by Jack Armstrong…
The following passages are from a remarkable new book, Lessons from the Source: A Spiritual Guidebook for Navigating Life’s Journey. The book is made up almost entirely of written teachings received by Jack Armstrong through Inner Dictation – the same process though which A Course in Miracles and Conversations with God were conveyed.
The lessons in the book transcend belief systems and are presented in concise, user friendly, easy-to-understand language. The passages below are from Chapter Two of the book, entitled “The Challenges of Earth Life,” and address our dual identity as eternal spiritual beings having a simultaneous, yet temporary, experience in the physical world, as well as the illusions we confront during our earthly adventure.
Physical and Spiritual
The physical and the spiritual are one. They are not distinct entities, even though at times the physical aspect of your reality seems to be the entire reality. This is the challenge of this adventure: you must exist on the physical level until your time is up, yet living exclusively on the physical level misses the point. You are a spiritual being. You must remember and realize and accept that this is true, and then enjoy your adventure on the physical plane from the perspective of the spiritual, which is the true source of all of your good. Do not allow yourself to be deceived by the illusions.
The Truth of Your Being
Enjoy this adventure in the physical world. It is a gift to enjoy—not a struggle to endure. If you can center your consciousness in the truth of your being—in your true reality/identity—you can then see your earth life for what it is. It is an enjoyable diversion, a lesson in truth, a challenge for future growth. See it as such in the context of your true identity and it will be much easier for you to reject the temptation to latch onto the illusions of the world and give them power over you.
The Ultimate Magic Show
Your view of a magician’s tricks is an appropriate analogy. If you compare your existence in the physical world and your understanding of it in your conscious mind to your true identity in the universe and your new acceptance and understanding of it, then think of a magician’s stage performance as your earth life as seen from your elevated consciousness.
Persons who are grounded only in human consciousness see a magician perform and are very impressed by what seems to be the astonishing reality of what he is doing. Yet, they know and understand all during the performance that they are witnessing illusions—that, even though what they are seeing seems absolutely real, they are close to allowing the magician to convince them that his illusions are reality. Yet, through it all, there is an overriding understanding that these are simply illusions, and the audience has fun enjoying them. Being there and experiencing them is a diversion. They laugh and applaud and shake their heads in wonder and gladly pay money to enjoy the spectacle.
This is an appropriate way to view your time on earth. You are attending a fantastic magic show—a demonstration of illusions that seem so real you can’t explain them—yet you know and understand and fully accept that they are illusions, and you enjoy them and then return to your true “reality.”
I hope this will be a helpful perspective. As you shake off the illusions of the world, smile to yourself that they have seemed so real that you have allowed yourself almost to believe them, and then return comfortably to your true identity as a child of God.
© Jack Armstrong, 2009
Additional excerpts from the book and information about how it was received are available at http://www.lessonsfromthesource.com, and the Introduction and first two chapters can be read in their entirety at http://bit.ly/dYcZ0
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So it is okay to ‘live’ the illusion? It suggest an illusion as a enjoyable thing… I can’t say I don’t like it, I admit it sometimes gives us great feelings until we realize the ‘truth’ or our foolisheness.. So do the author suggest to let it be?
Tks.
“Enjoy this adventure in the physical world. It is a gift to enjoy—not a struggle to endure.” Like so many things in this “illusion”…this is both a relief and a struggle. There is some very heavy sh*t going on in peoples lives…and to stand back and say, “Hey…this is really only a magic show,” is tough. I couldn’t agree more with what you’re saying here. I want as many people to enjoy this life as they can…we all SHOULD. But when that heavy stuff shows itself…well…we better define enjoyment. Seriously…you tell a person who is dying of cancer to enjoy this life…which they should…but I think it’s important to tell them HOW.
I just discovered your stuff. I’ll be reading and commenting more. (Just be warned…I’m a questioner-type. Tend to agree…but play devil’s advocate. Maybe too much…but I like to see things from as many angles as I can.
Thanks for this BTW…
Thanks for that, Andy. I just checked out your blog, and that gave your comment above about someone dying of cancer an entirely new perspective. That you have gone through that experience so recently and can still offer the perspective on life that you’ve conveyed through your last two posts is extraordinary.
I agree with you that life is full of challenges — some of them of the earthshaking kind you have just experienced, others even more profound, and still others seemingly insignificant when compared with what other folks are having to endure. I don’t believe that the lessons in the book try to sugar coat anything. They set out certain concepts and then keep reiterating that one of our challenges is to accept them and live our lives as if they were true — even though our conscious minds might never be able to understand them intellectually. If you get the book at some point and read it in its entirety, some of this probably will make more sense — but that doesn’t make it any easier. Seems to me you already are practicing what the lessons espouse, and I salute you for that. Many blessings.
Thank you, Jack. I’m beat and tired tonight…but I’ll get the book. I hope you like dialog because I find it to be the best way to learn. (I’ve actually challenged a few ideas from other teachers out there…and I’m amazed that they either don’t address my questions…or delete my comments altogether. It jaded me a bit…but I don’t take it personally anymore.)
I’m sure we’ll talk again. Blessings to you too!
Sorry for not responding sooner, Andy. I am delighted that you will be getting the book. I just sent a friend request to an Andy Koehn on Facebook and am hoping that’s you. Peace and blessings.