6/12/14
6/2/14
The crisis next time
Within the span on one short week we have seen the U. S. House of
Representatives pass an amendment to a defense bill that would prohibit
the Department of Defense from planning for the effects of climate
change, on the one hand, and the Environmental Protection Agency
announcing new rules that call for a 30% cut in carbon emissions from
electrical power plants because of climate change, on the other hand. Our society, clearly reflected in our government, is pulling in two opposite directions.
June 16 is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's famous "House Divided" speech of 1858.
"It will become all one thing or all the other" and that will seem like a crisis.
The phrase "a house divided" comes from the Gospels and it was likely chosen by Lincoln because his audience was familiar with it in that context.
Jesus was teaching psychology!
What could possibly be more clear than this? Existential dilemmas and crisis are not about climate change, slavery or casting out demons. Existential dilemmas and crisis are all about split-mind thinking.
Consider the possibility of not enjoying the drama quite so much.
Boredom is good.
June 16 is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's famous "House Divided" speech of 1858.
"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention.Like Lincoln, I believe that split-mind thinking will not long endure.
"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
"We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
"I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. . . . "
"It will become all one thing or all the other" and that will seem like a crisis.
The phrase "a house divided" comes from the Gospels and it was likely chosen by Lincoln because his audience was familiar with it in that context.
" And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? " Matthew 12:25 - 26Jesus "knew their thoughts" and he compared their thinking to a house divided.
Jesus was teaching psychology!
What could possibly be more clear than this? Existential dilemmas and crisis are not about climate change, slavery or casting out demons. Existential dilemmas and crisis are all about split-mind thinking.
Consider the possibility of not enjoying the drama quite so much.
Boredom is good.
- oOo -
Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky
5/28/14
History of ACIM refresher
First there was the handwritten version which was typed daily - This typed version is called the urtext.
Starting in 1965, the ACIM Text was first, then the Workbook and finally the Manual for Teachers.
These were all completed by 1972 The text had been edited to the extent of omitting certain parts. Most notably, all discussions of homosexuality and sex were deleted. Very few changes were made to the Workbook or the Manual for Teachers. Hugh Lynn Cayce, at the A.R.E. in Virginia Beach received a photocopy in 1972,
From 1973 to 1973, Ken Wapnick and Helen Schucman performed a more extensive edit and modification of the Text.
The first printed version of this edited ACIM was in the summer of 1975. It is called the Criswell edition after the name of the printer. Four perfect bound volumes with yellow paper covers. Generally speaking, it was a half-assed printing job. 300 sets were printed. The Crisswell is pictured here.
The Clarification of Terms was added in late 1975
The three-volume blue books were first printed in 1976, including the Clarification of Terms. Millions of these were printed.
An online version of the 1972 ACIM Text can be found here
.The 1973 - 1975 editing of ACIM Text, Chapter One, can be downloaded here, Other subsequent chapters were also heavily edited by Wapnick and Schucman, but Chapter One underwent the most significant revisions.
Starting in 1965, the ACIM Text was first, then the Workbook and finally the Manual for Teachers.
These were all completed by 1972 The text had been edited to the extent of omitting certain parts. Most notably, all discussions of homosexuality and sex were deleted. Very few changes were made to the Workbook or the Manual for Teachers. Hugh Lynn Cayce, at the A.R.E. in Virginia Beach received a photocopy in 1972,
From 1973 to 1973, Ken Wapnick and Helen Schucman performed a more extensive edit and modification of the Text.
The first printed version of this edited ACIM was in the summer of 1975. It is called the Criswell edition after the name of the printer. Four perfect bound volumes with yellow paper covers. Generally speaking, it was a half-assed printing job. 300 sets were printed. The Crisswell is pictured here.
The Clarification of Terms was added in late 1975
The three-volume blue books were first printed in 1976, including the Clarification of Terms. Millions of these were printed.
An online version of the 1972 ACIM Text can be found here
.The 1973 - 1975 editing of ACIM Text, Chapter One, can be downloaded here, Other subsequent chapters were also heavily edited by Wapnick and Schucman, but Chapter One underwent the most significant revisions.
- oOo -
Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky
2/18/14
A necessary realization: Your plans do not work. Ever.
Pity the successful, as the world measures success, and be glad for the pratfalls, pitfalls and face-plants in your life. A Course In Miracles makes it very clear that your plan for salvation does not work.
"The key you threw away God gave your brother, whose holy hands would offer it to you when you were ready to accept His plan for your salvation in place of yours. How could this readiness be reached save through the sight of all your misery, and the awareness that your plan has failed, and will forever fail to bring you peace and joy of any kind? Through this despair you travel now, yet it is but ILLUSION of despair. The death of specialness is not YOUR death, but your awaking into life eternal. You but emerge from an illusion of what you are to the acceptance of yourself as God created you."If you are among the fortunate few who have failed spectacularly and repeatedly to reach the impossible goal of salvation by means of your own pitiful schemes, please learn to appreciate the lessons. There is no need for guilt, regret or self recrimination for your many painful blunders in life. They are a tool for your awakening. How else could you become ready to accept the need to awaken, except through the awareness that your plan has failed?
Don't waste time by feeling sorry for yourself. Learn the lesson and move on. The world needs you. Rejoice.
"What do your scripts reflect except your plans for what the day SHOULD be? And thus you judge disaster and success, advance, retreat, and gain and loss. These judgments all are made according to the roles the script assigns. The fact they have no meaning in themselves is demonstrated by the ease with which these labels change with other judgments, made on different aspects of experience. And then, in looking back, you think you see another meaning in what went before. What have you really done, except to show there WAS no meaning there? But you assigned a meaning in the light of goals that change, with every meaning shifting as they change."Your plans for success come from the ego, and the ego wants you to fail. If the voice for the ego is strong in you and you manage to play the world's game by the rules of the world, you can generate the illusion of success. Your slumber will continue undisturbed. The ego wins and you die.
Be happy for your failures. The recognition that your plans lead to death is your main chance for life.
- oOo -
Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)