(07-09-2019, 10:10 AM)ttwagneriii Wrote: I was going through these posts (thank you, BTW) and the quotes at the bottom struck me in a variety of ways.  Some of them resonate very deeply with me and others create a sense of friction.  I read somewhere that friction creates polish, so I thought I would address that a little here.  

An example a friction creating quote was: "Father, we would return our minds to You. We have betrayed them, held them in a vise of bitterness, and frightened them with thoughts of violence and death. Now would we rest again in You, as You created us."

For me, there is friction in that quote.  Friction between what is and the way we think things should be.  Infinite is infinite and we are it, whether we realize this or not.  Can we really betray the infinite?  The vise of bitterness seems like a hyperbolic statement on the misunderstanding we are born into because if the veil and the mixed population of 3-D repeaters.  Fear, violence and death are what we have chosen as shadow so that we can that the have something as a reference to polarize into the light.  The above quote tries to externalize and demonize these things these as though we have not chosen them as catalyst in our very own lives.  As though they are there to thwart our journey home rather than providing us something to work with.  For me, this used to create a sense of antagonism and thus, separation between me and the Creator.  Since I realize we are all One, choosing to energize that sense of antagonism and separation makes them something they are not and this kind of thinking is the actual impediment to my progress.

I used to have a hard time accepting that the lessons and circumstances in front of me are the ones I have decided that I really want or need, but the degree to which they are precise and intense in their personal nature argues against that position.  I have accepted that I chose to be here, that "All that assaults your(my) senses is catalyst," and it is up to me to process it efficiently.  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.  So, I try and I screw it up and I try again to iron the wrinkles out of the gauze of materiality that covers my spirit and sometimes it works a little and sometimes it doesn't.  I have the feeling I have been afforded more patience than I often give myself.

Anyway, true for me.  

For now ;=)

(07-09-2019, 06:45 PM)ttwagneriii Wrote: I have dabbled in ACIM, and right now for me, its a bit of a struggle to stay focused on it.  Not that parts do not resonate with me, I have just found myself trying to plow through some of it just to get through.

I think its awesome that you are sticking to it in such a dedicated fashion.  I have no doubt that I could be taking that snippet out of context, because I really have no solid context for ACIM other than I have the book and it is mostly unread.  I was not criticizing the content as much as I was using it as a springboard to examine how certain quotes get processed in my distorted mind.    

The way things go, in 7 years, I'll probably be looking for a Calvin and Hobbes book in my bookshelf, come across ACIM, and be completely in sync with what it has to offer.  I'll be saying "What? I don't remember reading THAT!" every 2 pages.

(07-11-2019, 03:22 PM)ttwagneriii Wrote: Alrighty, then, with your dedication in mind, I have taken my first real step into ACIM:  I have started with Lesson 1, but I have to say, it means nothing.

HAAAAAAAA!