Swine flu?

How does a Course in Miracles student look at the recent swine flu outbreak?

ACIM teaches that the world is a projection of the unconscious mind. It symbolises the belief in guilt that lies there. In this sense, every “problem” in the world is the same problem presented in different forms. As a result, every problem in the world has the same solution: forgiveness.

I have often said that this forgiveness is not the world’s forgiveness. The world’s forgiveness accepts the reality of the problem, and then tries to overlook it. ACIM’s forgiveness, on the other hand, is about totally transcending the reality of the world.

ACIM teaches that the truth about you is immortal. While the world and everything in it will ultimately pass away, spirit will not. Your body is mortal, but your mind is immortal.

This is the basis for joy and the release from fear in ACIM. If you were only your body, then you would have great cause for fear, because all kinds of bad things can happen to the body. It is a deeply vulnerable thing. The message of ACIM is simply that you are a not a body, and, because of this, you do not need to be concerned about what happens to the body.

Of course you still take care of the body. After all, you do perceive it as your temporary home. But, when things do go wrong (and they must, sooner or later) you do not experience this as a threat against you, and therefore you have no cause for fear.

The problem that most people have with spirituality is accepting the idea that they have an immortal reality. Someone who has not experienced that as a fact can only accept or reject it as a belief. What ACIM provides is a set of practices that attempt to lead you to this experience. ACIM does not ask you to blindly believe the idea that you are immortal. It does however ask you to trust the idea and practice it until you do experience it.

That experience of your immortal reality is what ACIM calls Atonement. The state in which you experience only that and nothing else is what has been traditionally called Enlightenment.

So as far as swine flu is concerned, it is simply another form of the single error: the idea that you are a mortal body that can die. If that idea disappears, then any fear of sickness goes with it.

Namaste,
Igacim

There is no need for sacrifice

I receive random Buddhist quotes on my iGoogle page every day, and was surprised to see the following:

“Renunciation is not getting rid of the things of this world, but accepting that they pass away.” - Aitken Roshi

This is a point that is also stressed very often in A Course in Miracles, that we are not asked to “sacrifice” anything:

M-4.I.A.3. 3 It seems as if things are being taken away, and it is rarely understood initially that their lack of value is merely being recognized.

This is a difficult lesson for us to learn, because we believe that if we let go control over the things around us, we will also lose them. Worse, we may believe that we have to give them away as a sacrifice to “atone for our sins.” But ACIM teaches very clearly that there is no sin, and therefore sacrifice is pointless.

As Course students, therefore, we can simply live our lives. We do not need to do anything special (T-18.VII).

As I continue to study the history and teachings of Buddhism I am pleasantly surprised by the similarities with ACIM. The teachings may be different in philosophy, but in practice they amount to the same thing. As ACIM teaches:

C-in.2. 4 Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. 5 A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. 6 It is this experience toward which the course is directed. 7 Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.

Therefore look beyond the theory, drop the controversy, and accept the simple peace that is there for the taking in any moment.

Remember that this is not a difficult course. Only our unwillingness to do it can be difficult. In Buddhist terms, this amounts to the refusal to accept “anicca” – the simple fact that all things pass away eventually.

Namaste.
Igacim