ACIM Lesson 76. Beyond Earthly Chains: Embracing God's Laws for True Freedom & Inner Guidance

Beyond Earthly Chains: Embracing God's Laws for True Freedom & Inner Guidance

ACIM Lesson 76, "I am under no laws but God's" offers a profound liberation. We often feel bound by countless rules – societal norms, scientific principles, even our own self-imposed limitations. But what if these are merely illusions, governing a reality that isn't truly real?

This lesson invites us to recognize that the ONLY laws that truly govern existence are God's. These divine laws are not about restriction, but about creation, love, and perfect order. They govern the true reality, a realm of unwavering peace, abundance, and interconnectedness.

When we mistakenly believe we are subject to the fluctuating, often harsh laws of the illusory world, we experience fear, scarcity, and conflict. However, by acknowledging that we are under no laws but God's, we begin to dismantle these false beliefs.

Embracing this truth isn't anarchy; it's ultimate freedom. It's the freedom to experience the inherent peace and joy that is our divine inheritance. It's the realization that true security comes not from controlling the external world, but from aligning with the perfect, loving laws of our Creator.

To truly integrate this lesson, we are encouraged to sit in silence and listen. In those quiet moments, we open ourselves to the Voice for God – that inner guidance that speaks only of truth, peace, and our eternal connection to love. This Voice will gently direct us, showing us how these divine laws operate in our lives, freeing us from the self-imposed prisons of fear and limitation.

Let's remember today: We are not victims of chaos or chance. We are governed by perfect love, guided by wisdom from within. And in that recognition lies our deepest peace.

💛💢

#ACIM #Lesson76 #DivineLaws #Freedom #Peace #SpiritualJourney #GodsLaws #InnerGuidance #VoiceForGod

Beyond the Battlefield: Finding Peace in "Giving Up Attack Thoughts" (ACIM Lesson 23)

"I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts."

If you're new to A Course in Miracles, Lesson 23 might sound a little aggressive- "Giving up attack thoughts" can conjure images of wrestling with your mind, forcefully suppressing negativity. But let's reframe this powerful lesson because its true essence is far from a battle.

Instead, consider it a profound invitation to release our vice-like grip on the idea of attack – both attacking others and feeling attacked ourselves. It’s about recognising that our perception of a hostile world is, in fact, a reflection of our own internal state.

Think about it: when we're consumed by attack thoughts – be they judgments, resentments, fears, or anxieties about what others might do to us – we are constantly engaged in a mental war. We're bracing for impact, strategizing defenses, and reliving past grievances. This isn't just exhausting; it literally creates the world we see. We perceive threats because we are thinking threateningly.

Lesson 23 offers a radical alternative: What if the escape from this perceived battlefield isn't about fleeing, but about disarming ourselves? What if the "world I see" isn't an external reality to be fought, but an internal projection that can be transformed?

By "giving up attack thoughts," we aren't denying reality; we're simply choosing to stop fueling the fire. It’s about:

• Relaxing into the Present Moment: When we're not busy constructing arguments, anticipating slights, or rehearsing our comebacks, a vast space opens up. This space is the present moment, unburdened by the ego's constant need for conflict. We can simply be with what is, without judgment or resistance.

• Acceptance as Liberation: This isn't passive resignation, but active acceptance. It's acknowledging the present moment as it is, without needing to change it, control it, or defend against it. When we accept, we let go of the struggle. And in that letting go, we find peace.

• Dissolving Guilt and Blame: Attack thoughts are inextricably linked to guilt – either self-blame or the projection of blame onto others. When we release the need to attack, we also release the need to feel guilty or to make others guilty. This is a profound liberation from the weight of the past.

• Stepping Out of the Ego's Domain: The ego thrives on separation, conflict, and the constant justification of its own existence through attack and defense. "Giving up attack thoughts" is a direct challenge to the ego's reign. It's a gentle but firm assertion that there's another way to perceive – a way rooted in connection, peace, and understanding.

So, for today, let's approach Lesson 23 not as a struggle, but as a sigh of relief. Imagine releasing all the tension you hold around defending yourself, proving yourself, or judging others. Imagine simply letting go of the mental weapons you've been carrying.

When we truly give up attack thoughts, the world we see begins to shift. It's not that external circumstances magically disappear (although sometimes they do!) but our experience of them transforms. The perceived threats diminish, the need for defense dissolves, and we find ourselves resting in a state of acceptance and peace.

This isn't just escaping from the world; it's escaping into a truer, more peaceful experience of it. It's recognizing that the battlefield was always in our minds, and the disarmament begins with us.

☮䷊🕊

Notes on Michael Langford's teachings on Awareness. Awareness watching awareness. The Most Direct Means.

 

I had been recommended Michael Langford's awareness teachings last year. I actually went though Michael Langford's awareness teachings, books, and methods probably about 15 years ago now, and credit him (and his book "The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss") with actually starting me on the nondual path after years on the progressive path.

So I thought to revisit ML's teachings once again, and really do a deep dive into those teachings, methods, and approaches related to awareness and ML's version of the direct path / awareness teachings. His main claim to fame on the Internet at least is the BLISS book, and the Awareness watching Awareness method. This is quoted by some aspirants of paths such as Zen, Advaita, and certain pockets of followers of Nisargadatta and/or Ramana Maharshi.

I'm just going to list down some Plus/Delta or in other words some pros and cons of Michael Langford's teachings according to MY experience. This is not to say there's anything wrong with ML's teachings or approach- in fact, there's a lot of GOOD points in his approach. However, for me personally, there's a couple of red flags that caused obstacles for me following his approach, and ultimately led to me moving on at some point due to various factors, which I will list below. If you feel led to give ML's approach to awareness teachings a try, by all means, go for it, and most of the resources are online for free (to ML's credit).

Pros

• Emphasis on practice, practical means, direct practical instructions in an easy to follow manner. Not at all interested in philosophy or theoretical distractions.
• Clean, concise, easy to understand language
• Repetitive ideas and instructions that lend themselves to hammering home the point that ML is making, such as the importance of practice over thinking, and the importance of having a burning desire for liberation
• Overall, a tried and tested approach to attaining I AM awareness, or the identification with awareness and disidentification with the false self or ego
• Good starting point for getting into the awareness and nondual teachings. Many pointers and references for classic teachers such as NM and RM etc., that can be used by the aspirant to go away and study or take up
• Author's own experience is used. ML isn't afraid of detailing his own experiences and failures and successes
• Great analysis of the ego, false self, and the strategies and tricks that the ego uses to maintain its own validity and illusory existence

Despite the issues that I personally had with ML's approach, I would still advise one so interested or attracted to this approach to "have a go" at the Awareness watching awareness method, read "The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss" and possibly some other books by Michael Langford and related. If anything, just for the experience of how challenging it can be to do nothing except attempt to 'watch awareness' for minutes, hours, days on end. There is a concessional practice given, which involves letting go of effort, and thought. There is also an emotional acceptance practice detailed called The Loving-All Method, which is worth a look and test run.

Actualism or Actual Freedom - deep dive 1 - notes approach links issues discussions

 

Actualism or Actual Freedom - deep dive 1 - notes

I've decided to take a bit of a deep dive into a niche set of teachings and approaches called "Actualism" or "Actual Freedom". This originated around 12 years back, again from Australia (which is unusual in terms of being anywhere on the spiritual map). Originally, the approach was posted by a "Richard", and later included some other names "Peter", "Veneeto", and over the last decade has grown slightly to include others who claim to be 'free' and 'actualised' (but avoid common terms such as enlightenment, due to wanting to stand out as something different, a new teaching, or 'third alternative' to the current spiritual offerings out there).

If I had to sum up this teaching or approach, taking into account there's hundreds of lines of text on the source website attempting to explain what it is and isn't, then I would say it is pretty much:

- The consistent (or permanent when the habit self-ing/self-reference has ceased after a long while) state of present moment awareness with hightened clarity of external sensory perception and focus. This naturally leads to what AF is attempting to do, which is enjoy oneself and sense experience in the present moment (becaue the nervous system is calm, focused, clear and chilled). Of course, this isn't anything new, despite AF claiming it's a new thing, and this approach has been around for thousands of years via certain schools in yoga, Buddhism, Zen, etc. I won't say ALL schools, but certain niche schools that took this approach to clarity and awakening. IMO there are better ways of approaching this instead of using an enquiry only, and forsaking other aids such as a regular meditation practice, having some stability and ethics in life etc.. and this is why there seems to be a relatively few people who have stuck it out with AF and gained the promised end result.

I originally encountered this teaching and site (also) about a decade ago, but due to the lack of coherent content on the site, and a lack of structured approach, decided to leave it. There was some commentary on DharmaOverground and in a few other places such as Soh's ATR blog site, but commentary and understanding seemed to be limited to the main actualfreedom.com.au site.

Since then, an excellent, coherent and simplified site has popped up explaining Actualism in simple, easy to understand terms. This can be found at https://www.simpleactualism.com/intro and I would highly recommend this over the original 'Gold Standard' website http://actualfreedom.com.au/ in terms of beginning to study the approach. However, the original website does have a massive amount of background information and Q&A, which makes it worth browsing over time. 

----

As an initial reading or overview today, after having fully gone through the SimpleActualism site, some points I'll note here:

• The aims seem to be similar to certain approaches in early Buddhism, being insight into anatta, and the loss of a 'self'/'I'/'being' or referential entity or individual. This is for the overall aim of being "happy and harmless", and living a sort of 'natural', 'common' state of existence without psychological suffering. Key differences between other common spiritual paths include the treatment of sensuality (encouraged in AF, not encouraged in Early Buddhism for instance), a lack of philosophy (supposedly, although there's quite a lot of philosophical conjecture on the AFT site), and of course a much simpler structure and approach with AF, excluding all rules, conduct, cultivation of concentration, insight, maps, etc.--- NOTE however, there is some talk about cultivating a harmless, happy state of being and investigation into feelings, emotions and negative states with the intent of move out of these and back to the natural, actual state of affairs. 
• This also resembles some nondual approaches, particularly certain contemporary nondual teachings such as Tony Parsons and Jim Newman, where there is just  experience or life happening in a fresh way right now, minus any person or individual present.
• There are however, some ideas present when one probes deeper into the AF approach, and some of these ideas remind me of Barry Long's approach to the human being and body, a removal of all spiritual concepts, theories, and spirituality in general, coupled with the idea of the present moment or NOW being all there is (cf Eckhart Tolle, Barry Long), which is a sort of gateway into experiencing this moment as being a living body. 
• The process for this, or practice if it can be considered one, is to use an enquiry to return one's awareness to the present moment and experience 'being alive' via the senses and apparent (actual) world, minus any reference to an internal entity. In terms of likening this practice to other practices, it would be what Shinzen Young calls "See-Hear-Feel Out" or favouring the attention on external phenomena appearing at the 5 sense doors- excluding internal images, sounds and feeling sensations, and a noticing of how this brings about a cooling of the mind and feelings and generalised happiness and wellbeing. Internal feeling sensations and emotions are used differently and in an investigative way to dig up what's happening in one's experience that triggered a loss of the 'happy, harmless' state, with the aim to bring up these emotional causes or triggers into conscious awareness and drop them in favour of returning to a moment by moment experience of being alive (and happy and harmless).
• The enquiry itself is "How am I experiencing this moment of being alive?". There is also some enquiry and investigation into moments when one is not feeling 'good', or ruminating on thoughts and feelings outside of the present moment, which are the cause of negative emotions in general.
• A main goal of the Actual Freedom approach is to be "happy and harmless". Triggers that detract one's experience from this are investigated as to when and how these arose, with the idea being to return to one's experience at this moment as a living body-mind, happily and harmlessly.
• Fundamental to the AF approach is also the notion of a PCE or Pure Consciousness Experience, which is basically a hightened sensory experience (since it seems described mostly as a temporary, but attainable state), whereby one experiences the perfection of sensory phenomena (the actual world) and one's natural being, minus any referential self/I/me. These "PCE" episodes are encouraged and used in the approach as well, though there's discussion about how and when to use these episodes with the aim of permanent 'actual freedom'.

As I go through the approach over the next week or two, and edit this blog post as needed.

Main themes or points in the AF approach:

• Time - This moment here and now is the only time there actually is.. past and future are imaginary. Experiencing happens now and this needs to be repeatedly understood and experienced
• The self, "I", "me" is the root cause of all misery and problems with the human condition, and is an instinctual, animal self built up over time and evolution. This is the part that is 'immolated' or removed to enable simple, natural living as the actual
• The means to do this are- the enquiry 'How am I experiencing this moment of being alive?", or similar. Investigation and uncovering triggers that have removed one's state from being happy, harmless and then a return to that state. Abidance in the present moment and foregoing past/future concerns. Sensory experience and refinement leading to PCEs and unmediated experiencing of phenomena (without a mediating 'I' or inner self).
• "Virtual freedom" is a partial arrival point where 99% in this process where the problematic "I" has been eliminated. Over time, the remaining 1% is eliminated, culminating in actual freedom
• Repetition of the above and having the above as an overarching goal for one's life situation until change takes place and is embedded as an ongoing experience\

Daniel Ingram has summarised the practice very well here and some relevant conclusions:

https://www.integrateddaniel.info/my-experiments-in-actualism/

Some discussion material is available on the internet, and the bulk of it was done around 2010-2015 when this method seemed to be capturing the attention of a few people in spiritual circles:

Discussions

 

ATR

Attempts to map Actualism with ATR maps, Buddhist maps etc.

 

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2009/09/actual-freedom-third-alternative.html

 

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/search/label/Actual%20Freedom

 

original article by Soh re: Buddhism and actualism

 

https://app.box.com/s/sbyi64jrms

 

 

REDIT discussion from 9 years back on differences with AF and Buddhism, Dzogchen

  

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dzogchen/comments/3n75ik/actual_freedom_philosophy_and_method_seems/

 

 Actualism practice discussions on DhO

https://dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/2401384

 

Related: "Actualism Made Easy" ebook by Justine (pdf)

https://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/2969859

https://www.scribd.com/document/89160012/Justine-s-Memoirs-on-Actual-Freedom-Part-I

https://www.calameo.com/books/001100941868620b67859

 

The Silavant Sutta. Attending to the five clinging-aggregates as a way to insight, freedom from self-identification.

This little sutta is an excellent summary of one approach in investigating each of the 5 aggregrates, and in seeing through their (false) identification as one's self. It also demonstrates the use of appropriate attention leading to the realization of freedom (right effort).


This can also be considered a meeting point with Vipassana, Self-Inquiry (Atma-Vichara), and Neti-Neti.. all methods aiming at the same goal of clearing the habitual tendency to identify self with external objects.

Silavant Sutta: Virtuous (SN 22.122    )

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

On one occasion Ven. Sariputta & Ven. Maha Kotthita were staying near Varanasi in the Deer Park at Isipatana. Then Ven. Maha Kotthita, emerging from seclusion in the late afternoon, went to Ven. Sariputta and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side.


As he was sitting there, he said to Ven. Sariputta, "Sariputta my friend, which things should a virtuous monk attend to in an appropriate way?"


"A virtuous monk, Kotthita my friend, should attend in an appropriate way to the five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. Which five? Form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness as a clinging-aggregate. A virtuous monk should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a virtuous monk, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant... not-self, would realize the fruit of stream-entry."


"Then which things should a monk who has attained stream-entry attend to in an appropriate way?"
"A monk who has attained stream-entry should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a monk who has attained stream-entry, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant... not-self, would realize the fruit of once-returning."


"Then which things should a monk who has attained once-returning attend to in an appropriate way?"
"A monk who has attained once-returning should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a monk who has attained once-returning, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant... not-self, would realize the fruit of non-returning."


"Then which things should a monk who has attained non-returning attend to in an appropriate way?"
"A monk who has attained non-returning should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a monk who has attained non-returning, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant... not-self, would realize the fruit of arahantship."


"Then which things should an arahant attend to in an appropriate way?"
"An arahant should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. Although, for an arahant, there is nothing further to do, and nothing to add to what has been done, still these things — when developed & pursued — lead both to a pleasant abiding in the here-&-now and to mindfulness & alertness."