In this next article in the collection on the "miracle" and the "brain," we're going to continue our conversation of religious specialness as some body being chosen by God to complete His work without realizing it's really the ego. In A Program in Miracles (ACIM), several link being fully a Program teacher of God with being miracle-minded just as we see in several religions with chosen religious leaders such as a pastors, ministers and priests, etc. In the first article on religious specialness, we incorporated a estimate by Kenneth Wapnick that, "Enjoy is quiet and will not need to produce assertions." Being some body chosen by God to complete "god's work" is definitely an assertion of the vanity; and it makes the error real. It is a security against God's Enjoy wherein we don't understand that we're actually competing with God (and hence everyone).

Mr. Wapnick also has some great articles that get right to the stage on this matter. They are taken from his two-book collection on, "The Meaning Of A a course in miracles blog In Miracles" that is stuffed with what the Program does and does not say. These estimates speak for themselves and do not need reinterpretation:

Spiritual specialness refers to persons working out their egos' specialness, but disguising it as religious dress. This often comes in the proper execution of believing they've received "special" directions, "special" favors, or "special" commissions from "special" divine people such as for example Jesus or the Sacred Soul, that serves to produce these people spiritually distinctive from the others and thus more "special" (Few Pick To Listen, p. 141).

What we are contacting "religious specialness" looks in the people of nearly all religious or spiritual movements. This generally comes in the proper execution of believing that the party or people have already been singled out by God or the Sacred Soul to execute some holy function that may gain mankind and lead towards the preserving of the world. But, such intrinsic specialness is clearly false with the teachings of A Program in Miracles (Few Pick To Listen, p. 144).

Specialness can be noticed in a variety of other kinds beyond the labels just mentioned. As an example, claiming who we "reveal the stage" with, i.e., different Program teachers is the exact same limelight error. We do this due to our huge repressed concern and guilt; and we take action as opposed to learning and practicing the Course. This can be a class on sameness and one which reflects kindness:

This inability to genuinely exercise A Program in Miracles' sort axioms of forgiveness that they examine, and occasionally even train, has probably been the absolute most significant declining among their students. This book's sequel, "Few Elect to Listen," examines how students often cover their believed process of specialness under the guise of religious counseling or friendship. The lack of easy kindness is, unfortunately, unmistakable to any or all except the Program student creating the religious pronouncements (All Are Called, p. 306).

Finally in order to complete placing the stage (pun intended) for this quick article, let's generate what Wapnick addresses on arrogance versus humility:

"Arrogance requires the proper execution of believing this 1 has "mastered" the Program with a easy examining or two, without actually realizing what's associated with their continuous examine and regular practice. Humility, on one other give, tries just to learn, which arises from students' recognition of how dependent on their egos they have truly produced themselves to be. They thus become pleased for the opportunity the Program offers them to let it go - finally and truly - of the expense in appearance, self-importance, and specialness, the primary of the problem that keeps the separation from God" (Few Pick To Listen, p. 84, underline mine).