Very few people appreciate the real power of the mind, and no one remains fully aware of it all the time”   …ACIM 

Everyone knows that the body is not going to remain, and therefore we all must face that experience we all dread, which we call death. Wow… It sure seems as if I’m getting off on a negative note; doesn’t it? Well don’t judge me too harshly, too quickly, for sometimes it’s better to face our fears rather than burying our heads in the pillows and ignoring them.

But is there really a reason to fear the experience most of us think of as the end of life? And if we really and truly believed it to be the end, then what is there to fear about it? I think the thing is, most of us inherently know that there’s no such thing as the end of life. That’s why we fear the experience we erroneously refer to as, death. We’re afraid because we believe, whether we want to admit it or not, there’s more beyond that which our physical senses can detect, and we don’t know what it is. In other words, we fear the unknown.

There are different beliefs concerning this physical experience, which we so erroneously refer to as life. There are many who believe that life began as a chemical reaction in a primordial chemical soup. Then there are many who believe they are created beings; created by a God of some sort. And there are many who are somewhere in between these two positions, not sure what to believe.

This post is not meant to change anyone’s mind concerning the subject. As always it’s simply my own perceptions as I perceive them. But it is written in the hope that it may be of benefit to someone somewhere. The hope is that it may foster a bit of understanding so that, as pointed out in the above image; some fears will dissolve. I don’t expect to provide enough understanding to cause them to, as Ms. Peerless said, “dissolve like melted ice.” 

But it can be a seed that gets planted in someone’s mind and if it finds a bit of welcome it could even put down some roots. That’s the way understanding begins. A tiny seed falls on fertile soil, which is composed of a desire to understand. It then sends its roots down until they find that place of reason that’s an inherent part of every mind.

This tiny seed then begins to grow into a trend of understanding which will cause fear to become less frozen in place. And if this new idea is watered and fed with the food of reasonable thought it will eventually cause those fears to dissolve like melted ice.

“There is no death because what God created shares His Life. There is no death because an opposite to God does not exist”   …ACIM

If we examine the two quotes above, we can very easily detect what seems like a contradiction between them. For the one in the image implies that there are some things that die, with which we can confuse ourselves. But the above header quote says, there is no death. It cannot be both ways, either some things die, or there is no death – it has to be one or the other.

One of the many statements the Course makes about itself is this one found in Lesson 156: “We are not inconsistent in the thoughts that we present in our curriculum. Truth must be true throughout if it be true. It cannot contradict itself nor be in parts uncertain and in others sure”

The Course is purposely written in a way that requires careful attention. It is not a text  that lends itself to any type of speed reading. A rapid and/or a careless reading of it will almost certainly raise the contradiction issue every time. It requires the assistance of patience, discernment and above all the power of reason to bring it to a point of understanding. But when these three attributes are employed in its study it eventually lights up with glorious clarity and simplicity.

The Course refers to two completely different worlds. There’s the world our physical senses are aware of, which is the one we have made for ourselves. This is the one the ego rules. It’s filled with all the negativity our split minds can conjure up, such as fear, misery, sickness, old age and in the end death. But, and it’s an important but, this one is not real. As Richard Bach wrote in his book, Illusions: ”This world? And everything in it? Illusions, Richard! Every bit of it illusions!

And then the Course describes a totally different world, which it refers to as the real world. This is the one God created. The ego doesn’t know anything about this one. It doesn’t even know it exists. It’s a world that forgiveness brings to the awareness of those who learn to forgive themselves and others. It’s not some faraway mysterious place, but the same world made anew through love and forgiveness. As Dr. Wayne W. Dyer said: “Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.”

“…The body is not real” 

The Course plainly tells us the same thing as Richard Bach did in his quote I used earlier.  Namely this world and everything in it, including the body, is an illusion. Whether we believe it or not is up to each of us individually. Even though I find it as difficult as anyone else to accept, I have come to believe the idea that it’s not real. And I understand that my physical senses find it completely real, but in my mind that doesn’t make it so. 

I haven’t accepted this belief simply because Richard Bach wrote it in a book, or that the Course says so. I’ve accepted it by using my power of reason coupled with much sincere pondering and meditation about it. For in my mind it’s the only scenario that makes sense.   

“The world is an illusion. Those who choose to come to it are seeking for a place where they can be illusions and avoid their own reality”   …ACIM

I believe that life is eternal, and this physical experience is not even an actual part of that life, it’s no more than a dream that we’re experiencing. The above quote says that we choose to come to it. How is that possible; how could we choose to come to a dream, or an illusion? I’ll let the Course explain it: “Nothing at all has happened but that you have put yourself to sleep and dreamed a dream in which you were an alien to yourself and but a part of someone else’s dream.”

This dreaming, which includes the scenario of birth, growing up, growing old and dying, has been going on since time began. In fact, that’s when time did  begin, when we put ourselves to sleep, and it will end when we awaken. As the Course says: “Time is a trick – a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic.”

That’s what we’ve been doing for eons and eons of time. We’ve been coming and going and coming and going, over and over and over. And we’ll keep on doing so until we can come to the firm realization that the body is not who or what we are. For as the Course tells us, nothing could contain what you believe it holds within.

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.”   …Helen Keller

My opening quote informs us that very few people appreciate the real power of the mind. According to the above quote Ms. Keller used the power of her mind to imagine death as a positive experience. It seems that she held no fearful thoughts toward it, but actually looked forward to a time when she would be able to see. For she had been left both deaf and blind by an unknown illness at the age of 19 months.

I look at it like this: If you’re reading this blog post then there’s no denying the fact that you’ve experienced at least one birth into this world. But there’s no way you can remember it, or any part of it. One day you simply realized you were here. There was no fear or anxiety connected to it. You were taught those things after you got here. And it will be the same when you pass from your current dream into another one. Or as Ms. Keller put it, from one room into another. There is nothing to fear!

I’m going to end this post with a quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus: “Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?” 

 

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