ACIM Journal

[Anderz]

In psychology there is the term super-ego:

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"The super-ego[31] (German: Über-Ich)[32] reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence.[10]" - Wikipedia

One can then think of the superego as cultural history and the ego as personal history. Those ego structures have certain structures. The tensions in body and mind on the other are much more structureless. ACIM uses the term special relationships to describe the ego's interactions with the world. I think of ego tensions as undifferentiated special relationships and the ego plus the superego as differentiated special relationships.

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"Beyond the poor attraction of the special love relationship, and always obscured by it, is the powerful attraction of the Father for His Son. 2 There is no other love that can satisfy you, because there is no other love. 3 This is the only love that is fully given and fully returned. 4 Being complete, it asks nothing. 5 Being wholly pure, everyone joined in it has everything. 6 This is not the basis for any relationship in which the ego enters. 7 For every relationship on which the ego embarks is special." - ACIM T-15.VII.1. 

Notice that ACIM defines special relationships as lacking love. This means in ACIM terms that all special relationships are fear-based. And my take on fear is that it's a result of escaping confusion. And the root confusion of the ego is the belief in total separation.

Healing means to make whole. And the ego, the superego and the ego tensions are unholy. It's the whole packade of the person that needs to be resolved. Using mindfulness to dissolve the ego structures is useful I think, when it's recognized that it's the ego itself that is a part of doing the practice. And dissolving the death drive is included in removing the ego structures since the death drive is merely a shadow cast by the ego structures.

[Anderz]

The whole world is an ego structure. David Icke has talked about how humanity is controlled by a principle he calls bah-bah and fear, that we are like sheep controlled by sheep dogs. My interpretation of that is that prominent "sheep dogs" are: politicians, media, law enforcement, criminals and homeless people. The purpose of these sheep dogs is to keep us within a 24/7 9-to-5 sheep pen.

A derogatory term for us as regular people is sheeple. The media causes fear in sheeple. Criminals, psychopaths and sadists cause fear in sheeple. Homeless people cause fear in sheeple. Law enforcement causes fear in people. Those are all examples of sheep dogs herding us the masses. So in society the wish to remove for example criminals is a lie. Because society depends on criminals along with the other sheep dogs to keep the sheeple in line.

We have even been conditioned to police each other, Icke has said. And also things like hate speech and political correctness are forms of sheep dogs.

 

[Anderz]

If the sheeple are controlled by sheep dogs then who is the shepherd? The answer is that the shepherd for the ego is money. So the ego is pulled around by the nose by concerns about money.

This in turn means that since money is the shepherd for all the sheeple, the ego tensions, which is the general part of the ego structure, are predominantly turned into specific ego structures via money concerns. The sheep dogs' role on the other hand is to confine the ego into the sheeple pen.

[Anderz]

Personally I have been able to remove most of my envy and jealousy of other people, but that's because I think everybody has a crap life, haha, including myself. But I still have fear of what other people think of me. David Icke has pointed out that one of the biggest fear people have is what other people will think about them.

Having fear of what other people think, might at first seem like protecting oneself, but that's the opposite of what ACIM says which is that defenselessness is true protection. And I see the logic in ACIM's message so I will examine defenselessness a bit more.

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"Now we cannot fear, for we have left all fearful thoughts behind. And in defenselessness we stand secure, serenely certain of our safety now, sure of salvation; sure we will fulfill our chosen purpose, as our ministry extends its holy blessing through the world." - ACIM W-pI.153.

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Anderz

[Anderz]

A lot of anger is caused by lack of correct knowledge. For example, some people get angry because other people don't want to wear face masks. I get angry at the people who just buy the official story hook, line and sinker. So who is correct, the majority (most likely) of people, the COVID-19 believers or the few people like myself in the opposite camp, the COVID-1984 believers?

I think both positions cause anger because they don't include a correct understanding of the situation. QAnon has I believe correctly pointed out that the COVID-19 cases have been overblown. For what purpose? Here is a recent news article related to the crisis:

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"New Stimulus Package Expected Today—$1,200 Second Stimulus Checks, Unemployment Benefits May Be Included" - Forbes.com, July 22, 2020

What that tells me is that the unemployment situation is worse than the official statistics. And I think it was Andrew Yang who said that unemployment numbers have been made much smaller than the actual situation. And that was even before the coronavirus crisis. And as Marianne Williamson said, a tsunami of automation is coming to America. And the situation is pretty much the same all over the world.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Anderz

[Anderz]

If everything is information as I assume, then what is the body of flesh? The Bible says that the body of flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Yet, from a nondual perspective the physical body and the mind are one.

A Course in Miracles says that the physical body is the belief in sin made flesh:

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"The body is the ego's idol; the belief in sin made flesh and then projected outward. 2 This produces what seems to be a wall of flesh around the mind, keeping it prisoner in a tiny spot of space and time, beholden unto death, and given but an instant in which to sigh and grieve and die in honor of its master. 3 And this unholy instant seems to be life; an instant of despair, a tiny island of dry sand, bereft of water and set uncertainly upon oblivion. 4 Here does the Son of God stop briefly by, to offer his devotion to death's idols and then pass on. 5 And here he is more dead than living. 6 Yet it is also here he makes his choice again between idolatry and love. 7 Here it is given him to choose to spend this instant paying tribute to the body, or let himself be given freedom from it." - T-20.VI.11:1-7

And is this passage ACIM says that the body is another order of reality than thought as merely an appearance, so that's a nondual perspective:

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"The Bible says, "The Word (or thought) was made flesh." 2 Strictly speaking this is impossible, since it seems to involve the translation of one order of reality into another. 3 Different orders of reality merely appear to exist, just as different orders of miracles do. 4 Thought cannot be made into flesh except by belief, since thought is not physical. 5 Yet thought is communication, for which the body can be used. 6 This is the only natural use to which it can be put. 7 To use the body unnaturally is to lose sight of the Holy Spirit's purpose, and thus to confuse the goal of His curriculum." - ACIM T-8.VII.7. 

The body of flesh then means the belief that the body is a separate object, which explains why ACIM says it's a belief in sin which means missing the mark, meaning a misperception of reality. So I take it that the body is already pure information, even from the ACIM perspective.

And this is something I think many spiritual teachers miss, even nonduality teachers, by making a distinction between the physical body and spirituality. What is needed is to look into the transformation of the physical body such as described in the Law of One as going from third to fourth density. Because not only the ego needs to be integrated, also the physical body needs to be integrated, or it's an incomplete integral approach.

[Anderz]

Oh! Now I got it. The body of flesh and the material world are "just" beliefs. It's the materialistic perspective. And even spiritual teachers still have a materialistic perspective! Well, maybe they have a spiritual perspective but to me their explanations are unclear.

And the belief in a material reality of separation is so deep and so pervasive still in society that the belief literally brings about that experience of separate material objects. Even spiritual perspectives, such as subtle body and energy are also a form of separation. I will take a look at this new video about the Law of One and kundalini and examine it from a nondual perspective:

 

[Anderz]

Is physical reality an illusion? No! That would be a duality perspective. It's the belief in total separation that is the illusion. For example if I have money in a bank account, that money actually exists as stored information in computer systems operated by the bank. The same with my physical body which is real and actually made of atoms.

The key is to recognize that all things are connected into a wholeness. So for example the money in my bank account and my physical body are one. And physical reality and my mind are one. That's nonduality. Ego tensions are caused by the belief in total separations. From a Jnana Yoga perspective spiritual realization is the removal of the false belief in separations, not merely as an intellectual belief but actualized so that the ego tensions dissolve.

 

[Anderz]

Is mind causing physical reality or is physical reality causing the mind? My answer is: neither! Because both of those are duality perspectives. From a nonduality perspective the cause is all of reality as a whole.

And the nonduality perspective is the true perspective, or reality wouldn't be one. Even with parallell realities if there is no connection between our reality and a parallel reality, then those are separate realities, each with its own nonduality. In my model parallel realities are in theory possible, yet they are all included within one larger whole reality (Indra's net).

The nonduality perspective is a huge change compared to the ordinary materialistic perspective, and even compared to many spiritual perspectives! Because those are often duality perspectives. Even the claim that consciousness is more fundamental than physical matter is a duality perspective. 

[Anderz]

Roger Castillo has this new video where he talks about the present moment as a singular experience instead of having attention focused in thinking.

That's similar to the nondual causality I mentioned previously! When attention is focused on thinking, that's a duality perspective.

[Anderz]

The metaphor of the ego as an ice cube in an ocean is useful to describe duality. Nonduality is only the ocean.

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"The Holy Spirit is perfectly trustworthy, as you are. 2 God Himself trusts you, and therefore your trustworthiness is beyond question. 3 It will always remain beyond question, however much you may question it. 4 I said before that you are the Will of God. 5 His Will is not an idle wish, and your identification with His Will is not optional, since it is what you are. 6 Sharing His Will with me is not really open to choice, though it may seem to be. 7 The whole separation lies in this error. 8 The only way out of the error is to decide that you do not have to decide anything. 9 Everything has been given you by God's decision. 10 That is His Will, and you cannot undo it." - ACIM T-7.X.6.

 

[Anderz]

ACIM says that all minds are connected. Is that true? Of course it is! That's trivially true from a nonduality perspective since everything is connected.

And this also means that in a collective consciousness, when one person learns something, the whole collective learns it! So now we can see how incredibly limited ego consciousness is where each person needs to learn the same knowledge.

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"One brother is all brothers. 2 Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. 3 Such is the truth. 4 Yet do these thoughts make clear the meaning of creation? 5 Do these words bring perfect clarity with them to you? 6 What can they seem to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet fundamentally not understood nor understandable. 7 The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing. 8 We need to see a little, that we learn a lot." - ACIM W-pI.161.4.

"The miracle does nothing just because the minds are joined, and cannot separate. 2 Yet in the dreaming has this been reversed, and separate minds are seen as bodies, which are separated and which cannot join. 3 Do not allow your brother to be sick, for if he is, have you abandoned him to his own dream by sharing it with him. 4 He has not seen the cause of sickness where it is, and you have overlooked the gap between you, where the sickness has been bred. 5 Thus are you joined in sickness, to preserve the little gap unhealed, where sickness is kept carefully protected, cherished, and upheld by firm belief, lest God should come to bridge the little gap that leads to Him. 6 Fight not His coming with illusions, for it is His coming that you want above all things that seem to glisten in the dream." - ACIM T-28.III.3. 

"This thing you made to serve your guilt stands between you and other minds. 4 The minds are joined, but you do not identify with them. 5 You see yourself locked in a separate prison, removed and unreachable, incapable of reaching out as being reached." - ACIM T-18.VI.7:3-5

 

[Anderz]

Holy crap! This video describes how NVIDIA programmed an AI that developed a Pac Man game automatically by just looking at the game being played.

Consider the exponential progress of information technology. This means that the progress accelerates, so what starts as only a tiny capability at first only slightly improves, then the improvement starts going faster and then the progress skyrockets. With self-learning capability like NVIDIA's AI things like mechanical robots and bots on the internet can learn skills and know-how at an accelerating pace. AIs can even start to teach and train each other, leading to even faster progress.

[Anderz]

Have we ever been conscious in the past? No!!! Try to get this. It's simple. Being conscious in the past is a DUALITY perspective. Get it? We are conscious now, and only now.

The ego thinks of its past personal memories as being very precious. They are not! Well, everything is valuable, so in that sense, yes personal memories are equally valuable, but my memories are not more valuable than for example Donald Trump's memories or a homeless person's memories.

The ego believes that it has done things in the past, years of personal memories, childhood traumas, relationships, education, professional career and all kinds of crazy stuff. It's all crap! The person has done NONE of that. It's a total illusion. All the past is information in the now and only in the now.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Anderz

[Anderz]

Notice that it's not the past that is an illusion. The illusion is that we believe that we have been conscious in the past. That's a reconstruction. Reality is not an illusion, but within reality there are illusions. One simple example is that we experience the sun rising in the morning. That's an illusion since it's the earth that rotates making it appear as if the sun rises above the horizon.

Alan Watts explains the illusion of the self in this video:

 

[Anderz]

Teal Swan has this video about love which is similar to A Course in Miracles. Teal even said that all pain is caused by separation.

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"The Holy Spirit will direct you only so as to avoid pain. 2 Surely no one would object to this goal if he recognized it. 3 The problem is not whether what the Holy Spirit says is true, but whether you want to listen to what He says. 4 You no more recognize what is painful than you know what is joyful, and are, in fact, very apt to confuse the two. 5 The Holy Spirit's main function is to teach you to tell them apart. 6 What is joyful to you is painful to the ego, and as long as you are in doubt about what you are, you will be confused about joy and pain. 7 This confusion is the cause of the whole idea of sacrifice. 8 Obey the Holy Spirit, and you will be giving up the ego. 9 But you will be sacrificing nothing. 10 On the contrary, you will be gaining everything. 11 If you believed this, there would be no conflict." - ACIM - T-7.X.3. 

 

[Anderz]

Teal Swan talked about the need for integration. And ACIM says that the ego confuses pain and joy. My explanation is that when the ego tries to avoid pain it does the opposite of integration and subconsciously numbs out the pain, which makes the separation even worse.

So the ego confuses numbness with escaping pain. The state of numbness causes disease and the pain is still there, only disconnected from conscious awareness. ACIM says that the Holy Spirit avoids pain, and that it the true healing as a result of integration instead of more separation.

[Anderz]

Isn't the claim that all past is in the now just an idea? For me it's more than an idea. I don't see how it can be in any other way! But let's say that it's just a belief, then what about the claim that we have been conscious in a past separate from the now? That's also a belief!

And let's compare my belief to the usual belief. I experience the past now, and that is consistent with my belief. The belief that I have been conscious in a past separate from the now I experience no direct evidence of.

I used to think of myself as having existed in a past away from the now, but lately I see that the actual situation is that I'm only conscious now. And it's interesting to experience how basically everybody else still has the belief of having existed in a past separate from the now.

And when I say "I used to think" that's of course also a memory in the now and only in the now. The past is real so in practice it's valid to think of oneself and others as having done this and that in the past, but all that is information in the now.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Anderz

[Anderz]

Actually Eckhart Tolle has said that there is only now. And even Rupert Spira talks in this video about how there is only the present moment:

 

[Anderz]

Whew, it's a relief that others are thinking of reality as being only now. If I were the only one thinking that way, that would have been scary, haha. Actually I think even Leo mentioned in his latest YouTube video that reality manifests instantly. And Rupert Spira explained it well in the video. Here is another video where Rupert Spira explains choice: