Levels of Level Confusion
In my last post about level confusion, we established that the two levels discussed in A Course in Miracles were concerning healing. One level is healing by correcting thought and the other level was attempting to heal without thought by assuming that the body, which doesn’t think, has creative powers built into it. This idea forms the basis of orthodox medicine. The Course says the body does not have this assumed power so healing from this level is an error. Instead, we must rise to the level of thought for real healing to occur. Wrong thinking makes us sick, so it takes right thinking to heal.
The question some may ask is whether there is level confusion occurring in levels not specifically identified in the Course. To this I would give a positive yes. The Course tells us that level confusion occurs when there are two levels not in sync, and we try and find the solution on the wrong level.
This principle plays out in some degree wherever we have two people communicating with two levels of thought. Indeed, the Course backs up this idea:
“Consciousness has levels and awareness can shift quite dramatically.” C-1.7
Obviously two people often have two different levels of consciousness and can conflict because of confusion during communication
This can also happen with the individual when he has two goals that conflict:
“You will quickly realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.” W-pI.24.4
Indeed any two levels approaching each other have the potential for confusion and conflict:
“The alternating investment in the two levels of perception is usually experienced as conflict, which can become very acute.” T-2.III.3
A common source of level confusion is experienced with the interplay of the level of love and the level of fear. It is important to remember that “The whole aim of the miracle is to raise the level of communication, not to lower it by increasing fear.” T-2.IV.5
When we seek to solve problems from the level of fear we become confused and are working at the wrong level. Love is where the answer is.
Love is, of course, associated with the Holy Spirit and fear with the ego. Concerning this we are told that “one level of the mind is not understandable to another. So it is with the ego and the Holy Spirit; with time and eternity.” T-5.III.6
Where the gap in the levels is great, as with the Holy Spirit and the ego, there is virtually no understanding of each other and communication comes to a halt.
However, in our everyday lives dealing with the ego we do have communication, but flawed and incomplete. Concerning the levels of the ego it says:
“However, ideas of the ego can conflict because they occur at different levels and also include opposite thoughts at the same level.” T-5.IV.3.
We see confusion and conflict between levels of the ego on a daily basis. One just needs to turn on the media and watch a political debate between the left and the right. The two are on different levels of the ego and do have some communication, but very little understanding of each other’s thinking. Instead of trying to see at the same level they remain focused on two different levels which leads to conflict and confusion.
Many of our everyday arguments are caused by one being at the logic-reasoning level and the other focused on the feeling-emotional level. If the first ignores the feeling side and the second ignores logic then we have two attempting to communicate with partial understanding resulting in conflict and confusion between themselves as well as for those who listen.
The solution to escaping level confusion is for the two or more in disagreement to contact the Holy Spirit where they are then led by higher mind and love rather than wrong-mindedness and lower feeling.
In heaven there are still levels, but “There is no confusion within Its Levels, because They are of one Mind and one Will.” T-3.II.5
In heaven we have the aspects of mind and love and on earth these are reflected in our lower mind and our emotions. The Holy Spirit lifts us up from these lower to the higher where the two can understand each other and function as “one Mind and one Will.”
The way out of conflict is always to rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us, according to the Course.
“Only the Holy Spirit can resolve conflict, because only the Holy Spirit is conflict-free. He perceives only what is true in your mind, and extends outward only to what is true in other minds.” T-6.II.11
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