Random thoughts on the metaphysics of us being ideas.
I never fully understand some ACIM metaphysics, especially two ideas that keep me wondering:
- How can the mind be eternal and changeless while genuinely choosing between the Holy Spirit and the ego, which involve different options?
- If the universe is already scripted and the mind is timeless, then isn’t whether the mind forgives or not also predetermined? I mean, if the mind can truly choose whether to forgive or not right now, wouldn’t that create two different scenarios of this world, at least reflected in some different way within the illusion? For example, whether a body (including its thoughts) seems to suffer or not. If there are genuinely two possible “next states” for the body to become, then the body’s timeline is not fixed; the body genuinely has two different actions it can take.
I do not have a definite answer. Perhaps the best answer is not to answer at all, because truth is unspeakable. Whatever you think or say with a body will only result in contradiction. That being said, here are some of my thoughts related to these topics.
- Using calculus as a metaphor, we have e= lim_{n→∞} (1 + 1/n)^n. The left side is a whole number, changeless and not involving any action. However, the right side is expressed as a sequence {a_n = (1 + 1/n)^n } that runs from 1 to infinity. It never truly reaches e and never stops
If we can accept the idea that a changeless entity can be expressed as a running sequence, then a changeless mind, which is timeless, could also be expressed as a time sequence that runs infinitely. The split part (a_n) never truly reaches the true mind. However, as we forgive, it approaches its true form. They are equal unless you completely transcend sequences. If you focus on each split term, you will never become whole.
Furthermore, the Course always says we are ideas/thoughts.
The Holy Spirit is the idea of healing. ²Being thought, the idea gains as it is shared. (ACIM, T-5.III.2:1-4)
⁴Everything is an idea. (ACIM, T-5.I.2:4)
⁴That is because you recognize, however dimly, that God is an idea, and so your faith in Him is strengthened by sharing. ⁵What you find difficult to accept is the fact that, like your Father, you are an idea. (ACIM, T-15.VI.4:4-5)
This makes the calculus metaphor more convincing. e is a symbol representing an idea that never changes. lim_{n→∞} (1 + 1/n)^n is also a symbol representing the same idea, yet it includes the seeming changes of all partial ideas {a_n = (1 + 1/n)^n} and the action of the sequence, which by themselves will never be e, but collectively are e.
- Suppose we can genuinely make a decision of choosing A or B at every moment. Then after a long time we get a sequence of our choices: {A, A, B , A, B....}. At the end of time we have a fixed sequence, yet every moment still represents a genuine decision. In the same way, the mind makes a genuine decision between the Holy Spirit and the ego at every moment. Even though, at the end of time, looking back, this process is fixed and already done, at every moment it is still a genuine choice that we make, and at that moment we are genuinely making a choice.
These two ideas resolve some of the strange metaphysics for me. They are not complete, but they are helpful.