On any given evening you'll probably find Andy Mackie in the village tavern, until he retires to sleep in his home, an older camper parked on the edge of town. He'll likely be dressed in worn bluejeans, cotton shirt, and a cap, and he'll smile at you if he can catch your eye, his toothless grin wrinkling his face from jaw to brow. To some he may appear to be a "jewel in the rough," but to me he's brilliantly cut and polished, an inspiration and a role model.
Andy's story was related on the CBS evening news with Katie Couric in a regular feature called Assignment America with Steve Hartman. I invite you to watch the clip and then return here to share some thoughts.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4986809n
This is a verse in the song titled The Rose: "It's the one afraid of dying who never learns to live." Andy shows me how he faced the fear of death. In my mind I can hear Andy think my thoughts, "Oh, screw it! Living on all these pills with their side effects is not living. I'd rather have just one good day than continue with one miserable day after another."
So, instead of refilling his prescriptions, Andy spends the money on harmonicas. Then he gives the harmonicas away, along with lessons. I believe that every time he gives away an harmonica, Andy feels a rush of freedom... freedom from the fear of death, BECAUSE he is experiencing his true eternal Self, Love.
What led Andy to make that choice for freedom? From my reference point, Andy didn't make that choice.... the higher mind made that choice, from a level unconscious to the physical level. It's the higher mind that we all share. We are literally, all in this together.
Even though there is the appearance of such, I do not believe that choices are actually made by individual human minds. Why? Because if they were, some of us would become lost in an eternity of wrong choices, as if within a maze of hell. Could such a destiny be allowed within Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient LOVE? No, not and still be LOVE.
I understand that there appears to be abundant evidence of a lot of choices being made by the humans in this world, choices made from the human conscious level, some helpful and some not. But, just for a few minutes, can you entertain the idea that what you are seeing is actually an image, a repetitive reflection of one choice made at a higher mental level?
At the level of the actual choice, the choice was never to suffer. Any suffering seen in the reflection is a byproduct of the choice, not the choice itself. And on that higher mental level, we think that the choice is worth the consequences of the byproduct, because the choice is for "difference."
"Difference" gives us a sense of specialness, uniqueness, individuality. This sense of "difference" is consciousness, the experience of my being different from another. And this experience is one of duality. Yet, within Omnipresent LOVE, there is Oneness not duality, and no concept of "difference." LOVE IS LOVE.... LOVE IS!
LOVE cannot even BE mocked. In the higher mind, any effect of the momentary focus on the concept of "difference" is automatically instantly nullified by the Memory of LOVE's nature, which is Oneness. Not only is "difference" and its effect, duality, nullified; but Memory also answers the question of "Why?"
Why can't "difference" and duality be possible? Because Omnipotent Oneness cannot be split into duality and still be Oneness. And how was that fact revealed to the aspect of questioning mind? The hypothetical state of duality was projected into a dream like state of contrasting differences and opposites... up-down, in-out, day-night, big-little, here-there, now-then, joy-pain, love-fear, etc.-etc. And in every dream scene, Memory's Voice was present, reminding the dreamer that dreams of being different from everything else are not real, because duality is not actually possible. Yet, because dreams seem to be real to the dreamer, Memory's Voice reminds the dreamer that waking will allow the dream to disappear, and simultaneously the dreamer will realize that Oneness was never exited. The journey into duality was/is an illusion.
We are still within the Oneness, watching an imaginary dream landscape so intently that we identify with some of the dream characters, even to the point of getting lost in them. At this level of higher mind, we are enthralled with the illusion of "difference," and choose again and again to submerge ourselves into the impossible dream state rather than to be what we truly are, Love from Love in Love. As dreamers we venture into illusory streams of individual consciousness and coincidentally die to the awareness of our Real Self.
Fortunately, the inner whisperings of Truth by the Memory of Love can wake us up to our Real Self as we stuporously drift along. Our higher level choice is always this : Choose "difference" and continue the dream of the lost Self. Or, choose to identify with the Voice of Memory and remember the True Self. "Difference" can take the form of judgment, defensiveness, resentment, aloofness, fear, anger, etc. The Voice of Memory can take the form of peace, compassion, love, strength, enclosure, acceptance, and all other reflections of Love, the True Self.
Remembering the True Self is the key to waking from the dream state. We will know which choice was made by observing the dream characters, most importantly the character I call my self. If the dream characters portray Love, I've chosen to heed the Memory from above. If the dream characters portray fear, I've chosen once again not to hear.
The story of Andy Mackie is in my dream, our dream. And when he says, "I don't think Bill Gates feels any richer inside than I do," he speaks for me, too. For rich, indeed, is the one who remembers through the experience of loving, that the Self is Love. And remembering can only occur within the dream. Only Love can witness to it Self.
You and I both witnessed and were touched by Love, as personified by Andy Mackie. I am remembering, and so are you. I am waking, and so are you, and so is Andy Mackie. But Andy Mackie, you, and I are not the characters in this dream, we are the dreamer of the dream, the dreamer who is choosing to listen to the Inner Voice both inside and outside of the dream; the dreamer who is remembering... by experiencing our one Self, Love.
LOVE is what we are. Yes, LOVE is what we are.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My only function here as 'Penni' is to remind Self that this is only a dream and not the reality in which Self actually abides. The only way to remind the dreamer is by choosing to forgive all my immersion and belief in the dream as reality.
ReplyDeleteACIM states very clearly that the ONLY illusion that does NOT lead to further illusions is forgiveness.
Why? I've asked myself that many times (as Penni) and found only one answer that fits. As I forgive, I release my vice-grip on the world of illusion. The more I forgive each thing that I hate or cherish about the dream, the more distance I gain to see the dream in a totally different way. The more distance I have, the less attachment I have to all the intricacies, dilemmas and conundrums of the dream AND, (drum roll here, please), the less 'suffering' I experience. Ahhhh, sweet relief!
At the beginning of forgiveness while I still have that strong attachment to the dream and to outcomes, i.e., belief in duality, forgiveness appears to be an enormously difficult and daunting task. I then resist this part of the illusion (forgiveness) and refuse to budge an inch.
As an old and wise friend once said, "Until you reach the point of unbearable pain on your pain tolerance index, you will continue to grip the belief in separation as you would a cherished and imperiled child. Once you have reached that pain index that is too much, you will begin to change your mind and start to loosen that 'death-grip' exchanging pain for happiness."
Alas, he was right on. As I forgive, my pain-index gets lower and, though I still resist, forgiveness becomes the balm to sooth my suffering. Seems crazy but it's the ONLY thing that works.
Is this choice? Yes, it is. I sense that this is a choice I made at a much higher level before beginning to believe in Penni as reality and so I am using Penni to remind myself to awaken from this nightmare. There are many Pennies out there under different guises but they all play the same role - to awaken the dreamer to reality.
My prayer: May all the Pennies 'out there' in dreamland play their roles well and bring the nightmare dream to a happy dream where the dreamer can awaken to Its true Reality. Amen