by Reja Janaki Joy Green*
I identify with James Arthur Ray. Perhaps that is why I am very interested in this trial. The Course tells us ~ As you see your Brother you see yourself. The forgiveness you extend to your Brother you extend to yourself.
I’m learning to see that James Ray is a Sinless child of God, whole and complete as we ALL are. He is not his ego. The people who died and were injured are not their egos. There are no exceptions to the ‘vision’ of Who we ARE. Do we identify with our egos? Oh yes. Are we at the effect of our egos? Most definitely. Is that insanity? Yes indeed.
Let’s ask this question of James and of the other participants of the sweat lodge, and of you, and me – Who ARE we? What are we doing here? If we are here to heal the seeming separation then let us heal it in *every single situation*. The Course tells us, “I will forgive and this will disappear.” And for me, ‘forgive’ here means to see with Right Perception. To forgive is to perceive myself and my Brother as we REALLY are. We are not our bodies. We are still as God created us. James is still as God created him.
The Course also tells us that the ego is quite literally a fearful thought [CH 5 VII 61 acim oe] and we are to live here in such a way as to demonstrate that we are not an ego. If we make decisions based on the ego, we will be hurt and we will hurt others, much like the person wielding the knife in the dark. And when we shine a light on ourselves we see that we are Love. That we are having a nightmare. That this whole drama is a nightmare of our making and He asks us: When, oh Holy Child of God. When will you come out of the dark and come Home.
I was just having a discussion with my husband and he asked me if he had heard correctly? At the ACIM 2011 conference Chris thought he had heard the Presenter say that it’s ok to strike back if someone were hurting you. I told him, yes, that was what the Presenter said. And then we both just shook our heads. He tells us in the Course, “In my defenselessness my safety lie” although for most Course students that’s means only if I’m not being attacked. Yet, for us it means ‘especially when we’re being attacked’.
But Chris went a step further. He said that the Course reminds us that we are responsible for everything that happens to us. Knowing that, and being Course students, how likely is it that we will create someone wanting to harm us.
But even if we do, when it happens, then as Course students we would TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. We would know that everything that happens to us comes to us as we have asked.
“I am responsible for what I see.
I chose the feelings I experience, and I decided
on the goal I would achieve.
And everything that seems to happen to me
I asked for and received as I had asked.”
CH 21 III 15 acim-oe Text Reading Online
In April’s Newsletter, we had an article “MY PATH TO THE COURSE” written by Rob Rideout. His PATH started in 1969 and culminated many years later while he was serving a prison term. He used that time to awaken from his self-imposed hell.
This experience – for James and the participants and the observers and for ALL of us, is a chance to reaffirm why we are here; the chance to take responsibility for what we have asked to come into our lives; a chance to own it and then turn it over to our Right Mind [HS] to be healed.
And then Love is the way we walk in GRATITUDE.
Sent with much Love,
~Reja ૐ
Reja Janaki Joy Green [Reja_CIMS] is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, has facilitated Course in Miracles study groups since 1983 and currently resides with her husband Chris Green in Omaha, NE.
Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles. As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus’ words and to deepen our experience of his teaching. As teachers, we work to circulate the message of A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds and by the example of our lives. http://www.jcim.net
Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] 
I attended a Course in Miracles study group in OKC after the F5 May 3,1999 tornado. People mentioned the citizens could have attracted that tornado. I got up,left the group,and threw my CIM book in the trash. We are not the focus of the universe. James Ray was a mean,spiteful bullly as a young man. He turned to drugs and steroids at an early age. He has lied throughout his life about his background,his expertise,and has deceived/hurt many women in his attempts to control them through power. I completely disagree with the premise that we create our surroundings. We in OKC did not attract the bomb that killed 168,including babies, and injured hundreds if not thousands of others. Everything does not happen for a reason but we can learn from it. What is to be learned from the Sedona tragedy is not to trust people who claim to know something, rather, conduct research and test them to see if they are authentic or not. I researched James Arthur Ray beginning Oct 09 and within a few weeks heard him on the radio describing his fascination with drugs and death and dying. Reality is not as comfortable as nonsense,but it’s authentic.
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Jean ~ We at CIMS appreciate your comments. The shift in perception that is called for in A Course in Miracles is dramatic. It will turn the world of our making upside-down, for sure and this is truly unsettling. The key word here is ‘perception’. What we see depends on our ‘perspective’.
I watched a TV program last night in which ordinary people reported the experience of having left their bodies after being pronounced dead. One was electrocuted, one was in a car accident, and one had a heart attack. From their new ‘perspective’ they no long identified with their bodies. They no longer had a body and what they did have was a new view of ‘time’ and space. They experienced their eternal natures. What if there really wasn’t ‘time’ as we know it. What if we are way more than our bodies.
What if … the Course were right? What if we created this world and forgot to laugh. We created a world of separation and then became ‘at its effect’ , in other words VICTIMS. The Course presents us with the chance to release the idea of being a victim and instead invites us to come from ‘Cause’. It tells us something absolutely incredible. It tells us that there is only ONE thing going on ~ MIND. And that IT is within you and you are within IT. It’s RADICAL! And if it were true that would mean that even though I might perceive myself as separate, I am not. I am so intricately connected to all that is, that there is no way I could be a victim of anything outside of me because there is nothing outside of me. AND this thought is terrifying to the ego because it would mean the ego doesn’t exist. And you know what? It actually doesn’t exist. 😉 And this Thought is Joyous to the Spirit.
This curriculum is not for everyone and yet at the same time it is for everyone. HE tells us it is a ‘required Course’. Only the ‘time’ you take it is voluntary. And Time is an illusion.
At one point in my life I lost what it meant to be a personality. In James Ray’s parlance, I ‘died’ and was reborn. I didn’t have a near death experience but I had a shift in perspective that took me to the other side of what we call reality. And once you see how this reality is fabricated, the jig is up. Now I look within for the FEELING that something is True. It’s a resonance that is unmistakable. For me, it feels right to ‘see’ James as an Infinite Aspect of our One Totality. He is a part of me as he is a part of the whole. And he is coming Home as all of us are. In fact, he is already Home, as we all are. We just don’t ‘remember’. For me, A Course in Miracles is a Song Remembered. It’s an ancient melody I knew long ago. It’s reminding me of what I already Know.
This journey looks so much different when we change our ‘perspective’. The perspective I have now brings me incredible Peace and JOY! Someday, I hope you give this Course another chance. If you want another way of perceiving, and one that comes from your own Soul, it is there. Love waits on welcome, not on time. ♥
Much love, ~ Reja
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This is a sad and dangerous perspective you have reja—and one that clearly shows you do not understand how these teachings actually work. James didn’t either. Nor did his mentor Bob Proctor. THis is just the kind of bullshit that James scorned from the stage…but now are the only ppl supporting him
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Greetings, Although I am thankful for freedom of speech and the press, I truly hope the (so called) “sweatlodge” victim’s families don’t see this page.
I attended CIM meetings years ago and had to stop because of the ideas Reja is talking about. CIM is very black/white and life isn’t that simple, in my humble opinion. Try telling the people in Japan that everything is beautiful and they attracted those problems. I used to believe we attracted everything, but I don’t anymore. There can just be random accidents that can’t be explained, things that happen to people despite their “positive thinking.”
I do believe in forgiveness, but also in REALITY – James Ray is far from “sinless” and has caused pain beyond belief to many, many people. To say that at this time seems quite selfish to me, to try and spread the “truth” that you believe and using “james ray” keywords to get people to your site. I really don’t understand the purpose of this blog, and I don’t think you mean to hurt anyone, but at this time – with the trial going on and the dear witnesses doing the best they can, under tremendous stress from a rude defense team – the timing is really bad and I don’t see anything constructive from this except for controversy and hurt feelings. Just my .02. I hope you think about this. Take care.
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Well said, Kalista.
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