Joseph Shore, Thank You!

Some of the world's religions and spiritual traditions believe the world is real and that we as "individuals" are real. They believe that we are "evolving" into higher realms of existence by our work here on earth. Some forms of Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and some new age religions would agree with this. Set against this belief are Taoism, Buddhism, Zen, Gnosticism, and A Course In Miracles. Of these, A Course in Miracles is, in my opinion, of the greatest value to me personally, although I very much appreciate the wisdom in its sister religions. ACIM is unique among all the world's religions in telling us that God did not create the world. We did! But it agrees with Taoism that there is a timeless immensity which is not born, does not die, and changes not. In such a view it is foolishness to talk of "evolving" in this life to higher states! The Course goes further to declare that there is no hierarchy among illusions!! Because the world is not real all of our lessons are in the mind which made the world and continues to uphold it. You as an individual are an illusion along with the world. How can an illusion evolve? It cannot!! You can only awaken from the dream state of the illusion. The world-belief religions thus uphold the Ego in a subtle way. They try to make the Ego real but claim the Ego can evolve into higher states! What madness. "An Ego by any other name would still smell as foul..." Some want to have their Ego cake and eat it too! ACIM agrees with its sister, Buddhism, in telling us that the so-called "soul" is not real! Buddhism goes into great length to define the soul as a pattern of doing and sensing. It is not an entity in itself. It is this pattern of karma that keeps incarnating. Likewise ACIM tells us that the little self which seems to be a social entity living its life in the world, dying, and reincarnating, is just an illusion of split minds. At the end of the process of Atonement there is only One of us, the Son of God, with His Father in a reality totally different from this illusory world we have miscreated, so very different it is difficult to talk about it, except to say, The Son is One Mind, not individuals, and at One with His Father. There is no place where the Son ends and the Father begins. The characteristics of this real existence are Love, Truth, and Knowledge. The process of Atonement is viewed very similar to that similar process in Buddhism. We learn our lessons in each illusory life and undo, little by little, the mistakes in thought we have made, until finally all of the split minds are joined back as One Mind. In the Course this is viewed as something which has already happened in eternity and is just being displayed on the screen of time in the billions of years in the illusory life of the universe. The end is not in doubt. "Nothing real can be threatened." To those of us who practice this form of spirituality, there is no such thing as "personal" evolution but there is a form of advancement towards enlightenment as we learn the lessons given to us in life. There will come a time when we can give up the illusion of separate individuality and consciousness. Until such time, we learn Peace and practice compassion. We see Love's face in all the 10,000 things of the Tao. We feel our immensity and great, great antiquity. Blessing to you all. Love is Present are we are its manifestations♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Joseph Shore
joseph shore