The other option to view the world [ACIM Series Part 5]
In this final part of the A Course in Miracles (ACIM) series, I want to explain in more detail, what „the other option“ of our choice to see the world is - in a more funny and lighthearted way.
As with all other parts, this article can be read without having read the previous ones - although it does help (to know about the backgrounds).
Just as a quick remark: Even saying that this is the last part in the series is actually wrong, because I will continue to write about ACIM inspired topics - but since at this moment everything I write, think and do in my life is inspired by the course, this is inevitable anyway. I will just focus on stand alone topics and stop calling it a series, to make the material more accessible for you.
What the world is
Very early in the course and also in the workbook lessons, it is made clear, that the world is nothing by itself. This is not a metaphor, but is meant literally. It’s a dream - that’s it.
The world we perceive has no meaning on its own - no-thing and no-body have an intrinsic meaning. In Buddhism this teaching is called emptiness.
Now, ACIM does not recommend to live your daily life as if nothing has any meaning or trying to „forget“ the meaning we have already given things, through some sort of meditation or mind control.
Jesus (as the teacher and symbol of Truth in the course) knows very well, that everything is already very meaningful to us.
So there is no reason to deny this fact or convince ourselves otherwise!
He knows, that although nothing has any meaning by itself, we are automatically projecting the content of our mind on outside objects anyway. Perception is projection.
In other words: We are seeing the world through a filter or let’s say 3D glasses with special filters, we put on - these are mandatory.
This is no new idea on its own, since psychotherapy (or endless self-help methods) teach, that we can change the perception of the world, in exchanging the filter we are looking through.
Here ACIM teaches something completely different…
Is there another way to view the world?
Jesus does not recommend to change the filters, because even the choice for a different filter, would be inside the same eyeglasses frame. We can not trust our choice of filters, as long as we are wearing the eyeglasses with the frame called „Ego“. Only „Ego-Filters“ will fit inside the „Ego-Frame“.
The ego-frame is built by the belief, that we (or others) have done something wrong in the past, and therefore lets us feel guilty at the present. This guilt is projected out onto others (space), in an insane attempt to get rid of it.
Also there is a projection in time, that we (or others) will do something wrong in the future, which leads to an emotion called „fear“.
This also includes the fear, that others may disappoint us in the future or the prime ego fact, that everything and everyone has to die someday.
When you realize, that everything you perceive through these glasses has the bitter taste of guilt (or fear) attached to it, you come to the question, if there is not another option to view the world?
Just accepting the „Ego-Glasses“ means, that you are basically trapped inside a prison of suffering and death. So if you never had this question appear before, you haven’t started your spiritual journey yet…
The good news: Get yourself new glasses!
ACIM suggests to not change the filters, but to change the glasses themselves. There is another pair of glasses right next to you. Everyone has this option.
With these new pairs of glasses, come also new filters: Love, Peace and Happiness! How’s that as the good news?
With these new glasses on, you will perceive a totally new world!
They are made out of a new cutting edge material called „Forgiveness®“ (a registered trademark by Heaven Inc.)
The world is still nothing afterwards, but with these glasses on, you will experience it with a totally different meaning.
[Disclaimer: This advertisement for „the other option“ has been sponsored by Heaven Inc., but does in every detail reflect the viewpoint of the author]
The truth about Ego Inc.
Now you may ask, if everyone has these other pair of glasses and if the results of putting them on is so sensational, why don’t we use them more often? I’m glad, that you ask!
The reason for that simply is, that our ego-glasses have become an identity and after looking through it for such a long time, it will feel like death to put them off.
The producers of the ego-glasses have also a way better marketing department by the way. The shittier the product is, the better the marketing has to be, right?
Ego Inc. has spent billions of $ in their marketing. They even invented belief systems like „religions“, to keep us distracted from the fact, that we are wearing their glasses. Forgetfulness is the primary defense.
To make things worse, Ego Inc. has developed an ingenious plan, to keep us from changing their product - ever!
They made them all shiny and sparkly and at the same time told us, that if we ever dared to take them off, we would suffer endless pain and death!
Ego Inc. then told us, that all this was not their decision, but that our parents, our genes, God or „THEY“ (=the others) did this to us.
So you have no other option and even if you had, you would suffer endless punishment, because of a wrathful „God“.
This is the short version, of why we still keep looking through the same pair of glasses.
Then came a book like ACIM and it told us exactly, how Ego Inc. works from the inside, and that we all got a free pair of Heaven Inc. glasses.
The good thing is, that none of Ego Inc. marketing is true, but you have to remind yourself, that you have an option.
As said in the last article, only if you are aware of the option, you can make a decision and reclaim your power!
You are in every moment free to choose your pair of glasses. So even if you put the Heaven Inc ones on and for some reason didn’t like them, you can always use the Ego Inc versions again. [Disclaimer: There is no money back guarantee, because the glasses are FREE anyway!]
What it’s like to view the world through Forgiveness®
Forgiveness as explained in Part 1 of this series, is not some kind of positive thinking, that makes horrible things look good. When you look with forgiveness at the world, you see all the terrible things inside the dream movie world, but as they never really happened.
You perceive the illusionary world as a projection of your Mind and there is no other (or outer) source.
There is one line in ACIM that appears often and it’s one of the most important concepts: Ideas leave not their source.
This means, that cause and effect are the same. On the level of the world, this means, that the cause of the world is the (universal) Mind and so is it’s effect.
In other words: We have never left our source (God) and even if we experience a difference between cause and effect trough the primary illusion of time, this is only experienced this way through our egos filter.
In reality - and viewed through forgiveness - this separation and with it, the guilt of having done something wrong (like separating from God), disappears. Even more though, it doesn’t „disappear“, because it never was real anyway. Ideas leave not their source - never!
I could write many articles about this topic alone, but I will leave you for now… (of course I don’ really leave you, since there is no way, we could ever separate…)
I hope you enjoyed these introductory articles about ACIM. We only scratched the surface with them and there is much more to come…
Much Love and blessings,
I am happy i found you. I do believe this platform and the people here (and all around the world) benefit the most from this kind of posts. I will do look at your other posts\thoughts.
But i saw a glimpse of the idea, that religion is used as a tool do dominate or the Marxian view that religion is the opium of the people, yet you use Jesus as the symbol of Truth and the Heaven Inc. glasses as the best glasses to put on, representing happiness, love, forgiveness etc.
I looked at your tags and the first one is spirituality, but you have philosophy and psychology as well. This got me thinking, have you read or encountered the book of Ana Freud,"The Ego and its defense mechanisms" ? The reason i am asking is, that i got the feeling from the post of some kind of super-enemy (illuminati/free-masons/big-corporation type of guy), who has a big interest to control the people by forcing them using the Ego Inc. glasses. Having this in mind, i think it should be pointed out that using the Ego Inc glasses is something really natural for the human. Since our birth we use the Ego Inc. glasses to understand the world around us and the IT (bringing in the Freudian dictionary) or in your case a different type of glasses are always an option, which should be achieved trough understanding the Ego, its functions and its defense mechanism.
All in all i would conclude that spirituality has demonized the Ego in order to help the people to overcome it, which is a perfectly fine motive, but the demonizing part is something i don't agree with. I think we need to combine the rational understanding of this kind of phenomenon with the spiritual explanation, which would, for me, create the balance.
Thank you for your time and energy put into a meaningful cause and the beautiful words expressing it. I hope to see more from you.
Monstroz
Thank you for your detailed comment @monstroz!
Jesus as a symbol for Truth is used in ACIM in a different way as in Christianity - that's why religion is viewed differently too. Nothing in ACIM has to do with faith - it's a totally experiential course. Regarding the tags, I just have to find ones, that fit here. If you asked me, what I write about has nothing to do with philosophy per se - it's all a direct experience and has very little to do with thinking. So the tags are just for practical purposes...
And about the Ego. From the courses perspective it's not a super-villain, because it doesn't really exist. The ego is imaginary and therefore also not bad, sinful or an enemy - it is just an insane belief ;)
Yes, we all suffer from this insanity - actually this insanity is the only reason, why we are "here" in this dream. The ego as used in ACIM, is the symbol for the imaginary separation from God.
No need to demonize something, that is not real - you would just give it more reality than it has.
Thank you for your compliments - I do appreciate them very much!
Very inventive imagery, this is a lovely way to introduce the ACIM concepts to a wide audience. Thank you for sharing these topics really enjoying your words.
What if we stopped forcing a meaning to life, Neither by heaven nor by ego? Just non judgmentally allowing everything to unfold the way it is.
I would say: try it! This is what many spiritual teachings tell us, but from my experience, most of times people are fooling themselves with this. They continue to judge subconsciously, which is way worse. The things is, the moment you really stop judging 100%, the world disappears. Actually, after an enlightenment experience I was in this state for many months, but then the world appeared again and with it judgement.
I tried to "get back" to this state for many years, but failed because of the motivation behind it was wrong by itself.
To view the world with the glasses of Heaven Inc is just a tool to cancel out the Ego Inc view, we got so used to. It's not the end all be all. Again, if really all judgements in your Mind are gone, the world is gone too. This is the only signpost to orient yourself, if you are still judging or not. If there is a world, you are. :)
Thanks for bringing this topic up! Much Love! <3
The use of the glasses of heaven as a tool to cancel out the Ego can be another form of conditioning in itself. We stick to the concepts of love or forgiveness, trying to empower them, also they can be standards against which we judge ourselves. "You can't solve a problem from the same level of thinking".
When all judgment is gone the mind is gone too, And the world doesn't disappear rather, it becomes more vivid, opulent and rich. The wonder of a child seeing everything for the first time is the best description of the state of no judgment. Then, love arises as a feeling not as a concept where it is not something to chase but to harness.
Thanks for the inspiration. :)
i think you have a nice heart . that's why you think about the world . i got some inspration from you.
In that I had thought about changing my glasses, we can not live with that feeling of guilt or fear that will make us live life without meaning and living it is necessary to live it happy and I believe that with God everything is possible, the truth so far I have learned a lot , I like reading you and I have arrived anxious until this part 5 it is good to read that it is not quite the end that you will continue explaining a bit more about ACIM topics
Yes, I will continue to write about these topics. I just don't want, that people believe, that they have to read every part to understand what I'm writing about. :)
A life without guilt and fear is possible - if you choose to see the world through the glasses of the Holy Spirit, life gets a totally different meaning, depth and joy.
Thanks for reading and blessings to you! <3
I love the lenses that make Heaven Inc. we must try them all to see how we are sure that very well
nice post ,you know how to say things in a precise way
Thanks a lot, Marlon! :)))
This picture is perfect. I am very very onto Spirits and Nature. I love peace and love lol. I loved this blog, Thanks! I got new glasses yesterday actually
Thank you! I hope your new glasses are made by Heaven Inc.? :))
This is how to put on new glasses Love, peace and happiness! this is the best, you have to give a good meaning to life to things, as you say with love, peace and happiness it is not easy to change something that we are already used to but if you can
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