-ACIM W-195:10:2
Love is the way I walk in gratitude.
I love this lesson on gratitude from ACIM and I agree with it. Yesterday we spoke of imaginative love as described by Neville Goddard way back in the 40's and 50's when The Secret and this whole idea of manifesting was nothing more than hocus pocus and voodoo magic. (For many it still is). Imaginative love is a way of making the world a better place through mental focus and concentration on the well being potential of all.
Goddard wasn't a pioneer though in this area. Yogis have been talking about how the world is nothing more than a reflection of the mind for over 15,000 years. In Sri Swami's translation of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali's view of such is discussed in detail: "The entire outside world is based on your thoughts and mental projections. The entire world is your own projection."
I wonder if Goddard's ideology was inspired by Patanjali. Using different terminology, both refer to the distorted reflection of self we have when the mind is overrun with these mental modifications and how when it is clear, when we change the way we think, we can see the true Self clearly.
What does this have to do with being grateful?
If our lives are merely a reflection of what is going on in our heads and if we are feeling miserable, stuck in a life pattern we do not want we have to change the way we think and feel. We will want our lives to be different. In order for that apparent change in life pattern to occur we don't necessarily have to put great effort into it and do, do, do. We just need to allow it to happen at the mental level. We have to somehow still the monkey mind and then feel better.
That feeling better is going to firstly involve a certain acceptance of where we are at the present moment so we can connect with that now. It will involve what we spoke about yesterday...a certain forgiveness and a letting go of resistance to the present moment. Remember that acceptance of life as it is now doesn't mean you stop wanting it to be different, you just stop the fighting and struggling against it and simply settle into what is. The monkey mind just gets busier the more we resist. Letting go of resistance is not giving up. It is a necessary step to gratitude and living better.
When we settle into quiet stillness, when the monkey mind stops jumping around, we can focus on what we want. Or we can at least feel better. We can settle into the "divine' space where higher energy feelings like mercy, pity[sympathy/empathy/compassion], , peace and love exist.
Pray
From that place we can then pray in a way that the Native Americans have done for years, in a way that Goddard and others have taught us to do. Pray like you are already where you want to be and pray with gratitude for that. "My third way of praying is simply to feel thankful. If I want something for myself or another, I immobilize the physical body, then I produce the state akin to sleep and in that state just feel happy, feel thankful which thankfulness implies realization of what I want."
Get quiet, feel better and be grateful when you pray.
The 18th century poet William Blake says it so beautifully in his poem, The Divine Image:
To mercy, pity, peace and love
All pray in their distress
And to these virtues of delight
return their thankfulness
And what does that have to do with love?
Well from forgiveness, we progress to peaceful gratitude and from gratitude we see clearly that everything is love. "When your forgiveness is complete you will have total gratitude, for you will see that everything has earned the right to love by being loving, even as your Self. (ACIM w-195:8:6). Seeing love instead of fear we feel faith instead of doubt and our lives turn around according to that faith. More importantly, we realize how connected we are to everything and everyone and we want the same for all.
I guess the only way to prove that is to try it. :)
It's all good.
References:
ACIM Lesson 195
https://freeneville.com/free-neville-goddard-the-third-way/
Sri Swami Satchidananda (2011) The Yoga sutras of Patanjali. Yogaville: Integral Yoga
Sharma, K.N. "The Divine Image by William Blake: Summary and Critical Analysis." BachelorandMaster, 24 Nov. 2013, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-devine-image.html
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