Three Quotes and then some.
“Live without being attached. Wherever you are, carry within your bosom a portable heaven of joy. Remember that you are here in this world to be entertained. When you go to a movie, whether you see a tragedy, or a comedy, or a drama, you say afterward, “Oh, it was a good movie!” So must you look upon life. Have no fear. If you live in fear, health will go. Rise above disease and troubles. While you try to remedy your condition, inwardly be untouched by it. Be strong inside, with full faith in God. Then you will conquer all the limitations of the world; you will be a king of peace and happiness. That is what I want you to be. The Lord gives you that freedom every night, in sleep. When you retire, say to Him, “Lord, the world has ended for me. I am resting in Thine arms. Thou hast put me here to watch Thy movies of life: tragedy and laughter, health and disease, life and death, wealth and poverty, war and peace—these are naught but dreams to entertain me. Untouched, I rest in the thought of Thee, the only Reality.”
Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Divine Romance: Collected Talks and Essays on Realizing God in Daily Life – Volume 2 (pp. 69-70). Self-Realization Fellowship. Kindle Edition. Encinitas, California, May 26, 1940 [Yes the 2nd WW was in full rage during this talk]
4. The lovely light of your relationship is like the Love of God. ²It cannot yet assume the holy function God gave His Son, for your forgiveness of your brother is not complete as yet, and so it cannot be extended to all creation. ³Each form of murder and attack that still attracts you and that you do not recognize for what it is, limits the healing and the miracles you have the power to extend to all. ⁴Yet does the Holy Spirit understand how to increase your little gifts and make them mighty. ⁵Also He understands how your relationship is raised above the battleground, in it no more. ⁶This is your part; to realize that murder in any form is not your will. ⁷The overlooking of the battleground is now your purpose.
5. Be lifted up, and from a higher place look down upon it. ²From there will your perspective be quite different. ³Here in the midst of it, it does seem real. ⁴Here you have chosen to be part of it. ⁵Here murder is your choice. ⁶Yet from above, the choice is miracles instead of murder.(ACIM, T-23.IV.4:1–5:6)
“Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love but always meeting ourselves.”
James Joyce: Ulysses (seen in the program Amazing Race season 35 episode 11) I have not read anything by Joyce except this short sentence.
So you want to go to the movies? Yogananda is telling us we already are, in fact we have been purposefully sent here to witness what we see as if we were in a theater all caught up in the drama of the piece but then to let it go. Detach from the story and view it as entertainment. How can we see the world this way with all the killing, sickness, suffering and just general insanity. But Yogananda was not ignorant of the ways of the world. ref his Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda or his Autobiography of a Yogi.
One thing I didn’t see mentioned was our part in the movie which James Joyce points out with wonderful clarity. We are our main character. It is we who drive the narrative in our own story, we are the leading player the protagonist and antagonist. How can this be? With so many big/small things going on how could we be responsible for it all?
What I’m interested in here is how are we to find our way out of the narrative. Both Yogananda and ACIM provide the solution; that of holding the world lightly. The movie metaphor helps us to hold the dramas lightly as we participate in the action and ACIM takes It a little farther by asking us to leave the battlefield altogether, yes just leave the theater—have you ever walked out of a movie? Needless to say my date was rather shocked. The course is asking us to rise above the goings on in this world and finally forgive it. We are to forgive the whole world meaning as the actors in this play completely forgive ourselves and leave the stage. There is really nothing here for us.
While we are asked to hold everything light-ly.
But there is so much going on I really need to help fix something don’t I? I’m thinking of the horrors du jour: Palestine vs. Gaza and Russia vs Ukraine. Now don’t get me wrong here I wish the actors in these plays would get their acts together and stop all the senseless killings but it’s not the actors fault, find the script writers they are the ones we need to look for. But stepping back a bit at the age of 74—I asked AI the following: How many world conflicts have there been since 1949?
“Since 1949, there have been numerous conflicts around the world. It’s challenging to provide an exact number due to the varying definitions and classifications of conflicts. However, some key insights can be drawn from the data:
- As of 2022, there were 174 instances of violent crisis recorded globally, in addition to 21 wars and 21 limited wars1.
- The United Nations has stated that we are facing the highest number of violent conflicts since 19452.
- A study shows that at least 150 ongoing armed conflicts have been recorded each year recently34.
These conflicts include interstate, intrastate, extrasystemic, non-state conflicts, and one-sided violence4. Please note that these numbers might have changed as my knowledge is current only up to 2021, and the data I provided is from 2022. For the most recent data, I recommend checking reliable sources or databases that track global conflicts.”
It’s understandable I’ve become a bit jaded. And yet tonight on December 31st there are neighbors lighting fireworks and I cannot even imagine what it would be like if these were real bombs not just one night a year but on and on for days and nights, how terrifying and grisly. A real horror movie that I would not hesitate to walk out of the theater but of course I’d have to stop at the snack bar or maybe even the bar for a drink, ha now being able to purchase alcohol in the movie. A little numbness to help us cope with the never ending violence.
Or perhaps meditation and surrender to your version of the Almighty not for our side to “win”, there is no winner. I’s time to heed the words of the Master Jesus: put down your sword, forgive 70 times 70 [Aramaic New Testament]
AI again. “The phrase you’re referring to is “War is over! If you want it.” This is a famous anti-war slogan by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. They used this phrase as part of a peace campaign in 1969, during the Vietnam War. The message was displayed on billboards in cities around the world, and it’s also featured in the lyrics of their Christmas song, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” The phrase embodies their belief that if enough people wanted an end to war, they could collectively bring it about.?
All rhetoric aside the evidence is we don’t want it.
What if Everyone, all 8 billion of us, walked out of the theater?
God is Good 