Yes, Tom?
There's the focus of the world right now in terms of atrocities and the war going on.
I often seem to find myself thinking of the people who are going to have their heads cut off,
and I often see myself in their position, in terms of, "What would—you know—what would I
do? What would I think?" and is it helpful to—I'm not sure how—what to think in terms of, you know,
you know, these people choose to be in each other's dream. Is that helpful, or is it,
is it helpful to just—just to say, "What's my reaction?" What is that business of me trying
to put myself in their place, and thinking I have the sword over my head? I mean, I—
Well, I think, the latter thing, I think, is part of just a death wish,
and to be—and to die a brutal death that's not your problem; I mean, not your cause. I mean,
someone else did it to you. Otherwise, in terms—in terms of your other question, Tom, I think,
I think what's really important is just not so much that you kind of "metaphysicalize" what's
going on over there (which is a made-up word), but really just kind of focus on your own reaction,
and when you do that, don't do a big analysis either. I think it's normal when you identify
with a body, as we all do, that when you see some of the beheadings or you read
all the atrocities that are going on in Iraq or elsewhere not to be affected, and to be
easy on yourself when you get affected, without doing "A Course in Miracles" trip on yourself.
You've all heard me say that the wisest course of action that anyone could take is to avoid Course
in Miracles' students; that includes yourself. Try to avoid yourself when you start pontificating on
the Course to yourself because that's not helpful. I think the simplest thing is to say, "Yeah,
it's normal to have a reaction," and if you don't make a big deal about it, it'll go away.
The external problem won't go away but your dis-ease or disquiet will go away.
Again, that's the idea of the Holy Spirit's "gentle laughter" (T-27.VIII.9:1). You
don't deny the effects. "Perhaps you come in tears," (T-27.VIII.9:6). You don't
deny the effects, what you're reacting to, but you do ask for help to kind of
not take it seriously, and what helps you, certainly,
is the intellectual understanding that this is all part of a larger dream. But, in a sense,
you don't want to hit yourself over the head with that when you're feeling something. Judy?
Can you give us a sense of what compassion would look like in Tom's scenario?
Compassion would be not only for the person who's been beheaded but for the people who did
it. I mean, it would have to be. That's what true compassion is. "True compassion" does not exempt
anyone, so if you're feeling sorry for someone who's been oppressed, victimized, beheaded,
then it must be something you would share a perception (as I was saying earlier today),
a perception you would share with everyone, including those who did the beheading,
including those responsible for evoking such rage in the world that would lead to such beheading;
including, including, including. So, compassion must, if it's true
compassion or true empathy, as the Course says, it must include everyone, and so just be aware
that that's not going to happen today, and go on with your life. Don't make a big deal about it.
That's why I was saying earlier, don't make a big deal about being "A Course in Miracles" student.
Don't be serious about the Course because then you're taking the tiny, mad idea seriously. You
know, you certainly want to read it, you want to study it, you want to practice it, but you want
to do it lightly, easily; not with a heaviness that comes when people make the ego real.
So, when the Course tells you that true empathy is aligning with the strength of those
who are involved, would that really mean that—just
acknowledge the fact that they have a mind? Yes, and it's—what it means there, basically,
in that passage it's like the "strength of Christ" in them, (T-31.VIII.2:3) but, I think,
what is implied in that is what you're just saying: the strength of their mind to choose
the strength of Christ, but their being so afraid of it that they choose the weakness of the ego,
and when you choose the weakness of the ego, the ego likes to kind of,
you know, pound its chest and says, "Me, Tarzan, you, Jane, and I'm going to victimize you."
And realize that that weakness masquerades as strength, and the weakness is a defense
against the mind's strength to choose against that weakness and choose for the strength of Christ,
and realize that same opportunity, that same mind (split mind) is in everyone.
That's the key thing: it's in everyone. That's the key word: it's in everyone; it's in all
people without exception. That's what really makes the practice of this course so difficult.
That God's Love is all-inclusive, Jesus' love is all-inclusive,
therefore any love that's going to go by that name in this world must also be all-inclusive,
and then forgive yourself when you want to exclude.
So, if you love or forgive one person, you have to generalize that at—throughout the Sonship. I
kind of never really thought about disliking—you know, I could think about disliking one person,
but I can't think of disliking everyone I know, but that's basically what I'm doing.
Right; just scratch beneath the surface a little bit.
The dislike doesn't come from one of the effects. The dislike comes from the guilt in your mind,
and if there's guilt in your mind then that's what you project out indiscriminately.
So, it's not just the one of the particular fragments that you dislike because the dislike
is not coming from the fragment or the situation here; it's coming from the guilt in your mind and,
just as forgiveness is universal in the split mind, so is guilt universal.
You know, as I've said other times, everybody has the same ego system – 100% hate. Everyone has the
same Holy Spirit thought system – 100% forgiveness and love, and we go back and forth. So,
when you're in one, it's total whether it's forgiveness or guilt or hate. Yes, Mary?
The idea of "same-shared interest," the idea of I'm not seeing someone's interests separate
from your own— Right.
—and that's always a really hard one for me to know in practical terms what that would mean, but
then I think I heard you say to not take seriously someone's attack on me or someone falling in love
with me; is that the same? Is that what not— Right, because what that means is that you're
going past the ego that is in them; also recognizing the same ego is in you,
and when you go past the ego, you go to the right mind, which is in them, which is also in you,
and then you go also to the part that could choose between them,
which is in the other person and also in you. And so, the shared interests that we have is the
need to awaken from this dream, choose the right Teacher Who will help awaken us from the dream,
and go home, and everybody's in the same dream; everybody's in the same boat.
This doesn't have to do with form, and that's always the trap. There's nothing
that's in the Course, nothing I've been saying, has anything to do with behavior
because it'll be silly for the Course to say anything about behavior, because behavior is
part of the illusion, and what's important is the cause of the behavior, which is in the mind.
This—the line that says, "Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they
may," (T-27.VIII.10:6), well, when I look at my experience
in recent life, I mean, I don't have very many experiences that in form are hateful and vicious,
but it seems though if I'm looking at my mind, I'm always waiting for that, so it may as well
be because I—it's as if every person I meet, I feel like potentially they want to kill me.
So, is that the picture of my "concealed desire to kill" projected (T-31.V.15:8-10)?
Yes. And I think now they want to kill me—
It's coming from your guilt over being a killer that says, "I'm a killer therefore I deserve to
be hated and killed," and therefore you look out; you send out the "messengers
of fear" (T-19.IV.A.12:3) and they find what you're looking for, and even if it's not there,
you'll still be apprehensive about it. So, yeah, because in form that doesn't
happen, but I always— Well, it doesn't matter.
It's—it all happens in thought anyway, and the expectation would be there,
which is in thought. And then, when to—so to know
that that's my concealed desire to kill, so if you could just refresh me, what, what do
I do with my concealed desire to kill? Just tickle it; that's all. That's it!
In other words, you don't make it into such a big deal. That's the problem. This world is the
witness to the fact that we've taken the tiny, mad idea very seriously and made it into one big deal,
and then our individual lives are the same thing. So, the antidote to that, the correction,
is to tickle it. That's the "gentle laughter," (T-27.VIII.9:1).