Raj Excerpts -- Abortion

Raj Excerpt -- Carmel, California VIDEO "RAJ--ACIM"--1986 QUESTION: The Course says that there is no death. And in some of your conversations you have spoken of the alternative of ascension rather than the traditional death. Can you give us a discourse on this? RAJ: You have already stated the fact quite succinctly. All I care to say at this moment, is that each and every person who is hearing what I am saying is absolutely capable of moving beyond, let us say, this life experience by ascending. No one is at too primitive a level of development to not be able to leave except by dying. In other words, I want it to be perfectly clear that ascension is possible in this lifetime. Do not assume that it is something for you to experience at a later lifetime, after there has been more spiritual growth. You must begin to think radically, now. As I said earlier, the only thing that limits you, is your belief. The clear undistorted perception of Reality is available in only one place, and that is in the middle of the moment of conscious experience that each one of you is always in. It has nothing to do with time. Your freedom to move from here to any point in the universe, your ability to do it, is available at this moment and the only thing that keeps you from it, is your belief. Your ability to ascend is available also. You must stop projecting your awakening out on to some actual time-line that you believe exists, because all you do is delay your discovery of your present potential. Okay, that's the end of the answer. QUESTION: Is that true for someone with so called Alzheimer's disease and with a fetus that is about to be aborted voluntarily? RAJ: It is the possibility, of course. What governs it, is the decision of the individuality and the belief structures that are being employed. Raj Excerpt -- Charlotte, North Carolina--May 1992 QUESTION: There is one subject that touches all of us. I think because we all have different fears. And I see people all wanting the same thing, what is best for mankind. But they think they're on different sides of the fence. That is the subject of abortion. I really do see that everyone wants what is best, but they're not agreeing on what action people should take. I see it as something that is different in every case and that will to choose varies according to the circumstance. Could you talk about that? RAJ: The problem regarding this subject is very simply the fact that so few people consider Life to be Divine and, therefore, to be honored and revered as the Presence of God in action. I'm going to answer it this way: As the awareness of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God emerges once again in the heart of mankind, this issue will, indeed, begin to soften. I mean by that that the reactions and the strong feelings will begin to yield to the gentle awareness of the Divinity of Life and the reverence for it that is appropriate. It is only in the face of the belief that bodies make bodies that a decision to terminate that body could seem to be justifiable. It reflects a certain starvation of the Soul that has [been] occurring as all of you have been coerced, you might say, by the scientific establishment and the medical establishment to believe that this is just a mechanistic universe and that there is no active Divine presence to be known or experienced or felt. Now, I am aware that I will sound like the Pope. But in all cases, it is desirable to allow a pregnancy to come to full term unless it would threaten the life of the mother. And the simple fact is that in the Divine order of things, you as women are not required to sacrifice your life for the birth of a new child. Now, very practically speaking, whether it pleases anyone's ego or not. If life were believed and understood and felt to be the direct expression of a current and living God, and if you felt the Divinity of yourself as the direct expression of God, you would find yourselves inclined to honor yourselves more than you do. And you would find yourselves less inclined to cater to other people's expectations, or other people's concepts, and you would be more on the ball. You would be a truer and more original representation or manifestation of God. You would not find it possible to blame anything for anything, or pass the buck. And you would handle yourselves more responsibly. And just as you would find a parking space in front of the destination that you need to accomplish something in, you would also find yourself not in the place where rape or abuse or lack could manifest itself. In your self-respect based upon an inner feeling of your Divinity, you would find yourself, without effort, exactly where you needed to be in order to experience fulfillment of purpose. And you would not be in the place where a victimizer was looking for a victim. And thus you would not play into the dance by being the partner called the victim. The simple fact is that if you knew you couldn't pass the buck, you would more consciously be where an unwanted pregnancy couldn't occur. Now, there is much discussion about when a fetus becomes a human being--when the Soul enters the body. This very concept arises out of an ignorance of what we've been discussing for the last couple of days. The simple fact is that you cannot exist and not be identified. There cannot just be God. There must be God and the infinite manifestation of God, or put another way, there must be God the infinite Divine Mind or Intelligence 1
Raj Excerpts -- Abortion

which Moves. That movement is the Movement of Consciousness, as I said yesterday. And that Movement of Consciousness is experienced by Mind, and Mind/God recognizes Himself. And the recognition is a recognition of that which has substance, that which is recognizable--what I have referred to as visibility and tangibility. The ideas of Mind, or God, are perfectly tangible to that Mind. Therefore, just as there cannot be God without the conscious experience of Himself called visibility and tangibility of the ideas embraced by Mind. There cannot be You without that which identifies your presence, which I to a limited degree touched on this morning when I suggested that your concept of inside and outside is just that, a concept. It is all a unity. Now, therefore, it is impossible for you to be bodiless. For eternity it is impossible for you to be bodiless. Therefore, if at any moment there is anything visible about you, your identity, your Soul, your Spirit, shall I say the Soul that you Are, the Spirit that you Are, the Life that you Are, the Mind that you Are, the Truth that you Are, and so on, is what is embodied or rendered visible. To a limited dimensional creature, your coming through a doorway might cause you to appear to be very funny, because at first there might just be the tip of your nose that shows. And a hand that seems to have no relationship whatsoever with the other part that first appears. But you know that your whole body is in the process of going through the door, not in bits and pieces and not strange and odd looking. And the fact that a fetus appears to be a growth of matter going through stages which have been undignifiably described as going from the lower life forms--through fish and mammal and so on--the fact that it looks like that doesn't mean that's what is happening. Because the point of entry into your frame of reference of another individuality is an entry of a Whole Individual, with a visibility and tangibility that Wholly identifies him or her. All of that Individual is present if there is any perceptible part of that Individual present. The Soul cannot be separated from the body and, indeed, when you pass on, you find that your body is intact and with you, while everyone else is burying the after-image that is left in their eyes and they are thinking that this is your body. Some of you at this moment are thirty-four years old in this room, and I think that this is as good a time as any to abort your life. (Laughter) I know you don't agree. And you are correct. This Whole-Souled Individuality who is complete in every respect, that is scientifically and knowledgeably--and I am being facetious here--defined as a "fetus" and not an Individuality at all, yet, disagrees also with a judgment that it is appropriate to abort its life. Part of the difficulty around this issue is that it is easier to abort this life form than it is to shoulder the guilt for the pregnancy having occurred. And I understand this. But you would not have as much difficulty if you realize that there are no two persons on the face of this planet that can create a baby. You can put sperms and eggs together, but without the act of God, there will be no conception. Nothing happens that God isn't Being. Again the resolution of this difficulty will come naturally and with ease, with gentleness, as life is put back in the context of God. Then you will have to listen in a new way. If you have conceived and you are not able to take care of the child, if you have conceived and your family has grown and you simply are not able to conceive of the possibility of raising another family, let the pregnancy come to term and deliver and put the child out for adoption. There are other alternatives beside killing that child that are humane. And I will guarantee you of this: Very often a child who is conceived into an environment where it is unable to be cared for, is, shall I say, finding access to the individuals who are supposed to be his parents, when those two individuals have not been listening and have not taken the steps necessary for conception to occur. I tell you that there is no chance that occurs anywhere in infinity. And children who are with adoptive parents are with the ones they are supposed to be with. Please dare to begin to grasp the all-inclusiveness, the omnipotence of God and the fact that not one thing ever happens outside of the direction of God. And if you seem to be experiencing something other than that, it is because you have super-imposed a belief structure upon it that is not allowing you to be in the flow of the Movement of God. Now, does this mean that if you have had an abortion or if you have insisted upon a girlfriend having an abortion, that you have committed a sin that you are guilty of? No. Life is not a test. And it is not set up for you to lose or win. Again, you are confronted by the only thing that is going on--the Kingdom of Heaven. Belief structures, belief systems that have caused you to believe that it is not the Kingdom of Heaven, that have caused you to feel separate from It, separate from your Brother, separate from your own Integrity, have not changed what you Divinely Are, and they have not changed what the World Divinely Is. And if, indeed, you have succumbed to a distorting mindset, those who are awake understand that it is perfectly reasonable that you are feeling the way you are feeling, even though it is an illusion. This means that no judgment is called for, no matter what erratic or unkind acts you engage in. Because, if you knew better you would do better. And always where you are, whether it is in jail, or whether it is in a drunken heap in the gutter, or whether it is in a state of misery in the middle of abundance, Love is all that is called for. Compassion is what is given, because the only thing in front of you to do, really, is to desire to know beyond your present sense of knowing. So that you are no longer imposed upon by ignorance.

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So if there has been an abortion, or even after hearing what I have said and perhaps even recognizing the utter truth of it, you find yourself forced by circumstances, you might say, you find yourself unable to be consistent with what I have just said, you may know that what follows does not condemn you. And that you just still have the opportunity to be perfectly consistent with the reverence for Life, and the acknowledgment of the Presence of God in any pregnancy that occurs. And perhaps more trust that will allow you, if you become pregnant again and it is unwanted, to allow it to come to term, so that you may observe the manner in which fulfillment of purpose for this new individual can take place and you can rejoice in it and with it. Pro-choice is an ego concept. You have not heard me, relative to anything at all this weekend, promote pro-choice. I am promoting pro-listening, if you will. So that you might find yourself so congruent, so in harmony with your Being--which is the Presence of God--that your every act expresses God and is, therefore, experienced by everyone in your world as humane, benign, and transformational. Again, the one element that confuses this whole issue is the belief that you are just organisms, when you are not. And the recognition that you are not, places a benediction on the whole human race and provides the circumstances and the environment in which your exaltation can occur and this issue can disappear. Raj Excerpt -- Winter Park--1992 QUESTION: Over population seems to be a major cause of a deterioration and destruction of our planet earth. So many people... There's a controversy over abortion. So many religious groups believe that life begins at birth, and other groups believe that life begins at conception. Would you please address this? RAJ: Believe it or not, there is innate order that goes beyond any of the attempts to bring order into play as a result of conscious control. Do not worry; this planet will not become over populated. Without crisis and without trauma, you will find the birth rate dropping. You will find people being interested in other things than having a family, or an interest in a smaller family. You will find a natural balance occurring. Don't be too quick to assume that catastrophe will happen. I will put the answer to the last part of your question simply. There cannot be God without the infinite manifestation of God. There cannot be God without the Presence of God. If you are the direct expression of God, then there cannot be you and no presence of you; no manifestation of you. Where, to be more clear, there cannot be you and no manifestation of the Presence of God called you. Therefore, there is never a moment when you are not identified and identifiable as the specific expression of God. Therefore, you will never be bodiless, anymore than God will ever be unmanifest. You say, but so-and-so passed on last week and we buried her body. No; you buried the last image of her body that you saw. I realize it is an over simplification but everyone buries the after-image, while the Individuality-- fully identified--continues on. The moment there is the presence of form, in other words, the moment the first cell division occurs, the Individuality is present. At that moment, the whole of that Individuality is present, and from your point of view, it is coming into view. Now, if Paul were to go outside the door so that the door blocked him but he could still enter the room, and he were to stretch out his arm so that his finger tip was the first thing you see, you would wonder what on earth is this creature. This finger tip is like the first form at the point of the first cell division after the sperm and the egg meet. Doesn't look like an individual, does it? And if Paul were to continue to come in slowly, you would begin to see this hand, and a long funny looking thing; you wouldn't know what it was yet. The point is that although your view of him would come in a strange way, the whole of him would be there on the other side of the door. And your asking whether the Soul comes into the body at the point of birth is like saying when did the whole Paul arrive. The whole Paul was there when you saw the finger tip. Now, I gave a very definitive and wonderful answer to the issue of abortion in the workshop in Charlotte, North Carolina, two weeks ago. And I am not trying to sell tapes, but rather than take the time up here, I would encourage you to get the tape. I will simply tell you that abortion can only be conceived as appropriate if you think that you are nothing but a body. It can only seem to be justifiable, if you think that God has nothing to do with life. If however, you think that God does have something to do with life, then all life is valuable. And if indeed, you assume that life is valuable because it is the expression of God, then if that particular expression seems not to be congruent with your life, you will be curious to discover the life affirming alternatives you have available to you. I will tell you something else: If everyone truly respected life by understanding that God is the Source and condition of life, there would be fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer occasions for the idea to arise to have an abortion. You would find yourself in the right place, doing the right thing, and what wasn't congruent wouldn't happen. Enough said. But, I encourage all of you to listen further, and instead of seeing what I have said as denial of free choice, you see it as an opportunity to find what I'm going to call socially responsible, life-affirming alternatives to abortion. You will all contribute to some social change that is greatly needed. That's the end of the answer. 3
Raj Excerpts -- Abortion

Raj Excerpt -- Orlando, Florida--November 1986 [New Content: Transcribed by Janis, March 2008] QUESTION: I have a question concerning yesterday's question about evil. We were told yesterday there is no evil, and that just pleases me very much. PAUL: Displeases? QUESTION: No! No! That pleases me very much. But I'm concerned with our society and some of the rules in our society; and one of which is suicide, euthanasia. And we consider death as a passing on. And it seems to me sometimes people abuse the physical body, both mentally and physically, as if they're seeking a suicide or a form of suicide, and then some actually complete the job. And then, of course, we wonder if sometimes it wouldn't be better to put some people out of their misery; those who are not, as we would call them, doing well. And I'm wondering how we resolve these in my little mind? RAJ: May I ask how that relates to your concern about evil? QUESTION: Well, we are told that it's not good, it's evil to kill, so abortion is killing, and euthanasia is killing. And I feel like when they're self-destructive physically or mentally, that's a killing. RAJ: As you are aware, this is a very touchy subject. The very first thing I want to say about it is that both what you call "birth" and "death" are absolutely private events; events over which others have no control. They are events which you experience privately; alone. Therefore, it is no one else's prerogative, and no one else has the ability to decide for you how it will be. In the case of abortion, it does seem as though someone else is having a say so. But you must understand that life is not linear. It is all now. Therefore, those children, those Individualities, who seem to be the brunt of abortions, have known full well that that was the likely eventuality. And there was value for them in having such a brief experience of incarnation. It had been chosen. Now, nevertheless, at the bottom line, it is inappropriate to perform abortions, except when the pregnancy seriously threatens the life of the mother. Again, I want to reiterate that it violates the integrity of life for one to sacrifice himself for another. I want you to think about that for just a moment. [pause] This statement flies right in the face of fundamental Christian theology which posits that I sacrificed my life for all of you. And the fact is I sacrificed nothing. I experienced absolutely no interruption in my conscious experience of Being. My Identity was not altered in any way, shape or form. And at the bottom line, no one succeeded in crucifying me. I did not lay down my life for anyone. I lived my life as an example for everyone, and in the living of my life illustrated the fact that death is an illusion. And it is that fact which serves to enlighten and allow the limited human concept to get beyond itself. No mother, no expectant mother is required to sacrifice herself for her child. She is not to set the example of violating her integrity so that her child can learn that his or her integrity is valueless. Other than that one factor, there is no justifiable reason for abortion. "But," you say, "what about a twelve-year-old girl who has been raped by her father, or by someone else? What about a sixteen-year-old child who has been involved in sexual intercourse and has become pregnant, whether against her will or not? What about a woman who is married who has become pregnant by another man and for whom the pregnancy would threaten her marriage?" In all cases, you are saying that there are circumstances under which it is justifiable to cover up irresponsibility. "Ah," but you say, "how can it be irresponsible with a twelve-year-old? How can it be irresponsible for a sixteen-year-old or a twenty-year-old who were raped against their will?" And I will tell you, it is time to realize that nothing comes into your experience which is not compatible with your mindsets and your beliefs; and you cannot escape the responsibility for what happens to you. And the reason you cannot dare to do this any longer is because as long as you believe that, you will believe that you are vulnerable, that you can be an innocent victim, that there actually are circumstances under which you do not have authority. And as long as you think that there are circumstances under which you have no authority, you will not wake up! Whether it makes you comfortable or not, you must come to the awareness that you are exercising power, and only you are exercising power over your experience. Once you realize that, no matter how difficult it is to swallow, you will recognize that you have what it takes to change what is happening. And then you will be on the road of your awakening. Now if it will threaten a twelve-year-old child's health or life to bear a child, then it is appropriate to have an abortion. But rather than condoning abortion, generally speaking, some reeducation needs to begin to occur. And parents need to begin early to teach their children that they are inviting the experiences that they are having, so that early on children can begin to grasp the power that they have over themselves--not over their parents and not over anyone else--so that when their good comes into their experience, they are able to acknowledge that this is the evidence of their being on the right track. And when something that is not good 4
Raj Excerpts -- Abortion

comes into their experience, they can grasp the idea that they are on the wrong track and they do not pass the blame off on someone else and be irresponsible and unaware of their power. As hard as it is for someone who has been raped, or someone who has been mistreated in any way, abused in any way, the fact is that they were not innocent victims and that they played a part in the dance of abuse. QUESTION: Can you _____ it? PAUL: I'm sorry. QUESTION: Can you here and now they play the part or the previous time? RAJ: There is only the here and now, and the creating is occurring in the here and the now. The suffering that one experiences is the result of a current ignorance. And the joy and the freedom and the harmony one experiences is a result of a current clarity. You are never paying for anything from the past. You may currently have an ignorance that was present 3,000 years ago and which you were suffering for then, and you are suffering for now. But you are only suffering for current ignorance. Now, every death is a suicide. Every death is a decision to give up, whether it is from heart failure or a bullet in the head. It is not a sin. It is just an act of ignorance. Eating and believing that eating keeps you alive is an act of ignorance, but don't stop eating until not eating doesn't kill you. In all cases, one must be true to oneself. And if one is faced with the need to make a decision to pull a plug on a life-support system, one must ask himself whether not pulling it is causing him or her to violate his or her integrity. And you must realize that the condition, the situation of your having to pull the plug, has been set up by the one who the life-support system is maintaining. Sometimes that circumstance is a conscious but subtle act of manipulation, believe it or not, on the part of the one who requires the life-support system. And you must be very sure that you are not being manipulated and controlled and confined and limited because of what is, at the bottom line, an active willfulness. And so I cannot give you an absolute answer on what would be appropriate under all circumstances. But realize this. No one ceases to exist. There is no interruption for anyone in the conscious experience of Being. There is no break in their Identity. And therefore, although you might pull the plug, you have done nothing, even though that Individuality may not be available to you to visit with for a while. Everyone is always practicing self-responsibility, even though at times he chooses to do it ignorantly, pretending to himself or herself that he or she does not have his or her hand on the wheel. It is, of course, consistent with life to value life. And under all circumstances, other than the one that I mentioned concerning the health of the mother, it is appropriate for the pregnancy to come to full term and then for a decision to be made whether that child is to be put up for adoption, or held in the custody of the mother. What needs to be so clearly understood is that responsibility for what happens in one's experience can never be passed off onto someone else. Therefore, these issues will not come up when self-responsibility is owned and consciously exercised. I will tell you this. As soon as any of you knows you cannot pass the buck, there are many things that will never happen to you again. Think about it for a moment. [pause] That means you have the opportunity to experience your invulnerability, your integrity, your security, your permanence, your inviolability, and your joy. If you value life, you will not as a general rule do anything that apparently causes the death of anything. Now, if any of you has done something which apparently caused the death of something, how are you supposed to feel? Well, certainly you are not to feel that you have added to your karma, because it's a "pay as you go" affair. And you will only feel guilty if you believe that it is actually possible for you to cause an interruption of conscious experience for any Individuality. Tell me, if every Individuality is the direct and current expression of the Life-Principle, the Father, God, then for there to have been any interruption of the conscious experience of that Individuality, there had to be a moment in which God ceased to be fully expressed--and it is impossible. As I have said before, there needs to be profound patience with oneself. There needs to be profound love for oneself. And taking on a mantle of guilt will never lift you into the place where you can discover that that one, or that thing, whose death you seemed to contribute to, never experienced it as an actual divine fact of his Being. And this is what you need to see because it's the truth. But until you can see it, you had better not be willing to play into the game of guilt. This does not mean you are free to go out and do anything at any cost to anyone and say, "That's your karma. That's your demonstration." Because that does violate your integrity. For you to act independently and at odds with others is to be seriously entrenched in the ego sense of separation; illusion. And you, because of your divinity and the fact that it will not let you be comfortable in your illusion, will come up against someone who says, "Tsk. That's your karma!" Someone who has enough self-respect and enough confidence in his value and worth that he will not cooperate with your false estimate of him and will provide you with the opportunity to discover his worth, although it might be very uncomfortable for you. He will 5
Raj Excerpts -- Abortion

not dance the dance of abuse with you, and will be your teacher, and will cause you to reevaluate your position so that you have the opportunity to come into greater harmony with your fellowman and your environment and your world so that you will have the opportunity to discover and experience its fundamental oneness, with which it will not violate you in any way to cooperate and flow with and not violate. It's all about you. Everything is all about you. It's not about euthanasia. It's not about birth control. It's not about the right or wrong way to raise children. It's all about you discovering What You Are; discovering your integrity; the integrity that is by virtue of the fact that you divinely are the expression of God and nothing else. Behavior will spontaneously change as you become clear about you, and as you stop passing the buck. In almost all instances, passing the buck and blaming someone else is for the sole purpose of creating guilt so that you can exercise control. And in doing it, you sacrifice your peace, you sacrifice your health, and you sacrifice your opportunity to experience Reality without distortion. Now, one more point. You cannot succeed at sacrificing yourself, because you are, shall I say, an indelible expression of the Father; un-erasable. And therefore What You Divinely Are will comfortably, or uncomfortably, shake you out of your harmless self-sacrifice. I am expressing this point, this last point, as a foundation for sharing with you that in what have been called "the latter days," there will not be just a certain number quote "taken up" unquote and a certain number who will not. Everyone is going to wake up because they are only asleep in their imagination. And their imagination does not govern the Presence of God that constitutes their Individuality. So no matter how hard one attempts to sacrifice himself, to sell himself short, to lose sight of his integrity, he cannot accomplish it in actuality. Okay. Raj Excerpt -- Recording Notes--2001A March 3, 2001 in Kingston, Washington G-2001A tape 1 side 1 ... / abortion, G-2001A tape 1 side 2 abortion / ...

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Excerpts compiled by Janis

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Raj Excerpts -- Abortion