Practical Mysticism 14: Deep Metaphysics of A Course in Miracles— Relationship Dynamics Revealed

 

Deep Metaphysics of A Course in Miracles

Relationship Dynamics Revealed

One of the key concepts in A Course in Miracles is the concept of a split mind, and the goal of Self realization is to “return” the mind to Wholeness through transcending the split. In service to the goal of Self/Christ realization, let us look more closely at the metaphysics of the split mind so that through our understanding, we may be Called to abandon the false and rest in the True.

A key principle of A Course in Miracles, as well as of other authentic spiritualities, is that God and His Son or Creator and Its Creations, are One. In other words, they are alike—they are of identical, incorporeal  “substance” or Spirit—and they are Whole, Complete and Unified. God and His Son are not two, but One. 

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In the allegorical metaphysics of A Course in Miracles, the Son believes it has separated from God/Source. It believes it has a selfhood apart from God. By this belief, it has created the first subject-object split: me and God. Now there are two. Since God is Wholeness and Oneness, the Son—by 

believing it has separated from God—also believes it has shattered Oneness, that it has attacked Oneness by its apparent separation. So not only do we now have a subject-object split, we have a victimizer and victim split. The Son believes by his separation that he has victimized God/Wholeness; that he has destroyed Heaven’s Unity. 

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Because he believes in the victimization of God/Wholeness by which he attained a separate self, the Son now further believes that God is angry and will in turn punish him. This belief induces fear. This scenario is not an actuality but a mythology that the deluded Son believes in. The Course explains it thus: the sin of attacking God/Wholeness, the guilt over the attack, and the fear of God’s punishment and vengeance. So now the perceived subject-object split of victimizer and victim is reversed in the Son’s mind: God is the angry victimizer seeking to punish the separated Son who destroyed Wholeness:

According to this mythology, what was once Unified (top of the triangle)  is now split into subject-object, victim-victimizer, innocent-guilty, good-bad (bottom of the triangle). Both sides of this false, dualistic, subject-object split are in the mind. They are only beliefs, assumptions, ideas. This dualistic, subject-object, victim-victimizer, innocent-guilty, good-and-evil “mind” is the “substance” or fabric of the false five-sense world. This dualistic mind is the world. What we think of as a physical world is simply the “outpicturing” of this dualistic, subject-object split. The body is a necessary component of this scenario because it is the perceived subject, and everything and everyone else is the object. When we identify as the body, we are in subject-object relationship with everything that is not ourself. There’s me and there’s everything that is not me. So by believing in the idea of separation and believing it has made a body and a world, the Son also erroneously believes it has created something outside of Infinity, something beyond Eternity, something that is more than Everything.

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The mechanism of the split mind operates in the waking, everyday reality just like it operates in a nighttime dream. In a nighttime dream, you experience yourself as the subject and all of the other elements and people in the dream as objects. In actuality, the dream is one unified creation of your mind. In the same way, the split mind “creates” the entire world. There is no objectively existing world apart from the mind. The world (including the body) is all mind and only mind. The experience of being an objectively existing self/body in an objectively existing world is false. 

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Let’s return now to the belief that a separated self has been made, the mind has been split into subject and object or victim and victimizer, and that we now believe ourselves to be a body in a world. In an attempt to assuage the feelings of inadequacy and guilt experienced as a perceived separate self, we assign the victim, innocent, good aspects to ourself as subject, and the victimizer, guilty, inadequate, or evil aspects of the split to others. This is called projection. In actuality, both aspects of the duality are in our mind, but we split off the unwanted side and see it out there in the “object,” particularly in other bodies.

Since feelings of inadequacy and guilt go hand in hand with the delusional belief in a selfhood apart from God, at times, rather than assigning the victim role to ourselves, we assign the victimizer role to ourselves and we victimize others in an attempt to feel superior, or powerful. We either literally or figuratively cut off someone else’s head in an attempt to feel taller. Either way, projecting half the split only serves to keep the split unhealed.

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A Course in Miracles further elucidates the dynamics of the split mind by using the terms “special love” and “special hate.” 

In special love we try to steal what we perceive as someone else’s specialness so we can have that specialness for ourselves by our association with the other. We feel innately deficient as a separate self so we want vicarious specialness through association with them. For this misguided attempt at self reparation to occur, a subject and object are required. Another self (the object) apart from me (the subject) is needed so I can get my adequacy and specialness from them. “Name-dropping” or acquiring a  “trophy wife” are two obvious examples of this dynamic that are easy to understand. Dating the “bad boy/girl” in order to feel cool by association, or being associated with a particular guru in order to appear spiritual are other obvious examples of the use of this special love strategy, as are a myriad of other overt and covert manifestations of this tactic. 

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In the special hate dynamic, a subject-object relationship is also required only this time, in order to assuage feelings of deficiency, the subject attacks the other in order to feel righteous, superior, and good by comparison. In special hate, we invalidate and annihilate the other—either figuratively or literally—in an attempt to aggrandize the false self. The subject judges the other as the guilty one so it can be innocent by comparison. 

In any of these scenarios, both sides of the split are in the mind and are played out in subject-object relationship on the screen of images we call the world. There is no escape to freedom; there is no escape to peace; there is no true sense of completion to be found in the employment of these dynamics. This win-lose fantasy is a circular strategy going nowhere. This win-lose strategy is a seek-and-do-not-find strategy. This win-lose game is the maker of time.

Everyone wants a “winning feeling.” This is natural. But in this world, it is believed that I can only have a winning feeling by making someone else a loser. The split mind fosters the belief that my winning feeling is only attainable at someone else’s expense. However, a perceived win-lose is actually a lose-lose because it keeps you locked into the split mind reality and trapped in a false identity with all the fear, pain, lack, loss and death that accompany it. A win-win scenario is a wonderful, truly winning feeling! A true win-win springs forth from a transcendent state of mind which includes a Spiritual point of view based on equality, and on the understanding of the metaphysical principle that giving is receiving.

What passes for relationships in this world is basically usury: 

Using others in an attempt to fill a hole left by the belief in a selfhood apart from God/Source. This is what relationships and bodies were made for in the ego’s world. To the ego/false self, the body is to attack with, whether attacking to steal someone’s “specialness” or attacking to invalidate and condemn them in an attempt to feel aggrandized by comparison. Perhaps you recognize these dynamics played out in your relationships past and present. Perhaps you’ve observed that even when you move on from one relationship to another, the same old dynamic is present. That is because this split is in the mind, the universal mind, and is played out in every relationship throughout time until it is transcended through Truth realization. If you move on from one relationship to the next it’s just the old same dynamic, with a different, new face. Ad nauseum does this special relationship dynamic repeat. This is the ego’s solution to its perceived problem of guilt and inadequacy for achieving separation by attacking God! 

PROJECTION OF HALF OF A SPLIT WILL NEVER HEAL THE MIND. Projection preserves the split! Projection of guilt and inadequacy onto another gives false credence, reality, and power to guilt! Projection gives the belief in guilt, inadequacy and separation a validity it doesn’t inherently have. If I need to get rid of it, I’m proclaiming it is real and powerful. It must be understood that both sides of this split are in your mind, not just the desired side. The split mind will never be transcended/healed if half of it is seen outside in another. This projection of half the split occurs over and over again whether it be between two people, two groups or two nations, and will potentially occur between two planets, galaxies, or dimensions as long as this split is unrecognized and unhealed. This split mind is universal and impersonal. In other words, it is the same split mind that we all experience; the split mind that “causes” a veil of false images to appear in awareness, blocking out awareness of the True Harmonious Spiritual Universe. 

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At this point you may be wondering “why all the emphasis on these dark and savage false self relationship dynamics?” The Course itself instructs us to look squarely at the savagery of special relationship dynamics so that we will be induced to give them up. Shining light on these dark strategies allows us to truly apprehend their utter futility; to learn that they were designed to never provide an actual solution to our perceived problem of separation, but were designed to keep the belief in separation alive, and all of the pain and suffering with it. Seeing this for what it is gives us the incentive to seek for the only true and efficacious solution to the perceived problem of separation which is the forgiveness of all illusions/falsity, and the acceptance of our True Nature as Spirit, One with God, Whole and Complete. 

This post doesn’t abandon you in the darkness of special relationships. Firstly, the message of hope and freedom is offered through the Truth teachings in previous posts 1 through 13, and the freeing message of Mysticism will again be revisited in future posts. For interim help with relationship dynamics in particular, see Practical Mysticism Post 9: Dominion Over the World of Images Through Releasing Projections, here on the Practical Mysticism blog. 

May the Peace, Grace, Harmony and Freedom of Christ realization be yours. Amen.

The narrated audio version of this post, including graphics, can be found on the following YouTube video:

Practical Mysticism 13: Obstacles to Grace Part 3

Obstacles to Grace Part 3

This is part 3 of a series of posts called Obstacles to Grace. If you haven’t already done so, first check out Obstacles to Grace Parts 1 and 2, either in written format or on the video page.

The content in the Obstacles to Grace series of posts builds on the content presented in previous posts. To garner the most benefit from the “Obstacles to Grace” series of posts, you may want to first view Practical Mysticism posts 5 through 7 about the Understanding, Acceptance, & Application of mystical principles, and Practical Mysticism posts 8-10 which address the topics of Dominion and Grace through the application of these principles. These posts can be found in written format here on my website, in video format on the video page, or on the Practical Mysticism YouTube Channel at the link on the sidebar.

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The way I define living from Grace is that it is the effect of living as and from your True Nature or True Spiritual Identity. Living from Grace gives rise to effortless, harmonious, inspiring experience. In a state of Grace the mind is still, and Joy, Gratitude, and Generosity shine forth from within. All bodily needs are met, the crooked places are made straight, and Life is a flowing, ever-present-moment experience. (For a deeper presentation and detailed content about living from Grace, see Practical Mysticism video or blog posts numbers 8-10).

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In part 1 of this series, I presented the main obstacle to Grace as the lack of application of metaphysical and mystical principles. I then categorized the lack of application into roughly ten categories which I have listed below: 

Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application:

1. Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles 

2. Lack of acceptance, doubt

3. Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind

4. Lack of awareness 

5. Lack of zeal and/or commitment

6. Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness 

7. Close-mindedness

8. Lack of inner listening and/or trusting 

9. Fear, especially of the “Unknown”

10. Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity

In Part 1 we looked in a bit more detail at numbers 1 through 4, and in Part 2 we looked at numbers 5 through 7. Today we’ll conclude with numbers 8 through 10.

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8. Lack of inner listening and/or trusting

The experience of Grace is predicated on listening to the still small voice within. This is the voice of our True Self, the voice of “inner yeses” and “inner nos”, the voice of inspiration, or the voice of what feels “right” (or not “right”). In this case I’m not referring to the concepts of right and wrong in a moral sense but that inner sense where we say to ourselves “it just feels right” or “it just doesn’t feel right.” 

There are several reasons why people do not listen to the still small voice within. Some aren’t aware that there is a voice of guidance within them that has a wisdom and an orchestrating intelligence beyond human comprehension. Many are accustomed to getting their messages from “outside” through their “authority figures” such as culture, parents, teachers, ancestry, clergy, “bosses,” government, statistics, trends, and media. Some do receive messages from a voice within but these messages are from the false, dualistic mind; the mind of human conditioning, sometimes referred to as the voice of the ego. Learning discernment between these voices is obviously necessary and lack of discernment is itself an obstacle to Grace. Further, the universal dualistic mind is filled with erroneous ideas, beliefs and concepts which act as blocks to the awareness of a higher voice. The True Self simply is, and it’s communication is ever available, but the human mind—when given credence and power by the world— is  like a dark cloud blocking the radiant sun of the True Self. 

All of us have experienced inspiration, intuition, or a sense of inner knowing to some degree. But do we trust it? In observing and working with others, and through self reflection on my own journey, I have been a witness to how frightening it sometimes seems to be to trust in that still small voice. So even if one is aware of inner guidance, one may feel quite apprehensive at trusting in, and following through on, the messages received. This apprehensiveness relates directly to number 9:

9. Fear, especially of the “Unknown”

It’s quite common for a spiritual aspirant to be exposed to metaphysical or mystical principles, and even to understand them, but then to be too fearful to actually apply them. True metaphysical and mystical principles are a very radical departure from the conditioning taught by the world, a conditioning that had been relied on in most cases for years or decades. The ways and means of the mystic are often 180 degrees apart from the ways of the world. These “unknown” ways, these radical ways, can be so very fearful for someone to actually live and to apply, that the application may be delayed for years, or even for a lifetime. Due to ignorance, Truth principles and the True Nature of our Creator, our Self, and the Spiritual Universe, become the “Unknown.” In this scenario, we’re actually afraid of the Truth because the Truth is the Unknown. We’ve only known and relied upon falsehood, so even though the Truth would set us free, living the Truth can feel terrifying. It is so that in mysticism, all you thought you knew about yourself, the world, and the Creator, as well as the past, the future, and all erroneous beliefs must be dropped. Metaphorically, it’s somewhat like jumping off a cliff. But we’re not asked by Spirit to drop it all at once—we’re not asked to jump off the cliff in one fell swoop—precisely because the fear is so great. However, the delay caused by this fear is a delay to the full mystical experience of Grace. 

This fear of the “Unknown” can also take the specific form of fearing to follow through on inner guidance, as mentioned above. The conditioned voice of “reason,” based on external past learning, sometimes conflicts with the inner voice of guidance, and fear of this new way of operating from within causes us to follow through instead on the voice of past conditioning. This is obviously an obstacle to applying the mystical principle of living by inner guidance, which effectively keeps us operating according to the systems of the world, rather than from Grace.

10. Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity  

A common block to the application of Truth principles is a sense of pride which blocks the open-mindedness which would allow the questioning of what one thinks they know about themselves and about this world. The conviction that “I know” is obviously a barrier to the consideration of fresh ideas as well as a hindrance to dropping outdated ones, especially when that knowledge is accompanied by pride. The knowledge one has accumulated is commonly viewed as an actual aspect of one’s identity. When one isn’t aware of their True Nature, when one identifies as a limited body of matter, all sorts of strategies are used to create and bolster a false sense of worthiness and substantially, and the accumulation of knowledge is one of those strategies. Pride in that knowledge is a further attempt at feeling substantial because the true nothingness of the false self concept requires constant attempts at validity and aggrandizement. So in this scenario, the questioning of one’s knowledge or the consideration of new ideas are both perceived as actual threats to one’s identity, and in many cases this false identity is protected by the judgment, ridicule, and attack of more expanded ideas.

This knowledge that is behind the conviction that “I know” is nearly always knowledge garnered in response to the evidence of the five senses. Human beings look out, perceive a limited five-sense picture of reality, draw conclusions based on this five-sense picture, and acquire knowledge in an attempt to “fix” this picture. This is the conditioning of the world, and many beings have built their false self image as being “fixers” of these limited five-sense images, whether in their personal lives, or at the broadest levels of influence. This conditioning and modus operandi of looking out, drawing conclusions, and fixing is so compelling and so insidious that it is indeed a barrier to the Truth that would allow Grace to be thy sufficiency.

If you’ve read or watched my earlier posts, you will by now have been exposed to the idea that the limited five-sense picture is not the Truth of the reality of our Self, our Creator, or the Spiritual Universe, and furthermore, that this five-sense picture is all mind and only mind, and is effect. In the mystical approach, we operate from Cause. For a deeper look into the mystical approach, I refer you to previous posts, especially Practical Mysticism posts 5-7 about the Understanding, Acceptance, and Application of metaphysical and mystical principles, and Practical Mysticism posts 8-10 about Dominion and Grace.

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This is the end of the three part series called Obstacles to Grace. 

Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application:

1. Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles 

2. Lack of acceptance, doubt

3. Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind

4. Lack of awareness 

5. Lack of zeal and/or commitment

6. Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness 

7. Close-mindedness

8. Lack of inner listening and/or trusting 

9. Fear, especially of the “Unknown”

10. Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity

Have you identified any of the obstacles to application in your own process? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Thank you and may Freedom and Grace be your ever-present experience.

The audio/video version of this post, including graphics, can be found here:

Practical Mysticism 12: Obstacles to Grace Part 2

 

This is part 2 of a series of posts called Obstacles to Grace. If you haven’t already done so, first check out Obstacles to Grace Part 1 here, or on the video page.

The content in the Obstacles to Grace series of posts builds on the content presented in previous posts. To garner the most benefit from the “Obstacles to Grace” posts, you may want to first view Practical Mysticism posts 5 through 7 about the Understanding, Acceptance, & Application of mystical principles, and Practical Mysticism posts 8-10 which address the topics of Dominion and Grace through the application of these principles. These posts can be found in written format here on my website, in video format on the video page, or on the Practical Mysticism YouTube Channel.

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The way I define living from Grace is that it is the effect of living as and from your True Nature or True Spiritual Identity. Living from Grace gives rise to effortless, harmonious, inspiring experience. In a state of Grace the mind is still, and Joy, Gratitude, and Generosity shine forth from within. All bodily needs are met, the crooked places are made straight, and Life is a flowing, ever-present-moment experience. (For a deeper presentation and detailed content about living from Grace, see Practical Mysticism video or blog posts numbers 8-10).

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In part 1 of this series, I presented the main obstacle to Grace as the lack of application of metaphysical and mystical principles. I then categorized the lack of application into roughly ten categories which I have listed below: 

Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application:

1. Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles 

2. Lack of acceptance, doubt

3. Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind

4. Lack of awareness 

5. Lack of zeal and/or commitment

6. Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness 

7. Close-mindedness

8. Lack of inner listening and/or trusting 

9. Fear, especially of the “Unknown”

10. Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity

In part 1 we looked in a bit more detail at numbers 1 through 4. Now let’s proceed with number 5:

5. Lack of zeal and/or commitment

 

When I think of lack of zeal regarding the application of mystical principles, I immediately think of a quote from the motion picture called The Matrix. When Neo first meets his mentor Morpheus, for whom he’d been relentlessly searching, Morpheus says to Neo:

“What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.” (Italics mine). 

Is your search for Truth like a splinter in your mind, bordering on a mad obsession to find answers? I’ve heard the metaphor that if one desires enlightenment like a drowning man desires air, then the means will be provided. It doesn’t seem that this level of zeal can be cultivated, though it does seem that often suffering and distress can initiate a deep desire, and subsequent search, for Truth. This level of zeal sometimes arises for those who experience the ways and means of the world as highly bewildering and extremely unreliable, and who know deep in their heart that “this can’t be true.”

Lack of commitment usually follows lack of zeal. It’s difficult to remain committed to something that we feel half-hearted about. 

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6. Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness 

Number 6 is somewhat like number 5. Here the lack of drive is caused by the relative “okayness” of one’s situation. If one deems their life situation and the ways of the world as acceptable, then there usually isn’t a desire to search for a Higher Way. It’s usually when what I like to call divine dissatisfaction or divine discontent creeps in that the search for something Transcendent is initiated. If the emotional suffering becomes intense enough, the motivation for Freedom and the subsequent search and application may arise.

Please note that suffering is not required for the search for Truth, nor for the application of mystical principles, though suffering is a common motivator. The search and application can be undertaken for many reasons, but here we are looking at obstacles to application and complacency is one of them.

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7. Close-mindedness

My observation has shown me that close-mindedness is one of the most prevalent and insidious obstacles to living from Grace. Close-mindedness is an impediment to taking in new ideas and principles as well as an impediment to dropping outdated ones. Naturally, new principles cannot be applied if they’re not accepted or even considered. I’ve found that close-mindedness shows up in several ways:

• The first type of close-mindedness shows up something like this: The ways and means of the world are accepted, a limited false identity as body/dualistic mind is accepted, five-sense evidence is accepted, and the person feels they’ve got life licked.  They’ve followed all the rules and taken the steps they’ve been taught to have a successful life even if this life is stressful, or physically or emotionally painful. The person in this position bases their actions on conclusions drawn from the evidence presented to their senses. Their mind is closed to anything beyond the testimony of their senses and the input from the dualistic mind. They feel they are making all the right choices that the “good, smart, responsible” people make in alignment with mass consciousness. This type of close-mindedness sometimes has a tone of arrogance that accompanies it. The mind is closed to alternative views, alternative modus operandi, and certainly to anything beyond the five senses.

• This next type of close-mindedness goes hand in hand with the use of judgment. If one identifies oneself as a finite, limited body of matter and dualistic mind, one necessarily feels deficient, unworthy, and inadequate. In order to have a temporary false feeling of adequacy or superiority, they will judge others as “less than” or inferior. Metaphorically, they are cutting off someone else’s head in order to feel taller. This is called projection (see Practical Mysticism post number 9 Dominion Over the World of Images Through Releasing Projections).  Because someone in this position needs to attempt to feel adequate or superior by diminishing others, their mind is closed to new messages from those who might offer a more expansive or transcendental way of Being. One way this shows up is that the projector judges the other as flaky, as gullible, as silly, as “woo-woo,” etc. The strategy of projection and judgment is used in an attempt to solidify a shaky and false self concept. This automatically closes the mind to any new information that does not bolster the false identity.

• I’ll illustrate this next type of close mindedness with an example. Nicolas Copernicus devised a theory that the planets may be revolving around the sun and not the earth as was commonly believed at the time. Sometime later, Galileo Galilei was tried for heresy by the Catholic Church for advocating the Copernican Theory of heliocentricity because it challenged the prevailing belief, which likely made the church fear it’s loss of perceived power, control, and identity. Galileo was forced to recant his position and was put under house arrest for the remainder of his life. Similarly, the science of quantum physics is now proposing theories of the universe which align with teachings of great mystics of all ages, yet the world—which quite commonly relies on science as its informant—has not allowed the radical message of quantum physics into its mind. I have a friend who has been a nurse all of her life and who is very reliant on information from the scientific and medical communities. Though she has heard whisperings about the ideas of quantum physics, and she is scientifically minded, she literally puts her hands up in attempt to block the information, saying “I don’t want to know.” She has shared that she doesn’t want her tightly controlled modus operandi rocked even if the information would free her in many ways. I actually do respect her position. She owns her close-mindedness; it’s a conscious choice. Nevertheless, it is a form of close-mindedness to the Truth of our Being, our Creator, and our Universe; a Truth that could set us free.

• The next form of close-mindedness occurs when new information is interpreted as a sense of threat to one’s identity. I’ll go into more detail on this when I discuss number 10 from the above list of obstacles to application. For now, I’ll just say that most human beings identify with their beliefs. Said another way, their beliefs are “who they are.” These beliefs or belief systems also include their rituals, their modes of operating in the world, and their judgments about anything and everything. If someone with a differing belief or modus operandi shows up in their world, their sense of identity feels threatened and their mind is closed to a new way of thinking or behaving even if this new way might set them free. The trade off of losing their false identity is just not worth taking in a new idea. It’s actually experienced as very frightening to have one’s identity “challenged,” even if that identity is formed of very limited, and even, painful beliefs. In order to preserve that sense of identity, no matter how limited, the mind is defended against any ideas that it perceives as threatening to that identity.

• The next form of close-mindedness is also related to a sense of false identity but it occurs in a more specific population than the general public. Sometimes those on a spiritual path will form what I will call a “spiritual persona.” Rather than living as and from the True Self, they are living from the false self and trying to appear to be spiritual. They try to speak and behave the way they think a “spiritual person” would or should behave. Often they talk a good talk; they can discourse on the concepts and principles of spirituality. Sometimes they are quite confident, even arrogant, that they have the Truth. They need to feel they have the Truth, the highest point of view, so they can attempt to elevate themselves and aggrandize their false sense of identity. Often this spiritual persona likes to correct others’ “inferior” spirituality, or offer unsolicited “teaching” or advice. This is really no different than any other being puffing up or defending their false identity, but it can be a particularly tricky trap for those on a spiritual path. Naturally, if one feels they have the ultimate Truth, and they are constantly spouting and defending their position, their mind is not open to any other possibilities. 

Close-mindedness is a very common, universal condition. It keeps the mind bound in falsehood, littleness and limitation. We may conclude that open-mindedness can be a real expediter to Truth realization. I highly recommend it!

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Obstacles to Grace = Lack of application:

1. Lack of understanding of metaphysics and principles 

2. Lack of acceptance, doubt

3. Falling asleep in conditioning of material consciousness/dualistic mind

4. Lack of awareness 

5. Lack of zeal and/or commitment

6. Complacency, coasting, suffering/dissatisfaction not intense enough to foster motivation, laziness 

7. Close-mindedness

8. Lack of inner listening and/or trusting 

9. Fear, especially of the “Unknown”

10. Pride, “I know,” sense of threat to identity

Have you been able to identify any of the 10 obstacles as relevant in your own journey? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. We’ll continue with the list of ten obstacles to application of metaphysics and principles—which are obstacles to living from Grace—in the next post.

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If you’d like one-to-one assistance with this material, please reach out to me using the contact form on the left sidebar. May the peace, joy, freedom, and inspiration of Grace be your ever-present experience. Thank you.

The narrated audio/video version of this post, including graphics, can be found on the Video Page of this website.