This past week I enjoyed breakfast
with a member of AA’s Fellowship. We both have amassed a great deal of
consecutive 365 days of sobriety. We enjoy speaking / thinking / discussing the
more spiritual aspects of life. Somehow, after obligatory pleasantries, we
ended up sharing our experiences with being surrounded – or engulfed – by
Mother Nature. He was sharing experiences from hunting. I was sharing
experiences from working in and around my wet-weather creek that runs through
our property.
We both ended up recognizing
that when we were awed by our witness of the complete interrelatedness of the
natural world, we were also painfully aware that we were the “outsiders.” We
were the ones that didn’t seem to “fit” in this interrelated world whose
awesomeness we were witnessing.
We both had had these
experiences. We both had found ourselves feeling like the “outsider.” Each time
we had “felt” that way, it was a little discomforting. It felt good and bad at
the same time. It felt peaceful and eerie at the same time. We were IN nature
while being OUT of nature. It was a little weird.
After the breakfast I began to
realize that what we both experienced was the nub of human existence, according
to A Course in Miracles (ACIM), as well as to the theological interpretation of
the biblical Genesis stories: We were in a paradise – we were an integral part
of that paradise. Then things went very wrong.
- The biblical stories indicate we sinned and were cast out of paradise.
- ACIM states that we got too big for our britches and left our paradise.
- I believe when Jesus told the parable of the Prodigal Son, He was retelling the Genesis story. We left the comfort of Eden. We left the love of our Father. When we came back after squandering our inheritance, our Father didn’t castigate us or discipline us or punish us. There was no “price” to pay (other than what we had already inflicted on ourselves). He just joyously welcomed us Home. We had not “sinned.” We had erred. We had corrected our mistake and we were back. That’s all that mattered. It was time to celebrate.
Either way you choose to read it
– we were no longer in a paradise. We were on our own and had separated
ourselves from our paradise or Source. We had separated ourselves from each
other because we came to believe we, in fact, WERE separate things.
As I said, that’s the nub of
human existence – the problem – the struggle – the pain – the fear of being
human. It can all be summed up by
acknowledging our feeling of being separate, both from the world as well as
from each other. That’s why we cling to ideas and people who help make us feel
a part of something that provides a little meaning to our lives.
That’s why AA has been so
central to my life. That’s why ACIM has become so important to me. I first
experienced true, honest acceptance in AA and it transformed me. The
experiences I have had in AA, but could never thoroughly verbalize, showered my
life with miracles – the vanishing of my compulsion to drink; the knowledge
gained as to how to live my life with skills I had never understood nor
experienced; the blessing of serenity from being “one of the herd” (or NOT
feeling separate any more). ACIM, however, was putting words of Truth to the
experiential faith I had received from experiencing AA’s Fellowship – words I
had never been able to speak.
Having experienced my life change and having
understood the words verbalized in ACIM, I now know that I am not a body
separate from you that somewhere inside has a “soul” that is eternal. I am an
already-loved eternal spirit that is currently having a human experience.
Believing I am a body separate from you and from nature has been an error on my
part. I can change my mind and, with the Holy Spirit’s help, can change how I
envision my world, which includes you.
As my perception of the “world
out there” changes as a result of this realization, my world, itself, will
change.
As the adage states: “When I
change the way I look at things, the things I look at change.” I have
viscerally experienced the truth of that adage.
As I’ve stated before, “I have to understand, on
a visceral level, who the “Me” or “I” really is when I am speaking or thinking.
The “I” that says to myself, “I really need a newer, more reliable car” is a different
“I” than the one that says to my Holy Spirit, “I can’t do this anymore; help me
perceive things the way You see them.”
Although
these messages are mostly for me, thanks for listening to me and getting to
know me – warts and all. As always, feel free to forward this message to your
friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual journey.
Don
#2 Aug 2016
Copyright 2016
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