Herein lies Freedom...

Tonight begins an intimate weekend retreat here at the house in Alkmaar, Holland. An opportunity to immerse in silence, allow what is ready to arise for healing, and be within an atmosphere of safety, presence, prayer, and Love, with the Holy Spirit Guiding the weekend.

Inspired by the profound and practical teaching in the Course that minds are joined, and therefore private thoughts must be brought to the light in order to heal and experience the freedom, joy and intimacy that we all desire.

“This course is not beyond immediate learning, unless you believe that what God wills takes time… The holy instant is this instant and every instant. The one you want it to be it is... For beyond the past and future, where you will not find it, it stands in shimmering readiness for your acceptance… Your practice must therefore rest upon your willingness to let all littleness go.” (T-15.IV)

After the Being Guided tour came to an end I have been in prayer to be shown directions... which involves allowing the 'not-knowing'... allowing the space... allowing feeling deactivated without knowing if I will ever be activated again... allowing each moment to be so full and total that there is nothing else... tears falling in the letting go of everything...

And then the call quietly shows itself... such as for an intimate retreat... and now before we begin there is a waiting list and group already asking for the next one to be arranged... ready to set a date...

It seems to be more and more like that - things arranging themselves and telling me that they are happening... and so we shall see... for sure it will be obvious, as His Plan always is.

My gatherings inspire songs in the hearts of those who come... awakening to the realization of what is blocking and what is truly supportive to know God... I just show up... available to be moved, to be shown what is the Call and how Grace would answer... for now this is the part He would have me play to know Him, to be with Him, to be released from the belief that I am anything more or less than the listening, the following, the Presence that is felt...

Of myself I can do nothing... thank you God... herein lies true freedom... herein lies love ❤

Richard Rohr: The Prayer of Quiet

I enjoy some of the writings by Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar. He points to integration, to silence and inner peace being the state from which we are guided to 'take action'. This is described by Jesus in "I Need Do Nothing" (Text, ACIM) - we are guided to go to the quiet place within, the place / state in which we bask in the deep quiet and restful knowing that truly, I need do nothing... we are encouraged to return to this place often... as it is from here that we are sent on "many busy doings". To bless the world, to light the world, to awaken our brothers are they see the light in us and are reminded of Who they are... and in this seeing... we are awakened.

The Prayer of Quiet  

The Desert Fathers and Mothers withdrew from cities to the desert to live freely, apart from the economic, cultural, and political structure of the Roman Empire. At first, the empire persecuted the church, but in 313 CE, Constantine gave Christianity a privileged status, not out of enlightenment or goodwill but in service of uniformity and control. The Desert Fathers and Mothers knew, as we should today, that empire would be an unreliable partner. They recognized that they had to find inner freedom from the system before they could return to it with true love, wisdom, and helpfulness. This is a useful dynamic for all of us who want to act on behalf of the world. If we stay immersed in culturally acceptable ways of thinking and doing, Christianity’s deep, transformative power is largely lost.  

So how do we find inner freedom? We can begin by noticing that whenever we suffer pain, the mind is always quick to identify with the negative aspects of things and replay them over and over again, wounding us deeply. This pattern must be recognized early and definitively. Peace of mind is actually an oxymoron. When you’re in your mind, you’re hardly ever at peace, and when you’re at peace, you’re never only in your mind. The early Christian abbas and ammas knew this and first insisted on finding the inner silence necessary to tame the obsessive mind. Their method was originally called the prayer of quiet and eventually referred to as contemplation. It is the core teaching in the early Christian period, but it has been emphasized much more in the Eastern Church than in the West. 

In The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward relates this story, one of the briefest but most popular of all the desert sayings: “A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him for a word. The old man said to him, ‘Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.’” [1] But you don’t have to have a cell, and you don’t have to run away from the responsibilities of an active life, to experience solitude and silence. In another story, Amma Syncletica said, “There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts.” [2]   

By solitude, the desert mystics didn’t mean mere privacy or protected space, although there is a need for that too. The desert mystics saw solitude, in Henri Nouwen’s words, as a “place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the [person] occurs.” [3] Solitude is a courageous encounter with our naked, most raw and real self, in the presence of pure Love. This level of contemplation cannot help but bring about action.  

(Franciscan Richard Rohr founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in 1987)

Psychotherapy, ACIM, or both?

Dear Kirsten,

I have a question in regards to traumatic experiences. What or better how would Jesus deal with personality disorders for example? Would you suggest therapy or simply doing the course? or both?

I doubt that in certain cases prayer alone will do and that it certainly a lack of faith. So where am I when I still believe in therapy on a psychological level?

I think where I am struggling at the moment is to put a fix label over someone e.g. you have this and that borderline personality and it is rare to be cured. I find it easier if I see that certain traces are here coming up from the unconscious in a very painful way but the label, the diagnosis hurts me. Makes me feel even more hopeless...as if once diagnosed as disordered or even ill you are always ill. Aren't all identities in some way disordered as long as we are not living our true reality..

Warm wishes, C

Hi C,

There is a booklet called the Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice, within which Jesus describes the value and purpose of psychotherapy. I find that when working with others including 1-1 sessions, and also in gatherings when someone asks a question and is open to exploring their healing on a deeper level directly within a group, it is often psychotherapy. Particularly when it involves trauma, it can be very supportive and helpful to be 'walked through' a healing process by someone who is clear on the process of forgiveness and can both hold the space to allow for emotional healing, and can gently guide the process to see the present core beliefs in the mind that are ready to be seen.

ACIM is a mind training tool to help your mind, discern what is of the ego, and to align the direction of our thinking and prayer towards the Voice for God. Because this is a pathway involving relationships, the journey will no doubt involve psychotherapy at some level.

I join you in giving any "official diagnosis" over to the Spirit for release. While also acknowledging the need for support and healing. It is good to be open to who and what the Spirit brings onto our path for healing - and to stay open to the recognition that the healing goes far beyond the recent story or experiences of this lifetime. There are core beliefs in the mind that are ready to be faced and healed. This is the context for seeing the healing within the perspective of awakening, which is not personal, and then need not be resisted or seen as failure of any kind.

With much love,

Kirsten 

The Psychotherapy booklet is available to order here, and is also included in newer editions of ACIM, as published by the authorized publishers, The Foundation for Inner Peace