The Answer To Your Pain? – 1 of 3

(Please forgive the inconsistent formatting. It was correct when I originally entered it but when re-editing old entries, the edit commands are now incompatible.)
 
 

There were several questions from my last entry regarding my reference to The Course in Miracles and other points.  Some wanted to know what it is and why I found it valuable.

 

A little disclaimer first; I caution you, these are just my thoughts and opinions as reflected from what I’ve found valuable.  This philosophy brings me peace.  There are a thousand ways to peace and I am not invested in whether or not you find these concepts valuable.  I don’t mean I’m not interested in the dialog, I mean if you find no value in what I have to say … I’m ok with that.

 

First, a cultural reminder; I’m 50/50 Italian/Irish, born into the Catholic religion, went to Catholic grade school and was an altar boy as a boy  

(the girls loved a uniform, even then.) 

 

 

 

 

 

I learned about the concept of a "punishing"  God from my teachers, Father O’Malley, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the ever gentle, Sister Mary George

 

     

(or is this Father O’Malley?) Today, I don’t have much use for organized religion.  I consider myself spiritual but not "religious."  My views are, organized religion behaves like any large organization.  It looks and acts like a large public corporation with the only difference being, its product is God rather than lawn chairs, or whatever!  The well-meaning “Religion Corporation,” wants to perpetuate itself, protect itself, grow itself, and show a “profit.”  It has an agenda to accomplish all this and it uses guilt and the concept of a punishing God to intimidate its “customers” into loyalty, thereby assuring growth.

 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 

(Remember these are just my opinions!  Yours are every bit as valid as mine.)

After reading hundreds of books by hundreds of authors over hundreds of years (sic) "The Course in Miracles" slowly came to my attention through reading other authors who quoted it.  I liked what I read.

 

One day, after a breakup with a woman, I was feeling very low.  Searching for some relief from my pain, I listened to a tape by Mary Ann Williamson, A Return to Love.  The tape, using many of the tenants of The Course In Miracles, touched me deeply!  I cried and cried … it/she was so right on.  She was talking directly to ME!  A few days later, I found the local discussion group of, The Course, and went to a lecture, September 19, 1996, my 911 day!

Over the years I’ve heard and read such incredible, revolutionary concepts as:

1.     “Where did you get the idea God wants to punish you if you’re “bad?”

2.     “Attack is nothing but a call for help.”

3.     “Suffering at the hands of another, is a form of attack.”

4.     “ALL attack comes from fear.”

5.     “When you’re attacked, it is a call for help. When you suffer because of the attack, you’re counter-attacking.”

6.     “To forgive, you must give to your brother.”

7.     “I am in charge of my life and everything that seems to happen to me, (good and “bad”) is because I’ve asked for it and it has been given me as I’ve asked.”

8.     “Sin is described as “lack of love.”

9.     “We NEVER really see another, but only our perception of them. What you are “seeing” is all your unresolved hurts from the past.”

10.            “Perc

eption is a function of the body, and therefore, limits awareness.”

11.            “We seek in others what we think is lacking in us.”

12.            “The ego is not our friend.”

13.            “You do not have to listen to your mind (your ego) when it tells you to attack another or yourself. Realize, the ego has it’s own agenda and it isn’t about making you feel better.”

14.             “The purpose of The Course is the ending, the undoing of the ego, of our guilt.”

15.            “You must take full responsibility for any hurt you experience at the hand of another. Are you awake enough right now, to see you create your own pain?”

16.             “You and only you have decided that your views of the world are “accurate,” and yet you have no idea how you formed those views. In fact, what you’re “seeing” is not truth, it is your perception projected out upon the world (or another.)  You are merely “seeing” a reflection of what’s going on inside yourself.”

17.            “Every thought, every word, every experience, gives you the opportunity of choice; the choice to come from love or fear. No matter what you choose, remember, you chose it.”

<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font

-size: 10.0pt”>18.             “Whether you stay or go in a relationship is not the question. The question is, whether you stop blaming the other person for how you feel. If you change your mind, the decision about staying or going will evaporate. It becomes immaterial. Why would it matter? Nothing someone else does or says can hurt you. Unless, you cooperate with them.”

19.           “If you can be hurt by anything, you see a picture of your secret wish, and in your suffering you see your desire to kill.”

20.            “Your life is the perfect example of your unconscious desire to be unfairly treated.”

21.            “ALL hatred of others is self hatred.”

22.            “Guilt, invented by man for his own use, has nothing to do with God.  God did not ask that we feel guilt.  We choose this concept for our own strange benefit … Guilt, pain, suffering, all inventions of man.  We do not prove our innocence by guilt!  We only prove to ourselves we are separate from God and worthless …All beliefs invented by man.”

And, a doozy! …