I do want to ask you by what A Course in Miracles means by Holy Relationship. In one area of the book it covers "entering the ark" together, and it almost sounds like you need another specific person in order to awaken acim. Therefore, I think I approach each new person with the expectation that maybe THIS could possibly be the partnership that reflects enlightenment in my experience, and I for them! Am I taking this too literally? Or do you really have to have another to help you awaken?
I appreciate your own time so much and many thanks for the help in my experience and others. I many thanks and I thank God for you. Namaste.
David Hoffmeister: Thanks for the openness and your willingness to check deeply at what is underneath these topics and issues. A Course in Miracles teaches that the split mind contains both the issue (the ego) and the Solution (the Holy Spirit). When they are brought together, only One remains.
The human body and the planet are always the focus of ego's perspective, for it seeks to make real problems and struggles in the world and to steer clear of the inner Healing Correction of the Holy Spirit. The ego's distorted world is the item of identity confusion, an outpicturing of the belief it is possible to make an identity which God did not create. The ego is this identity problem and it absolutely was Answered or forgiven by the Holy Spirit the instant it appeared to arise. That one problem could possibly be described as an authority problem or perhaps a confusion in who's the author of Reality. The mind that believes in the truth of the time-space cosmos has a get a handle on issue, for it believes so it can produce itself. This ego mind also thinks it's in competition with God, although this really is pushed out of conscious awareness. This unconscious ego thought system is exposed in the A Course in Miracles Workbook lessons, and Lesson 13 contains an excellent example of the unveiling:
"A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God."
That is the beginning of training your brain to forgive, for the focus is cut back to your brain, back once again to thinking, and recinded from the human body and the world. Anorexia, weight issues, body image issues, and interpersonal relationship issues are samples of projection, of seeing the issue where it's not: in the world. The mind cannot tolerate the belief in a battle with God, which means this belief is pushed out of awareness. The deep-seated control issue this kind of belief entails is then projected to the human body and the world. Weight control, like any attempt to control the script or the human body, is an endeavor to control the past. The Holy Spirit teaches that days gone by can only just be forgiven or released or viewed as false—not fixed or controlled or changed.
Exactly the same ego dynamic is underneath interpersonal relationship struggles of power and control, of wanting to fix or change an individual or perhaps a self-image. Personal relationships might seem to sail happily along for awhile, yet the make-believe self-concept IS the private perspective and thus is definitely on shaky ground. Decisions are continuous. The Holy Spirit is really a decision. The ego is really a decision. Atonement is the decision that ends all decisions, an acceptance of the changelessness of Mind. The ego is the decision to think that your brain can be separate from God. Once your brain believed so it had separated and built this time-space world, this time-space world of bodies became its substitute identity, since it believed it'd thrown away the Kingdom of Heaven. The planet was created up as a substitute identity. The sleeping mind is split on the decision of identity. The Holy Spirit says, "This world is not Identity. This world is definitely an illusion." And thus the Holy Spirit reminds your brain constantly, "This world is not your Home. This world is not your Identity. This world is not real." As the mind is split it's hearing another voice (the ego) that's saying: "You've done it. You've separated from God. You'd better make the best of it and find something of the planet to recognize with. You can never return for God will punish you."
Thought-form associations seem to become substitute identity. The ego mind is apparently identified with the human body, with family, with environments that appear to surround it (i.e., I'm an American, Japanese, I'm male, I'm female, I'm from a rich family, from a poor family, I'm Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.) All of these are thought-form associations. And these seeming other persons and places surrounding the small personal self are typical part of the construction. The mind is very shaky concerning this small identity, this small self, this little me. So the small me is shaky, and it looks like other persons give the small me reality and importance (i.e., you're my son, my daughter, you're my boss, you're a loving father, etc.) and all the different things that these images be seemingly telling this little me be seemingly really important. Praise thus seems very important (i.e., you're an individual and you're a good one!).
Praise and acceptance from others SEEM to stabilize this very shaky thing (i.e., you're a good lover, you're a good provider, you're great with the children, you've an excellent intellect, you've this kind of heart, you help serve so many others, you're a good team-player, on and on). This facet of the self-concept says that you will be an individual and you've many of these positive attributes that really allow you to a valuable and worthy person, that make you stand out above the crowd. You're not only anyone—you're somebody special. The flip side is criticism, which directly reflects the shaky sense of self. Criticism will be: you're never as great as you believe you're, you're not this kind of good team player, this kind of good provider, so good in bed—all the stuff which can be taken as insults to the private self-concept). That's the flip side of the strokes. To the ego self-concept that believes both parties (the positive and negative) of thinking are real, the Holy Spirit is perceived as a good threat, for the Holy Spirit leads to the knowledge of forgiveness or the realization that none of the tiny images perceived as separate have any reality.
Once the criticism seems ahead, the ego attempts a substitution. It thinks, "I don't need this. I'll go elsewhere and start other relationships with people who are able to appreciate my talents and skills and abilities, appreciate my personhood. I'll avoid those negative influences in the world and those negative people. I'll find another person or join friends where individuals are like-minded and overlook the rest of the world. These new people will require to me and stroke me and praise me." The attempt at substitution is an endeavor to keep up a sense of specialness, a sense of separation, a sense of individuality (a private mind with private thoughts). Those attempts are special love relationships. They seem to strengthen worth and value and to validate personhood. And they offer a false witness for clinging to the ego as identity. To the ego, past associations serve to provide personhood some sense of stability and consistency and value. Yet, the Holy Spirit implies that past associations offer nothing of value, for they were created by the ego to deny the truth of God's Love.
Holy relationship emphasizes and reflects Content (right-minded thinking) and has an awareness of the meaninglessness of form. As the ego's believed relationships will be seemingly specific, yet each one of these will present a chance to release the belief in specifics. Divine Mind is Abstract and Universal. Forgiveness may be the bridge to the remembrance of Christ and God, Divine Abstraction. Thus the Holy Spirit teaches in A Course in Miracles:
"When you meet anyone, remember it is really a holy encounter. As you see him you will dsicover yourself. As you treat him you'll treat yourself. As you consider him you'll consider yourself. Remember this, for in him you may find yourself or lose yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they are given another chance at salvation. Don't leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving it yourself. For I am always there with you, in remembrance of you.
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