Dialogues At The End Of The Search
"The Spiritual Life Is A Spiral" (Chapter 64)
Wayne: One of the things that I saw early on in my “spiritual pursuit” was that it is not a straight-line endeavor. Just like this world has its cycles, its ups and downs, so too the spiritual life - simply because the spiritual life is in this world.
I recall an extended period of immersion in a withdrawal from the world when I was very peaceful and happy for a long period of time. What I didn’t notice was an unseen assumption that things would continue this way. I unconsciously believed that I was now “home” in the sense that I had “arrived” and my life would always be blissful and happy, but then I crashed and burned. Life became struggle and unhappiness. My whole physiology became stressed. My smugness that I had now risen above it all was a lie.
Sometime later the “darkness” lifted and I began another round of happiness and bliss, but this time the smugness was not as present. I hoped that the “up” period would last, but I also had learned something and that was that even spiritual practice is in this world. All things in this world conform to this world and that includes spirituality.
Sure enough, at some time down the road a dip came again, but it wasn’t as severe in terms of psychological suffering as it was the first time when it caught me by surprise. As I drew back, I found that the ups and down affected even the Masters. I had thought that when one caught a glimpse of Truth that the path was then clear until the final enlightenment, at which time, one retired enlightened. This is not the way it is.
It is only in retrospect that one can see the ups and downs. They are a fact and a crucial part of tearing the veil away from Truth. I personally don’t know of a single person who is or was “enlightened” all of the time. Every person I’ve known or heard about suffered the cycles. But the cycles should not be seen as something to avoid or to just put up with. In a sense they are like spirals around a point and with each spiral one is lifted higher. Envision a mountain and as you begin climbing the mountain you circle it but as you circle it you also climb higher. It may look like you are just circling, but you are also ascending.
I have heard that there have been Masters who have made a straight line up the mountain, but I have never heard who they were/are. Perhaps
there might have been those who did it at one time in history, ones who never suffered, but I know of none. Each Master that I have heard of or known suffered.
It is in the suffering and the continual climbing of the mountain, in spite of the setbacks that is an integral part of the rending of the veil. As surely as the sun rises, the dark periods will lift, and the sunny periods will begin again. Don’t make the mistake to think that you will arrive at an enlightened state and then retire there, it won’t happen. You are in this world and the deepest suffering comes when you attempt to not be in it. This attempt only leads to disillusionment and cynicism.
As the darkness comes do not forget your friends at EOTS who will silently encourage you to stay the course and not attempt to run away from the dark. We are not here to add to the illusion/thought that you can escape suffering or that you will not suffer at all. But we can help you begin to know the wisdom of the phrase, “Those who know how to suffer do not suffer.”
Many of us have been there and will be there again...
EM: Will you elaborate on “how” a Teacher/guru/True Friend confirms the cessation of thought?
Wayne: Get into a True Relationship with a Teacher/guru/True Friend and you will Know.
EM: But can you say more about this?
Wayne: No, I Love you too much for that.
EM: What is the vehicle by which such Knowing occurs?
Wayne: Surrender to the Teacher.
EM: When are we allowed to stop doubting ourselves, huh? When?
Wayne: Never. “We” will never stop doubting ourselves because “we, you, and me,” are ego. So long as “we” listen to mind logic and arguments we will doubt. That is the nature of mind, to seek but not to find. To the mind, a conclusion is also a beginning. It never ends.
However, since “you, we, I,” are not the body/mind, no sweat... ANNNND, since “I” am not body/mind then doubt, anger, jealousy, sorrow, are all just dramatic notes in a play, written by an idiot, signifying nothing. (The idiot is ego/mind).
NOOOOW, the idiot (ego) does not like to be seen without its imperial robes, so it proclaims that it is not naked, and if you know what’s good for you, you better pay attention to it. If you do not pay attention to the commands of mind, it then forms and makes a super mind, which is called, “super-ego.” So now we have an ego and a super-ego and they are distinguished by separation. Meaning that ego is the personal you/I. Wayne is ego. You are ego. And everyone else who thinks he/she is the self.
Ego usually cannot see itself because itself is a given for it. In other words, ego is so obvious that it doesn’t see itself. But it is easy to see ego in others, once one sees it in oneself, but not before. (To thine own self be true.)
And once one sees oneself as a fucking ego AND realizes that one cannot do anything about it, because anything one does is just more ego strategy, once this is seen, once the actual hopelessness is seen and entered into, SHAZAM! Something else shows up. But since this “something else” cannot be touched or messed with or manipulated; the ego is defenseless in its Light.
What that something is, is Stillness. But to the ego - stillness is nothing. The ego can’t do anything with it except create a concept called, “Silence,” which ego tries to foist off as stillness. But, when ego begins to be seen, in other words when “you” begin to see through the falseness that you are, ego gets scared and makes super-ego.
Super-ego is that voice within that says, “Okay Wayne, here you are writing a post to the List about ego and acting like you’re so smart and everything and you know certain people are going to attack you so why not just forget it. You don’t write very well anyway.” Sometimes super-ego says, in my voice, “I’m reasonably sure that what I see is True and that I help some people see Truth also, but maybe I’m wrong.” Sometimes, “How can you be so sure you’re right?”
Super-ego always sounds like it knows what it is talking about as opposed to ego, which has doubts. Another way of saying this is to say ego makes doubts and super-ego tell you how to resolve them all the
while overlooking the fact that doubts are not real. So perhaps you can begin to see the Achilles Heel of ego/super-ego, in that it talks about unreality, always.
So super-ego continually tells you that you are not quite complete. You are not perfect. You need help. Super-ego says it’s the Holy Spirit and gives instructions about how to proceed toward awakening or salvation. Super-ego sounds like your mother/father/minister/friend. Super-ego sounds like Wayne Austin when you think Wayne is right and ego soundslike Wayne Austin when you think he’s wrong. Super-ego is nothing more than a super ego. It is an ego that is glorified and separate.
Once more - ego is up close and personal, it is you. It speaks in the first person singular, “I.” Super-ego is separate, it is a voice of consciousness, the guardian angel so to speak. It is a “good” ego. But it is the same ego only with a different voice.
You can listen to either one or both - and in this you have no choice because they are nothing but thoughts. The only help you or anyone needs is for some one to help you to stop paying attention to these thoughts and to shift your attention to Stillness. And this help is needed only temporarily. Teachers are not looking for full time jobs.
And once you experience Stillness (experiencing Stillness is not actually correct because there is no “you/I,” there when this happens), ego cannot hold you as tightly ever again. Once ego begins to lose its grip, it intensifies its efforts in the super-ego area in order to attempt to get you back under control. This can truly be a frightening time because ego knows all your secrets and knows what scares you and it will use all of these things.
Quiz question #1: How do you suppose ego knows what scares you?)
Wayne: This is where the men get separated from the boys and the True Seeker (TS) prevails. The True Seeker basically says to ego, “Okay, so kill me then.” The TS says, “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” The TS has finally “had it” and is willing to surrender. Even if he is only willing to surrender a little he will begin to end the imprisonment of the mind.
Quiz question #2: The end?
Wayne: The end is when One knows that he/she never was this body/mind.
Quiz question #3: Who is the One who knows this?
Wayne: Find out for your Self. Or don’t. I don’t care about “you.” :)))))))
EM: If my level of fear is low enough to be able to accept that teaching indeed I am saved.
Wayne: Actually, the level has nothing to do with it, in fact the higher the level the closer you are. When the level of fear, from whatever source, gets high enough, let it have you, don’t move. Sooner or later you’ll have to face this boogey man. Pray that fear comes to you. Beg for it to come in its most hideous face. Then don’t move. Courage is called for but it’s a battle that only need be fought once. And in that battle, in which you don’t resist, you see the true face of fear and once seen it no longer has power.
EM: However, right at this moment my level of fear is quite high (and I suspect the level of fear of most other people in the world is quite high), so the only way I can move toward the truth is by participating in dialogues on lists like this, reading books, etc.
Wayne: No. As I said above, don’t move. Don’t look for distractions such as reading, praying, going to Pizza Hut, or whatever. Face this son-of-abitchin’ thought. It’s only a thought... Spit in its face… fuck fear!
EM: True as Wayne would say the dialogues/books are only fingers pointing to God, eventually you must go beyond them, but I am just not quite at that level yet.
Wayne: You are at that level. You are ready now. Waiting to get ready is just ego stuff. There is no time like Now.
EM: Just some thoughts :)
Wayne: It is all just thoughts, but you’re entertaining some good ones – hang in there.
EM: May I see the thoughts generating my fear as just thoughts! No big deal, as I gently return my attention to the stillness which quietly surrounds them.
Wayne: Okay so far, you guys, but let me help you become aware of a big ego trick hiding in all of this: What I am about to speak of is one of the reasons for the, “be vigilant for god,” talk in ACIM.
One of the biggest ego tricks; and one that caught me by the short hairs time and again, is the notion that I, Wayne, did something toward my own salvation. Let’s say this again and give an example.
A few years ago in the midst of the search, I happened upon a book, which led me to a person who gave me some exercises to do in the pursuit of awakening. I did these exercises religiously and put heart and soul into them. I began to feel real good about myself and continued on... until I hit a crisis and then the whole thing evaporated. I might as well have been doing baking lessons the whole time. But I did feel sort of saintly and whole all the while I was doing those things. The point is; egos like you begin to think you figured it all out. You begin to see the mind/ego for what it is, and then you tell yourself that you are on the right path. You read a book and you think you’re on to it.
I hope you fail! I say this because if you succeed in doing something that you think is right, you will just get more self-important and ol’ ego has won another one. Who do you think is doing these exercises? Who do you think is telling you that you are succeeding? Did you forget about ol super-ego?
Do what you will, but you guys are on to something that if seen in the Light will reveal the limitations of ego. As it is he’s got you running toward another “solution.” And, by the way, at night when that fear starts to come… don’t pray, don’t call on God. Those suggestions are ego suggestions. Can you begin to see how insidious ego is? When fear comes don’t call upon any thing. Let it come. Your personal experience is showing you that this is the hell that is spoken about in scripture. It is indeed that hell. You must become hopeless, no god, no tactics, no Wayne, no help whatsoever. Have courage... the courage to let it have you. And then you, the Real You, will have it.
EM: Do we really want to go down this road? Or do we want to gently come back to the stillness you have often spoken so movingly about?
Wayne: How many times do I need to point out to you that Stillness does not move. It does not go anywhere. Where would it go? It is here now. Now, this moment is eternal. Now, this moment never began. It has no ending or beginning. Ending and beginning is of the mind. We can speak about or do anything, anything at all, and Stillness does not care.
It has no qualities. It is Pure - Purity itself. Pure - as no thing at all. Purer. This is the Truth. The Absolute Truth. You cannot disturb Stillness. You do not have that power. Stillness is in the core of your Heart. If anything disturbs you it is only disturbing your idea of you. Nothing, no thing at all can disturb That which Is.
Have no fear about any thing.
You are That Stillness!
EM: Yes. That is Stillness, Absolute, Pure, Pristine, beyond all explanation, beyond the beyond, before “One” Stillness, You. Here’s another quote from ACIM: “This world has many seeming separate haunts where mercy has no meaning, and attack appears as justified. Yet all are one; a place where death is offered to God’s Son and to his Father. You may think They have accepted. But if you will look again upon the place where you beheld Their blood, you will perceive a miracle instead. How foolish to believe that They could die! How foolish to believe you can attack! How mad to think that you could be condemned, and that the holy Son of God can die! The stillness of your Self remains unmoved, untouched by thoughts like these, and unaware of any condemnation, which could need forgiveness. Dreams of any kind are strange and alien to the truth.”
Wayne: Yes again! And here Real Insight can be gained:
It would seem that since I said the Course is a lie, that I would disagree with what the Course says. This is not necessarily the case.
That which the course points to is You. The course verifies You. It validates and proclaims that You are True. But it cannot come before You.
Too many course students put the course before themselves. They hold the Course up as an authority to which they must proclaim belief, allegiance, or at least honor. None of this is necessary or even desirable. One can see the course in its only light, and the only use it has, if one can see it as one sees one’s birth certificate. One does not hold up one’s birth certificate as proof that one exists. One exists, a priori, before all proof.
The Course is unnecessary. Does not the course require you to already be Present in order to read it? Herein lies the Truth.
The “flaw” in the course is that it leads one who picks it up to hold it up as proof of or a path to self-enlightenment. It requires the follower to do what it says then it promises to take the student to the “bridge” where he must wait for God to “take the final step”. This is the lie. It is the same lie of all paths. It is the lie of “doing.” All are false yet all contain a kernel of wisdom, as do all things that exist.
All things, be they living organisms or the fruit of those organisms such as spiritual texts or theologies, contain that kernel of truth; ACIM is not an exception. ACIM is a brilliant, stunning work. It rises to heights of majestic poetry and even inspiration the same as any great work be it spiritual such as the Bible, Bhagavad-Gita, Koran, or secular such as Shakespeare, Bach, Beethoven, etc.
All great works reflect their creator. ACIM reflects the brilliance and the torment of its creator, Helen Schumann. In its brilliance it is truly inspiring, but, inspiration, or even beauty, is not a condition for Knowing oneSelf.
Self Knowledge is outside of time. It requires nothing at all. It cannot require anything at all and still be what it is… Pure - beyond the concept of purity. All requirements for Self Knowledge are false.
So, those who call themselves “Students of the Course” may continue to find instances of what the Course says in agreement with what I say, and I will not deny the finding - I never have. I only say that so long as one follows any path at all one is going to follow that which can lead nowhere.
It is truly a journey without end.
I am pleased when one finds correlation within the Course or any other path with what I point to. Perhaps one day you will find that I (You) am
the authority (the final authority) and not any path at all.
“I (You) come before you and light your path.”
I call on every one to drop any path they may be on and face the unknown and to know that it is not the unknown that you are afraid of; it is what you imagine the unknown contains.
Drop the weight of thought/interpretation and the veil that obscures Light/You is Seen.
This dropping is instantaneous. It requires nothing at all, not even the “dropping.”
I recall an extended period of immersion in a withdrawal from the world when I was very peaceful and happy for a long period of time. What I didn’t notice was an unseen assumption that things would continue this way. I unconsciously believed that I was now “home” in the sense that I had “arrived” and my life would always be blissful and happy, but then I crashed and burned. Life became struggle and unhappiness. My whole physiology became stressed. My smugness that I had now risen above it all was a lie.
Sometime later the “darkness” lifted and I began another round of happiness and bliss, but this time the smugness was not as present. I hoped that the “up” period would last, but I also had learned something and that was that even spiritual practice is in this world. All things in this world conform to this world and that includes spirituality.
Sure enough, at some time down the road a dip came again, but it wasn’t as severe in terms of psychological suffering as it was the first time when it caught me by surprise. As I drew back, I found that the ups and down affected even the Masters. I had thought that when one caught a glimpse of Truth that the path was then clear until the final enlightenment, at which time, one retired enlightened. This is not the way it is.
It is only in retrospect that one can see the ups and downs. They are a fact and a crucial part of tearing the veil away from Truth. I personally don’t know of a single person who is or was “enlightened” all of the time. Every person I’ve known or heard about suffered the cycles. But the cycles should not be seen as something to avoid or to just put up with. In a sense they are like spirals around a point and with each spiral one is lifted higher. Envision a mountain and as you begin climbing the mountain you circle it but as you circle it you also climb higher. It may look like you are just circling, but you are also ascending.
I have heard that there have been Masters who have made a straight line up the mountain, but I have never heard who they were/are. Perhaps
there might have been those who did it at one time in history, ones who never suffered, but I know of none. Each Master that I have heard of or known suffered.
It is in the suffering and the continual climbing of the mountain, in spite of the setbacks that is an integral part of the rending of the veil. As surely as the sun rises, the dark periods will lift, and the sunny periods will begin again. Don’t make the mistake to think that you will arrive at an enlightened state and then retire there, it won’t happen. You are in this world and the deepest suffering comes when you attempt to not be in it. This attempt only leads to disillusionment and cynicism.
As the darkness comes do not forget your friends at EOTS who will silently encourage you to stay the course and not attempt to run away from the dark. We are not here to add to the illusion/thought that you can escape suffering or that you will not suffer at all. But we can help you begin to know the wisdom of the phrase, “Those who know how to suffer do not suffer.”
Many of us have been there and will be there again...
EM: Will you elaborate on “how” a Teacher/guru/True Friend confirms the cessation of thought?
Wayne: Get into a True Relationship with a Teacher/guru/True Friend and you will Know.
EM: But can you say more about this?
Wayne: No, I Love you too much for that.
EM: What is the vehicle by which such Knowing occurs?
Wayne: Surrender to the Teacher.
EM: When are we allowed to stop doubting ourselves, huh? When?
Wayne: Never. “We” will never stop doubting ourselves because “we, you, and me,” are ego. So long as “we” listen to mind logic and arguments we will doubt. That is the nature of mind, to seek but not to find. To the mind, a conclusion is also a beginning. It never ends.
However, since “you, we, I,” are not the body/mind, no sweat... ANNNND, since “I” am not body/mind then doubt, anger, jealousy, sorrow, are all just dramatic notes in a play, written by an idiot, signifying nothing. (The idiot is ego/mind).
NOOOOW, the idiot (ego) does not like to be seen without its imperial robes, so it proclaims that it is not naked, and if you know what’s good for you, you better pay attention to it. If you do not pay attention to the commands of mind, it then forms and makes a super mind, which is called, “super-ego.” So now we have an ego and a super-ego and they are distinguished by separation. Meaning that ego is the personal you/I. Wayne is ego. You are ego. And everyone else who thinks he/she is the self.
Ego usually cannot see itself because itself is a given for it. In other words, ego is so obvious that it doesn’t see itself. But it is easy to see ego in others, once one sees it in oneself, but not before. (To thine own self be true.)
And once one sees oneself as a fucking ego AND realizes that one cannot do anything about it, because anything one does is just more ego strategy, once this is seen, once the actual hopelessness is seen and entered into, SHAZAM! Something else shows up. But since this “something else” cannot be touched or messed with or manipulated; the ego is defenseless in its Light.
What that something is, is Stillness. But to the ego - stillness is nothing. The ego can’t do anything with it except create a concept called, “Silence,” which ego tries to foist off as stillness. But, when ego begins to be seen, in other words when “you” begin to see through the falseness that you are, ego gets scared and makes super-ego.
Super-ego is that voice within that says, “Okay Wayne, here you are writing a post to the List about ego and acting like you’re so smart and everything and you know certain people are going to attack you so why not just forget it. You don’t write very well anyway.” Sometimes super-ego says, in my voice, “I’m reasonably sure that what I see is True and that I help some people see Truth also, but maybe I’m wrong.” Sometimes, “How can you be so sure you’re right?”
Super-ego always sounds like it knows what it is talking about as opposed to ego, which has doubts. Another way of saying this is to say ego makes doubts and super-ego tell you how to resolve them all the
while overlooking the fact that doubts are not real. So perhaps you can begin to see the Achilles Heel of ego/super-ego, in that it talks about unreality, always.
So super-ego continually tells you that you are not quite complete. You are not perfect. You need help. Super-ego says it’s the Holy Spirit and gives instructions about how to proceed toward awakening or salvation. Super-ego sounds like your mother/father/minister/friend. Super-ego sounds like Wayne Austin when you think Wayne is right and ego soundslike Wayne Austin when you think he’s wrong. Super-ego is nothing more than a super ego. It is an ego that is glorified and separate.
Once more - ego is up close and personal, it is you. It speaks in the first person singular, “I.” Super-ego is separate, it is a voice of consciousness, the guardian angel so to speak. It is a “good” ego. But it is the same ego only with a different voice.
You can listen to either one or both - and in this you have no choice because they are nothing but thoughts. The only help you or anyone needs is for some one to help you to stop paying attention to these thoughts and to shift your attention to Stillness. And this help is needed only temporarily. Teachers are not looking for full time jobs.
And once you experience Stillness (experiencing Stillness is not actually correct because there is no “you/I,” there when this happens), ego cannot hold you as tightly ever again. Once ego begins to lose its grip, it intensifies its efforts in the super-ego area in order to attempt to get you back under control. This can truly be a frightening time because ego knows all your secrets and knows what scares you and it will use all of these things.
Quiz question #1: How do you suppose ego knows what scares you?)
Wayne: This is where the men get separated from the boys and the True Seeker (TS) prevails. The True Seeker basically says to ego, “Okay, so kill me then.” The TS says, “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” The TS has finally “had it” and is willing to surrender. Even if he is only willing to surrender a little he will begin to end the imprisonment of the mind.
Quiz question #2: The end?
Wayne: The end is when One knows that he/she never was this body/mind.
Quiz question #3: Who is the One who knows this?
Wayne: Find out for your Self. Or don’t. I don’t care about “you.” :)))))))
EM: If my level of fear is low enough to be able to accept that teaching indeed I am saved.
Wayne: Actually, the level has nothing to do with it, in fact the higher the level the closer you are. When the level of fear, from whatever source, gets high enough, let it have you, don’t move. Sooner or later you’ll have to face this boogey man. Pray that fear comes to you. Beg for it to come in its most hideous face. Then don’t move. Courage is called for but it’s a battle that only need be fought once. And in that battle, in which you don’t resist, you see the true face of fear and once seen it no longer has power.
EM: However, right at this moment my level of fear is quite high (and I suspect the level of fear of most other people in the world is quite high), so the only way I can move toward the truth is by participating in dialogues on lists like this, reading books, etc.
Wayne: No. As I said above, don’t move. Don’t look for distractions such as reading, praying, going to Pizza Hut, or whatever. Face this son-of-abitchin’ thought. It’s only a thought... Spit in its face… fuck fear!
EM: True as Wayne would say the dialogues/books are only fingers pointing to God, eventually you must go beyond them, but I am just not quite at that level yet.
Wayne: You are at that level. You are ready now. Waiting to get ready is just ego stuff. There is no time like Now.
EM: Just some thoughts :)
Wayne: It is all just thoughts, but you’re entertaining some good ones – hang in there.
EM: May I see the thoughts generating my fear as just thoughts! No big deal, as I gently return my attention to the stillness which quietly surrounds them.
Wayne: Okay so far, you guys, but let me help you become aware of a big ego trick hiding in all of this: What I am about to speak of is one of the reasons for the, “be vigilant for god,” talk in ACIM.
One of the biggest ego tricks; and one that caught me by the short hairs time and again, is the notion that I, Wayne, did something toward my own salvation. Let’s say this again and give an example.
A few years ago in the midst of the search, I happened upon a book, which led me to a person who gave me some exercises to do in the pursuit of awakening. I did these exercises religiously and put heart and soul into them. I began to feel real good about myself and continued on... until I hit a crisis and then the whole thing evaporated. I might as well have been doing baking lessons the whole time. But I did feel sort of saintly and whole all the while I was doing those things. The point is; egos like you begin to think you figured it all out. You begin to see the mind/ego for what it is, and then you tell yourself that you are on the right path. You read a book and you think you’re on to it.
I hope you fail! I say this because if you succeed in doing something that you think is right, you will just get more self-important and ol’ ego has won another one. Who do you think is doing these exercises? Who do you think is telling you that you are succeeding? Did you forget about ol super-ego?
Do what you will, but you guys are on to something that if seen in the Light will reveal the limitations of ego. As it is he’s got you running toward another “solution.” And, by the way, at night when that fear starts to come… don’t pray, don’t call on God. Those suggestions are ego suggestions. Can you begin to see how insidious ego is? When fear comes don’t call upon any thing. Let it come. Your personal experience is showing you that this is the hell that is spoken about in scripture. It is indeed that hell. You must become hopeless, no god, no tactics, no Wayne, no help whatsoever. Have courage... the courage to let it have you. And then you, the Real You, will have it.
EM: Do we really want to go down this road? Or do we want to gently come back to the stillness you have often spoken so movingly about?
Wayne: How many times do I need to point out to you that Stillness does not move. It does not go anywhere. Where would it go? It is here now. Now, this moment is eternal. Now, this moment never began. It has no ending or beginning. Ending and beginning is of the mind. We can speak about or do anything, anything at all, and Stillness does not care.
It has no qualities. It is Pure - Purity itself. Pure - as no thing at all. Purer. This is the Truth. The Absolute Truth. You cannot disturb Stillness. You do not have that power. Stillness is in the core of your Heart. If anything disturbs you it is only disturbing your idea of you. Nothing, no thing at all can disturb That which Is.
Have no fear about any thing.
You are That Stillness!
EM: Yes. That is Stillness, Absolute, Pure, Pristine, beyond all explanation, beyond the beyond, before “One” Stillness, You. Here’s another quote from ACIM: “This world has many seeming separate haunts where mercy has no meaning, and attack appears as justified. Yet all are one; a place where death is offered to God’s Son and to his Father. You may think They have accepted. But if you will look again upon the place where you beheld Their blood, you will perceive a miracle instead. How foolish to believe that They could die! How foolish to believe you can attack! How mad to think that you could be condemned, and that the holy Son of God can die! The stillness of your Self remains unmoved, untouched by thoughts like these, and unaware of any condemnation, which could need forgiveness. Dreams of any kind are strange and alien to the truth.”
Wayne: Yes again! And here Real Insight can be gained:
It would seem that since I said the Course is a lie, that I would disagree with what the Course says. This is not necessarily the case.
That which the course points to is You. The course verifies You. It validates and proclaims that You are True. But it cannot come before You.
Too many course students put the course before themselves. They hold the Course up as an authority to which they must proclaim belief, allegiance, or at least honor. None of this is necessary or even desirable. One can see the course in its only light, and the only use it has, if one can see it as one sees one’s birth certificate. One does not hold up one’s birth certificate as proof that one exists. One exists, a priori, before all proof.
The Course is unnecessary. Does not the course require you to already be Present in order to read it? Herein lies the Truth.
The “flaw” in the course is that it leads one who picks it up to hold it up as proof of or a path to self-enlightenment. It requires the follower to do what it says then it promises to take the student to the “bridge” where he must wait for God to “take the final step”. This is the lie. It is the same lie of all paths. It is the lie of “doing.” All are false yet all contain a kernel of wisdom, as do all things that exist.
All things, be they living organisms or the fruit of those organisms such as spiritual texts or theologies, contain that kernel of truth; ACIM is not an exception. ACIM is a brilliant, stunning work. It rises to heights of majestic poetry and even inspiration the same as any great work be it spiritual such as the Bible, Bhagavad-Gita, Koran, or secular such as Shakespeare, Bach, Beethoven, etc.
All great works reflect their creator. ACIM reflects the brilliance and the torment of its creator, Helen Schumann. In its brilliance it is truly inspiring, but, inspiration, or even beauty, is not a condition for Knowing oneSelf.
Self Knowledge is outside of time. It requires nothing at all. It cannot require anything at all and still be what it is… Pure - beyond the concept of purity. All requirements for Self Knowledge are false.
So, those who call themselves “Students of the Course” may continue to find instances of what the Course says in agreement with what I say, and I will not deny the finding - I never have. I only say that so long as one follows any path at all one is going to follow that which can lead nowhere.
It is truly a journey without end.
I am pleased when one finds correlation within the Course or any other path with what I point to. Perhaps one day you will find that I (You) am
the authority (the final authority) and not any path at all.
“I (You) come before you and light your path.”
I call on every one to drop any path they may be on and face the unknown and to know that it is not the unknown that you are afraid of; it is what you imagine the unknown contains.
Drop the weight of thought/interpretation and the veil that obscures Light/You is Seen.
This dropping is instantaneous. It requires nothing at all, not even the “dropping.”
