A Miracle? Yes, And...

Saw a film last night (on DVD) on A Course in Miracles, produced by the main holding group of that initiative. ACIM, to explain briefly for newcomers to this school of thought, is a set of material ( 'a self-study curriculum') dealing with life and its purpose(s), which came through a woman in the U.S. some 40 years ago, and is presented as coming from the entity known to history as Jesus.* The key aspects of it are: that life is an illusion; that nothing unreal exists in reality; and that the point of the life exercise - ie, life as we know it - is to release it and get back to Unity, with Source; where we actually already are, since Time is an illusion also; is part of the matrix that we are embedded in. Or some such wording of the concepts. I'm not a student of the material (tried to get into it years ago, but felt a block, for whatever reason(s)), but I have read in Gary Renard's 'Disappearance of the Universe', and much of his 'Your Immortal Reality', and so 'get the drift' of the material.

What do I think of it.

I think that, although it feels to me basically valuable, even 'correct', I sense an emphasis in it that doesn't sit quite right with me. It is very much about the Buddhist concept of releasing desire, getting off the wheel of rebirth that has us trapped in life after life. So far, so fair enough. But there's another element to life that is as important as that truism about it. And that is, that life - far from some sort of error, with such a negative connotation to it - is for a purpose. Not to mislead us, by some sort of evil daemon or whatever for nefarious purposes. But to give us an opportunity for growth.

So that, yes: Life, as we experience it here on this material plane, is 'a snare and a delusion' - is maya, the Buddhist concept of illusion. So ultimately it needs to be released. But it also needs to be appreciated, for what it more fully is: the vehicle for us individually to gain in consciousness, grow in awareness, and engage in evolution; what is, ultimately, spiritual evolution. And since we are part of a larger Whole, the Whole engages in evolution as well - through us; through ours. So 'God' - the Elohim; the Source; whatever Source is - benefits by our acting thus.**

And that's the ultimate lesson. Not just to understand that the way to get TO that goal is through release of guilt, and practice of forgiveness. Both, the qualities that will release us from the wheel of rebirth; dipping us, over and over, into life, into we get 'it'.

Enough for now. Have to go to attend to material things.

Except just to mention, that it is that quality, of appreciation for the experience and 'substance' of life, that should inform our treatment of that substance. (The environmental movement a part of that attitude.) It may, in essence, be illusion. But it is a reflection of our gratitude for the life experience - for the possibility of growth - how we treat 'nature'.

It is every bit as holy as we are.

Honour it. Your life - your immortal life - depends on it.

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* There is considerable question whether there really was an individual by that name and history, as handed down to our day and (very interesting) age through the Christian tradition. But that's for another blog. (See the research especially of Tony Bushby and Ralph Ellis in this regard, according to my personal experience. There are others. It's no secret, to the seeker.)


** the Law of One material - also material channelled through an individual; but also through a group, holding a group energy field - speaks of coming from 'a social memory complex'. I can imagine that there is something else higher up the ladder of spiritual evolution than individual souls, sparks of divinity, making their way individually back to Source, from their sojourn in the learning wilderness of perceived separation.
At this point, let me clarify: Do I believe everything that comes through individuals as chanelled material? The answer is No, but: No, but I like to keep an open mind to any information that comes my way; process it, and see what I think of it. As one of the founders of the community where I have spent, off and on, nearly thirty years of my life liked to put it: 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating.'
A community founded, by the way, in part by a woman who also channelled material; from what she felt as a higher source, and which she felt was 'God'.
Who knows. Who cares. Read, reflect, digest, and see what comes out of your own inner process. That's all, really, any of us can do; in our attempts in the physical to resonate to & with our highest potential.