Sunday morning we continued our exploration of 1 Corinthians and its major theme, “Becoming an Empty Shell.”
Simply put, becoming an empty shell means letting go of all that you think you are so that you can know and embrace who you truly are.
Ram Dass put it beautifully when he explained, “The moment we are born everyone starts telling us who we are. The problem is none of them know who they are!"
So we have taken in all these messages from parents, teachers, ministers, even our peers. From all this mis-information, we have formed an identity of who we think we are.
Now, unless you were raised and taught by a wonderful bunch of enlightened beings, you probably never got the message that “You are the Beloved Son of God; there is only One Son and you are It. Nothing ever happened, nor can ever happen that could separate you from God’s unconditional love. You are not your body, your emotions or your mind. You are so much more than all that. There is not truth to nay of the blame, shame, guilt, unworthiness, or anything else you learned. If you learned anything that is not love, then it is not true because all is love.” (Those are simply words. In truth you don’t really know all that is listed above, you are It.)
As ACIM points out, we are not learning something new, we are unlearning all that is not true.
From Chapter 6(p.293) (12-20) An empty shell has let go of everything that seemed to be, but wasn’t. An empty shell has let go of false desires, untrue beliefs, concepts in support of the world and fear. All that an empty shell holds onto is the casing, which will hold onto Me within the world.
As we become aware of thoughts that do not bring peace and therefore are not true, we begin to release them and let them go. We do not deny them, fear them, or run away from them. We accept responsibility for them, but instead of trying to correct them ourselves, we release them upward to the Spirit so that they may be healed and transformed. See p. 294 (1-7) 10-11
Just in case you get stuck on this empty shell image, NTI goes not explain that the empty shell does not really exist either. It is simply a metaphor to help us with the process of letting go.
The piece we focused in on Sunday was what NTI calls “points of experience.” As suggested above we did not simply inherit false ideas about ourselves, we also had experiences of unworthiness, fear, anger, not-enoughness, and other kinds of negative things.
Now, we are asked in faith and trust to become aware of those experiences and even thought they seem to be painful, to feel them so that they might be released.
We are reminded to know that only the experience of love is real, and to go even deeper than that, to know that YOU ARE LOVE.
Suggested reading: Chapter 7 again and Chapter 8 bring any questions. We love questions.
For those of you who would like to dig deeper into the work of releasing experiences, you might want to check out 2 Timothy.
Remember who you are!
Peace,
In NTI 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, sentence 3, it says, "Lay down your self in service to Me, that you may serve Me and come to know your Self."
ReplyDeleteIs this one way we can become "empty shells," in service to Christ? It certainly seems to help take the focus off of our own shell.
I am interpreting "service" differently than I would have in the past. Service here, I believe, refers to serving the Will of God/Christ (rather than my personal will/ego). That idea carries with it the understanding that I am open to listening to the guidance of that Will.
ReplyDeleteHere is another surrender. It is interesting, the language is quite similar to a very traditional view of Christianity yet to me the "flavor" is quite different.
It is so easy for me to get caught up in separateness thinking as in thinking about "my own shell." That too is a metaphor, albeit a necessary one, until we don't need it anymore.
Please know that the point of view expressed above is the result of some of my "points of experience" and therefore my be clouded, deluded, and perhaps downright full of it.
You might also want to check out John 13. The language and ideas are quite similar, and John offers a more extensive description.
Thank you, Gerry Boylan, for this thought provoking article. The empty shell metaphor used as an emptying the human in service to the Divine works well. It reminds me of Mother Teresa's quote: "I am a pencil in the hand of God."
ReplyDeleteYour sharp insights, no doubt, have come from all the work you did on your books and CD. Also, I enjoy your site http://www.christintraining.com/
Cheers,
Marifran