Ending our Escape from Love-From Dissociation to Acceptance of A Course in Miracles

90 Pages·2011·0.81 MB·English

by  KENNETH WAPNICK

From Dissociation to Acceptance of A Course in Miracles
THE PRACTICE OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
From Dissociation to Acceptance of A Course in Miracles
KENNETH WAPNICK, PH.D.

Vii .....................................................................
Acknowledgments .......................................... ix
1. THE PROCESS OF DISSOCIATION .................................. I
Introduction ..................................................... 1
Cognitive Dissonance ...................................... 5
"Do not disturb me!" ....................................... 9
Striking a Bargain with Truth ........................ 13
2. DISCUSSION ............................................................. 21
The Wall of Anger ......................................... 21
The Wall of Resistance .................................. 23
The Decision Maker as Victimizer ................ 35
3. THE PERSONAL SELF VERSUS THE IMPERSONAL SELF ... 41
4. THE WALL DISSOLVES ............................................. 53
5. THE END OF DISSOCIATION ....................................... 85
6. "TRUE PERCEPTION - KNOWLEDGE" ........................ 105
APPENDIX
"Stranger on the Road" ................................. 113
"The Secret Wall" ....................................... 117
INDEX OF REFERENCES TO A COURSE IN MIRACLES......... 139

This current book in our series "The Practice of A Course in Miracles" is
based on our audio publication Escape from Love: Dissociating A COURSE IN
MIRACLES, which consists of an edited excerpt from the 2004 class "The Face
of Innocence." For this book, I have expanded the central theme of dissociation
to include relevant discussions from two other classes I gave in 2004, which
have not been published: "Forgiveness: The End of Dissociation" and "A Course
in Miracles: Salvation or Slavation?" (An audio excerpt of the last title has been
published as "Looking with Jesus.")
The theme of resistance to A Course in Miracles runs through these excerpts
as a thread, and it has been prominent in my teachings over the years. Indeed, it
goes to the very heart of students' difficulties with the Course, as this resistance
is the source of what appear to be the failures of even its most faithful adherents
to learn, let alone practice, the principles of forgiveness and release of judgment.
Since this problem is so very prevalent and can be the source of feelings of
failure, guilt, and despair over learning how to forgive, it seemed as if it would
be helpful to take these excerpts and bring them together into a unified
presentation.
Ending Our Escape from Love can be seen as a companion to my earlier
book Ending Our Resistance to Love, which also discusses the problem of
resistance. I hope that these reminders will inspire students not to lose sight of
their goal, even as their fear leads them to defend against it. The gentle path to
Atonement begins with recognizing the fear of it, not to mention the love beyond
it, and then proceeds with looking without judgment at the defenses (resistance)
against our choosing to return home. Thus do the walls of dissociation dissolve
and A Course in Miracles allowed to be the means for our accepting the
Correction that heralds our awakening from the ego's dream of separation and
attaining the End we seek.
These excerpts have been edited to improve their readability and make a
seamless fit. The questions that served as a springboard for the discussions of
dissociation have not only been edited, but often omitted to permit an easier flow
of the material. As is our custom in this series, the writing has been only gently
edited to reflect the informality of the actual classes.
The Appendix includes "The Secret Wall," an article in the June 2004 edition
of the Foundation newsletter, The Lighthouse, which is relevant to the book's
theme. It is largely based on excerpts from an Academy class held at the
Foundation called "Forgiveness vs. Forgiveness-to-Destroy." We have also
included in the Appendix Helen's poem "Stranger on the Road," which is
discussed in the book.
Acknowledgments
Our Director of Publications, Rosemarie LoSasso, carefully preserved the
excerpts on which this book is based, and then remarkably pulled them together
into a unified whole. This was in addition to her, as always, caring and faithful
preparation of the manuscript as it went through its various stages. My gratitude
to her is as constant and heartfelt as has been her faithfulness to A Course in
Miracles and our Foundation's work.
My wife Gloria provided her usual wonderful editorial advice and assistance,
without which the book would not have achieved its final form. As I have
written before, these "little books" were her inspiration, and each new
publication renews my undying gratitude for her help, not only with these books,
but for her consistent love and support for my work over almost thirty years,
making it all possible. Love is indeed the way I walk in gratitude for such a
sublimely noble woman.
Introduction
It is important when we work with A Course in Miracles over a period of
many years to realize that there is a part of us that is split off, or to use the
psychological term, dissociated. On the one hand, we have heard and read the
words of the Course over and over, and the thought system makes more and
more sense as the months and years of study and practice pass by. Yet,
something very peculiar happens. It is almost as if a wall has been erected inside
us so that there has been no carryover or direct experiential meaning in our
personal lives of what we have learned and understood. In other words, we
blithely go on living our lives angry and critical, indulging our specialness,
getting sick and running to the doctor, and generally doing everything that
normal people do-as if nothing we have studied, learned, and sworn by in this
course has had an effect. It is as if there is a part of us that believes in truth, and
a completely different part that lives our everyday lives as bodies dealing with
all the issues our bodies are confronted with. The two parts seem totally
unconnected.
It is very important as students of this course that we look at this honestly. So
many of us who have been with this thought system for a long time will utter a
complaint along the lines of, "When am I going to get it! When is everyone else
going to get it!" What is being reflected in that is this strange dissociation that
we all practice-as if, so to speak, the right hand does not know what the left hand
is doing, or the right brain does not know what the left brain is doing, or the right
mind does not know what the wrong mind is doing. However it is described,
there is a serious split, and looking at this split or this wall is a way of
understanding what Jesus means when he asks us to be honest with him and to
hold nothing back (T-4.111.8:2). It makes perfect sense that we would have a
wall, because this material is extremely threatening. This gets said over and over,
but it appears as if we do not let it get through to us. At some point we have to
address that in ourselves. We must look at it, not just intellectually, but we must
try to feel what it is we do that keeps what we know to be true from permeating
our lives.