Whatever suffers is not part of me. I have disowned the truth. Now let me be as faithful in disowning falsity. Whatever suffers is not part of me. What grieves is not myself. What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock the truth about myself. Now I disown self-concepts, and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God. Now am I ready to accept him back as God created him, and as he is.
ACIM Lesson 248,1
It is certainly no easy task to realize that what we have accepted as true for so long, is really false; that what we have valued as good and worthy is really worthless. How difficult indeed it is for us to admit that we have been mistaken; as difficult I think, as it is for an addict to admit that he is addicted. Yet it is exactly this admission that we must begin with if we are to ever awaken to the higher awareness of our true identity as children of God. We are the unified children of God, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, and only in our unified togetherness are we the only begotten Son of God. This is our true and single identity! It is who we truly are, but we have denied this truth for millennia, believing ourselves instead to be frail mortal beings granted a little time on Earth, apparently to suffer, more or less, before we “die” and go to a place of either eternal joy or eternal suffering. These are some of the false beliefs we hold as true about ourselves, without considering that such beliefs contradict what we also believe about the nature of God.
We believe God to be kind, loving, and forgiving, but how could a loving God condemn His children to suffering either now or in the hereafter? Certainly such actions cannot be reconciled as being kind, loving or forgiving? Clearly there is a misunderstanding either in our beliefs about ourselves, or in our belief about God. Either: we cannot really suffer, even though we appear to be, or if we really do suffer, then our belief that God is kind, loving and forgiving is inaccurate, for only one of these can be true. It would be immensely difficult for us to conceive of a non-loving God, for to do so is to believe that our essential nature, like God’s is unloving at best and “evil” at worst. Certainly we are capable of both loving and unloving thoughts and actions, but the more important question is which of these is our essential nature.
If we believe our essential nature to be unloving, then there is no real hope for peace, joy and everlasting life either here or in the hereafter, for with such a nature, self destruction would be our destiny. Yet, if we believe our essential nature to be loving, then we can reason that our unloving actions may be the result of temporary lapses or forgetfulness of our true nature in the face of apparently difficult or extenuating circumstances; or perhaps they are the result of misperceptions that led us into believing that we are something other that what we really are, thereby causing us to behave in ways that we would not otherwise behave. But whatever the reasoning, hope remains alive if our essential nature is loving. Furthermore, if love is our essential nature, then so is God’s, and even if we in our confusion about who we really are, fail to live up to our true potential, at least we can depend on our ultimate trump card—the almighty love, wisdom and power of our Creator to save us even from our imagined selves. This trump card does not merely keep alive the hope that we have a chance at redemption and therefore salvation, it positively guarantees it! All that is needed for this salvation is a simple change of mind. Let us begin to believe that we are essentially loving beings, and with all our resolve, let us begin to bring our actions into accord with this belief. Let us change from thinking we are “sinners” to the truth that we are the holy children of God.
It is conceptually simple, but indeed, no easy trick to reverse false but long-held and well grounded beliefs, such as the belief that we are born “sinners” and so must suffer, sacrifice, and ultimately die to pay for our “sins.” The opposite of this archaic mind set is the belief that we, like God, are inherently perfect, loving, free, and essentially spirit as opposed to flesh. We have great difficulty accepting the idea of an unkind, unloving God, but it’s even more difficult for us to accept the idea that pain and suffering is an illusion, for they seems so apparently true to our senses. There are two ways to bring about this dramatic change of mind. Either move in the direction of God, or move away from the idea that pain and suffering is real. The former is certainly easier for the faithful and trustful who can put their faith and trust in what they know and not in what they perceive. However, the latter is somewhat easier to grasp since pain and suffering are common experiences we all seek to avoid.
It certainly seems apparent that everyone suffers, some more so than others, and that eventually everyone “dies,” but this information comes to us only from the five witnesses (our senses), lauded but undependable, for they are know to give us false and deceiving information. Clearly it would be unwise to accept their testimonies and conclusions prima facie*. We know our ears hear only so much, a dog's hearing and sense of smell are orders of magnitude more sensitive than humans; our eyes see only a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, and our senses of touch and taste are equally limited. It would therefore be both foolish and unwise to place our complete trust in witnesses of this caliber. Unwise because given the limitations of the five witnesses in question, it would be more prudent to at least verify and validate their information with those from other sources. And it would certainly be foolish to believe these five witnesses since they testify in favor of the very beliefs we are questioning. Their testimony say that pain and suffering are real, so we must question this testimony if we are to gain confidence in the opposite belief that pain an suffering are but illusions.
If we posit that we do not suffer, then God would be kind and life would be perfect--the least that can be expected of a perfect (i.e. all knowing, all powerful, all present) God. Accepting our preposition that we indeed do not suffer, how do we then reconcile this with the prima-facie testimony of the five to the contrary. By recognizing the limitations of the five witnesses, we begin to loosen the grip that belief in their testimonies have on our ability to seek and know the truth about who we really are. Furthermore, by recognizing that our belief in their shaky testimonies is the very foundation for our experience of who we believe ourselves to be, we begin to step away from these beliefs, and grow in confidence that we can indeed “prove” that pain and suffering are illusions.
The next thing we must recognize is that the five work for the “dream-maker,” that part of our collective mind that created (for good reason) the make-believe world that we experience in our everyday waking consciousness—the make-believe world that they testify for and which deceives us into holding false and limited beliefs about ourselves. The dream-maker, also known as the Ego is our ability to create dreams, fantasies, alternate realities, and scenarios. It creates all the dreams we experience when we sleep, and all our wishes and desires of how things could be or should be when we are awake. We can also conceptualize the dream-maker as our left brain which dissects and analyzes as opposed to our right brain, which unifies and harmonizes. Simply stated, the dream-maker is that part of our mind that wishes us to be other than the way God created us to be. Yes, believe it or not, the dream-maker created the illusion that we are human, something other than Spirit (the single unified child) that God created perfect. The dream-maker (our collective ego) made this dream world we think we now live in, along with the five who bear false witness to us that this make-believe world is the real world God created. And how do we know this make-believe world was not the world God created? We know this simply because it is not perfect! Pain and suffering, uncertainty and limitation, bondage and death cannot be a part of the world that a perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present God would create.
Knowing the inherent weakness of the five and the fact that they work for the dream-maker weakens our faith in their testimonies, but for complete certainty, we still need to weigh their testimony against information from an outside source, some entity outside the system of the dream-maker. The characteristics of this outside source naturally cannot be in accordance with the make-believe world of form and function of the dream. Indeed this outside source cannot be “sensed” at all for this is the primary testament of truth for those living in the dream world, and we have already established that perceived or sensed testimony cannot be entirely trusted. But even though this outside source cannot be sensed, we can still gain access to it through knowledge. It cannot be sensed, but it can only be known.
“To know is to be certain. Uncertainty means that you do not know.
Knowledge is power because it is certain, and certainty is strength. ... True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the affirmation of truth and beyond all perceptions.”
A Course in Miracles (ACIM) Chapter3, III, 1
The Technique
So then, the million-dollar question is: “How can we KNOW this outside source which can reveal to us the truth about our essential nature?” The answer, in a word, is stillness! As expounded by the wise through the ages, and by religious and philosophical texts from every tradition, the essential teaching is: “Be still and know that I am God.” This is the technique for knowing the field of the Absolute, the field of Truth beyond duality, the field that lies outside the relative field of our perceptions and proofs. It is a simple, natural, effortless, effective technique for bringing the awareness away from the field of perceptions and into the purity of knowledge. Let’s investigate this technique more closely.“Be Still and know that I am God” consists of two parts “being still” and “knowing.” Becoming still is simply a process of stepping down the level of activity in which we are currently engaged. As a runner gradually slows his pace, he finally comes to a standstill, so whatever the level of activity, if we take it down a notch, we are becoming more still, more silent, more relaxed, more peaceful. This is the beginning of stillness.
Applying the Technique
But don’t just stop there, become even more still, sit comfortably, or lie down and close the eyes, thereby shutting off all external visual distractions. Feel your muscles, breathing and heartbeat relaxing. Become even more still by lightly bringing the attention to your breath, observing it and allowing it to be just as it is; not controlling or manipulating it, but simply observing it. Notice how fast or slow it seems; how deep or shallow; how smooth or agitated, which nostril is dominant and which subordinate, etc. Simply observe, for just a minute; be an observer, a witness to whatever is present; noticing it but allowing it to be just as it is; gently bringing the attention back to the breath whenever it becomes distracted or wanders off. Do this for no more than one minute. Then slowly open the eyes and allow yourself to come back to your normal perceptions. Evaluate how you feel now, relative to how you felt before doing this one-minute stillness technique. Do you fell more relaxed, rested and refreshed, more clear-headed, more energized? If so, you’ve just taken your first steps into the field of pure knowledge. Not yet fully established in that awareness, but definitely on the path. Just as when approaching the ocean, we begin to notice a change in the quality of the air, in the sounds and smells, and more subtly in how we feel emotionally, etc. Just so, as we approach the field of pure knowledge, we become aware of a deeper level of stillness, silence, and peacefulness.
In this way, we gradually leave the field of sensory perceptions, the relative world of the dream-maker, and begin to enter i.e. become aware of the absolute world of our Creator. As we go deeper into this field we become more free from duality, more independent of possessions, more firmly grounded in purity, and more possessed of our (Higher) Self—the absolute Self created by our omniscient and omnipotent Creator, as opposed to the relative ego-self that we created and normally experience.
The **Vedas concern is with the three gunas. Be without the three gunas, O Arjuna, freed from duality, ever firm in purity, independent of possessions, possessed of the Self.
Bhagavad-Gita II,45
In this field of the Absolute, the field of our Creator, the field of Truth, the true nature of our identity dawns in our awareness. Like one awakening from a dream, we remember who we really are, where we are and why we are; we know immediately that we were only experiencing a dream, but now that we are awake, we have no more need of dreams. Now we know our reality as immortal beings, unified with each other and with our Creator. But while we yet languish in the falsity of our true nature, we can hasten the day of remembering by practicing this technique given in the formula: “Be still and know that I am God.”
So, in time, and with practice, we grow in confidence of our true nature as the eternally holy Son of God. And with this confidence we can now realize the truth that: “Whatever suffers is not part of me. What grieves is not myself. What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock the truth about myself. Now I disown self-concepts, and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God.”
*prima facie denotes evidence that – unless rebutted – would be sufficient to prove a particular proposition or fact, but just because a matter appears to be evident from a certain presentation of the facts it does not follow that that matter has any truthful validity. Wiki "prima facie" for more info.
**The Vedas, the collected wisdom of the ages, is concerned with the world of form and function, the world of duality and change, the world under the ever shifting influence of the three aspects, forces, or qualities of creation: Rajo-guna (the spur or motive for creation,) sattva-guna (the evolution or momentum of creation,) and tamo-guna (the dissolution or devolution of the current level of creation, which sets the basis for next level.)
