Does A Course in Miracles Teach That I Require a Holy Relationship in Order to Awaken

 Does A Course in Miracles Teach That I Require a Holy Relationship in Order to Awaken

I wish to ask you in what A Course in Miracles means by Holy Relationship. In a single area of the book it covers "entering the ark" together, and it almost sounds as though you'll need one other specific person in order to awaken. Therefore, I think I approach each new person with the expectation that maybe THIS might be the partnership that reflects enlightenment if you ask me, and I for them! Am I taking this too literally? Or do you actually need to have another to assist you awaken?a course in miracles

I appreciate your own time so much and thank you for the help if you ask me and others. I thank you and I thank God for you. Namaste.

David Hoffmeister: Thanks for the openness and your willingness to check deeply at what's underneath these topics and issues. A Course in Miracles teaches that the split mind contains both the situation (the ego) and the Solution (the Holy Spirit). When they're brought together, only One remains.

Your body and the world are always the focus of ego's perspective, for this seeks to make real problems and struggles in the world and to prevent the inner Healing Correction of the Holy Spirit. The ego's distorted world is the merchandise of identity confusion, an outpicturing of the belief it is possible to make an identity which God didn't create. The ego is this identity problem and it had been Answered or forgiven by the Holy Spirit the instant it seemed to arise. This 1 problem might be described as an authority problem or even a confusion in who's the author of Reality. Your head that believes in the truth of the time-space cosmos has a get a handle on issue, for this believes that it can create itself. This ego mind also thinks it's in competition with God, although this really is pushed out of conscious awareness. This unconscious ego thought system is exposed in the A Course in Miracles Workbook lessons, and Lesson 13 contains a great example with this unveiling:

"A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God."

This really is the start of training the mind to forgive, for the focus is brought back to the mind, back to thinking, and recinded from the human body and the world. Anorexia, weight issues, body image issues, and interpersonal relationship issues are examples of projection, of seeing the situation where it's not: in the world. Your head cannot tolerate the belief in a battle with God, and this belief is pushed out of awareness. The deep-seated control issue such a belief entails is then projected to the human body and the world. Weight control, like any attempt to manage the script or the human body, is an endeavor to manage the past. The Holy Spirit teaches that days gone by can only be forgiven or released or regarded as false—not fixed or controlled or changed.

Exactly the same ego dynamic is underneath interpersonal relationship struggles of power and control, of wanting to correct or change a person or even a self-image. Personal relationships might appear to sail happily along for awhile, yet the make-believe self-concept IS the personal perspective and thus is obviously on shaky ground. Decisions are continuous. The Holy Spirit is a decision. The ego is a decision. Atonement is your choice that ends all decisions, an acceptance of the changelessness of Mind. The ego is your choice to believe that the mind may be separate from God. Once the mind believed that it had separated and built this time-space world, this time-space world of bodies became its substitute identity, as it believed it'd discarded the Kingdom of Heaven. The entire world was made up as a substitute identity. The sleeping mind is split on your choice of identity. The Holy Spirit says, "This world is not Identity. This world can be an illusion." And thus the Holy Spirit reminds the mind constantly, "This world is not your Home. This world is not your Identity. This world is not real." As the mind is split it's hearing another voice (the ego) that's saying: "You've done it. You've separated from God. You'd better make the very best of it and find something of the world to recognize with. You can never return for God will punish you."

Thought-form associations seem to become a substitute identity. The ego mind appears to be identified with the human body, with family, with environments that seem to surround it (i.e., I'm an American, Japanese, I'm male, I'm female, I'm from a rich family, from an unhealthy family, I'm Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.) All of these are thought-form associations. And these seeming other persons and places surrounding the small personal self are all part with this construction. Your head is very shaky concerning this small identity, this small self, this little me. So the small me is shaky, and it appears as though other persons give the small me reality and importance (i.e., you're my son, my daughter, you're my boss, you're a loving father, etc.) and all different items that these images seem to be telling this little me seem to be really important. Praise thus seems very important (i.e., you are a person and you're a great one!).

Praise and acceptance from others SEEM to stabilize this very shaky thing (i.e., you're a good lover, you're a good provider, you're great with the youngsters, you've a superb intellect, you've such a heart, you help serve so many other folks, you're a good team-player, on and on). This aspect of the self-concept says that you are a person and you've most of these positive attributes that actually allow you to a valuable and worthy person, that produce you be noticeable above the crowd. You're not only anyone—you're somebody special. The flip side is criticism, which directly reflects the shaky sense of self. Criticism would be: you're not as great as you think you are, you're not such a good team player, such a good provider, so good in bed—all the things which are taken as insults to the personal self-concept). That's the flip side of the strokes. To the ego self-concept that believes both sides (the positive and negative) of thinking are real, the Holy Spirit is perceived as a good threat, for the Holy Spirit results in the experience of forgiveness or the realization that none of the tiny images perceived as separate have any reality.

When the criticism seems in the future, the ego attempts a substitution. It thinks, "I don't need this. I'll go elsewhere and start other relationships with people who are able to appreciate my talents and skills and abilities, appreciate my personhood. I'll avoid those negative influences in the world and those negative people. I'll find someone else or join friends where people are like-minded and neglect the rest of the world. These new people will like me and stroke me and praise me." The attempt at substitution is an endeavor to maintain a feeling of specialness, a feeling of separation, a feeling of individuality (a private mind with private thoughts). Those attempts are special love relationships. They appear to reinforce worth and value and to validate personhood. And they give you a false witness for clinging to the ego as identity. To the ego, past associations serve to give personhood some sense of stability and consistency and value. Yet, the Holy Spirit demonstrates past associations offer nothing of value, for they certainly were made by the ego to deny the truth of God's Love.

Holy relationship emphasizes and reflects Content (right-minded thinking) and has an awareness of the meaninglessness of form. As the ego's believed relationships will seem to be specific, yet every one will present a chance to release the belief in specifics. Divine Mind is Abstract and Universal. Forgiveness is the bridge to the remembrance of Christ and God, Divine Abstraction. Thus the Holy Spirit teaches in A Course in Miracles:

"Whenever you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you'll treat yourself. As you consider him you'll consider yourself. Remember this, for in him you will see yourself or lose yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they're given another chance at salvation. Do not leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving it yourself. For I am always there with you, in remembrance of you.