HEALING RELATIONSHIPS through A Course in Miracles
[TRANSCRIPT of Workshop given at the FESTIVAL of HEALING ARTS in Omaha NE October 15, 2011]
Hello ~ My name is Reja Joy Green and I’m with my husband, Chris Green. We are one of the founding members of COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY [CIMS] a non-profit organization based here in Omaha which was formed in 2000 to publish the [at that time] newly discovered early 1972 manuscript of ACIM.
Show of HANDS, who is familiar with ACIM? For those who do not know of ACIM:
The Course is the result of the collaboration between two Columbia University psychologists: Dr. William T. Thetford and his colleague, Dr. Helen Schucman. They were both experiencing a tremendous amount of turmoil within their department and one day Dr. Thetford exclaimed, “There has got to be a better way of doing this.” To his surprise Helen said, “You are perfectly right Bill and I will help you find it.”
Shortly afterwards, in 1965, Helen experienced what she described as a Voice which spoke clearly in her mind, saying “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.” Bill said “Well let’s take it down and if it’s gibberish, then no one needs to know.” She brought in what she had written the night before to show Bill and they both decided it was worth pursuing.
So with Dr. Thetford’s support and assistance in transcribing her shorthand notes, Dr. Schucman took down some 1,500 typewritten pages of A Course in Miracles over a period of seven years. Schucman did not claim to be the author of the material herself.
As she often explained, she heard a kind of inner dictation and she felt compelled to write it down, even though at times she disagreed with the content and resisted the process. The voice which spoke through Helen clearly identifies himself as Jesus.
This was disconcerting since Helen was born Jewish, looked into the Baptist religion and Catholicism and finally became a militant atheist.
The Course uses Christian terminology but you don’t need to be Christian to benefit from the teachings of the Course. In fact, traditional Christians often find the material somewhat startling and perhaps unbelievable. The religion of 90% of the people who initially brought forth the course was JEWISH.
The ‘original edition’ is the unabridged volume of the Course as it was completed by Schucman and Thetford in 1972 before subsequent editing by Helen and Dr. Ken Wapnick.
For more information regarding the various versions please visit this page on the CIMS “Links One” page:
Our workshop today is HEALING RELATIONSHIPS through A Course in Miracles.
SOURCE of UPSET – You Were There
* Have you ever noticed that whenever you were UPSET, every single time, with no exceptions, no matter what the circumstances and no matter what GREAT REASONS you had for being UPSET there was ALWAYS something that all the upsets had in common. Does anyone know what that was?
YOU WERE THERE! In other words ~ The one variable was-> YOU!
I’m remembering a show that used to come on Sunday Nights in the 70’s called YOU ARE THERE with Walter Cronkite!! And he always ended all his shows with: “What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times… and you were there.” LOL
There’s one thing that unites all of those UPSETS and that’s YOU. And this is good news because only by changing your MIND can you change your reactions. That’s the MIRACLE. That’s the SHIFT in perception!
“To change your mind means to place it at the disposal of true Authority.” ACIM OrEd.Tx.1.69
“I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” Lesson 281
“I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.” Lesson 284
NOT EVERYONE IS “UPSET”
* And have you ever noticed that there have been times when you were there…and YOU were UPSET by the circumstances but the person you were with WASN’T UPSET. What is that about? LOL!!
I remember traveling in a tiny 10 seat plane from Hyannis to NYC at night during a thunder and lightning storm. All the adults were white knuckled, trying to keep their dinner down and my son was sleeping peacefully! I kept imagining that I were he.
UPSETS ARE SQUIRRELY
*Have you ever noticed that some days there are more ‘morons’ on the roads than other days?
On one trip to work years ago I remember seeing that the roads were littered with IDIOTS! People were driving crazy!! I couldn’t believe it and then it hit me. Yesterday there weren’t ANY idiots on the road. Hummm………Very interesting.
Show of HANDS: How many people have heard of MARIANNE WILLIAMSON?
She’s written: A WOMAN’S WORTH; ILLUMINATA; THE HEALING OF AMERICA; THE AGE OF MIRACLES and more recently; “A COURSE IN WEIGHT-LOSS”. And her BEST seller is “RETURN TO LOVE: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.”
Chapter 6 in RETURN TO LOVE is titled: “Relationships” and the subtitle is a quote from ACIM:
“The Holy Spirit’s temple is not a body, but a relationship.” ACIM OrEd.Tx.20.49
Marianne writes: “Before I read A Course in Miracles I studied many other spiritual and philosophical writings. It felt as though they led me up a huge flight of stairs to a giant cathedral inside my mind. But once I reached the top of the stairs, the door to the church was locked. The Course gave me the key that opened the door. The key, very simply, is – OTHER PEOPLE!”
She mentions next that the HEAVEN mentioned in the Course is not a CONDITION or a PLACE but the AWARENESS of our ONENESS. The Course has been given to us to heal the Mind of the erroneous idea of SEPARATION. We are not only our brother’s keeper, the Course tells us WE ARE OUR BROTHERS. Marianne begins her chapter with this quote:
“When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him, you will see yourself.
As you treat him, you will treat yourself.
As you think of him, you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose sight of yourself.
Whenever two Sons of God meet,
they are given another chance at salvation.
Do not leave anyone without giving salvation to him
and receiving it yourself,
for I am always there with you in remembrance of you.”
ACIM OrEd.Tx.8.19
The most devastating pain of all is when we feel alienated and separate. But when we realize that ‘separation’ is just a fearful idea and that our Oneness is our Reality, we can then relax into our True Being. From that REALITY, nothing can hurt us. The first words that Helen took down to show Bill were:
Nothing Real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the Peace of God.
When he read these words Bill knew they had received something very beautiful and different.
We think of SELF-HELP programs as something we do to ourselves and that is true. However with ACIM we come to see that our Brothers are our Saviors. They are our TEACHERS. And awakening is a Collaborative Venture. All things are Lessons God would have me learn. Everyone is my TEACHER.
THE DISCONNECT
I use to meditate, wear mala beads around my neck, sit in full lotus doing my mantra and then get up and have a vicious fight with my sister. That relationship was my ticket HOME and I didn’t see it. It TRIGGERED something within me that was calling for FORGIVENESS which really means, RIGHT PERCEPTION. She is my TEACHER. I WAS BEING GIVEN ANOTHER CHANCE AT SALVATION but I didn’t realize it yet. Only appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother. Gratitude is due him for both his loving thoughts and his appeals for help, for both are capable of bringing love into your awareness if you perceive them truly. And all your sense of strain comes from your attempts not to do just this. Every encounter is holy and deserves our appreciation. My brother is either extending love or calling for love. There is nothing else going on. If I am in pain I am seeing something that is not there and I am calling for help and healing. If my sister is in pain, she is calling for help and healing.
No matter who is in front of us, the Course asks — Can we see the face of Christ instead of what the ego is presenting? AND wouldn’t we also want others to ‘see’ who we really are, behind our fears and behind our ego demonstrations?
Marianne Williamson writes: “There is a line in a song from the play “LES MISERABLES” that says, “to love another person is to see the face of God.” WHAT IS THE FACE OF CHRIST? READ FROM HER BOOK: “’The Face of Christ’ is the INNOCENCE and LOVE behind the masks we all wear, and seeing that face, touching it and loving it in ourselves and others, is the experience of God. It is our divine humanness. It is the high we all seek.”
A beautiful song by an ACIM troubadour Donna Marie Cary who will be at the 2013 ACIM Conference is called “Will’s Song”.
WILL’S SONG – Listen here
When you hear me laughing
Don’t always be fooled by my disguise
Don’t forget to look twice in my eyes
Hear what I’m really saying
I don’t always tell the truth
Embarrassed and ashamed of the past
Too afraid to ask for help
I need help
Won’t someone hear what I’m really saying
Will you be a light Shining through the dark
Will you be the Voice calling out
It’s OK ~ It’s Safe ~ You’re alright
Don’t forget to look twice in my eyes
It may appear I’m fighting you
I’m only tryin’ to claw my way out
Suffocating in this tomb of fear and doubt
When you hear me shout
Hear what I’m really saying
Don’t believe in what I do or say
I’m more than just the actor in the play
Look beyond and see what I truly AM
Help me remember
What I truly AM
Will you be a light Shining through the dark
Will you be the Voice calling out
It’s OK ~ It’s Safe ~ You’re alright
Don’t forget to look twice in my eyes
Don’t forget to look twice in my eyes
“Help me to REMEMBER what I truly AM.”
http://www.donnamariecary.com/
One of my favorite quotes from the Course is:
“From loving Minds there is no separation and every thought in one brings gladness to the other, because they are the same.” ACIM OrEd.Tx.22.64
ACIM teaches that Fear is nothing. Love is EVERYTHING. When you turn a light on, the darkness disappears into nothingness. The darkness was just the absence of Light. The Light is what is REAL. Love is what is real.
MY TEACHER
One time I had a horrendous fight with my sister who is definitely my TEACHER! Go figure. 🙂
By the way, the Course talks about levels of teachers: Chance encounters / Intense but short lived / and Life Long “who present unlimited opportunities for learning”. That’s my sister!
Our egos were really into it and there didn’t seem to be a way out. Each negative thought brought up more pain, more accusations, more guilt and anger. I finally remembered the COURSE and told myself “Only the Loving Thoughts of God are Real” and made the decision to ONLY let those Thoughts in. I’d kick any thought out that wasn’t in line with what God would think. And it was transformational! I no longer saw myself as hurt in anyway. I came to remember my wholeness AND I came to remember my sister’s wholeness. Her attack is a call for love as my unloving response is also a call for love. GIVE THE LOVE YOU ARE CALLING FOR! Only LOVE is REAL. What was REAL about the situation came to the foreground and all the nonsense of the ego disappeared. I knew that she loved me and that I loved her and nothing else really mattered. There was PEACE and JOINING because: “…every Thought in one brings gladness to the other because they are the same.”
I used to only be able to be around her for a few hours before our egos would engage. Recently my twin came to stay with me for a MONTH and we had a fantastic time. One day I heard her say, under her breath. “OK. What is lacking in any situation is what I have not brought to it.” a Quote from the Course!! So she was working, as I was, to see things differently and have a shift in perception which is the MIRACLE. ♥
There is only LOVE or Fear. One is REAL the other is an illusion. Jesus speaks to us of the Holy Spirit.
“Having taught you to accept only loving thoughts in others
and to regard everything else as an appeal for help,
He has taught you that fear is an appeal for help.
This is what recognizing it really means. If you do not protect it, He will reinterpret it.
That is the ultimate value to you in learning to perceive attack as a call for love.
We have learned surely that fear and attack are inevitably associated.
If only attack produces fear and if you see attack as the call for help that it is,
the unreality of fear must dawn upon you.
For fear is a call for love in unconscious recognition of what has been denied.
We give our thoughts all the power that they have.”
ACIM OrEd.Tx.11.10
In preparing for this workshop I was using our On-Line Searchable edition for “brother is my savior”. [The SEARCH goes through all 365 lessons, 600+ pages of the Text & Manual]. The search results were that this phrase only appears in one place! In one of the LESSONS. I saw that it was in the 200’s and knew that was toward the end of the year but didn’t notice anything in particular about it. Then I got goose bumps. I went over to my Study Guide to see what lesson everyone would be doing on the day of the workshop October 15th and it was THAT very same Lesson ~ Lesson 288, OMG I just started to cry! I love synchronicities!
Here is Lesson 288 read by maz Weber-Caspers, CIMS member & musician:
♪ ♫ LISTEN HERE – http://bitly.com/SonShipAUDIOLesson288 ♫ ♪
L e s s o n 288
Let me forget my brother’s past today.
This is the thought that leads the way to You,
and brings me to my goal. I cannot come
to You without my brother. And to know
my Source, I first must recognize what You
created one with me. My brother’s is
the hand that leads me on the way to You.
His sins are in the past along with mine.
And I am saved because the past is gone.
Let me not cherish it within my heart,
or I will lose the way to walk to You.
My brother is my Saviour. Let me not
attack the Saviour You have given me,
but let me honor him who bears Your Name,
and so remember that It is my own.
Forgive me, then, today. And you will know
you have forgiven me if you behold
your brother in the light of holiness.
He cannot be less holy than can I,
and you can not be holier than he.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
Here’s one last song to leave with:
ECHOES IN THE SILENCE ~ Listen here
Beyond my thoughts, Beyond my dreams there is a VOICE calling.
TRUTH is what it speaks. LOVE is all it seeks.
Breaking down the walls around me.
And it echoes in the silence.
Rolling back the tides. Lighting up the night.
Opening up my eyes to LOVE.
Seeing what is REAL How it feels to know I’m only LOVE
And it echoes in the silence.
Beyond the world there is a HOME where we all live as ONE.
Angels sing a long forgotten SONG.
Singing us HOME. Can you hear them singing us HOME?
LOVE is revealed. I AM healed. Beyond the Silence.
Beyond my thoughts, Beyond my dreams.
The world I see.
And it echoes in the silence.
There are no accidents. Perhaps the Course is calling to you, beyond your thoughts, beyond your dreams. Angels are calling you HOME.
We are the Light of the World!
~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 & social media manager, facilitates a Course in Miracles study group in Omaha, NE along with her husband Chris, is an ordained minister of the Community Miracles Center and teaches Hatha Yoga.
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.acim-original.com/
Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] 
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