ACIM Journal

[Anderz]

I looked up what ACIM says about lies, and found some quotes, but also this passage which is more fundamental:

Quote

"As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with transitory states by definition false. 2 And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response. 3 This is the all-inclusiveness which sets the truth apart from falsehood, and the false kept separate from the truth, as what it is." - ACIM W-pI.152.5.

That's an amazing contrast to the common view of life. That ACIM quote might at first seem incomprehensible, yet it's simply nonduality. An all-inclusive perspective includes change, but we cannot isolate the change out of the whole and have it be an independent and separate phenomenon. An analogy is a wave on an ocean. The wave doesn't have an independent existence. And with nonduality the "ocean" is changeless.

Nonduality itself is changeless, for if it changes then it goes from one state to another, which is duality, from "what it is" to "what it is not". Change and relativity exist within nonduality, but as a wholeness it cannot change because time is duality.

[Anderz]

Is there a higher form of thinking above ego thinking? Yes, that's the case from an integral perspective where thinking is transcended and included. Ken Wilber has talked about high-vision logic and higher mind states. I will take a look at this video to see if Wilber mentions transcending ego thinking:

 

[Anderz]

Second tier thinking can easily become an ego trap! At least for me. I need to remind myself of focusing on my intentional suffering practice instead of as an ego mind try to do second tier thinking.

When my suffering has dissolved and there is inner peace, then I can again examine the topic of second tier thinking and other forms of higher thinking. The ego is really, really tricky and sneaky!

[Anderz]

Here I discovered something new. Maybe Leo has already covered the topic in a video, but Ken Wilber calls it cleaning up. It has to do with cleaning up the shadow material we have within us.

And I came to think of how the shadow is billions of years old! Because it includes all history and evolution. Ken Wilber mentioned that historically, the recognition of the shadow is a recent discovery, only some 100 years and is therefore missing in the major spiritual traditions.

Obviously, to me, the shadow is the same as ego tensions, and is the part of the ego that needs to be transcended without being included. It's only the cleaned up ego material that will be preserved and integrated.

[DrewNows]

@Anderz could i say all things have a shadow? So the greater my light/illumination of consciousness, the equally greater shadows are revealed

the principles of polarity and gender

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by DrewNows

[Anderz]

@DrewNows That's an interesting point. And with the ego having so much shadow material, it makes the liberation from it a stark contrast.

And also, it seems that the shadow material has to be removed gradually, because so much energy is released.

[DrewNows]

3 minutes ago, Anderz said:

 

@DrewNows That's an interesting point. And with the ego having so much shadow material, it makes the liberation from it a stark contrast.

 

Yes it does.

3 minutes ago, Anderz said:

And also, it seems that the shadow material has to be removed gradually, because so much energy is released.

Scratching my head with this one ☝️ 

are you saying the hidden aspect of ourselves is a stored energy? 

[Anderz]

Just now, DrewNows said:

are you saying the hidden aspect of ourselves is a stored energy? 

Yes, I have experienced enormous amounts of energy stored in tensions in the body and mind. Wilhelm Reich talked about deadly orgone (DOR) as a stagnant and trapped form of energy. Higher consciousness makes the stuck energy able to flow again.

But then what about the need for contrast? Is it possible that even the shadow will be included and not just transcended? It probably depends on definitions. I have defined the shadow as the part of the ego that will be transcended and not included. But the valuable part of the shadow, that which gives contrast, that will be preserved!

Even negative emotions such as fear and anger will be preserved, when looking at it from an integral perspective. I wrote something earlier about how the fear will be harmless, like when watching a horror movie or riding on a roller coaster. Similar things with anger and other negative emotions.

[DrewNows]

Cool. Yes I would describe it as having two sets of vision all the time, dual-aspected distinctions. Once this has been availed, all negative energy becomes transmutable.

[Anderz]

Eckhart Tolle has said that what he calls the pain body is emotional. That made me think that what Wilhelm Reich called body armor is the physical extension of the pain body. Here I found a video where the presenter expands the concept of pain body to include physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual pain. And the pain body is related to the shadow, he said.

The explanation in the video sounds very similar to what I call ego tensions. I like this more comprehensive concept of pain body presented in the video, and it's a fairly well-known term, so I can use that instead of calling it ego tensions. What I have discovered, and mentioned before, is that there is also numbness that goes along with the pain body. And it's the increased numbness that makes the pain body awaken in order to prevent too much numbness.

[Anderz]

It's useful to think of the pain body as a part of the ego.

Quote

"The pain-body, which is the dark shadow cast by the ego, is actually afraid of the light of your consciousness." - Eckhart Tolle

So the ego is an even broader term than pain body and it fits directly into A Course in Miracles which talks about ego vs the Holy Spirit.

Quote

"To empathize does not mean to join in suffering, for that is what you must refuse to understand. 2 That is the ego's interpretation of empathy, and is always used to form a special relationship in which the suffering is shared. 3 The capacity to empathize is very useful to the Holy Spirit, provided you let Him use it in His way. 4 His way is very different. 5 He does not understand suffering, and would have you teach it is not understandable. 6 When He relates through you, He does not relate through your ego to another ego. 7 He does not join in pain, understanding that healing pain is not accomplished by delusional attempts to enter into it, and lighten it by sharing the delusion." - ACIM T-16.I.1.

 

[Anderz]

The presenter of the pain body video, Jay Uecker, said in another video that the coronavirus crisis is showing us collectively the illusion of control. Something like that. And that made me think of Dr. Fausti as the boss of collective ego control. What will happen then is that Dr. Fausti will fail somehow, sooner in the form of false claims, or later in the future where Dr. Fausti will be revealed as a false form of control.

And it's interesting how the illusion of ego control is related to fear, which is precisely what fuels the coronavirus crisis in my opinion. And even the egocentric and narrow focus on economic growth as the main growth factor globally has hit a brick wall almost. So what will happen is that the coronavirus crisis will be overcome through some more inclusive form of control.

[Anderz]

Another benefit of Gurdjieff's intentional suffering which Eckhart Tolle calls conscious suffering is that it deliberately puts awareness on the pain body. The habitual, instinctual and unconscious activation of the pain body only produces a temporary relief and after that the pressure in the pain body starts building up again.

With conscious suffering the pain body is gradually transmuted and diminished. Some people have called it spiritual alchemy, where suffering is transformed into inner peace. Easier said than done in practice since there is an enormous amount of transmutation of pain needed,

[Anderz]

Miracles can greatly speed up dissolving the pain body. Although as ACIM says, miracles should be involuntary. That's logical since miracles go beyond mere simplistic cause and effect from past to future which is the ego perspective.

So I can't muster up a miracle by using my own thinking, but I can expect miracles to speed up the transformation of the pain body. In fact, ACIM says that miracles are natural and should be expected, something like that.

[Anderz]

Oh crap, I came to realize that physical death is actually possible. That might sound like a crazy idea since physical death is totally taken for granted as something inevitable today. My realization is very simple yet it's totally different than the common view. It's more like Leo's advanced explanations of reality.

Have I ever been asleep? According to my model, actually no. You may think: what?! Here is where the simple yet controversial part comes in. Manifested reality is now and only now. My personal memories of having been asleep last night are real, but those memories are only information in the now. And information cannot be asleep. So I have never in actuality been asleep.

It's also true that even though I have never been asleep, I will fall asleep in the future when we take cause and effect into consideration. The same with physical death! Nobody has ever actually died, ever! Information cannot die and all the past is, is information. And even though nobody has ever died, it's possible to physically die in the future, in a similar way to how it's possible to fall asleep in the future.

The good thing is that it's still possible that many of us alive today may avoid physical death, because the future is more advanced, more evolved than the past, so things can change radically even in a near future, especially since the material level of our world has reached a very fast progress of technology and information. The Great Awakening of humanity is at hand!

[Anderz]

ACIM says that "Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong." (T-1.I.6.) So how can they be called miracles? How can miracles be both supernatural and natural?

My explanation is that miracles have to be seen in the context of time. Miracles are a natural result of reality reaching higher levels of complexity. As an example, today lifeforms are natural, but consider Earth 4 billion years ago before there were any lifeforms on the planet. Then when the first lifeforms emerged, that was a miracle! So what is called a miracle depends on what point in history it refers to.

[Anderz]

One miracle that may seem like incredible woo woo is the transformation of the human body to a fourth density body that the Law of One talks about. It's the same as the change of the body of flesh in a twinkle of an eye to a resurrection body described in the Bible.

Such transformation actually seems possible to me. Third density is a result of the complexity on our planet still being too low generally for fourth density to emerge. Then as the complexity increases (reality is ever increasing complexity), the miracle of transforming the body of flesh into a fourth density body becomes possible.

And the transformation can happen quickly, just as it says in the Bible. Higher complexity means higher density. And the Law of One mentions that there are several levels of density within each level. The bigger leaps, such as from third to fourth density will happen at a certain threshold. When the complexity reaches above the threshold, then boom, transformation happens.

But just because an evolutionary leap like that happens doesn't mean that we will instantly get superpowers. It's likely more like how when a chick hatches from an egg. The newly hatched chick isn't that much different initially than it was inside the egg, and it takes time for the chick to grow and learn how to interact in the new environment.

Quote

"Accept God's frame instead of yours, and you will see the masterpiece. 2 Look at its loveliness, and understand the Mind that thought it, not in flesh and bones, but in a frame as lovely as itself. 3 Its holiness lights up the sinlessness the frame of darkness hides, and casts a veil of light across the picture's face which but reflects the light that shines from it to its Creator. 4 Think not this face was ever darkened because you saw it in a frame of death. 5 God kept it safe that you might look on it, and see the holiness that He has given it." - ACIM T-25.II.7. 

 

[Anderz]

When a baby learns how to control his or her body and starts grabbing things and stuff, then that's a miracle! It looks so simple and taken for granted as just an ordinary development of the human nervous system, but consider the complexity involved. It's mind-boggling. Similarly as adults it should be possible to learn how to dissolve the pain body through volitionary intent. Miracles should be involuntary it says in A Course in Miracles: "Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles can be misguided." (T-1.I.5.)

But what is a habit? Surely a toddler learning how to walk, that's a habit forming. And that's a miracle as I see it. And things like volition and conscious control are ultimately an automatic process. Everything is automatic. ACIM says: "Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual." (T-1.I.12.)

And when putting conscious attention into the pain body to heal it, then that's not itself a consciously selected miracle. The miracle of healing the pain body comes through the spirit and not through our ego's control: "Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth. This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle." (T-1.I.20.)

To claim that learning how to walk is a miracle some may say is to stretch the meaning of a miracle too much. But dissolving the pain body, that's more clear that it's a miracle, because who can achieve that? Eckhart Tolle said that his pain body dissolved suddenly along with his spiritual awakening. That's a miracle. And if the concept of the pain body is expanded to not only include emotions as Tolle defines it, but also the mental, physical and spiritual levels, then to heal all that can definitely be called a true miracle. 

[Anderz]

The third density body is crappy. Even the professional top models have crappy bodies basically, compared to fourth density bodies. But there is I believe a seed of beauty in all human bodies. And even more miserable are our inner bodies which feel like crap most of the time.

It's fine to take care of the physical third density body, but the real early potential I think is in the inner body. If we can activate beauty within, that will really start transforming our lives. That's a kind of activation of self-love. Leo has this video about self-love:

 

[Anderz]

I cheated a bit in my intentional suffering practice and took aspirin, haha. And interestingly the tensions started to melt away faster. But it's probably unwise to make that a habit. I also listened to what Sadhguru said in his latest video that we need to have a pleasant state of experience to function well. So I will start focusing on pleasant feelings.