I have added another bubble greeting here for this blogspot. There is one at www.acimtv.com, too! (for someone who may have missed the bubble greeting at ACIMTV homepage.)
Here is this week's quote. This quote came from A Course in Miracles, "The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way." This quote can be found in the 'Workbook for Students' Lesson 256.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Bubble: Aug 9th ACIM's Quote
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6 comments:
Yes... I know one verse in the bible that relates to what you just said in the bubble, about the way to heaven being through forgiveness... something about when one forgives, God also forgives (if I remember correctly.) Jesus emphasizes on the importance of forgiving... Forgiving frees us from doubt and fear. Really, the way to free ourselves from fear is to forgive...
Hey, I am waiting for my weekly "caffiene" bubble fix ;o)
Ahhhh... back to school for my kids, but I will have no rest, since I am beginning a day shift at my work, instead of working in the evenings. So that I can be home when the kids come home from school.
My daughter again talked about going to hell, and I told her that hell was not real, only made up, to be real to people, so that they could have more choices to make (hence "free will"). She did not understand me and then she asked if there was no hell, it meant no heaven??? I said, no, no, there was heaven, but we were blind to it... we only see negative things. When we see butterflies flittering about, Elizabeth's sunflowers beaming at the hot sun, etc., we are really in heaven, this is heaven.
Hard concept to teach, huh? I have to be careful because the majority of people believe in the concept of heaven and hell.
As I understand it now...
Here on earth, we've been led to believe that we're separated from God, but in reality, we are not. We are and have always been one with God. Because we're all one in Spirit of God, to not forgive someone is to deny our oneness with God, so there is no peace. Also, to not forgive someone means not forgiving myself. Only by recognizing our oneness with God -- seeing everyone as myself in Spirit -- and by forgiving ... do we experience the inner peace that has always been within us for God is within us. Forgiveness as the only way to God is based on our recognition of our spiritual identity.
Namaste,
Hilda
"Souls don't have races or sexes or religions. They are beyond artificial divisions."
- Brian Weiss
Check out this website: www.universalflag.com
May we see this flag wave above the nation's flag in every country in the world!
Hi Karen,
About explaining the meaning of heaven and hell to your daughter --- I think just keep on giving her examples like you did. I'm sure it will help her to see clearly some day. Smile.
Speaking of heaven and hell, I thought you might like to read an excerpt from Pema Chodron's book AWAKENING LOVING-KINDNESS:
A big burly samurai comes to the wise man and says, "Tell me the nature of heaven and hell." And the roshi looks him in the face and says,"Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you?" The samurai starts to get purple in the face, his hair starts to stand up, but the roshi won't stop; he keeps saying, "A miserable worm like you, do you think I should tell you anything?" Consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword, and he's just about to cut off the head of the roshi. Then the roshi says, "That's hell." The samurai, who is in fact a sensitive person, instantly gets it, that he just created his own hell; he was deep in hell. It was black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment, so much so that he was going to kill the man. Tears fill his eyes and he starts to cry and he puts his palms together and the roshi says, "That's heaven."
There isn't any hell or heaven except for how we relate to our world. Hell is just resistance to life. When you want to say no to the situation you're in, it's fine to say no, but when you build up a big case to the point you're so convinced that you would draw your sword and cut someone's head, that kind of resistance to life is hell.
In the way we practice, we don't say, "Hell is bad and heaven is good" or "Get rid of hell and just seek heaven," but we encourage ourselves to develop an open heart and an open mind to heaven, to hell, to everything. Why? Because only then can we realize that no matter what comes along, we're always standing at the center of the world in the middle of sacred space, and everything that comes into that circle and exists with us there has come to teach us what we need to know.
Life's work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into the circle wake you up rather than put you to sleep....
In case your're not aware of it, the author is an American Buddhist nun.
Gotta get some sleep now. Bye.
Here's something about heaven/God written by a German Christian mystic named Meister Eckhart (1260-1328):
Earth cannot escape heaven,
Flee it by going up,
Or flee it by going down,
Heaven still invades the earth,
Energizes it,
Makes it sacred.
All hiding places reveal God.
If you want to escape God,
S/he runs into your lap.
For, God is at home.
It is you who have gone out for a walk.
Here's another one:
God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction.
This last quote reminds me of what's said in the introduction to ACIM. Its aim is to remove the blocks to the awareness of love's presence which is our natural inheritance. In ACIM training, we remove all of who we are not to find our true Self -- our divine nature.
If you would like to get acquainted with the essence of Eckhart's work try this book:
MEDITATIONS WITH MESITER ECKHART -
Introduction and Versions by Matthew Fox. It's a great book - short and enligthening. By the way, Eckhart was condemned as heretic by his church. :(
One more excerpt, and then I'll let you go. (wink)
I pray God to rid me of God.
The highest and lofiest thing that one can let go of is to let go of God for the sake of God.
God's exit is her entrance.
The more you seek God, the less you will find God.
If you do not seek God, you will find God.
God does not ask anything else of you except that you let yourself go and let God be God in you.
Guess that's enough to ponder over for a while.
Blessings!
Hi Karen and Hilda. Thank you for posting your comments regarding heaven and hell. Here is one from ACIM T-18.VI.1:5-6, "Heaven is not a place nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing outside this oneness, and nothing else within."
Beautifully said! I just love this quote and I trust your (Karen's) daughter will begin to understand the meaning of oneness, unity and harmony - recognizing all as our brothers and sisters regardless of our differences.
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