Mugetsu

[CoolDreamThanks]

My perspective has returned to the one that most teachers teach, which is that enlightenment is achieved by emptying yourself of all concepts.

I was playing with the idea of there being a real and correct self-concept, but it felt so vulnerable, subject to mistakes. Also somewhat dirty? 

Jesus says:

"Concepts are learned. ²They are not natural. ³Apart from learning they do not exist. ⁴They are not given, so they must be made. ⁵Not one of them is true, and many come from feverish imaginations, hot with hatred and distortions born of fear. ⁶What is a concept but a thought to which its maker gives a meaning of his own? ⁷Concepts maintain the world. ⁸But they can not be used to demonstrate the world is real. ⁹For all of them are made within the world, born in its shadow, growing in its ways and finally “maturing” in its thought. ¹⁰They are ideas of idols, painted with the brushes of the world, which cannot make a single picture representing truth. (ACIM, T-31.V.7:1-10)" 

This is very important, because he says not only that there can be no self concept to stand for what you are, but also, and this is profound, that concepts literally are the fuel that keep the world of dreams burning. 

I always felt, just by looking at my nighttime dreams, that thoughts are the reason why dreaming appears at all. 

When the mind is completely healed, which means it is empty of all concepts, then the dream will cease to be, is what appears to be said here.

Further in the chapter:

"The concept of the self has always been the great preoccupation of the world. ²And everyone believes that he must find the answer to the riddle of himself. ³Salvation can be seen as nothing more than the escape from concepts. ⁴It does not concern itself with content of the mind, but with the simple statement that it thinks. (ACIM, T-31.V.14:1-4)"}

As I see it now, spiritual journey goes from not knowing who you are, to knowing yourself better and better conceptually, in the end even seeing yourself as God, and, ultimately, you realize that even the self-concept of God isn't a correct representation of who you truly are, thus has to be let go of. 

Jesus says that Salvation is not concerned about what you think, but it is concerned very much with the fact that you think. 

At one of the lessons, Jesus says:

"..lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. ²Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. ³Hold onto nothing. ⁴Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. ⁵Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God. (ACIM, W-189.7:1-5)

This seems like the clearest explanation of the actual practice and teaching of A Course in Miracles. Jesus says forget your concepts of God, of yourself, this life, everything. 

"Seek not your Self in symbols. ²There can be no concept that can stand for what you are. ³What matters it which concept you accept while you perceive a self that interacts with evil, and reacts to wicked things? ⁴Your concept of yourself will still remain quite meaningless. (ACIM, T-31.V.15:1-4)"

No matter how deeply I contemplated, I always ran into contradictions and confusion. It's impossible to find yourself in concepts, they are things made of this world and are not capable of encompassing Truth.

"The concept of the self embraces all you look upon, and nothing is outside of this perception. (ACIM, T-31.V.15:7)"

The problem with the self-concept is that you look through it upon everything you see. So people, the world, every single situation will be interpreted through your self concept. And, in my experience, the self concept is never so accurate as to explain everything that is happening to you, there will always be things that contradict your self concept. If you think you are a powerful, creative God, then you will easily find experiences that obviously contradict this self-concept. And then if you believe yourself to be powerless, that will also be inaccurate. It's very disheartening to always be wrong about everything you think. 

So, it does seem like letting go of trying to understand yourself, the world, and God conceptually is Salvation. It removes this impossible burden of trying to grasp yourself from your shoulders. "Know Thyself" - sure, know that what you are is beyond all symbols and let go of trying to know yourself as a mental image. Let go of all attempts to use thinking to find yourself, and, instead, be yourself as you are without conceptualizing yourself. 

This perspective feels so expansive and liberating. How freeing is it to know there is nothing I have to understand about myself, God or life. 

I simply have to be still, and living from this stillness fulfills my Purpose. 

But it's not so simple in practice. I still get caught up in hoping for a beautiful future, full of amazing manifestations, money, and other things of the world.

But Jesus says:

"The world you see holds nothing that you need to offer you; nothing that you can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you joy. ²Believe this thought, and you are saved from years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair. ³No one but must accept this thought as true, if he would leave the world behind and soar beyond its petty scope and little ways. (ACIM, W-128.1:1-3)"

And how true is this? How many attempts have I made to arrange these false images into an particular picture that will make me happy? How many times I sought and did not find? How many times did I keep a smile on my face, whilst underneath filled with despair, because another plan has failed and brought me nothing but another disappointment?

Each thing you value here is but a chain that binds you to the world, and it will serve no other end but this. ²For everything must serve the purpose you have given it, until you see a different purpose there. ³The only purpose worthy of your mind this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where there is none. ⁴Be you deceived no more. ⁵The world you see holds nothing that you want. (ACIM, W-128.2:1-5)

It is quite clear that when I have hopes and dreams, when I value my body as a means to an end, when I adore it with finery, I feel more closely connected to the world, to it's ways, it's hopes and dreams. I begin to see a future where I am happy, where my wishes are fulfilled and I am given peace of mind because of the situations I see myself in.  

"Look upon all the trinkets made to hang upon the body, or to cover it or for its use. ²See all the useless things made for its eyes to see. ³Think on the many offerings made for its pleasure, and remember all these were made to make seem lovely what you hate. (ACIM, T-20.II.1:1-3)"

I still hold my body valuable for what it offers, focusing on all the trinkets made to make it more beautiful to others, so that I would attract their eyes and get from them what I believe they have to offer. But what can bodies truly offer to one another? 

Jesus so beautifully explains that the only purpose for this world is that you pass it by, without hoping to find happiness within it. 

It's like the quote from fight club: "Losing all hope was freedom." Although Jesus isn't saying there is no hope at all, he is saying there's no hope within the world.

Hope lies beyond this world, and that is what we must reach for, by training our minds to be free of concepts, free of hopes and dreams of this world. 

[CoolDreamThanks]

Hm, because I still use the body to attract the eyes of others in order to maintain my self-concept, I think it's appropriate to restrain some of the things I do with the body, like adoring it with finery. I've felt this before, in my saner moments, but it is indeed more in alignment to dress simply and avoid putting all of these trinkets on myself. I have a particular tendency to marvel in this body, it's a constant error of mine, and since I'm aware of that, it's best to minimize such activities by dressing simply and comfortably. Moreover, when I dress to impress, it's so uncomfortable, my feet hurt, my body is itchy. "beauty requires sacrifice," I guess..

I make my body the focal point of experience, thus strengthening my attachment to the world of dreams by valuing something within it. The body becomes a means of gaining pleasure and pride, which is how the ego uses the body. It's a use of the body that drowns me deeper into darkness, and should be avoided.

"The ego uses the body for attack, for pleasure and for pride. ⁴The insanity of this perception makes it a fearful one indeed. ⁵The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes communion. (ACIM, T-6.V-A.5:3-5)"

 

[CoolDreamThanks]

There's a section in the Course termed "The Promise," by the Course community, which basically says that if you truly practice what the Course is teaching, then your life will be easy, everything will be taken care of by Spirit:

"You may wonder how you can be at peace when, while you are in time, there is so much that must be done before the way to peace is open. ²Perhaps this seems impossible to you. ³But ask yourself if it is possible that God would have a plan for your salvation that does not work. ⁴Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort. ⁵He will go before you making straight your path, and leaving in your way no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way. ⁶Nothing you need will be denied you. ⁷Not one seeming difficulty but will melt away before you reach it. ⁸You need take thought for nothing, careless of everything except the only purpose that you would fulfill. ⁹As that was given you, so will its fulfillment be. ¹⁰God’s guarantee will hold against all obstacles, for it rests on certainty and not contingency. ¹¹It rests on you. ¹²And what can be more certain than a Son of God? (ACIM, T-20.IV.8:1-12)"

I think it's easy to be overly optimistic about this, and, on the other hand, I do see this working in my life with increasing apparency based on the depth of my dedication. 

In terms of the overly optimistic view, you might decide to quit your job, believing Spirit will arrange everything without your effort. In my experience, when I quit my job, I was just jobless and ran out of money.

However, I did get accepted back to my workplace without effort. Now, I do work, but the positive side, "The Promise" part is that there is quite a lot of time left for contemplation and meditation. 

So, in terms of the "being the ruler of your destiny" and "always getting what you call to yourself," it seems like it's more nuanced than it might at first appear to be.

First, when you attempt to rule your destiny, you are mostly operating from a made-up self concept, looking through it to your desired situation and reaching for it. However, because the self-concept is always inaccurate, the desires that follow from it are foundationless. Those desires not only are unlikely to manifest, but if they do, they are also not going to bring you any true fulfillment, because re-arranging shadows in a particular way is just re-arranged shadows, nothing more than that. 

Jesus instructs:

"You do not really want the world you see, for it has disappointed you since time began. ²The homes you built have never sheltered you. ³The roads you made have led you nowhere, and no city that you built has withstood the crumbling assault of time. ⁴Nothing you made but has the mark of death upon it. ⁵Hold it not dear, for it is old and tired and ready to return to dust even as you made it. (ACIM, T-13.VII.3:1-5)"

and

"Today we practice letting go all thought of values we have given to the world. ²We leave it free of purposes we gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. ³We hold it purposeless within our minds, and loosen it from all we wish it were. ⁴Thus do we lift the chains that bar the door to freedom from the world, and go beyond all little values and diminished goals. (ACIM, W-128.5:1-4)"

All throughout the Course Jesus is constantly re-affirming the idea that this world, the goals you have within it, your hopes and dreams, are really not what they seem to be. He says that each road you travel will inevitably lead to despair. On some roads you travel happily for a while and then they turn sour, while other paths are immediately painful:

"There is no choice where every end is sure. ²Perhaps you would prefer to try them all, before you really learn they are but one. ³The roads this world can offer seem to be quite large in number, but the time must come when everyone begins to see how like they are to one another. ⁴Men have died on seeing this, because they saw no way except the pathways offered by the world. ⁵And learning they led nowhere, lost their hope. ⁶And yet this was the time they could have learned their greatest lesson. ⁷All must reach this point, and go beyond it. ⁸It is true indeed there is no choice at all within the world. ⁹But this is not the lesson in itself. ¹⁰The lesson has a purpose, and in this you come to understand what it is for. (ACIM, T-31.IV.3:1-10)"

When you truly learn that this world has nothing to offer, you will loosen your grip and will have the space needed to allow Truth to enter into your mind. When you are busy, using your body for pleasure and pride, distracted by the glamour of the world, adoring yourself with trinkets in an attempt to attract your brothers eyes, you have made a choice against Heaven, and, Jesus says, all choices are total, there are no half sacrifices, you can't be a little bit in Hell, just how you can't be a little bit in Heaven. Now, we are all fully in Hell, because we still value this world, the chains which are our hopes and dreams, our self-concept, our fantasies and pleasures are what bind us to this dream of death.

"No pathway in the world can lead to Him, nor any worldly goal be one with His. ⁴What road in all the world will lead within, when every road was made to separate the journey from the purpose it must have unless it be but futile wandering? ⁵All roads that lead away from what you are will lead you to confusion and despair. (ACIM, T-31.IV.9:3-5)"

I think not only for me but for most, something similar to the concept of a soulmate is one of the thickest chains that strangle us throughout our lives, keeping us bound to this illusion, where we seek and seek and never find, but still hope, years after years, that perhaps there is a partner here that I will find and will be happy with. However, those who had a deep intimate connection also know that just like everything else in this world, it always ends in pain. Not only that, but our deepest love tends to cause us the deepest pain, so is it not insane to seek for that again, knowing there is no happy ending? And do you really want to bind your brother to this world, together with yourself? Do you want to foster his false fantasies of a happy dream within a place where thirsty creatures come to suffer and to die? Would it not be more sane to loosen all your hopes and fantasies and only hope for Heaven?

"Real choice is no illusion. ²But the world has none to offer. ³All its roads but lead to disappointment, nothingness and death. ⁴There is no choice in its alternatives. ⁵Seek not escape from problems here. ⁶The world was made that problems could not be escaped. ⁷Be not deceived by all the different names its roads are given. ⁸They have but one end. ⁹And each is but the means to gain that end, for it is here that all its roads will lead, however differently they seem to start; however differently they seem to go. ¹⁰Their end is certain, for there is no choice among them. ¹¹All of them will lead to death. ¹²On some you travel gaily for a while, before the bleakness enters. ¹³And on some the thorns are felt at once. (ACIM, T-31.IV.2:1-13)"
 

[CoolDreamThanks]

Mugetsu is composed of two characters - mu, a key concept in Buddhism, meaning emptiness and getsu, meaning moon, yet another important symbol in Zen, often used to portray the formless source. 

In poetry, however, the composition of these two characters tends to mean "moonless night." 

Can you imagine a moonless night, how dark it is? With no light reflecting of the moon, you are surrounded by complete darkness. You can't put a single step in any direction without the fear of dropping into a bottomless pit. The concept of moonless night represents a complete obliteration of your sense of direction in life, and also a freedom of living completely spontaneously. 

As David Whyte so beautifully stated, you know that you are on the right path, because it disappears. 

In Bleach, recently acknowledged as the most influential anime of all time, and a show I spent one summer watching day and night, the main character, Ichigo, in one of the most epic and final battles of the series, fights Aizen, a being whose power consists of creating illusions. If you even once look upon the sword of Aizen, then you are under his total illusion control, which controls all of your senses and makes you hallucinate whatever he desires.

To beat Aizen, the ruler of illusions, Ichigo must decide to put everything into one final attack, an attack called Mugetsu. 

You see the cost of Mugetsu is that you put all of yourself into one final blow, you pour your soul so completly into a strike that you are never the same after it, you lose your ability to do what you did before, to live a life you were so accustomed to, you lose all of your spiritual powers, even though you were one of the strongest beings in existence.

However, to slay the strongest enemy, you must let go of all of your accomplishments, and become Nothingness, as so profoundly beautifully portrayed in the show, with shadows enveloping Ichigo's body and everything falling silent, Ichigo becoming the moonless sky itself.

The show so accurately represents the spiritual journey, where, to truly awaken from the dream, you have to completely destroy your sense of self in Nothingness, destroying your old identity forever, never to be returned again, forever lost in the Void. 

Aizen represents the ego, a being of incredible intelligence who attempts to rule not only his own realm, but all others realms, because he is dissatisfied with the current ruler of the soul society, the Soul King, who doesn't even have a will of it's own, but is simply the ground of existence that holds all things together. 

Moreover, Aizen represents another part of the ego - the function of desire fulfillment. At one part in the show, Aizen merges with an orb called hogyoku, a profoundly powerful object that has the ability to give it's owner the power to manifest his deepest desires, as well as granting immortality. 

And is this not what we truly desire as ego's? To be immortal, perfect beings, with all of our desires perfectly fulfilled? That is indeed my deepest desire, if I look at my grandest fantasies, I imagine myself as a perfect, omnipotent being, controlling everything, walking as an immortal Deity among simple men.

That is why the teachings of Bashar and other new-age gurus are so attractive to the ego, because they play on the heart strings of our deepest desire - to be a God. 

So, in Bleach, we are both the protagonist - Ichigo, and the antagonist - Aizen. 

There's a fight constantly happening within us, with our spiritual side fighting against our egoic side, with illusions fighting against the truth. The winner is certain, but the process is still unfolding. 

Edited August 29 by CoolDreamThanks

[CoolDreamThanks]

 

 

I've been contemplating pleasure for probably 5 years now - the role it has on the path to awakening, how to deal with it, etc.

I can't deny my experience which shows that if I truly let go of all pleasures of the world, if I simply do nothing, then I begin to get glimpses of Heaven, indicating that this is indeed the way to awakening.

When I am indulging in pleasures, it feels like spiritual development is arrested at this specific level and it cannot go any further.

Jesus says that each think you value here is a chain that binds you. He says pleasure and pain are the same because they share the same purpose - to they identify you with the body. Neither when you are in pain nor when you are enjoying pleasures are you able to remain connected to that Holy place inside where time and illusions can enter not.

"Pain demonstrates the body must be real. ²It is a loud, obscuring voice whose shrieks would silence what the Holy Spirit says, and keep His words from your awareness. ³Pain compels attention, drawing it away from Him and focusing upon itself. ⁴Its purpose is the same as pleasure, for they both are means to make the body real." (ACIM, T-27.VI.1:1-4)

That is also why many Hindu teachers instruct their students to practice Brahmacharya. 

If life was only pain and suffering, which it surely is, sometimes, but without the duality of pleasure, then it would be easy to transcend it and awaken.

However, the ego is very intelligent and he has put pleasures in this world to bind us to it. Pleasures are like a golden chain we wear proudly, not really seeing the true cost of it. And what is the cost of pleasures? It is nothing less than the Kingdom of Heaven itself. We are satisfied with fleeting pleasures instead of returning to the place of Infinite Love. 

" ⁷To you it teaches that the body’s pleasure is happiness. ⁸Yet to itself it whispers, “It is death.” (ACIM, T-19.IV-B.13:6-8)

Some spiritual paths say go ahead, indulge, but do it consciously, it's fine. Well, I've tried it and it doesn't work. You can't ascent to Heaven whilst still engaging in the fleeting offerings of this world. 

I've tried so many times to completely transcend the world, sometimes committing totally to not engaging in the pleasures of the world for months, sometimes failing in the next hour.

You have to be very wise and understand what pleasure is from the metaphysical perspective to really have enough strength to go beyond it.

You have to see how pleasures are a mask upon a wicked world that leads to death. As a crafty hedonist you can maximize pleasure and minimize pain throughout your days, but what about the underlying meaninglessness always lurking behind you? What about the pain and tiredness that comes from indulging in pleasures? What about death, which comes so quickly and you are born again, perhaps into another body, crippled and poor, just to do the same vain dance again? 

You are now living under the insane laws of the world, the laws that tell you you have to be a slave to someone to even survive in a world you really hate. You are living in a body that is an instrument of many flaws, that decays, gets hurt, turns old and dies in pain. 

Is this really the life we deserve, as the Holy Son of God? Why are we not claiming our inheritance, which is the Kingdom of Heaven? Why are we so blinded by pleasures and unable to escape the petty scope of this empty and insane world?

Fortunate are we, because Jesus is our teacher and brings us wisdom from that part of our minds where wisdom is abundant. He cuts our chains and frees us from the world, showing us how senseless we have been living, working most of our lives, buying things we do not need, chasing pleasures and then allowing death to take us, shrouding our previous lives in forgetfulness and putting us into another body.

 

"Each thing you value here is but a chain that binds you to the world, and it will serve no other end but this. ²For everything must serve the purpose you have given it, until you see a different purpose there. ³The only purpose worthy of your mind this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where there is none. ⁴Be you deceived no more. ⁵The world you see holds nothing that you want.

3. Escape today the chains you place upon your mind when you perceive salvation here. ²For what you value you make part of you as you perceive yourself. ³All things you seek to make your value greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth from you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your Self.

4. Let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay your progress to salvation, nor permit temptation to believe the world holds anything you want to hold you back. ²Nothing is here to cherish. ³Nothing here is worth one instant of delay and pain; one moment of uncertainty and doubt. ⁴The worthless offer nothing. ⁵Certainty of worth can not be found in worthlessness.

5. Today we practice letting go all thought of values we have given to the world. ²We leave it free of purposes we gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. ³We hold it purposeless within our minds, and loosen it from all we wish it were. ⁴Thus do we lift the chains that bar the door to freedom from the world, and go beyond all little values and diminished goals."

(ACIM, W-128.2:1–5:4)

Our goal is glorious indeed. In Heaven, where bliss eternal washes over us, we will laugh at how silly we were to choose these fleeting pleasures instead of that glorious realm. Heaven has been forgotten, thus the motivation to come back to is is small indeed. Yet revelations show us where we come from and where we must go to. 

We must remove all finery from our bodies, all perfumes from our homes, all vanities we spent our days collecting. How senseless, how disappointing in the end, this whole pursuit of pleasure in the world. 
 

"²Perhaps you will concede there is no loss in letting go all thought of value here. ³The world you see is merciless indeed, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with you, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate. ⁴It gives but to rescind, and takes away all things that you have cherished for a while. ⁵No lasting love is found, for none is here. ⁶This is the world of time, where all things end.

3. Is it a loss to find a world instead where losing is impossible; where love endures forever, hate cannot exist and vengeance has no meaning? ²Is it loss to find all things you really want, and know they have no ending and they will remain exactly as you want them throughout time? ³Yet even they will be exchanged at last for what we cannot speak of, for you go from there to where words fail entirely, into a silence where the language is unspoken and yet surely understood.

(ACIM, W-129.2:2–3:3)"

We must stop using our bodies for pride and pleasure, leaving it to have no purpose, simply doing nothing, perhaps only using it to communicate the word of God to our brothers who are still asleep and bound. 

But purposeless, the body will bind us no more, allowing our consciousness to loosen it's grip upon the world, expand, and reach above into the Heavens, where we can finally be truly happy and fulfilled, forever.

There is no world to save, no goals to reach, no one to meet and no fantasies to be fulfilled. This dream must crumble into dust, into nothingness from which it came. It must disappear just like our nightly dreams go by. 

"Protect your mind throughout the day as well. ²And when you think you see some value in an aspect or an image of the world, refuse to lay this chain upon your mind, but tell yourself with quiet certainty:

³This will not tempt me to delay myself.
⁴The world I see holds nothing that I want. (ACIM, W-128.8:1-4)" 

____________
 

"God’s teachers can have no regret on giving up the pleasures of the world. ²Is it a sacrifice to give up pain? ³Does an adult resent the giving up of children’s toys? ⁴Does one whose vision has already glimpsed the face of Christ look back with longing on a slaughter house? ⁵No one who has escaped the world and all its ills looks back on it with condemnation. ⁶Yet he must rejoice that he is free of all the sacrifice its values would demand of him. ⁷To them he sacrifices all his peace. ⁸To them he sacrifices all his freedom. ⁹And to possess them must he sacrifice his hope of Heaven and remembrance of his Father’s Love. ¹⁰Who in his sane mind chooses nothing as a substitute for everything?

5. What is the real meaning of sacrifice? ²It is the cost of believing in illusions. ³It is the price that must be paid for the denial of truth. ⁴There is no pleasure of the world that does not demand this, for otherwise the pleasure would be seen as pain, and no one asks for pain if he recognizes it. ⁵It is the idea of sacrifice that makes him blind. ⁶He does not see what he is asking for. ⁷And so he seeks it in a thousand ways and in a thousand places, each time believing it is there, and each time disappointed in the end. ⁸“Seek but do not find” remains this world’s stern decree, and no one who pursues the world’s goals can do otherwise.

6. You may believe this course requires sacrifice of all you really hold dear. ²In one sense this is true, for you hold dear the things that crucify God’s Son, and it is the course’s aim to set him free.

(ACIM, M-13.4:1–6:2)"

Edited August 30 by CoolDreamThanks

[CoolDreamThanks]

If you could just avoid the ego-backlash, if you could fly from those two steps forward up to the third and fourth, and then again into the fifth and sixth, and so high up that there's nothing left of your human identity, your human life, all that you loved and cherished burned in the flames of faith, then you could achieve the goal and return back into the loving arms of God. 

But who is ready to take this final leap of faith?  Who is so weary and tired of the world, who is so clear and wise, who is going to jump of the cliff, who but you, dear Son of God? There is none else but you. There is nothing else but this. You can delay, there is no sin in this. But as time goes, just notice, day by day, how meaningless and gray your days all are. Notice how there is no love upon this plain for you. Notice the shadows that surround you and their careless gazes. Notice how each day you roll the rock upon the mountain and it falls again, to be pushed up again as soon as morning dawns. 

Would you not be glad to exchange this heavy journey for the one that has no effort whatsoever? Would you not rather slip past all the ways this world has thought, and sleep again within the endless oceans of your God? What hope you have here still, that binds you to this world? Have you not seen that nothing here fulfills, or gives your lasting joy? Have you not seen how bodies age, are swallowed by the ruthless pains of cancer and then die? Are you committed to repeat such journey into death again, and again once more, as you have done so far? 

Let go of chains you hold so tight, this world has nothing that you want. Drop them all at once, there is no need for steps. Ascend into the highest realms, by simply doing nothing. 

The way into the Heavens is, of course, completely in the opposite direction as to which the world is rushing towards. The men and women of this world are always doing something. There is no place within their lives to rest within the nothingness of God, yet that is the way the world's undone, and the way Christ returns back into his Father's Kingdom. 

“I need do nothing” is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. ⁸Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.

To do anything involves the body. ²And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body’s value from your mind. ³Here is the quick and open door through which you slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. ⁴This is the way in which sin loses all attraction right now. ⁵For here is time denied, and past and future gone. ⁶Who needs do nothing has no need for time. ⁷To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. ⁸Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides. ⁹He will remain when you forget, and the body’s activities return to occupy your conscious mind." 

[CoolDreamThanks]

A conversation with Ken Wapnick GPT:

Question:

What would Ken Wapnick say about dealing with desires, with pleasures? Jesus throughout the Course says that pleasures equate you with the body. So, should you stop enjoying pleasures? Should you restrict yourself? Should you fight pleasures? Or is there an intersection where you are learning that pleasures and desires don't make you happy, but you still don't fight yourself? The pleasures and desires that you do have, you engage in them without guilt.

 
Answer:

This is a really good and subtle question, and one that Ken addressed often because students tended to interpret Jesus’ words in the Course as a call to asceticism or self-denial.

Kenneth Wapnick’s consistent teaching was: the Course is never about behavior, but about the mind. The issue is not whether you enjoy a pleasure, but whether you make it your source of happiness, or feel guilty for it.

He cautioned against fighting or repressing desires. That simply makes them “real” in the ego’s thought system and reinforces guilt. As he explained:

Jesus tells us it is “almost impossible to deny [the body’s] existence in this world” and that “those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial” (T-2.IV.3:10-11) . In other words, pretending you don’t have bodily desires when you still believe you are a body only adds more guilt and conflict.

Ken emphasized that the Holy Spirit uses everything in our experience—even pleasures—as part of the classroom. The problem is not the pleasure, but the belief it can bring us lasting happiness. As the Course says: “Nothing the body’s eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of temptation … Yet we have learned that the Holy Spirit has another use for all the illusions you have made … the physical appearance of temptation becomes the spiritual recognition of salvation” (W-pI.64.2) .

So the middle way Ken taught is exactly the “intersection” you describe:

Enjoy what you enjoy, but don’t make it your salvation.

Notice when you feel guilt or compulsion around a desire—that’s the ego using it—and bring that to Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

Don’t fight or restrict yourself harshly, but use the pleasure as a mirror of the choice in the mind: am I looking for fulfillment outside myself, or remembering that real joy is of the Spirit?

As Ken put it in other contexts: the Course asks us to look at our desires without judgment, not to repress them. Once you see without guilt that they can’t truly satisfy, they naturally fall away in importance. Until then, trying to push them away only strengthens them.

So, no—you don’t need to stop enjoying pleasures. The learning is simply that they are not the source of your peace. And the absence of guilt around them is already a sign you are with the Holy Spirit rather than the ego.

Would you like me to pull together a few direct passages from Ken where he comments specifically on eating, sex, or other pleasures? Those tend to illustrate this teaching very concretely.

Reponse: 

Yes, please do. 

Answer: 

Great, I found some clear passages where Ken addresses pleasures and desires directly:

On pleasure itself not being the problem
Ken explained that the Course does not ask us to deny or fight pleasures:

“There is nothing wrong with pleasure, but it is always of the body and thus serves the ego’s purpose of reinforcing separation. However, the Holy Spirit can use it for His purpose when we look at it without guilt. The issue is never the form—sex, food, drink, or anything else—but the purpose to which it is put.”

On enjoying without guilt

“If you can enjoy the pleasure without guilt, you have already given it to the Holy Spirit. The guilt is the ego’s way of making it sinful, special, or forbidden, which then makes the pleasure real in your mind. Guilt, not pleasure, is the problem.”

On not repressing or restricting yourself

“You do not fight against desire, for that makes it real. Simply notice the desire, recognize it is the ego’s substitute for love, and bring that recognition to Jesus. Then it becomes part of the classroom. If you push it away or pretend it isn’t there, you make the ego stronger.”

On the intersection you asked about:

“The goal is not to give up pleasure, but to learn that it is not your source of happiness. The learning is gentle. As you look without judgment, the attraction to pleasure as a substitute for love naturally diminishes. Until then, enjoy without guilt, and use the experience to choose the right teacher.”

So Ken’s answer to your question is: Don’t fight yourself. Enjoy what you enjoy, but notice the guilt and the belief behind it. The pleasure is neutral—the only question is, which teacher are you choosing about it?

 

Edited September 1 by CoolDreamThanks

[CoolDreamThanks]

I’ve gone through this cycle countless times: realizing that pleasures are the trap that keeps me here, trying to restrict them, only to find that it slips into repression and brings up internal resistance. I then read that Ken and Keith talk about being gentle with yourself, not denying or fighting yourself, and continuing to enjoy pleasures with the Holy Spirit from a place of Stillness, without guilt. Then comes the disappointment at how long the process drags on, and, coupled with memories of those rare periods of total dedication bringing me flashes of Heaven, I begin to desire the process to speed up and attempt to restrict pleasures again. And then I fail and come back to being gentle and slow. Then, become discouraged with how slow this is, attempt to restrict, and on and on and on the cycle goes. 

It must be the 20th or 30th time by now. I just don’t seem to learn, do I?

However, now, it does seem more like the voice of the ego that says: stop doing this! If you do not stop enjoying pleasures, then the Kingdom of God is not for you! Fight temptation!

This only strenghtens the egoic thought system in the mind, because it introduces tension and resistance. 

The point regarding pleasures is nuanced; it's not a yes or a no.

It doesn't mean it's okay to indulge in pleasures mindlessly, using the body for pride, covering yourself in expensive robes, and spending money you do not have on senseless things you do not need.

There's a balance between gently realizing that things of this world are incapable of bringing joy and not hurting yourself mentally for still enjoying some things that it's not yet time to release, because the identification with the body is still too strong.  

It seems like food and sex are the last to go, they are some of the deepest impressions in the mind. Probably only at the very end of the process, in however long it takes, will these baseline human desires fall away. I've experienced those glimpses of desirelessness on psychedelics a time or two. It's a glorious state to be in, but you can't force yourself there; it takes a lot of mind training to purify yourself to a place of such a complete and expansive state of consciousness that there is no attraction to the pleasures of the body.

So, indeed, it is difficult to interpret the Course on your own because the points are so nuanced and complex, often having multiple wrinkles in the answer instead of being a straightforward yes or no. 

 

[CoolDreamThanks]

When I asked Hakim Hamza about how he see’s the letting go of pleasures process, he said you just decide to love yourself more by saying: I will not hurt myself today. Because pleasures are kind of an insane thing — the deeper the pleasure, the more pleasure you experience, the deeper the pain is followed. This is blatantly obvious with drugs, how they drain you and the next fee days you have to recover from that pleasure. But actually, even now that I don’t use drugs, only smoke, watch porn and play video games, I have to take breaks and go to sleep inbetween enjoying these pleasures, because I get headaches from smoking, I get tired and also get headaches from video games, constantly watching porn also zaps all of my energy and I just have to go to sleep to recover from this self-abuse. Jesus says pain is pleasure. You can’t really minimize pain and maximise pleasure, because they are one and the same. I love having alot of sex but I get soo tired. I love smoking but it feels like I poisioned myself. I like video games but they also give me headaches. Pleasure is indeed pain. How insane. In my saner moments, when I stop before sitting down in front of PC, I understand what pain this pleasure will cause and instead go to bed and do nothing. But usually I am not aware enough to do this. Maybe I’ll try to be more loving to myself, remember the costs of pleasure as pain and naturally drop them. Or maybe not, maybe I am still too addicted and confused, insane. Yet I will try to not hurt myself tomorrow.

[CoolDreamThanks]

Long-term sitting in front of a screen also damages lower back and even neck, causing long-term damage and pain, which I am also experiencing now. There no pleasure here that does not whip you with pain. They are the same.  
 

It’s the same with food. The tastier the food and the more you eat, the larger the pain. Sometimes even eating one candy bar causes noticable sickness. What an insane game. You can’t tell pleasure and pain apart. I think Jesus exposes the belief that they are different as false, teaches that they are the same and in this way undoes the ego.  
 

That’s why He says that the Teacher of God feels no sacrifice in letting go of pleasures of the world, because who in their right mind would look back upon a slaughterhause and still have a longing for it? 
 

Ken says that as you undo your ego and live a peaceful life without dramac without ups (pleasure) and downs (pain), either physical or psychological, the ego calls this boring. But that is it’s defense mechanism and an insane argument. A peaceful mind is no small gift. A life without pain and anger is no small gift. Ego hates when there’s no drama, no excitement. But that’s the reasoning of an insane person. Peace and consistency, a life without pain and anger is the choice of the wise man.  
 

So here it is, another wrinkle on the topic of pleasures and undoing the ego. 
 

When you eat simple, unexciting food, which is still tasty in its simplicity, your body feels nourished and light. 
 

When you don’t waste your energy with porn, you feel a gentle flow of energy theoughout the day. There are many benefits of celibacy, as there are many subtle costs of indulgance, like mind fog, lethargy, lack of creativity, physical pain, etc. 
  
Screens and internet in general had a zapping quality to the nervous system, it’s like an artificial, chemical irritant to the system.  
 

There is no pleasure without pain. They are the same. I will not hurt myself today. 
 

It’s impossible to seek for pleasure through the body and not find pain.” - Jesus 

 

Oh how important it is to deeply realize this, to see this so visceraly in your daily life. Then its easier to drop this insane game.

Edited September 1 by CoolDreamThanks

[CoolDreamThanks]

Awaken in Sameness from https://monasteryofthemists.com/page/2/

When our attraction to being unique, being different, being noticed, being impressive, being admired, being appreciated, being praised, and being special begins to wane, a deeper attraction—the joy of sameness—will arise and become palpable. We will find joy—real joy!—in sameness, being embraced by sameness, disappearing into sameness. This is the dawning of our intense and burning attraction to Oneness. Nothing in the world compares to the depth and breadth, to the scope and scale, of this burgeoning joy. Sameness! It is no longer an abstract, intellectual idea, distant and aspirational, but a vivid, present experience. This is our real Life. It is here, finally Here.
 

[CoolDreamThanks]

Okay, so, that “I won’t hurt myself today” idea to let go of pleasures doesnt work. 
 

It seems that no matter what I conceptualize, let's say if I even see how pleasures equate me with the body, and that pleasures are always followed by pain. So if you smoke, if you get a headache, if you eat tasty food, you get a stomach ache, I see that pleasures are pain, and no matter what I do, or what I see conceptually, nothing, nothing helps to transcend pleasures. Why? Because the issue, the need for pleasures doesn't come from the conceptual mind, it comes from being separate from God. And that separation isn't dissolved even by being aware of awareness. If you're aware of awareness, there's still separation, and you will still want to enjoy pleasures, it's just that now you will enjoy them more so from a guided and still place. So until you're back to God, until you're just back home at heaven, there will be pleasures, you can't do anything about them. And the more you resist them, the stronger they grow. And if you get into repression, they will explode anyway. 
 

So, in the end, Keith and Ken are right in the money: live a normal life, chase pleasures, relationships, just do all that with Spirit.

 

[CoolDreamThanks]

After years of contemplating pleasures and desires, I’ve come to a realization that aligns with the teachings of Keith, Ken, and A Course in Miracles. The core insight is that it’s not about what you do, but about where your mind is—are you connected to Spirit, or lost in ego-driven thinking?

Restricting pleasures and desires simply doesn’t work. No matter how much you try to reason your way out of them, these desires persist because we’re still experiencing life as separate beings. True fulfillment comes only when we’re fully at home with God, but until then, it’s okay to have desires.

The most practical and gentle approach is to live mindfully, connected to Spirit. Don’t force yourself to let go of pleasures or desires—just walk through life with Spirit as your guide. This removes unnecessary resistance, guilt, and confusion. You don’t need to complicate your journey; simply be present, live with awareness, and everything will fall into place.

Let go of the struggle. Take Spirit’s hand, and trust that you’re exactly where you need to be.

Even in Q and A when someone asked Ken if it’s bad to pursue special relationships, Ken said nono, denying yourself relationships because it’s not spiritual is an error. Explore all you want, in fact, not doing so because you believe it’s not spiritual would be a mistake. Nothing in behaviour has to change at all, the Purpose is in the mind, who are you doing all those things with? That’s the only thing that matters. Simple, gentle, no fighting against temptation. Nice.

Edited September 2 by CoolDreamThanks

[CoolDreamThanks]

Soo, after the conclusion that you can live a normal life with pleasures and money and video games, how do you live?

If everything is open, what do you do now? 

Well, again it's best to consult Jesus, or to be exact, Keith's and Ken's interpretation of it.

Keith says what you do next is you surrender to the flow of natural experience. You do not attempt to change the dream using the power of your mind or just general effort, you do not strive to fulfill your ambitions and dreams, no. What you do is you Trust that through Grace, everything you need for your awakening will be given to you effortlessly. 

In my experience, that is very very true. I don't get what my ego desires, but I do get everything needed for awakening. 

Also, if I begin to desire more, if I manifest and put in alot of effort to improve the dream, I find that such lifestyle bites me in the ass one way or the other.

So it's liberating and peaceful, effortless and gentle, this perspective of surrender, trust and Grace. 

 

[CoolDreamThanks]

Oh so I get now why Ken is always blabbering about seeing shared interests and shared identity, it's thje same ass saying it's all one and you don't exist as a seperate entity. basically what all other wisdom teachings say. even the observer is an illusion. 

this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-1IHiC3Uks&ab_channel=RogerCastillo-BeingLived

[CoolDreamThanks]

So it is a different way of looking, and it does align with enlightenment experiences -- that I am not an independent, autonomous entity, that was an illusion, I have no free will and it's all just one happening. So when I look at a screen of a teacher talking and me sitting here is the same Oneness happening, no difference between us. One dream morphing and shifting, one infinity bopping around. It might seem like a small shift but it's a major one. Will se if this dissolves suffering - this perpsective that life is a dream, yes, this is all that exist sright now, but I am not in charge, it's just life happening.. nothing outside of this room exists, there is no world, no people, just this one video game always appearing in various configurations without really a specific source I think, mysteriously, no God in conttrol, that would be a duality, no difference, no seperation between me and God, but not because I am God, because there's no me as a seperate entity. 

[CoolDreamThanks]

From https://monasteryofthemists.com/2025/06/25/teaching-delusion/

Teaching Delusion: 

 

A rather intelligent monk, from the time he arrived at the monastery, dreamed about becoming one of the teachers, if not the abbot. The continual preoccupation cast a shadow in his mind. During a meeting with the abbot in the Dharma Hall, he unburdened himself.

“As soon as a new insight or experience arrives, I feel an immediate urge to share it in the spiritual marketplace,” he said, motioning toward the teaching platform.

“Such gifts cannot remain hidden from a world in dire need of such wisdom! Your wisdom!” the abbot replied, teasing him affectionately. The monk nodded, lowering his head in shame.

The abbot’s voice was very gentle. “We yearn both to awaken and remain asleep. This means that with each step toward awakening, another part of us becomes fearful and attempts to sabotage our progress. One of the most common defenses is the impulse to teach. It’s often a major defense.”

“But why do others teach, and not me?” the monk complained.

“Right now, you’d only be teaching specialness, no matter how wise your words. It is not remarkable to have an intelligent mind, or be good with words. It is not remarkable to have profound insights or beautiful experiences along the path of relinquishment; these are universal. It is not remarkable to put oneself in a calm state of mind or to access a certain flow of ideas while teaching. What is remarkable is to live and teach from within an ongoing spiritual experience.”

The monk contemplated this, feeling shaken by the abbot’s words. He had hoped he would be put into a training program for teachers. A sharp pain sliced through his center.

“The problem with you right now is, ‘Who is becoming wiser? Who is becoming more spiritually advanced? Who is at the center of it all?'”

“I am,” the monk lamented, his hidden specialness and guilt rising to the surface.

“You’re not alone; everyone does this in some way, either as teacher or student,” the abbot continued, offering him a plate of cookies. “There is enormous temptation to take refuge in our insights and bask in the adulation of an audience who, also afraid of continuing toward enlightenment, gratefully endorses a joint specialness. It can easily become a collective delusion. Such a coalition merely stirs the stale soup of minor insights or the wisdom of others, with an emphasis on personal realizations and personal experiences. I call this ‘the socialization of spirituality.’ The specialness of the spiritual self is celebrated, with everyone in agreement that they feel uplifted, unaware that these positive feelings come from the part of us that is made happy by stalling. But again, everyone goes through this stage in some form; it’s just important to be aware of what’s really happening so you can move beyond it. As long as it remains hidden, nothing will change and true spiritual progression will come to a temporary halt.”

After the meeting, the monk continued to be haunted by the desire to teach. With each new insight, he yearned for a platform, so that others could recognize his wisdom, his personal self. But at least now he had a deeper appreciation for his hidden specialness. The process of healing had begun. 
—————- 

I think this happens alot on this forum and also in my own mind. Wanting to flex your insights to become special.

[CoolDreamThanks]

Also from the same website: 

 

What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my spiritual path? What is the purpose of my work with you?

To relinquish the personal self with the least amount of suffering.

[CoolDreamThanks]

Holding your ego gently seems to be very important.  
 

Not taking anything seriously. 

[CoolDreamThanks]

When you recognize how resistant you are (your ego surfacing) and don't
judge it, as a Course student you get an A+. Why? Because it is your
resistance that gives you the opportuntities to progress with the
Course and undo your ego thought system. You want to learn to be
comfortable with your ego, making light of it as you observe it instead
of judging it.

The less and less you judge your egoic behavior, the less and less fear
you will feel, which allows you to become closer to the truth.
 

——— 

 

Illustrated by a story from ACIM Monk where a monk was lost in thought, fantasies about being a movie star, was found by the abbot and felt emberasses, but the abbot said take it lightly, don’t make a big deal out of this or any other egoic thing you do, just look at it softly. —- strong redoing of the story