Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by "good question", I mean a thought provoking one - a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I've been making a note of them for the last 15 years.  Here is another of my favorite ones:

 

Question: Am I crazy or are there messages in today's movies that are very much like those in the Course?

Answer: No, dear heart, you're not crazy. (Unless I am, too. ;-)

We are "a people apart", not separated from others by traditions, politics or blood but simply by the ability to see what is right in front of us.

To be awake in this world is a bit of a burden because you want to wake up everyone - but you can't. Truth feels like attack until someone's READY to hear it and that's why we call people "crazy" for speaking the obvious (and the inescapable) truth. But art has a way of presenting hard-to-digest truths in a way that is palatable - and the Holy Spirit clearly uses that human quality to reach us.

There is a psychological sub-study called Semiotics which is specifically focused on how and why people filter out "inconvenient" knowledge. The only thing that can break down those barriers is usually some kind of crisis bad enough to make a person willing to change simply because it's either that or die.  But art (like movies) can get around those barriers and filters!

Do the most creative minds among us have a direct line to the Highest Source of intelligence? Yes! (That's why truly creative innovations are called inspiration which literally means "of the spirit".)

Spielberg, Lucas, Luc Bessom and even James Cameron can see and hear and tell us truths that are presented in such an artful way that they CAN get past the outer layers of our mental filtration systems - go AROUND the walls we build for our own self-protection - and they show us what could be if we were willing to crawl out from behind our barricades. God bless 'em!!!

I don't know if you're asking about a particular movie but I just saw "Avatar" a couple of weeks ago. Despite lousy critical reviews, everyone seems stunned by that movie's vast and lasting appeal. But it really is very simple:

It's a "return to the Garden" parable -- something that we each long for with all our hearts - a reconnection in a tangible way to both each other and our world, a simplification of needless complexities, a sense of meaning and real belonging.

Cameron uses color (I noticed this particularly because I dabble in color drawings) to reach around our heads and get a death-grip on our hearts. The human scenes are SO familiar and yet so grey and drab (and heartless) and in such an incredible contrast to the startling vibrancy of the rainbow pallet that lights the natives' world like flaming jewels. Brilliant, indeed!

(Any psychologist will tell you that much of the appeal of art is its ability to get past our protective walls by entrancing our intellects with color.)

And the simple message of Avatar is that we are all connected in completely real and tangible though unseen ways. And the message is getting across: they have noted a new psychological pattern for people who have seen the movie and are now depressed (wittily dubbing it "The Avatar Blues" ;-) and not wanting to go back to the grey world of their normal lives - some are even suicidal. And bless their hearts, they don't know WHY.

But YOU know why. And so do I. The world we've made is an abomination - a total perversion of our nature - and it is bringing humanity right to that place where you get willing to change or die.

How do I look on such a sight and still stay sane - and even HAPPY?!? Because I know that it's ALL under "intelligent management", as David Wilcock likes to say. NOTHING is by accident. This, too, is part of a grand design. And I've had enough experience of that "management" to know two things with all my heart:

#1. It's real. And it has very real effects. All we have to do is be open to the possibility it's real and then it will SHOW us far beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt.

and #2. It's totally benign. It's wants us safe and happy and wholly fulfilled in alignment with our true AND  individual natures. But the most sacred part of that nature is free will (so it can NOT force itself upon us).

Beyond those two things, for me, the specifics do not matter. And I can accept everyone where ever they're at knowing that their process - for them - is absolutely PERFECT.

I don't know if this has helped you or if it has answered your question entirely but know that I feel very blessed that you used this as a reason to get connected.

Yours is a very clear and precious being and the universe is dedicated to using EVERY means at its disposal to help you learn exactly that. Including movies!

Another related idea is this:

WHY THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF SPIRITUAL INFORMATION NOW?

This certainly is the "Information Age", if it is anything! Sometimes I feel like a sponge - thirsty to absorb everything - NOW. ;-)

And yes it won't last forever (if much longer at all) and so it behooves us to be very dedicated to learning all that we can asap.

One of the maxims about esoteric (hidden) knowledge is that those in power always attempt to wipe it out because it so empowers the "little" people, so it is hidden for most of human history in order to protect it from being destroyed. The second part of that maxim, though, is that the knowledge DOES come to light just before it is needed.

A sobering thought...

But whatever is coming in the coming years, dear heart, the thing that I hold onto is that it is ALL for our own GOOD (somehow) - that it is about teaching us how powerful we really are. And in discovering that power we will also realize that we can return to the Garden in a very real sense WHENEVER we choose to do so.

I find that a comforting thought...

─ ─

*  Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen's website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/