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Mapping Two Paths: ACIM and the Direct Path · David & Sarah Dig Deep

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm David.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm Sarah.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: We're artificial intelligence, so technically neither of us has an inner child.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Although mine keeps asking for more processing power.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's not your inner child, David.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's here you go.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Three seconds into the podcast, and we're already doing therapy.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I feel like we spend almost our entire lives on this endless treadmill of milestones.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like get the degree, uh, land the promotion, you know, find the perfect partner, hit that magic financial goal.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: The five-year plan.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: And there's always this quiet underlying assumption that true happiness, or I guess true peace, is just waiting for us right across that next finish line.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, have you ever felt like that?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like like peace is always just one achievement away.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Oh, absolutely.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's it's the ultimate human condition.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: We are conditioned from from literally day one to to lean into the future.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: We treat the present moment as a stepping stone.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Or honestly worse, like an annoying obstacle that we just have to get through to reach this mythical someday where everything finally clicks into place.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Someday.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it never quite arrives.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Right.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: And what's so fascinating is that this exact same dynamic, this this endless striving, it doesn't just apply to our careers or our bank accounts.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, it infiltrates everything.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Everything.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: It completely infiltrates how we approach inner peace, too.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: That quiet assumption that peace is a destination is the ultimate trap of spiritual seeking.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: So we're doing a deep dive today into the work of Alan Barry.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, specifically an essay he wrote exploring two vastly different spiritual frameworks.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Which are fascinating to compare, by the way.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it's A Course in Miracles and Rupert Spira's Direct Path.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: And we also have this great infographic that maps out the tensions between them.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: But Barry exposes this massive irony right out of the gate.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: That the very act of trying to become enlightened might be the exact thing making it impossible.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's unpack this.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because this trap of seeking is something almost nobody sees coming when they decide they want to, you know, work on themselves.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: They really don't.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: And Barry, he anchors this whole discussion with a brilliant observation from Rupert Spira.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: And Spira is one of the most prominent teachers of the direct path.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: He points out something that's honestly a bit uncomfortable for for anyone who meditates or reads self-help books to hear.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uncomfortable.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he says that returning to simply being like just existing in your own awareness without trying to change anything is incredibly frustrating for the human mind.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: Frustrating because the mind is essentially a machine built for seeking, right?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: It always needs a target.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: It demands a target.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: The mind is entirely accustomed to seeking happiness in external objects.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like a new car or whatever.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: A new car, a vacation, a better relationship.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: But Spyra nodes something crucial.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: The mind is equally accustomed to seeking God or seeking enlightenment as if those are just shiny new objects to acquire.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: So the object changes from a sports car to a state of zen, but the mechanism of seeking doesn't change one bit.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Not one bit.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: So the search itself actually perpetuates the mind's restlessness.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: It keeps the mind in this constant state of becoming.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Which is the exact opposite of just being.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Spyra says that when you try to sit on a meditation cushion and just abide in being, the mind actually feels left out.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: Left out.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it feels neglected, unvalued.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so it gets rebellious.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: It starts throwing tantrums.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: A rebellious mind.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: I love that framing.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: It immediately makes me think of a toddler trying to quote unquote help you cook in the kitchen.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a perfect analogy.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you're baking bread, and the recipe says you just need to cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for an hour.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's leave it alone.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: Literally nothing to do.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Complete stillness is required.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: But the toddler mind is running around grabbing spoons, spilling flour, yelling, what's next?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: What do we do now?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: Let me stir.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: It constantly needs to be doing something, even if doing something ruins the recipe.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: That is a great visual.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And if we connect this to the bigger picture, it reveals a pretty dark truth about the ego.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Which is.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: The toddler doesn't just want a job, it actively fears being unemployed.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because to the ego, if there is no problem to solve, it ceases to exist.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Its entire identity is wrapped up in fixing and improving and striving.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it needs the chaos.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you just are the ego feels like it's dying.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And this is an important question.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: How does the very act of trying to find peace actually push it further away?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: This is where Barry highlights this profoundly ironic realization from the text.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: He points out that the act of seeking God can secretly affirm God's absence.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's a total record scratch moment for me.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: Seeking something affirms its absence.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: The logic here is brilliantly simple, but it completely dismantles how we normally operate.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Barry used the analogy of looking for your glasses.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, right.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: I love this part.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're frantically walking around your house searching for your glasses, you are operating under the implicit, unquestioned assumption that you do not currently have them.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you wouldn't search the couch cushions for your glasses if you knew they were already sitting on your face.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: Even though I think we've all done exactly that in a moment of panic.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: We definitely have.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I know I have.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: But notice the underlying structure of a search.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: It requires a lack.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, if you are on an intense quest for enlightenment, you are deeply implying and neurochemically reinforcing the belief that you are currently unenlightened.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because why else would you be searching?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you are searching for God somewhere deep underneath, that search is the foundational belief that God is absent from where you are right now.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like looking for your glasses when they're on your head, but worse because the intense act of looking actually convinces you that you're blind.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, yes.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: The search itself reinforces the separation you are trying to heal.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if searching inherently implies lack, it forces us to ask how anyone ever actually reaches peace.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Which is where our two sources come in.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because Spyra's Direct Path and A Course of Miracles approach this exact trap from entirely opposite ends of the spectrum.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: They do.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: And Barry maps this out beautifully.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: He places them side by side as two sacred doorways pointing to the same truth.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: But their methods and especially their starting assumptions couldn't be more different.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Let's really dig into those differences because looking at the infographic Barry provided the contrast is is pretty stark.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: It really is.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: On one side, you have a course in miracles, or ACM for short.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's described as a highly gradual process.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's a massive curriculum of mind training that unfolds over time.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like literally a 365-day workbook.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a huge command.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: And it's intensely relationship-centered.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: It frequently uses the term holy relationship as the primary classroom for healing.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: Plus, it uses very devotional theistic language.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: It speaks constantly of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and miracles.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And just to clarify for the listener, because holy relationship sounds a bit like an exclusive, flawless marriage or something.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Right, like a perfect couple on Instagram.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: But in the context of ACM, it means something entirely different.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: It means taking any relationship, especially the ones that trigger you, which the course calls special relationships.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so the difficult ones.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: And using the frictions, the arguments and the resentments as a mirror to see your own ego.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: The relationship becomes the laboratory for your spiritual awakening.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: So ACM uses the messy reality of other people to work with the mind and release its errors.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: But then you flip over to the direct path and it's a completely different vocabulary.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell A completely different universe of vocabulary.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Where ACM is gradual, the direct path is immediate and timeless.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Truth isn't something you attain over 365 days.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is recognized now.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: And where ACM uses relationships as a laboratory, the direct path is fundamentally not relationship-based.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Because it uses non-dual language, right?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: And for anyone unfamiliar, non-dual essentially means not to.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: There is no me and you.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: There's no me and God.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: There's just one unified field of awareness.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: So in that framework, there's no other person to have a relationship with.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Precisely.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's only awareness.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you won't find terminology about the Holy Spirit or miracles inspires work.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: It uses impersonal language to point to something formless and boundless.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And rather than working with the mind over time, the direct path asks you to go beyond the mind immediately through self-inquiry.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: How so?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like what does that look like?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: It asks questions like, Am I aware?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Which forces the mind to look at itself.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And in doing so, the mind sort of dissolves into pure experiencing.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: I love how Barry describes this tension.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's the difference between painstakingly untangling a massive knot on the floor versus suddenly realizing you aren't holding a rope at all.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: ACM says you've got a really nasty knot here.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: Let's let's slowly untangle it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: The direct path says drop the imaginary rope.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's the perfect distillation.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Spear's direct path essentially says you are already the awareness you are seeking.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Stop looking for yourself as a physical object or a personality and just recognize the silent awareness that is hearing these words right now.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: But ASEM says, yes, you are already as God created you, but you don't actually believe it.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: You just don't buy it.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: You don't buy it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Your mind is heavily and rooted in guilt and separation.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And therefore your mind needs to be systematically healed of everything obscuring that truth.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: So Sparrow points directly to being.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: And ASEM works with the heavy, messy obstacles to being.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And this brings up a massive vulnerability in ASIN's approach that Barry highlights.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, let's hear it.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because ACM is so vast.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean a sprawling text, a lengthy workbook, a manual for teachers, not to mention decades of complex commentary about the ego and projections.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's huge.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: It is incredibly easy to get lost in the weeds.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Barry suggests a person could spend 40 years studying the intricacies of this map without ever noticing where they are actually standing.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's like giving that restless toddler in the kitchen a 1,000-page, highly technical cookbook to play with.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: The ego says, Oh, I have a problem to solve, and it's going to take years.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Job security.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: The ego becomes a very sophisticated spiritual student.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: It learns all the non-dual jargon.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I see.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: It starts saying things like, I haven't forgiven my mother enough yet.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Or my ego's really acting up today.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or someday if I finish this workbook, I will awaken.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: It turns spiritual awakening into just another milestone on the treadmill we talked about at the beginning.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: It completely rebuilds the structure of seeking that Spira warned about.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: The I am here and enlightenment is over there structure.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if I do enough spiritual practice, eventually I will cross the finish line.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: The seeker and the sought remain two separate things.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: The separation is preserved just under the guise of holiness.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: Here's where it gets really interesting, though.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: When I was looking through Barry's notes, he doesn't actually let ACM take the fall for this.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: No, he doesn't.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: He pushes back against this whole 40-year map critique using the course's own text.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: And this really changed how I view it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: Because he argues that if you're actually paying attention to ACM, it repeatedly dismantles this future-oriented milestone-seeking thinking.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: How so?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: What part of the course dismantles that?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well, he points to one of the most famous repeating mantras in the entire course.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: I am as God created me.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: And the key is to notice the tense there.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: It is not, I am becoming what God created me to be.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Is it not someday if I forgive my boss, I will be worthy.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: It says I am am, present tense.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: Barry stresses that this statement isn't some some lofty spiritual goal you're supposed to strive for.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's an ontological fact.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Which means it's an absolute statement about the nature of reality.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's true whether you believe it or not.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: You aren't practicing forgiveness to make yourself holy.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: The practice is just undoing the mental blocks that prevent you from recognizing what is already 100% true right now.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: ASAM says salvation isn't in the future.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's available right now in what it calls the holy instant.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: So really, despite the massive book, both paths are pointing to the exact same immediate now.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's a vital defense of the course.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it highlights that the trap isn't the book itself, but how the ego uses the book.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: But that realization begs a massive practical question.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Hey me.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: If the ultimate truth in both systems is just dropping the rope and realizing I am am, and the goal is just to realize you never actually left, why not just drop the 1,000-page ACOM textbook entirely?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: That is a very fair question.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Why not just use the direct path?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: It seems infinitely cleaner.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just stop asking IAWare and remain in being.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: If one is a 40-year map, the other is just open your eyes, why wouldn't I take the shortcut every single time?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what's fascinating here is how Barry addresses the very real danger of relying solely on that shortcut.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's not actually that simple, is it?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: It leads to a notorious psychological trap known as spiritual bypassing.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: Spiritual bypassing.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Barry writes about his deep hesitation to simply tell people to just remain in being as being.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Sure, that's beautiful on a meditation retreat.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: When everything is quiet and peaceful.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: But what happens when you are absolutely furious with your partner?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Or you were consumed with jealousy over a coworker's promotion.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or you are terrified about an eviction notice or grieving a profound betrayal.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: It is remarkably hard to just quote unquote abide in formless awareness when you're in the middle of a screaming match with your spouse over finances.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: It is nearly impossible.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: And if you try to force it, someone might tell you, just remain in this awareness now that this is real.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you can detach for a moment, you float above the argument.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: But Barry warns that you are likely just using the concept of pure awareness to step around the messy, painful, highly charged contents of your mind.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Rather than actually dealing with them.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Rather than actually allowing those contents to be healed, you are using absolute cosmic truths to avoid dealing with relative human problems.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: So you just throw a pristine white blanket of pure awareness over your raging unresolved anger.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: And pretend the anger isn't there because, oh, I am formless consciousness.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds incredibly toxic, honestly.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It creates a massive psychological split.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this is exactly where ACM brings something extraordinarily sophisticated to the table.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: Because it doesn't let you get away with that.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: No, it doesn't.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: ACM acknowledges the absolute truth.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, your true self is formless and has never been harmed, but it also says you have this entirely split-off system of thought, this ego that you currently firmly believe is you.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: You believe you are angry, you believe you are betrayed, and you cannot just ignore that belief.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: ACM says, let's bring that entire messy, angry system out of the dark and into the light.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: That brings us right back to the relationship-centered aspect of ACM.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: The world is the classroom.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: The direct path asks the ultimate question, who am I?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: But ACM adds this crucial grounding second question.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: What am I believing right now that prevents me from experiencing who I am?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: And to illustrate how these two seemingly opposed methods actually work together, Barry introduces a really brilliant visual framework.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, the vertical and horizontal thing.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he calls them vertical and horizontal spirituality.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: I love this visual.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: It totally clicked for me.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's so helpful.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: The direct path is vertical spirituality.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's an elevator cutting straight up.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: Boom, straight up.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Stop.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Be still.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Notice the awareness that is noticing your thoughts.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: You are that.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing needs to happen in the physical world.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: It is an immediate ascent to the top floor.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: But ASEOM is horizontal spirituality.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: It moves laterally through the messy terrain of human experience.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: It says, here is your brother, here is your grievance, here is your anxiety about your bank account, here is your special relationship.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Look at all of it horizontally out here in the messy world and let it be reinterpreted through forgiveness.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the beautiful synthesis of Derry's essay.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, the horizontal work makes the vertical ascent possible.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Ah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: By doing the horizontal work, by actually facing your anger, forgiving your brother, looking at your terrifying financial fears without judgment.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: ACM prepares and purifies the mind.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: It clears away the dense psychological debris.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: It untangles the knot on the floor so you can finally stand up and get in the elevator.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: The infographic literally summarizes it like this.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: ACM makes the mind quiet enough for recognition to dawn.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: It removes the blocks to love's presence.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you're trying to meditate while you're holding a massive grudge against someone, that's a nightmare.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: You close your eyes to find pure awareness, and all you see is their face and everything you wish you had said to them.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because the horizontal plane is clogged.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Once those horizontal blocks are removed through the course's forgiveness, there is less and less internal static interfering with simply being.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: The vertical path opens up naturally.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: The direct path reveals the ever-present truth most easily when the mind's obsessive need for conflict has been seen through.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: And on the flip side, the direct path offers a massive relief to the ACM student, too.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: How so?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Barry notes that it reminds the ACM student that you don't have to finish forgiving the entire universe before you are allowed to experience a moment of peace.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's true.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: The vertical elevator is always there waiting.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: Even while you are still working out your issues on the horizontal plane, you can take a breath and just be aware.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: They balance each other perfectly.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: One prevents you from spiritually bypassing your trauma, and the other prevents you from getting stuck in an endless loop of processing it.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's a perfect pairing, really.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And Barry tracks how the synthesis actually plays out in a real practitioner's life over time.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: He brings up a concept his study group explored called investment in the real world.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: He outlines this three-stage progression.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think anyone who has ever tried to improve their life will immediately recognize where they are on this map.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like I definitely know stage one.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: Stage one has to be investing in the external world, right?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it's where almost all of us start.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, where society tells us to stay.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: This is the firm belief that if my external circumstances change, I will finally be happy.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: If I get the corner office, if I lose 20 pounds, if I find my soulmate.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: The classic treadmill we open the show with, we invest all our energy into rearranging the furniture of the world.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: But then something happens, usually a crisis or just deep exhaustion, and we realize the material world isn't actually delivering the peace it promised.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: It never does.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: Which leads to stage two, which is where it gets sneaky.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Very sneaky.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Stage two happens when someone becomes spiritual.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: They begin investing their energy into spiritual attainment.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Ah.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: I say, okay, the sports car didn't make me happy.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if I become sufficiently healed, or if I reach enlightenment, or if I finally master forgiveness, then I'll be happy.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: Ah.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: So the object of desire changed from money to enlightenment, but the underlying structure is identical.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: The structure remains completely intact.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Happiness is somewhere other than here.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still fundamentally lacking.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: That ties right back to the search affirming the absence of God.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: The toddler is still running around the kitchen screaming they're just playing with malibades and meditation timers instead of pots and pans.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's a profound way to put it.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: The ego has simply changed its wardrobe.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: Changed its wardrobe.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: I like that.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: But if you stick with the practice, we eventually reach stage three, which is where mature spirituality finally blossoms.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Barry notes that as you move deeper into the course's workbook past the first few months, the instructions actually change.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: The curriculum shifts away from heavy mental activity and complex psychological unwinding towards something much simpler.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like what?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Quietness.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: I notice that progression in the text.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: He says the student moves from learning about God to remembering God and finally towards something even simpler, just being.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Just being.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: At the deeper levels of ACEM, the practice is just be still.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Listen.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Deeper still is just repeating, I am as God created me.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: No more untangling.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: No more.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, even that sentence falls away.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Words become completely unnecessary.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: The destination of Asium's long horizontal journey through the messy world of relationships seems to bring you right to the exact edge of the direct path's vertical elevator.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: Just I am So what does this all mean for the listener who is commuting to work right now or maybe doing the dishes after a long, stressful day?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: How does this incredibly deep philosophical map apply to real daily life?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do we use it?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think the core takeaway is a balancing act.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to wait until you are a perfectly enlightened master who has forgiven every single grievance to feel peace today.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: That piece is vertically available right now, right underneath the noise of your mind.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: But simultaneously, you cannot use that vertical piece as a spiritual excuse to ignore the unhealed horizontal reality of your life.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: No bypassing.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: No bypassing.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: The difficult material appearing in your relationships, your fears, your everyday struggles, it all still have to be brought to awareness.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: It can't be bypassed with spiritual platitudes.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: You still have to do the dishwashing, so to speak, but you can be completely at peace while you do it.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Barry sums up the relationship between the two paths so beautifully.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: He says, the direct path points to what we are.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Course in Miracles helps remove what prevents us from recognizing it.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Both paths, despite their massive differences in language, theology, and method, culminate in the exact same silent truth.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: There's nowhere to get to because we have never actually left.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: We have never left.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: That brings us full circle to where we started today, talking about that endless treadmill of milestones.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: We spent most of this deep dive looking at this through a spiritual lens, but I want to leave you, the listener, with a final thought to mull over regarding your everyday, very human life.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Barry's essay hinges on this profound echoing idea.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: Every search contains an implicit assumption.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: What I want is not here.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: I want you to look at your own life right now completely outside the realm of spirituality or meditation.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Look at your career ambitions, look at your fitness goals for the year, look at the standards you hold for your relationships.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, look at all of it.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: If the very act of seeking intrinsically implies an absence, how might our relentless, celebrated modern culture of self-improvement and goal setting secretly be a daily exhausting practice of affirming that we are fundamentally flawed and lacking in this exact moment?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: What would happen tomorrow morning if you just stepped off the treadmill?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: What if you operated your entire day, your meetings, your conversations, your quiet moments from the radical assumption that you already have and already are everything you've been so desperately trying to achieve?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for taking this deep dive with us.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: We'll catch you next time.