11/13/11 1 CORINTHIANS
EXPLORING EXPERIENCE AND BECOMING AN EMTPY SHELL
Thank you for staying with this one. It is a difficult lesson, but as we discovered today it is not all work and not all dark.
We’ve been diving into some ideas that go much deeper than the old “creating your own reality” game and “The Secret.”
In 1 Corinthians we are challenged to know that whatever it is we are experiencing, we have created, and we need to have the experience to move through it.
Simply put you have to feel your feelings to let them go.
Unless I take responsibility for my thoughts and actions, I will never be able to have them corrected. I will continue to be victim to my own thoughts.
Instead of taking that in a negative way, let us realize that all our experiences are meant to wake us up.
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Even psychologists will tell us of the toxicity of stuffing feelings. When feelings are denied or “unfinished” they just don’t disappear. They still have life and will be churning around within us until we bring them to the surface to be experienced and let go of. Meanwhile, as they remain denied and hidden, they can produce all kinds of other nasty symptoms such as depression, anxiety, acid reflux, sleep disturbances, just to name a few.
Many of us have a backlog of what I call “unfinished feelings” from our early years. These must be felt/experienced to be released. This is part of becoming an empty shell.
We also don’t want to create any more stuff either, so we allow ourselves to become aware whenever we are angry, fearful, etc. To recognize, accept, take ownership of those feelings and to let them go.
As I mentioned before this does not have to be dramatic, sometimes just recognizing a feeling, owning it, and deciding it are useless to us, is enough to let ti go. (Please, note this is not the same as denial. Denial is our unwillingness to look at the feeling at all.)
Mt 16 (5-12) 7-9 “Let your fear and doubt come into your mind that you may see it. But in faith, let it go. In this way, you choose where you will put your faith.”
Deep within us are some feelings of which we are not even aware. Becoming an empty shell means allowing even those hidden things to come to the surface to be healed and released.
The model of Jesus provides a beautiful example of this:
Mk. 1 (v 43 – 45)1Not yet knowing where he was being led, the man of Jesus harbored some fear deep within his mind. 2During this time, he kept this fear hidden from himself. 3And so the Spirit led him down a useful and helpful path, that one day he may find the strength to face and lay down his fear.
Here are a few more quotes from NTI:
Romans 1 (v 18 – 32)1Within you, there is a wish. 2This wish is not within anyone else, although you would rather see it there. 3This wish is hidden deep within your mind, hidden by layers of smoke. 4Before we go together to look at this wish, there is something I want you to know. 5The wish is only a thought. 6It is nothing else at all. 7It can best be described as a curiosity that you wanted to explore. 8It is really nothing...nothing at all. 9I am very grateful that you have expressed your freedom and explored your wish. 10Now the curiosity can be let go. 11I am your guide as I show you what you have learned in a daydream within the mind. 12Join with Me in peace and detachment as we giggle at your thought in gratitude that it could be thought and let go.
2 Thessalonians 2 (v 1 – 4)1Look now, deep within your mind and heart. 2We are looking for a false god that you have erected before your truth. 3This is a false image made of yourself through your own judgment that you could be that which is other than That Which you Are. 4We must raise this false being up from its hiding place, because it is from within hiding that it rules. 5Brought into the light of day, it cannot rule longer, because its falseness must be revealed.
Whenever we have a thought of fear, anger, guilt or any other form of negativity we begin to realize all these thoughts arise from our sense of separateness (which by its nature generates fear and guilt). In the work of becoming an empty shell, we are allowing Spirit to lead us to the root that it may be finally dug up and we are released from all illusion.
Mt 12 (v 43 - 45)1The thoughts you think are your evil doing, and so you may choose to let go of them. 2Let me tell you that it may not be that easy. 3For the belief that spawns the thoughts is like a deep root within you, and where you cut off its leaves, more will rise up to take their place. 4Be prepared to let go of many leaves, but know they will come back until the day you have rid yourself of their root. (v 46 - 50)1The belief in separateness and differences is the root you must let go. 2For if there is more than one Will, the truth is not true and death is all there is. 3Is this the final resting place of your faith? 4Or are you willing to put your faith in Life and Love and One?
REMEMBER THIS: Whenever we have an error in thinking such as getting caught up in any sort of illusion--fear, guilt, shame, anger--that the Holy Spirit immediately creates a correction. If we are awake and aware we can always choose the correction over the illusion.
Darkness is simply the absence of light. It is nothing. Since light is everywhere and everything, darkness is an illusion. If I look deeply enough into the darkness, I will find Light. Looking deeply not only reveals what we need to let go of, but the deepest truth is also there: YOU ARE THE LIGHT, ALWAYS!
2 Peter 2 (v 4 – 10)1The Light within your Heart is your truth. 2This is the star that is you. 3This is the seed that is at the root of all that you are. 4It is true that there also seems to be something else within you...something that does not seem to be light, but dark...something that feels like judgment and guilt. 5It is okay to let yourself be aware of this darkness. 6It is okay to stand within it for a moment and feel it. 7But then remember that I have taught you that the judgment comes only from you. 8Decide in that moment to choose to see your Self truly. 9Then reach within your mind, and turn on the Light.
Rev. 2 (v 12, 13)1I want to look deep within you with you at the beliefs that you fear most. 2They are the ones you hide by denying them, but you deny them because you think they are true. 3If you knew they were false, you would let them go. 4I want to look at them with you so you may lean on My strength and see that they are false. 5You may feel your fear and let it go with a giggle, because the light of your own Heart shines brighter than darkness caused by confusion. 6When darkness is looked at beside the Light, it is the darkness that must fade away.
We know that we are One and everything flows from that One.
