Saturday, December 13, 2014

Form and Content

The last message of November dealt with Acceptance and discussed the importance of distinguishing between FORM and CONTENT. I received several comments that indicated there was some confusion between the two.
These comments seemed to be centered around my paragraph: “My ego sees Form AS Content; the Holy Spirit sees only Content. Form is meaningless. Content is either an aspect of love or fear. To the Holy Spirit the difference between a hateful thought and a beheading is negligible. To my ego the difference in Form is exceptionally significant. But the Spirit’s reality is that hate is hate, fear is fear, anger is anger. It is of my ego – regardless of Form.”
I will elaborate.
If my perception reflects an aspect of fear, it is of my ego and cannot be an aspect of actual love. Fear and Love don’t mix, regardless of how well I try to shake them together. They don’t mix, regardless of the mental gymnastics I go through. Since Fear is of my ego, like every other egoic thing of mine, it is illusionary. It simply does not exist except within the universe of my perception.
The Holy Spirit understands this and will interpret my ego’s fear as a call for love, just as He will interpret your ego’s fear as a call for love. But the Holy Spirit needs human hands, eyes, and ears to help Him correct that perception. That’s where I come in. That’s where you enter the picture.
That’s our job. That’s our function.
To perform that job I need only do two things: I need to be willing – really willing – to see things differently; I need to learn to forgive.
The Holy Spirit helps me do both.
To try to forgive members of ISIS, for example, as an act of my egoic will is only a veiled form of insidious judgment. Conjuring up my egoic will, I will say to myself, “These ISIS folks are trying as best they can to find peace through their form of religious beliefs. They want to belong to something that provides a sense of meaning and purpose in their life. So, in fact, do I. Therefore, I must pardon their misguided acts of murder and hope they straighten-up and begin to fly right. I hope they begin to think just as I do. After all, I don’t go around and behead people. Help them, Holy Spirit to see the truth, as You and I both know it. Okay? Thank You. Amen”
I have just judged ISIS. It’s as if I were saying: I know better. I am more in tune with spirit that they. I believe in the Bible. They believe in the Quran. I know what’s best for them. All God needs to do is agree with me and grant my request to straighten them out – straighten them out as I see it, of course.
What preposterous BS!
True – I don’t go around beheading people. I just go around looking down my nose at bigotry, at ignorance, at self-centered power grabs, at fear-based political lies, at others’ obvious egoic behaviors. Yes, ISIS “sins.” Yes, I “sin.” But they really, really, really “sin.” I just sort of, kind of, “sin.” But my motives and intentions are good, I tell myself. How can theirs be?
All of this is FORM-based. All of this is illusionary.
But the Spirit’s reality is that hate is hate, fear is fear, anger is anger. It is of my ego – regardless of Form.
Rather than willfully trying to pardon ISIS, I need to understand that ISIS is not upsetting my peace of mind. My thoughts about ISIS are upsetting my peace of mind. As A Course in Miracles tells me, I need to remember I am never upset for the reason I think. This is a hard lesson for me.
So …
·      I need to still my mind by not paying attention to my thoughts.
·      I need to understand I am reacting to my own perception – not God’s.
·      I need to understand I need another way of looking at this situation.
That’s as far as my higher egoic mind can take me.
At this point all I can do is ask the Holy Spirit for a different way of looking at all this. I can ask for the true willingness to see things differently. Then I can begin listening – not to the loud boisterous voices in my head – but to the whispers of Spirit. The Holy Spirit will provide me with a different perspective, if I will recognize it. He will work through my changed perception and perform miracles I cannot begin to imagine. In all of this I will find true, lasting peace.
The actual process of changing my mind or the actual process of seeing things differently is not my job to do. It’s the Holy Spirit’s. When I find it difficult to separate Form from Content, it tells me I am attached in some way to the reality of the Form I believe I see. Most often this occurs when the Form I see is one I believe is right and just. Yes, those can be as illusionary as my more unsavory egoic perceptions.
Although these messages are mostly for me, thanks for listening. As always – feel free to forward this message to your friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual journey.
Don
#1 December 2014

Copyright, 2014

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