Hope Johnson's Wisdom Dialogues
Hope Johnson's Wisdom Dialogues
A Course In Miracles Deep Dive - Chapter 2, Section X, Paragraph 12 to Section XI, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1 | Ajijic Mexico | July 30, 2025
✨A Course In Miracles Deep Dive - Chapter 2, Section X, Paragraph 12 to Section XI, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1
"Fear and The Unwatched Mind" July 30, 2025
Beneath the surface of our everyday consciousness lies an unwatched mind – a realm of thoughts and beliefs that actively shapes every aspect of our experience without our awareness. In this profound exploration of A Course in Miracles Chapter 2, we discover how these unwatched thoughts become the source of all our fear.
Jesus reveals a startling truth: we've been afraid of God, ourselves, Jesus, and practically everyone we know not because they're actually threatening, but because we've projected our own guilt outward. This projection is the ego's primary defense strategy – making us fear everything that could actually help us. The vulnerable, Jesus teaches, "are essentially miscreators because they misperceive creation." Our perception of weakness or threat in ourselves and others isn't reflecting reality; it's creating a distorted image based on fear.
What makes this teaching revolutionary is how it reframes our understanding of the unconscious mind. Unlike Freud who viewed the unconscious as an inaccessible reservoir of hidden drives, Jesus shows us that our unconscious is simply what we've chosen not to watch. It remains active and powerful, projecting an entire world of experience, yet we persist in believing that "when we do not consciously watch our mind, it is unmindful."
Most remarkable is Jesus' revelation that beneath all our ego's distortions lies the miracle level – a stratum of mind that remains untouched by error, always perfectly aligned with truth. The unwatched mind creates noise and static above this miracle level, making us afraid to sink deeper into our own awareness.
By gently watching our thoughts without judgment and bringing them to the Holy Spirit for correction, we can access this miracle level. We need not fear what we discover, for our willingness to look with love dissolves the power of these hidden thoughts. As Jesus reassures us, once we've begun this journey, "the truth will not escape you entirely" – the pull of awakening becomes stronger than our resistance.
What perceptions are you ready to question today? What fears might actually be invitations to look more deeply at your unwatched thoughts? Join us in this exploration of mind at its most fundamental level – where the choice to watch with holy sight transforms everything we see.
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Aloha and welcome to a Course in Miracles meeting. Today we're doing a deep dive into Chapter 2. At the end of Section 10, yeah, the end of Section 10 in Chapter 2, par. 12. We're starting with sentence 1. And this is from the complete and annotated edition from 2021. This is on page 94.
Hope Johnson:Ah, all right, yay, let's start with a prayer here. Hmm, start with gratitude to everyone joining. Thank you to Jesus for joining with us as we open our hearts, as we open our minds to what is the meaning behind these words. Thank you for showing us how to walk in truth and peace, and opening our minds and denying reality to fear, opening to the love that we are, even though we can't see it, we can't know it. From this perspective, thank you for helping us, showing us the way, being such a beautiful example of perfect love and peace and compassion. Thank you to all of our brothers and sisters, everyone, everywhere. We're knowing that we all want to see past this world, even though it seems like we don't. Thank you for showing us the way. Thank you for being the light. Thank you for reminding us of our innocence and the truth that we are. And we begin now. Mahalo, mahalo.
Hope Johnson:Okay, paragraph 12. You have been afraid of God, of me this is Jesus speaking of yourself and of practically everyone you know at one time or another. So you have been afraid. Basically, this is a diagnosis of the ego's whole defense strategy Fear of everything that can help us. No, this is all helpful God, jesus, yourself and everyone you know. All helpful, all totally helpful. So the ego's whole defense strategy is to make us afraid of everything that can be helpful, and that's really everything. It is everything. It's not that God or Jesus are frightening at all. It's just that the ego's projecting our own guilt outward onto them, making love seem like they're threatening. Love seem like they're threatening. So this sentence is meant to bring to light how deeply the ego fears the truth. The ego would make every relationship a threat, because every relationship really reflects divine love. That's why the ego wants to make every relationship into a threat.
Hope Johnson:Now look, fearing God is because of the belief that we've betrayed him. That's what's in the mind. It's a belief that we've betrayed God. We separated ourself from heaven. Apparently we didn't really do that, but that's the belief.
Hope Johnson:Fearing Jesus because he represents our perfect innocence. You know, there's a sense that, and religion teaches us too that he's condemning us, he's judging us. Nothing can be further from the truth. Fearing ourself, because ourself as innocent and holy, it actually exposes the illusion as an illusion. So being afraid of ourself prevents us from exposing the illusion and finally, fearing the others, our brothers, everyone's, our brother in Christ, everyone, everyone. So fearing any one person is really an expression of our guilt. We're projecting that onto them so we don't have to know that we're carrying it. We don't really have guilt in the sense that we own it. We're projecting a guilty thought because we're keeping it in our. We're keeping it on our mind in secret and projecting it outward onto others as if they're guilty.
Hope Johnson:So notice, let's read the sentence again. You have been afraid of God, of me, of yourself and of practically everyone you know at one time or another. Notice in yourself where subtle fear comes up in any relationship. That's to God, to yourself, to Jesus, to anyone else. Do you fear being seen? See, there's ideas in our mind like if they knew how I was, they would hate me, right, if they knew the way I really am. Do you pull back when love gets too close? Does that scare you? Notice? Because what Jesus is saying here is this subtle fear that's arising in relationship. We've all got this. We've all got this going on. That's why we're projecting a world.
Hope Johnson:The reason the ego fears is because it believes it deserves punishment and being identified as an ego. It takes a certain amount, even if it's a small amount, of ego identification to be projecting a world, to be projecting a body in a world. That's how you know your mind needs correction. Your mind needs purification because you're perceiving a body in a world. You're fearing being truly seen, believing that you deserve punishment. That's really the ego's belief, but it's identifying with it. This is to help us get released from this identification. Holy encounters that's every interaction are opportunities to heal this projection.
Hope Johnson:I'm watching you guys, so if you want to raise your hand or anything, go ahead. I'm going to go on to sentence two, unless anyone has any questions about sentence one. Sentence two one Sentence two. This can only be because you have miscreated all of us and believe in what you made. So where it says this can only be that's referring to the last sentence, where you have been afraid of God, of me, of yourself and practically everyone you know at one time or another. So this can only be because you have miscreated all of us and believe in what you made. So you have miscreated all of us.
Hope Johnson:Rather than seeing God Jesus yourself, others as they truly are, you projected a false image based on fear. I've discussed this with you guys many times in wisdom dialogues how we do not see anyone as they are, and that includes God and Jesus. We don't see ourself as we are. We don't see God Jesus, any of our brothers as they are, while we're perceiving in a separate world, because we projected a false image based on fear. That's why we're perceiving bodies, bodies. All these are miscreations. They're distorted figures. That's why they seem to age, for one thing Okay. That's why they seem to betray right. A lot of people have expressed to me how they feel betrayed by God. You know, how could God allow this to happen, for instance? You notice that, just notice that underlying thought. How could God allow, allow this to happen? So these are distorted figures based on judgment, punishment and abandonment and other things like that Feeling abandoned by God, feeling abandoned by Jesus and others Judging the self.
Hope Johnson:You know, your judgment of the self keeps you from being aware of its holiness. Your self is holy and innocent, completely guiltless. You haven't really done anything that you think you've done Second part of that sentence and believe in what you made. Now this is the part that really makes it a reality for us in our minds, only in our imagination. We believe in what we made. We made everything. We perceive everything and everyone. We made them, then forgot we made them, and now we react to them as if they're real, them as if they're real. I noticed that in my own mind. It's just a matter of recognizing when that is occurring. You know, in practice, just notice where you still believe in the God you made up, someone punitive, distant, conditional, or the Jesus, who disapproves of whatever you seem to be doing, or the self, who's not enough, or the others who are capable of harming you.
Hope Johnson:I had a friend over today and she was telling me a story about how someone has a really intense energy and how it's really hard for her that she's reacting to it. And I go oh well, you know you can only really be reacting to your own thoughts. She's like what? The defensiveness that came up? Woo, look at now, just look within yourself. When I say something like that, you can only really be reacting to your own thoughts. You know she was. She was relating to me, that this person's energy is offensive, she feels upset when this person's she's around this person's energy. And when, when I said that she goes she's, she said no way, you know. She tried to convince me she goes. Now I know that if I, if I was myself right now, uh, being the way I could be toward you, you would be offended by it too. And I just told her I'm the light of the world. Go ahead, let's see.
Hope Johnson:I happen to know that I'm only affected by my own thoughts. So, uh, in the words of some famous singer somewhere hit me with your best shot. That's the. That's the thing we're. We're really not vulnerable. I mean, that's the. That's the thing where we're really not vulnerable. I mean, even if I seem to be, uh, vulnerable to someone else's energy, I'll be looking at that. It'll be deep for me. It'll be deep If I seem to get affected. I'm stoked.
Hope Johnson:You know, I've had, I've had instances where someone's getting in my face, basically accusing me of something, and I'm noticing my body trembling, but I'm still recognizing that's not affecting me at the same time. So I'm enjoying the trembling as this is arising right. Even that I don't have to push within my body's energy field. I don't have to resist, I don't have to push within my body's energy field, I don't have to resist. And in that opening, that's where I'm having a holy encounter with this person. Really, you know, I see the person just kind of like, play that thing out in front of me and then calm down and come right back to love. I don't have to get vulnerable. There's no need for that vulnerable, there's no need for that.
Hope Johnson:So this can only be the fear, can only be because you've miscreated all of us and believe in what you made. So the example I gave you guys just now, that's an example of forgiveness. So I'm, I'm forgiving that miscreation, I've miscreated this person to come and, uh, and, and basically the perception is she's attacking me, uh, with her words. She's not like trying to hit me or anything, um, which wouldn't really be that much different. I mean, it might hurt in the physical sense, but still it's coming from my own mind. I'm knowing that it's coming from my own mind. So that's an example of the holy encounter, forgiveness. And forgiveness is always inducing miracles. Right? The miracle establishes that I'm dreaming a dream and none of this content is true, so I can't react to her in the in a normal way, like you shouldn't be doing this. You should or try to defend myself or anything like that. It's just a way of letting it be right, letting my it feels like my energy field opens. It opens to receive the energy instead of pushing it away, instead of resisting it.
Hope Johnson:Okay, so miscreation is the ego's use of mind to fabricate illusion. I haven't gone on to the next sentence yet. I'm just summarizing this sentence for you guys. Miscreation is the ego's use of the mind to fabricate illusion. Anything that doesn't look and feel like love, that's an illusion. That's miscreation. That's miscreation.
Hope Johnson:Believing in the miscreations, believing in these fabrication, is what perpetuates fear. Look at the example I gave you. Wouldn't that be perpetuating fear? And what I notice is most people who run into something like this, they perpetuate the fear by pretending like that person is something. What are they? They're narcissistic, they're crazy.
Hope Johnson:Whatever the story is, that's believing in the fabrications and perpetuating fear. It's like it's about them. It's as if that didn't just come from your own mind. It's as if that wasn't just a healing opportunity for you to heal your misperceptions, to undo the miscreations that you made, so you could return to truth. The Holy Spirit gently helps us withdraw belief from what we made If we're willing to listen. You know, in in my mind it's like everything slows down when I'm faced with the miscreation. Everything just slows down. I want to see, help me to see. Okay, so, checking on you guys and see if you have any questions. Okay, you're looking good over there. Okay, you're looking good over there on zoom. You're looking good over there on sub stack.
Hope Johnson:Thank you, all right, we're going on to sentence three and if you're just joining, we are in the text of a course in miracles, where chapter two, part 10, paragraph 12, sentence 3 now, you would never have done this. What is this? What is this Miscreated? All of this, all of us. You would never have miscreated everyone if you had not been afraid of your own thoughts. You would have never miscreated everyone if you had not been afraid of your own thoughts. Okay, so afraid of your own thoughts? This is really going deep. Okay, so afraid of your own thoughts? This is really going deep.
Hope Johnson:The original fear is not of others at all. It is not of others, it's of your own mind. You know many of you express fear of something in the world the president, for instance, of the United States. I've heard that a lot. Okay, this is the same thing, it's all others. All others are brothers in Christ, doesn't matter how they're manifesting.
Hope Johnson:You know where I'm staying right now, in this place where I'm staying, there are bars on every single window. And you know what? I'm up high. This is like it's second story, but it seems like it's so high it's like third story, it's. They got high ceilings here and I'm like how the fuck is anyone going to get up to there, to get in the window in the first place? Why do they got bars? I mean, I guess there's ladders.
Hope Johnson:Um, this fear of others, it's really fear of our own mind. You know, I was walking down the street the other day and I noticed there's lots of dogs around here. And you know, I just noticed a sense like there's a bulldog, or was it a bulldog, I don't know Some, some kind of dog. Um, all of a sudden, it occurred to me, what if that dog bites me? And you know what the thought that met it right away is? I can only be afraid of my own mind. And that's really how this plays out in just regular day-to-day operation. Right, the sense of fear comes up and then it's just, it's just that that sense of fear, that fearful thought is just brought to the truth. And then it's just, it's just that that sense of fear, that fearful thought, is just brought to the truth. I can only be afraid of my own mind. The sense, even the thought that came up, that said, what if that dog bites me?
Hope Johnson:Is an effect of guilt. That's all it is. Otherwise, everything just feels very peaceful, everything. Everything feels like it's not. Nothing can harm you, right? So immediately, like I don't. I don't try to analyze myself or anything like that. The Holy Spirit does not analyze the self. I just look at it and go oh, that's a fearful thought that has no meaning. And you know, whatever, whatever guilt seems to be lurking in the subconscious mind. It just automatically gets resolved right there. It's an automatic resolution. It's like oh, of course that's a guilty. It's actually a guilty thought. A fearful thought is actually a guilty thought.
Hope Johnson:Okay, we believe our thoughts, especially the separation thought, have harmed us. We actually believe that our thoughts have harmed us. That's why we're perceiving separation, because we believe that the thought of separation has actually harmed us. So we're perceiving separation and in that we perceive fearful things. So we're actually afraid of our own thoughts. We're not ever afraid of anything in the world as it seems. Isn't that fun and funny. We're not ever afraid of anything in the world. We're only ever afraid of our own thoughts. So bring that to the truth.
Hope Johnson:When it seems like we're afraid of something in the world, what if it seems like you're afraid of, let's say, an investigator of welfare fraud? I had a friend express that to me lately. It's the same You're afraid of your own thoughts, afraid of the IRS agent. You're afraid of your own thoughts, afraid of the IRS agent. You're afraid of your own thoughts, afraid of the murderer that just moved in down the street, I don't know Whatever you guys got going on. It's the same thing. You're just afraid of your own thoughts. And that could be cured. That can actually be cured. Forgiveness cures the sense of being afraid. And then there's a footnote here, footnote 127.
Hope Johnson:We believe our thoughts have hurt us and made us vulnerable. That's a fun word. Lots of people use that word vulnerable, in my perception, I think that's fun. We then project what our thoughts have done to us onto God, jesus and others, making them appear to be the destructive agents. Yeah, I hear this. It's really funny hear this. It's really funny.
Hope Johnson:Something bad happens or perceived bad happens. Let's say, sickness arises, a sense of sickness arises. Maybe it's an injury or a wound or a perceived accident, and people actually believe that God did that to them. I mean that is a common thing. I mean that is a common thing. Well, god must have wanted me to have this ailment or this accident or this thing or this breakup or anything like that, because of my sins, because my thoughts, because this, because that, god, jesus, they do not make your perception. You make your perception With your back turned to God and Jesus, with your back turned to the light. You make your perception, your perception is perfect for you, because it's a means to waking up. There's nothing wrong with it. But God and Jesus are not doing that to you. They're not doing anything to you and also others, others, doing something to you, making them appear like they're the ones that are the destructive agents.
Hope Johnson:This is how the ego hides the source of fear. It blames love for what's going on. Remember God, jesus, others, yourself, all love, all perfect love. So the ego blames love instead of your own error as the source of fear. This error, this error, all it is is listening to the ego. It's listening to the ego that's the source of fear. The error can't really hurt you, but you believe that it has hurt you and that's why there's the projection onto god, jesus, yourself and others.
Hope Johnson:So, in practice, what you want to do is notice where do I feel vulnerable or betrayed? Now back to that word vulnerable. A lot of times people will tell me wow, you're being so vulnerable Because, especially on wisdom dialogues, you know I'll talk about whatever my mind is projecting. You know I'll just bring it out into the open. Our minds are not separate. Anyways, our thoughts are not private. I'll just bring it out in the open whatever my mind is projecting and people go you're so vulnerable too. It's actually not vulnerable, it's actually invulnerability. You know it's like I don't feel vulnerable about the thoughts that occur in my mind. That's the thing I don't feel vulnerable about the thoughts that occur in my mind. That's the thing I don't feel vulnerable about them. I can just express them because I don't mean anything and my mind isn't private.
Hope Johnson:So look, notice where you feel vulnerable about your thoughts or where you feel betrayed by anyone, or where you feel betrayed by anyone, and notice is that a belief. See if you could trace it back to a belief, a thought in your mind. Notice the thought. You know this thing about feeling vulnerable about your thoughts. It's like, oh, I must be unloving. I must be unlovable because of this thought. That thought never touched you.
Hope Johnson:All you're doing is listening to an ego. It's okay, I like to say them out loud. I like to just say them out loud. That way people don't feel alone, like they've got these ego thoughts and there's something wrong with them. I just say them right out loud. I'm like this is a, this is what occurred in my mind, and just see if you can bring that to the light. Just bring it to the light, even if you're not expressing it to anyone, you know. You're just bringing it to the light because a major source of fear is trying to hide from yourself what you're thinking with the ego. And it's not really hidden. It's like it's kind of like you know. It's kind of like you're trying to hide behind this really thin pole, right. It's like you're of like you're trying to hide behind this really thin pole, right. It's like you're seen, you're totally seen. You're not hiding anything and you're seen by yourself. You see it and then you cover it up because you don't want to see it. And this is the major hindrance to waking up, see.
Hope Johnson:So, summary of that last sentence, sentence three again. Oh, this is actually yeah, sentence three. You would never have done this if you had not been afraid of your own thoughts. And then the footnote 127 connection we believe our thoughts have hurt us and made us vulnerable. We then project what our thoughts have done to us onto God, jesus and others, making them appear to be the destructive agents. So here's the summary of that sentence and the footnote that goes along with it.
Hope Johnson:The mind is fearing itself because of what it believes it has done. It hasn't done it, it hasn't really done it, but it's afraid of itself because it believes it has done something. Basically, what it believes it has done is thought against truth and that that thought has real effects. It makes us afraid of our own thoughts. It makes us afraid of these thoughts that we thought with the ego. So that's fueling projection. It's making others. It's making ourselves, god. Others seem dangerous to us, like they're threats to us. It's projecting threats into the field.
Hope Johnson:So healing is about reclaiming our power of thought. So we're just offering all these thoughts to the spirit. We have to be willing to see them, though, to offer thoughts to the spirit. There's so much covering up because we're so afraid of what's in our mind, because it's so dark. For one thing, we all got murderous thoughts in there and perverted thoughts in there, right? So these don't make you bad, these don't make you wrong. That's the thing. And if you could see them, if you're willing to see them, you just bring them all to the Spirit. The Spirit's not judging you.
Hope Johnson:And I'm saying the Spirit, I'm saying the Holy Spirit. This is the voice for God. God's not judging you. Jesus isn't judging you. And I'm saying the Spirit, I'm saying the Holy Spirit. This is the voice for God. God's not judging you. Jesus isn't judging you. No one in the field, none of your brothers, that's every person. They're not capable of judging you, even if it appears to you that they are. That's actually self-judgment. So you know, for me, I'm not afraid of what anyone makes of anything I say. That's why it's easy for me to just share from my heart, to share what it is. I'm not afraid that people will make their interpretations. I'm not afraid of that because I know they're not capable of judging me and all that's going on there. When I perceive a judgment coming from them, that's my mind projecting the judgment. That's giving me an opportunity. I love it. I'm grateful for that. So I'm checking on you guys in case you have any questions. Thank you for joining. Thank you for coming and just listening too. I appreciate that. Okay, we're on to sentence number four, and this is on page 95. Now we're back to vulnerable. I love this.
Hope Johnson:The vulnerable are essentially miscreators because they misperceive creation. So vulnerable equals miscreator, vulnerable. If you're feeling vulnerable, it's because you miscreated. We're not vulnerable because of the world. We're vulnerable because we miscreate. What does that mean? We use the power of our mind to see falsely. They misperceive creation, god's creation, what God created is whole, holy, invulnerable. Holy, invulnerable. Misperceiving, basically perceiving yourself as separate. I see this all the time. I see this all the time and it really speaks loudly to me when I'm perceiving spiritual teachers talk about how weak they are.
Hope Johnson:Oh, I'm so thankful that God blesses me. And I'm so weak. I'm so this. I'm so. No, you're. You're not. You're actually whole, holy and invulnerable. You're not weak, you're not. You can't be. You're a powerful creator.
Hope Johnson:Projecting yourself as weak, projecting yourself as weak, that's all, and then pretending like that's true, you're not one bit weak, there's nothing weak about you, it's a mind pretending. This is very common. You know. Most people want this soft spirituality that's just like. Ah, it feels good to be weak with everyone else and God still loves me. Just projecting weakness into the field or projecting yourself as threatening. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. All right, You're not threatening it. You have nothing to be sorry about, right? You're not threatening anything. You have nothing to be sorry about. Everything you ever say and everything you ever do is 100% helpful to yourself and everyone. 100% helpful. Can you accept that Misperceiving, misperceiving God's creation, which is all there is, there's nothing else, misperceiving God's creation as if it's separate, weak or threatening, leads to miscreation, false images in a dangerous world.
Hope Johnson:Oh, I screwed it up, for instance. You can't screw anything up. That's the truth to live in. So, in practice, for this sentence, the vulnerable are essentially miscreators because they misperceive creation. This is what makes you vulnerable, perceive yourself as vulnerable anyways. So, in practice, look at this.
Hope Johnson:Feeling vulnerable is a signal. Let it be a signal, not that you're weak, but a signal that you forgot what creation is. An opportunity to ask what am I making up right now? That's making me feel vulnerable. Vulnerability is nothing but the effect of identifying with illusion, which is basically listening to what the ego is saying. That's how you identify with illusion. Clarity comes when we remember that only god, only what god creates, is real, and nothing god creates can be harmed. There's no threat anywhere in creation. So if there's a sense that anything can be harmed, that's vulnerability. That's why people say you're so vulnerable when they hear me talking about my thoughts, my apparent life, my perception, stuff like that. You're being so vulnerable because it seems like something can be threatened. I'm like I don't feel vulnerable, though I love to put this stuff out there and make the perception that something can be threatened, because I just deny any meaning to that. I know it's not threatened, I know it's blessed, I know everything I share is blessed and it doesn't matter to me what kind of reflections I get. I bless all, the all of those reflections. It's fun for me. So, uh, bring them on, all right.
Hope Johnson:So you guys, we just finished one whole paragraph in only 49 minutes, or 40, 40 minutes maybe. So we're on to now. We're now, we're going on to, unless anyone has any questions. I see you. I see you on Zoom and I see you on Substack, so you can ask questions. You can go on Zoom, you can get on the Q&A, you can get on the chat and ask me any questions, and the same thing with you Substack peeps. Thank you for joining. You can just put your question right on there if you want. Okay, so the next section. This is still on page 95 of the complete and annotated edition.
Hope Johnson:The next section is section 11 of chapter two, and we're starting with paragraph one, sentence one. You are willing to accept primarily what does not change your mind too much and leaves you free to leave it quite unguarded most of the time. This is Jesus talking right here. Okay, this is most of what people are doing with spirituality. Okay, you know, all the things are fun. All the all the different things are fun Ceremonies, what else.
Hope Johnson:Or we just talk about how we're one and all that kind of stuff Ecstatic dance, peyote ceremonies, all these different things that people do for spirituality. But what it's saying right here? Not that any of this stuff is wrong, by any means. There's never any judgment in A Course in Miracles. Any judgment that you perceive is something that you're projecting. This is not where this is going at all. Nothing's wrong. What Jesus is saying is you're willing to accept primarily what does not change your mind too much. A course in miracles is meant to change your mind a lot and leaves you free to leave it quite unguarded most of the time.
Hope Johnson:So we went over that in the last deep dive. It was a couple of paragraphs back about how we just leave our mind unguarded so much. So let's get into this. What does not change your mind too much? It says so. This is exposing the ego's game.
Hope Johnson:The ego loves mild spirituality, mild spirituality, any spirituality that doesn't go deep. That's what the ego loves. Mild spirituality, mild spirituality, any spirituality that doesn't go deep. That's what the ego loves. Right For me. I kind of have a radar for that. I'm like okay, this is a waste of time, this is basically just wasting time. Waste of time. This is basically just wasting time. Ideas that soothe but don't actually transform. Right, there's nothing wrong with them. At a point, people need them. That's why I'm saying there's nothing wrong with them. At a point, people need to just know hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's all love, it's all right. The ego prefers safety over shift. So that's what it's saying here.
Hope Johnson:What does not change your mind too much, you're willing to accept. Primarily, what does not change your mind too much. This is the ego's game. This is exposing what the ego is doing here, and even with spirituality, especially with spirituality, this is the ego's game. This is exposing what the ego is doing here, and even with spirituality, especially with spirituality, it's not going to work in the long run. None of this is going to work in the long run. You're changing your mind about what your mind is, for basically is inevitable, so it's not going to go on forever. So and leaves you free to leave it quite unguarded. So the part where it says leave it quite unguarded, this means it leaves your mind open to ego influences.
Hope Johnson:Look how common it is for a person doing you know spirituality, whether it's religion, going to a Catholic church or going to a unity church or involved in spiritual activities. The untrained mind is vulnerable to attack because it hasn't chosen the protection by spirit. Vulnerable to attack means you know. You're making yourself weak, you're making yourself into an illusion, you're believing that other people's energy affects you. Oh, the person who was visiting me today totally into spiritual stuff for years and years, and years and years and basically trying to convince me that she's vulnerable to someone else's energy. She's being affected by someone else's energy and I'm saying, oh no, that's not really possible, you're only really affected by someone else's energy. And I'm saying, oh no, that's not really possible. You're only really affected by your own thoughts. So then she tries to convince me that I can be affected by her acting out and I'm just like impossible, impossible, that's impossible. This is a common thing. This is what this is pointing out right here. This is a common thing.
Hope Johnson:The untrained mind is vulnerable to attack. What's attacking it? Your own thoughts. That's what makes it vulnerable to attack. Instead of being grateful that I'm perceiving someone who seems like they're affecting me in some way, I'm making it as if I'm actually affected by them. You can't be affected by anyone. Just knowing that this is how you guard your mind. Just knowing that I can only be affected by my own thoughts, that's guarding your mind. I can only be affected by my own thoughts.
Hope Johnson:So notice where you're accepting teachings, even teachings from A Course in Miracles, but actually avoiding transformation. You know, I noticed the look in the woman's eyes when she's telling me this stuff. She looks afraid because where's the next person whose energy is going to affect me? I got to be. I got to be guarding myself instead of guarding my thoughts. I got to be guarding this form. I got to be erecting boundaries and all this other stuff because other people's energy can affect me. That's weakness. That's projecting weakness. You're not really weak. That's avoiding transformation.
Hope Johnson:So if this is resisting, this is an example of resisting the deep undoing, the deep undoing of the ego that real miracle mindedness would require. So the ego loves teachings that don't threaten its control, Basically its control. Remember what the ego is doing here. Its control is about you being vulnerable. It's about threats coming from something other than your thoughts. Truly changing your mind requires vigilance and willingness to let it be undone. This is mind training. This is what A Course in Miracles is all about. It's mind training to help us guard against illusions and truly invite spirit's correction. So that's sentence one, and on to sentence one and on to sentence two.
Hope Johnson:You persist in believing that when you do not consciously watch your mind, it is unmindful. You persist in believing that when you do not consciously watch your mind, it is unmindful. So what does that mean? You persist in believing this is not talking about a casual misunderstanding. It's stubborn. You persist in believing. You're being stubborn. It's a habitual belief.
Hope Johnson:Jesus is pointing here to a core ego defense the idea that if I'm not consciously thinking something, it must not be happening. This is truly. This is denial. Okay, this is a. This is the ego's strategy. It's denial of the power of your mind. It's like if you're just not consciously thinking something, it says you persist in believing. So not a casual misunderstanding, stubborn, habitual belief. You persist in believing that when you do not consciously watch your mind, it is unmindful. Watch your mind, it is unmindful.
Hope Johnson:So the ego convinces us, tries to convince us does a pretty good job of it usually that the mind only works on the surface, that unconscious or unwatched, unwatched thoughts that's what's going on. They're unwatched thoughts. The ego convinces us that unconscious or unwatched thoughts aren't active, aren't powerful, aren't making us responsible. But here's where Jesus is correcting this. Jesus is basically saying here that all mind is active, even when we're not watching it. The mind continues to either create or miscreate. This is the root of all projection, because our unconscious guilt fuels distorted perception. So you can just notice anything in the perception that seems like you don't want it there. That's an effect of unwanted guilt or unconscious guilt Unwanted guilt too, I mean, you kind of want it because you're choosing to be unconscious of it. It's distorting your perception and believing it comes from outside of us because we're not watching the source of it.
Hope Johnson:I love to see that If I get a perception someone's doing something to me sometimes I won't see it right away, but I know it. So if I don't see it right away, I'm in an asking state. Let me see. Let me see. I know this is coming for me. Gosh, it doesn't seem like it's coming to me. Oh, my God, what a fucking asshole that person is. Gosh, it's coming for me. I want to see, right. So just don't let the ego get away with projecting it outside, recognizing I'm not watching something. I actually want to see something. I want to see how I'm casting this.
Hope Johnson:So in practice, you can begin to assume that the mind is just always active, always active, even when you're not paying attention to it. I'll notice, like, if I'm walking through my house here and I just gently bump into something, it's like oh, hmm, just noticing that mind is always active, projecting something, some kind of guilt, and oh, I could see right away. Oh, it was that thing that that person said to me. It triggered a guilty thought. I see that. Okay, good, moving on, that's all it is Just noticing that guilty thought actually doesn't mean anything.
Hope Johnson:It seems like I should have done something better. Oh, good, I'm glad I see that, seeing it, you allow yourself to recognize that it has no power. In reality, you deny any meaning to it. That's why the way that it has power is letting it go unnoticed. So I'm taking this as I'm walking and I bump into something. I'm like, oh, it just makes me alert and I don't have to stop and analyze anything. Really, it just makes me alert Because it shows itself to me right away, and this is as a result of practice. It's like shows. It shows itself to me right away, you know, and this is as a result of practice.
Hope Johnson:It's like, oh, I took that to mean that I was guilty. I'll just show it to me and, and that's a very it's, it's a very powerful thought when it goes unrecognized. That's why I got bumped, that's why I made it, so I bumped myself so I could see it, so I could recognize that that thought is a meaningless thought. That's what withdraws power from it. If I'm not withdrawing power from it and it's just going unconscious, then it is very powerful to make more illusions and project time. You see what I mean.
Hope Johnson:So noticing the areas of your life where you feel chaotic or uncontrolled. These are reflecting unwatched thoughts, unwatched beliefs. So what jesus is saying is that we're usually not guarding our mind, and he's encouraging us. He's not projecting any guilt on us for doing this, it's never what he's doing. He's encouraging us to watch more. What must I believe to make this appear to me? That's just a gentle question. What must I believe to make this appear to me as if it's coming from outside of us? Okay, I got a question here from Sarah. Okay, I got a question here from Sarah.
Hope Johnson:Do you recommend daily meditation to deal with the feeling of vulnerability and fear? If meditation feels inspired for you, okay, that's the thing. Does it feel inspired? Because a lot of the times, people are using meditation as another way to project guilt onto themselves. You know this idea of I should meditate, or something like that. Look, does it feel good? And what does meditation look like? Anyways, we're talking about that right now. Guarding your mind, right, you're noticing here. Here's what. Here's what meditation would look like. They'd be right. You're noticing here. Here's what. Here's what meditation would look like They'd be.
Hope Johnson:You know, truly an effective meditation where you're just sitting and you're watching the thoughts that come up. You're just and, and you know, for this you actually don't need to be sitting still. You can be if that appeals to you. Uh, but a lot of people use meditation as another way to bypass. It's like sitting in a pose, pretending to be quiet, ignoring your thoughts, whatever. You don't want to ignore them. You want to notice, notice what's coming, and you know, in doing that, you'll have moments of silence where you just hear from spirit too. It's beautiful. Meditation is wonderful. Just watch what you're using it for. So it's kind of like a yes, I recommend it. Does it feel inspired? Should you do it? It's not like that.
Hope Johnson:When you're practicing A Course in in miracles, when you're practicing the lessons, many of the lessons are saying hey, see if you can sit quietly for this amount of time. Set aside a half an hour to sit quietly and just watch your thoughts. Take a half hour to sit quietly and sink beneath them. See if you can sink beneath your thoughts. Let it be gentle, let yourself be inspired to it. Etta Mae, you're raising your hand. That means you want to speak to me. Yeah, just keep it up. If that's true, Keep your hand up if you want to speak with me. Sometimes people do that and they don't realize. I'm going to bring them on. I'm going to bring you on if that's the case. Okay, I'm going to bring you on if that's the case, okay.
Speaker 2:All right, Adam, may unmute yourself. Oh, hey, I have a question. Yeah, so I was raised I guess it feels like it came from my childhood where I find myself even today saying I'm sorry like someone hurt and I, I like hear about it. I wasn't even there and I'm like, oh, I'm sorry Like someone gets hurt and I like hear about it. I wasn't even there and I'm like, oh, I'm sorry to hear that, yeah, you know. And then what? I? I don't like that, I don't like saying that I've become aware of that. But then what I find myself doing is saying, oh, please forgive me for being late, or please forgive me for not replying more, you know timely, or anyway. I wonder if you could speak to that, Cause I'm really trying to like break that habit and that more. Thank you Okay.
Hope Johnson:Okay, yeah, of course, yeah. So that's just the underlying guilt, as if you could do something wrong. Remember, I was talking earlier about how, uh, everything you do and everything you say is 100% helpful. Everything you do and everything you say is 100% helpful 100% of the time. That means even getting the perception that you're saying you're sorry or please forgive me. See that. So there's nothing that you want to try to change about yourself as far as your habits in the field. It's just your habits of the way you're looking. So that's why I like to share everything you do and everything you say is a hundred percent helpful, so you don't have to take any point of view like saying you're sorry is wrong or something you know. Uh, so, so, uh.
Hope Johnson:Recently I've been, I've been, uh, seeing this friend. A friend started coming over and going to block therapy with me and she appears to be late. Often, every time actually, she appears to be late and she's sorry. A million times, apparently, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So at one point I'm like you really say you're sorry a lot, don't you? And she's like I do, and she's like I do, and you know she had just done it and she's like I just said I'm sorry right now and I said, oh yeah, I've heard you say you're sorry at least 10 times in the few days that I know you and she's like, really, I've been doing like she wasn't even aware of it and I was like it's okay, I just wanted to let you know that everything you do and everything you say is a hundred percent helpful, a hundred percent of the time. Well, she couldn't accept that. She couldn't accept that idea. You know there's a, there's a because and the because is and this is what came out she wants other people to be sorry for how they do things that are bad to her. So this is just something to watch. It's not to try to change your behavior. Your, your behavior does automatically change when you accept the deeper teaching. See what Jesus is pointing to all the time is your innocence, your holiness, that you can't do anything to harm yourself or anyone else in the field. So these things will change automatically.
Hope Johnson:You know you might find yourself like what I find myself sometimes is going oops and then laughing, you know, and and it's and it's not like. Uh, it's not like. I find myself going, you're welcome to the person. Uh, like when they seem like they're harmed or anything like that. You know, I might just like find myself putting my arm around them or going oh, okay and, and just kind of like shift, find myself shifting uh behavior A lot of the times. What seems to be uh difficult for people is with me is that I'm fucking loud. They'll be like oh, whoops, okay, um, but it's just an internal recognizing that, whatever it is, it's a hundred percent helpful, a hundred percent of the time. It can not be another way and let it be helpful to you. See what I'm saying. I like that, thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for the question. I love you, adam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, love you too. How do I unmute myself? Will you do that? I'll do it for you, Okay? Thank you yeah.
Hope Johnson:Okay, so we're assuming that the mind is always active. Even when we're not paying attention, we're noticing areas of our life where it feels like it's chaotic or uncontrolled. These are reflecting unwatched belief. This is the practice for guarding your thoughts. Okay, asking what must I believe for this to appear real to me? So this is for this last sentence, the sentence two in paragraph one, section 11 of chapter two. The text is you persist in believing that when you do not consciously watch your mind, it is unmindful. So the mind never stops, whether you're watching it or not. It never, never, ever, ever stops. It's always creating or miscreating. Believing that unconscious equals inactive is a major ego defense. There's never a time when your mind's not thinking.
Hope Johnson:True mind training includes taking responsibility for all thoughts, not just the ones you notice. All thoughts. How do you take responsibility for all thoughts, even if you don't notice them? Every single thing that you perceive is an effect of your own thoughts. That includes sex trafficking out in the world. It's an effect of your own thoughts. That includes sex trafficking out in the world. It's an effect of your own thoughts. If you watch my last wisdom dialogues, I was taking responsibility for that sex trafficking thing. I was cruising around Guadalajara and I saw these posters there must've been thousands of posters of missing people, right, and what my mind interpreted was sex trafficking, right. So in taking responsibility, I didn't I didn't go into any analyzing or anything like that, I just noticed I'm casting this. And then in the last wisdom dialogues, uh, I just found myself, and you know it, kind of like unfolded right in that talk that, oh my goodness, every sexual attraction or sexual thought or sexual fantasy that I ever get and don't recognize is actually a substitute for truth, is projecting things like sex trafficking. So it's just in noticing that it's taking responsibility for all thoughts, they're the ones that's causing the manifestation. They're even causing the manifestation of what I seem to do. So this is different from taking responsibility for your own actions. It's actually different. Taking responsibility for your own actions in that's actually different. Taking responsibility for your own actions in that way that the ego would have you take responsibility for your own actions is actually irresponsibility for the thoughts that made them. It's going to the effect instead of the cause. The cause is actually the thoughts that go unrecognized as an attack on yourself and actually manifest in the field.
Hope Johnson:All right, so that was sentence two and we're onto sentence three. Here's the sentence it is time to consider the whole world of the unconscious or unwatched mind. It is time to consider. This is a loving invitation. It's also a call to courageously look.
Hope Johnson:He's not saying dive into your unconscious and analyze it. That's not what we're talking about here. It's not what we're doing here Analyze it. That's not what we're talking about here. It's not what we're doing here. He's saying it's time to acknowledge that the unconscious mind exists and is actively shaping your perception. That is what is actively shaping all perception, every single thing you perceive. He's saying it is time to consider the whole world of the unconscious or unwatched mind. It's time to stop pretending. Is what he's saying that what you don't see isn't affecting you? It's affecting everything, the whole world of the unconscious or unwatched mind.
Hope Johnson:This isn't a minor corner of the psyche. So, sarah, you were asking about meditation. That's. That's where you know when you think of meditation, you're setting aside a time to watch your thoughts. Right, that's beautiful, that's blessed, as you feel inspired toward that. When you know, when you're not feeling inspired toward it, when it doesn't feel easeful for you or at least you don't feel, you know, drawn toward it. Sometimes it doesn't feel easeful for you, or at least you don't feel, uh, you know, drawn toward it. Sometimes it doesn't feel easeful, but you're, you feel really inspired, inspired toward it. Anyways. You're like, okay, I feel like doing this, right, it's not as productive, but just, you know, recognizing there isn't any corner of your psyche Okay, there's not any that's not making this world. It's a whole world of thoughts. The whole world is a world of thoughts We've been hiding from ourselves. It's an unwatched mind.
Hope Johnson:Jesus here is linking the unconscious directly with the unwatched. That's what makes it unconscious. Unconscious equals unwatched. Not because it's inherently unknowable. See, that's the way we're used to looking at it. Oh, it's unconscious, we can't know it. But no, it's actually unwatched because we're choosing. We're actively choosing not to look at it, and this is where the healing begins. The unwatched mind is where guilt festers, fantasies, fear. It's where the miracle must reach. You know, so much of this is just working on the surface. What we're consciously aware of. Well, the unwatched mind, the unconscious, the way you watch the unconscious mind, is recognizing that it's shaping everything in the world Wars, climate change, apparent climate change, whether you believe in that or not, even if you don't believe it, in it, other people do in your perception. Okay, that's your unconscious or unwatched mind making that effect.
Hope Johnson:So back to the sentence it is it is time to consider the whole world of the unconscious or unwatched mind. So, in practice, don't try to uncover anything, everything all at once. Just practice your practice. You're practicing. Start with a little bit of willingness, whatever you can muster up to look at things like that, recognize every single thing the way your, the way your couches are arranged, the floor, uh, the way people speak to you it's all set up from your unconscious, unwatched mind.
Hope Johnson:Ask what is it? I'm afraid to see it in myself. Why don't I want to acknowledge that this is coming from my mind. Uh, you know, bless you guys for being on and listening to this, because so many people can't even hear this. I noticed so many people are not even willing to hear this.
Hope Johnson:How can you say that I'm making all this stuff up? That makes me feel guilty. Well, that's the ego's game to make you feel guilty. There's nothing guilty. That's why you know A Course in Miracles is going over this again and again. You are holy, whole, guiltless, innocent.
Hope Johnson:You need to know this to be able to look and not flinch at what you see. So notice what you're afraid to see in yourself. You know this is not really you. What's what? The thoughts that you're believing in the unconscious, unwatched mind? They are not really you. Don't be afraid to look at them. That's the whole game to make you afraid to look at them.
Hope Johnson:Now, the truth about you is so lofty. None of this stuff touches you, but who you are looking at it actually undoes it. Okay, so trust that the Holy Spirit brings these unconscious thoughts to light gently, gently, only when you're ready. It's just this little willingness to look, let it be gentle, the Holy Spirit. You can trust that the Holy Spirit's not going to totally shock you with anything that you can't handle. Okay, you're not going to see the super vicious, murderous thoughts right away that are in the mind. It's going to come on gently. I'm telling you that they're there ahead of time, so you're going to be able to be prepared when you see this murderous, perverted, terrible thoughts that make you look so guilty, so treacherous. They're meant to be that way, so you keep them hidden. They're not about you, though. Go gently. So the unconscious mind it's not passive.
Hope Johnson:We're still on sentence three. The unconscious mind is not passive. It contains powerful beliefs that shape your experience. Look, this shit looks real, doesn't it? That's a testament to how powerful these beliefs are. There's a whole body, seeming body, here in a world that seems to be on a timeline. Look how powerful this mind, this unconscious, unwatched mind, is recognizing the power of these thoughts. Avoiding them is the defensive mechanism of the ego. The ego wants you to avoid them, not see them, make you feel guilty for them. Healing begins with willingness to bring them into the light, not by delving into the content, but just by recognizing there's a need for help. Look at it. You get a perception of something in the world that looks very unloving, recognizing the need for help for bringing these unconscious thoughts into consciousness so they can be resolved there.
Hope Johnson:All right, I'm always checking on you guys to make sure you don't have any questions. Okay, you're looking good. Thank you for joining. Thank you for listening. I love you. All right, Sentence four we're still on paragraph one. We're still on paragraph one.
Hope Johnson:This will frighten you because it is the source of fright. Okay, this it says this will frighten you. What is this? This is the unconscious or unwatched mind. Okay, so the unconscious or unwatched mind will frighten you because it is the source of fright. This will frighten you. Jesus is gently preparing us Right. That's what I was talking about just about a minute ago. What's there in the unconscious, unwatched mind is going to make you look treacherous. This is the preparation. Jesus is saying this now. He's preparing us for looking at the unconscious mind.
Hope Johnson:It's not comfortable. Why is it not comfortable? Because it's thoughts that we've disowned. We're trying to keep them hidden from ourselves. We're painting this false image that looks like it's not murderous, but underneath it are thoughts we've disowned, especially the belief that we separated from God and destroyed our own innocence. We secretly believe that our own innocence has been destroyed. That's what we're undoing here. We secretly believe that our own innocence has been destroyed. That's what we're undoing here. We secretly believe we've separated ourselves from God. That's what we're undoing here.
Hope Johnson:Even being willing to look feels threatening to the ego. This is not something that's popular, okay. In spirituality, it's not something that's popular. It's popular, okay. And spirituality it's not something that's popular, because even being willing to look is threatening. The ego knows it fears exposure will lead to punishment. It doesn't recognize the ego doesn't recognize that you are wholly innocent. And by the, by the nature of your being, not vulnerable to any of this. You're totally invulnerable to any of this, but the ego's thoughts are making you unwilling to look because the ego feels threatened. You're not anything that can be threatened. This is what allows you to look and it says, because it is the source of fright. This will frighten you, meaning unwatched, unconscious thoughts will frighten you because it's the source of fright. So this is meant to give you courage to look.
Hope Johnson:The unconscious doesn't just contain fear. It is the source of all fear. We perceive Unconscious, unwatched, really, what we fear. Out there, this could be loss, betrayal, pain. It's only a projection of what's unhealed in here in your mind. It's only a projection Whatever you're afraid of, whatever you're afraid of in the world. Apparently, a tsunami was coming toward Hawaii. What was that Today? Yesterday, a tsunami. That's a good opportunity right there. Right, it's a projection of what remains unhealed in the mind.
Hope Johnson:This sentence is a pivotal sentence. Let's go over it again. It's short, short but sweet. This will frighten you because it is the source of fright. Jesus isn't telling us to be afraid of the unconscious here. He's revealing why fear exists at all. We've buried guilt and kept it hidden, where it's festering and becoming the basis for the whole world. We see, this will frighten you, unconscious, unwatched thoughts, because it's the source of fright. But here's the miracle what's seen can be healed. We're not being asked to dwell in this fear. We're being asked to bring it to the light, so recognizing that it is the source of fright. This is the whole reason I feel afraid of anything in this fear. We're being asked to bring it to the light, so recognizing that it is the source of fright. This is the whole reason I feel afraid of anything in the world is because I'm burying these thoughts that say I separated from God, I'm a treacherous sinner and I'm a murderer and I'm a pervert and I'm afraid of that and I'm a pervert and I'm afraid of that. Notice when anything triggers fear. This is the practice here. Notice when anything triggers fear and ask is this fear really coming from the world or is it coming from something I'm not seeing in me? That's always what's going on. It's not ever, ever, ever coming from the world.
Hope Johnson:I gave you an example of just a fearful thought as I happened to see a dog that looked like a scary dog for a second. It looked ridiculous to me when that thought came up Immediately I go, that has to be a fearful thought in my mind, the world's totally gentle. I go, that has to be a fearful thought in my mind, the world's totally gentle. And then the dog was so cute. It just like passed me by. It's like sniffing the ground right next to me. Passed me by, no big deal, but it's like there's this image of a dog and it's funny because there's so many dogs around here. Whenever I'm walking there's dogs. They're like barking. Sometimes they're following me around.
Hope Johnson:All of a sudden, one will look a certain way to me or something. Is this the one that's going to bite me? And just recognizing that's coming from unwatched thoughts within myself and really that's all it takes. Is it coming from the world or is it coming from something I'm not seeing in me? This is how we keep it covered, by imagining there's actually a threat in the world, there's actually a cause in the world. There's actually some dog that might bite me in the world.
Hope Johnson:Right, I had an experience before where a dog bit me, apparently, and that was deep. That was definitely deep because I knew at that point. And that was. That was deep. That was definitely deep, because I knew at that point and that was probably I don't know how many years ago, it had to be like 2017 or so and uh, I knew right away when that dog bit me that it was coming from my mind, that it wasn't coming from outside of myself. So I just had total. I was actually on a silent day, on a silent walk, and I didn't even speak. I just growled when the dog bit me and I just kept on walking, blood dripping everywhere. And uh, and the next day, uh, my husband asked me. I was like, oh yeah, I was walking down the street and this little dog just bit me.
Hope Johnson:He's like what in the world? People ask me did you go tell the owner anything? I'm like no, I didn't go tell the owner. Anything Doesn't have anything to do with the owner of the dog. It was a little tiny thing. It came from my mind. I'm not. I'm not under any false illusions. I know where that thing came from, right? So it ends up. You know that's, that's a. That's mind training, right there. That's mind training in action. It's like I'm not going to go try to convince the owner that they got a dangerous dog Right. And one of my friends was like what about other people? Other people? They got their own thing going. I'm telling you, the dog is not a dangerous dog. It's not like that. It may seem to be like that, but that's not the truth. It's far from the truth. I never heard about that dog biting anyone else, by the way.
Hope Johnson:So when you perceive something that seems to be dangerous in the world or a threat in the world, let that be a moment where you just join with the spirit in curiosity, not to condemn that thing. See the idea, the example I gave you. I'm not condemning the dog. I'm not condemning the owner for not having their dog on a leash or whatever the ideas that are normally projected. I'm not condemning. I'm joining with the spirit in curiosity. I'm not analyzing myself, nothing like that. I'm not condemning. I'm joining with the spirit in curiosity. I'm not analyzing myself, nothing like that. I'm just joining with the spirit in curiosity. Right? What is it that I'm not seeing in me that's making like there's a threat outside of myself and I need a bite? I need a dog to bite me, right? It's a different way of looking at things. It trains your mind. It doesn't make me open to more danger. If anything. It's less dangerous because we make more danger in the world by projecting condemnation, like if I went to I'm going to tell that owner that there are this and that and this and that that stuff could occur. It's fine, um, but my mind just didn't go there. It's not, it wasn't necessary Cause I was just in curiosity. I was having a silent day too. Oh, projecting something that makes a dog bite me, apparently.
Hope Johnson:So the unconscious is really unconscious, equals unwatched. Remember that when fear originates, that's where fear, guilt, threat originate. It's not coming from the world. No one's guilty in the world for the dog having bitten me, for instance. All external fear, all fearful things are projected from hidden guilt. That's the only thing that's causing them. So you know this. This applies to anything. Um, like, for instance, you're, you're on tech support and you have to ask twice for the same thing. Maybe they go oh yeah, it's resolved. Now you go, look back, it's not resolved. Okay, I gotta go back and call them again. Notice, it's your unconscious thoughts that are making it. There's nothing wrong with that company. No one needs to be scolded. It's your unconscious thoughts. You're bringing them to the light in this way. So you know, you're showing that your unconscious thoughts you're training your mind to see your unconscious thoughts are not something to dread. So welcome them in trust. See when you're trusting you're just allowing something to dread. So welcome them and trust. See when you're trusting you're just allowing them to arise, so you can see what you're using to cast this world. You guys are awesome. I don't see anyone having questions either, so we'll keep on going.
Hope Johnson:Sentence five we're still on paragraph one of section 11 of chapter two. You may look at it as a new theory of basic conflict if you wish, which will not be entirely an intellectual approach, because I doubt if the truth will escape you entirely. Okay, let's dive into this. This is a longer sentence than what we've been having. You may look at it as a new theory of basic conflict if you wish. So Jesus is basically meeting us where we are. If it helps to understand the unwatched mind using psychological terms like Freud's or Horny's basic conflict models. We're going to get into this in a minute because we got a footnote. Good thing, we got a half hour left. We got a footnote to go into on this. So Freud's or horny that's spelled H-O-R-N-E-Y basic conflict models. He's giving permission. He's also subtly saying this goes deeper than psychology. He's meeting us where we are. He's saying this goes deeper than psychology. So you may look at it. You may look at this as a new theory of basic conflict, if you wish.
Hope Johnson:The real conflict isn't between the ID and superego that Freud talks about, or opposing strategies which are horny. That's that person's research. I don't know if that's male or female, by the way, I don't, I'm not that familiar with that person. It's between the truth and the ego's attempt to hide from the truth. So the real conflict, he's saying, isn't between what Freud is putting out, the ID and super ego, or opposing strategies uhies is talking about. It's between the truth and the ego's attempt to hide from the truth. That's why he's saying this is you can look at this as a new theory of basic conflict.
Hope Johnson:The new theory is the conflict is between the truth and the ego's attempt to hide from the truth. So the basic conflict is I want to wake up, but I'm afraid of what I've hidden in my mind. That's the basic conflict that Jesus is talking about. So he's saying that this new theory of basic conflict, it will not be entirely an intellectual approach. It will not be entirely an intellectual approach. So this won't stay theoretical for you for long. You can look at it, he's saying you can look at it as a new theoretical approach to conflict, but it won't stay theoretical for you for long. You might start by analyzing, but the truth soon is going to touch your being, not just your brain. Okay, this theory is going to activate emotion, memory, projection and ultimately, transformation. It's going to ask something from you, that's going to ask something of you, okay. So let's, let's go over those two parts again. You may look at it. What is it being? Okay, let's go to the last, the last one. This will frighten you because it is the source of fright. That's the unconscious, unwatched thoughts. So you may look at this what Jesus is talking about as a new theory of basic conflict, which will not be entirely an intellectual approach. So the new theory of basic conflict is I want to wake up, but I'm afraid of what I've hidden in my mind. Okay, and then it goes on to say, which will not be entirely an intellectual approach. And then Jesus says because I doubt if the truth will escape you entirely. So this is a loving nudge from Jesus. He knows your defenses are strong, he knows it. You've erected these defenses with the ego and he's gently helping you be released of these defenses. Okay, and he said but he's saying that the he's saying that the pull of truth is stronger than your defenses. That's why he's saying I doubt if the truth will escape you entirely. He's. That's why he's saying go ahead, regard this as a new theory of conflict, basic conflict, if you wish, because the pull of truth is stronger than your defenses, even though they're very strong. You've already invited him in.
Hope Johnson:If you're here and you're listening to this, you have invited Jesus in. Okay, you want to wake up. You want to wake up. If you're listening to this, you have invited Jesus in. Okay, you want to wake up. You want to wake up. If you're listening to this, I've had people come here for one session and saying that's enough, I'm not doing this in this lifetime. Well, guess what? The seeds are already planted. You're pretty much fucked in that regard. The awakening is going down. That's what's happening here. Oh, I love you guys, so you want to wake up.
Hope Johnson:If you're here with me and Jesus is reminding me, reminding me and you and all of us, you will not be able to ignore the truth for very much longer, and that's. That's the way it works. The pull of truth is just so strong. If you're finding yourself here, if you're finding yourself listening to this right now, you're done, for basically, You're not going to be able to ignore the truth very much longer.
Hope Johnson:So, in practice, for this particular sentence, you may look at it as a new theory of basic conflict, if you wish, which will not be entirely an intellectual approach, because I doubt if the truth will escape you entirely. So, in practice, if you notice yourself trying to think your way through A Course in Miracles, take a pause. Let these words touch you beyond logic. Let them touch you. Be willing to feel what's being uncovered, you know. Let it go back to being easeful. Again, this is easeful, it's meant to be.
Hope Johnson:The ego is the opposite of that. The ego is making everything hard. Jesus is totally with you, with your willingness to feel into what's being uncovered. Here. Jesus allows psychological metaphors, but he's leading us deeper. The psychological metaphors are kind of like cerebral right. They're like tickling your mind, tickling your brain, but he's leading us deeper. So the basic conflict is the mind's resistance to the truth, not the ID versus a superego which Freud put out there. We're going to get into that a little bit more. Truth is not just theoretical. It will reach you on a very personal level. There's no way you can ultimately resist the awakening, because the truth is in you, the truth is you. Its pull is way stronger than your resistance, way stronger. So this particular sentence that we just read has a footnote, and the footnote is footnote 128.
Hope Johnson:Thank you, okay, I'm back. I don't know if I'm still streaming. Let me see. Ah, it looks like I am. I don't know. The internet went out for a second there. Now I'm hot spotting on my phone. That should work Somehow. The internet seems to be spotty around here. I actually moved over to this place thinking the internet wouldn't be spotty, but hey, it's meant to be. It's my unconscious mind, unwatched thoughts, projecting internet. That doesn't work. Isn't that so fun.
Hope Johnson:If you guys can see me still and you guys can hear me on Substack, just send me a message. Just write me a message. Someone, write me a message. I think I'm with you guys on Zoom here. Let me see if I can see my people here. Oh, everything changed. Everything moved around. Okay, if you guys can see me on zoom, just send me a someone, send me a chat. Let me know if you guys can see this. It looks like I'm recording anyway, so I'll have it for the recording that we'll post later. If you guys aren't on, no one's writing me anything, so I mean I'm just recording for myself. I'll get it on there later, it's okay. Okay, so back to footnote 128,.
Hope Johnson:The basic conflict is a term emphasized by Neo Freudian, karen Horny, who saw it as the conflict between the opposed strategies of moving toward compliance, which is compliance, moving toward moving against, which is aggression, and moving away from, which is detachment. The basic conflict, in Freudian thought at least, as identified by comments later in this section, is between the hedonistic ID, or the id I think he calls it the id and the moralistic superego, a conflict mediated by the Freudian ego. The final part of this sentence is using intellectual approach to describe something you regard as abstractly true, without considering it that it may be personally true of you. Oh, yay, aloha, sarah, thank you for letting me know. You guys can see me at least on zoom. You guys are still with me. I'm not sure if the if it's running. Let me see if I look at the live stream. No, I got a live stream going. Okay, cool, we're back yeah, internet, what fun, okay, so.
Hope Johnson:So this footnote is contextualizing Jesus's use of the phrase basic conflict. That's why he's saying in the, in the last sentence, that you can regard this or you you may look at this as a new theory of basic conflict. So he's talking about the older theories of basic conflict. He's referencing these two psychological frameworks. One of them is Karen Horney's model. She identified the basic conflict as internal tension between three survival strategies moving toward others, that's compliance and people pleasing. Moving against others, that's aggression and domination. And moving away from others, which is detachment and withdrawal. These are all attempts to manage fear, guilt and the need for love. Okay, especially in childhood. Jesus may be alluding to this model as a symbolic parallel to how we manage our fear of the truth. So he's giving us a new model. He's saying this is the model we've been taught. And he's giving us this new model.
Hope Johnson:So then he's talking about Freud's model too, and that's the id. The id, instinctual drives, often selfish or bad, according to Freud. The superego, which is moralistic, guilt-inducing conscience, and with the ego acting as a mediator trying to maintain sanity. So Jesus is gently saying to us you can use these frameworks if they help, but don't stop there. They're incomplete without the spiritual context of A Course in Miracles. Okay, he's saying it's okay to use those if they seem helpful, but they're not the ultimate. You want to frame them in the spiritual context of A Course in Miracles here.
Hope Johnson:So the final line, using intellectual approach, let's go back to that line.
Hope Johnson:So it says.
Hope Johnson:The final part of this sentence is using this is from the footnote intellectual approach to describe something you regard as abstractly true without considering it may be personally true to you.
Hope Johnson:So Jesus warns that understanding something intellectually is not the same as letting it change you. You might recognize the concept of basic conflict as interesting or valid in theory, but that's still keeping it as a distance. And his line where he says because I doubt if the truth will escape you entirely, it's implying that you're on the verge of realizing that this isn't just the theory. This is about you. This isn't just the theory. So the bottom line is Jesus is just using familiar psychological language to meet us where we are. He's pointing us beyond it, though. He's saying the real basic conflict is not between these inner drives that are talked about by Freud and Horny, it's between your desire to awaken. This is what the basic conflict is your desire to awaken and your fear of what's in your unwatched mind. And he's saying even if you try to stay in your head about it, the truth is going to find a way in so you can relax. So it's like you're looking at this, you're using this to to learn to see, but also to relax in it, because the truth is going to get you one way or the other. And if you're finding yourself listening to this right now, you're done, for basically, you're, you're on your way.
Hope Johnson:You know some of you might be like I'm not doing this in this lifetime. This is, you know. This is what I heard from someone who joined me a week or two ago. I'm not sure I'm not doing. No, you know, what you made clear to me is I'm not fucking doing this. Thanks for making it so clear. Right, yeah, you're welcome. You may think you're not doing it, but it's. You know, just just that you found yourself there, just that you were listening. It's over. Maybe not in this lifetime, but that's the seed that gets planted and it just automatically grows because you want it. You don't find yourself here by accident. You don't find yourself listening by accident.
Hope Johnson:All right, let's go on to the next sentence. Doesn't look like you guys have any questions and it looks like there's 12 minutes left. What fun. See my document here. Ooh, paragraph two. We made it to paragraph two of section 11. We're getting to the third paragraph. I don't think we're going to get all the way through it, but we'll get to at least a couple sentences of it and have some fun with those sentences.
Hope Johnson:So, paragraph two, sentence one the unwatched mind is responsible for the whole content of the unconscious, which lies above the miracle level. Oh, this is fun. This is fun, okay. So we're going to get into this a little bit. We're probably just going to get to this sentence. That's it, the unwatched mind. Okay, so Jesus is. Jesus here is shifting our focus to what we are not looking at. The unwatched mind. It's not inactive. It's creating all the time. Actually, it's making shit up all the time. It's creating or making shit up, but when we don't consciously, actually it's making shit up all the time. It's creating or making shit up, but when we don't consciously observe it, it operates without correction from the Holy Spirit. We want our unconscious mind, our unwatched mind, to be watched, so it operates with correction from the Holy Spirit. It's okay. This is not about neglecting it. It's the opposite of that. When the mind is not deliberately trained, it becomes a. Not about neglecting it, it's the opposite of that. When the mind is not deliberately trained, it becomes a source of miscreation. That's the thing. So the unwatched mind is responsible for the whole content of the unconscious. So the course is flipping.
Hope Johnson:Traditional psychology here, freud, framed the unconscious as a deep reservoir of hidden drives and trauma. But Jesus is saying your unconscious isn't buried because it's inaccessible. It's unconscious because you've simply failed to watch it. Okay, so the way Freud is framing it is like we're all screwed because these are hidden. We're never going to get to them, it's just going to keep on doing this. You know, I can imagine being Freud and being like oh God, you know the things that he saw. It's like this sucks, life sucks, we're all screwed. Right, it might seem like it might masquerade, like it's some kind of compassion, you know, because it's like we're all fucked. Unconscious mind is doing it all. Right. It's kind of. It kind of reminds me of what what people when people say yeah, I'm just a weak, miserable sinner. Good thing, god loves me and I'm blessed. So you know everything in there it's still yours. You put it there, god didn't put it there.
Hope Johnson:It's miscreation. It's really not a mystery. You hear people say it's miss, it's a mystery. It's not a mystery, it's not a mystery at all. Once you're, once you're aware of it, of what's going on, you're like this is this shit isn't mysterious. I made it it up, I'm miscreating, easy.
Hope Johnson:Okay, now here's the fun part, which lies above the miracle level. Okay, this is critical line. Actually, jesus is introducing here a vertical hierarchy. The unwatched mind holds miscreations, false belief, ego strategies, guilt, fear. These distortions sit above the miracle level. Okay, for those of you who are watching, just to give you like a little diagram here, I'm going to use my hands to show you. Okay, it's like here's the miracle level, right on the bottom. Okay, here's the miracle level. Here's the unconscious mind. It's got all these thoughts everywhere, miracle level. In case you're listening, that's the bottom, right above that unconscious mind, a shitload of thoughts that you don't want to see.
Hope Johnson:Okay, the miracle level is beneath this unconscious concept, this unconscious content, because it's deeper and it's closer to the truth. It's closer to the truth. That's why he's saying that. He's saying it like this. It's sits above the miracle level. Okay, it's above the mirror. Let's look at the whole sentence again. The unwatched mind is responsible for the whole content of the unconscious, which lies above the miracle level. Okay, we'll get into why he's saying it like this. The unwatched mind is holding all these miscorrect, mis miscreations, false beliefs, all that stuff. The miracle level is beneath all that content because it's deeper and actually closer to the truth. Okay, that's why he's saying it like this.
Hope Johnson:So to access miracles, you got to go past the layer of unconscious projection and defense. You have to be actually be willing to go into it. You go down and that's that's some of the meditation, the meditations that happen in a course in miracles. You know you're asked to sink down beneath Well, you know it takes courage to think, sink down beneath them because they're like fighting. They're fighting each other, they're contradicting each other and everything like that to down to the miracle level.
Hope Johnson:So, in practice, you're just watching your mind with gentle awareness. You're not afraid of your unconscious, you're not being afraid of these. You know, jesus is gently giving you a warning here and I've given you, you know, like a sense of hey, these are murderous, perverted thoughts in here. Don't be afraid of them, it doesn't touch you. Actually, you want to get to the miracle level which is actually beneath them. Don't be afraid of your unconscious. It's you know. It's only unconscious because you haven't looked at it.
Hope Johnson:Remember, unconscious is unwatched. Trust that the miracles are waiting for you below all that noise. You don't need to fix any of the content in there, you're just willing to see them and bring them to the spirit. Look, with the spirit, the unwatched mind creates all the content you perceive, everything we're calling unconscious. Unconscious is what's projecting everything you perceive in the world. This content isn't buried, it's really just unexamined, it's really just unwatched. The miracle level is beneath all these distortions and it's ready to heal as soon as you're willing to look. That's all it really is. You're willing to look.
Hope Johnson:Okay, this is the key. So we got time for this footnote, footnote 129. Footnote, footnote 129. See if I got this text right for the footnote. Yeah, footnote 129. The unwatched mind, then, is not responsible for the content of the miracle level of the unconscious, but only that which is above the miracle level. Okay, so this unwatched mind, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's the one. It's what's projecting the whole world that you perceive. Okay, the footnote is refining a sub subtle but important point of paragraph two, sentence one which we just went over the unconscious has levels.
Hope Johnson:The miracle level is a holy healing level that lies beneath all the ego distortions. The unwatched mind being the mind that's not aligned with spirit, cannot generate or corrupt the miracle level. It can only fill the upper levels with unconscious and egoic static, basically fear, guilt, miscreation. It makes you afraid to sink deeper into the miracle stratum. Let's say so.
Hope Johnson:Jesus is drawing a distinction here between egoic or unconscious content and the miracle ready part of your mind. The ego is populating the surface, unconscious, the above zone, with which, with miscreations. So it's like you have the conscious which is right on the surface, that's on the top, top layer, unconscious, meaning unwatched, which is for most of us huge layer, and then the miracles from the deepest layer. When the ego has no access to the miracle layer, it cannot contaminate it at all. So the takeaway on this is even in your unawareness there's a place in you that's already aligned with the truth, that deep place that's never touched. It's always aligned with the truth. Everyone's got this.
Hope Johnson:The miracle level is totally untouched by your mistaken beliefs. It's totally untouched by your apparent mistakes in the world. You don't make any mistakes in the world, by the way, because they're all a perfect reflection of thoughts that are unwatched. That's what they are, so they're not really mistakes. That's why there's nothing to be sorry for. That's why everything you do and everything you say is a hundred percent helpful all the time, because it's reflecting your state of mind and that's what you need to see. Okay, so don't fear the contents of your unconscious. They're not your truth. Remember that beneath all that confusion, there's a miracle waiting and your function here is not to fight with your unconscious, it's just watching it. You're watching. Unconscious means unwatched. Again, you're watching it and you're just inviting correction. So that concludes our A Course in Miracles deep dive for today.
Hope Johnson:And where we ended was at the footnote, after sentence two or sentence one of paragraph two in section 11, the basic conflict. The section 11 is called the basic conflict and I don't know about you guys, but I'm super excited to dive deeper into this. The basic conflict is a huge section. I looked at it a little bit and there's quite a few paragraphs in here. We're going to get very familiar with what this basic conflict is and how to see through this basic conflict too. I'm super stoked about this, so we'll get into it.
Hope Johnson:Next week, same thing Wednesday we're going online. At the same time. We'll pick up where we left off here. Also on Monday, there's wisdom dialogues. You're welcome to join me for that as well. I go live on sub stack and also zoom. You can send me an email.
Hope Johnson:If you want, visit my website, hopejohnsonorg. I actually had quite a bit of an overhaul on my website. If you don't know how to sign up for all my stuff all my stuff go to hopejohnsonorg. Just sign up for my newsletter there. When you're on my website, if you don't see it right away, a little note it's not a big pop-up that pops up, but a little note over to the left-hand side will pop up and say and if you click it, you'll be able to enter your email address in there. When you do that, you'll get connected with me in a lot of ways. You could always send an email. If you want to hope at hopejohnsonorg Via my website, you could schedule one-to-ones with me.
Hope Johnson:I offer that. I also have a book there that I wrote in 2018, and it has to do with parenting in this way through A Course in Miracles. It's called Unschooling for Parents Subtitle is A Mystic's Guide to Awakening with Children. Another subtitle is protecting innocence, and I feel like it's not just for people who seem to be parents, because we're all like mothers projecting this whole world, which is kind of like what we just went over. Right now. We're all projecting this whole world.
Hope Johnson:Going to my website will help you. Follow me on Substack. Once again, if you want to get a free, paid lifetime subscription to Substack, just send me your email address. Also, I do all of this stuff on donations and I do a lot of free stuff. You'll see once you get familiar with me. If you're not familiar with me, I offer a lot of free things. I definitely welcome and encourage donations. You can set up donations easily on a monthly basis on my website, any amount you like. You can also just do one-time donations there. So until next time, it doesn't look like anyone has any questions. I'm just going to check you guys out on Substack. You're looking good. Thank you for joining me everyone. I love you so much. Until next time. Mahalo, aloha and a hui hou.
