness against the truth of what you really are,
how can you know the truth?
A Course in Miracles

 One day, I discovered I didn't need a personal history, so, like drinking, I dropped it.
 Carlos Castaneda in Tales of Power


As we let go our beliefs, concepts, seeking, self importance and goals, peace and joy will return.
When we no longer defend our self created image (ego), awareness of our eternal spiritual reality awakens.
Exercises to help undo our ego and listen within will be given.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.

VENUE:
"Riverdell"
Clifford Road
Hillier
South Australia
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide)

TIME:
Sat and Sun - 9.30 TO 5.00

COST:
Booking Fee - $30 (non refundable)
Workshop Fee - By Donation at the workshop
Some accommodation on site - $40
Bring food to share for lunch both days

For details Contact:
Pamela St Claire
(08) 8322 0444
email: pstclaire@chariot.net.au

People should send their Booking Fee to:

Pamela St Claire
36 The Causeway
O'Halloran Hill  SA 5158
and include a cheque made payable to P. St Claire

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Germany 2009 Dates



Bonn 
June 20/21 2009
9.30am to 5.30pm


A Full Heart and an Empty Mind
- A Course in Miracles workshop -

Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my heart.
Let me not try to hurt God's Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 246

There is no path to truth, it must come to you. Truth can come to you only when your mind and heart are simple,
clear, and there is love in your heart; not if your heart is filled with the things of the mind.
J Krishnamurti

The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God.

To let this memory return to our awareness we need to question everything we think is true, to realise we know nothing about how to awaken to peace and joy so that we may be guided, and learn to extend kindness and goodwill to others. Insight of the mind must be balanced with compassion of the heart.

This workshop will explore how we can awaken through the healing power of insight, kindness, awareness and forgiveness.

Exercises will be used to help us open our hearts and connect to our inner guidance.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.



An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri June 19
7.30pm to 9.30pm


Contact:

Albert-Schweitzer-Haus
Beethovenallee 16
Bonn 53173
tel: 0228 - 36 47 37
http://www.albert-schweitzer-haus-bonn.de

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Freiburg
June 27/28 2009
10am to 6pm



A Full Heart and an Empty Mind
- A Course in Miracles workshop -

Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my heart.
Let me not try to hurt God's Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 246

There is no path to truth, it must come to you. Truth can come to you only when your mind and heart are simple,
clear, and there is love in your heart; not if your heart is filled with the things of the mind.
J Krishnamurti

The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God.

To let this memory return to our awareness we need to question everything we think is true, to realise we know nothing about how to awaken to peace and joy so that we may be guided, and learn to extend kindness and goodwill to others. Insight of the mind must be balanced with compassion of the heart.

This workshop will explore how we can awaken through the healing power of insight, kindness, awareness and forgiveness.

Exercises will be used to help us open our hearts and connect to our inner guidance.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.


Evening Introductory Talk - Fri June 26
8pm to 9.30pm

Location of workshop:
Center Margarete Sennekamp
Schauinslandstr. 39
79100 Freiburg-Günterstal
Tram 4, Klosterplatz

Contact:
Sophia-Institut
Margarete Sennekamp
Adalbert-Stifter-Str. 16
79102 Freiburg
Tel/Fax : 0761-73930
www.Sophia-Institut.de


Biography
Michael discovered A Course in Miracles whilst visiting the Findhorn Foundation in 1982. He subsequently became a member of the Foundation for about six years and involved himself with healing and teaching. In 1994 he published Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness which serves as an introduction to the Course. His second book, The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness (Findhorn Press) uses exercises, stories and case histories to guide the reader to inner peace through forgiveness. Michael now lives in Australia and gives workshops on the Course world-wide.

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BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson

Books:
Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness.  Findhorn Press 1994
The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness.  Findhorn Press. 2003

For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html

Audio Tapes and CDs:
Since 1986 I have been conducting healing workshops in the UK and abroad, and have continually experimented to find healing and forgiveness exercises that are effective.  I have found that a particular exercise can be effective for one person but not another. Accordingly, I was led to develop a series of exercises. Over the years workshop participants asked if these exercises could be put onto audio cassettes and CDs so they could repeat them. This has resulted in the Healing the Cause - Exercise series - Tapes 1 to 4 (2 exercises on each tape) and CD1 and 2 (4 exercises on each CD)

*New CD - 3 Healing Exercises in English with German translation. 10 Euro

Content:
Ex1. Forgiving Ourselves.
Ex2. Changing Perception and Finding peace.
Ex3. Changing Perception of another - exercise for two people.

These exercises are similar to existing exercises already available on CDs but are translated into German.

For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/audio.html

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CONTACTS

Foundation for A Course In Miracles
41397 Buecking Drive, Temecula, CA 92590
Tel: 909 296 6261 Fax: 909296 9117

Books, videos, CDs and audio tapes by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick are available from their web site http://www.facim.org

Question and Answer Service:
Their electronic outreach section has a question and answer service http://www.facimoutreach.org/ on the theory and practice of the Course. Their database of 1,400 questions and answers is searchable. They no longer take new questions as they feel all possible questions have now been put.

Their publications can also be ordered in Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Foundation for Inner Peace - the publishers of A Course in Miracles
http://www.acim.org/

ACIM study groups:
Go to The Miracle Distribution Center http://www.miraclecenter.org/ for the largest and most frequently updated list of A Course in Miracles study groups available anywhere.

Miracles Studies Australia  http://www.miracle-studies.net.au  lists study groups for Australia and new Zealand

A Course In Miracles Pen Pals:
The Miracle Network http://www.miracles.org.uk hosts a A Course in Miracles pen pals group:
To  join this e-mail discussion group,  send your e-mail address to e.pals@miracles.org.uk. 
They will send you  updated lists of other e.pals and  inform them of your e-mail address.

A Course In Miracles Chat Groups:
The aim of this board is to provide a place for people to chat about ACIM.
Any related discussions are more than welcome and I believe helpful! - moderated by Glyn Milhench
http://glynbo.proboards84.com/index.cgi?board=acim

Belief.net ACIM discussion:
This Belief.net web-based discussion is hosted by Joe Jesseph.
http://community.beliefnet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=151

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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTATIONS

About three or four times a week I send a short quotation from some spiritual teacher or poet to people who have requested some uplifting thoughts. I have included some below. If you wish I can add your name to the email list.


Do understand that you are destined for enlightenment.
Co-operate with your destiny, don't go against it, don't thwart it.
Allow it to fulfil itself.
All you have to do is to give attention to the obstacles created by the foolish mind.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

---------------------------------------------------------------
 
       When you listen to the voice in your head, that
       is to say, do not judge.  You'll soon realize: there
       is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching
       it.  This I am realization, this sense of your own
       presence, is not a thought.  It arises from beyond
       the mind.
  
                   Eckhart Tolle
                  The Power of Now

---------------------------------------------------------------

        In your light I learn how to love.
        In your beauty, how to make poems.

        You dance inside my chest,
        where no one sees you,

        but sometimes I do, and that
        sign becomes this art.

                   Rumi

---------------------------------------------------------------

One is more likely to awaken through surrender than through seeking to waken. The effort to awaken is the effort of ego, whereas to surrender is to give up all efforts and to place oneself in the hands of a vast force that is more powerful than any realization of non duality.

When one finally gives up one's futile attempts to make reality conform to one's own wishes, and allows it to unfold on its own terms, all the energy that was tied up in foolish attempts to manipulate the universe is freed up.

Mariana Caplan
Halfway Up the Mountain - The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment

---------------------------------------------------------------

Yet searching is inevitable here. For this you came, and you will surely do the thing you came for. But the world can not dictate the goal for which you search, unless you give it power to do so. Otherwise, you still are free to choose a goal that lies beyond the world and every worldly thought, and one that comes to you from an idea relinquished yet remembered, old yet new; an echo of a heritage forgot, yet holding everything you really want.

A Course in Miracles Lesson 131

---------------------------------------------------------------

       There's one great delusion that lies at the core
        of all of our suffering: the false belief in the reality
        of the separation of life and in the subsequent
        true existence of an individual ego.

        All fervent attempts to control or to mortify this
        illusory ego through penance, rituals and sacrifice,
        however, will only serve to intensify the delusion
        that this ego is actually very real and that it only
        needs to be, somehow, subdued, conquered or
        destroyed.
   
        Chuck Hillig
    Seeds for the Soul, Black Dot Publications, 2003




__________________________________

Michael Dawson
PO Box 125
Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island
Queensland 4183
Australia

EMAIL:       mdawson@acfip.org
WEBSITE:   http://www.acfip.org