ACFIP
Newsletter
Issue 47 December
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:
A Course in Miracles Material
* Michael Dawson
- Forgiveness and Sickness
* Chart - The
Metaphysics of A Course in Miracles
* Exercise in Self
Forgiveness
Non Dual
Teachings
* Nisargadatta
Maharaj - Quotes on Guidance and ÒI Need Do Nothing"
* Jac
OÕKeeffe - The awakening story goes like thisÉ
* Adyashanti - Magnetic
Silence
* Jan Frazier - Suffering:
That Extra Something
Other
* Workshops
* Books and Audio
Materials for Sale
* Links
* Inspirational
Quotations
A Course in Miracles Material
Forgiveness and
Sickness
from
A Path
to Inner Peace
Inspired
by A Course
in Miracles
by
Michael
Dawson
Sickness takes many forms, and so
does unforgiveness. The forms of one but reproduce the forms
of the other, for
they are the same illusion. So closely is one translated
into the other, that a
careful study of the form a sickness takes will point quite
clearly to the form
of unforgiveness that it represents. Yet seeing this will
not effect a cure.
That is achieved by only one recognition; that only
forgiveness heals an
unforgiveness, and only an unforgiveness can possibly give
rise to sickness of
any kind.
from Psychotherapy: Purpose,
Process and Practice P-2.VI.5, Supplement to A
Course in
Miracles
The above quotation makes a powerful
statement: that the origin of sickness is in the mind and not
the body.
Grievances held in the mind can become mirrored in the body as
particular
ailments Ð as dis-ease. Even our language gives us pointers:
ÒGet off my backÓ,
ÒYou are a pain in the neckÓ, ÒYou make me sickÓ, and so on.
Thankfully, just
as a lack of forgiveness can result in physical disease,
forgiveness can heal
it.
Case Study Ð Sue
(Names have been changed in all case
histories.)
Sue was a client of
mine. Her work as a massage therapist was becoming difficult
because of a pain
in her right arm and she was concerned whether she could
continue with her
work. During our session, Sue began to see a shadowy picture
and experience
feelings of fear. She had difficulty understanding what the
picture was but
felt it might be a face, as it appeared to have a nose.
However, the nose was
not really the right shape. I encouraged her to just let the
picture be and to
stay with the feeling of fear. Suddenly, the picture became
clear: It was not a
face at all; it was male genitals. The ÔnoseÕ was a penis. In
the scene that
unfolded, she was a young girl being forced to masturbate her
uncle using her
right hand. Despite pain in her arm, the uncle would not let
her stop until he
was satisfied. On seeing this, Sue experienced a strong
sensation of anger.
After venting her anger, the remainder of the session was
concerned with
whether she was ready to let this feeling go. She was
partially successful and
her feedback, a few days later, was that her arm was much
improved.
A dramatic illustration of the
mind-body link is provided in the case of people with
Dissociative Identity
Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder), in
which the
physiological state of their bodies can change when different
personalities
take control. This can result in particular ailments Ð even
allergies Ð
appearing or disappearing when a different personality/person
comes to the
front. And this can lead to all manner of problems for the
medical profession,
as well as the individual requiring treatment.
Differences in allergic reactions
among members of the ÔfamilyÕ have resulted in cases of
allergies completely
fading away as another personality takes control of the
body. By changing the
personality some multiples who are drunk can instantly
become sober. If a child
personality takes over a sedated adult personality the adult
dosage may be too
much for the child and result in an overdose.
from The Holographic Universe,
M.Talbot, HarperCollins.
Some years after The Findhorn
Book of Forgiveness was published a friend of mine
who works as a
clinical psychologist in Europe and specialises with patients
who have
Dissociative Identity Disorder informed me she had personally
observed the
following:
¥ Allergies
appearing and disappearing as personalities switch in and out.
¥ Different
personalities require different levels of sedation before
operations. My friend
stated she had to work for some weeks with a client before an
operation to
ensure the patient stayed in one personality during the
operation. If an adult
personality changed to a child personality during an operation
the patient
could overdose. If a child personality was sedated before an
operation and then
switched to an adult during the operation that patient could
become conscious.
¥ The
voice pattern is different for each personality -
accomplished actors
can't alter their voice enough to disguise their voice
patterns.
¥ Female
personalities are on different menstrual cycles.
¥ Some
multiples carry two or three different pairs of
eyeglasses to
accommodate their alternating personalities.
¥ One
personality can be colour blind and another
not.
¥ Eye
colour can change.
HereÕs one definition of this very
complex disorder:
"Dissociative
Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality
Disorder) is the
presence of two or more distinct identities or personality
states recurrently
taking control of the person's behaviour. This leads to an
inability to recall
important personal information that is too extensive to be
explained by
ordinary forgetfulness. It is commonly thought to be a
survival tactic
developed by highly traumatised children to protect themselves
from the memory
and effects of trauma and abuse. These children dissociate or
block trauma from
their conscious memories and place it in compartments or
separate personalities
within their self." Diagnostic Statistics Manual Ð
version IV
Other people seem to have developed
Ônatural multiplesÕ without being abused and/or traumatised.
They often refer
to themselves as ÔmultiplesÕ or ÔpluralsÕ in which many people
share one mind,
taking turns managing the body.
It has all the benefits and
drawbacks that you would find in any other group of people.
It is not automatically
a disorder ... Individuals in the group may be of any age,
religion,
orientation, race, or gender Ð just like any other random
group of people.
from 'What is Multiplicity'
www.karitas.net/blackbirds/layman/brochure_pluralv1.1.pdf)
As different people/personalities take
control of the body, they bring with them different mindsets.
The body acts
like a puppet with the mind pulling the strings. A different
mindset can bring
about a physiological change.
There has been much research into
multiple personalities. Psychologist, Dr. Nancy Perry,
observed, ÒThe different
personalities have different brain waves, different blood
pressure, vital
signs, different allergies, different blood reactions; some of
them are
left-handed and some of them are right-handed."
(From an interview with Dr. Nancy
Perry, a psychologist who works with multiples. Dave Baum
Show. WBBM News Radio
78. June 27, 1990 www.astraeasweb.net/plural/newsline.html )
Multiple personalities can prove
problematic for criminal investigators and can be baffling for
experts, as N
Humphrey and D.C.Dennett found: ÒPreliminary evidence, for
example, of changes
in handedness, voice-patterns, evoked-response brain-activity,
and cerebral
blood flow. When samples of the different handwritings of a
multiple are mixed
with samples by different hands, police handwriting experts
have been unable to
identify them."
(From Speaking for Ourselves,
N. Humphrey and D.C.Dennett. Raritan: A Quarterly
Review, IX,
68-98, Summer 1989. Reprinted (with footnotes), www.astraeasweb.net/plural/speaking.html )
All this evidence forces us to look
more closely at the mind-body link. It also gives a further
incentive to
practise forgiveness. Holding onto our unforgiveness not only
causes us to lose
our sense of emotional and mental well being, but contributes
to physical ill
health as well.
A friend once recounted a story of her
struggle to finish with a job that was exhausting her. Jean
helped run a centre
for refugees; the work involved long hours and was emotionally
demanding.
Initially Jean was fuelled by enthusiasm but had now reached a
stage where she
wanted to leave. The problem she faced was that the rest of
her colleagues were
already overworked and her leaving would only add to their
problems. Every time
Jean intended to tell someone she wanted to leave she would be
overcome with
guilt and continue working instead.
One day, whilst shopping in town, Jean
was overcome with the feeling that she was in an impossible
situation and she
inwardly cried out: ÒI must stop working now!Ó On her way from
one shop to
another a car mounted the pavement and ran over her foot. Jean
spent the next
few weeks resting at home and put in her notice, as she was no
longer able to
work. This painful invocation demonstrates the power of our
minds Ð even if we
are not aware of it. Forgiving her guilt about leaving people
in need would
have allowed her to leave her work in peace. In retrospect,
Jean knew there had
been a more graceful option of forgiveness but she was unable
to take it, at
least this time.
If we are afraid of taking the next
step in life, we may resort to sickness or an accident as a
defence against the
truth. Perhaps a long-term relationship is coming to an end
and one of the
partners fears the necessary separation. This partner may
choose sickness in
the hope that the other person will stay and look after him or
her. Fear is
often associated with change and sickness can be seen as a
good defence,
distracting us from what is really happening and moving the
focus onto the
body. In this way, we need no longer confront the real issue
but let the body
take centre stage instead.
Sickness is a
decision. It is not a thing that happens to you, quite
unsought, which makes
you weak and brings you suffering. It is a choice you make,
a plan you lay,
when for an instant truth arises in your own deluded mind,
and all your world
appears to totter and prepare to fall. Now you are sick,
that truth may go away
and threaten your establishments no more. A Course in
Miracles W-pI.136.71-4
If instead we choose the path of forgiveness,
we will become nonjudgementally aware of what is really
happening in our lives,
realising change is needed and how it would serve us. Then we
can turn to our
inner guide and ask for help to move forward and take the next
step in our
growth. Choosing sickness or an accident only painfully delays
the day when
forgiveness will finally be chosen.
Accepting that the source of our
problems Ð both physical and psychological Ð is within our own
mind and not in
the world allows healing to occur. If the cause of our
problems is seen in the
ÔoutsideÕ world, healing must wait. We can still have success
in treating the
effects of our sickness and, of course, medicine may help us
dampen down the
symptoms. However, as long as the underlying grievance or fear
remains
unforgiven, the dis-ease will manifest in a similar or related
form.
The realisation of the mind-body link
reveals to us that healing is now possible and it is our
responsibility to
start this journey.
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Non
Dual Teachings
This part of the
newsletter offers input from non-dual teachers. What is
non-duality? The word
Ônon-dualÕ means not two. On the first page of the ACIM text
there is two line
summary of a Course in Miracles. It begins with the line ÒNothing
real can
be threatened.Ó
This refers to what
God created Ð eternal, formless, spirit. Eternal means never
born and therefore
cannot change or die. The Course uses the expression Ôthe
ChristÕ to denote
this. Behind all the seeming multiplicity of the universe
there is actually
only one essential reality. Just as all the images on the
cinema screen seem
different, the light that creates them is one.
There is nothing
outside you. That is what you must
ultimately learn, for it is the realization that the Kingdom
of Heaven is
restored to you. For God created only this, and He did not
depart from it nor
leave it separate from Himself. The Kingdom of Heaven is the
dwelling place of
the Son of God, who left not his Father and dwells not apart
from Him. Heaven
is not a place nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of
perfect Oneness,
and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing
outside this Oneness, and
nothing else within.
T-18.VI.1.
The second line of the
summary states ÓNothing unreal exists.Ó This refers to
everything that
is born and therefore dies - the egoÕs world. Thus everything
in the universe
including ourselves is not real according to the Course. It is
like a great
dream. Only perfect oneness is real.
There are two forms of
non-duality Ð pure and impure. In the impure form God is aware
that the
universe is a dream and experiences itself through it - God's
Leela or play as
they say in the East. In the pure form of non-duality God is
unaware of the
universe. The Course is an example of pure non-dual teachings.
A metaphor for
this is a cinema projector where the lamp in the projector
represents God. When
the ego's film of separation is run past the light it is
projected onto the
screen of time and space. The light of God makes this
possible, but the lamp is
unaware of what is on the screen and would continue to shine
when the film is
taken away. To continue with this metaphor the light extending
from the lamp is
who we are, the Christ. ( See chart http://acfip.org/lightbulb.html)
You dwell not here,
but in eternity.
You travel but in
dreams, while safe at home.
T-13.VII.17:6-7.
You are at home in
God, dreaming of exile but
perfectly capable of awaking to reality.
T-10.I.2:1.
_________________________________________________
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Quotes on
Guidance and ÒI Need
Do NothingÓ
From ÒI Am ThatÓ
GUIDANCE
¥The greatest Guru is
your inner self. Truly, he is the supreme teacher. He alone
can take you to
your goal and he alone meets you at the end of the road.
Confide in him and you
need no outer Guru. But again you must have the strong desire
to find him and
do nothing that will create obstacles and delays. p.149
¥Once you realise that
the person is merely a shadow of the reality, but not the
reality itself, you
cease to fret and worry. You agree to be guided from within
and life becomes a
journey into the unknown.
¥Meet your own self.
Be with your own self, listen to it, obey it, cherish it, keep
it in mind
ceaselessly. You need no other guide. As long as the urge for
truth affects
your daily life, all is well with you. p.173
¥To rise in
consciousness from one dimension to another, you need help.
The help may not always
be in the shape of a human person, it may be a subtle
presence, or a spark of
intuition, but help must come. The inner Self is watching and
waiting for the
son to return to his father. At the right time he arranges
everything
affectionately and effectively. Where a messenger is needed,
or a guide, he
sends the Guru to do the needful. p.274
¥Self-awareness tells
you at every step what needs be done. When all is done, the
mind remains quiet.
p.427
I NEED DO NOTHING
¥Just realise the One
Mover behind all that moves and leave all to Him. If you do
not hesitate, or
cheat, this is the shortest way to reality. Stand without
desire and fear,
relinquishing all control and all responsibility.... What is
wrong in letting
go the illusion of personal control and personal
responsibility? Both are in
the mind only. p.151
¥It is your idea that
you have to do things that entangle you in results of your
efforts-the motive,
the desire, the failure to achieve, the sense of
frustration-all this holds you
back. Simply look at whatever happens and know that you are
beyond it. p.148
¥You give reality to
concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality. Abandon
all
conceptualisation and stay silent and attentive. Be earnest
about it and all
will be well with you. p.154
¥Nothing is done by
me, everything just happens. I do not expect, I do not plan, I
just watch
events happening, knowing them to be unreal. p.191
¥All will happen by
itself. You need not do anything, only donÕt prevent it. p.242
¥If you just try to
keep quiet, all will come - the work, the strength for work,
the right motive.
Must you know everything beforehand? DonÕt be anxious about
your future - be
quiet now and all will fall into place. p.248
¥Be empty of all
mental content, of all imagination and effort, and the very
absence of
obstacles will cause reality to rush in. p.260
¥Deepen and broaden
your awareness of yourself and all the blessings will flow.
You need not seek
anything, all will come to you most naturally and
effortlessly. p.261
¥The very notion of doership,
of being a cause, is bondage. p.298
¥In the light of calm
and steady self-awareness inner energies wake up and work
miracles without any
effort on your part. p.311
¥Just turn away from
all that occupies the mind; do whatever work you have to
complete, but avoid
new obligations; keep empty, keep available, resist not what
comes uninvited.
p.375
_____________________________________________________
Jac
OÕKeeffe - The awakening story goes like thisÉ
https://www.jac-okeeffe.com/about
There once was a hard
working, independent, Guinness drinking Irish woman. She went
by the name Jac
O'Keeffe and fully believed she had a personal life directed
by her own free
will. In her twenties she was running in the fast lane;
working and playing
hard, driven by ideals and ambition. For many years she
attended therapy,
usually psychotherapeutic in method, where she unraveled the
stories of her
childhood.
One Sunday afternoon,
at the age of thirty, she was having lunch with friends. In an
instant there
was the appearance of ghosts all around the dining room. Her
first response was
that someone had slipped her a recreational tab Ð but that was
not the case.
This ability to see the non physical didn't go away and
developed intensively
over the following week. While it was totally unnerving and
stimulated a
fear-filled response, something within wanted to rise to the
challenge to see
what this was all about. Imagine standing at the service
counter in your bank
and when speaking with the teller an older lady appears behind
her and directly
asks jac to tell her daughter (the bank clerk) to split with
her boyfriend!
Highly amusing and a total distraction from what was, up until
then, the
"real world". What was unfolding - the workings of the non
physical
reality - was more interesting than anything else life was
offering at that
time.
Exactly one week from
the first sighted spook, a man appeared at the end of her bed
in the dead of
night and said he would tell all that she wanted to know about
what was
happening. A long conversation followed and in the end jac
believed she made a
decision to let "spirit" guide her way on. Within six months
jac had
wrapped up her contracts as a free lance arts consultant and
began to work as a
ghost buster. According to divine economy, her ego was given a
great bashing
through this career move. For jac, it was the flakiest of all
occupations,
cutting through her self image and destroying any attachment
to a career path.
One year later ability to see chakras, auras and past lives
kicked in and her
client base shifted to living people. Her perspective of the
world was changing
quickly. The database of what can appear as real and seems to
exist with
authenticity was ever expanding and somehow unending,
limitless. It was clear
that beliefs were subjective mental limitations and entirely
dependent on the
conditioning active in any moment.
The concept of
surrendering personal will to divine will made sense and her
work became
service.
Chanting and
meditation as a daily practice was as essential as breathing.
An intensity
prevailed and it was sensed that something was pushing her on
and on and on.
But to what ? That was never clear to jac; there never seemed
to be the rising
of that question - just the appearance of much work to be done
in raising
consciousness in herself and others. The approach was to
practice and show
people how to observe their thoughts and emotions and no
longer be a slave of
the mind.
At a Santo Dime
Ceremony a great inner black vacuum stripped all from jac. It
seemed to
annihilate her totally. During this spiritual ceremony it
became clear that
existence itself was a thought. All she thought existed was
simply all she
thought. Existence itself was no more than thought and so she
too was not real
in any authentic way. All thoughts that jac existed were
stripped. Fighting for
her life, for any reality that was intellectually sound proved
pointless. It
was a violent and traumatic experience that lasted many hours.
Over the
following days, it was clear that all that manifests is no
more than a thought,
that the perceived reality attached to creation is also a
thought. But she had
no more than this visceral understanding. No books, no
teachers came to her and
it was some five or six years later when in India that jac
came upon books
discussing and explaining non duality. Yet life seemed to
continue, seeming
unperturbed by the fact that all was just a dream rolling
itself out, playing
just for the sake of it. It was clear that all that could
happen was without
purpose and meaning, yet it appeared to be happening... in
some dimension that
was not after all at the core of all that is.
Somehow plant medicine
seemed to help and ayahuasca was pursued. It became clear that
the healing
process of the spiritual path was unending; mind would forever
present new
scenarios as issues to be dealt with. All it was offering in
fact was more
opportunities to engage in an "all about me" thought process.
The
path of emotional and spiritual healing was cyclical and it
spat jac out.
In a vision she had
understood that at some point she would have to choose between
her
"normal" life of marriage and service, and the total surrender
to
whatever was urging on the remnants of a personal jac. There
was a belief
running that she would get sick if she remained as a
householder. What to do
but follow light Ð and at that point the physical sun seemed
to offer more
light than any other source, physical or non physical. She
moved alone to a
campsite in the south of Spain for three months. After a brief
wrapping up
visit to Ireland she moved to El Hierro, the silence and
writing, nature and
meditation dictated her lifestyle. A Spanish friend asked her
to come to India
and in Amma's ashram "Amritapuri" in Kerala jac has no
recollection
of a six day period during her stay there. She was physically
taken care of by
her friend and as that period of time ended and some capacity
to engage
consciously with the world returned it also was directly known
that there are
no individuals. Both personal and divine will both have no
basis in Reality.
There is simply the appearance of energy moving through form
and part of that
energy is thought. All that is in creation moves as one mass
constantly in
flux, never adding or losing from the sum total of all that
is. Energy is
simply changing from one form to another. Somehow all of this
gets named and
labeled as if it comprises separate parts and then somehow,
thought is believed
to be the truth. Yet, there is prior to all that changes and
attention can
remain there. For jac there was one remaining desire, still
running, that gave
the idea that she existed. It was intermittent and not
ultimately believed, but
when it was running there certainly seemed to be a woman
owning a desire. The
desire was an insatiable craving for sex. The true nature of
desire was yet to
reveal itself. From Kerala to Tamil Nadu and the mountain of
Arunachala. Attending
satsang and finding words that would point to That which is
beyond allowed the
jigsaw of a visceral understanding to draw itself together so
that it could be
expressed, embodied and integrated. It was clear how Born to
be Free would now
become a book... there was, after all, a way to point towards
Truth. Speaking
from truth produced silence and with great relief words again
had some role to
play in all of this.
Staying in
Tiruvannamalai, there were periods of intense spiritual
practice, and extended
periods of a natural silence. One day, it physically felt as
though mind was
breaking; splintering into fragments. Memory was revealed to
be no more than a
thought. There was no way to connect any past story with this
physical body
without a believed thought together with the quality of memory
attached.
Memories are simply believed to be true and there is no way of
knowing if they
ever actually happened. Maybe they never did, time itself is
the great
fooler... connecting dots that are not connected at all except
through concepts
believed to be true. The sense of needing psychiatric care
passed through mind
and yet somehow, suddenly there were no more personal
thoughts.
Thoughts are no longer
believed to be true. That capacity, that neurological wiring
appears to not
function any more. Is that permanent or not ? Who knows, but
one thing is sure,
there is no one here who is bothered if the movie is believed
or not. All is
just passing through consciousness, benignly and gently moving
through. All is
manifesting as it is, it can not be any other way than how it
is, but a
personal "I" will believe otherwise. That is the nature of the
personal "I". One year later, jac was asked to give satsang
and
well... somehow the show goes on without ownership of any
thought, any action.
No ownership does not mean no responsibility, for it is clear
that there is
only God, all is God or all is Nothing - as you like. Without
the personal
"I" there can be no ownership of anything, not even one
thought is
"yours". All is passing through and even the seeing of all -
the
labeling of what is passing through fades also.
What's to be said Ð
except that clichŽ Ð that at the end of it all, nothing ever
happened!
_____________________________________________________
Magnetic Silence -
Adyashanti
If you have the
willingness to listen inside you will find a stillness and
silence. And the
true silence is not the silence of controlling your mind. ItÕs
not the silence
of concentration. The true silence is the silence that is
already there. This silence,
that is already there, has a thread to it, a magnetic quality,
has a pull, itÕs
very subtle but it pulls attention into itself. So, if we are
not trying to
manufacture silence, if we are not trying to control anything,
then you start
to feel this natural quietness which has a subtle pull. ItÕs
like a magnet,
itÕs like a thread of darkness in the darkness. It just pulls
yourself into
itself. This is something that is not practised. ItÕs not
something that you or
I create. ItÕs an uncreated silence, itÕs an uncreated thread, itÕs
just
there. And this is the easiest thing to lose track of in our
modern
spirituality. So many explanations, and so easy access to
explanations,
descriptions and words, and it is so easy to lose sight that
the way to truth
is the same way itÕs always been, and it is the same way as it
will always be
no matter how beautiful the descriptions, no matter how
enticing the images or
concepts, the way to the truth will be as it always has
been.
It is ultimately,
through whatever means, giving way to the silent thread within
the silence that
pulls you into itself, into your own recognition. Only then do
we really
discover, does the descriptions come alive, that the true
silence has an
overwhelming satisfaction, great fullness, serenity an
uncaused joy. True
awareness has a sense of well being, sufficiency, happiness.
So by whatever
means, what ever really resonates in your heart, different
things resonate in
your heart at different times, whether itÕs the enquiry that
gets you to the
silence, whether itÕs simply the listening that opens you to
it, whether itÕs
turning your attention back onto attention itself, whether it
is gazing into
your own emptiness, by what ever means they are all ways of
following this
thread this pull of silence. This pull into your own self, and
this is why I
often emphasise listening because the true spiritual yearning
isnÕt so much
coming from us, we may have a very deep and profound spiritual
yearning, we may
at times feel a desperate yearning but the deepest yearning
when you are really
listening is coming from the silence, the silence really
reaching out for you,
thatÕs its magnetic pull, thatÕs the true yearning. Not your
yearning as an
ego. When you are really listening you feel this thread, the
thread of the dark
in the dark pulling you. In truth it yearns for you and it
pulls you, and only
when we really start to feel this does this spirituality light
up, because we
realise that we are the one thats being yearned for. And our
only job
ultimately is to give in, to let it have its way. Even when
you awaken still
you have to let it have its way because itÕs the only thing
that will keep you
awake if you let it have its way. If you start to try to do it
then you go back
to sleep. This is what humility really means, real spiritual
humility, not the
phoney humility, not the fake humility but the humility to
listen inside
yourself. The humility to be drawn beyond our own personal
ideas, our stuff,
our hangups. It takes a lot of humility to listen, to listen
to the silence, to
listen to the nothingness, and to feel its pull and just let
it have you
without understanding it, without knowing why. That s real
humility.
Transcribed from
an Adyashanti talk.
______________________________________________________
Suffering:
That Extra Something
While
difficult life developments are inevitable, suffering is
not.
Jan
Frazier
http://janfrazierteachings.com/teachings/
Someone
observed that suffering is what happens when a person adds
something on.
Suffering is generated when thoughts are piled on to a
challenging life
development, or a loss, or physical discomfort. Each of which,
in its essence,
may be inherently painful, absorbing of a certain kind of
attention. But there
neednÕt be suffering.
Suffering
is what occurs when the next step is taken. When a rainy day
isnÕt allowed to
be simply a rainy day, but grousing is piled on to it. ItÕs
the uncomfortable
pressure that occurs when resistance starts up. When the loss
of a job isnÕt
allowed to be its plain self Ð the end of a job Ð but is
weighted down by the story
of looming disaster, or the idea of being a failure as a
person.
Life
stuff neednÕt lead to the secondary step of suffering. While
difficult life
developments are inevitable, suffering is not. (Now
thereÕs a
radical idea for you.)
Such a
waste of pain. The layered-on misery of pointlessly wishing
things were other
than they are, or going back over how a thing could have been
prevented. What
is it to just be with the difficulty,
unburdened of the story
you might have drummed up? ItÕs to accept the truth of the
situation. ItÕs to
feel what the circumstances stir in your body, without going
into your head to
try to avoid the hurt, or to generate a consoling narrative,
or one full of
blame and regret.
Life is
not going to be pain-free. Loss visits at intervals. Things
donÕt always go the
way weÕd like. We get sick. People die. Is it not supposed to
hurt to live a
rich human life?
But
arenÕt these things suffering? No, not when
theyÕre allowed to
be as they are, without that extra step that occurs when
thought moves in to
handle whatÕs happened. To allow grief in its fullness,
without mental
handling, can be an experience of vast tenderness. A breaking
heart feels
exquisitely alive, even while the pain might be breathtaking.
So itÕs
a matter of seeing the difference between the ÒcleanÓ pain of
being alive, and
the layered-on agony (pointless, unnecessary) of wishing life
were otherwise,
or trying to escape the truth, or making it into a story with
justifications
and assurances about a better future.
When nothing
is added on to life, but it is fully allowed to be as it is,
then you donÕt
suffer. You feel alive, even during the times of pain. As you
continue on, you
travel lightly, not carrying the burden of whatÕs happened.
Life is ever fresh.
Even when it hurts.
______________________________________________________
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.
___________________________________________________
Other
Forthcoming Workshops
on A Course in Miracles
For up to date
information on my workshops go to http://www.acfip.org/fws.html
Germany 2016 Dates
Bonn - Sat 11 and
Sun 12 June - 10am to 6pm
Stages of Spiritual
Awakening
from the perspective
of A Course in Miracles
Forget not once this
journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along the way
will come and go and
go to come again. Yet is the ending sure. No one can fail to
do what God
appointed him to do. When you forget, remember that you walk
with Him and with
His Word upon your heart. Who could despair when hope like
this is his?
A Course in Miracles-Clarification of Terms-Epilogue
Everyone's
path is unique. Some take the steps in different order and
sometimes
simultaneously, and some appear to miss out some steps all
together. Some
experience visions, ecstasy, physical phenomena, and other
mystical and psychic
experiences, whilst others travel a less dramatic path but
still reach the same
destination - an inner peace, quiet joy and a oneness with all
things, and even
beyond that oneness.
Many of
the challenges on the path return again and again in cyclic
fashion until the
journey is completed. What is required of us is to start out
on an unknown
journey with a faith that increases with experience, moving
from an initial
awakening to a full embodiment in daily life.
The
Course has much to help us on our path of awakening and also
warns us of the
traps on the way. However, some important aspects of the
awakening process are
not covered in the Course. To help with these I have drawn on
the observations
and experience of some awakened teachers.
Topics
also included:
Requirements
for awakening
Progressive versus
direct paths
The spectrum of
spiritual awakening
Practice or no
practice?
Effort or grace?
Gradual and sudden
awakenings.
Kundalini
The seekers trap
Forgiveness
Exercises
will be used to help undo the blocks to awakening.
No
knowledge of A Course in Miracles is
required.
An Evening
Introductory Talk - Fri 10th June 2016
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 2016
Fri 16,[6pm to 9pm]
Sat 17 [10am to 6pm] and Sun 18 [10am to 5pm]
Stages of Spiritual
Awakening
from the perspective
of A Course in Miracles
Forget not once this
journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along the way
will come and go and
go to come again. Yet is the ending sure. No one can fail to
do what God
appointed him to do. When you forget, remember that you walk
with Him and with
His Word upon your heart. Who could despair when hope like
this is his?
A Course in
Miracles-Clarification of Terms-Epilogue
Everyone's
path is unique. Some take the steps in different order and
sometimes
simultaneously, and some appear to miss out some steps all
together. Some
experience visions, ecstasy, physical phenomena, and other
mystical and psychic
experiences, whilst others travel a less dramatic path but
still reach the same
destination - an inner peace, quiet joy and a oneness with all
things, and even
beyond that oneness.
Many of
the challenges on the path return again and again in cyclic
fashion until the
journey is completed. What is required of us is to start out
on an unknown
journey with a faith that increases with experience, moving
from an initial
awakening to a full embodiment in daily life.
The
Course has much to help us on our path of awakening and also
warns us of the
traps on the way. However, some important aspects of the
awakening process are
not covered in the Course. To help with these I have drawn on
the observations
and experience of some awakened teachers.
Topics
also included:
Requirements
for awakening
Progressive versus
direct paths
The spectrum of
spiritual awakening
Practice or no
practice?
Effort or grace?
Gradual and sudden
awakenings.
Kundalini
The seekers trap
Forgiveness
Exercises
will be used to help undo the blocks to awakening.
No
knowledge of A Course in Miracles is
required.
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
______________________________________________________
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
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
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