Showing posts with label Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood. Show all posts

4/4/19

The invisible world

The invisible world

Your world is invisible, the world of your spiritual life within; but invisible also is the world of rumor, ethnic fears, ignorance, the greed of multitudes, public opinion and human passions. All these are invisible. So are creative inspiration, honest endeavor and integrity. Invisible also is the intent which makes the true servant of medicine, that which is behind the long hours and personal sacrifice; all this is faith invisible. Many who see a sword see but a blade of sharpened steel; but it is a symbol of anger, pain, annihilation and woe. Those who look and are held captive out there by what they see are amazed and bewildered when invisible forces suddenly focus into an event. They are startled and disturbed when the hidden forces the mind has qualified are manifested in action.

from: Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood

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Transform a son of man Miracle men's t-shirt ACIM



"For the redeemed SON OF MAN is the guiltless Son of God, and to recognize him *is* your redemption."

T-13.II.9.7

He has accepted Christ, and he is saved. Thus does the SON OF MAN become the Son of God. It is not really a change; it is a change of mind.

M-12.1.10

What this says is that the "Son of man" is redeemed and transformed into the "Son of God".

A Course In Miracles ACIM

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2/22/19

Children of the Way

Children of the Way

Yes, there seems to be a heavy dismaying delay in the outer world, as if the waters of material life were in heavy tide and the times were frozen. And yet you, as children of the Way, have been secretly freed from fear as you have advanced in your invisible selves.
The paradox is puzzling to many who journey upon this road, that great revelation and joy often cometh in times of seeming darkness, obstruction and difficulty. In periods of confusion those who live in the invisible while in the visible world can be as yeast, the ferment, the center of the light which is illuminating the dark places, because they remain in peace and are quietly and gently instructed. And by instruction I mean the only form it could take, that of feeling the actual Presence, the reality of the helping guiding spirit.
As you well know, when novices attempt to push forward through their own effort and fresh enthusiasm the world opposes. This is true in art and all human endeavor – that when a positive move is made an obstruction is met. The question then is, Will the challenge dismay and discourage?
In the material world the successful ones are not dismayed but gather more strength, win more victories. But the young soul with its new perceptions half revealed, a little overconfident because he is not on guard against the outer you, goes down in a cloud of chilling doubt, for the world is grim indeed to those sensitive souls just awakening.

When you go beyond the point of perception, the burden is lifted for the first time. Remain steadfast! Return to childlike simplicity and doubt not. Are you not aware that there is a no-man’s-land between your periods of invisible at-one-ment, your holy communion, your sense of reliance in these heavenly moments, and the contact with the impinging material world with its laws of time and place, events and confusions?

It is indeed hard to remain there and remember across the no-man’s-land to this place of creative power and serenity. What has happened, and why you have felt the protection of peace, is that the no-man’s-land is narrowing, you remain closer to your place of safety and you are able to bring beams of light to your material world.

You have asked to be spiritual beings; do you know what spirituality is? It is a loftiness, a sustaining, august, fiery, yet still presence. Can you carry this feeling across no-man’s-land and hold it in your spiritually-evaporating outside life? Whatever happens, stand in thy full spiritual stature and deny everything that is not of God; nothing will then have power over you except your highest conception.

Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood




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3/8/10

Helen Schucman's reading habits

Early in the process of scribing the A Course in Miracles Text, Helen Schucman recorded waking “part-vision experiences” while she was doing her exercises. The significance of this look into the personal life of Dr. Schucman is the fact that at the same time she was scribing the Course, she was also reading other books.

We can tell from her writing style and the wide range of literary allusions contained within the Course that Helen was an avid reader. Her husband Louis was a bookstore owner. One can easily imagine that the library in the Schucman household was extensive and varied. Book lovers are rarely satisfied with a mere handful of books.

Apart from the influence of numerous psychologists and educators, and in addition to the various literary or philosophical themes reflected in the Course, we know that Helen and Bill were familiar with the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, Edgar Cayce, and specifically, Letters of a Scattered Brotherhood.

That title, an anthology published as a book in 1948, is specifically mentioned in the Course urtext by name.


Helen Schucman: Last night I felt briefly but intensely depressed, temporarily under the impression that I was abandoned. I tried, but couldn’t get through at all. After a while, I decided to give up for the time being, and . . .
He [the voice] said,“Don’t worry. I will never leave or forsake you.”
Helen Schucman: I did feel a little better, and decided I was really not sick, so I could return to my exercises. While I was exercising, I had some part-vision experiences which I found only mildly frightening at times, and quite reassuring at others. I am not too sure of the sequence, but it began with a very clear assurance of love, and an equally clear emphasis on my own great value, beauty and purity. Things got a little confusing after that.
First, the idea of “Bride of Christ” occurred to me with vaguely inappropriate undertones. Then there was a repetition of “the way of Love”, and a restatement of an earlier experience, now as if it were from Him to me:
He [the voice] “Behold the Handmaid of the Lord; Be it done unto you according to His Word.”
This threw me into panic before, but at that time, it was stated in the more accurate Biblical phrasing:
He [the voice]“Be it done unto ME according to HIS Word.”
This time I was a bit uneasy, but remembered I had misperceived it last time, and was probably still not seeing it right. Actually, it is really just a statement of allegiance to the Divine Service, which can hardly be dangerous.
Then there was a strange sequence, in which Christ seemed to be making very obvious advances, which became quite sexual in my perception of them. I almost thought briefly that he turned into a devil. I got just a little scared, and the possession idea came in for a while, but I thought it SO silly, that there is no point in taking it seriously.
This morning we reviewed the whole episode.
He said he was:  “Very pleased at the COMPARATIVE lack of fear, and also the concomitant awareness that it WAS misperception. This showed much greater strength, and a much increased Right- Mindedness. This is because defenses are now being used much better, on behalf of truth more than error, though not completely so.The weaker use of mis-projection is shown by my recognition that it can’t REALLY be that way, which became possible as soon as denial was applied against error, NOT truth. This permitted a much greater awareness of alternative interpretations."
It was also explained:
“Remember the section in “Letters from the Scattered Brotherhood” you read last evening about ‘Hold fast’, and please do so. You know that when defenses are disrupted there is a period of real disorientation, accompanied by fear, guilt, and usually vacillations between anxiety and depression.
This process is different only in that defenses are not being disrupted, but re-interpreted, even though it may be experienced as the same thing. In the reinterpretation of defenses, they are not disrupted but their use for ATTACK is lost. Since this means they can be used only ONE way, they became MUCH stronger, and much more dependable. They no longer oppose the Atonement, but greatly facilitate it. The Atonement can only be accepted within you."

After much searching, the best I can determine is that the reference to Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood is to this passage:

If I told you that every time you pressed your finger on a given spot the wishes of your heart would be fulfilled, you would come here and press your finger on this spot. There is reality in doing a sensuous thing that you can feel. But if I told you that you could do the same thing with your mind, at once there would be a strange barrier.
This childlike lesson illustrates the whole teaching of Christ; his spirit must be felt as this touch is felt, then you have control. You feel this reality of the flesh, but it appears that when you are asked to touch with the mind, a lost feeling comes because man is so constituted that it is difficult for him to shape his imagination so that it is as one-pointed as this feeling of physical contact. To tell an ordinary man he can touch a spirit with his mind bewilders him; even you who have been trained in this way of life realize how far away you are from the practice of being in actual contact. And yet the traffic of daily living is carried on through thought, though even the presentation of the idea confuses the average man.
There are currents of thought that flow in all directions, and you can touch a layer, a sort of strata of impulses and be caught and held captive. An irritating presence concentrates the finger of the mind on a layer of dislike and its attending mutations. Because of the pleasure of dislike the mind is held, the contact is easy. Again the mind touches the current of material success. You hear that success breeds success; why? Because the flush of excitement, pleasure, gaiety involuntarily keeps the finger in contact. So it is with evil; you can touch it with all the passions. In fact, once started in the negative, and more familiar layer, the concentrated finger of the mind is held fast, touching these unseen realities.
The question is, have you the will necessary to make you one-pointed toward the spiritual impulses? Perhaps not as yet; and that is why our sympathy is profound and long-suffering, because you are asked to transcend all known experience. You are asked to believe in the invisible, in something beyond all known experience. We ask you to make as real as the touching of your finger in the physical contact this other experience-and that is to keep the finger of the mind on this thought of awareness. Awareness of the Presence in oneness with your inner you; to be aware of him about you and in every activity of your daily life. This taxes all your forces. It is hard, with everything flowing against you, snatching at you, to do this. And yet you have already known a curious breaking through the clouds, glimpses of a great reality that can be sustained. It is as if you saw a shaft of light so golden, so crystal clear,,,, so unlike any light of your experience that you were struck dumb, and even while you looked, it has gone, and in trying to reconstruct it you had dulled it.
But these are indeed glimpses of the Light of the Spirit; be not faint-hearted. Turn to it; stretch out the finger of your mind and touch this light; touch it, touch it all through the day and it will clear the mind of vain imagining, of fear thoughts. It will empty the sub cellars of lurking fears; it will keep you from overstraining. Don’t live like waltzing mice in a cage; wake up, stop wherever you are and touch with your mind this high state, this high spirit, this light where you are!
Who is master? The world or you? It is the eternal struggle; the world, so dramatic, so exciting; the Spirit, so gentle, so . . . still.

-  oOo   -


Published on Scribd.com - eBook in PDF format

Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood
House of Light digital edition

114 pages
11 x 8.5"







Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky



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3/7/10

The Outward Thrust of Faith


Published on Scribd.com - eBook in PDF format

Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood
House of Light digital edition

114 pages
11 x 8.5"




The Outward Thrust of Faith

There is a divine illumination from earthly things that will bring great joy and heavenly release to you if seen through the pure eyes of the Spirit; when you bathe, when you eat, when you walk, when you sleep-these are great symbols and are holy. When you work changing the unseen into maintenance - which you do when you use your mind to earn your bread) be holy by pouring the light upon humble ordinary things, for thus will you be transfigured and your day be blessed to you. Also it is one way to overcome the world which can be made a constant sacrament. Have more joy in your daily life, for renouncing the world is first of all to have a greater zest for things infinite than things finite.

The idea of renouncing joy is destructive. Have greater joy, but be sure the source of it is within rather than without — and lest you be misled, that simply means to be more aware of him you worship while you play, for he abides in a lifted heart. He overcame the world; put the world, therefore, at his feet. Sometimes in the past you have gone across the no-man’s land we have talked about for inspiration and then you have left it behind you and have stood in your workaday world and expected to get results for your workaday spirit.

No! Results may come that way, but slowly, inadequately. Your direct action is when you go back to your world charged and supercharged and stay charged. I have spoken at length on this for it is time you were more awake to your own power within. Go, therefore, plunge, experiment, do it joyfully. Nothing is too simple, too tiny. Go and move mountains and awake! The outward thrust of faith is your stand.


- oOo -

Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky

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