Name: Stefan Schulz
Date: June 18, 2024
Course: Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) of ULC Seminary
Lesson: IX – Miracles
1. Ask a friend of yours to explain his or her understanding of "mind over matter" versus "matter over mind." After listening to them, give them your understanding of the Course's position on how the ego gives the body power over the mind. Give a written report of your conversation.
In order to discuss and explain the understanding of „mind over matter" vs. „matter over mind", we (my wife and I) structured our conversation by the following working hypothesises:
§ Working hypothesis for the term „matter":
o physical substance, made of elements which have specific chemical and physical properties as well as forms (solid, liquid, gas, plasma)
o has inertia and is subject to the force of gravity
o occupies space and possesses mass
o distinct from energy, but has own, residual energy by itself
o distinct from consciousness / mind / spirit
o any object of mass/matter can be moved by applying force to it
§ Working hypothesis for the term „enery":
o two basic forms: a. energy as a concept of natural science, e.g. in form of kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, electromagnetic or nuclear energy and b. spiritual energy
o is able to move mass/matter
o has not a measurable mass, but can be converted into matter/mass and vice versa
o can change but cannot dissapear or be destroyed
§ Working hypothesis for the term „mind":
o holistic faculty of spirit, consciousness and thought of a human being
o brain is a part of the human body and supports the processes of the mind physically
o the mind is able to create anything without physical limits or concepts of human reasoning (e.g. time, aging, civilization, science) and is therefore superior to currently known physical or scientific laws
o the „Ego" has its origin within the human mind and is a self-evolving, changeable part of the mind. It does not pre-exist the physical origination / creation of a human being and can be understood as the „false self"
o key to a full understanding of the „mind" is the examination of the biblical term "Kingdom within you" (see Gospel of Luke 17:21), which refers to a non-material, true, unchangeable essence of human being and therefore as well as of the human mind, which is part of a human being. It can be understood as one´s „true self" and has an origin that existed before the physical creation of humanity and their minds. In Christian-Hebrew tradition, God created humanity after His "likeness" and in His "image" (see the biblical book of Genesis 1:26-27). This "similarity" refers to the aspect, that His creation is equipped with a specific medium or channel for communicating with His Spirit, which is the „Kingdom within you" mentioned above. In this context „Spirit" can be understood as the flow of pure „universal life energy" from God to every human being (see the biblical Book of Genesis 2:7: "And the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul")
o hence, in addition to the human mind, there is a universal „higher mind" („God") which pre-exists the human mind
Our conclusion based on this holistic understanding of mind is that "mind" under these conditions is fundamentally superior to "matter". After this clarification, we understand the Course's position on how the ego gives power to the body over the mind as follows:
§ In our perspective the validity of this process is due to the ego's key ability to create "illusions" within the human mind by initiating a perpetual, evolving "illusory energy flow" to protect itself, to learn, to grow, to expand, and to dominate all levels of consciousness.
§ The illusionary energy of the ego blocks, or dilutes the pure, real universal life energy flow of God for its purposes. In this respect, the ego tries to make this true-life energy increasingly and permanently no longer come into reality, because the flow and dominance of this true universal life energy would result in its repression and death.
§ As a result, the ego strives to make the universal life energy of God ineffective within the human being by creating the illusion of separation / duality of God and the human being. Speaking metaphorically, for this purpose the ego wants to conquer and to dominate the kingdom of God within the human being.
§ This process blocks or neutralizes any real spiritual energy within the human, so that over time the human being's existence is reduced to its mortal, evolving ego-consciousness and to its body with its brain and its five senses. This is how an ego-dominated entity of action/ perception/ projection is created.
§ This ego-consciousness, robbed of its true spirituality, in combination with its instrument, the body, is then only able to perceive worldly, material, spiritually gutted environmental impulses, to react to them or to project them.
§ Hence, the ego has the bias to transform/to align/to force any perceived divine life energy down to the material and immaterial needs of the ego. This is a process of evolving, perpetual, spiritual separation by which every level of consciousness of the human being is successively transformed through this process. At the same time, the human being is reduced more and more to "this world," i.e. to his/her mere physical existence. Ego and body are merging more and more into a material unity/synthesis by influencing each other.
§ Then real, God-given life energy no longer comes into play due to egoic overlays and blockages. In Christianity this state of being is clearly described in The Epistle to the Romans as "life in the flesh" (see Romans 8:5-8: "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.").
2. Explain how giving reinforces what was given.
The act of giving can on the surface be performed on an immaterial (love, hate, forgiveness, rejection, help, fear etc.) or material (goods, things etc.) level. Giving on a material level can be understood as a symbol/representative of giving on an immaterial level. Every act of giving has an underlying, (un-/sub-)conscious cause/motivation/source/spirit and therefore involves always "mind energy" in form of projection of thoughts, emotions, aims, will, as well as "physical energy" (in order to perform the act of projection physically/ "technically" in form of thought processes of the brain, by using words, prayers, art, music, poetry, forms non-verbal communication or to initiate any other form of physical activity, e.g. like to provide advice, to write down a plan etc.).
Furthermore, one should note that energy can be exchanged or converted (a change of form), but it can never be lost or disappear. This means that a system always has the same amount of energy, unless it is added from the outside. In this way, what is given continues to be exchanged / multiplied / reinforced / shared / ignored etc. by all beings involved.
In this context, it is essential to understand what the initial/original spiritual source behind the specific act of giving is. Therefore, in my perspective, "giving" includes always a projection of spiritual energy onto other beings.
Through the spiritual (as well as physical) involvement of other beings/entities, the act of projection (=releasing spiritual energy) has also an effect of multiplication. At the initiative level, it can be understood as the beginning of a chain reaction in which the recipient of what has been given will project or process what has been given (un-) consciously and, based on his or her respective state of consciousness. Therefore the recipient will also interact with or project onto other beings as well as onto the giver in reverse.
The ego-mind always sees "giving" (= (sub-) consciously projection) as a "trade" to protect itself, to grow and to dominate at the expense of others, and in this context possibly as a "loss" (of time, money, energy, or material goods), or as a "gain" (e.g. when the goal intended by "giving" is achieved, but also through sharing or transferring of supposed fears, burdens, problems).
However, the true self, which is in a state of spiritual oneness with God and no longer being blocked, manipulated, diluted or distorted by "egoistic consciousness", will in turn radiate and share the received universal, unchangeable and inexhaustible life energy of God, which is love, forgiveness, peace, joy, righteousness, wisdom, and freedom.
Universal life energy passed on in this way has two effects: The recipient is healed or freed from negative bonds and can therefore also pass on God's experienced love, forgiveness, joy, peace, freedom, etc. to other beings. On the other hand, passed on love, forgiveness etc. does not become less for the giver through passing on, because it will also initiate and reinforce healing and liberation processes of one´s own. This also means that God-given, spiritual, universal life energy has not only the faculty not to be lost, but to increase on its own. Therefore, any sharing of God's true nature is not comparable to any ego-driven "trade" (=a "zero-sum game" of profit and loss) or subject to currently known physical laws, but rather a divine radiation and multiplication of God´s essential qualities and thus the prerequisite for an unlimited growth of universal, inexhaustible, true life energy within and between God's creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment