Practical Mysticism 6: Understanding, Acceptance, Application—Part 1 Focus on Application

 

Hi there, and welcome once again to the Practical Mysticism blog. In the previous post in this series—Practical Mysticism 5, Understanding, Acceptance, Application—it was suggested that there are three components to spiritual awakening on the path of mysticism. In post number 5, the component of “understanding” was the focus. If you haven’t already read post number 5 (or watched the audio presentation on YouTube), or if you’re in need of a refresher, I would suggest that first you either read the previous post or watch the video before proceeding on with the current post. The video version is embedded in the post which can be found in the May 2021 archives, labeled Practical Mysticism 5.

The second component mentioned was “acceptance,” or more specifically, the acceptance of the metaphysics and principles put forth in blog post/video number 5, and in other previous posts. Acceptance of the principles and metaphysics is essential for correct application. If you’re able to accept the principles and metaphysics without any inner conflict, then that’s all that’s needed. If the radical nature of the principles and metaphysics causes some resistance to accepting them, I would suggest provisionally accepting them, sort of like a scientist accepting a hypothesis, and then applying them in the spirit of an experiment so you can discern for yourself their validity.

At this juncture, I won’t say anything more about the component of “acceptance,” as acceptance is up to the individual mind. Today’s video will focus on application, but first, let’s have a very concise review of some foundational metaphysics and principles we need to have both understanding and acceptance of: 

1. Understanding the seeming world of matter as a dreamlike world of unreal appearances. Understanding that what appears to be a physical world is only a series of mental images which are not outside the mind. The apparent world is all mind and only mind. 

2. Understanding the entire world of images as one unified tapestry of illusion because it is one unified dream in the mind, much like a nighttime dream. Understanding that this world of images is a counterfeit world; a temporary veil of images attempting to block our awareness of God’s Infinite Spiritual Kingdom of Reality. 

3. Understanding that though invisible to the senses, but here now, is God’s Infinite Spiritual Kingdom of Reality. Understanding that God’s Infinite Spiritual Kingdom of Reality is All That Truly Is, and that the mental world of illusion has no beingness, no substance, no existence, and no reality whatsoever. 

4. Understanding that God’s Being is this Infinite Spiritual Reality, and because we are one with God, this Infinite Spiritual Universe of Reality is our identity as well! Understanding that our identity is not a body or a person, but is the invisible Infinite Eternal Spiritual Universe of Reality and Oneness! I and my Father are One!

I find it helpful to view the application of the metaphysics and principles as a two-sided coin: one side of the coin is choosing Truth, and the other side is releasing illusion or falsity. We choose the Truth of the nature of God and of ourselves as abstract, incorporeal, Infinite, Eternal, Boundless Spirit which is Reality here now, and we release the falsehood of a human identity apart from God, and the falsehood of a world of mental images. The releasing of falsity also includes letting go of all thoughts, beliefs and concepts associated with humanhood and the false world.

Using the triangle as a metaphor for the split mind, choosing Truth and releasing illusion entails rising from a consciousness of duality, separation, and false beliefs, to a consciousness of Oneness and Truth. To repeat and reinforce what the practice of this choice entails: We choose the Truth of the nature of God and of ourselves as abstract, incorporeal, Infinite, Eternal, Boundless Spirit which is Reality here now, and we release the falsehood of a human identity apart from God, and the falsehood of a world of mental images. The releasing of falsity also includes letting go of all thoughts, beliefs and concepts associated with humanhood and the false world.

Let’s look in more detail at what that looks like in application.

Concisely put, defenselessness and trust are the two basic practices: Thinking, feeling, and behaving defenselessly, and putting complete trust in The One Infinite Spiritual Reality or God, which is also trusting in our own True Identity. Defenselessness and trust go hand in hand.  I repeat: Defenselessness and trust go hand in hand. In order to release all defensive human thinking and behavior, we must trust in Spirit. The defensive behaviors are replaced with trust in Spirit.  The practices of defenselessness and trust are predicated on the choice for Truth; the choice for True Identity as One with God, as The Boundless Eternal Whole Complete Incorporeal Reality of Oneness. This is the nature of God and of our Self because I and my Father are One. In This we trust.

Let’s continue our journey of looking deeper into the details of applying the principles and metaphysics. Please note that all practices and applications require both an awareness of thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, and a commitment to choosing Truth over and over again, until a consciousness imbued with Truth becomes the natural state:

Let’s return to five areas of application of principles and metaphysics that were touched upon in the previous post/video number 5 in this series. I’ll first read through all five in their entirety, then today in part one, we’ll look at three of the five areas of application in more detail, as well as in the context of defenselessness and trust. 

1. Giving no credence or power to any evidence of the 5 senses. Giving no power to any so-called person, place or thing. Seeing the world of images as one neutral tapestry of illusion and therefore not reacting to anything. 

2. No longer seeking outside for safety, supply, love, or for anything at all. 

3. Observing behavior in order to bring to awareness the motivation for the behavior, and no longer engaging in behaviors motivated by fear, lack, or littleness. 

4. Raising to awareness all beliefs, thoughts, and concepts associated with humanhood and the false world, and letting them go.

5. Trusting in the ever present Infinite Invisible Spiritual Reality of Oneness. Stated alternatively as trusting in God, and/or trusting in the True Nature of Yourself, that nature being Wholeness and Completion, being Self Sustaining and Self Maintaining, being Infinite, Eternal, and Joyful. 

We’ve already discussed number 5, the topic of trust. But let’s start here and go a little deeper. What are we trusting in Spirit for? Everything! Trusting in Spirit is the replacement for all former activities geared toward the survival and defense of the body, and for all things we formerly sought for outside of ourselves such as supply, safety, and health. Trust in the Completion and Wholeness of Spirit, it’s Self-sustaining and Self-maintaining nature, replaces all seeking, and all fear-and-lack-based behaviors.

Now, going back to number one, it reads as:

1.Giving no credence or power to any evidence of the 5 senses. Giving no power to any so-called person, place or thing. Seeing the world of images as one neutral tapestry of illusion and therefore not reacting to anything.

This practice is based on the fact that only God is Power. Stated alternatively, we cease from believing in two powers; from believing that both God is a power and that  the images of the world are a power. This practice is a training of the mind. When we are tempted to assign power to anything in the world of images, we must catch ourselves and withdraw that assigned power. The world of images has no intrinsic power, only the power we invest it with by our belief. If we do not assign any power to any of the images, then there is no need to defend against them. This is where defenselessness is practiced. If I assign power to any images, I am inadvertently proclaiming them as real. Furthermore, if I defend against anything in the world of images, I am also proclaiming them as real. Let’s remember that the world of images is all mind and only mind, so what we perceive outside is really within as a belief or a concept. What we formerly believed was a world of matter is actually a world of ideas, beliefs, concepts only in the mind. Threat is a belief or concept, fear is a belief or concept, so are sickness and attack, and on and on and on. Since all beliefs and concepts are in the mind, the practice includes dropping these beliefs and concepts from where they actually reside. In mind.

If I defend against any of the images, I am actually keeping the belief in the mind, reinforcing the belief in the mind, and perpetuating the appearance of its complementary image in my experience. Why is this so? If I defend against something, say sickness for example, I am proclaiming sickness as real; but sickness is just a concept or belief in the mind. So I am then reinforcing the belief in sickness in the mind; actually holding the belief in place, which will then outpicture as sickness in the world of images. Defenses are very costly! They reinforce erroneous beliefs that are not in alignment with the Wholeness of Spirit, keeping the mind trapped in darkness. “Defenses do what they would defend.” Can you catch the meaning of that quote from A Course in Miracles?

In addition to giving no credence or power to any of the images, or to any erroneous beliefs and concepts in the mind and thereby living defenselessly, we also train our mind to see the world of images as one neutral, unified tapestry of illusion. This helps us to be non reactive and defenseless. We replace our former defensive behaviors with trust in the only Power, which is Spirit.

Moving onto number two:

2.No longer seeking outside for safety, supply, love, or for anything at all. 

If we are trusting in the Allness of Spirit, and we have accepted that there is no world outside the mind, then we cease seeking in the world of images for safety, supply, or for anything. The practice is the cessation of seeking in what we formerly believed to be an external world. This is a form of defenselessness. If I am seeking outside for supply or money for example, then I am defending against lack, thereby making lack real in the mind, and perpetuating lack in experience. If I am seeking outside for health for example, then I am defending against limitation and lack, thereby making limitation and lack real in the mind, reinforcing it in mind, and perpetuating it in experience. We replace seeking outside with trust in, and dependence on, the Self-Sustaining, Self-Maintaining nature of Spirit. 

So today in part one of discussing the application of principles and metaphysics, we looked at numbers 1, 2, and 5 from above. In part two, we’ll look more deeply into numbers 3 and 4. Here are all five areas of application presented once again in order for brief review:

1.Giving no credence or power to any evidence of the 5 senses. Giving no power to any so-called person, place or thing. Seeing the world of images as one neutral tapestry of illusion and therefore not reacting to anything.

2.No longer seeking outside for safety, supply, love, or for anything at all.

3.Observing behavior in order to bring to awareness the motivation for the behavior, and no longer engaging in behaviors motivated by fear, lack, or littleness.

4.Raising to awareness all beliefs, thoughts, and concepts associated with humanhood and the false world, and letting them go.

5.Trusting in the ever present Infinite Invisible Spiritual Reality of Oneness. Stated alternatively as trusting in God, and/or trusting in the True Nature of Yourself, that nature being Wholeness and Completion, being Self Sustaining and Self Maintaining, being Infinite, Eternal, and Joyful. 

The final words for today will be a super brief reminder to choose Truth and to release falsehood….

And to practice defenselessness, and trust in Spirit.

If you have any questions regarding the material presented on the Practical Mysticism blog, please ask them in the comment section. Thank you. May Grace be your only experience.

The audio presentation of this blog post, including images and diagrams, can be found below and on the Practical Mysticism YouTube channel:

Practical Mysticism 5: Understanding, Acceptance, Application with Focus on Understanding

Hi there! Today I’d like to talk about three components of spiritual awakening in the mystical practice of A Course a Miracles, The InfiniteWay, and in Mysticism in general as it was defined in both the Practical Mysticism blog post and video number 1 in this series. If you haven’t already read or listened to the Practical Mysticism post/video number 1 called “Defining Mysticism,” I would encourage you to do so, as it defines Mysticism in the way it’s used in these teachings and on this channel. The blog post can be found here: and the video can be found here: In the first four videos in this series, some foundational ideas were laid down which specifically pertained to A Course in Miracles and The Infinite Way. From here forward, the core principles of both teachings, as well of those of Mystical Christianity and Mysticism in general, will more or less be amalgamated into one cohesive presentation. 

So the three components to spiritual awakening in this practice are: understanding, acceptance, and application. All three components are essential, and if any of those components are lacking, then the process is weakened and delayed.

Of the three components—-understanding, acceptance, and application—-it’s the understanding and the application that will be the focus of the content of the Practical Mysticism channel, as these two components are where the sharing would be most helpful. Acceptance, or at least provisional acceptance, is largely up to the individual mind.

For today let’s focus only on understanding, or what I like to call right understanding or proper understanding. What is it we need to have proper understanding of? 

Firstly, it is essential to have the correct understanding of the nature of the mind, the nature of the world, and the relationship or connection between them. Stated concisely, a comprehensive understanding of the correct metaphysics is absolutely essential for both practice and for Truth Realization. The correct metaphysics are very radical compared to what we have been conditioned to believe. Nevertheless, as radical as they seem to be, they must be accepted. It’s possible for one to hear and even to understand the metaphysics, but that doesn’t mean one is necessarily going to buy into them! I don’t even advocate blindly buying into what someone is teaching; that’s kind of what got us into trouble in the first place! But what I do suggest is provisionally accepting the principles and metaphysics, applying them in practice, and proving or disproving them to yourself. 

In addition to having correct understanding of the metaphysics of the mind and of the world, another absolutely essential aspect of right understanding is apprehending the nature of God, the Spiritual Universe of Reality, and the nature of our abstract Spiritual Identity as created by God, as One with God. The belief that we are in any way separated from God must be seen as erroneous.

In order to more easily comprehend right understanding vs erroneous belief, 

let\"s start once again with the basic triangle diagram, shown above. As stated in previous posts , this triangle represents the split or divided mind. In its present condition, meaning asleep and dreaming of a world of separation and multiplicity, the mind seems to be divided into two parts which could be roughly classified as Truth and illusion, or Truth and falsehood, which includes Right understanding vs erroneous belief. 

The bottom of the triangle represents the erroneous beliefs and perceptions—in other words, the misunderstandings— that are present when the mind is asleep in the dream of separation. Firstly, the bottom-of-the-triangle perspective erroneously proclaims that I am a separate, objectively existing human being in a great big, objectively existing universe of matter. I am a person and everything in the world is outside of me, and exists apart from me. Furthermore, I am separated from my Creator or Source. This perspective sees and believes in multiplicity, division, and the solidity of matter. The bottom-of-the-triangle perception is five sense perception, and the mind that dwells in this state of consciousness believes in the evidence reported by the five senses. At the bottom of the triangle, in the consciousness of humanhood, the mind always seeks outside itself, believing that safety, supply, love, and all things come from without rather than within. Furthermore, this perspective believes that what is reported by the five sense mind is reality, and that this reality was created by God, or in the case of the atheist, that the apparent material universe is reality and that there is no Creator. 

Now let’s look at the contrasting perceptions at the top of the triangle, where the mind dwells in a consciousness of Truth. The top-of-the-triangle perspective sees, or understands, that what appears to be an objectively existing world of matter is an unreal mental world of images; a false universe of five sense impressions. Furthermore, this false sense universe is seen as one tapestry of illusion. In other words, top-of-the-triangle perception unifies the world of images as one illusion. Hierarchies among the illusory images are not acknowledged. 

The perspective at the top of the triangle is an attitude of knowing, and trusting in, an invisible Spiritual Reality of Oneness that is present here and now, despite any seemingly contrary evidence provided by the five senses. It is understanding that the apparent world of form is just an insignificant mental veil over the ever-present Spiritual Universe of Reality. This perspective sees the apparent world as unreal, as a mental dream dreamt by a mind that believes in separation and opposites, and is in no way a creation of God.

In order to flesh out further the difference between correct understanding and erroneous belief, I’d like to highlight one of the major foundational errors in thinking that must be corrected in order to properly apply the principles, and to awaken to Truth. 

At the level of what appears to be form, when we are identified as a body or a person, it seems that we are in a dualistic, subject-object relationship with everything.  If I’m identified as a body existing in a material universe, then I am the subject and everything else in the universe, including other people, are the objects. But this perception is an error. Truly there is no subject-object split at the apparent form level. In actuality, it is more akin to what we experience in a nighttime dream. When we are dreaming at night, it seems as if our dream character is the subject and all the other people and things in the dream are objects, when in actuality it’s one seamless, unified dream, occurring in the mind. The daytime experience is the same; it is one unified dream occurring only in the mind of the dreamer. 

Now, not only is there no subject-object split at the apparent form level as mentioned, but there is truly no subject-object split at the mind level either. Let’s look further into what this means. In some spiritualities we may be taught that our identity is mind or consciousness, sometimes called subject, and that the appearances of the world are the objects of that consciousness. Or, we may hear about cause and effect, with mind being cause and the world of images being effect. However, in actuality cause and effect are together, consciousness and its objects are together. There is no inner and outer. In other words, there is no mind as inner and world as outer. Another way of saying this is offered by a Course in Miracles in the following quote: “Ideas leave not their source,”  meaning that the mental world of ideas is still in the mind of the thinker. The world is not actually projected from the mind, but it’s all mind and only mind. This understanding is a top-of-the-triangle perspective. It’s the dreamer of the dream perspective, with the dreamer being the mind. Not an individual mind, but the one mind dreaming of a world of opposites. The dreamer and the dream are unified. Repeat, the dreamer and the dream are unified. Mind is the dreamer and the dream. 

Next, we need right understanding of the difference between the finite mental illusion of a world, and the Infinite Spiritual Universe of Reality. 

The Infinite Spiritual Universe of Reality, also known as God, is present here and now, though invisible to the senses. It is a Reality of Wholeness, Completion, Perfection, Eternity, and Love. It isn’t affected in any way by the appearances of this world. It cannot be assailed, diminished, altered, or compromised in any way. It is Infinite and Unchanging. By contrast, the finite mental world of appearances is in constant flux, always changing and ever unreliable. It is a world of opposites, of division, and death. It is a world solely of five sense perception; seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. These senses do not provide testimony of the ever present invisible Reality of Oneness here now. The evidence of the five senses is a lie, it is lying about Reality, and attempting to replace Reality with its world of images. The good news is it hasn’t succeeded! Infinite Reality is present here now and in this practice, it is to this Reality that we give our fidelity. It is our practice to not be fooled by the evidence of the senses. It is our practice to never give credence or power to any five sense evidence, and to put our trust completely in God.

When we trust the evidence of our senses, it tells us that our identity is a body, or a human being. When we trust in God, He tells us that our Identity is the Infinite Spiritual Universe of Reality because we are one with Him who is that very Reality.

The finite mental illusion of a world is just that: an illusion. An unreal dreamlike world with no substance, no existence, and no life. It is a temporary, flimsy veil of nothingness trying to take the place of Reality. How wonderfully laughable! The finite mental illusion of a world has no intrinsic power, and it is our practice to not invest it with any power whatsoever. We rest in the fact that Truth is True, and only Truth is True. Amen! 

The application of the principles discussed here will be the focus of other posts, but in short, it could be said that the application would include the following basic practices, though this list is not exhaustive:

1. Giving no credence or power to any evidence of the 5 senses. Giving no power to any so-called person, place or thing. Seeing the world of images as one neutral tapestry of illusion and therefore not reacting to anything.

2. No longer seeking outside for safety, supply, love, or for anything at all.

3. Observing behavior in order to bring to awareness the motivation for the behavior, and no longer engaging in behaviors motivated by fear, lack, or littleness.

4. Raising to awareness all beliefs, thoughts, and concepts associated with humanhood and the false world, and letting them go.

5. Trusting in the ever present Infinite Invisible Spiritual Reality of Oneness. Stated alternatively as trusting in God, and/or trusting in the True Nature of Yourself, that nature being Wholeness and Completion, being Self Sustaining and Self Maintaining, being Infinite, Eternal, and Joyful. 

That’s all for today. We’ll continue to dive deeper into the principles and practices in upcoming posts. If you have any questions relating to this material, please ask them in the comment section and I will try to address them.  Bye for now, and Glory to the One Reality! 

The audio presentation of this blog post, including images and diagrams, can be found below and on the Practical Mysticism YouTube channel: