Living Extraordinary Lives

This is to be a quiet movement at the borderline. A movement that gently normalizes the extraordinary as ordinary, as natural, and as a return of the feminine.  Mirari

Mary here seems to say that we can live extraordinary lives as naturally as the sun rises every day.  A Course of Love says something very similar about “extraordinary” lives, that when ordinary people are seen to be living in an extraordinary way that others will be encouraged to do likewise.

Mary goes farther, though, to say that extraordinary can become the norm.  We are allowing the feminine to rise in importance in our world, and it is the mother/wife/sister/daughter in cooperation with men, too, who will accomplish much in this new world.  It is natural to women to be nurturing, and now we can see that women are going to nourish things that have been out of reach before.

Ask what we—both women and men—can say and do today that will make a lasting difference in our world.  We need meaningful change, reconciliation with our brothers and sisters, loving attitudes to inform all our ways.

Be among the pioneers.  There is room for all.

Masculine and Feminine

“As the ego has become threatened and allowed the coming of guidance, males and females both have begun to work with the parts of themselves over which the ego has the least control.  For males this has most often meant a turning away from the intellectual realm, which was ruled by the ego, to the realm of feelings.  For females this has most often meant a turning away from the feeling realm where their egos held most sway, toward the intellectual.  (Treatises of A Course of Love:  Treatise on the Art of Thought, 9.12)”

Affirmation:  “I would listen to guidance today, to speed Christ-consciousness.”

Reflections:

1 – Men vs. Women

An instructive passage, this one makes a distinction between how men vs. women will approach the coming of salvation and Christ-consciousness.  And, of course, some men and some women are already blended between the intellectual and the feeling.  Men may turn more toward the feeling side of their natures, and women may turn more to the intellectual.  But there are no hard-and-fast rules.

2 – Where Does the Ego Rule?

We need to think about what parts of ourselves are held less by the ego.  Where does the ego still rule, more often than not?  If it is in the mind (the intellectual), we need to turn to the heart (feelings).  If it is in the heart (feelings), perhaps (in an interpretation), we do not have to turn aside totally from the heart–because ACOL has led us to the heart–but we need to think more of the mind (the intellectual).  In my opinion, this second option is far less common, for our minds has generally always held sway.  Jesus seems to say this in the first volume of A Course of Love, when he asks us to turn to the heart rather than to the mind.  And, as we know, he ultimately counsels a blending of heart and mind to what he terms “wholeheartedness.”  This blending is what we are ultimately seeking.

3 – Ego Undone

But in the meantime, we take the easy route.  We choose to turn to that side over which the ego has held less influence.  And then we expand throughout our minds and hearts, so that the ego is totally undone.

4 – Easy?

Is it easy to undo the ego?  It is not easy, but it becomes easier as we progress.  We realize that in the nature of things, the ego is constantly being undone.  No egoic joy is not paid for by tears of pain.  And we recognize that we don’t want to live like this.  Ever again.

5 – Jesus

So we do as Jesus encourages.  We add our own feeble efforts to God’s stronger efforts to undo the ego.  We encourage every glimpse of the Self that we experience.

6 – Walk Smoothly

And then we are walking, smoothly and effortlessly, along the path to greater freedom, let loose from the ego’s stranglehold.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I have a good day today.  When stress comes, may I know how to turn aside from all agitation.

Be with me as I consider my balance of the masculine and the feminine.  And may I let the ego go.

Amen.