By I do want to ask you by what A Course in Miracles means by Holy Relationship. In one single area of the book it covers “entering the ark” together, and it almost sounds as though you need an added 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 relationship that reflects enlightenment in my experience, and I to them! Am I taking this too literally? Or do you really need another to assist you awaken?
I appreciate your time so much and thank you for your help in my experience and others. I thank you and I thank God for you. Namaste.
David Hoffmeister: Thanks for your openness and your willingness to check deeply at what’s underneath these topics and issues acim youtube channel. A Course in Miracles teaches that the split mind contains both the problem (the ego) and the Solution (the Holy Spirit). When they are brought together, only One remains.
Your body and the entire world are usually the focus of ego’s perspective, for this seeks to produce real problems and struggles on earth and to steer clear of the inner Healing Correction of the Holy Spirit. The ego’s distorted world is the merchandise 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 was Answered or forgiven by the Holy Spirit the instant it appeared to arise. That one 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 reality of the time-space cosmos has a control issue, for this believes that it can create itself. This ego mind also thinks it’s 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 a fantastic example of the unveiling:
“A meaningless world engenders fear because I do believe I am in competition with God.”
That is the start of training your head to forgive, for the focus is brought back to your head, back once again to thinking, and taken away from your body and the world. Anorexia, weight issues, body image issues, and interpersonal relationship issues are examples of projection, of seeing the problem where it’s 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 your body and the world. Weight control, like any attempt to control the script or your body, is an effort to control the past. The Holy Spirit teaches that days gone by can only 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 fix or change a person or even a self-image. Personal relationships might appear to sail happily along for awhile, yet the make-believe self-concept IS the personal perspective and thus is always on shaky ground. Decisions are continuous. The Holy Spirit is just a decision. The ego is just a decision. Atonement is your decision that ends all decisions, an acceptance of the changelessness of Mind. The ego is your decision to trust that your head could be separate from God. Once your head believed that it had separated and built this time-space world, this time-space world of bodies became its substitute identity, as it believed it had thrown away the Kingdom of Heaven. The planet was created up instead identity. The sleeping mind is split on your decision of identity. The Holy Spirit says, “This world isn’t Identity. This world is definitely an illusion.” And thus the Holy Spirit reminds your head constantly, “This world isn’t your Home. This world isn’t your Identity. This world isn’t real.” Whilst the mind is split it’s hearing another voice (the ego) that’s saying: “You’ve done it. You’ve separated from God. You’d better make the best of it and find something of the entire world to identify with. You are able to never go back for God will punish you.”
Thought-form associations seem becoming a substitute identity. The ego mind seems to be identified with your 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 wealthy family, from a poor family, I’m Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.) Most of these are thought-form associations. And these seeming other persons and places surrounding the little personal self are part of the construction. The mind is quite shaky relating to this small identity, this small self, this little me. So the little me is shaky, and it seems 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 the various things that these images be seemingly telling this little me be seemingly really important. Praise thus seems extremely important (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 children, you have a superb intellect, you have this type of heart, you help serve so many other people, you’re a good team-player, on and on). This facet of the self-concept says that you’re a person and you have all of these positive attributes that actually allow you to an invaluable and worthy person, that make you be noticeable above the crowd. You’re not merely anyone—you’re somebody special. The flip side is criticism, which directly reflects the shaky sense of self. Criticism would be: you’re much less 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 stuff that are taken as insults to the personal self-concept). That’s the flip side of the strokes. To this ego self-concept that believes both sides (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 ahead, the ego attempts a substitution. It thinks, “I don’t need this. I’ll go elsewhere and start other relationships with people who will appreciate my talents and skills and abilities, appreciate my personhood. I’ll avoid those negative influences on earth and those negative people. I’ll find another person or join a group where people are like-minded and forget about the remaining world. These new people will require to me and stroke me and praise me.” The attempt at substitution is an effort to keep a feeling of specialness, a feeling of separation, a feeling of individuality (a private mind with private thoughts). Those attempts are special love relationships. They seem to reinforce worth and value and to validate personhood. And they offer a false witness for clinging to the ego as identity. To the ego, past associations serve to provide personhood some sense of stability and consistency and value. Yet, the Holy Spirit shows that past associations offer nothing of value, for these were created by the ego to deny the truth of God’s Love.
Holy relationship emphasizes and reflects Content (right-minded thinking) and comes with an awareness of the meaninglessness of form. Whilst the ego’s believed relationships will be seemingly 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:
“When you meet anyone, remember it is just a holy encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they are given another chance at salvation. Do not leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving it yourself. For I am always there with you, in remembrance of you.