Thursday, June 4, 2009

Beyond Awakening & Logion 5

This is a wonderful little book, which for one thing, you could read entirely as a commentary on Logion 5 in the Thomas Gospel, which reads as follows (as per usual, in the Pursah rendering from Gary Renard's Your Immortal Reality):

Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.
In parallel, we may also think of the following lines from the Course:

Why wait for Heaven? Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. Light is not of the world, yet you who bear the light in you are alien here as well. The light came with you from your native home, and stayed with you because it is your own. It is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source. It shines in you because it lights your home, and leads you back to where it came from and you are at home. (ACIM:W-188.1)
In short, this is a good reminder that our journey is, in the Course's words: "It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed." (ACIM:T-8.VI.9:7)

In Beyond Awakening - which has nothing to do with the Course - author Jeff Foster speaks of this experience in his own words. As he puts it, it is about the utterly obvious. It is about the insight that the idea of a journey, with a destination, is itself part of the ego's smoke and mirrors deception of thinking that the answers are out there, when the only place where there are any answers. This in and of itself brings notions from the Thomas Gospel like Logion 3 to mind, which is another very strong statement that it isn't out there, be it in the sky, or in the sea, for it is within. Also woven through the book is the notion that whatever I'm involved in right now, is at all times my best learning opportunity, which is another central notion of the Course. It is as lucid an explanation of non-duality as you can find today. It is simple and straightforward and to be recommended highly. More words would hardly add meaning, you'll read it in an afternoon, and enjoy it tremendously. It's a "Duh!" experience in the best sense of the word.

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