Hi Everyone,
Last night we started our new class on What is the Ego, the Body & the World? And, it is not what you think! It is not a beginner class although it can be. We are getting down to basics and even if you have been studying for some as some of our students have, you will find the sharing deep and rich.
We started off the class with a meditation to bring us into the present moment. We then shared our intentions and what we hope to gain after our six weeks together. It is important to put forth before us the goal as Jesus speaks of in the section “Setting the Goal.” Having done so the class was ready to attend to our first reading from the Workbook for Students, “What is the Ego?”
By beginning with the ego, we can see that the ego is quite literally a fearful thought. As some students shared throughout the evening, it is a thought system of specialness. Some expressed their attachments in various forms, be it attachment to identity, achievement, addictions, etc.
We have to ask ourselves “How does that work for me?”
The ego’s voice is there telling me to be on high alert. If one is anxious it is because we are being vigilant for the ego and not the Kingdom of God.
Others expressed specialness in the form of “I am special because of my profession. I have to prove that I am better.” This only brought pain. Once realized, we can be relieved of our the burden and the pain.
Here in our study the word “ego” is different than the psychological term for the “ego.” We go back to the Course definition of it is a fearful thought, a false self made as a substitute for the Self that God created. Simply, it is an illusion.
In our second reading of the night, we turned to the Clarification of Terms, The Ego-The Miracle. One of the sentences stood out to the group being “Are you ready to help me save the world?” Are we? If we are, then we practice our daily lessons, we forgive, we bring peace to our mind and we remain present in the now moment.
It is easy to become distracted as we practice. There is the fear of missing out. In this day of technology, sometimes it seems we have a smartphone permanently glued to our hand always waiting to see who will message us, or what’s happening on Facebook, or on CNN.
When do we stop the ego’s rush of bombardment of information so that our minds can come in the quiet and calm of God. We have to make the steps and the daily Lessons help us to do that. Our thoughts are meaningless and this world is meaningless as we are learning of late.
We don’t have to follow the ego blindly at all and mock God by asking Him to prove that He is right. We can accept it.
We don’t have to like the ideas or understand them but simply practice them. By our practice we will know the truth.
I am still accepting students in the class up until next Thursday. January 17th and you can watch our class video to get caught up before then. If you cannot make Thursday nights, there is a self-study option that will allow you access to all the class videos and our email forum for discussion.
More information can be found at the link below. I hope you will choose to join us on this journey. We gain so much when we enter into communion with one another.
Peace,
Rev. Deb
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