Does A Course in Miracles Teach That I Require a Holy Relationship in Order to Awaken?

[Asad shaikh]

I do want to ask you about what A Course in Miracles means by Holy Relationship. In one single part of the book it discusses "entering the ark" together, and it almost sounds as though you will need one other specific person to be able to awaken. Therefore, I do believe I approach each new person with the expectation that maybe THIS could possibly be the connection that reflects enlightenment if you ask me, and I to them! Am I taking this too literally? Or do you really need to have another to assist you awaken?



I appreciate your time so much and thank you for your help if you ask me and others. I thank you and I thank God for you. Namaste.



David Hoffmeister: Thanks for your openness and your willingness to appear deeply at what is underneath these topics and issues. A Course in Miracles teaches that the split mind contains both the problem (the ego) and the Solution (the Holy Spirit). When they're brought together, only One remains.



The body and the planet are always the focus of ego's perspective, because of it seeks to produce real problems and struggles on the planet and to prevent the inner Healing Correction of the Holy Spirit. The ego's distorted world is the item of identity confusion, an outpicturing of the belief that it is possible to produce an identity which God didn't create. The ego is this identity problem and it had been Answered or forgiven by the Holy Spirit the instant it did actually arise. This 1 problem could possibly be described being an authority problem or even a confusion in who is the author of Reality. The mind that believes in the fact of the time-space cosmos has a get a handle on issue, because of it believes that it can create itselfacim teachers. This ego mind also thinks it is in competition with God, although this really is pushed out of conscious awareness. This unconscious ego thought system is exposed in the A Course in Miracles Workbook lessons, and Lesson 13 contains an excellent example with this unveiling:

"A meaningless world engenders fear because I do believe I'm in competition with God."



That is the beginning of training the mind to forgive, for the focus is brought back to the mind, back once again to thinking, and recinded from the human body and the world. Anorexia, weight issues, body image issues, and interpersonal relationship issues are examples of projection, of seeing the problem where it is not: in the world. The mind cannot tolerate the belief in a war with God, and this belief is pushed out of awareness. The deep-seated control issue this type of belief entails is then projected to the human body and the world. Weight control, like any attempt to control the script or the human body, is an attempt to control the past. The Holy Spirit teaches that days gone by can only just be forgiven or released or regarded as false—not fixed or controlled or changed.



Exactly the same ego dynamic is underneath interpersonal relationship struggles of power and control, of wanting to repair or change a person or even a self-image. Personal relationships may appear to sail happily along for awhile, yet the make-believe self-concept IS the private perspective and thus is definitely on shaky ground. Decisions are continuous. The Holy Spirit is really a decision. The ego is really a decision. Atonement is the decision that ends all decisions, an acceptance of the changelessness of Mind. The ego is the decision to trust that the mind could be separate from God. Once the mind believed that it had separated and built this time-space world, this time-space world of bodies became its substitute identity, because it believed it'd thrown away the Kingdom of Heaven. The world was made up as an alternative identity. The sleeping mind is split on the decision of identity. The Holy Spirit says, "This world is not Identity. This world can be an illusion." And thus the Holy Spirit reminds the mind constantly, "This world is not your Home. This world is not your Identity. This world is not real." While the mind is split it is hearing another voice (the ego) that's saying: "You've done it. You've separated from God. You'd better make the most effective of it and find something of the planet to identify with. You can never return back for God will punish you."



Thought-form associations seem to become a substitute identity. The ego mind seems to be identified with the human body, with family, with environments that appear to surround it (i.e., I'm an American, Japanese, I'm male, I'm female, I'm from a rich family, from a poor family, I'm Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.) All of these are thought-form associations. And these seeming other persons and places surrounding the little personal self are all part with this construction. The mind is very shaky relating to this small identity, this small self, this little me. So the little me is shaky, and it looks like other persons give the little me reality and importance (i.e., you're my son, my daughter, you're my boss, you're a loving father, etc.) and all different issues that these images seem to be telling this little me seem to be really important. Praise thus seems essential (i.e., you are a person and you're a great one!).



Praise and acceptance from others SEEM to stabilize this very shaky thing (i.e., you're a good lover, you're a good provider, you're great with the kids, you've a fine intellect, you've this type of heart, you help serve so many others, you're a good team-player, on and on). This aspect of the self-concept says that you're a person and you've all of these positive attributes that really make you a valuable and worthy person, that produce you be noticeable above the crowd. You're not only anyone—you're somebody special. The flip side is criticism, which directly reflects the shaky sense of self. Criticism could be: you're not as great as you think you are, you're not this type of good team player, this type of good provider, so good in bed—all the things that are taken as insults to the private self-concept). That's the flip side of the strokes. To the ego self-concept that believes both parties (the positive and negative) of thinking are real, the Holy Spirit is perceived as a good threat, for the Holy Spirit leads to the knowledge of forgiveness or the realization that none of the tiny images perceived as separate have any reality.



Once the criticism seems to come, the ego attempts a substitution. It thinks, "I don't need this. I'll go elsewhere and start other relationships with people who is able to appreciate my talents and skills and abilities, appreciate my personhood. I will avoid those negative influences on the planet and those negative people. I'll find someone else or join friends where people are like-minded and overlook the rest of the world. These new people will like me and stroke me and praise me." The attempt at substitution is an attempt to keep a sense of specialness, a sense of separation, a sense of individuality (a private mind with private thoughts). Those attempts are special love relationships. They seem to bolster worth and value and to validate personhood. And they give you a false witness for clinging to the ego as identity. To the ego, past associations serve to give personhood some sense of stability and consistency and value. Yet, the Holy Spirit shows that past associations offer nothing of value, for these were made by the ego to deny the facts of God's Love.



Holy relationship emphasizes and reflects Content (right-minded thinking) and posseses an awareness of the meaninglessness of form. While the ego's believed relationships will seem to be specific, yet every one will present a chance to release the belief in specifics. Divine Mind is Abstract and Universal. Forgiveness could be the bridge to the remembrance of Christ and God, Divine Abstraction. Thus the Holy Spirit teaches in A Course in Miracles:



"Once you meet anyone, remember it is really a holy encounter. As you see him you might find yourself. As you treat him you'll treat yourself. As you consider him you'll consider yourself. Always remember this, for in him you may find yourself or lose yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they're given another chance at salvation. Don't leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving it yourself. For I'm always there with you, in remembrance of you.