Quote of the Week:  February 24th, 2013

I Choose The Joy of God instead of Pain.  It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. No one but yourself affects you. There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. As you perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. And what was seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.

ACIM Lesson 190,5

This quote says it all, clearly and uncompromisingly!  “It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain.”  Here we see, perhaps for the first time, our thoughts as the ultimate source and cause of all the various effects we usually attribute to things outside ourselves or beyond our control.  For a few of us, this idea is a constant work-in-progress, to some it is radical and difficult to wrap our minds around, and to others it seems incredulously impossible, because it goes against all that our senses tell us to be true.  Our senses tell us that pain comes from outside us, from things in our environment like:  other people, animals, micro organisms, high and low edges, moving objects large and small, and of course from sharp and pointy objects, and these are just a few of the many external things that cause us pain.  So how could it be rational, far less true, that it is our thoughts and only our thoughts that cause us pain?  Good question; let us examine this statement more deeply to see if it is true or false.

Let us first consider the parameters for ascertaining the truth about something according to the four means of valid knowledge expounded by the immortal philosophy of Nyaya*: Perception, Inference, Comparison, and Verbal testimony. 

Perception has to do with the senses and we gain knowledge of something by perceiving it.  From the level of perception then, it seems that the statement is false, for what our senses tell us is that pain comes from outside.  But here we must first validate the integrity and infallibility of the senses; do they always report truly, or are they prone to error both in their perception and in their reporting?  Certainly it is empirically true that our senses are limited and often inaccurate.  Limited in that they each can only perceive from one perspective or through one particular mode or aspect; the eyes see but do not hear, and therefore no single sense is capable of giving us complete knowledge.  And even when taken together, their combined perspective though greater than any single perspective, is still relative, providing only a portion of what is available to be known.  Animals for instance, have much keener perceptions than humans, so clearly, even when taken together, our senses are quite limited in what they can perceive.  Furthermore, the ability of the senses to report to us what they do perceive is limited by physical, emotional, environmental and other conditions.  We perceive better when we are rested and alert; we see more in the light than in the darkness; we hear more when it is quiet; we smell better when we are closer to the sent, etc., all proving the limitations and fallibilities of our senses.  And if you are still not convinced that this is so, there is yet another limitation of the senses, which is the fact that they all operate within the relative field of existence, and totally ignore the spiritual field or more precisely the absolute field existence, i.e. the perspective of God, who alone is capable of knowing both the relative and the absolute together.

So, understanding the inherent limitations in the perceptions of our senses and in their ability to report what they do perceive, it is quite evident that we cannot depend on them for complete, valid, and therefore true knowledge.  Inference and Comparison are likewise limited and suspect, because they depend entirely on perception.  Certainly when taken together, perception, inference, and comparison can and do provide greater valid knowledge than any one of them can, but again they are limited by their relativity.  The only area left open for the possibility of true knowledge (i.e. valid and complete) is that of Verbal Testimony.  

Verbal testimony provides knowledge not based on our direct perceptions, inferences or comparisons, it comes to us based solely on our faith and belief in the one from whom the knowledge comes.  And so the only limitation to this knowledge rests with our ability to have faith and to believe.  This by the way is the highest standard we accord to knowledge; if it comes from a trusted source, we believe it, and act accordingly, deriving whatever benefits that knowledge can bring.  If we do not trust the source, we disbelieve it and dismiss it as false, thereby denying ourselves any possibility of ever receiving its benefits.  The validity of a statement should rest first on its own merits, and its source questioned only if its merits cannot be verified by perception, inference, and comparison.  If the statement requires faith then it is vitally important that we verify the integrity, qualifications and authority of the source.  Since the source of our quote is the highest source we can imagine--our Creator, all that we need to receive the benefits of this knowledge is our belief and faith in the integrity, qualifications and authority of our Creator**.  

If one becomes lost driving through an unfamiliar town, how does one decide how to find directions?  Certainly you can ask help randomly of anyone you encounter, but if possible it would be wiser to seek information from a reliable source, whose integrity, qualifications and authority are the highest, in this case, we would consult our GPS device, failing that Google maps, failing that ask a taxi driver, police officer, or other authority figure.  Basically, we would go to the highest source available for help.  This is the same reasoning we use whenever we need help, we go to the highest source available.  God’s integrity, qualifications and authority are:  His status as Creator; His knowledge (omniscient,) His power (omnipotent), and His availability (omnipresent), all of which are unmatched in creation.  And as Creator, God naturally cares for His creations, because they are His, and more importantly, because His creations are part of Himself.  All God’s creations are unified in Himself; this is the inevitable result of His omnipresence, He is in everyone and everything, and there is nothing outside of Him.  We are one with Him*** and with each other and can never be separate.  He is our eternal essence and source.  This is the truth, and all else to the contrary is illusion.

Now, with this understanding of our divinity, we can evaluate the truth of the quote.  As divine beings, we can make illusions as we see fit, as easily as we make dreams, and can the bodies we create in dreams truly feel pain?  Can they be “ill or sad or weak or frail”?  Is there anything in our dream created world capable of harming our dream created bodies?  Certainly not, for all that exists in our dream world is illusory.   And is it not now clear that it is our thoughts alone that can cause "pain" or for that matter, "joy" to our dream bodies. The truth of the entire quote becomes clear as we re-cognize and re-member our true identity as creators, at-one with our Creator.  At-onement or atonement is the correction for our mistaken belief that we are separate from our Source and from each other.  Atonement reminds us of our status as Children of God, invulnerable and eternal.

* Gautama is the author of the Nyaya system of reasoning, which presents sixteen points to test the validity of the procedure of gaining (true or valid) knowledge.  Nyaya is the first of the six systems of Indian philosophy, the others being Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Karma Mimansa, and Vedanta.

** This also is the source of Jesus’s ability to heal and perform miracles; his faith and belief were almost perfect.  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

***  “At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” --John 14:20

Quote of the Week:  February 17th, 2013

Salvation of the World Depends On Me.  Do as God's Voice directs. And if It asks a thing of you which seems impossible, remember Who it is that asks, and who would make denial. Then consider this; which is more likely to be right? The Voice that speaks for the Creator of all things, Who knows all things exactly as they are, or a distorted image of yourself, confused, bewildered, inconsistent and unsure of everything? Let not its voice direct you. Hear instead a certain Voice, which tells you of a function given you by your Creator Who remembers you, and urges that you now remember Him. 

ACIM Lesson 186, 12

“Do as God’s Voice directs.”  As simple as this statement is, we in our illusion about who we are, find this the most difficult instruction to follow.  Why is this?  Some claim the primary reason is that God speaks only to his messengers   certain religious leaders, the pious or gifted, and perhaps some extremely “special” individuals, but certainly not to the average person.  Others claim that God’s word has already been given in the form of the various religious texts and traditions of the world, all we need do is simply follow what these texts say.  Yet the inherent problem with this is our inability to agree on which text is the “right” one to follow, and even if we could agree on one text, we would still have great difficulty interpreting and applying its “rules” correctly to the various situations we encounter.  So if we cannot hear God’s Voice or agree on what His Word says or means, how could we possibly do as it directs?  

Another reason some claim for not doing what God’s Voice directs, is that even though we may hear God’s Voice, sometimes, and more often than not, we have doubts that it is indeed His Voice, and therefore neither trust nor comply with what it says.  Yet, even when we hear and acknowledge God’s Voice within us, we still ignore its directives because they seems so impossible, outrageous, illogical, and at times, even dangerous to our apparent five-senses-understanding of things.  The foundation for all these and similar arguments is simply doubt, and therefore the single remedy for all of them is simply trust!

Doubt implies a lack of knowledge, for when knowledge is present, doubt disappears.  We doubt many things, but our ultimate doubt lies in our understanding about who/what God is; what our relationship to Him is; and what our function and purpose is.  This is where trust comes in, because what we do know and have no doubt about is that:  We did not create ourselves.  Therefore Someone or Something must have created us, and that Someone or Something is the One we refer to as our Creator, God, Allah, Brahman, and by thousands of other names.  Furthermore, only that One really knows our true nature, who we really are, and what our function and purpose is.  Trust is the only thing that allows us to “lean not unto our own (limited) understandings...,” but to depend on His communications to us, for only that will guarantee a solution that is complete in every way, for everyone, and for all time.  God’s communications, unlike ours, are infallible  and He communicates to all His children all the time, so the only question is who among His children is listening to His communications, and more importantly who among these actually trusts enough to follow through and carry out His directives.

Certainly developing trust is a fairly easy task, even though it does require a bit of faith in the beginning, it is something we do all the time.  We trust that the floor will be there when we roll out of bed; we trust that the water will flow from the faucet when we open it; we trust that our car will start when we turn the key, etc.  We trust all the time, and even in these simple cases when things don’t work exactly the way we expect, we trust that there is something we can do or someone we can turn to for help to remedy the situation, because we understand inherently that there is more than one way to accomplish things in our five-senses world.

Trust in God is developed in a similar manner, by trusting first in the little suggestions He gives us all the time, like turn right here; pick this apple as opposed to that one; avoid this situation  or face that one, etc..  Then as we grow in trust it becomes easier to forgive this person, overlook that little hurt, or to address these same situations with kindness and humility, understanding that we are all children of God, developing our godliness as best we can.  And as our trust grows further, we can achieve the highest trust, to truly forgive everyone everything, knowing that all is well and wisely set by God Himself.  Indeed, this is how we can completely reverse of our belief system, from one that is centered around our five-senses, to one that is God-centered.