I’ve written much about focusing on true desire, and how to let that lead our lives. While there are various ways to express this, what speaks most to me is the desire, the purpose to be only Love, to know only Love and to extend only Love ~ to know thy Self as Love created it, unlimited and free.
In this blog, I will be sharing on part two of “how to become an empty shell”[i]. In lieu of my true desire, I would like to include this entry from NTI 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13:
“Become as an empty shell to know Love. That is your reason. That is your true desire. To look on the world and divide it by judging is not Love, and so it is not what you want. Lay down what you do not want, and accept joyfully that which you do.”
How do I become an empty shell?
In the previous post I shared on practices that are helpful and here I will be delving further.
“When you do not seem to know how to become an empty shell, it is because you are focusing on your head, or better said, your thinking mind. Your thinking mind will not teach you how not to think. Your thinking mind is interested in its own survival, so it will take the time you give it to think some more.
“Your Heart, being of love, knows one purpose, and that is Love. Your head, being of thinking, knows many purposes, because that is “thinking.” Let go of the confusion of the head and focus yourself on the purpose of the Heart. Focusing on one purpose leads you clearly in one direction, but focusing on many purposes does not lead you at all.”
I remember the self-help-junkie days when I focused on setting and achieving goals and doing affirmations. I recall thinking that there simply was not enough time in the day to do affirmations for all those goals! What a relief it was when I arrived to A Course in Miracles to find that I only needed to focus on one goal: God.
It’s been over twenty years since I decided to focus on one purpose, and what I ride it’s been! While it hasn’t been a straight line, I can see how I have been steadily guided in one direction, rather than continuing down the road-to-nowhere, which is where I was headed when I focused on many worldly goals. I am grateful that I am continually guided to go deeper into living this purpose of Know thy Self.
“Your mind is willing for distractions, because your mind is split. This is why you must focus on the Heart and the leadership that is found there.”
I love this sentence: This is why you must focus on the Heart and the leadership that is found there. Yes, our true desire definitely leads us in a new and exciting direction!
Here, I’d like to bring up the twin practices of mantra and surrender. It’s been interesting since I started writing and speaking on that topic. I’ve received emails from friends who are very interested in it and love the teachings, and I have friends who are not feeling guided to the practices and wonder if I am moving away from ACIM.
As I let my Inner Teacher guide me, I have been shown how all the teachings work so well together. Both the practice of mantra and surrender are wonderful tools to refocus the mind from the head to the Heart.
I see the mantra practice as very similar to what we are taught in the workbook of ACIM, as we are urged to practice the lessons throughout the day. The mantra practice, however, has taken me to the next level, that of letting my life become a meditation. It’s a tool to use throughout the day, and I’ve found that I can talk or listen to someone, pay bills, drive, etc., and let the mantra roll slowly through my mind. It is a tool that keeps me from focusing on the meaningless stories the ego/thinking mind is constantly spinning.
It has become increasingly clear to me that listening to and believing these stories, really is the cause of suffering and pain. The practice of surrender is a way to live in the world and yet release our attachment to it.
“Everything is permissible, but do you still seek that which is untrue? If your answer is “no”, then why do you still go after it by partaking of illusory thoughts? That which you think is that which you experience. If you have tired of the experience that is untrue, stop feasting on its thoughts. Let them pass by without tasting them. In this way, you become an empty shell, free of the experience you no longer want.”
Everything is permissible…as free children of God, we are also free to experience any experience that we want. When I come to the realization that I no longer want to have experiences of lack, limitation, attack or guilt, it then becomes important to look at the thoughts I am feasting on because, those very thoughts are my experience. Through the practice of mind-watching I have learned to see the thoughts, and through the practice of mantra I have learned to let them go without tasting them.
Keep what you truly want in your mind.
Let true desire be your guide.
I find that these teachings on the empty shell are leading me to the next step to be increasingly willing to let go of the belief in separation, and to be increasingly willing to stop listening to the meaningless stories in the mind.
~
“Surrender is a practice I will continue to emphasize, because it is one of the most helpful of all spiritual practices. One may argue that surrender is not the only path of awakening, but this is more of an emphasis than truth. The only path of awakening is to deny the false. And the false must be denied completely.” [ii]
“Surrender is a means of doing this while still moving about in the world. Without surrender, one many deny the world by withdrawing from it. This is also a path that has worked.”
“The mantra and surrender are gentle means that allow you to break the attachment to mind while living the life that mind has given you to live.” [iii]
I find it interesting that I was lead to the practices of mantra and surrender before I was guided to go deeper with the teachings on the empty shell, as both are great tools in order to do this. By the way, in “Course note” #116, I expound on the practice of surrender, and in the audio that accompanies this post I shared a lot more about how to practice both mantra and surrender.
Sometimes we may be led to teachings that will take us to the next step, but decide not to go there because it doesn’t fit with what we are already doing. In this way we are being led by the thinking/ego mind instead of by the Heart.
As I have let Holy Spirit guide me all these years, I have been led to ideas and practices that “Sheryl” would never have been interested in, but through my willingness to listen, I recognize that I am being increasingly guided to Know thy Self.
“Trust in Me is trust in your Self. You do not give trust to something that is not you, for I am you. This is why you can trust Me. I am you, and I see you. Because I see you as Me, I know you. I am not the illusory self who leads you through blindness and fear. I am the true Self who leads you through Light and through knowledge. I will never make you suffer, because I know you cannot suffer. You can only be free. And through our freedom, I share My freedom with you.”
A problem we can have with surrender, comes through not knowing who or what we are surrender to. This can bring up fear. But if we recognize that in surrendering to Holy Spirit, we surrender to that who is our true Self, we can trust more fully.
I have felt that if I truly surrender to Holy Spirit I will be asked to do something I don’t want to do, or give up something that I don’t want to give up. Yet, when we realize that Holy Spirit is the Voice of true desire, our true Self – we can trust that will be guided to our true joy.
On a recent morning I was having a conversation with my husband about business and certain things, and I was feeling fairly negative. I realized that I was feeling negative because I was listening to thoughts that are false, as I let them go, I suddenly felt rich! I saw that this feeling came from listening to thoughts that are true. As the Course teaches us, the miracle denies the false, and affirms that which is true.
“Resting in faith and trust is the answer to all that arises. In willingness, and through true desire, prepare to become the empty shell.”[iv]
As we empty the mind of everything but trust, we become the empty shell. We become empty so that we may be filled.
Become an empty shell
To know Love.
That is your reason.
That is your true desire.
Amen.
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The audio was recorded on 11/13/11 and is 57 min.
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