Tuesday January 12th, 2016
Tonight was another great meeting. We had people there who were new as well as people who had been studying 30 years. I have been studying about 23 years, and I was excited to facilitate. There were so many great questions, and direct inquiry about specific real life challenges, and I think we addressed all of them. I was grateful for all the input from so many people, and especially the laughter that we enjoyed. For those of you who could not make it, here is a brief overview. We read and discussed Workbook Lesson 11, about the meaning that we give to everything. And how our ideas form our perceptions of the world, rather than the other way around. We read a beautiful passage picked out by Michael, in the Preface, that tied everything together about our perceptions, how they come about (think projection) and how to examine and see beyond them. Then we went over a principle that illuminated how defenses are related to attack thoughts, so that we can see what we are actually trying to accomplish by defending ourselves; i.e. How that does not work to decrease our fear ideas, but instead validates and increases their reality in our minds. After much discussion, and examples, and questions, we closed with a silent healing moment followed by a goal for the week. About 10 or us went to the Diner to continue discussion and "eat our hearts out"! OK, some of us ordered healthy food. See you next week.