Allow me to reiterate the previous, er, truth. It gets confusing when groups of people are lumped together and it's called religion. Religions are made up of individuals who have found some commonality and prefer to walk together...until they disagree. It may be more helpful to examine the groups challenge by first examining the individual challenge.
The fictional self is who we thought we were when we forgot that we were love. We may include every invented reality we used to embellish those misconceptions. For discussion, I will call this fictional self an *ego*. When a fictional aspect of personality is face to face with true existence, such questions arise as, 'Who am I? How can my projections and inventions be integrated with reality? How can these self-generated factors - unsupported by reality - be made real?'.
Existence exposes truth, and it can be a great defender of our own truth if we allow it to shatter that which is not really who we are. If we persist beyond our challenges and revelations to enforce our invented reality, challenges will persist. "Sin" is just the force and mischief used to instill and empower invented realities. To the degree we make such investments, we move away from God, love, reality and access to truth.
We can invest in group identities that are not real with the same results. The result is a group ego competing for position, playing a very cruel game called *judgment*.
The world spends a great deal of energy on judgment, which is nothing less than a competition for invented realities. Love does not judge.
Now, when you consider that judgment was the original sin, you can see that divestiture from the group ego is in your best interest. Better yet, let us divest from the individual ego(s) we continue to enforce against reality...the ones that attracted like-minded people to surround us.
When you consider that death is needed only for fictional egos, then the benefits of divestiture begin to mount. Now we can consider our immortality in various ways. The good news is that all egos will perish and die...one way or another. We are graciously offered two kinds of death...both resulting in the death of fictional identities about ourselves that are not love. Physical death is the most common so far. That will be changing as people realize that we can accomplish death to fictional identities in much less dramatic fashion.
In your quest to divest, fear not. Only the fictional self and the embellishments we have used to support it will perish. This is the only need that ever existed for death. Therefore, when you choose, of your own volition to kill your fictional self, you have taken the first step to recovery of your conscious immortality. By the love and grace of God, you will be led to your next step until your full and complete Sonship is recovered. For some, the process will be complete in a twinkling of an eye, and for others more patience will be required. Growth has its own curve which is unique for each individual.
The hallmark of an ego is its unwillingness to forgive. This can help us identify an ego that must still die. Let us thank some individuals for refusing to forgive Danish cartoonists...for demonstrating the end result of egos identifying themselves with large groups...so we can see better. Withholding forgiveness is the egos assault against life. Only the ego judges, and through judgment it will perish. Our love will sustain our immortality because love knows nothing of judgement.
Some say truth hurts. But it only hurts the ego, and never the loving self that you are. Truth is the highest consciousness, and the ever-abiding presence of God in reality. In knowing that, you know the truth which is consonant with love.
The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgment. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgment. Through judgement, a man reveals what he still needs to confront and to learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered. Respect of reality is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Once we have accepted God as love, and love as being one with reality, then reality become a source of comfort and enlightenment. Reality becomes the servant of your love, rather than an agent of disappointment, as it can be if you respond to it with fear. The ego is the greatest magnet for attracting danger and treachery. The ego considers anything to be true that supports its survival, just as the mind considers anything to be true which supports the supremacy of logic. As a matter of fact, the mind cannot discern fact from fiction if both are presented with equal logic.
(To be continued...)
The fictional self is who we thought we were when we forgot that we were love. We may include every invented reality we used to embellish those misconceptions. For discussion, I will call this fictional self an *ego*. When a fictional aspect of personality is face to face with true existence, such questions arise as, 'Who am I? How can my projections and inventions be integrated with reality? How can these self-generated factors - unsupported by reality - be made real?'.
Existence exposes truth, and it can be a great defender of our own truth if we allow it to shatter that which is not really who we are. If we persist beyond our challenges and revelations to enforce our invented reality, challenges will persist. "Sin" is just the force and mischief used to instill and empower invented realities. To the degree we make such investments, we move away from God, love, reality and access to truth.
We can invest in group identities that are not real with the same results. The result is a group ego competing for position, playing a very cruel game called *judgment*.
The world spends a great deal of energy on judgment, which is nothing less than a competition for invented realities. Love does not judge.
Now, when you consider that judgment was the original sin, you can see that divestiture from the group ego is in your best interest. Better yet, let us divest from the individual ego(s) we continue to enforce against reality...the ones that attracted like-minded people to surround us.
When you consider that death is needed only for fictional egos, then the benefits of divestiture begin to mount. Now we can consider our immortality in various ways. The good news is that all egos will perish and die...one way or another. We are graciously offered two kinds of death...both resulting in the death of fictional identities about ourselves that are not love. Physical death is the most common so far. That will be changing as people realize that we can accomplish death to fictional identities in much less dramatic fashion.
In your quest to divest, fear not. Only the fictional self and the embellishments we have used to support it will perish. This is the only need that ever existed for death. Therefore, when you choose, of your own volition to kill your fictional self, you have taken the first step to recovery of your conscious immortality. By the love and grace of God, you will be led to your next step until your full and complete Sonship is recovered. For some, the process will be complete in a twinkling of an eye, and for others more patience will be required. Growth has its own curve which is unique for each individual.
The hallmark of an ego is its unwillingness to forgive. This can help us identify an ego that must still die. Let us thank some individuals for refusing to forgive Danish cartoonists...for demonstrating the end result of egos identifying themselves with large groups...so we can see better. Withholding forgiveness is the egos assault against life. Only the ego judges, and through judgment it will perish. Our love will sustain our immortality because love knows nothing of judgement.
Some say truth hurts. But it only hurts the ego, and never the loving self that you are. Truth is the highest consciousness, and the ever-abiding presence of God in reality. In knowing that, you know the truth which is consonant with love.
The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgment. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgment. Through judgement, a man reveals what he still needs to confront and to learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered. Respect of reality is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Once we have accepted God as love, and love as being one with reality, then reality become a source of comfort and enlightenment. Reality becomes the servant of your love, rather than an agent of disappointment, as it can be if you respond to it with fear. The ego is the greatest magnet for attracting danger and treachery. The ego considers anything to be true that supports its survival, just as the mind considers anything to be true which supports the supremacy of logic. As a matter of fact, the mind cannot discern fact from fiction if both are presented with equal logic.
(To be continued...)