Tuesday, October 6, 2009

This is not a Salespitch for Tupperware

Logion 97 is one of my favorites. Curiously it seems I had not discussed it in full before. I have sometimes guessed that one of the reasons Pursah excluded this logion from her list of 22 logia that she found easier to understand for modern readers, and which were included in Disappearance of the Universe, was simply the fact that today we don't keep flour in earthenware jars anymore, let alone see women running down the street with an earthenware jar of anything. For that matter, just like Theodore Roszak's experience with his kids, who thought a chicken came from a factory somehwere, today's kids might not know anymore what flour even is. They know pizza, or bread, cookies, cake, or crackers, but many are no longer in touch with the raw materials of cooking. So an image that was perfectly every day in Palestine of 2000 years ago, suddenly requires some thought to imagine a plain everyday image, such as the one evoked by this logion.

The image is simple enough, after running home with a jar of flour, the woman finds that it has cracked, and she only holds the empty jar, and all the flour was spilled along the way. The ego always focuses on the form, not the content, and that way you always end up with the boobie-prize - in this case holding an empty jar. So by focusing on the form of the "Kingdom" you will lose the content. That is certainly one part of the image here. Also, she had the flour all along, but in her hurry, she lost it. If you look at it that way, it is another reference to the many themes throughout the Thomas gospel that the Kingdom is not there, it's right here, you're just not seeing it. In short, all we need to do is wake up from the ego's dream, and see what's in front of our face for what it is, and give up the idea that we have to go anywhere, or do anything.

Your way will be different, not in purpose but in means. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization; "I need do nothing."
   Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. You are not making use of the course if you insist on using means which have served others well, neglecting what was made for you. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. "I need do nothing" is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation. (ACIM:T-18.VII.5-6)

Thus the point certainly is not that she needed to get herself a better container, but rather that she did not have to run anywhere to get what she already had, but did not know or realize, and which she (temporarily) lost in her hurry. Hence the Course also speaks of: "A journey without distance to a goal that has never changed." (ACIM:T-8.VII.9:7)

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