- Gong Bath with Richard Rudis: Sunday, October 9th, 7-9 p.m. in the Event hall. For information contact Pat Shirk at : 303-948-9681.
- Cancelled:
Inner Temple Traditions/Inner Convocation and Tending the Sacred with Anastacia Nutt: Saturday, October 15th, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday October 16th, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. in the Event Hall. For information and registration contact Anastacia at 707-633.4278. - Sufi Practice of Remembrance: Saturday, October 15th and Saturday, October 22nd; 7-9 p.m. in the Event Hall. For information, contact Sara Rain at: rain@trigoddess.org.
- Roy Willey: Saturday, October 22nd, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Event Hall. For information contact Roy at: 720-295-7265, or: roy@roywilley.net.
- Cancelled:
Peter Hughes’ Workshop Series: “Mastering the Art of the Soul of Money”. Monday evenings 7-9 p.m. October 17th, 24th and 31 . in the Library. For information and registration contact Peter at: peterjhughes.com or call 303-831-9471. - Dharma Ocean Denver Sangha: Every Wednesday evening 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the Event Hall. $5 donation is appreciated. For information, go to meetup.com/Dharma-Ocean-Denver-Sangha.
- Zen Center of Denver: Sunday mornings- Formal sitting with chanting and teisho; 8 to 10:30 a.m., Tuesday evenings October 4th, 11th, and 18th, 7-9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday mornings: 6 to 7 a.m. Formal Sittings. Thursday evenings: 7 to 8:30 p.m.: Formal sittings. All programs in the Event Hall. For information call: 303-455-1500.
- Denver Vegans: Saturday, October 29th, 6-8 p.m. in the Library. For information contact Vilma Reynoso at: vilms@Live.com.
- Cancelled:
Love, Courage and Achievement Project:Friday, October 28th, 6-10 p.m. and Saturday, October 29th, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. in the Event For information contact Kimberly Martin at 303-989.2605.
Archives for September 2016
Healing All Relationships – by Bruce Rawles
Relationships are a primary focus of ACIM. There are countless aspects of relationships that relate to our forgiveness classroom – i.e. ALL of them! Even if one focuses on just interpersonal relationships there are plenty of them!
ACIM is always and only about content of the mind, never about behavior or form. Without that foundation, we get hopelessly lost in ego’s propaganda machine: space-time-persona identification. As Ken Wapnick says, we can never get too far from the non-dual metaphysics of the Course.
Here are just a few topics about relationships
- Relationships exist in mind
- Any relationship includes all relationships
- There are only 2 relationships …
- … Our relationship with ego is a dysfunctional fantasy
- … Our relationship with Holy Spirit a.k.a. our IKT (Inner Kindness Teacher) restores the peace of Oneness …
- We don’t understand Oneness, so HS uses sameness (shared interests)
- We can afford to be kind to everyone …
- … and everything …
- … but only from above the battleground of duality …
- and we return from duality when we …
- forgive our decision-making minds … by the 3 R’s … or maybe 4 R’s within this context? 🙂
- REVEAL our ego investment: catch that aspect of mind in the act of condemning
- RELEASE our mind’s grip on that identity investment: see that it’s not working
- REPLACE: allow IKT to replace ego’s anxiety/fear/anger/desolation with peace
- RELATE: to everything differently, because we are related in Spirit to all as Self
” … ‘(3:4) We have covered the illusion of time already, but the illusion of levels of teaching seems to be something different.’ We really think there is a difference between our important and unimportant relationships, concept the ego loves, for it reinforces the notion of a hierarchy of illusions–its first law of chaos (T-23.II.2-3). …” – #KennethWapnick, #JourneyThroughTheManual of #ACourseInMiracles, p. 24
There are only 2 relationships:
Our (healing, helpful) relationship to our Inner Kindness Teacher (a.k.a. Holy Spirit)
… and
our (imaginary, dysfunctional) relationship to ego:
the maladaptive solution to the non-existent problem
All our OTHER SEEMINGLY external relationships are simply reflections of the two:
extensions of our (healing) relationship to our Inner Kindness Teacher
… or
projections of our (dysfunctional) relationship to ego.
We tend to focus on our relationships with other people; we tend to be species snobs with respect to humans, but our relationships with anything and everything, anyone and everyone – in the service of our Inner Kindness Teacher – can be a mirroring mechanism to return us to the mind.
These relationships all can … and must … be healed by inclusive, generalized learning using the very same specifics ego intended as magic to keep separate, which now HS uses as miracles to restore wholeness.
Ego’s purpose is to keep us in the dream of separation by fixating beyond mere impartial preferences between illusions that are equal in truth … illusion A = illusion B, etc.
… to making a ‘big deal’ over differences. Our entire space-time culture is – by default – employed by ego to reinforce this zombie propaganda of unconscious sin-guilt-fear, but we can meet every one and everything with mercy and gratitude for their mirroring gifts (showing us the contents of our unconscious mind) instead of being ‘at the mercy of’ and therefore in contempt and condemnation of – at war with – everything that SEEMS to be outside us.
That profound difference in the “What is it for?” question that we ask of everyone … changes everything from prison to classroom.
Here are some examples of general categories of relationships that SEEM to be external; note which ones ‘press your buttons’ … which ones are your ‘sacred cows’ … and which ones might be dormant traps waiting for just the right time to pounce (from our own scripts) on ‘us’ … seemingly in response to someone else’s script … but we wrote every line of our life’s screenplay … just not necessarily on a conscious level.
RELATIONSHIP categories: as egos we WANT these problems to keep ourselves mindless; as we grow weary of this dysfunction, we begin to generalize and see each of these categories as a venue for mindful forgiveness of our belief in separation … we CHANGE THE PURPOSE OF EACH OF THESE RELATIONSHIPS from condemnation to healing … from magic (of differences) to miracle (of sameness):
HUMAN Relationships
Our own bodies / definition of ‘self’
Food / Water / Nutrition / “our definition” of What is or isn’t healthy /
diet / weight / self-image / addictions
Fatigue / Stamina / Vitality / Sleep / Fitness / health issues / pleasure
Exercise / Mobility / Cancer / Heart disease / rare illnesses
Age / Health / Disease / Medicine / Mortality / Death
Asceticism / Indulgence / Alcohol / Drugs (prescription/recreational)
Other bodies / definition of ‘other’
Family / Parents / Siblings / Relatives / Genetics / Heredity
Spouses / Sexuality (hetero/homo) / boundaries / fidelity
Friends / Enemies / Communities (physical/virtual)
Co-workers / Bosses / Employees
Cultural / Gender / Ethnic / Sexual Orientation / Political Biases / Party affiliation
Legal status / criminal record / taxes / sovereignty / corruption
Wars / Drones / Privacy / Terrorism / Bureaucracy /
Animals / Pets / Wildlife / Plants / Food resources / Extinction
Viruses / Bacteria / GMOs / Pesticides / Food additives / CO2 / Pollution
Minerals / “Inanimate objects”
Money / Exchange / Wealth / Poverty / Lack / Loss / Security / Retirement
Technology / Cell phones / Computers / Television / Radio / Texting
Software / Hardware / Pundits / Blogosphere / Media biases
Cars / Traffic / Airlines / Safety / Commuting / Boats / Skateboards
Housing / Poverty / Affluence / Stuff / Lifestyle / Comparisons / “real” estate
Clothing / Style / Fashion / Culture / Art / Music / Literature / Drama / Movies
Death Metal, Country Western, Classical, other genres
Weather / Ecology / Temperature / Climate
disasters / tornados / lightning / volcanos / earthquakes / tidal waves / loss
Space
Dimensions / Quantum Physics
Atoms to Galaxies
Quarks to Quasars
Emptiness of Space
Time
Schedules / Leisure / Work / Play / Boredom / Puritan ethic / holidays
Individuality
our ‘personal’ stories / Family stories /
pet peeves
___ makes me feel ___
Guilt
past events “sins” no one knows about
past events “sins” others know about and won’t forgive you
BE GENTLE with yourself if you notice a lot of these still push your buttons; these are all fair game for our forgiveness classroom. Each one of the many topics below could easily be expanded on in much greater detail.
(Note: This article was adapted from the original article of the same title on ACIMblog.com, and is an outline of a video recording on the topic of relationships. )
Sunday at RMMC – September 11, 2016
Join us this Sunday, Sep. 11, 2016
9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
The Spontaneous Discussion Group
Group Leadership of The Way of Mastery
Topic: “Surrender to the Peace of Christ”, Lesson 30, pgs. 343-345
Facilitated by Robert Bennett
11:00 AM to Noon
Sunday Gathering
Topic: “Let Go What I Think I Know,” Lesson 25 from The Workbook of ACIM
Facilitated by Robert Bennett
Movie Matinee: Sunday, Sep. 11, 2016, 12:30PM
Russian Ark (2008): Our featured movie at RMMC: Sunday, September 11, 2016, 12:30 PM.
This cinematic masterpiece filmed in one continuous scene at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia is considered by some to be among “the 10 most beautiful films of all time.”
Here is a trailer for the movie and more details.
The Ego’s Secret
Ch. 13. II. 1 – 4. Jesus: “The ultimate purpose of projection, or seeing ‘outside’ what you do not want to look upon within, is always to get rid of guilt. Yet, characteristically, this attempt by the ego to get rid of guilt merely keeps it from your view, for as much as the ego wants you to retain it, you find guilt intolerable!
The guilt in your mind stands squarely in the way of your remembering God, Whose pull is so strong that you cannot resist it. On this issue, then, the deepest split of all occurs, for if you are to retain guilt as the ego insists you do, you cannot be you!
Only by persuading you that it, the ego, is you, could the ego possibly induce you to project the guilt, and thereby keep it in your mind, though hidden from your view. Yet consider how strange a solution the ego’s arrangement is! You project the guilt to get rid of it, but you are actually merely concealing it. You still do experience the guilt, but you have no idea why. On the contrary, you associate it with a weird assortment of ‘ego ideals,’ which the ego claims you have failed to fulfill. Yet you have no idea that, basically, you are failing the Son of God by seeing him as guilty! Believing you are no longer you, you do not realize that you are but failing yourself!
This darkest of the ego’s hidden cornerstones keeps your belief in guilt denied from your awareness and thereby protected from the light of truth. For in that dark and secret place is the belief that you have betrayed God’s Son by condemning him to death! You do not even suspect this murderous but insane idea lies hidden there, for the ego’s destructive urge is so intense that nothing short of the crucifixion of God’s Son can ultimately satisfy it. It does not know who the Son of God is because it is blind. Yet let it perceive guiltlessness anywhere, and the ego will try to find an excuse to destroy it, because it is afraid!
Much of the ego’s strange behavior is directly attributable to what is included in its definition of guilt. To the ego, it would appear that the guiltless are ‘guilty’ and deserving of attack, but only because it sees guiltlessness as a threat to it! Those who do not attack are then its ‘enemies.’ because, by not valuing its interpretation of salvation, they are in an excellent position to simply let the ego go.
They have approached the darkest and deepest cornerstone in the ego’s foundation and looked upon it honestly. And while the ego can withstand your raising all else to question, it guards this one secret with its life, for its very existence depends on keeping this secret. So it is this secret that we must now look upon, for the ego cannot ‘protect you’ against truth, and in truth’s presence the ego is dispelled!”