Q: I have a couple questions that I could not find answers to in the archives. They are rather peculiar, but the ego keeps bringing them to me for some reason. If you have the time, I would love to hear your thoughts on these questions!
1) When one is enlightened, does one still experience physical pain as unpleasant? Does one experience pain or displeasure about ANYTHING? Another aspect of this question is: Once you awaken completely, are you still vulnerable to falling back into ways of the ego, or is it ALL gone for good?
2) Do you think the Holy Spirit would EVER guide one to harm or take the life of another being? (ex: meat eating, killing ants in your kitchen, using violent force to stop a murderer, etc.). And, by the way, do you eat meat, and if so would you personally take an animal's life?
Once again, thank you so much for your guidance (and patience with our silly ego questions)!
Love.
A: Dear Beloved One
Thanks for asking the questions that come to your mind, even if they
seem "rather peculiar" to you. In Enlightenment all perceived
pain has vanished, for what but wrong-mindedness seemed to produce the
misperception called pain. Pain was the illusion that Christ could leave
a Loving Creator's Mind.
If pain is real there is no God. If God is real there is no pain. The
latter is true because God has no
opposite. Enlightenment entails no pain or displeasure about ANYTHING,
for Enlightenment is Pure, Constant Happiness, Peace, Freedom, and Joy.
Being Constant, Enlightenment knows not of change. The illusion of vulnerability
and fluctuating emotions has gone as well. There is no ego to fall "back
into." Spirit Abides ...in gentle Love. All pain is over Now and
nothing remains but a blessing of Stillness.
The Holy Spirit is the reminder that Life is Eternal. The Present Moment is the gateway to Eternity. The world of images was a world of illusion. Images are therefore neutral to the Holy Spirit. They were "neutralized" the instant they seemed to arise.
What does this mean in relation to your second question?: You cannot kill what has never lived, and in the Holy Spirit's Perspective of forgiveness harm is impossible. Bodies were never born and never die because the world of images is the past. It is impossible to find beginnings and endings in a script that is already written and over long ago. There is no life in images. This is the meaning of "Hold no graven images before the Lord Thy God." All images were made to obscure the Truth from awareness, and they can only be forgiven as one illusion. If illusions could be divided up into living and dead, organic and inorganic, animate and inanimate Enlightenment would be impossible. For what is Enlightenment but Pure Oneness, far beyond the possibility of division of any kind.
The split mind was the illusion. Seek not to project the split mind to forms and call some forms alive and some forms dead. God knows not form. The split mind seemed to be the "killer" illusion, yet the Holy Spirit reminds the sleeping mind that what is whole and unified can never BE split. In Heaven Mind is One Spirit, and even with regard to this world forgiveness reflects this Oneness. The forgiven world recognizes the unity of the healed mind and sees that there is nothing "outside" of this single mind which dreams softly a happy, gentle dream. The goal of ACIM is to dream softly of a sinless world. This goal is more than possible, it is inevitable!
As for my seeming diet, "eat what is served" is the Guidance
I was given from the Holy Spirit many years ago. Join with your brother
and let no concept come between the Love you share. This Guidance
has not changed. "Dinner" is always a backdrop for sharing
the Joy of the Living Moment. What the world calls "breathing"
and "eating" and "drinking" and "sleeping"
are really all the same in the Enlightened State. The Healed Perspective
sees the sameness of all things because they all share the same Purpose:
forgiveness. This Perspective is not "personal," for in unified
perception nothing is personal. God is no respecter of persons. I literally
cannot "take" an animal's "life" because Life is
Spirit and can only be extended or Given as God Gives. "Take"
has no meaning in my mind and since animals have never "lived"
it is impossible that they could "die." The belief expressed
in the thought "personally take an animal's life" has many
underlying assumptions that are false.
In right-mindedness it is obvious that ideas are strengthened as they are given away or shared, and "taking" a "life" or anything at all has no meaning. All that I give is given to mySelf, and in giving there is no loss, no sacrifice, and nothing is ever taken away from wholeness and unity. The teacher of God does not want anything that cannot be given away. Such is the Joy of miracles!
The thought seeds seem to be flung everywhere, yet there is never even
a glance back to see where the seeds land. The seeds are never for an
"other," and since giving and receiving are the same the mind
receives the gifts it gives. This is truly the feast you seek for underneath
the ego's questions.
The only question that need be asked is a question that is not really silly at all: Am I ready to know that God's Will and My Own are the Same? God's Will for Me is for Perfect Happiness. And what but this Will is the Will of Christ? Happily, nothing can change Eternal Love. Thank You God!
Blessings of Love Abound!
Loving You Holy One.
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