recoverer wrote on Aug 27th, 2007 at 12:48pm:Actually, Mellon-Thomas Benedict presents a different viewpoint than ACIM. ACIM copies the Vedanta viewpoint, which states that the creation of the World is a mistake. ACIM claims that this World was created independently of God even though God didn't want it created. It even goes as far to say that God isn't aware of the World, because he would be acknowledging its reality if he chose to be aware of it. In support with this line of thinking it says that everything God creates is perfect, therefore this World does not come from him. If this is true, what created the World? And wasn't this creator a creation of God? If as ACIM states God creates only that which is perfect, wouldn't this creator also be perfect? So how could it create an imperfect World?.
Below is part of what Mellen-Thomas Benedict wrote:
""So creation is God exploring God's Self through every way imaginable, in an ongoing, infinite exploration through every one of us. Through every piece of hair on your head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom, God is exploring God's Self, the great I am. I began to see that everything that is, is the Self, literally, your Self, my Self. Everything is the gret Self. That is why God knows even when a leaf falls."
This way of thinking really contradicts the nihilistic, Vedanta like thinking of ACIM. A lot of what Mellon Thomas Benedict states is similar to what Bruce Moen states. This World was purposely created as a means of discovery.
Through intuition, and synthesis of varied material which seems more trustworthy than not, i've come to believe and understand that its kind of both at the same time.
This Universe, reality, or whatever you want to call it, was co-created via Christ, Planning Intelligence, or what not, working with Source. But... at that point, it was a completely nonphysical reality. The inner patterns, the consciousnesses were there to some extent.
It's when a very large group of other Sparks, who by immersing themselves in these patterns, consciousnesses, pure energies, but trying to create and manipulate outside the means of how Source and its first returned Spark created, ended up for lack of a better term, "densifying" these energies and creating a hollow shell of reality, which because of its nature, further supported or facilitated more illusion and less pure Source and Christ awareness. As one or the collective becomes more separated in consciousnesses from its maker, the more slow vibrating and dense the energies become.
Thus the physical "reality" of the Universe is truly an illusion of our own making, and has no purpose other than manifest the separtive and selfish awarenesses of which it originally stemmed from (which leads to suffering), from its manifesting without alignment to the Creative forces. But, it's that very suffering which eventually acts as a strong pressure or catalyst to move out of this backwards or reversed pattern. So, in a sense it does have a 'purpose', while it needs to last. But one of the "tricks" of ego, which is very much connected to the physcial, is to convince us that the physical is a very necessary energy beyond its suffering, potentially catalytic, temporal existence. It's just a distorted reflection of the real, a collective mirage, a trapped projected image..
The original patterns and inner consciousnesses from which the physical manifested, are "true" creations, the Earth is a true creation, just not the physical aspect of it. The "spiritual" Earth will always exist. The Earth and this particular Universe, the spiritual pattern of same, is a creation of Christ or Planning Intelligence. And this, Source knows and recognizes. It does not see our collective error manifesting though, like can only attract, beget, experience, see, perceive, like. Source is such a pure energy, that while its essence permeates all real energies, its wayward children's creations are non-existant to it.
Yet, Christ having gone through what we've gone through, the illusion immersing, the seeming "separation", does see and know our temporal reality too, and so has been working from point one, to get us all back to the true reality, that which is of Spirit, which is even beyond the vibrations of Soul. Christ has twice gone through the process actually, which is somewhat unique to all of Source's children. Christ merged with Source before this Universe was manifested, and even after, voluntarily gave up its full attunement to Source, experienced a pattern within our Earth Life system to re-perfect itself so that it could better help us out. It became a pure pattern within the ELS unlike any other teacher, which is why Cayce's source says that out of all the thousands of teachers who have come to Earth to reorient their brethern back to the Light, only the Christ fulfilled the WHOLE law, and completely transcended the illusion World, while even still connected to same.