CLOSED DOOR
Once upon a time, a man and a woman were given a big house.
Actually, it wasn't just a big house that they were given it was
an enormous house. There seemed to be no end to it. After counting
several hundred rooms, they gave up trying to figure out how large
it was.
The man and the woman were delighted by their new home. They spent
weeks enjoying it. Then, one day, they had a conversation.
"You know," said the man, "this is a gigantic house. We have all
this room."
"So much room," said the woman.
"And I have to tell you," said the man, "I'm getting a little tired
of taking the garbage out. It's such a long walk to the trash
bins."
"A very long walk," agreed the woman.
"So I have an idea. Why don't we choose one of these rooms that we
don't use, and put our trash in there? No one will ever
notice."
The woman thought about it. "I suppose that would be OK," she
said.
And so they began to store their trash in a distant bedroom. It
seemed like a fine plan no one ever visited that section of the
house, much less the trash room.
After a few months, the room became full with trash. But the system
seemed like a good one, so they simply closed the door of the trash
room, locked it, and began putting their trash in a second
room.
This went on for years. The man and the woman filled up one room
after another with garbage, never worrying too much about the
consequences. After all, their house was enormous.
However, there came a day when they realized that they had a
problem.
"I think we have a problem," said the woman. "I've noticed that
there are rats running through the house."
"You're right," said the man. "And we've run out of bedrooms to
store the trash. At least, all the nearby ones are full."
"You know," said the woman, "I didn't realize it, but we never go
out of these couple of rooms. The odor is just too strong."
"And the rats," said the man. "I confess that I'm afraid of running
into them in the hall."
So the couple sat for a few moments, pondering their
situation.
"We better start taking out our trash from now on," said the
man.
"That's not going to be enough," said the woman. "Though I hate to
admit it, we're going to have to unlock the doors and start
clearing the old garbage out."
Now, this was a horrifying prospect. After all, some of the trash
had been stored away for years. There were probably rats and bugs
and other such things living in the piles of garbage. But the house
needed to be cleansed of the old trash. The couple was overwhelmed
at the task before them.
Thankfully, at that moment, a wonderful thing happened. A neighbor
walked up to the house and rang the couple's doorbell.
The neighbor said to them, "I see that you have a problem with your
trash. I'm here to help you. I have no fear of garbage or rats or
bugs. In fact, my mission on earth is to help people clean their
houses up. But I need your cooperation. I need you to walk with me
to every trash-filled room, and unlock the doors. You have the
keys. I'll do the clean-up work, but I need you to open the doors
with me and keep them open."
The couple was certainly glad to have help. But they were still
horrified at the job in front of them.
"The smell is so bad," said the woman. "I don't know if we can
unlock these doors."
"And the rats," said the man. "Don't forget the rats they may
bite us. I think we should just keep things locked."
"I need your help," said the neighbor. "I can do the clean-up work,
but only if you'll open the doors with me. When you're ready, I'm
here to help."
And that is where many of us find ourselves today.
OPENING THE DOORS
We are the men and women who live in the big house. The house, as
you may have guessed, is the mind. The piles of trash are the
unloving thoughts that we've generated over the years.
Many of us, like the couple, have come to a point where we're tired
of tiptoeing around our piles of garbage. The system of storing
away our unloving thoughts hasn't worked. We've come to feel
trapped and squashed. Though our home is enormous, we've reduced it
to a meager few rooms.
Thankfully, we have help. The neighbor in the story is the Spirit
of God, the Inner Healer. It is this Spirit's job to clean out our
trash. Our part of the process is very small by comparison. We are
asked to walk with the Spirit to each closed-off room, unlock the
doors, and allow the cleaning process to begin.
There can be some trepidation in this work; after all, approaching
our locked doors and taking a look at our piles of trash may feel
disconcerting. But thankfully, it is the Spirit's job to do the
clean-up work. Our job is simply to unlock the doors.
A COMMON FORM
Let me give an example of what I mean by our trash. One common form
of garbage is grievances, or resentments. You could also call them
"thoughts of separation."
Many of us generate a significant amount of this type of trash
every day. A common tendency is to fill up a room with this type of
garbage, and then when the room becomes full lock it away and
decide never to go back inside.
A Course in Miracles asks us to open all these locked doors, face
our unloving thoughts, and immediately allow the Divine Transformer
to clean them up. We're asked to open up all our rooms, including
those called, "My thoughts about my ex-girlfriend," "My thoughts
about my former boss," and, "My thoughts about this person who
criticized me." It's essential to stop hiding this garbage
away.
One important teaching from the Course (and many other spiritual
and psychological systems) is that we can't release what we're
unwilling to admit. If we say, "Oh, no I don't have any unloving
thoughts toward so-and-so," then the Spirit can't clean them up. We
need to honestly acknowledge our blocks, so that they can
immediately be replaced with new, loving thoughts. This process
can't begin until we unlock the doors.
Does this mean that we have to spend years and years delving into
our thoughts about every past relationship? I don't think so. By
beginning with the immediate ones, we form a pattern. As this
pattern continues, we'll become more able (or willing) to unlock
whole floors of doors at a time. The key is to simply admit that we
need Help, and express our willingness to let that Help in.
A SIMPLE WAY TO START
One easy way to begin this clean-up process is to choose a
relationship that seems neutral. Even in "neutral" human
relationships, there is often a significant amount of separation,
wariness, and distance that we place between each other. We can
allow the Spirit to clean out our "neutral" rooms first, and move
on from there in a state of greater peace.
As an example of this, the next time you walk into a store, you can
allow the Spirit to clean up any separation thoughts between you
and the person behind the counter. You may not be aware of any
separation thoughts, but the Course promises that when our thoughts
of separation have been divinely replaced, we'll know it. We'll be
stunned by the love we feel and the beauty we perceive in the
person before us.
I invite you to try this, the next time you interact with a clerk
in a clothing store or a coffee shop or supermarket. If you wish,
you can say a little prayer before you walk in:
Spirit of God, I open the door of this relationship to you.
Please clean out any separation thoughts from my mind.
Redecorate this room with your lovely, loving thoughts.
I am willing to have my view of this person transformed.
This can produce touching results, and inspire us in our efforts to
continue the room-opening process. Again, it's the Spirit's job to
effect the healing. Our job is simply to unlock our blocked-up
rooms, and keep the doors open as the inner transformation takes
place.
