Years ago, musical legend Quincy Jones produced a single called “We Are the World.” It was recorded at what was then A & M Studios on the old Charlie Chaplin lot in Hollywood. The challenge was daunting. He gathered dozens of the biggest names in music to sing on the record for charity. Diana Ross, Bruce, Michael Jackson, Sting, Madonna, Julio Iglesias, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Rogers headed the list of luminaries. Getting product was the goal and to that end Q, as he is known, did something very simple and effective. He took one of the track sheets usually used to document the various instrumentation on the tape. Turning it over to the blank side, he grabbed one of the ubiquitous Sharpies and made a simple hand-drawn sign. He taped it right on the wall outside the studio. “Check Your EGO at the DOOR,” it said. The message was clear, the advice followed and the goal was reached. Ego has no place when inspiration is at work helping us reach a goal.
From whence the ego? In considering the cosmology in A Course in Miracles, we see a clear way to understand the role ego plays in keeping us from our goal of peace. And here is something about peace of mind. Ego lets people believe “peace of mind” is a fine goal, but then protests: “Just peace all the time? I mean, that would be kinda boring. I wanna have some fun.” Yes, it might seem boring if peace meantzZA just sitting silently in some kind of guru haze chanting some magical phrase. That’s a pretty limited view of peace though. Think of peace as joy. Think of peace as happiness: true fun, not the quickie, candy-store kind of fulfillment. Think of peace as an active thing, not always a passive experience. Peace is a blast. Peace is freedom. Peace is doing as a result of being. A friend once suggested thinking of it like this: “Peace is joy at rest. Joy is peace at play.” Playing while at peace is anything but boring, I can tell you.
As shocking as it may sound to some, the idea that God didn’t make this world, this earth, or this universe, is not new to man’s written history. Plato describes such a cosmology and so do other creation myths. When we read in ACIM that the world is a projection of the mind of man, it’s not new material. Perhaps the advantage of the ACIM description is that it is in modern terms and minces no words.
I often feel that quoting ACIM makes it seem too much like scripture and that is not its use. Yet sometimes a good quote makes a point. In the Workbook Lesson 152 is the following: “Is it not strange that you believe to think you made the world you see is arrogance? God made it not. Of this you can be sure. What can He know of the ephemeral…?” Does it get any clearer than that? Quoting may give the impression of seizing some shred of evidence to support a notion. The quote is not an isolated line or two. In ACIM the concept is what matters and it is thoroughly consistent.
Baltimore Catechism of Journalism. Let’s use the basics of journalism — Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Who created Us? God, the Creator.
What are we? One mind, one being. We are not bodies but mind.
Where did He do this? Well, where is He? That’s where He would have done the work, right? He’s not in the physical realm, now is He? Or do you think God is camped out on the far side of Jupiter in some ice castle? Or just over the event horizon? No, Big G is in some other realm we cannot detect with our eyes or instruments… so far. So the where is, perhaps, Heaven? And that’s where He made us and where we still are in reality. We have not left there; we have simply let ourselves be distracted. Our awareness has left there. That is all.
When did He do this? Always has been this way. We always existed just as God always existed. It is only that our roles are different. He is Creator; we are not. But we always existed, just as He has. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it? Well, remember, physics is close to proving there is no time; no past or future. In computer science we call the present “real time.” A program that processes in the now is said to operate in “real time.” What does that say about the past and the future? Yep. They’re unreal time.
In our next column, we’ll cover the “Why” and the “How” of our creation myth.
Meanwhile, check your ego at the door and remember, “We are the world.”
Be well.
Heartland Healing is a New Age polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. It is not an endorsement of any particular therapy, either by the writer or The Reader. Visit HeartlandHealing.com for past articles.