Spiritual teachers for centuries have taught that what apppears to be going on judging by surface appearances is not what is REALLY going on. "Judge not according to the appearance." (John 7:24)
What is REALLY going on with
the ACIM copyright controversy is Ken Wapnick is creating a set-up
which will bring a great breakthrough toward the total enlightenment
he really, really, really, really wants. It might be called
"backing himself to the edge of a cliff so he can finally
choose to jump."
Ken Wapnick loves Jesus tremendously and knows Jesus teaches "Freely ye have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) There is no way Ken can reconcile in his mind not giving ACIM freely, or for that matter not giving of himself freely in ALL ways.
Such an internal conflict is not exclusive to Ken Wapnick. Everyone who uses copyright for any work must deal with two conflicts inside themselves:
1.) The copyright user is not giving freely of himself or herself. Motivation of fear is present. There is an non-spiritual idea in mind that if protection is not in place, harm will be the result.
2.) The copyright user is going one step farther and actually "holding others back" by using unilateral government force to stifle the free expression of spirit.
This second point might need
a little explanation. Many have reported hearing inside themselves
the exact words, word for word, that they later found in ACIM
when they were finally introduced to ACIM. In otherwords,
there is ONLY ONE MIND. What we call "revelation" or
"inspiration" comes through many seeming separate minds
at the same time, but there is really ONLY ONE MIND.
If one of those seeming separate minds decides to use unilateral government force to prevent other seeming separate minds from expressing what they have heard inside, there is a price to pay for the suffocating of the Holy Spirit's purpose.
Most people are not bothered
by such conflicts, finding convenient rationalizations to soothe
over contradictions in mind. But Ken Wapnick, having chosen spiritual
opening for himself, KNOWS with an inner knowingness
that operating out of fear and using the threat of government
force to gain one's ends is painful.
When someone of Ken Wapnick's understanding chooses to live with such contradictions in mind and such pain, it is because he is pushing himself to breakthrough spiritually. This is not an easy way to cause a spiritual breakthrough, but it is often the way of those who see themselves as special teachers before they have become fully enlightened.
Ken Wapnick's actions with respect
to the ACIM copyright add up to a very serious call for love.
The first prayer his inner being is making with this whole copyright
set-up is that he release from his mind the thought that
ACIM needs to be protected as well as the fear upon which such
a thought is based.
The second prayer of his inner being is that he release from his mind any and all arrogance he may have developed while thinking of himself as "protector" of the Course.
His deepest prayer is for total
enlightenment, in which he never has to create these kinds of
set-ups for himself again.
My guess is that Ken Wapnick is secretly asking all of us to pray for his total and complete enlightenment. Thank you, Ken, for asking!