Tool: The Gap Diagram (flat)
Day 6: Again today, I’m amazed at the elegance of the Gap Diagram. As a diagnostic tool, the diagram helps you to see where you are in your connection to God. When prayers aren’t answered, or you feel like your words are bouncing off walls, you’re in the wrong part of the diagram.
Coreen Walson and Nouk Sanchez use the Gap Diagram to simplify the idea that part of our mind treats God as if he is an enemy. Like someone we have to resist.
However, God is not our enemy.
Suddenly, with the right tool in hand, your project finds a familiar pattern. Consequently, you move forward faster. I love going to Home Depot, finding someone who can help me, and hearing them say, “Oh, yeah. There’s a tool for that.”
That’s the benefit of gaining knowledge from someone who’s already been there and done that. Willingness to receive guidance is rewarded. You feel relieved and restored now that a helping hand is available.
Tool: The Gap Diagram (folded)
In lesson 6, Coreen uses the Gap Diagram to explore where we are standing when we experience feeling angry, upset and guilty. This “split mind” is the part that is separate from God.
I am upset because I see something that is not there. ACIM Lesson 6
The split mind section has a human figure with lots of dark thoughts. The black semicircles positioned on each side create the container for the traps. The need to be right (a trap) makes this a very noisy place.
Coreen: “This figure is saying, I am worried about this real lack in my life. I am angry at my partner because he is such a (fill in the blank). But all of this is happening in the gap. All this worry, upset, and anger can only be perceived and experienced by this persona, which we’ve all agreed is the mythical me.” ACIM Lesson 6 video, (1:43-1:48).
In Demon Spotting, the River of Shame flows through the split mind.
My game of Demon Spotting takes place in the area of split minds. Nouk listed many areas to investigate to define the activity that keeps us focused on another person instead of connecting with God. One of them is “any belief in attack or defense”.
Since creating the stories contained in my book, Diary of a Demon Spotter, I’ve been searching for the source of the concepts that I’ve included in the Demon Spotting game. In 2009, I had no idea that my study of the ACIM Course would lead me to creating tools designed to help us escape the traps caused by split minds.
I started outlining the concepts for Demon Spotting in 2011, after I received my blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and started taking Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) classes. What a journey it’s been.
Basing my game on the concepts of Mixed Martial Arts, allows me to use the language of attack and defense to help you see where you are trapped or entangled. Then we analyze the situation to help you find the off-ramp to escape what I call The River of Shame, flowing through your split mind.
Tool: The Gap Diagram (revealed)
Shifting perspective, it’s easy to see that, when God is the enemy, we act like an arrogant teenager blocking the parent who provides protection and puts food on the table. From God’s point of view, this makes no sense. He can’t help us if we’ve put him on the outside track.
As the Supreme Being in the Universe, God sees the whole picture. By contrast, we see what’s in front of our noses. If you were standing next to God, seeing from his perspective, you would shout to the rest of us, “STOP BLOCKING HIM! LET HIM HELP YOU! YOU’RE MISSING THE MOST IMPORTANT PART!”
Coreen describes standing with God, listening to him and making decisions based on his guidance as the Unified Mind. Silence the disturbance. And then, she says, we can hear his voice.
Coreen: “The anxiety over how I’m going to pay my bills and the depression from arguing with a loved one are what the ego wants. A mind that is depressed, anxious, and worried cannot reach a place of stillness and presence where the mind of God can be heard.” ACIM Lesson 6 video, (6:35-6:49)
Getting to the Unified Mind is the goal of the ACIM Course. On the Gap Diagram, it says, “No degrees of fear! Any degree is 100%.”
Fear is a clue. Respect the clue. Leave the River of Shame (split mind) and step into the River of Grace (unified mind).
When connected to the Unified Mind (River of Grace), fear isn’t present. Fear cannot exist inside this neutral space.
A Course in Miracles: Lesson 6 (video)
In the ACIM Lesson 6 video, Coreen explains the importance of changing your point of view. Stand in a new place. Tip yourself upside down. Flip the script. See things from a different angle.
“So, it’s a complete turning of the thought system. Before we think, ‘This is who I am. This is a real cause, outside myself, and the problems are out there.‘
Now, we’re turning it around and recognizing that what is out there is the result of my thoughts. The real reason I’m upset is because I’m seeing something that isn’t there. I’m seeing it there because this is how I maintain the identity of someone who is struggling with a partner, worried about his body, and can’t pay the bills.” ACIM Lesson 6 video, (6:51-7:02)
A Course In Miracles: Lesson 6 (read the lesson here).
Disclaimer for quotes: I use an AI tool to capture quotes. It corrects grammar as people are speaking. Why? It’s very annoying. But it is quick. The relevance of the quote isn’t changed. So, are these robots a help or a hindrance? Only time will tell.
DramaGuru Academy is here to teach you how to navigate the situations in your life. Through Demon Spotting lessons, we reveal the patterns of any demon who is interfering with you and your loved ones. We show you how to stare those demons down as you advance confidently from the First Heaven, through the Second Heaven, towards the Third Kingdom of Heaven.
