David on Plato's Cave

Plato once wrote a now famous allegory, the allegory of The Cave.
In the cave, people lived their lives facing the walls, never turning to see what else the cave might hold.
The whole of their experience revolved around their interaction w/shadows that were always cast on the walls of the cave.
Over the course of generations, it came to be believed that the shadows comprised the whole of reality; there was no need to turn around.
But one day, for no apparent reason, a young boy did slightly turn his head.
At first he was disoriented and did not comprehend what he saw.
Gradually, though, it became apparent to him that the cave dwellers were chained in such a way that all they could see were the shadows.
He saw that the cave was much more vast than he had been taught.
He saw a huge fire some distance away, being maintained by a few individuals whose appearance was not unlike his own.
With a start, he realized that the shadows on the wall were actually being cast by the dance of the firelight.
They were not real at all!
He learned how to drop the chains that had unwittingly bound him, made his way quietly past the Guardians of the Fire, and noticed a trace of light seeping in from some point high above him.
With great effort, he climbed up to where the Light was coming through and lifted himself up out of the cave.
The brilliance of the light was dazzling at first.
Everything was crystal clear! Here there were no shadows at all!
Then he remembered his family and friends still living in the cave, still entranced by shadows. Climbing back inside, he returned to his spot along the cave wall, and excitedly began to tell of his experience.
Some acted as though they could not hear him, their faces without a trace of _expression.
Others turned for a moment and then looked away.
Still others warned the young boy that the Light was an old myth, long since explained away by the high priests and governors of the cave dwellers, and that he would do well to forget it.
A few -- a very few -- wanted to hear more.
Is that what this world is?
Am I, are we, living in a cave occupied with mere shadows we cast ourselves?
Am I ready to give up my world?
It is the only one I know, and even this one I know not well.
Or do I simply fear what lies beyond the borders -- the proscriptions of authority -- of consensus "Truth"?

After enjoying watching the movie As Good As It Gets at one of the Movie Gatherings at the hotel I felt fine… until I was up on the stage. Then, with the camera recording the discussion, and an audience watching and listening, I began feeling all stirred up. Later in the evening after the event I talked it through with David and got to the feelings and beliefs that had been triggered.Lesson 12. I am upset because I see a meaningless world.Good morning Holy Spirit, last night on the stage I felt awful, cold, shaky, stirred up emotionally, and blocked – I wanted to get down and sit at the back of the room but I felt paralyzed. I kept asking You for help but it all felt so disjointed and I couldn't hear your voice. What can you tell me? Holy Spirit: You are perceiving through the egos lens. The ego was stirred up and to look back on a scene with regret or fear, wishing it was different is to perceive through it's lens. All things work together for good. Remember there are no exceptions except in the ego's judgment.Questioner: I'm considering the "lessons learnt" from the experience but I realize now that I'm perceiving them as lessons "for next time" "for the future" " so I don't have to go through that again" But this is still the ego. The lessons learnt are already past, over, done. They have nothing to do with an imaginary future. What can you tell me about this?Holy Spirit: You have picked up on this subtle ego trick several times – trying to protect the future, no matter how disguised in "helpfulness" it may appear, is the ego. Right now you can choose to focus on the past, on guilt, remorse, regret and hypotheticals, or the imaginary future, all of which are nowhere but in your imagination and they keep you distracted from the present moment. Or you can give your fears and doubt to me, remember there is only one mind, there is no-one outside of you, judging you. You are doing it all to yourself and you can let it go now.Questioner: Ok. I give it to you, all of the thoughts. I want only peace. And to know myself as perfect.From the text: The search for joy in misery will fail. (Good point Jesus).Always when I apply the experiences of the day to my lesson I am astounded at how perfectly matched they are. I am upset because I see a meaningless world. ------------------------------ Lesson 13. A meaningless world engenders fear (because I think I am in competition with God).Good morning Holy Spirit: I booked the tickets within New Zealand for David and I to fly down to the South Island and immediately after sending a suggested itinerary to the organizers all of the doubts came up with strong resistance. A strong feeling of "No more gatherings". "I don't want to go". Help!!Holy Spirit: When your motivation involves covering costs (plane tickets) you put yourself under pressure to perform. The spiritual journey is about healing your own mind, nothing else. Remember your One Goal. Give your fears and doubts to me. Trust that the plans will be given you – as they were this morning (the Guidance was to book the tickets and email the itinerary and it flowed effortlessly –the doubt came up after the action was taken) and remember that your only responsibility is to accept the healing for yourself. David is joined with you, loving you, supporting you, holding your hand whenever you need help. It is you who withdraws your hand and then feels alone. Keep your hand in his as his hand is Mine. Remember your Promise, to do Gods Will, not your own. Trust that you will receive each perfect step in your awakening plan, one moment as a time. Let the fears and doubts come up for release and remember Who's hand it is that you hold. Questioner: I don't want to do gatherings right now. Why did I set them up in NZ? Am I setting myself up to fail? I feel mixed up.Holy Spirit: You do not have to do any gatherings right now. I have set up the gatherings in NZ. They are part of the plan. Those who want healing will step up and the gatherings will unfold perfectly. You are not responsible. It is only the ego's judgment that makes things seem difficult. Return to Peace now. All is perfect. You are loved.I talked through it all with Carolina, received an email of loving support from David and before long was through the clouds of doubt. Whenever I go through this kind of turmoil I hold strong to one crucial piece of advice I was given early this year. Never make a move when you're not feeling peaceful. -----------------------------------------Lesson 14. God did not create a meaningless world.First thing in the morning after reading through my lesson I was greeted at the bedroom door by Carolina saying "Oh I have terrible period pain." I greeted her with love, went into the bathroom blocking out the message I had heard regarding pain and within seconds I had intense period pains. I applied my lesson immediately. "God did not create period pain, and so it is not real". Gone. Instantly. Within seconds. I went and told Carolina and she applied the lesson. Her pain went instantly. Gotta love those miracles!The post written on Integrity is from this day (see archives: Integrity)

YOU ARE EXISTENCE ITSELF

You are Existence Itself

Question: A Course in Miracles says that I did not affect my own
reality at all by illusions. What would you share regarding this
thought?

Answer: Do not confuse reality with illusions. You are thinking that
you were born, and now you have the opportunity to be saved. [And
you are thinking] that this birth of you and the opportunity for
your salvation would not exist had it not been for illusions. You
are thinking that since you are a product of [the thought of]
separation, you exist because of illusions. This is but a confusion
regarding who you are.

You are existence itself. You existed before illusions seemed to be
and your existence is assured after illusions are forgotten. This is
why I say you are eternal. Your existence is free of pain, fear and
worry, all of which seem to be a part of the consciousness of which
you think you are now. It is the seeming individual consciousness
that is illusion, and this illusion is not you because it is not
existence. It is an illusory consciousness that has been laid on top
of existence through imaginings.

You try to imagine yourself without imagings. This cannot be done,
for illusory consciousness does not remember existence without
consciousness, and so it cannot imagine it. Because you believe that
consciousness is what you are and that all experience must come from
being conscious, it seems that existence without consciousness must
be death. But how can existence be death? And if existence is death,
how could it have made consciousness?

Existence is a peacefulness and wholeness that your consciousness
cannot imagine. This [fact] I ask you to accept in faith and trust.
To try to imagine existence without consciousness is to continue to
exercise consciousness and to retain [consciousness] as your seeming
identity. To know your Self as existence, you must relax and let go
of consciousness.

This is why I ask you to focus on the moment, the now. Existence is
now, whereas consciousness seems to be all over the place and
nowhere at the same time. It strives to control the past and the
future, this imagining and that [imagining] all at once. In its
striving, it spins and spins missing the fact of reality by striving
within its fantasies. To let go of this striving is to be, and to be
is existence.

This is something you can do, even within the dream. And as you be
within the dream, you cease to exercise consciousness so that it
slows down, quiets and dies. But after consciousness dies, you still
are, so you must not have been consciousness . And this that you are
always was, so that it was not affected by the insane consciousness
that seemed to be you for a little while.

Consciousness is like a mask that you wear, and it seems to be
something and to be alive, but when the mask is taken off and laid
aside, it is nothing. You are what is behind the mask. You were
there before the mask was put on. You are there now, under the mask.
And you continue when the mask has been laid aside.

http://www.endeavoracademy.com/journal/baruchdespinoza.htm

God acts merely according to his own laws and is compelled by no one.That infinite things must follow from the mere necessity of divine nature, or what is the same thing, by the mere laws of divine nature, we have just shown and we have shown that nothing can be conceived without God, but that everything exists in God. Therefore, nothing outside God can exist by which he could be determined or compelled in his actions; and, therefore, God acts merely according to the laws of his nature, and is compelled by no one.
--Baruch de Spinoza

Be Hurt No More

Question: Could you speak about relationships? The Course talks about special and holy relationships. Can you briefly describe what they are?

David: Relationships seem to be a difficult undertaking in this world. They seem to be a mixture of love and hate, attraction and repulsion, joy and misery. Jesus refers to special love and special hate relationships as destructive, selfish, possessive, and exclusive. These are ego-based relationships that are songs of praise to their maker. Holy relationship is a metaphor for a special relationship that has been given over to the Holy Spirit for His purpose of forgiveness. Holy relationship is a healed relationship that reflects wholeness and completion.

Beyond all metaphors, one might say that the only real relationship is one of Spirit, of God and Creation, of Father and Son. As the only real relationship is given by God, the holy relationship is learned of the Holy Spirit. As the "scarcity principle" is undone by the Holy Spirit, the sense of lack, inadequacy, weakness, and incompletion that is typical of the special relationship is replaced in the holy relationship by joining, extension, appreciation, and acceptance.

I like to speak of the special relationship in the past tense, for as with everything of the ego, it is history. If we recall the metaphysics we have covered today, the sleeping mind became so terrified of the light that it attempted to hide from God in a world of form. Believing it had torn itself from Heaven, it attempted to set up a body-world self as its "new" identity. It attempted to forget about its Identity as Spirit. As it became identified as a body, it was shaky about this "new" identity because, though it had tried to forget the light, deep down it knew that it was making this world up and that God could and must be remembered. Being uncertain and afraid to go back to the light, it looked for an "external" solution -- other bodies with which it could "join" to find happiness and completion. That was how the so-called "co-dependency" of special relationships began.

As soon as the mind believed it was out on the screen of the world, it sought outside itself to alleviate the guilt and fear and loneliness and emptiness it felt within. It looked for other bodies to be its friends and companions. Associations with the "right people," the sleeping mind's God-substitutes, took on great importance. The whole world became one giant special relationship, because everything that the mind associated with on the screen was set up to be a God-substitute. And the reason why special love and special hate relationships are never completely satisfying and never bring lasting peace and happiness is because there can never be a substitute for the Love of God.

The holy relationship can only be experienced now as a reflection of the Love of God. It is analogous to the real world, complete forgiveness, or healed perception that I spoke of earlier. As one realizes the impossibility of personal judgment, one also realizes the impossibility of special relationships of any kind. Holy relationship, then, is not personal in the sense of bodies relating to one another. It is symbolic of a universal wholeness, a state of mind that can only give of its complete perfection. The concept of "getting" something in return for something else is utterly meaningless in the present moment. Right now, there is only rest, contentment, and fulfillment.

To be continued . . .The body represents the gap between the little bit of mind you call your own and all the rest of what is really yours.
You hate it, yet you think it is your self, and that, without it, would your self be lost.
This is the secret vow that you have made with every brother who would walk apart.
This is the secret oath you take again, whenever you perceive yourself attacked.
No one can suffer if he does not see himself attacked, and losing by attack.
Unstated and unheard in consciousness is every pledge to sickness.
Yet it is a promise to another to be hurt by him, and to attack him in return"
(T.28.VI.4; italics added).