Aliens and Corporate Governance

Too often lately, as I read the paper, watch and listen to the news, and talk to certain people, I feel like an alien, like I’m from a different world, a different planet altogether.  Perhaps you’ve had that feeling, too?  It’s very strange.  People speak English, dress normally, even talk about things and ideas I think I recognize, but in reality they’re speaking gibberish and what they’re talking about is so twisted as to be unrecognizable.  Perhaps you’ve experienced this, too?

For example, we have some men talking about their sisters, wives, daughters and other female friends, relatives and acquaintances who they supposedly love and care about, as if these women were stupid, incompetent sluts incapable of making decisions about their own bodies. It’s strange, since these men claim to be Republicans but in reality, they are Taliban Ayatollahs.  They claim to be for freedom, justice and equality for all, yet they would deny certain people the protection of our laws, justice and equality.

Another example, and there are too, many to include here, is Corporate Governance.  Corporations are allegedly governed by their share-holders at annual meetings.  This semblance of democracy is one of the justifications for allowing corporations all the power and leeway they have.  Here is the strangeness and unreality: we say it’s one share, one vote, but in actuality, it’s blocks of shares equal control; one share is meaningless.  Like so many aspects of our so-called democracy, corporate governance is rigged in favor of the large shareholders. Who are these ‘large shareholders’? 

Whoever they are, the large shareholders at Exxon Mobil just voted to boost their Chairman and CEO’s compensation package by 17% from its current $25.2 million a year—a year, one person $25.2 million a year, up by 17%!  (Of course the Chairman will be giving most of his increase to good causes like the Sierra Club, Common Cause and Planned Parenthood.  Not!)  Who are the people who voted for this?  What planet are they from?  Or, are they from this planet and I, the alien?

A paradox of this situation is that the pension funds of teachers, firefighters, police, unions and corporate retirees are usually the biggest share holders.  Do these folks really think one person should have $25.2 million +17% (I’m too lazy to do the math)? What planet are they from?  Or, are they from this planet and I, the alien?

I get that this is complex, but really, it isn’t that difficult to see that this is not right; is it?  The shareholders need to get real.  It has to start somewhere. I’m going to check into who’s administering my pension fund and let them know what I think.  Perhaps you will, too.  It will feel as if we’re aliens at first, but maybe, eventually, we’ll make them the aliens.

A Car Elevator in His Home

A car elevator in one of his six homes.  A multi-millionaire. A man who will not condemn crazy talk about secession and moon colonies from his fellow party leaders. A man who thinks that managing a financial arbitrage business – a business that manufactures and produces nothing, qualifies him to manage the US government.  Is this the kind of man that represents the average voter?  Is this man qualified to be President of the USA? 

If he were not white and the President not black, wouldn’t those things – especially the car elevator in his house, instantly eliminate him from consideration by most voters, especially the white males who favor him over the President 62%-38%?  Is there anything but racism, fear and prejudice at work in those numbers? 

And why is that fact, the nearly naked racism, not being spoken of in the media?  Why does the media pretend that racism is not present?  Why does the media bother to talk about other “issues” while ignoring the real issue? How is it that the facts about the President’s policy successes are rarely spoken of by the media or the “man in the street”?  Why do the polls show a “tight race”?  Are people really that crazy, out of touch and prejudiced?  Apparently, if the polls are to be believed. 

If they weren’t that crazy, out of touch and prejudiced, wouldn’t they be turned off by a man with a car elevator in one of his six homes, a multi-millionaire, a man who will not condemn crazy talk about secession and moon colonies from his fellow party leaders; a man who thinks that managing a financial arbitrage business – a business that manufactures and produces nothing, qualifies him to manage the US government?  Wouldn’t all of that turn-off the “average” voter, make them wonder how such a man could represent them, their lives, families and ideals?  Has the political game so changed?  Apparently it has.

Sports Fans and Referees

Perhaps you’ve noticed as I have that a lot of people deep into sports, knowing all about the players, statistics, history and standings, are less into issues and problems in society such as corruption, abuse, environmental degradation, addiction and poverty.  They tend to poo poo those social things as pesky perpetual annoyances that will always be there and that no one can do anything about anyway.  As if all the energy and passion they pour into sports can affect the outcome of the game.

Of course it’s possible to be a sports fan and still contribute to dealing with the issues and problems in society.  It doesn’t have to be either sports or society; it can be both sports and society.  It’s just that it tends not to be both sports and society. It tends to be either sports or society for a large majority of white males and for white women too, as equality spreads, to them [They are now equal opportunity drunks as well].

What if all that energy and passion people pour into sports was devoted to building community, helping one another and addressing the issues and problems in society?  Would we find ways to convert the issues and problems in society to opportunities for growth, cooperation and community?  I think we would.  What if only a quarter, 25%,  all that energy and passion people pour into sports was devoted to building community, helping one another and addressing the issues and problems in society?  We’d still find new ways to convert the issues and problems in society to opportunities for growth, cooperation and community, wouldn’t we?  Again, it’s not about either sports or community, but both sports and community.

Also, many sports fans tend to be laissez fare or against government.  They’re with Reagan that government is the problem, that government at all levels is too, big, and we’d be better off without government.  OK, consider this, sports fans, what would your favorite game be like without a referee…?  Or with a corrupt ref, or with a ref who favored one side, or a ref who was a ref but didn’t believe refers were really necessary?  What would happen to the game then?

If nothing else, government has the role of ref in society.  But since Reagan and as we move toward the TParty view, we have refs—people running government, who don’t believe in refs and don’t think refs are really necessary.  So, what’s happening to the game without refs?  Look around you: craziness, absurdity, irrationality. The game is falling apart.  The extreme fans are on the field, breaking all the rules.  No refs, no game.

Statist Language

Another choice most of us are aware of when we stop to think about it (but rarely do we stop and think) is our choice of words.  The language we use, the choice of words, sets up our expectations and other people’s reactions to us.  Duh! You say.  I know that.  Yes.  But we don’t, won’t or can’t be constantly aware of our language.  However, we can be more aware though, if we want to and work at it a little.  The pay-offs make the extra effort worthwhile.

Take what Brian Martin calls “Statist Language” in his eponymous article in the October, 2009,  ETC: A Review of General Semantics.  “It is a long-standing convention that the name of a country refers to its government or some action by sections of that government.  For example, ‘Iraq invades Kuwait’ means that Iraqi military forces—under the control of the government of Iraq, in particular Saddam Hussein—invaded the territory known as Kuwait.

“The trouble with this formulation is that ‘Iraq’ suggests that the entire country is a unified whole—in particular, that the government and the people are united.  Such statement can be seriously misleading.  The linguistic shorthand of ‘Iraq invaded Kuwait’ hides political differences within Iraq, especially omitting the existence of opposition to the government.”  Apply this to the US.  “Americans to stay in Afghanistan for Ten More Years.”  Really?  That’s not what I want, nor what you want.  So the use of the statist language “Americans” is seriously misleading.

“The use of country names for government actions can be called ‘statist language’: it linguistically attributes the actions of the state—the government and, especially, the leading figures in the government—to the people, to an entire society.  It makes it awkward to talk about internal tensions or dissent.”  “Awkward” Martin says.  That’s polite.  It makes it almost impossible not only to talk about internal tensions and dissent, but to even think about them. 

The effect of “statist” language/thinking applies to everything, not just states.  Use the term: “Republican” or “Democrat” or “Unions” or “Gays”.  What happens?  All Republicans, Democrats, Unions and Gays are lumped together; no shades of grey nor ranges of opinion, nor space for people to be different.  Everyone lumped together and not a very effective nor efficient way to think and talk about human beings.

The way to deal with this ineffective and inefficient phenomena of “statist language” and “lumping” is to be aware we’re doing it, chose not to do it, and use alternatives.  Once again, this takes self awareness and a desire to change but the pay-off in terms of less blaming, polarization and stress, and more community, consensus and actual problem solving, makes the effort worthwhile.  Instead of saying “Republicans,” and lumping all so-called Republicans into the same heap, try saying things like: “TParty Republicans,” or “the RNC,” or “wealthy Republicans,” or “older, Jewish Republicans.” 

Adjectives help avoid the lumping, clarify our thinking and make communication and action more effective and efficient, reducing polarization, blaming and stress.  Try it.  Not only will you feel better about the Republicans, but you’ll be doing God’s work.  After all, that’s why God invented adjectives, to help us think more clearly and work together better.  God loves adjectives.  She’s not happy with “statist language” and “lumping.”

Beyond the Melting Pot

But, just because American society is beyond the melting pot, and people want to express their unique backgrounds and aspirations [which is a good thing, fine and healthy], doesn’t mean we have to have political polarization, exclusion, lack of consensus and compromise, demonization of those who disagree or are different, and rampant incivility. 

It is quite possible for us to get along, agree on the important things like mutual respect, inclusion, civility, consensus, compromise and dialogue and be very, even extremely different from one another.  In fact, all of America’s most cherished ideals are about that very thing—epluribus unum—out of many, one. 

We have a choice about which goal and which set of behaviors we support: inclusion or exclusion, mutual respect or demonizing, civility or incivility, dialogue or stone-walling. First and foremost, it is an individual choice.

The changes in communication technology Marlow described and noted in yesterday’s post, are not discrete, that is, the circular oral norms, have not been completely erased by the linear, writing norms, nor have either of them been erased by the electronic norms.  All three co-exist and we use all three in different situations.  Here too, we have a choice about using the technology that is most supportive of our goals: inclusion or exclusion, mutual respect or demonizing, civility or incivility, dialogue or stone-walling. This choice too, is first and foremost, an individual choice.

Choice: we can be passive victims of technological evolution and nasty political mishigas - which pretty much originates with one side, or we can be proactive decision makers and choose, no matter what the seeming conditions, behaviors that support a world that works for everyone and everything.

Society is a collection of individuals and groups.  It can change from the top-down, or the bottom-up.  In democracies, even a so-called democracy like ours, society usually begins to change from the bottom-up, then the ‘up’ catches wise and rides the horse in the direction it’s going.

My choice and your choice matter.

Gridlock in DC and Evolving Patterns of Communication

I came across an interesting explanation of the USA’s present polarization and inability to communicate in the October, 2009 edition of ETC: A Review of General Semantics.

Eugene Marlow in an article, “Beyond Electronics: A Speculation on a New Media Age,” says: “…every phase of our communications evolution has resulted in a particular shape that defines the characteristics of that society.  For example, early man, relying primarily on body language and orality to communicate, evolved a round-shaped, circular society [because that made communication easier and more effective].  Those in the circle were part of the tribe; those outside, were not. Much of their architecture was round [consider Stonehenge and the yurt].  Much in their environment was round: the sun, the moon, the eyes, the mouth, a woman’s breasts, a pregnant woman’s belly.  It is nature overall—there are not straight lines in nature.

“Early writing societies evolved a hierarchical, pyramidal shape, with those at the top in charge and everyone else beholden to the elite who could read and write.  Writing dissolved the relative equanimity of tribal life and the rule of nature by creating the possibility of dictatorships and the rule of man.  Writing created the dominance of the straight line found in many aspects of human life [but not in Nature].

“The [present] electronic age and the acceleration of information dissemination to close to the speed of light usher in a re-shaping of the hierarchical structure.  The edges of societies’ structure are more malleable, and the direction of information flows in many directions, not merely from top to bottom.  The desire for ‘cultural specialness’ and the desire to express in as many ways as possible that specialness—essentially the antithesis of the ‘melting pot’ concept of the early twentieth century—has become even more present in the second half of the twentieth” and in our own time.

To me, Marlow’s ideas suggest that we are participating in the dissolution of old shapes and patterns of social organization and their recombination in new ways such as what Marlow calls “360 – 24/7” that return us to some of the ‘worse,’ exclusionary aspects of tribal culture—360 degrees, 24 hours, 7 days a week.  The fringes, what Marlow called the “malleable edges” of society are more active, more visible and their “desire for ‘cultural specialness’ and the desire to express in as many ways as possible that specialness—essentially the antithesis of the ‘melting pot’ concept of the early twentieth century [which gave cohesion, discipline and cooperation to American society]—has become even more present.”  Thus the USA’s present polarization and inability to communicate.

What is the Body? 14

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’Your safety lies in truth, and not in lies.’  This is the principle of the Atonement. We, however, told the Holy Spirit that we do not believe Him, for our safety lies not There but in our separated self—the ego and its cherished body. ‘Love is your safety.  Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe.  Identify with love and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.’

“On a practical basis this means identifying with love by reflecting it throughout the day: recognizing that you and I do not have separate and conflicting purposes.  Thus does forgiveness establish the awareness of our shared goal: finding the ‘ark of safety’ in which is found the fulfillment of God’s promise to His Son.  We close with the following passage on this newly chosen purpose for the body:

“’Your home is built upon your brother’s health, upon his happiness, his sinlessness, and everything his Father promised him.  No secret promise you have made instead has shaken the Foundation of his home.  The winds will blow upon it and the rain will beat against it, but with no effect. The world will wash away and yet this house will stand forever, for its strength lies not within itself alone.

“’ It is the ark of safety, resting on God’s promise that His Son is safe forever in Himself.  What gap can interpose itself between the safety of this shelter and its Source?  From here the body can be seen as what it is, and neither less nor more in worth than the extent to which it can be used to liberate God’s Son unto his home.  And with this holy purpose is it made a home of holiness a little while, because it shares your Father’s Will with you.’”

What is the Body? 13

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’Then let us wait an instant and be still, forgetting everything we thought we heard; remembering how much we do not know.  This brother neither leads nor follows us, but walks beside us on the selfsame road.  He is like us, near or far away from what we want as we will let him be.  We make no gains he does not make with us, and we fall back if he does not advance.  Take not his hand in anger but in love, for in his progress do you count your own.  And we go separately along the way unless you keep him safely by side.’

The body is not holy in itself, as attested to by Jesus’ many references to it as mere dust, but is made holy because of the purpose given it by the right mind.  “You will identify with what you think will make you safe.  Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you.’  We believed our individual self was safe with the ego, and, again, at that moment we no longer had chose the ego thought system of preparation, we became it.

“‘The concrete part [of the mind] believes in the ego, because the ego depends on the concrete.  The ego is the part of the mind that believes your existence is defined by separation.’ On the other hand, when we realize the ego has lied and cannot make us happy, we gratefully choose Jesus as our teacher and his love as our identity—the choice for real safety.  As we continue our journey, we learn to accept that identity and none other.”

What is the Body? 12

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’ The Son of God extends his hand to reach his brother, and to help him walk along the road with him.  Now is the body holy.  Now it serves to heal the mind that it was made to kill.’  It is not difficult to see that the body’s purpose is to perpetuate the principle of one or the other; my body exists at the expense of yours; I do not walk to Heaven with you, but on top of you—I put you down so I become superior.

“The body was specifically made so we could project our guilt and sin onto others, making them the ones God will ultimately punish, not ourselves who have become the innocent victims.  Thus the ego uses the body to attack with; pushing others into the sludge of sin, so we can ascend to Heaven on the wings of innocence.

“When we turn to Jesus, however, he helps us realize we cannot return home, nor remember God’s Love if we hold a grievance against anyone.  To do so makes real the thought system of sin, but seen in others, not ourselves.  We thus exchange the principle of one or the other for together or not at all.”

What is the Body? 11

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’The body is the means by which God’s Son returns to sanity.’  The body is the means because it is the only thing we know, being unaware of the mind.  Jesus helps us understand, however, that what we feel and perceive with our bodies are projections of the mind’s thoughts. 

“Even more to the point, they are projections of a wish that we be proven right and God wrong—the ego’s ultimate purpose for the body.  Indeed that is the purpose of the body’s death—to allow us to say to God: ‘Eternal life is a lie.  You are wrong again.’  Yet can the body’s purpose be changed—the goal of these lessons—as we read again:

“’Though it was made to fence him into hell without escape, yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for the pursuit of hell.’  The body does not change; the mind’s purpose has changed because we have changed its teacher.”

What is the Body? 10

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’Made to be fearful, must the body serve the purpose given it.’  Everything in the world is a projection of thought, and since ideas leave not their source, and the key thought in our minds is fear---coming from sin and guilt---the body embodies fear.  Indeed, we all live in fear, potential or actual.  If we do not get enough oxygen, for example, the terror rises in our hearts; when our specialness needs are not met, fear of loss is inevitable.

“’But we can change the purpose that the body will obey by changing what we think, that it is for.’ The all-important theme of purpose returns.  Once again, Jesus is not asking us to deny our bodies, but simply to choose him as our teacher.  Thus will we learn the proper use of the body—a classroom to help us question the ego’s purpose and change our minds.

“This is the question [What for?] that you must learn to ask in connection with everything.  What is the purpose?  Whatever it is, it will direct your efforts automatically.  When you make a decision of purpose, then, you have made a decision that will remain in effect unless you change your mind.”

What is the Body? 9

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’The body is a dream.  Like other dreams it sometimes seems to picture happiness, but can quite suddenly revert to fear, where every dream is born.  For only love creates in truth, and truth can never fear.’

“We experience happiness when our special love objects work well for us, but we have learned that every dream is born of fear, including the cosmic dream of the physical universe.  When we choose to be in a state of love, however, fear is impossible, for ‘perfect love casts out fear.’  The opening of ‘The Gifts of God’ clearly articulates the dream’s fearful origin, and its undoing through acceptance of God’s gift of love.

“’Fear is the one emotion of the world.  Its forms are many…but it is one in content.  Never far, even in form, from what its purpose is, never with power to escape its cause, and never but a counterfeit of joy, it rests uncertainly upon a bed of lies.  Here it was born and sheltered by its seeming comfort.  Here it will remain where it was born, and where its end will come….  If you were certain…fear would be laid aside as easily as joy and peace unite on love’s behalf.  But first there must be certainty that there can be no love where fear exists, and that the world will never give a gift which is not made of fear, concealed perhaps, but which is truly present somewhere in the gift.  Accept it not, and you will understand a gift far greater has been given you.’”

What is the Body? 8

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“To review – on the one hand the ego says the body will protect us, and on the other it says the body will die, as will we.  However, I –the ego—will live on.

“Therefore, the ego has us believe, as this paragraph states, if oneness were the case we would no exist.  Once this is established in our minds as a pattern, we relive it over and over as bodies.  We continually victimize others, above all by having it appear as if they are victimizing us.  As paradoxical as it may seem, the greatest victimizers are the innocent victims, because they are the ones the world never suspects.

“Yet are we all victimizers and victims to each other, because we are split-off parts of the same victimizing and victimized thought.  Again, Jesus shows us the ego’s strategy for what it is.  If we could ever look at it, we would realize its absolute insanity.  Not only is the ego vicious, un-kind, and merciless to us and everyone else, it is insane—part of its plot to have us believe that what is true does not exist, and what does not exist is true.” 

What is the Body?

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“Having caused a veil to fall across the Son’s mind, blotting out all memory of how and why the body was made, the ego ensures he will forget the body’s specific purpose, with no memory of its source.  Even if we are regressed to the moment of birth, the birth canal, the womb, or even the egg and sperm, we still have no memory of the mind from which we came.

“No matter how many past lives we may access, no recollection remains of the mind the ego has obliterated from our remembrance.  Thus is the ego allowed to lie and lie and lie yet again, for we have forgotten that the current lie was a defense against the previous one, which defended against the lie that came before that.   By the ego’s making us forget what preceded our existence, we have no way of questioning its strategy.”

What is the Body? 6

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’And if he did not die, what proof is there that God’s eternal Son can be destroyed?  Despite its inherent insanity, the ego is fiendishly clever, for since we are not aware of its strategy, we cannot see its patent deception.  Jesus explains in the text that the ego tells us to leave the mind and go into a body where we will be safe, escape from God’s punishing wrath, and never die.

“If we stay in our minds, the ego warns, God will certainly annihilate us.  We, as God’s one Son, take the ego’s advice and hide in the body, only to find that the body does indeed perish.  As Jesus explains, the Son then confronts the ego and says: ‘What gives?  You told me I would be safe in my body and I believed you.  Yet now that I am here, my death is as certain as if I had remained in the mid.

“’You say this death is God’s punishment, which you promised I would escape.’ As Jesus explains, the ego’s response is to obliterate the question from our objecting mind.  In other words, we can no longer question the ego because we have totally forgotten [we have a] mind in which the ego’s strategy was planned and accomplished.”

What is the Body? V

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’For if his oneness [ours, in the ego state] still remained untouched, who could attack and who could be attacked?  Who could be victor?  Who could be his prey? Who could be victim? Who the murderer?’  If the Atonement  is true [meaning at-one-ment in the Course], which means God’s Oneness remains untouched [and we are with Him now] – ‘not one note in Heaven’s song was missed’ – there is no duality and no victim and victimizer.  If oneness is the truth, I [as a separate ego] do not exist, because I can exist as an individual only by having first attacked God, making me the victimizer and God my victim; I the victor and God my prey.

“The ego quickly reverses this through projections, and God becomes the murderer and I His prey.  However, it makes no difference because either way, the living Oneness of God has been obliterated, at least in our memory.  Thus does the body prove the ego right, even though the body dies, for to the ego, both dreams are true – victim and victimizer.  ‘A brother separated from yourself, an ancient enemy, a murderer who stalks you in the night and plots your death, yet plans that it be lingering and slow; of this you dream.  Yet underneath this dream is yet another, in which you become the murderer, the secret enemy, the scavenger and the destroyer of your brother and the world alike.’”

What is the Body? IV

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“We are what we chose to identify with, ensuring that the Love of God remains a very distant memory [if we chose to ID with the ego].  Jesus now turns to the second way the ego uses the body as means of securing its existence.  ‘The body will not stay.  Yet this he [the ego and us as the ego] sees as double safety.’ The first safety, again, is that the mindless body keeps us safe from choosing love.  The second safety is that the body’s death – ‘the body will not stay’ – proves God is wrong and we are right.  Thus, the body first ensures the survival of our individual identity and keeps God’s Love forgotten.

“Second, it proves that death is real, which means that eternal life is an illusion.  Once again God is shown to be a liar: ‘the body’s vulnerability is its own best argument that you cannot be of God.  This is the belief that the ego sponsors eagerly.  For the Son of God’s impermanence is proof his fences work, and do the task his mind assigns to them.’

“The body does exactly what the mind wants it to do.  Its impermanence proves the mind’s defenses work and the ego’s strategy has succeeded.  We are mindless bodies, which establish that the separation from God is a fact.  Thus God cannot exist, because perfect wholeness cannot contain thoughts of separation.”

What is the Body? III

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

The ego strategy, “therefore, culminating in the body, is to keep itself safe – not from love, but from the decision making power of the Son’s mind.  Thus the ego wants to keep us mindless, for if we do not know we have a mind, how can we ever change it?  And if we cannot change our minds, we can never choose God’s Love over the ego’s hate; His Oneness over the ego’s separation.  Therefore, once we choose the mindless body we become the body.

“This is the ego-body equation of which the early chapters of the text [the Course is divided into three books: Text, Workbook, and Teachers’ Manual] speak; for example: ‘the body is the ego’s home by its own election.  It is the only identification with which the ego feels safe….’  Before we choose the body, however, our safety is the ego’s thought system, with which the Son of God first identifies.  Thus we are no longer Christ, not even a decision maker, but the individual selves that have become the thought system of individuality.  Once projected, this thought system becomes the body, and we are now individual, separated, and physical selves, with no memory that our bodily existence is a defense. We have forgotten what we split off from – the mind; and remember only what we have split off to – the body.”

What is the Body? II

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“We are not one, but separate, for bodies do not join [the ego says]. Indeed, for opposite reasons, Jesus tells us the same thing: ‘Minds are joined, bodies are not.’  Moreover, bodies were made not to join.  The joining we believe occurs is only the fulfillment of our thoughts of specialness.  This of course is not the joining of forgiveness of which Jesus speaks, and which reflects the completion of heaven.

“’ Seek not for this completion in the bleak world of illusion [the ego world], where nothing is certain and where everything fails to satisfy [for very long].  In the Name of God, be wholly willing to abandon all illusions [the ego and its thought system]. In any relationship in which you are wholly willing to accept completion, and only this, there is God completed, and His Son [all of humanity] with Him.’ Jesus now turns to the ego’s two-fold purpose in making the body:

“’For within this fence [the body] he [the Son of God] thinks that he is safe from love.  Identifying with his safety, he regards himself as what his safety is. How else could he be certain he remains within the body, keeping love outside?’  The ego does not know what love is, which is why Jesus continually tells us he cannot really speak to us of God, Heaven, or truth.  Yet the ego does know that if the Son of God chooses love, individuality will disappear.  This is the ego’s fear.”

What is the Body?

The following series of posts are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“What is the Body?  As I mentioned earlier, Jesus makes some of the same points here that he made in “What is Sin?’ and “What Is the World?”  The body is purposive, the capstone of the ego’s strategy and final step in its plan to keep the Son of God [all of humanity] mindless.  This mindlessness ensures the ego will be forever safe from the Son’s mind choosing love over separation.

“The summary begins with the image of a fence we saw in ‘The Little Garden’: ‘The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea.  It draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven, splintered from the whole, proclaiming that within it is your kingdom, where God can enter not.’ 

“The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built, to separate parts of his Self from other parts.  It is within this fence he thinks he lives, to die as it decays and crumbles.

“This ‘fence’ – the body – keeps me separate from you.  You have your physical and psychological space, I have mine, and the two cannot coexist in the same place.  Being the embodiment of the ego, the body loudly proclaims that separation is the truth: We are not one, but separate, for bodies do not join.”