September 22, 2009
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All Or Nothing?
Logion 67 strikes the same note as the previous one, namely that the two thought systems, that of the ego and the world, the state in which we imagine ourselves separated from God, and the thought system of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, are mutually exclusive. Here the point is simply the complete emptiness of the ego thought system.
So if we know it "all," all there is to know in the world, we will still be empty inside, and living in the ego's sense of scarcity and lack - the Logion says "completely lacking." The key thing of course is that Jesus makes this statement because, as long as we consider ourselves "rich" in terms of the world, be it knowledge, relationships, possessions, etc., we will not be motivated to change our mind at all. We are then stuck, clinging to the things of the world. So the first step towards getting ready to seek "another way" which Jesus offers, is to realize the emptiness inside, and that the world really had nothing to offer. So this saying and others like it, could be the first step.
The riches of the world are really best summed up in the old Tom Lehrer song, "Smut" when he sings "More, more, more and still not satisfied," for any amount of what the world has to offer still leaves that gaping hole of emptiness inside.
And here is how A Course in Miracles expresses this mutual exclusivity of the world and the Kingdom:
Son of God, be not content with nothing! What is not real cannot be seen and has no value. God could not offer His Son what has no value, nor could His Son receive it. You were redeemed the instant you thought you had deserted Him. Everything you made has never been, and is invisible because the Holy Spirit does not see it. Yet what He does see is yours to behold, and through His vision your perception is healed. You have made invisible the only truth that this world holds. Valuing nothing, you have sought nothing. By making nothing real to you, you have seen it. But it is not there. And Christ is invisible to you because of what you have made visible to yourself. (ACIM:T-12.VIII.6)
Comments (4)
What is sad is that professional physicists have come to the conclusion that everything was magically made from nothing, they do not realize that what they define as nothing has to be everything since everything came from it.Though I do not agree with their conclusions, I have to say, it is amazing the lengths they will go to to prove to themselves that everything is actually nothing.
@John Williams - Interesting in that sense the Course would actually agree with physicists then. I think that rather what they are missing is that the mind whipped this up and it's a mere belief system that collapses when the belief is withdrawn. Thus in a practical sense it (the world, the universe) is nothing parading as something, sustained only by a set of beliefs that nothing is actually quite something.
I understand what you are saying but I think it is due to a confusion of levels on the part of physicists and not due to a distinct understanding. Either "everything comes from everything" or "nothing comes from nothing" but "everything never comes from nothing" and "nothing ever comes from everything." Nothing and everything have incompatible meanings and to be honest I do not know what absolute nothingness would be, it is an inconceivable idea because there would be nothing there to observe the nothingness. My view is that consciousness and energy are everything, matter/energy alone has no meaning except what consciousness gives it but consciousness without energy has no way to express itself, together they are everything and since only "nothing comes from nothing" and "everything comes from everything" they have both always existed and will always exist. In other words matter/energy is not an illusion but the awareness and belief of it as a prison for consciousness and the source of consciousness is, and instead it is how consciousness expresses itself in infinite ways with God, the totality of infinite existence, as the true source of it all.
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