ACFIP
Newsletter
Issue 45 - Date June
2015
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
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
New
1. Healing
the Cause -A Path of Forgiveness.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
2. A
Course in Miracles - Explanations of Major Themes
New book in eBook format
3. Forgiveness
- A Path to Inner Peace.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
The eBook versions can be read on Kindle, iPad,
Microsoft eReader, Nook, PDF readers (Mac and PC) and most
eBook readers.
¥ Downloadable MP3s of my Healing the
Cause self-help CDs now available.
See below for details.
For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Regards
Michael Dawson
______________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
*
Who Do We Forgive? - Michael Dawson
* Now ThatÕs Zen Part 2of 2
- Interview with Adyashanti
* Awakening Story - Amoda Maa Jeevan
* Nisargadatta Maharaj - Silence
Quotes
* A Fully Realized Human Life
- Jan Frazier
*
Workshops
* Books and Audio Materials for Sale
* Links
* Inspirational Quotations
_____________________________________________________
Who Do We Forgive?
- Michael Dawson
from
Forgiveness:
A
Path to Inner Peace
Inspired by
A Course in Miracles
by
Michael
Dawson
Perhaps
it will be helpful to remember that no one can be angry
at a fact. It is always an interpretation that gives
rise to negative emotions, regardless of their seeming
justification by what appears as facts.
A
Course in Miracles M-17.4
(See
Appendix One for an explanation of page and line
references to A Course in Miracles.)
Forgiveness of Ourselves or Others?
Who needs to
be forgiven? This is a fundamental question. Many of us
believe we need to strive to forgive the wrongs that seem
to have been done to us. We feel victimised by the
seemingly unfair actions of others and believe our anger
towards them is justified. But is it always the others who
need to be forgiven, or could it maybe be ourselves? Do we
have to remain victims or is there another way?
The personal
tension created by holding grievances against another is
unpleasant. We may feel we are in the right, but at great
personal cost to our own peace of mind. To alleviate such
tension we might choose to 'forgiveÕ the other person;
although in our opinion they have committed a wrong, we
decide to overlook it. We would, however, love to hear
them apologise, proving their guilt and our
innocence. But an apology may not be forthcoming; indeed
the person with whom we hold our grievance may now have
died.
We tell our
friends we have forgiven our enemy; we are prepared to
forget and get on with life. But have we really returned
our mind to a state of peace, or is there lurking an
ongoing disquiet about this episode? Do we carry on and
forget the incident only to find that past pain is still
there just waiting to be triggered by events similar to
the one we have just ÔforgivenÕ? Has our forgiveness
worked? Has the willingness to put all this behind us and
to overlook the sins of the other actually resolved
anything?
Our cultural
and religious upbringing generally decrees what is right
and what is wrong behaviour. If someone acts towards us
with 'wrong' behaviour, we are usually taught that our
anger is justified; the other person should
apologise and change his or her behaviour. If they conform
to our expectations, we are then open to ÔforgivingÕ them,
but not otherwise.
The
quotation at the start of this chapter reminds us that we
never get angry over a fact: itÕs our interpretation
of the fact that can give rise to anger. Forgiveness tells
us we can always choose our reaction to any situation.
Consider the
following story:
Imagine you
are at a party with three friends. LetÕs call them John,
Peter, and Mary. The topic of conversation gets around to
a recent news story about the rise in obesity in the
United Kingdom population and its effect on the National
Health Service. It was clear from the article that
diseases related to obesity were costing the NHS millions
of pounds each year. The writer of the article felt it was
unfair how the sector of the population that was not obese
had to carry the financial penalty for those who are. One
of his suggestions was that the obese should pay a
contribution towards their treatment if they suffered from
an obesity-related illness.
John, who is
somewhat overweight, feels this is an outrageous
suggestion, clearly lacking in compassion for the plight
of the obese. Peter, who keeps trim with regular workouts
in the gym, thinks it an excellent suggestion; he is happy
this issue has been raised in the national press, feeling
it is high time something is done about it. This obvious
clash of opinions soon provokes fierce discussion between
the two men. Mary has stood by, quietly listening.
Although being a bit overweight herself, she cannot muster
any interest in this debate; her mind is more focused on
the evening ahead.
In the above
story, we can see how one event or stimulus Ð in this case
the newspaper report Ð produced three entirely different
responses. John was angry, Peter happy, and Mary
indifferent. Each person chose his or her own response to
the facts in the article.
No stimulus
has any inherent power to create a certain response in all
people. We ourselves always choose how we react in any
given situation; there is nothing in this world that has
the power to take our peace away. Yes, certain events can
lead us to experience physical pain, but even in these
events it is our personal choice whether to get upset
about it or not.
I remember
watching a dramatised documentary about a white fur
trapper working within the Arctic Circle who became good
friends with an Eskimo family. This Eskimo tribe had a
particular custom, which was to share everything they
possessed (including their wives) with close friends. One
day the husband announced to the fur trapper that he would
be very happy if he were to sleep with his wife. He added
that it would also make his wife very happy; this was not
a custom imposed upon the women, but something they
happily agreed to. The fur trapper was shocked and
declined their offer. His reaction upset the family
deeply.
In one
scene, the distressed wife asked the fur trapper why he
had refused her: was it that she was ugly? Neither the
husband nor the wife could understand why a close friend
would not want to share their life. Contrast this response
to what we might normally expect here in the West if a
husband came home and found his wife in bed with his best
friend! The typical response would be strong negative
feelings such as anger, fear, outrage, and betrayal: an
example of one stimulus causing opposite reactions. It
follows that an event in itself cannot provoke an
automatic response; it is always we who choose the
response to any situation. This choice of response lies at
the heart of forgiveness.
Forgiveness Exercise
For this
exercise you will need a sheet of paper and a pen. Divide
the sheet into two columns by drawing a line down the
middle, and then put a line across the top for two
headings, as shown in figure 1.1.
Think of someone you know
very well, someone for whom you can list both likes and
dislikes. This could be a parent, partner, lover, sister,
brother, boss, or friend.
Now write
the name of the person you have chosen as part of the
following heading in the top left-hand box on your page:
The
qualities I like about ÉnameÉ are:
In the top
right hand box, write:
The
qualities I dislike about ÉnameÉ are:
Now write at
least four or five qualities you like about this person
and four or five you dislike about them in the respective
columns.
[If you find
you are struggling to get four or five likes and dislikes,
add another name to the top boxes and simply continue
adding to your lists. The more you write in your columns
the more you may learn.]
Spend a few
minutes with this exercise and only when you are finished
continue reading.
Please
do not read any further until you have completed your
lists, or you will lessen the impact of this exercise!
Now go back
to the top of your lists, cross out the name/s on each
side, and
insert your
own name instead.
The lists
now read as the qualities you like and dislike in yourself.
Strange? But true! If you did not possess these qualities
yourself, to some degree or another, you would not see
them in others.
You may find
it difficult to accept some of these qualities depending
on the image you have of yourself. For instance, if you
have low self-esteem you may find it impossible to believe
that all these good qualities are within you. Maybe you
find it embarrassing when people appreciate you and will
deftly switch the topic of conversation if someone says
something complimentary. (If this sounds like you, you can
be sure there is hidden guilt waiting to be forgiven. But
donÕt despair, later on we will look at exercises that can
be of help in this process )
In the same
way, the negative attributes you see in the other person
must also be in yourself; otherwise, you would not be
upset about them. Of course, itÕs possible to recognise
character faults in another without having them yourself.
However, in this exercise you need to list the things that
really upset you about the other person. If
something someone else does upsets you, this is the red
flag that is showing you what is unforgiven in yourself.
For most of
us, a recognition that something we dislike in someone
else is actually something we also possess will be
actively resisted, because in our minds we feel sure of
two things:
The other
person has these particular negative attributes.
and
We want them
to change these behaviours to ones we prefer.
That they
have these negative attributes may or may not be true, but
that is not important. What is important is that on some
level you know that what you accuse them of is a
reflection of something within you. Take jealousy as an
example. Maybe your partner is jealous of your friends and
this may mirror your jealousy of those who are wealthier
than you. These are simply two different expressions of
the same thing.
There is
nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
William
Shakespeare, Hamlet II.ii.259
Typically,
our conditioning tells us jealousy is wrong, it's bad, and
we should not be jealous. Taking on this value judgement,
we feel guilty and ashamed and may pretend we do not
suffer from it. Or if we do admit we are jealous, then
weÕll pacify ourselves that itÕs only Ôjust a littleÕ. But
we know this is not really true, and don't want to face
the fact. Consequently, when we see this fault in another
we are uncomfortably reminded how Ð to some degree Ð we
suffer from the same 'sin'.
When
biologists want to understand the life and behaviour of
some recently discovered animal species they need to do
their work with non-judgemental awareness. Whilst watching
the new species they may observe all manner of behaviour,
including much that is brutal. For instance, perhaps the
male of the species has to be prevented by the female from
fighting or devouring their offspring. If biologists
become upset and judgemental about the observed animal
behaviour, they have lost the required detachment to
actually record what is happening and may be tempted to
analyse or explain behaviour from a human point of view.
In the same
way, as we judge the facts of our nature we lose the
ability to really see what is happening. We may become
preoccupied with guilt at what we observe rather than
working with acceptance and self-forgiveness. Instead, we
quickly try to sweep it all under the carpet where we
desperately hope it will be forgotten.
If we
uncover the uncomfortable facts of our nature and resist
labeling them as ÔbadÕ, we do have an opportunity to heal
them. Fortunately, opportunities are presented to us daily
as we come into contact with people and events that
trigger what we have tried to lock away in our
unconscious. The people we meet are our potential
saviours, showing us Ð sometimes time and time again Ð
what we have tried to bury in our minds.
Should you
observe in another a particular negative behaviour that
you either do not possess, or do possess but have forgiven
in yourself, then you would not respond with upset, but
rather with non-judgemental compassion for the other
person. You would simply know that their negative
behaviour is caused by fear and that they are doing their
best to cope with something they find difficult; their
behaviour would not be perceived as an attack upon you,
but as a call for your help. They would be allowed to be,
and you would be happy and willing to help if asked.
If you
extend forgiveness to others, you automatically extend
this forgiveness to yourself, too. What you give to others
Ð whether in love or hate Ð you also give to yourself.
Why? Because our actions reinforce the thoughts in our
mind. If we act lovingly, we are reminding and reinforcing
in ourselves that we are loving. Similarly, to attack
another increases the hate and therefore guilt in our
mind.
The
behaviours in the 'dislike' column may not apply to you in
an obvious, direct way. Maybe you listed anger, yet you
never get angry with the person whose name you mentioned
initially, nor do you consider yourself characteristically
'angry'. But what if you do carry suppressed anger that
makes you feel ashamed, and this is what you are being
reminded of? Rather than directly expressing your anger
back to them, you may withdraw and act remote around this
person.
Perhaps you
dislike a person drinking alcohol because you virtually
never drink. Try to look at your thoughts and feelings
when you are in the company of this person. Why does
it bother you so that they drink? Are they perhaps
drinking to escape from the pain in their life? Do you
also seek to escape from the pain in your life but use
other means, such as overeating, or excessive viewing of
TV or browsing of the Internet?
Take a few
minutes to look again at your ÔnegativeÕ column on the
list you made earlier.
Do you feel
there is some truth in what it says about you? Our egos
hate this type of exposure! We prefer to deny what is in
our subconscious and project it out onto the world
instead. Rather than look at ourselves, we blame everyone
else: our mother, father, partner, employer, the
government, this dictator, that religion, and so on. To
start the process of forgiveness we need to take
responsibility for what is in our own minds, and in the
next chapter we will explore more fully our egoÕs story of
denial and projection.
In every
situation in which we lose our peace, we have found a
reflection of what is unhealed, what we have not forgiven
ourselves for. We all walk around in a hall of mirrors,
the world constantly reflecting back what is in our minds.
When we are upset the world becomes a messenger, drawing
our attention to what we have tried to ignore or even
failed to recognise. Instead of killing the messenger, we
now have an opportunity to work with forgiveness Ð of
ourselves.
You may
agree with some or all of what youÕve read so far, but may
have serious reservations about whether this applies to
events on the world stage such as war and genocide, murder
and rape. How can we forgive such atrocities? This is an
important question and will be explored more fully in the
next chapter.
I will end
this introduction with a letter I received from a friend;
it illustrates well the fact that we donÕt have to change
other people to feel at peace around them.
I built
up a strong hate relationship with the man who owns the
townÕs hardware store. I often had to go in there and
found him the rudest, most overbearing rip-off merchant
I'd ever met. After eight months or so, I vowed never to
go there again, though it meant a lot of trouble for me.
I also decided to put anyone else off going there.
One day,
I urgently needed photocopying done of some children's
sanctuary songs for a group the next day. Songs like
ÔThe more we are togetherÕ, ÔYou are beautifulÕ, etc. Of
course, he has the only photocopier in town so I went in
hoping to slip down to his photocopy room and do it
myself but, instead, he came with me and proceeded to do
the photocopying. As he did, he got interested in the
songs and asked me how they went.
I very
reluctantly began to sing these very spiritual songs. He
joined in, in a gorgeous baritone, rich and full. I
think we sang our way through every song! This
transformed everything. I didn't intend to 'forgive', we
just joined, and it happened. His voice was so beautiful
that I was transfixed and the ridiculousness of the
situation appealed to my nature.
I adore
the man now and see so many sides of him that were
invisible before. Although I still end up buying three
things I don't need whenever I go into his shop, I can
admire the fact that he is the only thriving business in
the village.
I feel so
much joy when I remember this incident. I think it
should be on a film. Importantly to me, he didn't change
at all; he didn't have to. I wish I could do this as
easily with all the other people who annoy me!
Krissy,
New
Zealand
CHAPTER
SUMMARY
¥ Facts
are neutral.
¥ No
event in the world produces the same response in everyone.
¥ We
always choose our reactions to situations.
¥ What
upsets us about others reflects what is unforgiven in
ourselves.
_____________________________________________________
Now ThatÕs Zen Part 2
of 2 - Interview with Adyashanti
Reproduced with permission from:
IÕm Not Babysitting Your Ego
Episode
Description:
We finish up our discussion with spiritual
teacher Adyashanti, focusing on several topics relevant
to contemporary seekers. We start off by exploring his
thoughts on questions of power & hierarchy in the
student-teacher relationship. AdyaÕs approach is to put
power back on the student, encouraging them to be their
own inner authority from the beginning.
We also explore a type of writing meditative inquiry
practice that Adyashanti has done, and which he teaches
others. He explores how this type of inquiry can be used
in conjunction with silent meditation practice to
eliminate roadblocks on the spiritual path.
This is part 2 of a two-part series. Listen to
part 1, Now
ThatÕs Zen.
Transcript:
Vince: Another topic, and one thatÕs just
really alive in a lot of practitioners conversations and
their minds is this whole question around power and
hierarchy when it comes to the student-teacher
relationship.
Adyashanti: Yeah.
Vince: And I was recently on Zen Sesshin and
there was a very clear hierarchy between the teacher and
us. And I really saw the potential there for both abuse
and for peopleÕs issues around power coming up. And then
I also saw the potential that differential created to
sort of get over my ego tendencies and step to a place
of mystery and not knowing and challenging myself in a
positive, healthy way that I normally maybe wouldnÕt do
on my own.
And so it seemed really clear that there were some
potentially positive things from this and then some
potentially down sides from this. And it seems clear
that we are not going the way of Eastern cultures that
had these really clear authoritarian power structures in
place. And I was wondering in your own teaching, how the
relationship between yourself and your students, of
power and hierarchy, how you have dealt with that over
time, and where itÕs at that now?
Adyashanti: Ok, well itÕs evolved over time. And
most of the evolution has been just for a practical
reason, more that for a strategic reason. By that I
mean, when the numbers of students get to a certain
place, I simply could no longer have these more of these
sort of closer, real personal relationships with my
students. So I just didnÕt have the time to do. Its one
thing when I had 30 people at a retreat, but when I have
350, you canÕt see everybody in private. You canÕt even
see a small portion of them.
But outside of that, my own sense of it is, at least as
a teacher, I think that every teacher-student relation
you walk into, there is some sort of agreement you are
making. You may be making it unconsciously, but you are
making it, nonetheless. Like you said, if you go to a
traditional setup and a Zen situation, thereÕs an
unspoken agreement that the teacher is the final
authority, and the teachers way is the way. You are
meant to kind of lower your ego, right, in the presence
of that. And that has a lot of potentially positive
aspects to it, because it does challenge your ego kind
of very quickly right? Your ego realizes that itÕs not
in control of the situation.
Vince: Yeah.
Adyashanti: ThatÕs probably the most useful thing
about a more authoritarian traditional kind of
teacher-student relationship is that the ego doesnÕt
really get to play its games. If itÕs done right. I
think, you know, and everyone can draw their own
conclusions about what the potential drawbacks are, but
I think we know that any kind of power has, unless one
is really conscious, it has a potentially corruptive
quality to it. Unless you are really on top of things.
For me, the unspoken agreement that I have with people
basically, and I tell this to people all the time, and I
say basically youÕre the authority. Which is my way of
saying you have to take responsibility for yourself
right at the beginning. I am not really here to baby sit
anybody. I am not here to play the role of a traditional
authoritarian figure. Even though it may look that way,
because IÕm sitting up on a stage for instance, and just
the set up has the look of a certain power structure.
But internally, I am always trying to put responsibility
back onto people, back onto themselves. And I even tell
people, ÒLook, if you are looking for somebody to
babysit your ego all the time, then you are with the
wrong teacher. I am not here to do that. That is not
what I am here to do.Ó Which is a different kind of
agreement, right? ItÕs a different way of going about
it. People that are really going to benefit from the way
I teach, are going to be people that are self motivated
spiritually, and they are sort of willing to take on
responsibility for themselves without this sort of
grabbing that from an egoic perspective.
You are quite right that no matter what kind of
teacher-student relationship, no matter what the set up
is, they all have their pluses and minuses, they all
have their strong points, and they all have their
weaknesses. There is no way to set it upÉ everything in
life has strong points and weaknesses. I donÕt look at
teacher-relationships as thereÕs one right way to do it.
ThereÕs many ways to do it. And I just happen to do it,
you know, the way I do, which reflects the way I was, I
think, when I entered spirituality.
I saw my own spiritual teacher as a coach, you might
say. You know, because I came through, a lot of my young
life, I was a very, very highly competitive endurance
athlete and I wanted to be as good as I could be and so
I went and talked to my coach. And he said, hereÕs how
to do it. But I knew my coach couldnÕt go out there and
train for me. He couldnÕt do it. Nor did I ask my coach
to be a God figure for me.
Vince: Right.
Adyashanti: So IÕve always seen, even when I was
a student, I saw my teacher, kind of, a bit without
thinking about it at the time, but a bit more like a
coach. Like just tell me the right way to do this. And
then I have to go out and do it. And I think thatÕs,
kind of, how I still do things to this day.
Vince: Yeah.
Adyashanti: I donÕt want to be someoneÕs God. I
donÕt want to be someoneÕs, sort of, final authority
figure. You know, I tell people all the time, ÒLook,
youÕve got to come in the door with your own inner
integrity, because IÕm not going to really be able to
give it to you. YouÕve got have that for yourself.
YouÕll either delude, or not delude yourself, for
yourself. ItÕs your responsibility ultimately.Ó And to
say that, really, up front, is a very different power
dynamic.
Vince: Nice, and it sounds like you keep going
back to that and reminding people of that. And thatÕs,
kind of, the pointer you have.
Adyashanti: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ThatÕs the pointer
that I have. I try to emphasize to people that they do
have the capacity too. I think one of the mistakes
people make when they go to spiritual teachers is, they
think: because IÕm not enlightened, IÕve got to leave my
good sense at the door. And I tell people, look, itÕs
just the opposite. If you want this enlightenment thing,
you canÕt get to it by riding the coattails on some
enlightened person. It doesnÕt work that way. YouÕve got
to verify everything for yourself in your own
experience. You donÕt actually have the luxury of
believing in anything. Believing in what I say, just
because I say it. Or believing in anybody, including the
BuddhaÐjust believing it because he said itbecause that
has no transformative value. You have to go inside and
find out for yourself in your own experience. Prove it
true or false for yourself. So that, right there, is a
very different relationship with spirituality. I think,
in one sense, itÕs inherently more challenging.
Vince: Yeah. Absolutely. It sounds similar toÉ I
was listening to a teacher of mine talk on the seven
factors of awakening, this was Jack Kornfield. And he
said, oh, and the eighth factor is common sense.
[Laughs] And it sounds similar to what youÕre saying.
That thereÕs a sense of not leaving behind just the
basic intelligence because itÕs the spiritual path that
thatÕs somehow different.
Adyashanti: Yeah. The job of a spiritual teacher
in one part is to help people hone in on whatÕs really
true inside of themselves, including, just their
ordinary good sense. To help them hone in, like, what is
it? Because it can be hard not to delude yourself,
right? And thatÕs part of a teachers task, is to help
people distinguish between whatÕs true inside and whatÕs
not true inside. To help show them the ways people can
delude themselves, and the ways you can actually be
clear.
When the spiritual teacher doesnÕt try to take
responsibility for that themselves, or take it away from
their students, I think the students actuallyÉ they find
the capacity within themselves, or they donÕt. And they
go and find a different type of spiritual teacher.
Because, like I said, just because I do it the way I do
it, I have nothing in me that thinks itÕs inherently the
better way, or the way anybody else should do it. ItÕs
just, this is the way I do it. If it works for you,
great. If it doesnÕt, thatÕs okay too, youÕll go
somewhere else where it does work for you.
Vince: So, one really interesting practice, that
I saw you suggest to people, or that you did yourself,
was practice of this, kind of, writing inquiry. Taking
an inquiry question and really using, like, a journal to
go into the question, and write only the answers that
feel authentically true. To not write anything thatÕs
just bullshit, so to speak.
Adyashanti: Exactly
Vince: And I was wondering if you could share a
little bit about that practice and how you came up with
it. It sounds like a really relevant practice, for some
reason, to me, to a western audience. And I donÕt know
if that was intentional or not?
Adyashanti: Well, you know, itÕs just what I did
when I was a student. I mean, I didnÕt start out doing
it. But I just startedÉ I used to kind of do some
journaling and that can be clarifying because, if you
write something down, itÕs like you get your thoughts on
a piece of paper and they stop jumping around all over
the place. You stop thinking in circular patterns if you
write it down because itÕs very obvious when youÕre
thinking in circular patterns.
So, I found it useful to write down certain thoughts.
And then later, I thought, ÒOkay, now, what if I took
whatever the question I had. One time, letÕs say, for
instance, I had a question, ÔWhat is surrender really?
What is it really? What do I know about this?ÕÓ And I
thought, ÒOkay. What if I was going to tell somebody
what true surrender was?Ó And so I started to sit down
and write what that was. Because I think we are all
better at communicating when weÕre trying to communicate
to somebody else rather than communicate to ourselves.
Does that make sense?
Vince: Yeah, absolutely.
Adyashanti: If you try to explain something to a
friend, itÕs easier to explain to them, then often it is
to explain to yourself. So, I would sort of start
writing as if I was writing for somebody else to make
something clear for somebody else. And what I would do
is I would refuse to write anything that I didnÕt know
was really true. ThatÕs where it changed from journaling
into what I call a meditative inquiry.
Journaling is just kind of getting your thoughts out.
This was only putting the thoughts down that I saw to be
really absolutely true. And I would find that when I
would start to write in this way, that I could literally
get halfway through a sentence. In the middle of the
sentence, IÕd go, ÒOkay, thatÕs the last word that I
know to be true.Ó And I would just stop there. And I
would refuse to write anything more until I could find
out what was true. And sometime I would sit there for 15
minutes before, maybe, two words would come that were
really true. IÕd write those two words and then I
wouldnÕt write anything else until it was true. So, it
was a very concentrated, challenging way to write
because it was, in its way, meditative. It was to write
in this way isnÕt just to spew out oneÕs thoughts, itÕs
really more a product of deep listening inside, than it
is deep thinking inside.
I just found it to be extraordinarily useful for me. And
I did quite a bit of that for quite a while. And I found
that I could get through sort of these spiritual
roadblocks that I used to bump into, I could find
insights through this process that might take me much,
much, much longer than simply meditating, even though I
did a lot of meditation at that time as well. I found,
though, to combine the two of sort of some way to
actively inquire, and a meditation where you just sort
of let go and relax, those two really provided a really
powerful dynamic, kind of like a yin and a yang thing.
And I found, as a teacher, if people are just
meditating, thereÕs often not that catalyst, that spark
that will spark awakening or deep insight. They make it
into deep meditative states of absorption but spiritual
awakening isnÕt to get into a deep state of absorption,
itÕs a state of Òah, ha.Ó And so I think the inquiry
part adds energy. It adds a catalyst. It kind of keeps
whatever is unresolved in you very much at the forefront
of your consciousness. And so it adds a real dynamic to
it. And so I found it really useful for myself. And I,
at times, suggest that other people might want to do
their own version of the same thing, especially if
theyÕre working with something theyÕre really stuck on.
Some patterns, they just canÕt see through, some
repetitive thing they know they have to have a deeper
insight into but they just canÕt seem to find it. IÕll
often say, ÒWell. Sit down and communicate the answer to
your question but donÕt write anything unless you know
itÕs totally true.Ó ThatÕs how I came up with it. And
thatÕs how sometimes I have people utilize it. Because
if you do it right, you spend much more time sitting in
silence than you do actually writing.
Vince: Yeah, it sounds like it.
Adyashanti: You know, because how much can
anybody write that they know is absolutely true? It
might take you a couple hours to get a half a sentence
outYou know? . [Laughs] But if weÕre talking about
whatÕs really true, and weÕre talking about
spirituality, then those are the things we want to
really find out about ourselves. What do we know thatÕs
really true, as opposed to all the nonsense that we
imagine we know is true? And thatÕs what I found the
process of this sort of, type of inquiry through writing
really did.
ItÕs not so muchÐthe valuable part was not only what I
found, but was really also that it showed me what I
didnÕt know, which is really valuable. ItÕs
extraordinarily important. ItÕs kind of like a
spring-cleaning, you know? You just dust out your
consciousnessÐyou go, ÒWow, 99% of the things that I
think I know, when I really examine them honestlyÉÓ
YouÕre all of a sudden not so sure if itÕs really true
or not. And itÕs really valuable to empty out the mind
in that way, and to empty out the old belief system.
Vince: Yeah, it sounds sort of similar to that
whole Zen idea of Great Doubt, of building up the sense
of not knowing.
Adyashanti: Exactly. Exactly. Or like the Korean
Zen teacher used to say, ÒdonÕt-know mind.Ó But you can
be sitting there trying to be in donÕt-know mind, but
you might not even know what donÕt-know mind means. You
know what I mean? Just because someone says it doesnÕt
know what it means. But when you really start to look,
you really say, ÒGosh, I actually donÕt know anything.Ó
Now thatÕs donÕt-know mind. Does that make sense?
Vince: YeahÐno, no, it doesnÕt. [Laughs]
Adyashanti: Where this really started for me was
a very, very sort of eye-opening and in some ways
sobering, chilling moment, after a Sesshin that I sat,
on the retreat. I was sitting there, and at the end of
it, people were having breakfast after it was over, and
talking, and I heard a group of old-time students whoÕd
been at this, like, 20, 30Ña couple of themÑ40 years.
They were talking, and they were all talking about how
when they were young, they remembered getting involved
in Buddhism, and they wanted enlightenment and to
awaken, and now that theyÕd been doing it for 30 or 40
years theyÕd kind of just let go of that. They hadnÕt
really found out what that was, but theyÕd foundÑthey
kind of found peace with not finding out what this
enlightenment thing was about. So they had a peace about
that. And they actually did have a peace about that. You
know, like, well maybe itÕs not going to happen but itÕs
okay. And I could see, for them, it was okay. And that
it was okay. But for me, at 23 years old, and I suddenly
look over and I go, ÒThat could be me in 40 years.Ó I
could be sitting there saying, ÒWell, the enlightenment
thing didnÕt really work out, but, you know, IÕm really
at peace with that.Ó And something about me, at 23 years
oldÐI literally had to bite my bottom lip. I literally
dug my teeth into my bottom lip, otherwise I just would
have screamed out this huge, ÒNo!Ó Like, it cannot end
that way, thatÕs what I thought. That canÕt happen.
ThatÕs not acceptable. It was fine for them, so it
wasnÕt a judgment for them. But for me, it scared the
hell out of me. And thatÕs the day when I thought,
ÒOkay, thatÕs it.Ó I realized I was on my own. Because I
realized you canÕt just follow the tradition, because it
might not work out. Just doing what youÕre told because
someone says thatÕs the way to do it, and thatÕs the way
theyÕve always done itÐI thought, ÒOkay, I donÕt have
that luxury. IÕve got to prove everything true or false
for myself, and itÕs up to me.Ó
And I didnÕt leave my teachers, and I didnÕt leave my
tradition, and I didnÕt stop meditatingÐI didnÕt stop
doing any of that, but the internal relationship
shifted. And what I was really confronted with, is I
thought, ÒNot only do I not know what enlightenment is,
I donÕt even know if thereÕs such a thing. Maybe weÕre
all just deluding ourselves. Maybe this is just a pipe
dream.Ó But you see, up till that point, I couldnÕt even
ask myself that question. I couldnÕt even admit that
maybe it was just a pipe dream. It was too frightening.
But as soon as I could admit that, it sort of frightened
me into a clarity. I thought, ÒWell I have to find out
then, donÕt I?Ó And I donÕt know if you can sense it,
but there was a real aloneness in it. There was a very
stark energy to it. That, ok IÕve got to do this, IÕve
got to find this out for myself.
And I look back many, many years later, and I look at
that moment as probably one of the most significant
moments in my whole spiritual seeking days. Because it
was the day that I stopped accepting anything simply
because somebody said it, including the Buddha. And I
looked back and I go that was the most important thing I
ever did. I didnÕt throw out what anybody said. But I
realized that until I proved it to be true in myself, I
donÕt actually know if itÕs true or not. Now when you do
that, you feel very, very alone. You feel like there is
very little to grab hold of. Because thereÕs almost
nothing that you actually know, for certain. And so it
kind of scares you into a clarity, you might say.
[Laughs]
Vince: Nice. It sounds like that really connects
both to the writing inquiry and the energy behind that.
And also, when we were talking about the student-teacher
relationship, thatÕs what you keep pointing people back
in themselves, is to find out for themselves.
Adyashanti: Yeah.
Vince: It sounds like itÕs been a major theme in
your own experience and in the way that you work with
people.
Adyashanti: Sure, I think for all of us, however
we teach, it kind of reflects ourselves, and what we
did. And thatÕs the way I teach too. And sometimes that
works for people. I have told other people the same
story when I have taught several times. And some people
are kind of inspired by it and other people get so
darned spooked, that they just get despondent. Like oh
god, youÕre right, I donÕt know anything. How can I do
that and they get overwhelmed by it. So it can have,
like everything, itÕs a double-edged sword, right?
But, in the end, I see this as the hallmark. I mean I
always like to point out back and look, this is what the
Buddha did. This is what got the Buddha under the Bodhi
Tree. He went to all the teachers, he went to all the
teachings. He went through the whole circuit of the day.
He became an ascetic. He did everything he was supposed
to do. And at the end of the day, it didnÕt quite work
out for him. So there he is in a totally catch-22
situation. He canÕt keep doing what he has done. He
canÕt keep doing what everyone else is doing. It hasnÕt
worked. But he canÕt just walk away from it either
because he can never forget about it. He has to find
this answer. So he eventually finds himself under this
tree all by himself, nobody else. Him and him alone. And
he has to come to his own realization for himself. And I
think that, there is a sort of a motif in this.
You see it through history, Jesus the way. I always
remind people Jesus was an extraordinary person but
Jesus was not a Christian. Jesus came from Judaism, but
he was someone who found his own insight in it, you see?
He stepped out of the mold, and found something
extraordinary. Buddha stepped out of the mold and found
something extraordinary.
So I am always suggesting to everyone, from the
very beginning, from step one, go ahead and step out of
the mold. You are going to have to do it sooner or later.
You may end up being still your dharma, your karma may
still be, to be a very traditional Buddhist, or a
traditional Christian or a traditional Jew, and thatÕs
fine if thatÕs sort of what your dharma is. But I think a
lot of people donÕt even want to question it.
______________________________________
Fear & not knowing-surrender - Amoda Maa Jeevan
I saw that I
wanted to be free of the story of ÒmeÓ and I was willing
to give up my need for love, relationship, happiness,
enlightenmentÑand even the need for any certaintyÑfor
this that I could not name. I had no idea how to
do this. There was no teacher, no road map, no
instruction manual, and no imagination of what I was
falling in to. But I trusted the gentle yet
insistent impulse to be still and to stop running away,
to not followÑas I had done a million times beforeÑthe
familiar contortions of my mind, and to meet directly in
naked awareness the most primal of fears:
annihilation. I opened to not-knowingness and
allowed myself to die into this. And in this
dying, all notions of self dissolved into
emptiness. I suppose I expected a kind of cold
no-thingness, but instead an incredible joy arose.
Without labeling it or packaging it or re-investing any
identity in it, the emptiness revealed a luminosity of
being. It had always been here, and, contrary to
appearances, I had never been separate from this.
From that moment on, I became a lover of what is,
unafraid to get right up close and intimate with
whatever appears in my experience. My suffering
became my doorway to freedom. This freedom now
looks nothing like I had imagined it to be. IÕm
often asked: ÒHow is your life different after
awakening?Ó I can only say that life goes on as it
always has. It is utterly unchanged, and yet, in
meeting everything as it is, everything has changed.
Today, 10 years later, the waves of phenomenal existence
called Òmy storyÓ continue. Sometimes the sea is
stormy; sometimes it is as calm as a millpond.
Sometimes there is pain, hardship, and unpleasant
emotions. There is an exquisite sensitivity to
every nuance of movement, and yet nothing touches the
pristine silence at the core of it all. The
radiant jewel that is this silence continues to
illuminate those places in my body-mind vehicle that are
still holding ancient patterns that do not serve the
bigger picture of love. ItÕs an on-going
demolition project in which everything that is not true
is destroyed. It happens effortlessly and thereÕs
nothing I have to do to make it happen. It is
ordinary and it is graceful.
I do not know what awakening will look like in
you. All I know is that this awakening hinges on
your genuine desire for awakening. If it is to
flower in you, you must truly want liberation from
everything that is false in you, you must want to give
yourself totally to the inquiry into what is true beyond
all inherited concepts, ideas, and beliefs. When
the flame of this desire becomes an untamable fire, it
flips a switch inside of you and the direction of your
destiny is irrevocably altered. ItÕs like turning
on the light only to discover that you are this
light. This in itself is extra-ordinary.
Even though you may have heard the words a thousand
times, nothing can prepare you for the naked reality
that is revealed. And yet the living experience of
this revelation is very ordinary: you have simply
re-discovered the innocent wholeness of your essential
nature. ItÕs the you that never was and never will
be separate from anything at all. This discovery
is the end of suffering and the beginning of freedom.
http://www.AmodaMaaJeevan.com
http://www.facebook.com/AmodaMaaJeevan
Also
published in:
The JOURNEY Home
Awakening
in the Dream
VOLUME
2 2013
______________________________________________________
from A
Course in Miracles:
The
holy instant (spiritual awakening) is the result of your
determination to be holy. It is the answer.
The desire and the willingness to let it come precede its
coming. You prepare your mind for it only to the extent
of recognizing that you want it above all else.
T-18.IV.1:1-4
Love waits on welcome, not
on time, and
the real world is but your welcome of what always was.
T-13.VII.9:7 T255
Release is given you the
instant you desire it.
T-18.VII.4:3
______________________________________________________
Silence Ð Quotes
From Nisargadatta
Maharaj ÒI Am That"
ÒWhatever you may have to
do, watch your mind. Also you must have moments of
complete inner peace and quiet, when your mind is
absolutely still. If you miss it, you miss the entire
thing. If you do not, the silence of the mind will
dissolve and absorb all else.Ó
ÒIt has nothing to
do with effort. Just turn away, look between the
thoughts, rather than at the thoughts. When you happen
to walk in a crowd, you do not fight every man you
meet, you just find your way between. When you fight,
you invite a fight. But when you do not resist, you
meet no resistance. When you refuse to play the game,
you are out of it.Ó
ÒNo particular
thought can be mindÕs natural state, only silence. Not
the idea of silence, but silence itself. When the mind
is in its natural state, it reverts to silence
spontaneously after every experience, or, rather,
every experience happens against the background of
silence.Ó
ÒTo go beyond the
mind, you must be silent and quiet. Peace and silence,
silence and peace Ð this is the way beyond. Stop
asking questions.Ó
ÒThese moments of inner quiet will burn out all
obstacles without fail. DonÕt doubt its efficacy. Try
it. Silence is the main factor. In peace and silence
you grow. In peace and silence, the skin of the ÒIÓ
dissolves and the inner and the outer become one.Ó
ÒYour hope lies
in keeping silent in your mind and quiet in your
heart. Realized people are very quiet. You must
realize yourself as the immovable behind and beyond
the movable, the silent witness of all that
happens.Ó
ÒWhen the mind is kept away
from its preoccupations, it becomes quiet. If you do
not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that
it is permeated with a light and a love you have
never known; and yet you recognise it at once as
your own nature. Once you have passed through this
experience, you will never be the same man again;
the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate
its vision; but its bound to return, provided the
effort is sustained; until the day when all bonds
are broken delusions and attachments end and life
becomes supremely concentrated in the
present.Ó
ÒLook at your mind
dispassionately; this is enough to calm it. When it
is quiet, you can go beyond it. Do not keep it busy
all the time. stop it Ð and just be. If you give it
a rest, it will settle down and recover its purity
and strength. Constant thinking makes it decay.Ó
ÒA quiet mind is all you
need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind
is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world
active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the
mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness
inner energies wake up and work miracles without any
effort on your part.Ó
ÒPay no attention [to your
thoughts]. DonÕt fight them. Just do nothing about
them, let them be, whatever they are. Your very
fighting them gives them life. just disregard. Look
through.Ó
ÒAs long as you are a
beginner certain formalised meditations, or prayers
may be good for you. But for a seeker for reality
there is only one meditation Ð the rigorous refusal
to harbour thoughts. To be free from thoughts is
itself meditation É You begin by letting thoughts
flow and watching them. The very observation slows
down the mind till it stops altogether. Once the
mind is quiet, keep it quiet. DonÕt get bored with
peace, be in it, go deeper into it É Watch your
thoughts and watch yourself watching the thoughts.
The state of freedom from all thoughts will happen
suddenly and by the bliss of it you shall recognise
it.Ó
ÒThe silence is one and
without it the words could not have been heard. It
is always there Ð at the back of the words. Shift
your attention from the words to silence and you
will hear it.Ó
ÒTo see reality is as
simple as to see oneÕs face in a mirror. Only the
mirror must be clear and true. A quiet mind,
undistorted by desires and fears, free from ideas
and opinions, clear on all levels, is needed to
reflect the reality. Be clear and quiet Ð alert and
detached, all else will happen by itself.Ó
ÒThis attitude of silent
observation is the very foundation of yoga.Ó
ÒWhen the mind is quiet it
reflects reality. When it is motionless through and
through, it dissolves and only reality remains.Ó
ÒYou need not
worry about your worries. Just be. Do not try to be
quiet; do not make being quiet into a task to be
performed. DonÕt be restless about being quiet,
miserable about being happy. Just be aware that you
are and remain aware Ð donÕt say: Òyes, I am; what
next?Ó There is no next in ÒI amÓ. it is a timeless
state.Ó
___________________________________________________
Prior
to awakening, love is tainted. It has a quality
of self-centeredness: loving this person or
thing does what for me?
....When a person wakes up, love is free to be completely
itself. No longer is the object of affection
looked to for fulfillment. Fear and clutching
are nowhere in the picture. And so the heart is
free to open, to take moisture into all its dry
places. There is no sense of other to
awakeness, no other to distinguish from self, and so love
is indiscriminate. Compassion is without limit,
without strain. Love in no way can diminish or
tax.
....Your sense of who you are and what your life is about
has opened, softened. A lot that used to matter
is no longer absorbing. You move through things
(all things) with a light-hearted ease. You can
feel how struggle, the urge to make something happen Ñ a
whole lifeÕs worth of effort Ñ has drained right out of
you, as if youÕve sprung a leak.
...Children know something about this..... They
may think they once had it, but then lost
it. Or they may think they imagined it, that
they dreamed the whole thing up to give themselves some
kind of comfort, a respite from the daily, the
difficult. But no, that isnÕt quite whatÕs
going on.
They
didnÕt dream it up. ItÕs real. ItÕs
the most real thing there is. And it didnÕt go
away.
An awake person has a capacity for fun and pleasure that
greatly exceeds what was possible
before. Before, when the mind was so much in
charge of the inner world, when guilt and agenda and worry
held sway, day to day, hour upon hour, even in the hours
of sleep, seldom was it possible to yield utterly to
delight for long at a time. To rejoice for
rejoicingÕs own sake. To laugh like a banshee,
be again a child, unselfconscious,
unrestrained. To make love, to be made love to,
with abandon, with no fear of vulnerability, of
risk. To enjoy food, drink, dancing, a book
that entirely consumes you late into the
night. To wake in utter luxury, the pleasure of
reassembling consciousness into an actual person.
The mind is a very different organ after
awakening. Before, it is a tyrant in ceaseless
motion, an unbridled stallion. It is your
master, dragging you into neighborhoods youÕd never
willingly frequent. The mind dishes up an
unceasing supply of beliefs and opinions, hands you vivid
memories as if they were actually real right now, seduces
you into believing dreamed-up futures. It
saturates you in bias, in inner commentary that loops back
in on itself over and over, as if the thing had never been
said inside your head all those other times.
But after awakening, the mind finally, blessedly, gets to
be enjoyed. To be used right for the first time
in all the years itÕs been riding around inside the
cranium.
...Once youÕre awake, if you donÕt need your mind at any
given moment, you can turn it off! Just like a
flashlight or a blender. Turn it clean off, and
it wonÕt start up on its own. It wonÕt try to
keep talking while youÕre trying to go to
sleep. It will not cause you pain.
Awakeness is friendly with reality. So the
world will go on being its same self, including you with
your mortal life, but you will present a very soft and
yielding surface to whatever comes. Roll with
the punches, so to speak. Not fight it and
thereby cause yourself to suffer. And you will
never blame life or the world anymore for
anything. You just wonÕt.
YouÕll have so much energy freed up that you once spent
(that you wasted) on complaining and worrying and hoping
and obsessing and clinging Ñ so much unburdened, creative
energy Ñ that youÕll embrace your life and occupy the
beloved world and its humanity in such a way that youÕll
feel yourself come fully into your own, into what it is to
be absolutely alive, free, showing up. Filling
your skin in an unbridled way that just wasnÕt possible
before.
Oh, the time just after awakening, before all this
unfolding and fulfillment comes, youÕll mostly be stunned
by the sudden cession of pain. YouÕll just feel
so good, so relieved, that for a time you may just sit
around a lot giggling, staring off into space, focused on
feeling your innards, radically revised as they now
are. You might be disoriented. You
might need a lot of extra rest for a while, and probably
it would be best Ñ until you get your sea legs beneath you
Ñ not to take on any new projects or attempt to operate
any heavy machinery. It takes some getting used
to.
But after a while youÕll stretch yourself, get up, and
start to walk around in your brand-new life. Do
a little loving. Have a little
fun. Invent a little something with your shiny
new mind. YouÕll see. Look in the
mirror at who you have become. YouÕll hardly
believe your eyes: finally, a real human being,
come entirely to life.
____________________________________________
Forthcoming
Workshops on A Course in Miracles
Germany 2015
Dates
Bonn 2015
6-7 June, 2015
10.00am to 6.000pm
Living the
Guided Life
A Course in
Miracles workshop.
This day my mind is quiet, to receive the
Thoughts You offer me. And I accept what comes from
You, instead of from myself. I do not know the way to
You. But You are wholly certain. Father, guide Your
Son along the quiet path that leads to You. Let my
forgiveness be complete, and let the memory of You
return to me.
A Course in Miracles. Lesson 291
The Course states that if we do not have inner
peace and joy 24 hours a day we know nothing. Although
we may be competent in using the mind to live adequately
in daily practical life, we need to realise its
limitations and open ourselves to hearing a wisdom
beyond the mind - what the Course calls the Holy
Spirit, the Voice for God. This Voice can be heard in
many ways - an inner knowing, words, a felt sense, etc.
We play our part by realising we do not know the
way to peace and are willing to be guided and allow our
mind to become quieter through forgiveness.
The workshop will explore what the Holy
Spirit is, how to hear Its voice, how to tell the
difference between the ego's voice and the Holy
Spirit's, resistance to guidance, true prayer, the
ladder of prayer and attaining a quiet mind.
Exercises will be given to help quiet the mind and
open it to spirit's guidance.
No previous knowledge of A Course in
Miracles required.
An Evening
Introductory Talk - Fri 5th June 2015
7.30pm to 9.30pm
Contact:
Albert-Schweitzer-Haus
Beethovenallee 16
Bonn 53173
tel: 0228 - 36 47 37
___________________________________________________
Freiburg 2015
June 12 6pm to 9pm
June 13 10.00am to 6.00pm
June 14 10.00am to 5.00pm
Living the
Guided Life
A Course in
Miracles workshop.
This day my mind is quiet, to receive the
Thoughts You offer me. And I accept what comes from
You, instead of from myself. I do not know the way to
You. But You are wholly certain. Father, guide Your
Son along the quiet path that leads to You. Let my
forgiveness be complete, and let the memory of You
return to me.
A Course in Miracles. Lesson 291
The Course states that if we do not have inner
peace and joy 24 hours a day we know nothing. Although
we may be competent in using the mind to live adequately
in daily practical life, we need to realise its
limitations and open ourselves to hearing a wisdom
beyond the mind - what the Course calls the Holy
Spirit, the Voice for God. This Voice can be heard in
many ways - an inner knowing, words, a felt sense, etc.
We play our part by realising we do not know the
way to peace and are willing to be guided and allow our
mind to become quieter through forgiveness.
The workshop will explore what the Holy
Spirit is, how to hear Its voice, how to tell the
difference between the ego's voice and the Holy
Spirit's, resistance to guidance, true prayer, the
ladder of prayer and attaining a quiet mind.
Exercises will be given to help quiet the mind and
open it to spirit's guidance.
No previous knowledge of A Course in
Miracles required.
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
______________________________________________________
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.
______________________________________________
BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson
New teaching and healing materials - eBooks and downloadable
MP3s:
Ebooks:
1. Healing
the Cause -A Path of Forgiveness.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
2. A
Course in Miracles - Explanations of Major Themes
New book in eBook format
3. Forgiveness
- A Path to Inner Peace.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
The eBook versions can be read on Kindle, iPad,
Microsoft eReader, Nook, PDF readers (Mac and PC) and most
eBook readers.
For more details and how to purchase please visit: www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Downloadable Mp3s:
1. Healing
the Cause: Self-Help Exercises 1
This MP3 contains the identical four exercises as the CD
2. Healing
the Cause: Self-Help Exercises 2
This MP3 contains the identical four exercises as the CD
3. Healing
the Cause: 3 Self-Help Exercises in English with
German translation
This MP3 contains the identical three exercises as the CD
For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
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, French, Polish and
Romanian.
For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
MP3s (see above) 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.
Workshops:
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 and COURSE INFORMATION
Search
Engine for ACIM Sites, Definitions and Articles by
Joe Jesseph.
A Web search engine dedicated to finding discussion and
definitions of terms and concepts found in
A Course in Miracles as well as Web sites, articles and
other writings related to the Course.
Question
and Answer Service from
the Foundation for A Course in Miracles.
Their electronic outreach section has a question and answer
service 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.
Foundation for Inner
Peace..........................Publishers
of A Course in Miracles and responsible for the
translation programme. On-line mail order.
Foundation For A
Course In Miracles................FACIM
is the official teaching organisation of the Foundation for
Inner Peace and the copyright-holder of_A Course in
Miracles and all related materials. Publishes the
quarterly Lighthouse
newsletter. They have extensive on-line
mail order for their books, CDs and DVDs.
The Foundation was started by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick and
has moved to Temecula in California. Kenneth is my teacher
of A Course in Miracles. His body died in December
2013.
Their publications can also be ordered in Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Kenneth
Wapnick ......ÉÉÉ Biographical
information and excerpts from his writings
Kenneth
Wapnick on YouTube
Glossary
of ACIM terms from FACIM
"The
Most Commonly asked Questions about A Course in
Miracles"
by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick
Index
of Links to Miracle Studies Resources ...ÉÉ.......
A rich resource of materials on A Course in
Miracles by an ex-staff member of the Foundation For A Course
In Miracle. Joe also has a blog and has
recently published A
Primer of Psychology According to A Course in
Miracles.
miraclestudies.net ÉÉÉÉ A
Course in Miracles Resource Web Site for ACIM Students
A Course in Miracles Study groups
Search for A
Course in Miracles Study Groups Around the World.
The Foundation for Inner peace also has a study group search
engine.
Miracles Studies Australia http://www.miracle-studies.net.au
lists study groups for Australia and new Zealand
Purchase ACIM on line
ACIM
Historical Recordings & Video
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.
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 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
I Am That
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
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
_____________
Michael Dawson
PO Box 125
Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island
Queensland 4183
Australia
EMAIL: mdawson@acfip.org
WEBSITE: http://www.acfip.org
Nltr 45 Australian Centre for Inner Peace