[MightyMasd]

excellent discussion! i think both sides are being well represented; both sides are valid and no side is complete by itself. on the one hand, the idea that we are all one is very idealistic and kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, but it's just not that useful when it comes to paying the bills; buying groceries, etc.

when i first started studying acim, i was actually a bit turned off by this somewhat quixotic idealism, and all the flowery language. what actually kept me interested was that the most spiritual people i knew all seemed to love it.

i still find many valuable lessons in acim, but at the same time i still have trouble believing the ego is so diabolically evil. and another main cim concept is the idea that this is all an illusion. of course this is true on some level, but i sometimes think it's just downright disrespectable to us and all the other entities that invested so much time and energy in creating this space for us to learn the lessons we need to learn. according to acim the goal is to escape this illusion!

i got the (possibly incorrect) feeling from pt 2 of the audio blog that there is a spiritual hierarchy where 20 or so ascended people are at the top of the pile (according to larry) then you have people like eckhart tolle who can just wander around without the shackles of society then people like david and larry who have both material and spiritual wealth and then people like you and me who at least want to understand and then everyone else.

i don't know how larry and david feel about this, but i can tell you that this concept is virtually the antithesis of the course's teaching. it describes this as "special", that one would be in any way superior to another, and it is to be avoided at all cost.

isn't there something we are supposed to be doing while we all think we are separate? if the 'answer' to feeling separated is to find ways to accept that we aren't actually separate then why do we think we're separate in the first place? is it a race to see who figures it out first or last? are there style points for figuring out the 'answer' in a creative way perhaps?

surely the there's a reason why we think we are separate?

the jewel that we are searching for is in the experience itself, and our task is to recognize the love in that experience.

simply put, our capacity to understand a concept can be greatly increased by dividing it up into all its little component parts, so separation can actually be very helpful. then again, ra says that understanding is not of this density, so i believe the real key here is balance. find that point between separation and oneness, that works for you in the moment and recognize that it is always fluctuating. just remember that all your beliefs are a wondrous treasure, and all experience is sacred.