Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Ten on February 5, 2012 at 9:00pm

I don't even have to really reply to this post. 

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Carlo on February 5, 2012 at 9:49pm

haha nope.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Wolfe on February 16, 2012 at 1:00am

"I need do nothing..."

"Doing" is investing in worldly strife. Whether it's a particular form of discipline, a book you think you have to read, a specific meditation practice,..."doing" in this context refers to employing properties of the world to achieve 'spiritual goals.'

I need do nothing means I need to do nothing. The world can offer no solutions, no particular postures or magic prayers. No tickets to buy,..no required lectures to attend. I need do nothing means to open yourSelf up to guidance. Create a space from Grace to enter. Sit quietly and just listen. Once in the morning at first, then again in the evening. Later this will come more frequently. 

Go past thoughts. Don't fuel them with the gas of trying to figure anything out. The ego is a master at explaining everything.  

Our part is very little. Trust, willingness, practice the lessons....that's all.

Love, forgive....:-)

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Carlo on February 17, 2012 at 8:44pm

everything is already perfect.

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Permalink Reply by Trevor Sullivan on February 19, 2012 at 9:19pm

Hi Christopher, the way I look at ‘I need do nothing‘: this section in acim is talking about the body. [T-18.VII.1. You still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. Please Read this section again carefully]. The ego draws our attention to the body as our savior. It looks to the body for experience, excitement and ecstasy.  If that is where your ‘life’ is then you are bound to disappointment and failure. “I need do nothing” is encouraging us return to our mind/ miracle for that is where the solution lies and not look to the personal independent self. Keep practising the early lessons of the workbook I found it a great help. Perhaps, reading my 3 blogs may also help. Trevor

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Permalink Reply by Eileen Dielesen on February 24, 2012 at 8:01pm

'I' need do nothing...........it is the 'I' that is the catchword. There is no 'I' only the thought of an 'I' separate from God. You are the dreamer of the dream, therefore what else can a dreamer do but dream and eventually wake up. So the whole message is that you need do nothing because you are nothing but a dream figure and a dream figure is not real! You are part of the mind of the dreamer.

So how does this translate into living identified as a figure in the dream? It doesn't mean you literally do nothing because in reality you as you perceive yourself is nothing! It means you can let go and enjoy whatever you feel guided to do moment to moment and letting go of control in your mind. You do not need to identify with your personal self, you can surrender and then let it be done through you moment to moment. It means staying in the NOW, the holy instant, letting go of the ideas of the past and the future. It means you identify with the dreamer and let the dream figure who you identify with as 'I' do whatever it came to do while the REAL you remains in the peace and stillness. It is surrendering everything to the Holy Spirit through vigilant mind watching (which is certainly NOT a passive doing nothing, but it is not a doing as we think doing is in the world of form). So the whole message comes back to the Truth that THERE IS NO 'I' OR EGO but only the thought that there is and there is only GOD WHICH IS PERFECT PEACE AND STILLNESS and nothing 'I' do will stop that Truth and nothing 'I' do will stop the great awakening!

All the teachings in the Course are POINTERS to the Truth because the 'I'/ego is so identified with itself the Course has to meet it where it is, yet the irony is that Truth is an EXPERIENCE that has no words or anything to do with the world. Trying to work it all out and understand it, seeking for the answers will keep you stuck in the 'I'/ego because Truth just is and is NOT the seeker or the one you identify as 'I'. As long as you keep seeking with 'I' you will never experience the Truth because that is exactly what 'I' wants! 'I' want to understand, 'I' want to know, 'I' want to be enlightened etc etc. and what you seek has NOTHING to do with 'I'. 'I' is the thought that it is separate from the Truth. Stillness is singing a beautiful song quietly in your mind, patiently waiting for you to remember that you are the WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIGHT!

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Permalink Reply by Moema G. on December 7, 2012 at 11:20pm

There is nothing really to do but the illusion of an ego's world to UNdo.  Cheers!!

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Permalink Reply by Eric G on December 10, 2012 at 1:26am

  I saw this post on my phone yesterday while I was visiting relatives (my mom's funeral) and didn't realize that it was an old post. Looks like it got bumped up. When I read the questioning about the what role one plays in and frustration of getting results now, it made me think of a few different passages in the course, such as:

Infinite patience produces immediate effects. ~ACIM

The holy instant is a time in which you receive and give perfect communication. This means, however, that it is a time in which your mind is open, both to receive and give. It is the recognition that all minds are in communication. It therefore seeks to change nothing, but merely to accept everything.~ACIM

The holy instant does not come from your little willingness alone. It is always the result of your small willingness combined with the unlimited power of God's Will. You have been wrong in thinking that it is needful to prepare yourself for Him. It is impossible to make arrogant preparations for holiness and not believe that it is up to you to establish the conditions for peace.~ACIM

Never approach the holy instant after you have tried to remove all fear and hatred from your mind. That is its function. Never attempt to overlook your guilt before you ask the Holy Spirit's help. That is His function. Your part is only to offer Him a little willingness to let Him remove all fear and hatred and to be forgiven.~ACIM

It is this that makes the holy instant so easy and so natural. You make it difficult because you insist there must be more that you need do. [You find it difficult to accept the idea that you need give so little to receive so much.] And it is very hard for you to realize that it is not personally insulting that your contribution and the Holy Spirit's are so extremely disproportionate.~ACIM

Eric: I have seen the section "I Need Do Nothing" be interpreted at times as if we literally do nothing while here. This is often coupled with the "Seek not to change the world, but change your mind about the world" line that is often taken out of its own context of what it means. Yet the course says that action must occur in time. The reference, "I Need Do Nothing" first appears as a small prayer in the course when it says:

 I am not alone, and I would not intrude
  the past upon my Guest.
  I have invited Him, and He is here.
  I need do nothing except not to interfere.~ACIM

Eric: This is what the course means by "I need do nothing". It is to not interfere. Our part, is only to offer the small willingness to the Holy Spirit. Yet it doesn't mean that we don't do anything in this world, especially since as the course says, action MUST occur in time.

  In the section I need do nothing, in the context it is once again talking about not interfering in finding that quiet center, not apathy disguised as spirituality. The course gives 3 pitfall examples, but in other sections of the course there are actual explanations that tie into the examples of contemplation, meditation to detach oneself from the body and fighting against sin.

  The example fighting against sin makes it more difficult for obviously a few reasons. It makes a mistake that can be changed into a sin which (the ego believes) can over come God. It also self attack and it is also trying to correct oneself and this is what the course says about this:

Correction is not your function. It belongs to One Who knows of fairness, not of guilt. If you assume correction's role, you lose the function of forgiveness.~ACIM

  Then there is the example of one contemplating. The course says this:

The fundamental question you continually ask yourself cannot properly be directed to yourself at all.  You keep asking what it is you are.  This implies that the answer is not only one you know, but is also one that is up to you to supply.~ACIM

As for the example of trying to meditate to detach oneself from the body. Earlier in the course it says this:

The body is merely part of your experience in the physical world. Its abilities can be and frequently are overevaluated.  However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence in this world. Those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial.  The term unworthy here implies only that it is not necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful.  If one denies this unfortunate aspect of the mind's power, one is also denying the power itself.~ACIM

Eric: All three of these examples involve the body someway when it comes to the context of what "I Need Do Nothing" is referring to. Yet, it doesn't mean that we literally do nothing while we appear to be here. Jesus was very active while he was here. As was the collaboration between Helen and Bill for the course to become the course. Course "teachers" are constantly writing books, making CD's, doing workshops, uploading their videos to Youtube, etc. All these people would have to exclude themselves and the other examples for this to make sense.

  If action MUST occur in time as the course says, then it makes sense that trying to deny the body while appearing here would be an unworthy form of denial, which is why the course doesn't reccomend do such a thing. Instead, we are asked to let the Holy Spirit reinterpret the body as a means of communication. That's why the course doesn't say that miracles are experiences of love, but expressions of love that induce action. Because while we appear in this world of space and time, action will occur. That's why the author asks us to let him control the action aspect of the miracle. We need do nothing, but not to interfere.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ten on December 14, 2012 at 4:16am

"I need do nothing," does not equal, "I have to do nothing". 

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Permalink Reply by Eric G on December 14, 2012 at 10:00am

Michael Ten: "I need do nothing," does not equal, "I have to do nothing".

Eric: That's right. I need do nothing is not a recipe for apathy disguised as spirituality.

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Permalink Reply by Dalton Walls on December 27, 2012 at 12:11pm

The way I take "I need do nothing" is that the real you is at home, at peace, in God. So in that sense there is nothing you need to do.

Our belief is that we are separate from that, and have this individual existence. That's where the course comes in and the mind training comes in. Yet, you're still not doing anything. None of it is a real action that you are doing.

It doesn't matter what we do, or don't do, in form. I can reply to your post, or I don't reply to your post. Either way, the important part is what's going on in my mind. Remember, the ego doesn't want us to know we are a mind. It wants us to believe we are bodies and what we do as a body is important.

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