The phrase in the title is from Ken Wapnick, and it is one of my favorites from his repertoire.
You
could go one step further and say that the ego creates the problem and
offers solutions which ensure the continuity of the problem. Namely, at
an abstract level, to follow the basic metaphysics of A Course In Miracles,
all the ego is, is the thought of separation, the thought that I could
be separate from my source in God. The Course calls that the "tiny, mad
idea." Our only problem is that we think it is real, because we have
identified ourselves with the thought, and dreamed up a life full of
problems, all of which attest to the fact that I'm real, my problems are
real, and there really is a world out there, with a past, present, and
future, and in which I'm rooted in fear, because I think I've sinned in
the past (after all I think I exist, so I offed God), so I feel guilty
in the present (about my sin), and I'm afraid of the future - really
because I'm now afraid of God.
Reading this little book by Jeff
Foster, has been great, simply because he's coming in from a very
different direction, and yet, the way he phrases himself is very
recognizable for anyone who seriously studies the Course. Everyone's
path is different, and that's fine, but it does help sometimes to see
how things can reinforce one another. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Jeff
Foster got a lot of inspiration from Krishnamurti, Sri Ramana Maharshi,
en Sri Nisirgadatta Maharaj. Certainly the first two were very important
pre-cursors to the Course. For one thing Helen and Bill were very fond
of the work of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Helen also was fond of the work
of Sri Ramakrishna. This little book is so clear, it could really help a
lot of people cut through the clutter of the endless shelves of pretend
spiritual literature of today. It's all much simpler than anybody
thinks, and in the end it all boils down to the insight that the
solutions we come up with merely make real the problem we think we see,
so it becomes a chicken and egg situation, and the only way out is to
realize that the whole thing is a joke. A Course in Miracles
may be a way out for some people, at least it seems to be, but nothing
works for everybody. Many people are finding a lot of help with Eckhart
Tolle at the moment. It all does not matter, whatever works for you is
fine.
In terms of the Thomas Gospel there are numerous statements
which chime in with the notion that we'll be happier if we stop trying
to solve the nonexistent problems, which merely perpetuate the problem.
We cannot choose the solution because that reaffirms the problem. And so
the path in one form or another is one of undoing, since we are already
there. Logion 1, right away implies the possibility of a pretty disruptive perception shift, so does Logion 2,
and this theme really plays throughout all the sayings. Clearly Jesus
looks at things a bit different than we are wont to do, and he's trying
to get us to see it his way. Logion 3
introduces the very clear notion that the Kingdom is within, and not a
far away travel destination. Then it introduces the clarification that
it revolves around knowing yourself, and that when we truly know who we
are (spirit!) we will know that we are one. In recent posts I have been
discussing several other Logia where the notion of the immediacy of the
Kingdom, such as Logion 51, comes up.
Again,
Jeff Foster writes about similar notions without any particular
reference to the Course, but it may be interesting to some students as a
conceptual parallel, and in a very condensed form, yet very simple,
straightforward, and accessible. In short, this little book comes highly
recommended.
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