A Course in Miracles says that the truth about us is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of us (T-9.VII.8:4), and that there is a light in us whose presence is so holy the world is sanctified because of us: “All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head” (W-156.4: 1-4). Yet, we persist in feeling little, unworthy.
This podcast explores our feelings of littleness and the defences they evoke. It includes a reading of ‘Burning Down the House,’ an essay centred around the illegal felling of the Sycamore Gap tree in 2023, and on the central character in Yukio Mishima’s novel The Temple of the Golden Pavillion. We also visit John Milton’s classic Paradise Regained, which is an imaginative retelling of Jesus’ time in the wilderness and the many temptations Satan uses to lure Him toward the path of littleness.
Finally, we turn to the Course’s Workbook Lesson 135, which illustrates the link between much of our planning and littleness, discuss the variety of trees in Genesis, and conclude with an example of what it is to behold true beauty.
Click on the following link to listen to the podcast on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/hSx2QWYOtvM?si=jKQSGiQ_qvuT3r74
**’Burning Down the House’ is taken from The Bridge of Return: A Course in Miracles as a Western Yoga, by Stephanie Panayi
Reflections on A Course in Miracles 