I will not be sending a
message for a couple of weeks because I’ll be out of pocket. I’ll be talking
with you again in August.
However, I was reminded last
week at an AA meeting of the truism, “If you spot it, you got it.” I loathed
that saying for many, many years because it was so true for me. I would
invariably meet someone I instinctively simply didn’t like. Why? What was it
about them that so disturbed me? Why did virtually everything they had to say
just grate on my nerves? Why did their every mannerism just make me close my
eyes and wince?
I would wrestle with that for a
couple of weeks and, eventually, discuss it with my sponsor. He always would
tell me one of two things: “There is
something about that person that reminds you of you – but has been hidden from
you by you because you don’t want to deal with whatever that issue is.” Or
“Donnie, if you spot it, you got it.”
I would cringe every time I heard him say either of those things.
But they were always true for
me!
The issue wasn’t the person, or
what they had to say, or their mannerisms. The issue was … me. A course in
Miracles (ACIM) discusses the same thing using a little more sophisticated
language. All the meaning I place on things, events or people is simply a
function of my perception – and my perception is simply a reflection of my
inner egoic mind. So, according to ACIM, if I’m disturbed by what I perceive, I
can correct the error simply by changing my mind.
From the Introduction (paragraph
one) to Chapter 21 in the ACIM Text: “Projection makes perception. The world you
see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than
that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to
your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man
thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but
choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a
cause [it is the projection of my inward condition] ….”
Believing in our separateness
and in our projected perceptions is the error (not “sin”) ACIM states we make.
When I decide to make another choice I have another opportunity to truly
connect with you, which transforms me.
At issue I think is that my
egoic mind (Felix) wants me to believe in my separateness or to believe in
myself as my body. ACIM wants me to understand I am an already-loved eternal
spirit at one with all humanity; I am not a body nor am I my thoughts.
Tastes of this reality have come
to me through my involvement in AA.
In an AA meeting, people begin
sharing by saying, “My name is _______. I’m an alcoholic.” It’s a great leveler
– a uniter rather than a divider – a unifier rather than a separator. That
sense of acceptance and belonging in AA has transformed my life. It has
provided me with glimpses of ACIM’s description of a “Holy Instant” – times
when a sense of Oneness has transformed my perception of all that matters.
When I think of the Christ in
you or think to myself, as the ancient Mayans did in their greeting to each
other “In Lak’ech” or “I am another you,” I am opening the door to being One
with you. In that state of mind I cannot hide from myself, because as I see you
I am seeing me. There is where I find
peace.
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
#3 Jul 2015
Copyright 2015
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