ACFIP Newsletter
Issue 22 - September 2009
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
___________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
* Self Worth and Sinlessness
* The Placebo Effect
* Workshops
* Books and Audio Materials for Sale
* 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
___________________________________________________________________________
Self-worth and Sinlessness
Many of us have been told, early in our lives, to make something
of ourselves. We may be encouraged to perform well at school,
academically or in the area of sports. Parents and friends are
proud of us when we do well, especially if we excel in our
studies and pursuits.
As we grow older this process continues. Now it moves to the
area of our workplace. We are often encouraged to be ambitious
and do well, and rise in our jobs. There is an implication in
all of this that we are not perfect to start with. Otherwise,
why should we try to improve what is already perfect?
This world evaluates us by how we look, how we perform, what our
bodies and personalities can achieve. But what if our true
reality is not the body or the personality? What if our true
reality is actually perfect? What if the world has focused
entirely on the wrong area and forgotten the spiritual reality
of our existence?
If we are made in the image of God, and God is a perfect,
eternal, formless spirit, then we too must share in those same
attributes. A creator can only create like itself. Can we
improve on what God has created?
Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought - you are
as God created you, not what you made of yourself. Whatever evil
you may think you did, you are as God created you. Whatever
mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. Creation is
eternal and unalterable. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. Light
and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 93
If we are eternally perfect there is no need to seek
improvement. To do that is simply arrogance of the ego, which
always thinks it knows better.
Escape today the chains you place upon your mind when you
perceive salvation here. For what you value you make part of you
as you perceive yourself. All things you seek to make your value
greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth from
you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true
awareness of your Self.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 128
This statement is so very different from what we've heard from
the world. The Course asks us not to improve ourselves,
otherwise it will get in the way of discovering who we really
are. Attempts to make ourselves better will actually increase
the delay before we truly realise who we are. So if we are
perfect there is no need to seek improvement. The only thing we
could seek to improve is our ego.
Every ego can be modified and people are very interested in
improving their egos. One only has to walk through our
bookshops, focusing on the New-Age section and self development,
and there will be a host of them offering to improve your ego -
to make it more powerful, less fearful, more efficient, to be
loved more, to succeed, to achieve power - the titles go on and
on. Meanwhile the acceptance of our spiritual reality is waiting
to be welcomed. While we seek to 'improve' our egos it must
wait, until we see the falsity of our approach.
As children grow up they need to learn how to fit into this
world, their egos have to be developed otherwise they would
simply be autistic, and live in their own self-created world. At
the beginning of our lives, it is normal and natural for the ego
to develop so children can fit into society, leave home, go to
work, make a living, etc. For those who have found they are
unable to do this, a case can certainly be made for the need to
develop the ego. If you find you have a great fear just trying
to leave your house in the morning, then it is obvious that you
need help to strengthen your ability to function in daily life.
However, if you can go about your daily life in a reasonably
competent way, then the ego is sufficient.
In time we may come to tire of the material values of this
world. We may start start to challenge the value of ambition,
trying to get to the top of our jobs, and we might start to
explore spiritual values. But further traps await us here. We
may wish to look good in the eyes of others, by doing 'good
works', becoming teachers, healers, write books, start centres,
etc. There is nothing wrong with these things in themselves;
rather, we need to look at the motive behind why we want to do
these things. Do we see these activities as our particular paths
of forgiveness, and therefore not special in any way, or has our
ego become more subtle in its desire for recognition and praise.
Have we simply moved from having a materialistic ego to a
‘spiritual’ ego?
Your worth is not established by teaching or learning. Your
worth is established by God. As long as you dispute this
everything you do will be fearful, particularly any situation
that lends itself to the belief in superiority and inferiority.
A Course in Miracles T-4.I.7.
The Course does not ask us to perform good works, to go out and
heal or teach or help the poor, unless we are guided by the Holy
Spirit that these are to be our classrooms of forgiveness. The
Course gives no guidance on behaviour. Instead, it asks us why
we are doing it. Purpose is everything. Our only purpose is to
wake up from the dream of separation from God. The earth is our
classroom of forgiveness, nothing more.
The course continues:
........ Again, nothing you do or think or wish or make is
necessary to establish your worth. This point is not debatable
except in delusions. Your ego is never at stake because God did
not create it. Your spirit is never at stake because He did.
A Course in Miracles T-4.I.7.
In the Text of the Course there is a section entitled “I Need do
Nothing.” In this powerful section we are told to lay the
importance of our ego aside, and thus create a space in our mind
that the Holy Spirit can enter. Here He would guide us and
quickly wake us up to our spiritual reality. Doing nothing is
not to be inactive and lazy but to do things with Spirit as our
guide and not the ego.
The work that we are guided to do may indeed be looked upon by
the world as those of good works, but we see them simply as
classrooms of forgiveness. The Course reminds us:
You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is folly
to believe. In this one thought is everyone set free. In this
one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is
sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the
central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality.
You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is folly
to believe. In this one thought is everyone set free. In this
one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is
sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the
central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 194
The implication of this passage is that the ego does not exist.
This is the thought form that most of us have identified with
all of our lives and and this is the thought that is asking to
improve itself. The ego exists in a dream world, and so we can
be deluded into trying to improve our dream. But the Course
reminds us that we can leave the dream, as we are already
perfect. There is nothing we have to do to improve ourselves
because we are still as God created us.
Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Over and over this must
be repeated, until it is accepted. It is true. Your sinlessness
is guaranteed by God. Nothing can touch it, or change what God
created as eternal. The self you made, evil and full of sin, is
meaningless. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light
and joy and peace abide in you.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 93
So our true identity, and the identity of all living things,
cannot be changed or attacked. No one can take our peace away
and nor can the world give us peace. We are already perfection,
waiting to be revealed and accepted, when we are ready to allow
it. While we seek to improve ourselves, to improve our image in
other's eyes, we delay the time of this acceptance.
Only the ego can be improved, not what God created. So powerful
is this illusion of separation from God, so powerful our belief
in the ego and our desire to remain separate, that we must allow
help from outside our deluded thought system, from outside the
illusion we believe we are in.
Jesus states in the Course that if we believe we are a body we
are insane. Thus we all live in an insane asylum that we are not
normally aware of. We ask other people in the asylum, who are as
insane as we are, what we should do to become more happy. There
are many there to tell us.
What we sorely need is help from outside the asylum, from one
who is sane and who could come in and point us in a quite a
different direction. In the Course we have Jesus or the Holy
Spirit as our guide waiting until the end of time to wake us up
from the dream so we may remember that we are still as God
created us.
If you are willing to renounce the role of guardian of your
thought system and open it to me, I will correct it very gently
and lead you back to God.
A Course in Miracles T4.I.4:7
We have readily available help to wake up from the dream of
separation and restore our spiritual reality back into our
awareness. Just think of the time this would now save us as we
give up our own deluded efforts to find peace.
What a relief to finally stop worrying about what other people
think of us. It's not that we do not listen to what they say as
their feedback can be helpful to us. But now we are no longer
trying to make something of ourselves. Now we are allowing
ourselves to be guided to the realisation of who we really are,
what God has created.
Deep within you is everything that is perfect,
ready to radiate through you and out into the world.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 41
___________________________________________________________________________
The Placebo Effect
from “Love, Medicine and Miracles” by Bernie S Siegul MD.
Mr. Wright, a client of psychologist Bruno Klopfer in 1957, had
far-advanced lymphosarcoma (cancer). All known treatments had
become ineffective. Tumors the size of oranges littered his
neck, armpits, groin, chest, and abdomen. His spleen and liver
were enormously enlarged. The thoracic lymph duct was swollen
closed, and one to two quarts of milky liquid had to be drained
from his chest each day. He had to have oxygen to breathe, and
his only medicine now was a sedative to help him on his way.
Despite his state, Mr. Wright still had hope. He’d heard of a
new drug called Krebiozen, which was to be evaluated at the
clinic where he lay. He didn’t qualify for the program, because
the experimenters wanted subjects with a life expectancy of at
least three and preferably six months. Wright begged so hard,
however, that Klopfer decided to give him one injection on
Friday, thinking he would be dead by Monday and the Krebiozen
could be given to someone else. Klopfer was in for a surprise:
“I had left him febrile, gasping for air, completely bedridden.
Now, here he was, walking around the ward, chatting happily with
the nurses, and spreading his message of good cheer to any who
would listen. Immediately I hastened to see the others. No
change, or change for the worse was noted. Only in Mr.Wright was
there brilliant improvement. The tumor masses had melted like
snowballs on a hot stove, and in only these few days, they were
half their original size! This is, of course, far more rapid
regression than most radio-sensitive tumors could display under
heavy X-ray given every day. And we already knew his tumors were
no longer sensitive to irradiation. Also, he had had no other
treatment outside of the single useless “shot.”
This phenomenon demanded an explanation, but not only that, it
almost insisted that we open our minds to learn, rather than try
to explain. So, the injections were given three times weekly as
planned, much to the joy of the patient. . . . Within 10 days he
was able to be discharged from his “deathbed,” practically all
signs of his disease having vanished in this short time.
Incredible as it sounds, this “terminal” patient gasping his
last breath through an oxygen mask was now not only breathing
normally, and fully active, he took off in his own plane and
flew at 12.000 feet with no discomfort.”
Within months, conflicting reports began to appear in the
news, all of the testing clinics reporting no results. . . This
disturbed Mr. Wright considerably... He was logical and
scientific in his thinking, and he began to lose faith in his
last hope.... After two months of practically perfect health, he
relapsed to his original state and became very gloomy and
miserable.
But Klopfer saw an opportunity to explore what was really going
on - to find out, as he put it, how quacks achieve some of their
well documented cures. (Remember all healing is scientific.) He
told Wright that Krebiozen really was as promising as it had
seemed, but that the early shipments had deteriorated rapidly in
the bottles. He told of a new super refined, double-strength
product due to arrive tomorrow.
“The news came as a great revelation to him, and Mr. Wright, ill
as he was, became his optimistic self again, eager to start
over. By delaying a couple of days before the “shipment”
arrived, his anticipation of salvation had reached a tremendous
pitch. When I announced that the new series of injections were
about to begin, he was almost ecstatic and his faith was very
strong.
With much fanfare, and putting on quite an act . . . I
administered the first injection of the doubly potent, fresh
preparation - consisting of fresh water and nothing more. The
results of this experiment were quite unbelievable to us at the
time, although we must have had some suspicion of the remotely
possible outcome to have even attempted it at all.
Recovery from the second near-terminal state was even more
dramatic than the first. Tumor masses melted, chest fluid
vanished, he became ambulatory, and even went back to flying
again. At this time he was certainly the picture of health. The
water injections were continued, since they worked such wonders.
He then remained symptom-free for over two months. At this time
the final AMA announcement appeared in the press - “Nationwide
tests show Krebiozen to be a worthless drug in treatment of
cancer.”
Within a few days of this report Mr. Wright was readmitted to
the hospital in extremis; his faith was now gone, his last hope
vanished, and he succumbed in less than two days.
___________________________________________________________________________
The acceptance of sickness as a decision of the mind, for a
purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of
healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient
decides that this is so, and he recovers. If he decides against
recovery, he will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the
mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that
it is. Special agents (e.g. pills, surgery, therapy) seem to be
ministering to him, yet they but give form to his own choice. He
chooses them in order to bring tangible form to his desires. And
it is this they do, and nothing else. They are not actually
needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without their
aid and say, "I have no use for this." There is no form of
sickness that would not be cured at once.
A Course in Miracles M-5.II.2.
___________________________________________________________________________
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. Please see the Contacts
section at the end of this newsletter.
___________________________________________________________________________
Forthcoming Workshops on A
Course in Miracles
in Australia and Germany
2009 and 2010
For up to date information on my workshops go to
http://www.acfip.org/fws.html
Australia 2009 Dates
Clare, SA - Sat 10 and Sun 11, October 2009
and December 12th and 13th
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)
HEALING OURSELVES and OTHERS
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles
The October workshop is now full and will be repeated on
December 12th and 13th
Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result of relinquishing
all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
A Course in Miracles
Using the spiritual path of A Course in Miracles we will explore
what true healing is - the return to our awareness of our
spiritual identity. Identification with our body as our home is
the origin of all our physical and psychological suffering.
The basis of this workshop is that the cause of all disease lies
in the mind and not the body. Disease is a shadow on the body,
of the guilt in our minds.
During the workshop we will focus on undoing the blocks we have
built to the presence of God's love and joy within us through
the understanding and practising of forgiveness.Only this love
heals.
We will investigate what the Course means by healing ourselves
and others and contrast the differences between the healed and
the unhealed healer. Practical exercises will be used to help
understand the ego and to practice forgiveness and turning
within for guidance.
An overview of the Course's metaphysical, psychological and
spiritual teachings especially in regard to healing of the mind,
body and relationships will be covered.
No previous knowledge of the book A Course in Miracles is
required.
VENUE:
Clare
SA 5453
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)
TIME:
Sat - 9.30 TO 5.30
Su - 9.30 TO 4.30
BOOKINGS:
Edeltraud Ennich
PO Box 614
Clare, SA 5453
Tel: 08 8842 3114
COST
Deposit: $60 to cover basic costs ($30 non-refundable)
plus a donation for the workshop.
Lunches provided.
Cheques or postal monies made out to Edeltraud Ennich
Hillier, SA - Sat 17 and Sun 18, October 2009
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide, close to Gawler)
A FULL HEART AND AN EMPTY MIND
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles
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, 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 to our spiritual
reality through the healing power of insight, kindness,
awareness and forgiveness.
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 - By Donation
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
___________________________________________________________________________
Germany 2010 Dates
For up to date information on my workshops go to
http://www.acfip.org/fws.html
Bonn
June 5/6 2010
9.30am to 5.30pm
HEALING OURSELVES and OTHERS
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles
Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result of relinquishing
all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
A Course in Miracles
Using the spiritual path of A Course in Miracles we will explore
what true healing is - the return to our awareness of our
spiritual identity. Identification with our body as our home is
the origin of all our physical and psychological suffering.
The basis of this workshop is that the cause of all disease lies
in the mind and not the body. Disease is a shadow on the body,
of the guilt in our minds.
During the workshop we will focus on undoing the blocks we have
built to the presence of God's love and joy within us through
the understanding and practising of forgiveness.Only this love
heals.
We will investigate what the Course means by healing ourselves
and others and contrast the differences between the healed and
the unhealed healer. Practical exercises will be used to help
understand the ego and to practice forgiveness and turning
within for guidance.
An overview of the Course's metaphysical, psychological and
spiritual teachings especially in regard to healing will be
covered.
No previous knowledge of the book A Course in Miracles is
required.
An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri June 4
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
___________________________________________________________________________
Freiburg
June 12/13 2010
HEALING OURSELVES and OTHERS
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles
Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result of relinquishing
all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
A Course in Miracles
Using the spiritual path of A Course in Miracles we will explore
what true healing is - the return to our awareness of our
spiritual identity. Identification with our body as our home is
the origin of all our physical and psychological suffering.
The basis of this workshop is that the cause of all disease lies
in the mind and not the body. Disease is a shadow on the body,
of the guilt in our minds.
During the workshop we will focus on undoing the blocks we have
built to the presence of God's love and joy within us through
the understanding and practising of forgiveness.Only this love
heals.
We will investigate what the Course means by healing ourselves
and others and contrast the differences between the healed and
the unhealed healer. Practical exercises will be used to help
understand the ego and to practice forgiveness and turning
within for guidance.
An overview of the Course's metaphysical, psychological and
spiritual teachings especially in regard to healing will be
covered.
No previous knowledge of the book A Course in Miracles is
required.
An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri June 11
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
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.
___________________________________________________________________________
BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson
Books:
Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness. Findhorn Press
1994
Also available in German, Romanian, French, Dutch, Spanish and
Portuguese.
The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness. Findhorn Press. 2003
Also available in German, Polish and Romanian.
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Audio Tapes and CDs - Healing the Cause:
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)
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.
Two New CDs
1. Three Steps of Forgiveness.
This workshop concentrates on the process of forgiveness from
the perspective of A Course in Miracles. Includes 3 healing
exercises.
Recorded at the Annual Miracle Network Conference in
London, November 2001. 1 hour 12 mins. One CD
2. Finding and Eliminating the Blocks to Receiving Guidance.
This talk investigates what stops us hearing the guidance that
is ever present in our lives. Recorded at the Annual Miracle
Network Conference in London, October 20001 hour. One CD
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
http://www.acfip.org/audio.html
___________________________________________________________________________
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
___________________________________________________________________________
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.
How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin? Shall
we not put away these sharp-edged children's toys? How soon will
you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin.
Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven
back? How long, O holy Son of God, how long?
A Course in Miracles Lesson 250
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
Gamble everything for love,
if you're a true human being.
If not, leave
this gathering.
Half-heartedness doesn't reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep
stopping for long periods
at mean spirited roadhouses.
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