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

[Jhon Dolton]

I want to ask you by what A Course in Miracles means by Holy Relationship. In one single part of the book it covers "entering the ark" together, and it almost sounds like you will need one other specific person to be able to awaken. Therefore, I think I approach each new person with the expectation that maybe THIS might be the partnership that reflects enlightenment to me, and I in their mind! Am I taking this too literally? Or do you actually need another to assist you awaken?

I appreciate your own time so much and thanks for the help to me and others. I thanks 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. A Course in Miracles teaches that the split mind contains both the situation (the ego) and the Solution (the Holy Spirit). When they are brought together, only One remains.

The human body and the world are usually the focus of ego's perspective, for this seeks to make real problems and struggles on the planet and to prevent the inner Healing Correction of the Holy Spirit. The ego's distorted world is the item 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 absolutely was Answered or forgiven by the Holy Spirit the instant it appeared to arise. That one problem might be described being an authority problem or even a confusion in who's the author of Reality. The mind that believes in the truth of the time-space cosmos has a get a grip on issue, for this believes that it can cause itself. This ego mind also thinks it is in competition with God, although this 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 fantastic example with this unveiling:

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

This is the start of training your head to forgive, for the focus is cut back to your head, back once again to thinking, and recinded from the body and the world. Anorexia, weight issues, body image issues, and interpersonal relationship issues are samples of projection, of seeing the situation where it is not: in the world. The mind cannot tolerate the belief in a war with God, so this belief is pushed out of awareness. The deep-seated control issue this kind of belief entails is then projected to the body and the world. Weight control, like any attempt to manage the script or the body, is an endeavor to manage the past. The Holy Spirit teaches that yesteryear can only be forgiven or released or viewed 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 fix or change a person or even a self-image. Personal relationships may seem to sail happily along for awhile, yet the make-believe self-concept IS the private perspective and thus is obviously on shaky ground. Decisions are continuous. The Holy Spirit is just a decision. The ego is just 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 your head could be separate from God. Once your head believed that it had separated and built this time-space world, this time-space world of bodies became its substitute identity, because it believed it had thrown away the Kingdom of Heaven. The world was created up instead identity. The sleeping mind is split on your choice of identity. The Holy Spirit says, "This world isn't Identity. This world is an illusion." And thus the Holy Spirit reminds your head constantly, "This world isn't your Home. This world isn't your Identity. This world isn't real." Whilst the mind is split it is 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 identify with. You can never go back for God will punish you."

Thought-form associations seem to become substitute identity. The ego mind is apparently identified with the body, with family, with environments that appear to surround it (i.e., I'm an American, Japanese, I'm male, I'm female, I'm from a wealthy family, from an undesirable family, I'm Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.) Many of these are thought-form associations. And these seeming other persons and places surrounding the little personal self are all part with this construction. The mind is quite shaky about any of it small identity, this small self, this little me. So the little me is shaky, and it looks like other persons give the little 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 appear to be telling this little me appear to be really important. Praise thus seems extremely important (i.e., you are a person and you're a good one!).

Praise and acceptance from others SEEM to stabilize this very shaky thing (i.e., you're a great lover, you're a great provider, you're great with the youngsters, you have a superb intellect, you have this kind of heart, you help serve so many others, you're a great team-player, on and on). This part of the self-concept says that you will be a person and you have all of these positive attributes that actually make you a valuable and worthy person, that make you stick out 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 this kind of good team player, this kind of good provider, so good in bed—all the stuff that are taken as insults to the private self-concept). That's the flip side of the strokes. To this ego self-concept that believes both parties (the positive and negative) of thinking are real, the Holy Spirit is perceived as a great threat, for the Holy Spirit contributes to the ability 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 on the planet and those negative people. I'll find someone else or join an organization where people are like-minded and overlook the remaining world. These new people will require to me and stroke me and praise me." The attempt at substitution is an endeavor to keep up a sense of specialness, a sense of separation, a sense of individuality (a private mind with private thoughts). Those attempts are special love relationships. They seem to bolster worth and value and to validate personhood. And they provide a false witness for clinging to the ego as identity. To the ego, past associations serve to provide personhood some sense of stability and consistency and value. Yet, the Holy Spirit demonstrates past associations offer nothing of value, for they were produced by the ego to deny the facts of God's Love.

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

"Once you meet anyone, remember it is just a holy encounter. As you see him you might find yourself. As you treat him you'll treat yourself. As you consider him you'll consider yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will discover yourself or lose yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they are given another chance at salvation. Don't leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving it yourself. For I'm always there with you, in remembrance of you.