Here is my take on The Secret, A Course in Miracles, Byron Katie, and how it all relates to your life.
The summary:
So if you want to use the secret to create whatever, it will work.
If you want to use Byron Katie’s work to create profound connection with the now and be happy and joyous at all times – it will work
If you want to do both, they still will both work.
If you want to be loving and forgiving, and in my opinion, go beyond this dream to God, ACIM will do that. Which will be a happiness that is way beyond anything in this version of reality or now could ever produce.
I was asked to comment on Byron Katie’s work, ACIM (a course in miracles) and the secret. Below is what I started typing:
This brings to mind a quote I really like.
If you believe it, it is true for you.
Byron Katies work is based on 4 questions.
1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
3. How do you react when you think that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?
And the turn around.
And the idea of loving the reality as it is now.
If you want to be happy and joyous, her system is a sure fire way to be that. I can almost guarantee, that if you did the work, you would be in love with life and happy.
But the overlooked item about the work is that you are not loving and accepting the reality of how you are feeling now. It is designed to change things, so on some level you are not doing what she is ultimately saying to do. Accept reality as it is now. You are not accepting reality, which is why you are not happy, or in the past or future, so change that, so you are in reality. It is designed to change what is now. To be more in touch with reality of what is now.
I am not saying don’t do it. not at all.
I see byron katie’s www.thework.com as a powerful tool if someone wants to be happy. Because it shows us that all suffering comes from the stories we make up in our mind. All unhappiness comes from the thoughts in our head. Not the situations in our life. Kind of like what the Buddhist philosophy is saying. Be kind, Be happy, and be present in the now. That the suffering is what we make up. To let go of attachments – not letting go of things, but your attachment to things. The ‘attachment’ is the stories you create. You are attached to the stories you make up and believe are ‘real’. Byron Katie just has a great little way to make sure you are letting go of attachments/stories. To be present in the now.
I disagree with one fundamental basis of her work. That this reality is God. Myself, and a course in miracles says quite the opposite. That this reality isn’t real. It is exactly like a dream and not of God at all.
Now, the actions that you take with those completely different views is about the same. Loving, forgiving, accepting. But the basis in which you do them, the context in which your actions happen, is completely different.
Her way of thinking is like The power of Now by Eckert Tolle.
If you are fully present in now, you cannot really be anything but happy and joyous.
But ET (as I like to call him) doesn’t give you practical steps of how to actually do that.
Byron Katie give the work as the actual means to accomplish just that. If you did the work, you would be present now, joyous and happy at all times. You would be in touch with the “illusion” (byron Katie would use the word “reality”) of now.
When we make up stories (which seems to be a function of being human with an ego a lot of times) we are in the past or future. We are not in the present moment of now. So her work helps us uncover those stories that are bringing us into the future or past, which is the source of all unhappiness. Because the future and past are in our ego minds. Not our higher mind or true self.
Byron Katie stops at accepting and Loving Reality as God. I personally believe this is a fundamental flaw. It is not a flaw if your goal is to be in the now, and joyous and happy. To me it is a flaw if you want to be in touch with God. Because I believe – along with the course in miracles – that this “reality” is not God. In fact, is the exact opposite of God. That it is a big dream. A big illusion. The ancient Indian philosophy calls it a “Maya” or literally translated, dream.
Kind of like when you are dreaming at night, and you wake up, what happened to the ‘reality” of the dream? While you were dreaming you could hear, feel, taste, even touch what you thought was “real”. And when you ‘woke up’ it disappeared.
So what does that say about this ‘reality’ and what so much of us cherish as ‘real’?
It is one of my favorite lines from the matrix. Where morpheus says to neo, in response to Neo’s question. You mean this isn’t real?
And morpheus says. What is real? If you mean by real as what you can taste, touch, or smell, those are just neural interactions in the brain. How can you say what is real?
See, the experience of touching, or tasting, or feeling, or smelling, or seeing doesn’t actually “happen” as a concrete thing. It only happens as a delayed response created by the nerves.
Now, if you look into modern neurology, and some books like the field by lynn taggert, it actually shows that the nerves fire before the body has a sensation. Which points to the fact eluded to by a course in miracles.
You are creating your reality through your body, not experiencing it. That this reality you call ‘real’ is really just a dream. There is not actually a sensation of it like many believe, but projecting it, like your nerves are projecting the experience out their, as if projecting a movie from inside your mind (not brain) out onto a movie screen, and then you get to experience it. The movie screen is what many call out there as reality.
So what does all this have to do with the secret, the work and ACIM? (a course in miracles)
Because even when I said your actions will be similar if you believe in ACIM or the work?
To me it is about Being One with God, or being in “heaven” as some religious people call it.
I believe that you are now separate from god by your own choosing. You are not in ‘heaven’. You are in hell. This is hell. What so many people call now is actually as bad as it gets. And that some day, we will all be one with God. That the ‘last judgment’ is not God judging who is worthy or bad. But what it literally says. That last judgment. As judgment in our mind is part of what keeps us separate from God. That as soon as you quit judging (and believe me I still do myself) you will be one with god. Hence, the last judgment.
So being present with now helps to eliminate a lot of our stories, which are judgments. So it is moving us closer to God. But to mistake the illusion of now as God, creates in my mind, a false God, or an idol before God.
So yes, you can use the secret to create whatever you want.
How I personally use the secret is to bring me closer to God. Because again, in my opinion, if you want this or that or this, those are false idols before God. Not good or bad, right or wrong. Just not God. And that is the beauty of free will. We get to choose that, or God.
And that to me displays the infinite kindness and compassion of God. God keeps waiting and waiting for you to one day say, OK, I don’t want that, I want you God. And then God accepts you back into her arms lovingly. As a cute metaphor if you will.
Like what I say in terms to “only by the grace of god”
It is like God has her hands out to give you everything, but we keep turning our back saying, nope, not right now. But thank you.
And so when we finally choose to say yes, it is still by the grace of God we get anything, but the second we choose, we get it. Because God is always wanting to give it to us.
So if you want to use the secret to create whatever, it will work.
If you want to use Byron Katie’s work to create profound connection with the now and be happy and joyous at all times – it will work
If you want to do both, they still will both work.
If you want to be loving and forgiving, and in my opinion, go beyond this dream to God, ACIM will do that. Which will be a happiness that is way beyond anything in this version of reality or now could ever produce.
Authentically,
Dr. Jamie
BeingHealthyNaturally.com |
