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Originally Posted by L5P Michelle  I enjoy Hawkins' books, but I just don't buy into the "calibrating" theory. It's impossible for me to truly know if someone else is enlightened or at what level they are enlightened. I can only know the story I tell myself about someone's enlightenment. Besides: There is really no one else out there, but the One. Which is why I think this is all immaterial, anyway. Only my ego is fascinated by this comparison stuff, because my ego loves to separating "them" from me, loves to figure out who is "better" or "worse," "levels," etc. So, while I enjoyed Hawkins' book, his theory isn't useful for me.
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Because Love is part of me yet that which also transcends me, it is beyond my ego to "acquire" it or "achieve" it. I'm not expert, but my few experiences with Love suggest it's known through Grace. Grace is mystery -- beyond my understanding.
I don't believe that any egos are capable of true Love. Egos actually block Love. There are always some attachments there to work through, always some hidden agenda, belief systems. The more honest I've become with myself, the more clearly I see this in myself --- and not try to judge it!
True love does occur, but it's not our doing. It's something which appears in this world, despite our blocks. Christians call this Grace, so that's the symbol I'll use to describe it, I guess.
My understanding of A Course of Miracles is that it is a mind training which aims to gently un-do the false ego structure which continually blocks our awareness of Love/God (our true nature). I really think the Course encourages us to embrace a state of ceaseless prayer/surrender, which creates the spaciousness/opening through which Grace/Love appears. |
I ran into the exact same problem with Hawkins & I figure once I drop my impositions on to the material then I'll have understood what it means to be completely free from my ego. Until then I'm avoiding certain parts of his writings such as all his calibrations. I do like his other writings though.. like about meditation & about nonduality. That's been helpful in some ways.
I don't understand the concept of Grace either. But then again I didn't understand faith until really recently & I'm still not good at applying faith at all times. I wonder what Grace is.. but then again what comes to mind is "by the Grace of God am I"... by God's love then am I to be? I think that might be what Grace is but then to feel it is another story.
Yes I agree a Course in Miracles is training. Still it is very difficult. I have a lot of trouble 100% applying it. To be consistently forgiving is very difficult yet is emphasized in almost every religion I've read about. Thanks for your thoughts.. actually really helpful for me.