Join us Sun. Feb. 11, 2024.
11:00 AM to Noon (Mountain Time)
Sunday Gathering IN PERSON at the RMMC
Every Sunday at RMMC, we have a facilitator leading our 11 am in-person gathering. It most often is Anna Kujawa-Quinn or Matt Ratliff. Occasionally, we have a special guest speaker. Please come and join us afterwards for some social time. We look forward to seeing you and sharing this time together.
11:00 AM to Noon (Mountain Time)
Sunday Gathering Via ZOOM
Topic: Forgiveness Repetition for Fear (Resistance) Removal: Overlearning Peace instead of Polarization
ACIM references:
- 170 instances of “REPEAT” in ACIM and 14 instances of “REPETITION” in ACIM and 368 instances of “PRACTICE” in ACIM
- The Present Memory (ACIM, T-28.I)
- Should Healing Be Repeated? (ACIM, M-7)
- Lesson 42: God is my strength. Vision is His gift. (ACIM, W-42)
- “He must learn to lay all judgment aside, and ask only what he really wants in every circumstance. Were not each step in this direction so heavily reinforced, it would be hard indeed!” (ACIM, M-4.I-A.7:8-9)
In observance of Groundhog Day (month), it seems appropriate to note how A Course In Miracles emphasizes the importance of practicing forgiveness in a repetitive manner until it becomes an automatic habit.
Here is a related FACIM.org video where Kenneth Wapnick discusses the “Chop Wood, Carry Water” metaphor:
The “4 stages of competence” chart below illustrates how we master any skill, and it seems relevant to practicing the Course’s non-dual forgiveness.
- Before we seek for peace (or when we’re mindlessly believing ego’s propaganda) we are unconsciously incompetent in the Course’s forgiveness practice, not realizing or believing that we’re responsible for our lack of peace.
- When we realize “there must be a better way” we move forward to conscious incompetence and begin at “the bottom of the ladder” by noticing more and more frequently how insane ego’s sin-guilt-fear attack-defense cycle is and learning to forgive ourselves for projecting that (seemingly) onto others as we realize that we’re really projecting ego’s masochism onto our mistaken identity within.
- Slowly we transition from the overlearning of ego’s automatic projection of unconscious, unfounded guilt to Holy Spirit’s automatic correction of forgiveness of what is irrelevant to our True, Shared Identity. We gradually learn Holy Spirit’s beneficial forgiving vision is our way out of ego’s hellish dream of duality and achieve conscious competence.
- Eventually, our forgiveness practice will become automatic and we won’t agonize over every little decision over which thought system to use! This is what ACIM metaphorically refers to as the top of the ladder.
Facilitated (via Zoom) by Bruce Rawles
- The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit.” (ACIM, W-27.3:1)
- “The day begins and ends with this. And we repeat it every time the hour strikes, or we remember, in between, we have a function that transcends the world we see. Beyond this, and a repetition of the special thought we practice for the day, no form of exercise is urged, except a deep relinquishment of everything that clutters up the mind, and makes it deaf to reason, sanity and simple truth.” (ACIM, W-rVI.in.3:6-8)
- “Teachers must be patient and repeat their lessons until they are learned. ⁵I am willing to do this, because I have no right to set your learning limits for you. ⁶Again,—nothing you do or think or wish or make is necessary to establish your worth.” (ACIM, T-4.I.7:4-6)
- “The habit of engaging with God and His creations is easily made if you actively refuse to let your mind slip away. ²The problem is not one of concentration; it is the belief that no one, including yourself, is worth consistent effort. ³Side with me consistently against this deception, and do not permit this shabby belief to pull you back. ⁴The disheartened are useless to themselves and to me, but only the ego can be disheartened.” (ACIM, T-4.IV.7:1-4)
- Lesson 284: “I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.” (ACIM, W-284)
- “The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. ²He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. ³Let us therefore be determined, particularly for the next week or so, to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day’s idea. ⁴This tolerance for weakness will enable us to overlook it, rather than give it power to delay our learning. ⁵If we give it power to do this, we are regarding it as strength, and are confusing strength with weakness.” (ACIM, W-95.8:1-5)