An exercise around dualism

Dualism does not need to be combatted or expunged. It ain't going away and even has some useful functions. But we can become more aware and mindful of how it operates on and in and through us - and perhaps even soften it up a little, negotiate it into the background instead of always populating the foreground of our attention.

Below is a little exercise you can do, if it interests you, to maybe boost some of this awareness - and perhaps even encourage a little softening of the vicelike grip of the ego and the dualities it uses to stay in charge. Some of the content below, but particularly the format of this exercise (little cards with wake-up words on them) are taken from A Course in Miracles.

One element (and for me and many others the primary element) of that Course approach is to take the theme for the day and carry it around with you, written on a little card or scrap of paper. There are 365 "lessons" in the Workbook (separate from the Text, which is heavy-duty metaphysical stuff that I could never cop to). These 365, lessons can theoretically be "worked through" in one year.

I tended to stick with the current lesson until i felt that i had sucked not most, but enough-for-then juice out of that little mantra - so i typically carried the same little scrap of paper around with me for 2-5 days. I spent not one year but three working my way through the 365 lessons. Then, because this approach was still feeling so helpful to me and because i knew that there was lots more to glean from these lessons, i turned around and spent another four years working my way through the 365 lessons again.

I did other personal and spiritual growth stuff during those years, but ACIM was kind of my spiritual home base. It definitely changed me. It has in many ways worked its way into my cells, and influences - when i am lucky - most everything i do, say, teach, etc.

I still have tremendously high regard for A Course in Miracles, even while its core principle of love vs. fear feels to me, these days, too dualistic. (I would prefer to experience fear - like all other experiences - as fully as it wants to come, to not try to expunge or even decrease it, but to let that decreasing happen automatically from not resisting it. Fear is not the enemy. When we don't resist it or even try to change it, this non-resistance can directly drop us into the flow of life in the now - and just naturally move us more into a state of love.)

So, with all that interminable intro, here's the exercise (which you can do if that feels right, or blow off if that feels more right to you - this kind of "blowing off" of what just doesn't fit for you can actually be pretty liberating and empowering):

1. Write the five sentences below - or as many of them as you are drawn to, and/or any alternatives that you create - on a 3x5 index card or some other little piece of paper.
   
2. Use one a day, for as long as you feel to stay with this particular thought.
   
3. Ponder the words on the paper - don't try to analyze them (this will really get in the way), but just let them wash over you.
   
4. Carry this little card or scrap of paper with you through the day in a pocket, purse, etc. and refer to it as often as you wish. (ACIM starts with just once at the beginning of the day, then builds, over the 365 lessons, to every five minutes or so!).
   
5. When you do re-read the sentence throughout the day, don't try to directly re-interpret that present moment through this lens, but again just let that thought wash over you - shifting your exerience, thoughts and/or emotions if and how it spontaneously tends to do...or sometimes having no impact that you can consciously notice. Not consciously seeing any particular shift does not mean that this little mantra is not, under the hood, doing some serious mojo on your consciousness.
   
6. Periodically, over the time period when you are playing with this approach, review your current life and notice if all this is having any impact on your perceptions or experiences. Again, do your best to not judge whether this little exercise is "working", whether you are "doing it right", etc. Just notice.
   
7. Lather, rinse, repeat. Play with all this as long as you wish.
   
8. You may feel moved to create new cards based on the experiences or preoccupations that are now present for you in your life.

Here are the five sentences i created for the 1/9/08 meeting of the ongoing Life Lived More Deeply group:

• “I feel like something is going wrong.”
  
• “I don’t understand the meaning of anything I see.” (This is a direct quote from one of the ACIM early lessons.)
  
• “This is interesting.” (An alternative lens from good/bad, danger/not-danger, wrong/right, etc.)
  
• “This is surprising.” (again, a useful alternative way to think about and/or perceive the events and moments of our lives)
  
• “I will start from where I’m at.”
  
• whatever additional or alternative sentences you may create.

Have fun, let go of when that feels right, do not use in front of an open flame, etc. If you are moved to do so, I'd love to hear (as always) anything you wish to share about your experiences with (not so much your opinions of) this little exercise. You can call (828-582-9822) or email me (heymajo@earthlink.net) - or post a comment right here on the blog.