Saturday, January 3, 2015

I Am Doing This Unto Myself



In my dream I was in a very old, antique-looking, building.  I was alone and the building was dark and ominous.  I walked towards a room and reached over to turn the light on.  The light switch was outside the room in the hallway.  The moment I touched the light switch with my right hand, someone grabbed my hand.  I turned around to see no one there.  However, the unseen hand was still grasping my hand.  

In bed, next to my partner, I must have been breathing hard or making a noise because he realized I was having a nightmare.  He woke me up by touching me on my arm.  For a moment I was in a twilight state between sleeping and waking.  I was breathing very hard.  I still felt the hand from my dream grasping my right hand.  I shook my hand to release the grip.  At that moment my own left hand released my right hand.  I was then fully awake from the nightmare and all was well.  

You see, the unseen hand that grabbed my right hand in the dream was my own left hand while lying in bed next to my partner.  It was only when he woke me up that I realized that I was doing this to myself.  This is a common occurrence with my night dreams.  Something will happen in “real life” while I am dreaming, and my dreaming mind will incorporate that something into the dream.  

Later in the morning I was on Facebook and saw a status update by a fellow Course in Miracles student.  She was talking about the idea in the Course that says “you are doing this unto yourself.”  The two paragraphs that explain this beautifully are found in the chapter called “The Healing of the Dream” in a section called “The ‘Hero’ of the Dream.”    

The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself.  No matter what the form of the attack, this still is true.  Whoever takes the role of enemy and of attacker, still is this the truth.  Whatever seems to be the cause of any pain and suffering you feel, this is still true.  For you would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew that you were dreaming.  Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to recognize it is your dream (T-27.VIII.10).

This single lesson learned will set you free from suffering, whatever form it takes.  The Holy Spirit will repeat this one inclusive lesson of deliverance until it has been learned, regardless of the form of suffering that brings you pain.  Whatever hurt you bring to Him He will make answer with this very simple truth.  For this one answer takes away the cause of every form of sorrow and of pain.  The form affects His answer not at all, for He would teach you but the single cause of all of them, no matter what their form.  And you will understand that miracles reflect the simple statement, "I have done this thing, and it is this I would undo" (T-27.VIII.11).

My dream illustrated this teaching very clearly to me.  While fully immersed in the dream, I thought I was being attacked by something outside of myself – a ghost or a demon perhaps.  It was only when I was awakened from the dream that I was able to see that I was doing it to myself.  It was my own hand and not the hand of a ghost or demon.  After I woke up my partner asked me if I was okay.  I said that I was.  He said, “Are you sure?”  I said, “Yes.  It was just a dream.”  He couldn’t see it in the dark, but I had a slight smile on my face.  It was funny to me to realize that the “dream hand” was my own hand. 

What the passage from the Course is saying is that this is the case no matter the situation.  Any time I suffer, I am doing this to myself.  No matter the outward form of the suffering, I am doing this to myself.  This is indeed a lesson that the Holy Spirit teaches me over and over again.

I don’t always learn the lesson right away.  I might go through days or weeks thinking that I am the victim of some outside person or situation that is the cause of my suffering.  As long as I believe this way, I am in a hopeless situation.  The only way my suffering will end is if the other person or situations changes in some way.  

Usually, a passage or lesson from the Course will “wake me up.”  It will show me, in one way or another, that I am the cause of my own suffering.  It also shows me that I am the cause of my release.  "I have done this thing, and it is this I would undo."  Learning this lesson over and over again is freeing to me.  As my Facebook friend (Myron Jones) said, “What has been done to me leaves me a victim.  What I have done to myself, I can undo.”  

I am so grateful for this lesson.  It is my prayer that I will fully internalize it so that I never forget.  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your patience with me and your willingness to teach me.

Friday, January 2, 2015

The Real Enemies


The recent suicide of a transgender female in Ohio has brought this issue to national attention.  I have seen this story shared many times on social media.  Many of my friends are very angry with her parents for their lack of support and their attempts to have her change and be a boy.  While this anger is understandable, I feel that it is misdirected.

Whether the issue is equality for transgender individuals, gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals, people of color, religious minorities or any other group, the enemy of equality is not people.  Our tendency is to focus on the people that perform acts of evil – bullies, parents, police, suicide bombers, etc.  We then label them evil and demand that they be punished.

However, the truth, spoken so powerfully by Martin Luther King, Jr., is that “evildoers are also victims and are not evil people.”  The third principle of nonviolence that Dr. King taught is stated in full: 

PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.
Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people. 
The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not people.

The real enemy, then, is injustice.  And, injustice arises as a result of misinformation (a nice way of saying “ignorance”).  When we perpetuate misinformation in our various institutions (church, schools, government, family, etc.), we are creating the breeding ground for injustice.  It is important that we keep our focus on the real enemies – misinformation and injustice. 

When we know who the real enemies are, we then know what our tasks must be if we are to create change.  Our tasks are to inform, to educate, and to demand that the institutions that inform and educate our children do a better job.  The problem is a systematic one.  Our systems of injustice must change.  Those systems ultimately emerge from a thought-system of fear, separation, division, and irreconcilable differences.  It is our institutions and the thought-system that gives them birth that must change.   

This young woman’s parents are not the enemies.  Christians are not the enemies.  Republicans or Democrats are not the enemies.  Ignorance and injustice – those are the enemies.  We all have to live together on this planet, in this country, in our local communities.  The only way we can do that is if we all work together to defeat all systems of injustice.

The task I give myself is to “think globally, act locally.”  I think globally by being aware of all of the systems of injustice on the world stage.  I act locally by first and foremost, starting with my own mind.  Am I feeding the thought-system of fear, separation, division, and irreconcilable differences?  Or, am I feeding the thought-system of love, oneness, communion, and reconciliation?  I then act locally by practicing the thought-system of love in all of my relationships with friends, family, co-workers, clients, strangers, etc.  I then act locally by being aware of systems of injustice in my local community.  What am I doing to make a difference?  Am I taking action, or am I waiting for someone else to take the first step? 

If all of us do this, all of our local acts of justice and compassion will transform the world.  So, I encourage all of you to “think globally, act locally.”  Start with your own mind.  Then move out into your most local relationships.  Then expand this to your community.  And, always remember that our goal is to defeat evil, not people.