Pursuant to my recent reflections on autism, a friend reminded me of how Dr. Helen Schucman, who was the scribe of
A Course in Miracles, was so often able to be helpful to children with mental handicaps. At some point during her particularly lively interactions with the voice of Jesus as she experienced him at that time, he appears to have said to her that people would choose lives in that type of a form, where their mental development appears to be blocked, out of extreme fear of the power of the mind. Thus to break down the analysis which Jesus proposed to Helen even more precisely:
The first order mental retardation is to choose the ego, and to believe we are an individual, with a private (small) mind, living a life in this dreamworld of time and space, which is a substitute for, and a denial of the life which is our true inheritance as the Son of God. The second order mental retardation is to choose a life within this dream world in which ones' mental development is impaired, so that not only are we in denial of the full power of the mind of the Son of God, but also we choose a situation in which the development of the individual mind seems impaired, as a protection against taking responsibility for even that life.
To be reminded of this particular issue made it clearer yet again for me, that these people are in our lives as a reminder of our own fear of the development of the mind, the power of the mind, and thus by forgiving them for the limitations they chose, we are indeed forgiving ourselves for the limitations we chose. The initial choice for the ego, the tiny mad idea, is a choice for differences, in which we do not have the full power of the whole mind, for the purpose of the ego thought system is to deny who and what we are in truth, and the belief in differences is one fundamental aspect of that defense system. It is the belief that the Son of God is not one and the same, broken into a gazillion pieces, which are all different. And within that realm of differences then, being "abnormal" is a way of being more different than the "normal" animals. And as always healing is only possible by realizing that the whole thing is grounded in the choice of fear over love, but that this is ultimately always a choice the mind makes, albeit at a subconscious level, that is not within the normal reach of the daytime consciousness of who we think we are in this dream, except that through the forgiveness process, this choice ultimately becomes uncovered, so that the Course process leads to making the unconscious conscious, and thereby empowers us to to make the other choice.
The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself. No matter what the form of the attack, this still is true. Whoever takes the role of enemy and of attacker, still is this the truth. Whatever seems to be the cause of any pain and suffering you feel, this is still true. For you would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew that you were dreaming. Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to recognize it is your dream. (ACIM:T-27.VIII.10) and our role in all this is clarified here:
The Holy Spirit needs your special function, that His may be fulfilled. Think not you lack a special value here. You wanted it, and it is given you. All that you made can serve salvation easily and well. The Son of God can make no choice the Holy Spirit cannot employ on his behalf, and not against himself. Only in darkness does your specialness appear to be attack. In light, you see it as your special function in the plan to save the Son of God from all attack, and let him understand that he is safe, as he has always been, and will remain in time and in eternity alike. This is the function given you for your brother. Take it gently, then, from your brother's hand, and let salvation be perfectly fulfilled in you. Do this one thing, that everything be given you. (ACIM:T25.VI.7)
The gift that our brother gives us here is the opportunity to choose love, not fear. And that speeds us on our way home with our brother, so it is a great gift indeed.
Do you find it difficult to forgive people?
Comments (11)
Huh?
I don't know how about I feel about ACIM. All miracles I receive come from God. They certainly do not come from me.
Anyway, I don't find it difficult to forgive, but hard to forget. Well, this is only true in one certain aspect.
lol My thoughts exactly, subSacred!
This is a critical time in history to study the intersection between autism (as well as down syndrome) and Christian theology. Some groups are predicting that there will be no more children born with down syndrome in Europe within fifty years, as they will all be aborted. Societies live in fear of the mentally handicapped (including also those suffering from Alzheimer's and those with physical ailments that make speech and comprehension more difficult) for a variety of reasons, including the reminder that we are unable to prevent human suffering and must choose between either trusting God, despairing, or abandoning treating those who suffer as still human.
The last line of the post is right on target, the handicapped are a gift, and to the degree that we accept them into our lives (with all the mess and inconvenience that accompanies) we will be formed into a truly Christian community; and to the degree that we are shaped into a truly Christian community, we will accept them into our lives.
Some entry-level reading for the subject (much more Christ-centered than A Course in Miracles): Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness by Jean Vanier, Down Syndrome and Theology: Reimaging Disability in Late Modernity by Amos Yong. Christians can't afford to ignore this dimension of theology.
@eskeemo_kisses@xanga - I'm also not comfortable with ACIM, but I haven't checked it out enough to have a really educated opinion.
I agree with the third paragraph, even though I am not a Christian.
I suppose truth is truth, despite who uncovers it.
To clarify, are you using Autism as an analogy for the state of mind of unbelievers, or are you saying autism is caused by a subconscious non-belief in God? I assume you mean the first of the two but I am still curious.
A comparison of levels of mental retardation with states of non-belief is simultaneously genius, repulsive, and hilarious. It works very well.
I hope this doesn't seem like an attack in any way since I'm not a Christian. I'm just sincerely interested.
I agree w/ the person who said "huh?"
I didn't really get the point of this. And, not so sure ACIM is really something we should be basing our lives on...but this is the first time I've heard of it.
@SirNickDon@xanga - Interesting; I had no idea that a theology on disability existed. In addition to the books you mentioned, are there any others that you'd recommend for a non-seminarian? Thanks!
Huh?
Also, science be praised? Didn't quite get the direction this is going in.
"The first order mental retardation is to choose the ego, and to believe we are an individual, with a private (small) mind, living a life in this dreamworld of time and space, which is a substitute for, and a denial of the life which is our true inheritance as the Son of God. The second order mental retardation is to choose a life within this dream world in which ones' mental development is impaired, so that not only are we in denial of the full power of the mind of the Son of God, but also we choose a situation in which the development of the individual mind seems impaired, as a protection against taking responsibility for even that life."
Don't quite get this... What's wrong with believing that I am an individual? This is true. What is true remains true, whether this truth is beneficial to anyone or not. It is true that an individual's mind may be small, but this doesn't mean that everyone who regard themselves as individuals are autistic and will automatically choose to live as hermits.
"people would choose lives in that type of a form, where their mental development appears to be blocked, out of extreme fear of the power of the mind."
In Psychology lessons, I was taught that a bit of autism is sometimes needed by the society. Great-minded people are often those that are different from the others to the point that they get isolated and began to embrace solitude. They may or may not start off autistic, but became that way anyway. Also, there are some ways of blocking spiritual development, out of extreme fear of the power of the human soul/mind again. We are usually afraid of things we don't understand and tend to avoid them. Things like Qi and Psi are some of the things of this nature. First, the autistic patient had no choice since he was not "sane" in the eyes of ordinary people already, so that we cannot "measure their thoughts with our standards". Second, their mental development may not have been blocked, in fact, it grew towards a different direction - usually extraordinary. Of course, if everybody became like this, the world will become chaotic. But if autism does not exist, I invite you to imagine what the reality will be like. Think about why God allowed autism to exist, I am not saying that autism is a good thing, but it has a place in this world for a reason and it is not that harmful to the society. Just like many things that exist in this world, autism has its pros and cons.
The will to forgive is often there, but fear often blocks it. I reckon the fear is indicative of lack of trust that Abba will defend me in the future. I always endeavor to forgive what I've left unforgiven, and there's always actions remaining for me to forgive. That's sad since forgiveness and reconciliation is what Jesus' work was all about.