Remembering God by Forgetting?
Forgetting – to Remember Better
In order to remember God, perhaps it is worth considering the idea that we must -forget everything else besides Him – first. True Remembrance of God means that only God is in our awareness.
“I therefore reveal unto thee sacred and resplendent tokens from the planes of glory, to attract thee into the court of holiness and nearness and beauty, and draw thee to a station wherein thou shalt see nothing in creation save the Face of thy Beloved One, the Honored, and behold all created things only as in the day wherein none hath a mention.” (Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 2)
A Course in Miracles is a mind-training that works by sorting out all elements of perception that are out of accord with the perception of the Kingdom. The document's author claims to be Jesus' resurrected mind speaking from beyond this world (the Christ Consciousness). Whether this is accepted or not, it is my experience that the mind-training of A Course in Miracles works.
A Course in Miracles is comprised of a Text outlining the theory behind its practice, a Workbook of 365 Lessons (one for each day), and a Teacher's Manual. Its basic premise is that through active forgiveness, or the acceptance of Atonement, the illusion of separation from God is translated into the realization of oneness with Him.
In the mind which thinks itself separate from God (virtually all human minds), a conceptual construction of “reality” based on the minds' frozen perceptions has been formed. Upon this concept is built the entirety of what we think is “real”. This is why a deconstruction of the blocks to the truth, or a mind-training, is required in order to perceive, and thus to bring about, the “real world” or the Kingdom of God in your awareness.
“Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 177)
Who is casting that shadow over the world? Let's look at some facts. If the reality of man is thought, not body, and spirit is the lamp from which the rays of the mind extend (Abdul'-Baha', Baha'i World Faith p. 317), then it must be that Mind is singular.
To help elucidate this idea of Singular Mind, examine for a moment, how there is nothing in your awareness now or that you can bring to your awareness that is outside of your mind. Can you see how all your ideas, opinions, emotions, physicality, occupations, time references, perceptions and relationships as the stuff of your mind are part of you? In this sense, nothing is outside of you.
You are literally the Light of the World. This is the essence of Singular Reality: you are responsible for your mind in its entirety. The extension of your light affects all of creation; when you change your a course in miracles , the world changes also. This is how you bring the light of the Kingdom to the earth (or to material existence). The hindrances to the full radiance of your light extension are simply this: the obscuring dust of acquired illusions.
The mind has trained itself through the teaching of the world, to orient to a false reality and screen out the real world (i.e. the Kingdom). The aim is to remove the blocks to the awareness of Light, Love,joy and the Peace of God, i.e.: the Kingdom. To have an experience of True Remembrance of God, you must forget all else but Him You must unveil your mind.
“O Son of Spirit!. Forget all save Me and commune with My Spirit, This the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it.” (Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words, 16, Arabic)
“And when thou hast attained this highest station and come to this mightiest plane, then shalt thou gaze on the Beloved, and forget all else.” (Baha'u'llahl, Seven Valleys, p. 38)
The idea of forgetting is the common thread in these two passages. To forget something presumes that one is holding something in mind that can be released. These quotes allude to “forgetting all” as both a prerequisite and an outcome of communion with and “gazing upon” or remembering God. Notice how the first idea is a command, which implies immediacy, but the second idea is associated with a future reference. Bringing the past, present and future into accord is simply the experience of now. Ultimately, the experience of now...now...now is actually the absence of time. Experiencing only now brings you into the flow of eternity.