In Remembrance of Martin G. Weber-Caspers

InLovingRemembrance_MAZ

Martin [Maz] passed into the Light in July 2022.

We all know Maz as the Voice of A Course in Miracles Original Edition. His loving voice has guided us for many years through the Text and  Lessons as we journey on the path of extending our Love together.

Also, as the chairman of the Curtis Knight Foundation, he has produced local radio programs, internet radio shows, and other endeavors to promote and support co-creativity on a broader scale.

He was given the title of honor ‘Ambassador of Multi-Cultural Flevoland’ for his many years of creative services to the global and local community.

To honor Maz for all he has given to the SonShip, we share a few of his creations here. [This link has a wider selection compiled by Maz within the last couple of years.]

We offer this poem called EASTER by Helen Schucman
[scribe of A Course in Miracles] in remembrance of our dear Brother.

EASTER
by
Helen Schucman

IDidNotDie

I did not die. In rising up I did
But stay the same. Eternity had come
To claim its own from the embrace of time
and bitter kiss of death. I but came home
After a journey so diminutive
that Heaven never noticed it began
Nor ended. Unencumbered, changelessly,
the Christ united with the Son of man,
And what belonged to God returned to Him.
Think not the Holy Spirit waits for death
To offer you the gifts God gave to Him,
Or Heaven rests upon a failing breath.

I did not die. Appearances of hate
Enveloped Me. Illusions veiled My eyes
and stopped My heart. Earth’s dream closed over Me,
and that was all. The Son of God must rise
Above all dreams of fear. Would God allow
The Son who is like Him to separate
From life that is Himself? His Comforter
Came down to lift Me up within his great
And silent wings. The peace of God unbound
My hands and feet. For who can stop the Heart
Of God Himself, or veil the eyes that watch
His Son in mercy, or make Him depart
From what is but Himself?

~*~

One of Helen’s poems that Maz sang so beautifully
and is so incredibly meaningful is…

THE RISEN SUN

SunLit by Ankie

“Sun Lit” by Ankie Caspers
♪ ♫ ♪ Sung by Martin [Maz] ♪ ♫ ♪

Be still, my soul, and rest upon the Lord
In quiet certainty. For He has come
To rescue you from doubt. And now you stand
In blazing glory of a risen sun
That cannot set. It will forever be
Exactly as it is. You stand with Him
Within a radiance prepared for you
Before time was and far beyond its reach.
Be still and know. And knowing, be you sure
Your Lord has come to you. There is no doubt
That stands before His countenance, nor can
Conceal from you what He would have you see.
The sun has risen. He has come at last.
Where stands his Presence there can be no past.
Be still, my soul, and rest upon the Lord
Who comes to keep the promise of His Word.
 
 
~*~

MUSIC
by Martin Weber-Caspers [maz]

Maz SINGS a few of Helen’s poems
along with other songs of his.

♪ ♫ ♪SPIRIT I AM ~ music from Maz♪ ♫ ♪

MazMusic-SpiritIAM

~*~

MAZ DESCRIBES THE COMPILATION

As the Sonship evolves in learning and returns within with a process called “restoration”, we learn a lot about the unified purpose and the universal curriculum.

The composition of “FlevoART Ambassy” and accompanying instrumental, meditative composition invites you to listen to the Golden rule. This composition features music from 14 World traditions whose scriptures all contain the Golden Rule, which is so basic, so powerful, and so needed as a guide for human interaction.  ~ Maz

MARTIN-EmbassyofFlevoart
 
~*~

SOUNDCLOUD SET

Listen here to Maz playlist on SoundCloud

https://bit.ly/maz-music

~*~

Recitation of Lesson 100 in ‘blank verse’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ZVKkrJur4

IP formatting by Lee Flynn, voice & music: maz

~*~

YOUTUBE Interview of MAZ
[in Dutch]

Componist in flevoland_Maz

~*~

The following is our last communication with Maz, which was shortly before his passing last year. We weren’t informed of his passing until now.

Maz wrote:

… respiratory insufficiencies.
It is impossible to perform task … because of health reasons.

And we wrote back:

Dearest Maz,

This brings tears to my eyes! We have been friends for so long. You are in my HEART and will always be!

You have given the Sonship truly wonderful gifts that will go on and on!!

So many people have benefited from your audio recordings.

There are none like it! You did them with so much love and presence.

The gifts of your audios and music have traveled and will continue to travel far and wide!!

You have left your loving mark on the ACIM Community in a HUGE WAY!

Take care, and let us know if there is anything we can do for you.

We love you!!!

=========================

Maz replied:

Dearest,

This is very sweet of you to say! Thank You!

It gladdens my heart and Soul.

I am very happy to have contributed something worthwhile and lasting for the Sonship!

However, I am not in a hurry. All in God´s time! )))*(((

Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.

Again, Thank you from the one Heart…

Be well, and God bless,

Maz*

We love you, Maz!

There are no words to express how
grateful we are to have known you and for all you have done for the SonShip.
Although you are no longer with us in the physical we know you will always BE there…

Where would Love go?

Holy Spirit
 
*Maz has set up a trust for his young son. Please send any gifts of appreciation to Tom Whitmore at cims@jcim.net
and we will make certain they are received.
 
 
 
COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY
7602 Pacific Street, Suite 200
Omaha, Nebraska 68114 USA
Voice: 800-771-5056
WEB: http://jcim.net
 

The Journey Back

The Journey Back

Based on the teachings of
A Course in Miracles – Original Edition
published by COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY

Ours is simply the journey back to God, Who is our home. Whenever fear intrudes anywhere along the road to peace, it is always because the ego has attempted to join the journey with us and cannot do so. ACIM TEXT CH 8 V par 40

~*~

This is such a transformative time to be alive. So much is happening and it is happening at lightning speed! The problems we thought we had a decade ago, and thought we had time to solve, have accelerated to the point where our solutions are outdated and no longer viable.

And yet our journey may not be as it seems. Many of us see the journey to this moment as linear, progressing from a BIG BANG and evolving continuously in Time and Space to culminate in this moment of NOW.

However, there are many people today who have crossed the veil of death and have been revived to share with all of us their experience of “timelessness.” They describe their experiences as a million times more “Real” than what we experience here in our bodies, in Time and Space.

What if everything we ever thought were true is not quite the way we thought. In fact, what if we have everything upside down and backward?

It turns out that these are the very same thoughts Dr. William Thetford had as he began to transcribe the shorthand notes of A Course in Miracles brought to him from his colleague Helen Schucman when he was Professor of Medical Psychology at Colombia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Director of the Psychology Department at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and she was Associate Professor of Medical Psychology and his assistant.

From New Realities Magazine, October 1984 (Interview conducted by James Bolen)

THETFORD: It has changed my life totally.  I recall typing … and realized that if this material was true then absolutely everything I believed would have to be challenged – that I would have to reconstruct my whole belief system.

Dr. Helen Schucman, who was a hesitant scribe and self-described militant atheist, began to give more credence to an internal Voice she had heard for most of her life. Lately, it had been a bit more insistent, asking her to “take notes.” Eventually she learned, and somewhat to her consternation, that the Voice was that of Jesus.

The persistence of the Voice was most likely related to a new concept of a “Celestial Speedup.” Things were speeding up and we needed to make better choices now.

The “chosen ones” are merely those who choose right sooner. This is the real meaning of the celestial speed-up. Strong wills can do this now, and you will find rest for your Souls. God knows you only in peace, and this is your reality. ACIM OE TEXT CH 3 VI par 60

Taking these “Notes,” and bringing them to Bill to be typed, marked the beginning of their mutual journey back through the projection, misperception, and condemnation, toward the sanity of the Peace of God. This culminated in the creation of A Course in Miracles and also the beginning of the Journey Back for millions of people around the globe.

For perhaps the first time in our joint Journey on this planet, more and more people are shifting their view of this 3D experience and opening to the idea that there might be more, right here and right now. They are opening to the idea that the survival mechanism of the body has perhaps blinded them to the peace that comes from Knowing themSelves as Eternal, Sinless, and Guiltless Children of God — which is the message of A Course in Miracles.

Another intriguing concept in A Course in Miracles, and from other channeled entities, is that of simultaneous time. Instead of a horizontal continuum of past, present, and future, time can be seen as, indeed, a vertical INSTANT of Now and in that Holy Instant is your Reality. Everything is happening in this moment of Now. It has never begun and it will never cease.

We have repeatedly emphasized that one level of the mind is not understandable to another. So it is with the ego and the Soul, with time and eternity. Eternity is an idea of God, so the Soul understands it perfectly. Time is a belief of the ego, so the lower mind, which is the ego’s domain, accepts it without question. The only aspect of time which is really eternal is now. That is what we really mean when we say that “now is the only time.” ACIM OE TEXT CH 5 V par 37

This would mean that the Journey back to God would truly be a Journey into the experience of NOW where all eternity resides and where all is well and has always been.

The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. ACIM OE TEXT CH 8 VI par 51

======================

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] publishers of A Course in Miracles – Original Edition; She is the CIMS webmaster, produces & distributes the Daily Lesson & Text mailing, and facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha, NE Rev Reja Joy was ordained by Community Miracles Center and was a presenter, with her husband Chris, at the 2018 Annual ACIM International Conference in San Francisco.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches Yoga from the perspective of A Course in Miracles. She also initiated a Daily Conference Call Study Group that began in 2013 and hosts several social media groups for those who wish to share this journey.

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.  Jcim.net

Awaken from the Dream

AwakenFroTheDream

Awaken from the Dream

Based on the teachings of
A Course in Miracles – Original Edition
published by COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY

What a dream-like quality these recent days have had. It feels as if we are dreaming. And we must be! How else could this be so? It has to be a dream. And we’re going to wake up and then everything will go back to normal. Right?

And yet, in the next moment we realize that the world is still changed, and that it may stay changed forever.

Now it seems like we are awake, and it is real and yet everything is different. There is a sense of foreboding that encompasses everything. There is a sense that things are out of place and out of sync and nothing makes sense anymore, as if it did before. It’s as if someone took the playing board and threw it up in the air and now all the pieces are scattered. How will we put them back together? And can we?

And yet there is also a sense of Awareness and Presence and Aliveness that somehow feels familiar. Perhaps we remember having experienced all of these before, even though they didn’t last for long. Eventually, they dissolved, and everything went back to how it was before; but that’s not happening this time. This time is different.

This time the Awareness and Presence and Aliveness aren’t fading away and there is something else that is astonishing. We are not alone in our experience. The whole world has joined us.

Over the last decade the world has been united through electronic communication as never before and for the first time we, as a species, are experiencing a global event that impacts every one of us, with no exceptions, all at the same time.

The global event, of course, is the deadly and contagious virus that has reached into every facet of life for all the billions of people on our planet and has changed everything.

We seem to be awake now and yet it is still a dream. In A Course in Miracles we learn that we are awake within a dream of separation in which we all play a part. It teaches us that we are all waking up together to the Reality of our Oneness and to our Eternal nature and immortality.

“…your banishment is not of God and therefore does not exist. You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awakening to reality. Is it your will to do so? ACIM OE T.9.65

What is our will? So many of us have indeed responded to this viral threat as if, somehow, we were being called to once again make a choice. It is in these times of deep turmoil that everything peripheral and non-essential slips away. Everything trivial falls away and all that remains is a stark decision—- to choose Love or fear.

Initially, the fear may have been so overwhelming that many of us may have faltered as we searched for some relief. As students of A Course in Miracles we may have finally recalled that we have been given so much incredible Guidance to be used in all situations, especially where there is lack of love.

And so, we recall this Guidance that is simple and yet the resulting peace is so complete and total. With these words, our Soul is quieted and our strength returns:

Know first that this is fear.
Fear arises from lack of love.
The only remedy for lack of love is perfect love.
Perfect love is the Atonement.
ACIM OE T.2.83-85

What has been so inspiring to witness, during this Pandemic, is how many people have truly made this choice for Love and then have given away the gifts they have received.

We witness as one man creates a YouTube Channel with “Some Good News – SGN” filled with inspiring video stories of people coming together to support one another, whether it’s a ballet troupe weaving together a choreographed production, each in their own homes yet each joining in the movement and the music; or a community in a locked-down city, spending the evening on their window sills and porches toasting each other and singing together; or hundreds of thousands of parishioners joining in a rosary, each in their own homes, yet joining with one voice.

The strength and power in realizing our One Self has become palpable.

  I am One Self, united with my Creator,
 At one with every aspect of creation,
 And limitless in power and in peace.
ACIM OE Lesson 95

Now, in this Holy Instant, our true faith enters. We may have, in the past and during most of our lives, put all of our faith in what our limited minds have told us; and we may have put our faith in what mankind has been listening to for centuries. Thus, the journey has been a perpetuation of the same illusions, the same dissatisfactions, and the same heartaches.

Today, we have reached a turning point.

The undeniable call to choose love has gone out in these stark times of loss. Can you feel it? It’s a Call sent to every one of us with no one excluded.

“I cannot choose for you, but I can help you make your own right choice. ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’ should read, ‘All are called, but few choose to listen. Therefore, they do not choose right.’ The ‘chosen ones’ are merely those who choose right sooner. This is the real meaning of the celestial speed-up.” ACIM OE T.3.49

Perhaps we are getting that chance now, in this Pandemic, to choose right sooner.

Now we are realizing that every Holy Instant gives us a chance to choose again. It is a call to shift our awareness from the unreal [limitation and fear] toward the Real [Unlimited Creativity and Love] and it is this very shift that is the Miracle.

Of course, we can resist the call to awaken to the New and thus fall victim to what we fear; but when we do this, we will always feel exhausted, depressed, and defeated.

We have all been called to choose Love as our Guide, and yet, we do not have to do this alone. We have help. How tender and loving are Elder Brother’s words as He whispers in our hearts:

“In peace we will continue in His way and trust all things to Him. In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His will in everything we do. He loves God’s Son as we would love him, and He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes and love him as He does. You do not walk alone. God’s angels hover close and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure: that I will never leave you comfortless.” ACIM OE Workbook Epilogue par 6

And so, it is.

======================

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] publishers of A Course in Miracles – Original Edition; She is the CIMS webmaster, produces & distributes the Daily Lesson & Text mailing, and facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha, NE Rev Reja Joy was ordained by Community Miracles Center and was a presenter, with her husband Chris, at the 2018 Annual ACIM International Conference in San Francisco.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches Yoga from the perspective of A Course in Miracles. She also initiated a Daily Conference Call Study Group that began in 2013 and hosts several social media groups for those who wish to share this journey.

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.  Jcim.net

There is No Judgment

There Is No Judgment

There is No Judgment

Based on the teachings of
A Course in Miracles – Original Edition
published by COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY

The idea that there is No Judgment will be challenging for anyone to accept.

The immediate reaction will most likely be in the defense of judgment as if judgments were not only a given but a requirement in this world.

Our minds will say: Of course, there is judgment. There has to be judgment. How could there not be in this world of choice?  Some choices are judged as bad and some are judged as good, but there must be judgment in order to navigate this world and fix it.

And yet, do we really?

Is there another way of looking at it?

A Course in Miracles-Original Edition tells us that there is.

Recently, a message was delivered to me as if it were from somewhere outside of me and yet it also felt as if it were from deep within. I was just walking from one room to the next and I ‘heard’ the words, “There is no judgment”. The words were tied to the thought and the words were the thought. Yet, what accompanied that thought was a tremendous feeling of release.

I have always judged myself harshly. Every second must be filled with me doing something worthy. All my activities, every second, must qualify as useful. There must be no slouching, no misuse of time.

It is fine and good to want to be productive, but when there is a sense of judgment and guilt from seemingly being unproductive, that’s where the mark is missed.

And now I hear: “There is no judgment.

Those words wash over me like a forgiveness shower. If guilt is missing the mark [i.e. sin], then forgiveness is restoring that which will never change: my sinlessness, my guiltlessness, my immortality, my Eternal Soul. That is what I am feeling.

Forgiveness, … is still and quietly does nothing. It offends no aspect of reality nor seeks to twist it to appearance that it likes. It merely looks and waits and judges not. He who would not forgive must judge, for he must justify his failure to forgive. But he who would forgive himself must learn to welcome truth exactly as it is.

ACIM OE Workbook PII #4. What is Forgiveness

In those moments of truly realizing There is no Judgment, I was free of self-condemnation and knew, to the very depths of my being, that all is well; that there is nothing outside of me anywhere that judges me. There is nothing that needs to change or be different. Everything is as it should be and “All things work together for good.” ACIM OE TX.4.69

I knew that I could now integrate the following Lesson:

Lesson 268: Let all things be exactly as they are.

Let me not be Your critic, Lord, today, and judge against You.
Let me not attempt to interfere
with Your creation and distort it into sickly forms.
Let me be willing to withdraw my wishes
from its unity and thus to let it be as You created it.
For thus will I be able, too, to recognize
my Self as You created me. In Love was I created,
and in Love will I remain forever.
What can frighten me when I let all things be exactly as they are?
W2:268.1

Yet, how could this be? How could I let all things be exactly as they are? Should I let poverty, sexual abuse, murder, rape, theft, and war be “exactly as they are?”

When I ask these questions within, I realize that A Course in Miracles – Original Edition is offering a radical, new way of looking at this world. As the Course tells us: The fruits of any curriculum should bring peace. If they do not, then go the other way.

Perhaps to know deeply the meaning of this Lesson, we must seek within, past all our prior learning, past all our surface, limiting thoughts that tell us that we are separate, that we were born, and that we will die.

Can we let all those thoughts go for just a few moments and sit quietly, doing nothing,  allowing the meaning of this Lesson to filter through us from the part of our Minds that has never left our Source?

From the study of ACIM OE, I am realizing that letting something be exactly as it is, is not condoning it, but it is seeing past the distortion of what is Real. Letting something be as it is, is letting it be “as You [Love] created it” and not as I am perceiving it. [see quote above]

This is also what Forgiveness means to me from my study of A Course in Miracles-Original Edition [ACIM OE]. For me, forgiveness means to see everything as God [Love] would see it, which means to see what is Real about everything. I’ve learned that ONLY LOVE IS REAL and if something changes, it was not Love. What is Real about Who I AM will never change, for “Love Created me like Itself.” ACIM Lesson 67

Thus, to let things be exactly as they are is to know that:

What is Real is the Love in the midst of hate.
What is Real is the Light in the midst of darkness.
What is Real is that which is Changeless in the midst of change.

When I know there is no judgment and see myself and everyone and everything with the eyes of love, I need do nothing for I have accepted the Atonement.

Lesson 337: My sinlessness protects me from all harm.

My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love,freedom forever from all thought of loss, complete deliverance from suffering.And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me.What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myselfand nothing more. God has already done all things that need be done.And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self,my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God’s Loveprotecting me from harm, to understand my Father loves His Son,to know I am the Son my Father loves.W2:337.1

My worthiness is guaranteed by God and All is well!

Now I know “I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness…”

There is no judgment …for there is only God’s Love.

And so it is.

======================

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] publishers of A Course in Miracles – Original Edition; She is the CIMS webmaster, produces & distributes the Daily Lesson & Text mailing, and facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha, NE Rev Reja Joy was ordained by Community Miracles Center and was a presenter, with her husband Chris, at the 2018 Annual ACIM International Conference in San Francisco.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches Yoga from the perspective of A Course in Miracles. She also initiated a Daily Conference Call Study Group that began in 2013 and hosts several social media groups for those who wish to share this journey.

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.  Jcim.net

The Purpose Given You

The Purpose Given You

The Purpose Given You

by Rev Reja Joy Green*

I love it when synchronicities happen in my life. They seem to be sending me a hint that there is an unseen connection uniting me with all of life. The message seems to be that I am not alone and that we are all in this thing together—that all of life is united in this magnificent journey of BEING, which does not end when we leave our bodies. Recently, as I was thinking about these synchronicities, I was instantly reminded of a New York Times best-selling book I discovered recently by Laura Lynne Jackson called, “The Light Between Us.”

While listening to that audiobook, narrated by the author, who—by the way—does a spectacular job at bringing forth this blessed concept of Unity and Connectedness, I was struck by how much of this message is a reflection of what we are learning in A Course in Miracles-Original Edition.

From loving minds there is no separation. And every thought in one brings gladness to the other because they are the same. Joy is unlimited because each shining thought of love extends its being and creates more of itself. There is no difference anywhere in it, for every thought is like itself.” ACIM OE TX.22.VII.64

What better time than now, in this time of racial strife, economic insecurity, climate change, and the general sense of malaise and hopelessness that all of these issues bring to our lives, to have a message come through that resonates so deeply within our being—There is another way! We are connected. There is a purpose here. 

In A Course in Miracles-Original Edition, we are presented with the amazing idea that there are no accidents and that we are responsible for what occurs in our world. These are powerful teachings that take a bit of courage to open up to. There is a degree of acceptance and willingness and surrender that must be there before we can truly open our hearts to the loving messages in this Course, which will inevitably precipitate the healing that naturally follows.

“Miracles are natural. When they do not occur, something has gone wrong.”
ACIM OE TX.1.I.6

And so what is the Miracle? Wouldn’t it be a miracle to experience a shift in what we thought was so? What if we were to be shown that we had been totally mistaken in how we were seeing the world and that there is a way at looking at the world that brings peace to us and to everyone who comes in contact with us. What if all our misperceptions were hiding the Real World from our sight and that the miracle is what would shine them away?

If we are in despair at our current situation in this life, has the time come when we will have the courage to make a shift away from how we have always thought and toward being willing to look again, and this time to look with a Divine Vision from deep within?

In our daily ACIM OE TEXT Conference Call Study Group the other day, we read the following:

“A simple question yet remains and needs an answer. Do you like what you have made—a world of murder and attack through which you thread your timid way through constant dangers, alone and frightened, hoping at most that death will wait a little longer before it overtakes you and you disappear? You made this up. It is a picture of what you think you are, of how you see yourself. A murderer is frightened, and those who kill fear death. All these are but the fearful thoughts of those who would adjust themselves to a world made fearful by their adjustments. And they look out in sorrow from what is sad within and see the sadness there.” ACIM OE TX.20.IV.19

“They look out in sorrow from what is sad within,” but what if they looked out in joy from what is joyful within?  What if we came with empty hands to a power deep within us that could show us what is truly so. What if we have been deceived by fear into seeing a world of separation when the world of connectedness and love has always been there, waiting to be seen.

You may have heard the story of the man outside of a town being asked by newcomers what the town was like. He told them that they’d better keep close watch of their valuables and make sure to always lock their doors. He even told them of all the times he had been robbed and cheated and suggested to them that they might want to think twice about living there.

And yet the newcomers move on to another man further down the road and ask him the same question to which his face brightens with joy. He tells them that he has experienced a torrent of generosity, kindness, and compassion from every single townsperson he has met since coming there. He tells them that they will love this town and that they may never want to leave it.

We see only what we believe deep within. When our beliefs align with Love, there is a healing of this seeming separate world that can and will take place and begins within each of us. That’s what A Course in Miracles is guiding us towards.

“There is no fear in perfect love because it knows no sin and it must look on others as on itself. Looking with charity within, what can it fear without? The innocent see safety, and the pure in heart see God within His Son and look unto the Son to lead them to the Father. And where else would they go but where they will to be? Each of you now will lead the other to the Father as surely as God created His Son holy and kept him so. In your brother is the light of God’s eternal promise of your immortality. See him as sinless, and there can be no fear in you.” ACIM OE TX.20.IV.27

This illustration of seeing what we believe is also related to the Course concept of responsibility. A Course in Miracles-OE tells us that we “are not victims of the world” we see, that there is “another way at looking at the world,” that “I will forgive and this will disappear.” It gently guides us away from our misperceptions and toward a new way of being and of seeing in which we use our inner guidance to show us the Love that is truly there.

“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.” ACIM OE TX.21.III.15

What an amazingly powerful statement, and it is one in which we see a bit of bad news as well as good news.

What I see around me, as my life, is exactly what I have “asked for and received as I had asked” and in most cases, that’s bad news. When I look around me I see the seeming inhumanity of man toward each other, the state of the environment, or the chaos in our governments. Or, I could just look closer to my home and see my personal struggles and challenges in my family or with my health.

Yet, this need not be. While I may very well be aware of the bad news, the good news is—I am the one who can change it. My thoughts are not idle. My thoughts are the most powerful force in the Universe.

Now we might ask: What will it take to bring a miracle—a shift in this world that we inhabit today? How can we feel the Unity that lies beneath the duality and that connects us all?

A Course in Miracles teaches us that it will be the thoughts and feelings and the goals that we choose that will bring the shift. The miracle comes with the forgiveness we bring to the world that is seemingly outside of us. In the last pages of the last chapter in the Text of A Course of Miracles titled CHOOSE ONCE AGAIN, we find these loving words:

“You are as God created you, and so is every living thing you look upon, regardless of the images you see. What you behold as sickness and as pain, as weakness and as suffering and loss is but temptation to perceive yourself defenseless and in hell. Yield not to this, and you will see all pain in every form wherever it occurs but disappear as mists before the sun. A miracle has come to heal God’s Son and close the door upon his dreams of weakness, opening the way to his salvation and release. Choose once again what you would have him be, remembering that every choice you make establishes your own identity as you will see it and believe it is.”  ACIM OE TX31.VIII.92

If forgiveness means to see only that which is real in each and everyone and everything, then with that gift, we fulfill our purpose in releasing the world from what we thought it did, knowing our forgiveness makes no exceptions. There is absolutely no one excluded for anything they have done or said. We see them as they truly are: whole and complete, sinless and guiltless, even though they may, for a while, continue to deny this truth themselves.

Thus, we are learning that the way to end the cycle of hate and fear is to choose Love, knowing that this is why we have come.

Now we choose again to see the synchronicities that surround us—to let ourselves be shown by the Love within that we are all One and that we are still as Love created us.

This is the purpose given you. Think not that your forgiveness of each other serves but you two alone. For the whole new world rests in the hands of every two who enter here to rest. And as they rest, the face of Christ shines on them, and they remember the laws of God, forgetting all the rest and yearning only to have His laws perfectly fulfilled in them and all their brothers.” ACIM OE TX.20.V.34

And so, it is.

======================

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] publishers of A Course in Miracles – Original Edition; She is the CIMS webmaster, produces the Daily Lesson & Text mailing, and facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha, NE Rev Reja Joy was ordained by Community Miracles Center and was a presenter, with her husband Chris, at the 2018 Annual ACIM International Conference in San Francisco.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches Yoga from the perspective of A Course in Miracles, initiated a Daily Conference Call Study Group, and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey.

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.  Jcim.net

NAMASTE!

AllPowerIsYours

 

Welcome to cimsmiracles.Wordpress.com.

===========================

The LIGHT is Here and more and more BLOGS and WEBSITES and SOCIAL NETWORKS are being built to spread the NEWS that YOU ARE LIGHT!

The Course in Miracles spoke of the Celestial Speedup and THIS IS IT!

Let’s open to HEAVEN Here and Now!

LOVE waits on Welcome, not on Time.

Much Love from ~

~ Course in Miracles Society
Omaha, NE

The Script is Written

THE SCRIPT IS WRITTEN
Jeshua/Jesus thru Brent Haskell

AUDIO – The Script is Written

 

Greetings to you this day. I am Jeshua. And I have come, as always, to discuss with you A Course in Miracles. You have been struggling, as it were, for some time, about some words, which I have placed in A Course in Miracles. And those words are these; “The script is written.” (See ACIM Workbook Lesson 158)

And what I have told you with those words is that for everything that seems to happen here, it has already been done. The time when each of you shall come to understand the truth of who you are is set. It is in the script. It is just as if it has been placed at a certain frame on the film that you play out, that you call your life. And only when you arrive at that frame and that moment, that seeming moment in your time, will you truly understand.

And I have said to you that time only seems to go in one direction. Time only seems to go in one direction. And all of this can present such a dilemma for you, can it not?

Here, in your earthly life, what can you do? I have told you that always when you come to the point in time when you understand, when you come to your moment of awakening, you will realize in that same moment the truth that – There was nothing I needed to do.

But your question for today goes even beyond that. For indeed, is there anything that you can do at all? If you are impatient to know the peace of God, can you, in your time, speed up the process? Can you be diligent and make the moment come sooner in your time? Does the time of your study, the time of your contemplation, the time of your simply being silent, does any of that make any difference at all? Or will you simply one day awaken and say, “Aha, I see.”?

Now I have told you, have I not, so many times, that this world never happened. And I have told you that this world is but illusion. It is not real. And do you know one of the aspects of reality itself – reality is imbued with creative power. That which is real is of God. You are of God. Because you, the reality of what you are – you are real. But this world, ah – `tis not real.

And what does that include? That includes your bodies. They are not real. That includes the aspects you see of space and time – the skies and the heavens – the earth about you the flowers and the trees – none of it is real. `Tis but a figment of imagination, if you will.

And this is part of what I have told you, but is so difficult for you. The thoughts you think you think are not real. The thoughts of which you are aware are not real thoughts. And that means this, as I have told you – the thoughts you think you think, the thoughts of the brain, if you will, the thoughts of space and time, are not real. And as such, hear me well. They have no creative power.

So can you, of your thinking, of your planning, of your struggling, of your doing things here, change anything, do anything at all? And the answer must be no. The answer must be no.

This is the fundamental struggle that you – insofar as you believe yourself to be your ego – this is the fundamental struggle that you must deal with. And I have spoken to you and called it the authority problem.

As ego, as a conscious thinking being, here, who seems to have life and seems to have choice, and would seem to perhaps have power associated with your choices, is there anything that you can do? And the answer is – no.

Consider for a moment – what if that were not so? What if you, in your conscious thinking, could in fact change your mind and see your life or your world change? Then that would demand that your thinking, the thoughts of this world, had creative power. Suppose that you could, with your body, do acts, do things that could change your world. That would mean that bodies had within them creative power. And that would mean that the thoughts of consciousness, the body itself, would be of God. That which has creative power must be God Itself, just as you – in your reality, have creative power and are God.So how do you deal with this issue, if I tell you, as I truly am telling you, that nothing you do in your life makes any difference at all? And one of your great passions, one of your great concerns in being loving and pursuing the spiritual path – for most of you – for so many of you – is that you say, “I want to make a difference. I want, when my life is over, to be able to stand tall and say, `I made a difference. I changed my world.'” And do you know what this is? Truly that is but the voice of the ego crying out not to die.

Ask yourself this – if this world is not real, if it is but illusion – if it has no effect of any kind in all of eternity – then why would it matter whether your life here makes a difference? That too is but illusion. So if you would be a student of A Course in Miracles, if you would be a teacher of A Course in Miracles, if you would be a writer of books, the sharer of wisdom through lectures or speaking engagements, or workshops – does any of that matter? And the answer truly is – it does not.

Such harsh words are they not? For have I not just told you that all of your struggling, everything you would do to seek to accomplish good in your life, matters not at all. DO you recall that I said in A Course in Miracles, “Your only goal is to accept the Atonement for yourself.”?

And do you recall the words I spoke in A Course in Miracles, that experience cannot be given directly? The only thing you have to offer is the vision of Christ – the vision of the Holy Spirit.

And vision itself – hear me well – has no power to change. Vision is but experience that you have within yourself when you – in a moment – see this world differently, when you forgive this world. And that, as I have told you, is your only function – to forgive this world – to forgive yourself – to forgive your brother – to forgive me and to forgive God Itself.

Have you heard these words at the core of your being? You forgive through vision. You forgive not through action, not though doing, not through trying, above all not through studying and struggling and dialoguing, if you will.

So what does that mean? What it means is – you must hear these words I speak this day, and these words which you will find in A Course in Miracles as you look for them – it means that you must take those words and experience them. For if you do not, or until you do, you will not know the peace of God. Hear me well.

So if your life matters not – ah, did I say that? Did I say your life matters not? Or did I say that there is nothing you can do to change anything? There is a difference. There truly is nothing you can do to bring about sooner the moment of your awakening. And if you feel you are awakened already – and wish to give the gift to your brothers and sisters, there is nothing you can do whatsoever to hasten the moment of their awakening as well. The script is written. The time is set.

Time but seems to flow in one direction. What does that mean? You believe in cause and effect being separate. That ultimately is the belief in your time. For you believe that an action, a thought, a word, a deed, now, will result in a change. The word “will” speaks of the future, do you hear? You believe that a word, an action, a thought, now, can effect what you see as the future. And it is absolutely not so.

I have told you that every single moment of your time is totally independent of every other moment of your time. That is what it means to say that cause and effect are not separate. In the absence of time, the Son of God imagines whatever he will, and in that instant, it is done. There cannot be delay. Delay is but illusion.

And so all of your struggling to become is but your desire to worship time, and to hallow what you would call the future, the result. And it is the grandest delusion of the ego to believe that what you call the future is the result of the past. And if it is then, you can further delude yourself into believing that what you did in one moment affected the next And thus you believe that you have creative power.

The nature of God, the fact that time itself does not exist, makes it impossible that such could be the case. In this moment, you either know the peace of God or you do not. And the next moment is the same. The next is the same. The next is the same. The next is the same. And creative spirit, which sits at the core of your being always knows the peace of God.

Did you, Mind, cease creating for a moment to make up a world of illusion? Hear me well. To create is to be. And to cease to create would be to cease to be. Mind never sleeps. It is creating every moment. That I have told you. And what is it that Mind creates – nothing but love. For that is all there is.

This world, I tell you – and this fact lies at the core of your forgiveness – this world, every aspect of it, is love being expressed. And in your forgiveness – when you awaken – in your moment of awakening, you will know that to be true. And that shall be the forgiveness that you seek. And in your forgiveness, you shall find the peace of God.

Can you, from within the framework of the ego, from within consciousness, can you rationalize, can you discuss and discover, can you debate and find, can you figure out how it is that this world is nothing but love? Hear me well. Absolutely not. It is the framework of this world which imprisons you. It is that framework which you use to form that which you call ego, that which you believe yourself to be, but which you are not. From within the domain of the ego, you cannot discover, you cannot find vision, the vision of the Holy Spirit, the vision of your One Self, the vision of Christ, the vision of God. They are all the same.

How then can you find the peace of God? Do you remember that I have told you – you have but one choice in this world – to which voice shall I listen? One choice – to which voice shall you choose to listen? I have told you that there is nothing you can do to hasten the moment of yours or your brother’s awakening. Your goal is to forgive. Your only goal is to accept the Atonement for yourself, which is exactly the same thing.

There truly is nothing you can do. For if it were not so, this world would be imbued with creative power, and would be real. And that which you pretend to see would be God Itself. And the universe would be a place of fear and horror. And it is not so. Hear me well.

How do you choose to listen to the Voice for God? How do you choose to hear the Holy Spirit? For when you do make that choice, then what will fill your awareness is the vision of Christ. For truly then, your One Self, the Holy Spirit, I, God Itself, were He to choose to look upon this world, would see with vision, and would see nothing but love.

How do you choose to do that? There is but one way. For the choice you have of which voice you shall listen is not really a choice at all. So even in the sense of choosing which voice you shall hear, there is still nothing you can do. Hear me well. For this I have told you before.

The Holy Spirit, the Voice of God, the bringer of the vision of Christ, speaks with the quietest of whispers you could ever imagine. The truth is this, my brothers – you hear the Voice of God in your silence. The only choice you have is the choice to be still, to cease the workings of your conscious mind. For when you do not think, you are free of the busyness of the world. You are no longer burning with a passion to dialogue or debate, or study or think or to use your thoughts to become. When you are free of that, then in your silence there comes a whisper, the Voice of the Holy Spirit.

And as you sit in your silence for more than a moment, then there will come exactly this, a vision. And arising out of your silence, you will be given a new world. But nothing will have changed at all. You will be given a new world because, as you look upon your world and experience this world here – beyond the domain of the ego – you will come face to face with the vision of Christ. And everything you see will be the Love of God. And everything you experience will be the Love of God.

And what will you do in your life? You will celebrate. For the fullness of the awareness of that Love will make it impossible for you not to do so. Hear me well this day. That is the measure of your forgiveness. As you look upon your world, do you see nothing but love? As you look upon your world do you see nothing but love in action? As you look upon your world, are you filled with joy and wonder at it all? And as you look upon your world are you filled with a total peace that desires to change nothing? For why would anyone desire to change the perfect Love of God? Do you see?

Then what do you do in your life, if all your doing matters not? And this I have told you as well. How do you know if you are happy? Do you contemplate and debate, or do you simply know at the core of your being? How do you know if you are filled with love? Do you debate the meaning of love? Do you define love and write books about love or do you simply experience that which it is? And experience, as I have told you, is beyond thought – is beyond your thinking mind – is beyond the domain of the ego.

So what can you do then? You simply experience your life. If you would do that, you do not plan one moment in the future, but simply experience your life. And do you remember those words? I spoke them even two thousand years ago, and yet again and again in so many times and places. And yet again in A Course in Miracles. If you would simply experience your life, what will you do? And the answer is so extremely simple that you perhaps have never heard it. If you would simply experience your life, you will follow the path of your own joy.

Do you think I was joking when I said, “God’s will for you is perfect happiness”? and when I gave you the affirmation of “God’s peace and joy are mine”? Not at all. What if your joy does not lead you to study A Course in Miracles? What should you do? Follow the path of your own joy. What if your joy does not lead you to writing books and going to workshops or seminars or dialoguing with your brethren about the nature of truth? What should you do? You should follow the pathway of your own joy. I promise you, if you are not following the pathway of your joy, you are nowhere near, at all, the discovery of the peace of God.

Can you speed up your time? No, indeed. Can you be joyful in your life? Yes, you can. What happens if you truly become silent and open your being, and open your heart – if you will – to the presence of the Holy Spirit – to my presence – to the Voice of God? What happens if you do that? Time itself collapses. I have told you that as well. “Miracles collapse time”. Those are not new words to you, are they? The only place that time can collapse is in your silence. The only activity that can possibly bring you to the point of time collapsing are those that bring you joy.

And what is the measure of your joy? I have told you this also many times. If you believe you are experiencing joy, then ask yourself – “Can anything of this world threaten my joy?” And if the answer is “yes”, then it is not the joy of God. It is still the ego clamoring and crying out to be heard, and trying to convince someone, somewhere, that it exists – which of course it does not.

In the moment of your silence, in the moment of your joy, in the moment of the collapse of time – then all of time becomes the same instant. Do you hear? And in that instant – in that instant of the forever of your time – as it collapses into a single moment, the time of your awakening is there. And I have, have I not, called that moment the Holy Instant – the moment of the miracle. And that is exactly what it is – the moment of the miracle – the moment in which time collapses.

But remember, you cannot make it happen. You cannot figure it out. You cannot dialogue and discover what it is. You can never, ever, ever, give it as an experience to someone else. The only thing you can do is enter into your own silence, wherein you listen and are still, and wherein you hear the Voice of God, and wherein you gain the vision of Christ, and wherein you see a new world – not a world that has been changed, but the same world seen anew.

And in that moment you will no longer see a world of illusion. Illusion will pass away, including the illusion of time. And in the moment of forever, you shall awaken. And in your awakening, you will have within you the vision of Christ.

Can you force it upon your brothers? No, indeed. But as you hold that vision, then it is present for anyone and everyone – throughout all of space and time, past, present and future – to experience and to celebrate. And in your own moment of experiencing that vision, truly as I have told you, your silence and the joy to be found therein, make you, without effort, the savior of the world. And your life, moment upon moment, shall become blessed in ways beyond what you can comprehend – even though the moments of your space and time have changed not one iota.

My blessings upon you all. That is all.

END

~*~ 

AUDIO – The Script is Written

 

*See also Brent Haskell’s book “Journey Beyond Words: A Companion to the Workbook of the Course” in which Jeshua/Jesus talks to Brent about the workbook lessons in Jesus’ teachings outlined in A Course in Miracles.And Brent Haskell’s book “The Other Voice: A Companion to the Text Chapters 1-15” in which Jeshua/Jesus talks to Brent about Jesus’ teachings outlined in Text of A Course in Miracles.

Also available at the Journey Beyond Words Yahoo Group.

 BOTH books are available on amazon.com

ACIM and the Unseen Guest

ACIM and the Unseen Guest

Graphic by ©Deposit Photos

A Course in Miracles and Our Unseen Guest

by Rev Reja Joy Green*

There are so many adventures awaiting us in this multidimensional life that we are living and yet they await our acknowledgment and our desire to investigate them before they open up and reveal their treasures.

Such were the opportunities given to both Helen Schucman and William Thetford [Bill], scribe & co-scribe of A Course in Miracles [1972], respectively, and to “Darby and Joan”, authors of Our Unseen Guest [1920].

Each of these tomes was written, in a manner, by an “Unseen Guest,” whose identity became evident in due time. And each of these tomes was birthed through a collaborative effort between two people who had dedicated themselves to the process.

In fact, these two relationships were integral to the success of the messages’ arrival as is witnessed in many examples of the transmission of information from “beyond the veil” as it is called.

In the case of A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman, who had previously experienced a strong degree of intuition as she was growing up, along with waking dreams and visions, was seemingly just applying for a job with William Thetford, when she told him, “I am the person you are looking for.” It seems a mutual friend, who had known that Bill was looking to hire a research assistant, had told Helen to say just those words, although Bill was to say later that those words of introduction from Helen would come to have a greater meaning.

Helen also had an interesting experience. She was to tell Bill, at some later point, that during the interview, even though he couldn’t guarantee the salary, didn’t know what the duties were going to be, or if she would even have an office, she was compelled to accept the position. The “Voice,” which she initially thought was her intuition, had said to her very clearly, “Oh…there he is. He’s the man you’re supposed to help!”

Darby and Joan, authors of “Our Unseen Guest,” already had a close relationship as husband and wife, yet after stumbling upon the wonders of the Ouija-Board and later upon the trance channeling of Joan without the Board, they had found that they each had an integral part in the process. The “Unseen Guest” referred to Joan as the RECEIVER and to Darby, her husband, as the CONCEIVER and taught them that each position was integral to the process.

The treasure that these adventures revealed was the metaphysical wisdom gleaned about the plane of existence we find ourselves in now and those eternal realms beyond the veil. Just the act of “receiving” information, unknown to all parties, was a demonstration itself that there is more to this life than we realize. In other words, there truly is Life After Life, as Raymond Moody had written about.

What was this “Voice” that Helen heard? What was the manner in which it came about, and what did it say? Helen had sensed for a period of time that she was a “channel” and that something was trying to get through although the channel was clogged. Then, after several lucid dreams and some very vivid visions, Helen heard this Inner Voice say: “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.”

As Helen describes it herself: “I did not understand the calm but impressive authority with which the Voice dictated. At several points in the writing, the Voice Itself speaks in no uncertain terms— JESUS. My own reactions to these references, which literally stunned me at that time, have decreased in intensity and are now at a level of wonder and acceptance.”

For Darby and Joan, the journey began on an unfamiliar Ouija-board they had just purchased, with these words spelled out: “For you two I have a message, a revelation,” and so it began. When asked, who was there, the name “Stephen” came through and the description of himself as an American soldier who had been killed in service to the Allied forces in WWI. Eventually, enough pertinent, verifiable information was received that both Darby and Joan were convinced that Stephen had actually lived and had died and was not merely their subconscious mind acting out upon the board. Now they could get on with his “revelation.”

One of the similarities between these two forays into the unknown was the interesting fact that with A Course in Miracles the material could stop in mid-sentence when Helen had to attend a meeting and could be picked up where it had left off, after Helen’s meeting was over and she could return to it.

Helen described the experience of hearing the Inner Voice in this way: “The Voice made no sound, but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation, which could be interrupted at any time and later picked up again. I never knew when I started a sentence how it would end, and the ideas came so quickly I had trouble keeping up with them.”

For Darby and Joan, here is how it was described at a time when they were still using the Ouija-Board:

“Now and then some long sentence would complete itself only to find us forgetful of its first half. Entire clauses would be missing. We would cudgel our brains to remember them and when we failed, the tripod [of the Ouija-board], without hesitation, would repeat the sentence.” P.143

Another similarity is in the fluid manner in which the material was received as if it were already perfect and just needed to be recorded. Helen’s normal writing was filled with crossed-out and rearranged words, while the transcription of the Inner Dictation was straightforward and precise.

Also, Helen scribed a large part of A Course in Miracles in IAMBIC PENTAMETER, which is described as five couplets per line with two syllables each. The first is soft, and the second syllable is stronger. A line of iambic pentameter sounds like this: |Da-DUM |Da-DUM |Da-DUM |Da-DUM |Da-DUM |.

The same phenomenon appeared in “The Unseen Guest” when a famous poet, who had passed on a year or so before, came through with a new poem. Darby explained, “When Joan wrote poems it was ‘born of much travail,’ yet the Ouija-board sonnet, ‘sprang’ into spontaneous being.’” P.160

So much wisdom was gleaned from both glorious adventures that the scribes knew their lives would never be the same. Besides the fact as previously noted, that the communications themselves demonstrated Life After Life, the exquisite messages of eternal life and eternal love were breath-taking.

At one point, the material that came through Helen in A Course in Miracles was more like music than mere words and was even titled, A Song Remembered. “Listen and see if you remember an ancient song you knew so long ago and held more dear than any melody you taught yourself to cherish since.” ACIM CH 21 II 9

And from the board the idea that a symphony is made of individual performers who “never cease, during the performance of the symphony, to exist as individuals, that instead they will become more individualistic than ever. Yet, not in spite of that accentuation of individuality, but because of it, the orchestra becomes for the period of the number, a whole.” “The music carries the performers far into…a world ever more realized in oneness, ever more perfect in adjustment of the individual to the whole.”

Of all the wondrous ideas presented as if from an ancient memory, one idea seemed to stand out to grant a sense of hope in both these tomes, and that is the ultimate goal of our journey.

From A Course in Miracles it is given:

“You are altogether irreplaceable in the Mind of God. No one else can fill your part of It, and while you leave your part of It empty, your eternal place merely waits for your return.” ACIM OE CH 9 VII 57

And from our dear Unseen Guest, the valiant Soldier of the Spirit:

“Are not the ‘each,’ or part, …. inseparably bound together?” P.204 “I am a part of the whole, yet the whole is I. In you, in me, is all that is, consciousness. Yet we are but parts of the greater whole.”

And so it is.

~*~

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She maintains the CIMS website and produces the Daily Lesson Mailing for ACIM students around the world. Rev. Reja Joy is an ordained minister through Community Miracles Cente and facilitates ACIM study group in Omaha. Rev Reja Joy and her husband Chris were presenters at the 2018 Bi-Annual ACIM International Conference in San Francisco.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy 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.  Jcim.net

 

Thy Kingdom Come

Holy Mother Father God

You are my Source—the Love in which I live.

There is no greater power. This Power sustains me, strengthens me, and shows me the way.

Love is the journeyman. Love is the journey, and Love is the destination. There is only Love.

I had forgotten my way and thought I lived in separation, desolation, and hopelessness.

I thought I was abandoned in a strange land where there were seemingly others who were afraid and lashed out, protecting who they thought they were and what they thought belonged to them.

I thought I was abandoned and so I was afraid and clung to who I thought I was, what I thought I owned— thinking I alone could keep myself safe from harm.

Yet, You did not abandon me, nor my brother. It is I who have abandoned my Identity as Your Child—-sinless, guiltless, and at One with all my brothers and with YOU, my One SELF.

It is my Prayer today to see myself at home within the Temple of my most Holy Mind and join with You, the Love that Created me.

From this I AM, will I extend the Light and Love to shine on all who are lost themselves in darkness and in hate.

For only Light will dispel the dark and only Love will dispel the hate.

Now do I remember—I AM Your Child, healed and whole, sinless, and guiltless, at One with You and all my brothers.

And now I see this gentle awakening dawning upon all of Your Children, as one light shines upon another in remembrance of its own light, and then upon another and another until the Sonship joins in the Glory of Its awakening to the One Self, —to the One Love at the Center of Its One heart.

And, so it is.

AMEN

The Eternal Now

THE ETERNAL NOW: IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!

Be Still and Know

Graphic by Deposit Photos

Article by Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green*
~*~*~*~*~*~

Regardless of whether the body appears to be getting out of bed in the morning,
going home at night, or sitting reading a book, it is unavoidably now.
The fact that it is always now never can be changed.
It is impossible to make it be not-now.

Dziuban, Peter Francis Consciousness Is All: Now Life Is Completely New (p. 114).
Blue Dolphin Publishing, Inc. Kindle Edition.


When we were younger, my twin sister used to say that being with me is like looking at the sun. She was implying, in a not too veiled way, that I am an intense person and sometimes it is uncomfortable to be with me. I took it as a compliment.

I suppose I recalled the memory of this observation just ‘now,’ because I am venturing to write about a subject that is, for the most part, ignored—much like the fact that we are all going to die some day.

To visit the NOW might be like looking at the sun for some people. If we are going along, living our lives based on an imagined past and an inevitable future, the Present Moment of NOW might be viewed as something that would only gum up the system.

In fact, it stops the system.

Thus, when an idea challenges our reality, there is fear. We may not know how we got to this life, but we have developed ‘by now’ a way of coping with where we find ourselves. We have mitigated the fear of the unknown by building beliefs about what is so. These are the beliefs that are sacrosanct and not to be questioned, because to question these beliefs is to question our sanity.

However, you are reading these words. Something peeked your interest and brought you here. There are no accidents. When a person comes into our lives, or a book, a song, a movie—we have the opportunity to see it as a gift from our Soul, and pay attention.

There are no accidents in salvation. Those who are to meet will meet because together they have the potential for a holy relationship. They are ready for each other.

~ A Course in Miracles Original Edition [ACIM OE M], Manual for Teachers #3. Par 1

Every decision we have ever made has brought us to this MOMENT.

For me, right NOW, the moment is a beautiful March morning on my loft in which I have time to type and share my thoughts.

If you stop a moment to take notice, right NOW, you too can describe the MOMENT for you.

Yet it is always and forever, NOW. And that’s a beautiful thought. It doesn’t have to produce fear. There is strife only when we hold onto anything. In the letting go and accepting what is, there is PEACE.

In the ACIM Study Group I attend, which has been meeting every Sunday for several years here in Omaha, Nebraska, there is a gentleman who reminds us often of something he learned from his experience. He tells us the key to Peace, or to any difficult situation, is ‘Surrender’. This gentle person had a shift in consciousness and experienced himself as Pure Conscious Awareness. He ‘knows’ It is what HE IS NOW, what I AM NOW and what YOU ARE NOW. It never changes. When we surrender to what is, there is PEACE.

Be still and KNOW—God. [Love, Peace, Joy]

Years ago, many of us took the Werner Erhard Seminar Training [E.S.T.] and I often recall that the bottom line was, after two weekends of sitting in a hotel ballroom on a fold-up chair with very little food or sleep — “What IS, IS. And what isn’t, isn’t.”

How profound is that! Perhaps we could go further and ask ourselves these questions:  Are we aware of this moment? Is the moment NOW? Is the moment HERE? Can we change this moment of NOW to not be the moment, to not be NOW, or to not be here?

Which brings us to the main focus of this essay: It’s HERE – It’s HERE.

As little girls, my twin sister and I had devised a game at the same time, yet unbeknownst to each other. When one of us shared with the other what we were doing, we were both stunned. We had each felt that the experience was our own discovery.

The process was to stare at an object, any object, and say to ourselves, “It’s here. It’s here.”

Soon, we were acutely aware of the moment of time in which we were looking at the object. The object faded from our attention, which was now placed in the present moment. Our full attention was on Presence, i.e. Pure Conscious Awareness.

And this was fine, for a while. It was fine until we tried to stop the game, and discovered “it’s here”. Ok. Well, that is all good, but now I want to get back to other things, and “it’s here.” Cool. I get it. Time to return. “It’s here.” Yikes. This is a tiny bit scary. I can’t seem to stop this presence. “It’s here.” But won’t it stop at some point? Won’t I find the end? “it’s here.” Isn’t there a place outside of Presence, outside of the NOW? “It’s here.” But now it seems like a dream I can’t wake up from. “It’s here.” When I do seem to wake up, I’m still here! It’s beginning to feel like a light show, or a kaleidoscope that keeps opening and opening and opening and never, ever stops! “It’s here.” There is no end! There will never, ever be an end! It is eternal! I have touched the face of infinity! The NOW has never started and it will never end. “It’s here.” Let me out!!

Even though it took quite a bit of words to describe this process, the experience itself took less than a minute. Time was ‘there’, as usual, with one minute seemingly coming after the other, and then it wasn’t. Or rather, it was there all at once. It was there AND not there. It was All AND Nothing. It was the Alpha and Omega.

Eventually, at some point, my sister and I had to force ourselves to forget what we were doing. By ‘now’, we were terrified. We were like a caged animal, trapped in a never-ending dream. With each attempt to escape, we were faced with another instance of the Moment, which we resisted. And it was this resistance that caused our pain and suffering.

Instead, we could have asked ourselves if there were actually something to resist or fear? Could we surrender to the truth of this experience? Could we accept what Is, Is, and what isn’t, isn’t? Could we open to the knowing of Who We Are as Pure Conscious Awareness, which will never die, and extends Itself forever?

[Lesson 67] Love created me like Itself.

I am in the likeness of my Creator. I cannot suffer, I cannot experience loss, and I cannot die. I am not a body. I would recognize my reality today. I will worship no idols nor raise my own self-concepts to replace my Self. I am in the likeness of my Creator. Love created me like Itself.

~ ACIM OE Workbook Lesson 84 Review of Lesson 67

What could this ‘knowing’ mean for us?

Could it mean that nothing we have ever done in ‘time’ has changed Who We Truly Are?
We give all the meaning our experience has. What if we found the courage to experience the essence of Pure Conscious Awareness? What would that be like? How would it inform our perceptions and our experience here in ‘time’?

What actually gives meaning to our experience if not the ground of BEING, which is Pure Awareness?

Only when I align my True Self with Pure Conscious Awareness am I able to open to the idea — I AM the Perfect, Sinless, Child of God.

This is Forgiveness [opening to that which is REAL, here and now]. This is Salvation [opening to that which is REAL, here and now]. This is the Atonement [opening to that which is REAL, here and now].

There is no other path. And so we celebrate what IS—Love IS! God IS! We ARE!

As we learn in A Course in Miracles:

51 The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described, and it cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself.”

~ ACIM OE Text CH 8 VI

In this beautiful MOMENT of NOW, shall we open to Who We Are and will forever BE. Can we open to knowing that these words I am typing are from the very center of my Being, which is your Being as well?

There is ONE Extension of the One Creator and Thou Art That!

And so it is!
AMEN ♥

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*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [example of mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.  Rev Reja Joy facilitated the 2013 free ACIM DAILY Lesson Conference Calls along with Rev. Pamela Whitman.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

Vital Message of Forgiveness

VITAL MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS

Message of Forgiveness

Graphic by ©Deposit Photos

Article by Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green*
~*~*~*~*~*~
AUDIO of ARTICLE [mp3] MP3gold

Recently I’ve been asked, by many students of A Course in Miracles, for my response to  a recent mass email from the author, Gary Renard, with the title: “A Vital Message From Gary Renard About The Editing Of A Course In Miracles

My friends were curious to see how I would respond, especially since I am one of the co-founders of Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] and publisher of A Course in Miracles – Original Edition [ACIM OE], both of which were among the targets of the email from Gary.

It seems that the purpose of Gary Renard’s email was to respond to the remarks about the Original Edition and about the Foundation for Inner Peace[FIP] made by Rev. Tony Ponticello, at the recent 2015 ACIM Conference in New York City.

A friend had forwarded to me a second email she had received from Gary Renard with the subject, “Join Gary in England, and Save Money Before June 1st”, and wrote:

“Joy,

When you go to his website, he has a link that’s called:  Gary Renard on the Urtext
I think it is basically a copy of the mass-email.

I have such mixed feelings about someone who so poorly represents the Course… by purporting to love the Course and be the person who will show us how we all can come to know our True Selves and live on this Earth.

The catch-22 of being required to see Gary as someone calling out for Love without actually telling him he is ‘in error’ is really mind-blowing!

It is a strong lesson indeed!”

How to respond? How to answer this conundrum for myself? And yet to respond to this seeming attack feels like nothing less than a call to JOY! In fact, I told my husband that it feels as if it were related to the very reason for my Soul journey, actually for Our journey as the SonShip, in this illusory time and space.

If not now, when, oh Holy Child of God?

Along those lines, it also feels as though it is an opportunity to demonstrate the theme of the past Conference, which was: “The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a PRESENT LOVE.”  ACIM OE CH 26, X 82

Just now, I was preparing the Early Mailing of the Daily Lessons and Text Readings for May 18th and reviewing the TEXT selection of the day for an opening QUOTE, when the choice made itself known. Many of the paragraphs caught my attention, as they usually do, and yet this one brought tears to my eyes.

27Now has no meaning to the ego. The present merely reminds it of past hurts, and it reacts to the present as if it were the past. The ego cannot tolerate release from the past, and although the past is no more, the ego tries to preserve its image by responding as if it were present. Thus it dictates reactions to those you meet now from a past reference point, obscuring their present reality. In effect, if you follow the ego’s dictates, you will react to your brothers as though they were someone else, and this will surely prevent you from perceiving them as they are. And you will receive messages from them out of your own past because, by making it real in the present, you are forbidding yourself to let it go. You thus deny yourself the message of release that every brother offers you now. ACIM OE CH 12 IV

Why did I choose this paragraph? In fact, why did I choose this entire section, “Healing and Time”? Why was this the message that tugged at my heart in relation to the controversial comments by Rev Tony Ponticello and Gary Renard?

I believe that the drama of this controversy, and the messages in this section of the text, epitomize the message of A Course in Miracles. It demonstrates a challenge and a decision that I think we are ready for. Perhaps that is why Rev Tony Ponticello took the bold move to say words, he admitted later, would ‘Rile up the crowd’ and get a discussion going. Perhaps “All things are Lessons God would have me learn.” Lesson 193

The paragraph begins with,

26 “Now has no meaning to the ego. The present merely reminds it of past hurts, and it reacts to the present as if it were the past.”  ACIM OE CH 12 IV

Why does the Now have no meaning to the limited thought system? What does the Now hold that makes it of no use to the ego, except to remind us of the past? Could it be that it holds— “NOTHING?” And yet could it also be that it also holds —“EVERYTHING?!” The Now is empty of the past and the future, and yet it holds the essence of our BEING. In this chapter, we read:

30 “It is in the reality of now, without past or future, that the beginning of the appreciation of eternity lies. For only now is here, and it presents the opportunities for the holy encounters in which salvation can be found.” ACIM OE CH 12 IV

The Now “presents the opportunities for the holy encounters in which Salvation can be found.” That’s why it is important to our Souls and demeaned by the ego. It is in the Now that we have the opportunity to release our illusion of separation and find our salvation.

If the ego is a thought of fear, born of separation and time, where is it, once the light of Truth and Love shine within the ‘Present Moment of Now’? There is no wonder the ego gives the Now no meaning. In the Now, if we don’t drag-in the past, the ego dissolves back into the nothingness from which it came. That’s exactly why the ego is attached to the past.

26 “The ego has a very strange notion of time, and it is with this notion that your questioning might well begin. The ego invests heavily in the past and in the end believes that the past is the only aspect of time that is meaningful.” ACIM OE CH 12 IV

In the ego thought system, who needs the present when we can dredge up the past and make it continuous with the future?

26 “For the ego uses the present only as a brief transition to the future, in which it brings the past to the future by interpreting the present in past terms.” ACIM OE CH 12 IV

I remember clearly the E.S.T. training I took three and a half decades ago, in which the trainer wrapped his foot under the rung of a chair and walked across the stage, dragging the chair. He was demonstrating how we hold onto the past and drag it with us into the present.

Thus, when we condemn a brother for doing anything, we are holding him to the ‘past’, whether it is something that occurred thirty years ago or last week.

And yet the message of the Course is that we are ONE SELF, united with our creator. To condemn a ‘part’ is to perpetuate the separation by seeing our brother as separate, and to see only the past is to lose sight of the only time there is. The ego uses the past to avoid the present at all costs.

When the ego emphasizes our guilt, it is making certain that the future will repeat the past, so we can avoid the present. How crazy is that!

26 “You will remember that we said its emphasis on guilt enables it to ensure its continuity by making the future like the past and thus avoiding the present. By the notion of paying for the past in the future, the past becomes the determiner of the future, making them continuous without an intervening present.” ACIM OE CH 12 IV

What then are we making REAL for ourselves, when we recreate scenarios of the past, which weren’t real then and are equally unreal, in this moment of Now?

27 “In effect, if you follow the ego’s dictates, you will react to your brothers as though they were someone else, and this will surely prevent you from perceiving them as they are. And you will receive messages from them out of your own past because, by making it real in the present, you are forbidding yourself to let it go. You thus deny yourself the message of release that every brother offers you now.” ACIM OE CH 12 IV

In the beginning of paragraph 27 we learn,

27The ego cannot tolerate release from the past, and although the past is no more, the ego tries to preserve its image by responding as if it were present. Thus it dictates reactions to those you meet now from a past reference point, obscuring their present reality.” ACIM OE CH 12 IV

At the 2015 ACIM Conference, there was a moment when Gary Renard and his wife were at the water fountain at the same time my husband and I were there. Gary seemed to recognize us and quickly grabbed his wife’s hand and began to run down the hall.

30“The Holy Spirit teaches that you always meet yourself and the encounter is holy because you are.”
“The ego teaches that you always encounter your past, and because your dreams were not holy, the future cannot be, and the present is without meaning.”  ACIM OE CH 12 IV

That moment was a chance for a holy encounter, and yet we missed our chance.

Later, in one of the presentations, the participants were asked to hug one another, and take three deep breaths. We were then asked to look into one another’s eyes, while getting in touch with who we are and who our brother is. The person behind me had Gary Renard as a partner and when the Presenter asked for volunteers to share their experience, she raised her hand. She shared how their bodies made a tent as they hugged and how they were unbalanced and almost fell over as they teetered. Later, at the end of the presentation, I turned around and found myself facing Gary Renard. I was aware of the temptation to perceive conflict and aware of the previous person’s sharing and even so, in that instant, there was only Love. We hugged closely and both of us melted, as I whispered, “I love you, Gary.”

Love is the only answer, as He tells us,

90A little knowledge is an all-encompassing thing. If you are grateful to each other, you are grateful to God for what He created. Through your gratitude, you can come to know each other, and one moment of real recognition makes all men your brothers because they are all of your Father. Love does not conquer all things, but it does set all things right.” ACIM OE CH 4 VII

Now I know why the last line of that original paragraph27 made me cry.  Gary has offered me the message of release. He has given me the chance to release the past and open to the Now, in which “we can come to know each other.” He is my brother, because he is of our Father, and what is left of our past is but a blessing. ♥

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*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [example of mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.  Rev Reja Joy facilitated the 2013 free ACIM DAILY Lesson Conference Calls along with Rev. Pamela Whitman.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

Finding My ACIM Family

My Experience of Finding

My ACIM Teleconference Family

By Rhett Billings*

Graphic by © Deposit Photos

For many years, the almost overwhelming love and wisdom contained within the pages of A COURSE IN MIRACLES were more than I could take in. I sensed there was something there I REALLY wanted, but I resisted it strongly, without knowing why. Periodically, I’d pick it up and put it down again, like so many others have… until now!

It was as if studying it on my own was not only difficult, but perhaps… lonely, or that part of me KNEW it needed to be studied and practiced in another way. Even my weekly ACIM class wasn’t quite locking it in for me. Although I eagerly looked forward to and deeply enjoyed my class each week, it always went by so fast, leaving me wanting and hungry for a whole week. Eventually, I became keenly aware of an almost desperate need for more. I loved studying under Harrison Blackmond’s leadership and with my classmates, but I seldom studied between classes. Studying alone left me with an empty feeling. Maybe one meeting per week just wasn’t enough for me.

Then, my landscape changed and I’m so very thankful it did! My weekly Course instructor, Harrison, sensed I was longing for more, so he invited me to join him in the mornings on two daily ACIM teleconference calls.

Hearing the Course’s writings read by the many voices I met there did something miraculous for me. My loneliness gave way and I felt safe to share in the comfort of our common longing to know our true Selves again. Their different voices, filled with love and passion for the writings, brought out the Light in such engaging and delightful ways! After we read, we are invited to freely share what came up for us. The rich and deep wisdom, born from living experience within each member, brings the Truths and Principles to LIFE, which unleashes and captures even more treasure for me!

One of these calls, facilitated by a fun and spirited minister named Rev. Pamela Whitman, from New Jersey, focuses on studying the Workbook for Students. Into our daily study and practice sessions, she wisely builds in some meditation time, as the Author suggests. It’s astonishing how beneficial this group silence is for me. There’s a trust and reverence that begins to build. Rev. Pamela’s opening prayer and centering is AWESOME and her closing prayer just makes me want to jump up and go practice my forgiveness training in the theater of the “real” world. She is amazing! She also allows two volunteers from our group to facilitate on Thursdays and Sundays, something I love to do. To me, she is a wise and loving Truth Warrior who inspires me to stretch out, open wide, and bite off more of my forgiveness potential!

The other call was wonderfully facilitated in 2014 by Carl Lammers and focused on the Text. I find his soothing, deep, rich voice to be so comforting, encouraging me to expand. He has mastered the art of leadership in a particular way, making me feel so safe and secure. To aid in the digestion of the material, we read each paragraph twice, slowly and deliberately, with a different reader on each to extract more “juice” from the grape. All of us have voiced our deep appreciation to Carl for this method of study, which he borrowed from a group out in the Oregon/Washington area. Carl and his wife currently live in Lexington, Kentucky.

Both calls encourage use of “A Course in Miracles Original Edition” [ACIM OE], published by Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]. This edition is the unedited manuscript, as it was completed by the scribes Helen Schucman and William Thetford.

We are blessed to also have Lee Flynn, a CIMS member, on both calls daily. Lee contributed his efforts to the invalidation of the copyright, which was inadvertently instrumental in bringing the scribe’s original shorthand notes to the world.

Within days of “meeting” my group members on the phone, I felt like I had known them forever. I felt so loved and accepted, marveling at how they could identify a caller dropping in with so few words. Even a little chuckle or a, “Good morning, family”, is enough to identify Carla, for example. Many of us also enjoy a Skype and Facebook group forum for further communication.

Before finding this group, I was not aware that the rich and useful nuggets of living Truth contained within the pages of this MIRACULOUS book just begged to be experienced daily within the embrace of a loving, supportive community. I feel that being unable to see each other’s body is actually an advantage, as it robs my ego’s eyes of yet another avenue to judge. The Course teaches that judging others is how we separate ourselves from God.

As Harrison says, “In order to really GET what the Course is aimed at achieving (undoing our attachment to the ego’s thought system), we have to be bathing our minds in this material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That’s the only way it will actually take hold.”

I believe Harrison is right. This world is a tough place to “BE REAL”, and I need a daily dose of love from this community to keep my strength and dedication fortified. I cannot believe how rapidly my spiritual muscle and vision are growing. My ability to forgive myself and others is like nothing I ever dreamed possible, not to mention my ability to love all of my brothers and sisters in the world, despite their seeming shortcomings. It is flat-out astonishing to me!

Taking in and digesting the Course now is effortless and I can hardly wait for the start of each day to reunite and go digging some more with my Truth-seeking spiritual family. In fact, starting my day without it now seems almost incomprehensible. I just LOVE listening to the recordings later in the day, as I always seem to pick up more yummy stuff I missed on the live call.

The profound concepts in the writings, sometimes couched in complex sentence structure, can be a little challenging at times, leaving me scratching my head. That’s when this community comes in so handy. All I have to do is voice my confusion and someone makes it so simple for me to understand. There are several members who have been teaching and studying it for many, many years. They are like ministers of Light to me and, when the “light bulb” comes on, I am frequently filled with so much excitement and gratitude that I can’t help but cry, so I do… and I let it roll. It’s very cleansing for me and the group seems to appreciate it.

Since my junior year of high school (I’m 50 now), I’ve been passionately interested in self-help and have enjoyed years of deep therapeutic work, but I could never afford group therapy (in the world’s view, the ultimate powerhouse of psycho-therapeutic healing). To me, these conference calls are almost like group therapy, only better. I am bathing my mind in the Truth, and this causes what I’ve been hiding in the dark to become exposed and surface. If I then choose to ask the Holy Spirit to show me who I really am and find the courage to share my insights with my Course family, I am engaging in the purification process and removing these obstacles to my awareness of Love’s Presence. SHARING, I now believe, is the most essential ingredient in healing. Perhaps this is one of the reasons group therapy is so effective.

By sharing ourselves with others we come to: sense the heat of Love aching to be released from within our crusty, defensive shells; contribute to the growth of others; feel and rekindle the blessed awareness of our Oneness with the community of the Whole; and, ultimately, return to Love by remembering Who we really Are—extensions of the pure Love of God.

For me, tears and laughter are like the 1-2 punch when it comes to deep, lasting healing. They are a common experience for us during the calls. AND IT’S FREE!!! Well… almost. I do choose to make a weekly tax deductible donation [love offering] to support Rev. Pamela in their life-enhancing ministry.

I will forever be grateful to Harrison for leading me to these TOTALLY LIFE-CHANGING Conference Calls, and for his AMAZING leadership. Were it not for the compelling demonstration of his own work and healing through the Course, and through the love and joy in his eyes and laughter, I very much doubt I would have found this treasure chest of fulfillment!

If you, or someone you know, feels frustrated or lonely when studying A Course In Miracles, please consider my invitation to step into the Light provided by this welcoming, enlightening community. The Holy Spirit heard me calling for more… more love… more clarity… for a better way. Ask and you shall receive!

Please feel free to drop in and visit our community anytime. We will welcome you to our circle of Love and Truth when and if the time becomes right for you!

Namaste

Join fellow ACIM students from around the world.

The ACIM Conference Call Number in 2015 is 712-775-7035
• DAILY LESSON CALL 8:00-9:00 am EST code: 150777#
• M-F TEXT READING CALL 9:15-10:30 am EST code: 974635#
• TU TEXT STUDY CALL 7:30-9 pm EST code: 150777#
• SAT APPLICATION CALL 9:15-10:30 am EST code: 974635#
• LINE AVAILABLE 24/7 code: 974635#

More info: http://www.jcim.net/Pages/DailyConferenceCalls.html

* RHETT BILLINGS comes from a long line of Swedenborgian Convention ministers, but later in life discovered his true faith home in the contemporary scripture contained within A Course In Miracles. He received his B.A. in Social Service from Urbana University in 1992 and, while filling out the application to the Swedenborgian seminary, felt guided to wait until the second half of his life. Rhett lives in Troy, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) with his wife, Karen, and younger son, Jesse (20). His older son, Reece (23), lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, near his Mother, Anna (Rhett’s former wife, also a loyal member of our Conference Calls). Rhett works for WOW! Internet, Cable and Phone as a multi-dwelling unit sales rep and hopes to one day become an ACIM minister (with a Swedenborgian background).

Our Final Lessons ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose

Guidance from Within
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

CIMS Stars

LESSONS THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE
Through

THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE

Workbook PART II

Our Final Lessons

1Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. So We move into feeling, gracefully. Now We look to allow Ourselves to have Divine Intuition. I say “We” because I’m always with You. We use them but at the beginning of our practicing and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them, to communication of the Knowing. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth, No more do We choose to think as egos. For we would not return again to the belief in sin, which made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain. To see ‘sin’ is to think as an ego.

2 His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. No way will We think; instead We’ll listen. It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed. In the dream of time, it seems to be far off. And yet in truth, it is already here, already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. We know it could be now, if We would choose, for nothing stops Us. Let us together follow in this way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way but find it not. Yet it is right here for those Who would see.

3 And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. We have slept so long; it’s time to Waken. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is forgiveness that opens wide Our eyes to see again. It is the goal that God has given us. Not just goal but Gift. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. We know not how to stop the dream all on Our own. God must help.For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. What must You ultimately forgive but Yourself for dreaming. With that forgiveness You waken to God. And thus His memory is given back completely and complete. How wonderful to be Awake again!

4 It is our function to remember Him on earth, that We might waken, as it is given us to be His own completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is shared. We are One with God.For it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace. So long forgotten in the hell of dreaming, yet still within Our minds is Our relationship with God. We can remember! And shall we not forgive our brother who can offer this to us? That and the little willingness is all it takes to start the Journey Home. Will You now take those first steps? Nothing can stop You. He is the way, the truth, and life that show the way to us. Without forgiveness We cannot hear Him, nor see how to go. With forgiveness all things are clearly seen. In him resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness given unto him. Let Us now give it. True generosity of mind – not things – is but forgiveness.

5 We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His holy Son. How many years have come to end for You, without acceptance of these words: giving the forgiveness asked? We are forgiven now. And in the giving, We are gifted too: gifted with freedom. And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God and found it was a dream. (Albeit nightmare.) We are restored to sanity in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. Yet so loved by and, thus, very important to the ego. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. No point in being  angry at mistakes. They need correction. Nothing more than that. And is a Father angry at His Son because he failed to understand the truth? Of course not, for He will gladly teach Him again and again, patiently, until He now understands. This is how Love is; take heed and be It.

6 We come in honesty to Him and say we did not understand – Our minds were elsewhere; yet now they are back – and ask Him to help us to learn His lessons through the Voice of His own Teacher. Would He hurt His Son? Or would He rush to answer him and say, “This is My Son, and all I have is his”?1 Truly You are His Son to Whom He gladly gives the Kingdom. Yes! You just understood: the Kingdom is the Consciousness of God and not a thing.  Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His own Words to you. And more than that can no one ever have, for in these Words is all there is and all that there will be throughout all time and in eternity. Welcome Home My dearly belovèd One. Here is Your Kingdom.

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What am I? ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose

Guidance from Within
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

CIMS Stars

LESSONS THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-ONE
Through

THREE HUNDRED SIXTY

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

Workbook PART II

What am I?

For so long now I have considered Myself to be nothing but a ‘mortal’, something born but to die, part of some peculiar plan of God’s which makes no sense to Me. Yet have I gone along with it, participating endlessly in ‘birth’ and ‘death’ as if I were willing slave to ego.  Now I understand that I have a choice!

I can stop the merry-go-round (which isn’t very merry!) and I can get off now. What took Me so long to understand this but being oh so willingly hypnotized by ego!

 1 I am God’s Son in Reality, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. I am Love’s Presence! That’s Reality! In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I hear these words, quite theoretically, and get excited; yet I don’t really understand; how this can be, possibly; for My mind is still run by the ego. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. What a wonderful idea, dearest Brother! I’ve always thought Heaven was a place for Me to go, not a place to BE! I am His holy sinlessness itself, for in my purity abides His own. This new idea is so amazing! No wonder I must watch every thought and action, for they must be in line with Love. For Love is the Substance of all Heaven: its superstructure.

 

2 Our use for words is almost over now. The alternative is in the Knowing of Communion; no ceremony this but Our sharing of One Holy Mind. An experience of Oneness now unknown, deliberately long-forgotten in eons of dream. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared, as You were willing. And thus you joined with me. So what I am are you as well. For when We’re joining, You step into One Mind with Me, ending the separation. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. It is just to be, which comes naturally; disallow the ego’s interference. Its survival rests on obfuscation! (a word quite synonym to ego when it is in action) Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us. In other words, live the Love Your preaching. Studying the Course does not make You holy. You must love It enough to live It.

 

3 We are the bringers of salvation. This is no small thing, but an important mission for the world, the world of Dreamers. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. If the word forgiveness makes You cringe, for sin seems overwhelming, remember this: what You call ‘the world’ is nothing but a dream, albeit extremely convincing. God is greater than the dream, despite how very real it seems. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brothers and perceive all things as kindly and as good. Don’t be exasperated at what seems impossible to You! With God all these things are not just possible but certain! We do not seek a function that is past the gates of Heaven. Let Us arrive there first! And then You may be sure all things will be added for You. You need not be the star of the show to have a crucial part. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth. Open up Your minds; the Truth will gladly enter and bear fruit; Your mind be filled with happiness and good.

 

4 Ours are the eyes through which Christ’s vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Be willing Sister. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice of God proclaim the world as sinless. Be willing, Brother. Ours the minds which join together as we bless the world. How sweet is this experience of giving to Our Brothers. Our Gifts are not ambivalent, but wholly Good for They do come direct from God; no interference. And from the oneness that we have attained – as a part of God – we call to all our brothers, offering Our Love, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy. Even those We thought were total strangers, and those of different colour, suddenly are as dear to Us as Our nursing babe. How did this happen? How was I transformed?

By Your Love, Sister; by Your Love, Brother! Love is the conduit for all miracles, both large and small. Let Yourselves be filled with Joy, Love spilling forth, overflowing, washing clean the world of painful judgments, illuminating Good where ere it goes!

5 We are the holy messengers of God – Yes! Really! Truly! – who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. How did this happen? Only through willingness is this conceived. Willingness to both see and be different than ego. This is not a chore, but a privilege! And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. His days seemed filled with large and small crucifixions.  Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God. The Real You won’t be gone; only the ego. And with the ego goes the dream. Yet You’ve already moved to Your new state of Consciousness: the Holy Love of God.

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is a Miracle? ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

LESSONS THREE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE
Through

THREE HUNDRED FIFTY

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

Workbook PART II

What is a Miracle?

It is an unexpected healing of a chronic problem. And what is a “chronic problem”? One that has gone on for longer than an instant.

 

1 A miracle is a correction of a misperception. It does not create nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It allows Reality’s appearing.  It undoes error, by Be-ing the Truth, but does not attempt to go beyond perception nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time’s limits. In other words, it operates within the dream to heal it. Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and love’s awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it gives. All the while it’s building back the bridge between Reality and unreality, which leads Dreamers to awaken and return their consciousness to the experience of Heaven.

 

2 A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. For God’s miracles are freely given. Will You receive them?  And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey because it fails entirely to understand its ways. And what is that law? Only Good is Real. Pay attention carefully to what I’m saying here about Your perception mode. A miracle inverts perception which was upside-down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is forgiveness seen as justified. Are You getting what I’m saying here? It’s as if You’ve gone through ‘life’ recently standing on Your head and wond’ring why You cannot seem to run a marathon again! Why don’t You stop thinking that You’re a body and, instead, remember that You’re Mind? Feel free to answer Me; the question is not rhetorical, but a wake-up call.

 

3 Forgiveness is the home of miracles. It understands the dream to be unreal, and therefore, there is nothing to forgive. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in mercy and in love. And knowing this, We cannot but begin to Love Our Brothers. Perception stands corrected in His sight, becoming Vision, and what was meant to curse has come to bless. Truly does the Holy Spirit transform the worst of things into blessings for Us. Gratitude to God! Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world the silent miracle of love. Please let that sink deep into consciousness with great gratefulness. How great is Our God! And each is laid before the Word of God upon the universal altar to Creator and creation, in the light of perfect purity and endless joy.

There really is this thing called perfection.

 

4 The miracle is taken first on faith – there is at least a grain of faith (it matters not how miniscule it is) or miracles would be invisible to You – because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yes, You could say “a little willingness”. Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there.  Now watch how Your willingness increases! And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before—a world redeemed from what you thought you saw. For miracles rest on Reality.

 

5 Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures came to die. Yes, let Us add the Bibe verse that speaks so wonderfully to this idea: “I have longed for Thee as a dry and thirsty land where no water is.”Now they have water. Now the world is green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up to show that what is born will always be can never die, for what has life has immortality. This Course was given to bring an end to dying, which ends the dream; and vice versa.

Will You dream and die or choose instead to live by waking up? A simple question.

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is the Ego? ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose

Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

LESSONS THREE HUNDRED THIRTY-ONE
Through

THREE HUNDRED FORTY

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

Workbook PART II

What Is the Ego?

The worship of One’s self – with a little ‘s’ – instead of God.

1 The ego is idolatry—the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. This is the way You set it up to be.  A decision which has been most unrewarding. A choice at which You should have laughed. Instead You took it seriously,  as if it were valid. It is the will that sees the Will of God as enemy and takes a form in which It is denied. It sees Itself as god, yet knows it’s not; still, it would pretend The ego is the “proof” that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true. And all this so-called ‘proof’ refers but to itself, quite non-existent, projected out upon God’s Son.

 

2 The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. Fear and loneliness is all You can get from ego. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself, and in its terrible autonomy, it “sees” the Will of God has been destroyed. It thinks that it is real, and points to the dreaming world as validation for it. Separation is its ‘proof’ that it has been successful, for it takes the dream to be ‘reality’. Now You understand why it has seemed so hard to Awaken. Your belief in dreams is crucial. It dreams of punishment and trembles at the figures in its dreams, its enemies who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them. Dreams must be real, else the whole phantasmagoria will crumble. You must be quite sure that the dream is real. It has to be perfectly convincing.

 

3 The Son of God is egoless. What made Him choose dreams and keep on choosing? What but addiction. What can he know of madness and the death of God when he abides in Him? He must stay drunk on dreams, or else He’ll Awaken. Therefore, they must be convincing and compelling and frightening as well. What can he know of sorrow and of suffering when he lives in eternal joy? More ‘real’ to Him than happiness. This takes determination! What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free and undisturbed in deepest silence and tranquillity? This peace, accepted, would quickly put an end to all dreamings.

 

4 To know Reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost belief in it entails. You must let go of all investment in any kind of dreams, and ask, instead, to see the Son of God, right there where You are. And You will see Him  In suffering, which is the firm foundation of the dream,  the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare for death. Without the belief that suffering is real, the Son would have to give up dying1 You can see how deep runs the investment. The dream rests on suffering and the ability to ‘die’.

 

5 Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light, – the Love that stands behind forgiveness illuminates the gloominess of dreaming. the altar to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. False gods gone, God is in His Place again, and We there with Him. And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling-place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with Him. All We need do: Love God enough to let go of the ego. It’s always simple.

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is Creation? ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

LESSONS THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE
Through

THREE HUNDRED THIRTY

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

Workbook PART II

What Is Creation?

Something that could more properly be called God’s Revelation. For “Creation” does imply beginning, and the only thing to ever seem to start was the dream! For God and His Universe always IS.

So more properly We could call Creation Revelation. For this is what happens with Awakening: Reality is once again revealed to You Who dream.

 

1 Creation – or Revelation – is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, in number infinite and everywhere – which is always here; and of everywhen, which is always now – without all limit. You, too, live as Infinity; right now if You but will to accept this. Only Love creates and only like Itself. There is no material creation, nor a material creator. The dream just isn’t real. That’s the bottom line! There was no time when all that It created was not there. You have ignored it! Nor will there be a time when anything that It created suffers any change. You have just been ignoring Reality Forever and forever are God’s Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time, as they were before, and after time is done.

2 God’s Thoughts are given all the power that Their own Creator has. For You are an Idea, One most exquisite; a beautiful Thought of God. You are not a body. For He would add to Love by its extension.  By Be-ing You throughout Eternity. Thus His Son shares in creation, – His Vision being magnified through God – and must therefore share in power to create. God and Son are One. What God has willed be forever one will still be one when time is over and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began. In other words, dreaming has not changed God nor Your real Be-ing. That is the good news!

 

3 Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for Creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in Creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole. Reality is God’s Work everywhere that You Be and See. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate, forever held within His holy Will beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection, and of any spot upon its sinlessness. Never was the seeming separation for one instant real. We are Creation-we the Sons of God.  God and His Sons are One: the Life Divine always unfolding.

 

4 We are creation—we the Sons of God. His glorious Ideas, continually unfolding. We seem to be discrete and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. Right where insanity does seem to be. For Love remains with all Its Thoughts, Caring for Us most assiduously and most tenderly. For every One of Us is precious to Our Revelator; also known as God. Its sureness being theirs. Love knows only Good of Us. Good must, therefore, be Our Reality. God’s memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God’s Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us. Thus may We undo the separation.

 

5 Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose holiness His own creation shares; Whose holiness is still a part of us. Why do We learn forgiveness but that We may forgive Ourselves.

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is the Real World ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose

Guidance from Within
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

What is the Real World?

1 The real world is a symbol like the rest of what perception offers.  

For God must work with what You are able to experience. Yet it stands for what is opposite to what you made. And so it will work to heal Your thinking. Your world is seen through eyes of fear and brings the witnesses of terror to your mind. There are so many, and so convincing that You do need help to gain Your freedom. The real world cannot be perceived except through eyes forgiveness blesses, so they see a world where terror is impossible and witnesses to fear can not be found. Yet must it be appreciable to You, and the lesson learned.

 

2 The real world holds a counterpart for each unhappy thought reflected in your world, – for misery is a thought, not a thing – a sure correction for the sights of fear and sounds of battle which your world contains. Sights and sounds which seem to exacerbate every minute. Yet God is with You, gifting You healing through the real world! The real world shows a world seen differently, through quiet eyes and with a mind at peace. Nothing but rest is there. For rest and peace are the opposite of the frenetic world. There are no cries of pain and sorrow heard, for nothing here remains outside forgiveness. Forgiveness heals all. And the sights are gentle. For gentle always is the touch of God. Only happy sights and sounds can reach the mind that has forgiven itself. In forgiving Your Brothers for their ‘sins’, Yours are gone with theirs; none of them were real.

 

3 What need has such a mind for thoughts of death, attack, and murder? They are purposeless, being totally unknown to God, and, thus, unknown to You. What can it perceive surrounding it but safety, love, and joy? How wonderful peace feels after such long eons of turmoil. What is there it would choose to be condemned, and what is there that it would judge against? It sees but Good, for only Good is Real. The world it sees arises from a mind at peace within itself. To feel this peace after nightmare eons is just amazing! No danger lurks in anything it sees, for it is kind and only kindness does it look upon. For the mind can only see its own state.

 

4 The real world is the symbol that the dream of sin and guilt is over and God’s Son no longer sleeps. For the Real World can begin to be seen as the Son wills to give up His grudges. His waking eyes perceive the sure reflection of his Father’s Love, shining through His own, the certain promise that he is redeemed. The real world signifies the end of time, for its perception makes time purposeless. All that is seen in the Real World is Now, which makes It an Eternity of God’s most Holy Instants.

 

5 The Holy Spirit has no need of time when it has served His purpose. Now He waits but that one instant more for God to take His final step, and time has disappeared, taking perception with it as it goes and leaving but the Truth to be Itself. Are You getting a glimpse of what it’s like to be only Now with perfect focus? That instant – purely focused Now – is our goal, for it contains the memory of God. And as we look upon a world forgiven, it is He Who calls to us and comes to take us home, reminding us of our Identity which our forgiveness – willingness to  Love – has restored to us. What a grateful thing to be Awakened. It’s purely Heaven.

 

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is the Body ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Within
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

What is the Body?

Well, You know, it’s what I am, isn’t it?

Well, no! Not hardly! Let’s discuss this now.

1 The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built to separate parts of his Self from other parts. Oh! Now You get it! The body was made to separate You from the Rest of You. Let Me let You sit with Your “Aha!” It is within this fence, he thinks he lives, to die as it decays and crumbles. For within this fence he thinks that he is safe from love. Is the body now a bit less appealing to You than if was before? Let’s go on and read some more. Identifying with his safety, he regards himself as what his safety is. How else could he be certain he remains within the body, keeping love outside? The importance of the body, then, is that it keeps You separated from all Your other Brothers. By the way, beyond the feel-good, this is the main appeal of sex, when two of You seem to join as one, then can part again.

2 The body will not stay. Proving You’re not stuck with it and can always get another. Yet this he sees as double safety. For the Son of God’s impermanence is “proof” his fences work and do the task his mind assigns to them. And it proves that He really has become a ‘human’. For if his oneness still remained untouched, who could attack and who could be attacked? Who could be victor? Who could be his prey? Who could be victim? Who the murderer? And if he did not die, what “proof” is there that God’s eternal Son can be destroyed? This is the bottom line You know: that the Son has somehow bested God by becoming something ‘human’; surely not Divine.

Yet none of His insane beliefs are real.

3 The body is a dream. Solid though it seems. Like other dreams, it sometimes seems to picture happiness but can quite suddenly revert to fear, where every dream is born. It looks without for its validation. Yet all Reality is but within Love’s mentality. The Mind that is the Truth comes straight from Love. For only love creates in truth, and truth can never fear. The body does oppose this Mind of Love. Made to be fearful, must the body serve the purpose given it. But we can change the purpose which the body will obey by changing what we think that it is for. In the world it also serves to identify, for one’s identity is wrapped up in the body. Not so God’s purpose.

4 The body is the means by which God’s Son returns to sanity. For Heaven meets and speaks to Him where He is; and where He thinks He is is in the body. Though it was made to fence him into hell without escape, yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for the pursuit of hell. It’s not that hard to do; just change direction. Instead of hell, make the choice for Heaven. The Son of God extends his hand to reach his brother and to help him walk along the road with him. Christ always walks with You and talks with You. Choose now to acknowledge Him and listen. Now is the body holy. Now it serves to heal the mind that it was made to kill. For it now will move at Mind’s direction.

5 You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Now is the time to learn what really does. Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you. Make the choice for Truth. Your safety lies in truth and not in lies. Love is your safety. Love then is the Truth. Fear does not exist. For Love has come in and, so very gently, does dismiss it. Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.

For when You truly Love, You are real and safe and home, for Love is Reality. (That’s the bottom line!)

 

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is Sin ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

What is Sin?

1Sin is insanity. – To harm or use a Brother is unheard of in Heaven, as We Love and appreciate each Other, which the ego cannot comprehend.  For its own value comes in being better than a Brother. What insanity for equality is what beautifies All of Creation. There are no kings or queens or leaders of the pack for All exists as Harmony. For Love is Its Source. – To think otherwise is nothing but disturbing for it is an insane lie with no foundation.  – It is the means by which the mind is driven mad and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth.  – Illusions it would then impose upon All of its Brothers. Pure insanity. – And being mad, it sees illusions where truth should be and where it really is. Sin gave the body eyes, for what is there the sinless would behold? What need have they of sights or sounds or touch?  – If You could but understand that sensation is a product of the dream, You would be still and very quiet, awaiting the experience of God, instead of the screaming senses. – What would they hear or reach to grasp? What would they sense at all? – This is not how the Son of God cognizes, for He is but aware already. – To sense is not to know. And truth can be but filled with knowledge and with nothing else.  To Know is not to learn for there is nothing hid from You belovèd Son of God.  You have just pretended to ‘forget’, a concept that’s unknown to Reality.

2 The body is the instrument the mind made in its striving to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. – Bodies speak of separation, while Mind is One.  And Oneness is so effortless. It is pure Joy. – Yet can the goal of striving change. – It rests not upon a permanent foundation. For it does stand on shifting sands. – And now the body serves a different aim for striving. – One more rewarding. – What it seeks for now is chosen by the aim the mind has taken as replacement for the goal of self-deception. – How much more pleasant is Self-awareness! – Truth can be its aim as well as lies. – Truth wills Your mind be always free to make a better choice than it had made before. – The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is true.

3 Sin is the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts which are untrue. They are the “proof” that what has no reality is real. Sin is but the opposite of the freedom of the holy, blessèd Son of God.  That is what You are.

Sin “proves” God’s Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die.  And God Himself has lost the Son He loves, with but corruption to complete Himself, His Will forever overcome by death, love slain by hate, and peace to be no more.  Sin’s beliefs are so preposterous!  Indeed!  The Son of God did forget to laugh at just such nonsense.

4 A madman’s dreams are frightening, and sin appears indeed to terrify. – The ego keeps control of You by fear. – And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. Childish, wicked game; not all games are fun.

The Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt, with but a little life that ends in death. Yet what real pleasure do You think You that could find in such a nasty game as this?  A ‘game’ that makes the Son of God but a stranger to Himself.  How very painful.

But all the while his Father shines on him and loves him with an everlasting Love which his pretenses cannot change at all.  Dear Son of God You are so very Loved!  Let Me repeat it: You’re so belovèd! You simply have no idea how much that You are Loved by God.

5 How long, oh Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin?  – Think on this: Don’t You prefer Love to fear?  Do You like both, to hurt and to be hurt? – Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children’s toys?  – Don’t You prefer to Love and to Be Loved? – How soon will you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? – Love but awaits You with expectancy.  Your sandals, ring and robe wait by the gate.1There is no sin. Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven back? How long, oh holy Son of God, how long?

Imagine Be-ing sure again that You are so Loved and safe.  You are so cherished.

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is the World ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

What is the World

1The world is false perception. 

The ego’s strange twisted view of Heaven.  It is born of error, and it has not left its source. Error is parent to the world; it is both its conceiver, and executor. It will remain no longer than the thought which gave it birth is cherished. Change Your thought about what You believe and watch all the beliefs change accordingly. When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness will the world be seen in quite another light, and one which leads to truth, where all the world must disappear and all its errors vanish. So what is “true forgiveness”? What is false? Why is it so important to forgive? Read this next sentence. Now its source has gone, and its effects are gone as well. You did not make up the world through Your Love for God. Far from it! Continue reading:

2 The world was made as an attack on God.  It’s Your new version of Reality. It symbolizes fear. And what is fear except love’s absence? What is this Love that banishes all fear? Just disappears it! It is correction of the world and of all its lying dreams. Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not and where His Son could be apart from Him. What insanity! Here was perception – a twisted way to see Reality – born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. So was born another way of thinking, another ‘vision’. But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone. The meager human sense of life has no foundation, for it lacks reality, being based in dreams.

3 The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. They are but idle dreams, having no reality at all. Yet You call this ‘life’. For You wish to believe that they are real. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfil the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies. This is the strange and twisted ‘love’ of materiality. Yet everything that they report is but illusion, which is kept apart from truth. It must be, for Truth would destroy all illusion in a flash!

4 As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected. For Reality has always been here, waiting patiently. Sounds become the call of God. For His Love speaks to You from everywhere! And all perception can be given a new purpose by the one Whom God appointed savior to the world. For He can easily transform the world, and the way to living Heaven gladly opens up for You, right here in the dream. Follow His light and see the world as He beholds it. He gives You new eyes.Hear His Voice alone in all that speaks to you. For Truth is Your Friend. And let Him give you peace and certainty, which you have thrown away but Heaven has preserved for you in Him. He shows You the way by which You may walk to Heaven while You are still in the dream, for God can be known, right here and right now.

5 Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception. Thus can it be healed. Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete. There’s that F-word again, for it is but Your key to Heaven. And let us not attempt to change our function. In other words, don’t ignore the crucial need for forgiveness. We must save the world. For it is We who did imprison it within Our bad dreams. For we who made it must behold it through the eyes of Christ, – We must unmake it – that what was made to die be restored to Everlasting Life.

 

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is Salvation ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

What is Salvation

1Salvation is a promise made by God that you would find your way to Him at last.

In other words, despite Your defection from Him, God is still One in Love with You. It cannot not be kept. In other words, less confusing, His promises to You are better far than gold.1 It guarantees that time will have an end, and all the thoughts that have been born in time will end as well. The nightmare can’t last. It must be ended. God’s Word is given every mind which thinks that it has separate thoughts and will replace these thoughts of conflict with the Thought of peace. We’re always thinking. Happiness rests on the quality of what Your thinking is.

2 The Thought of peace was given to God’s Son the instant that his mind had thought of war. His mind had slipped into insanity. There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given without opposite and merely was. But when the mind is split, – when the unreal becomes the real to You – there is a need of healing. So the Thought which has the power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind that still was one but failed to recognize its oneness. Now it did not know itself and thought its own identity was lost. Do You understand what I am saying? The Allness of God is so grand that though He knows not of gaps, His Nature fills them.

3 Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the world of dreams and malice. Its Wholeness fills the emptiness of dreams of which It knows not. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. By Be-ing, Truth dissipates all error. And what they hid is now revealed—an altar to the holy Name of God whereon His Word is written, with the gifts of your forgiveness laid before it and the memory of God not far behind. Your Reality cannot be hidden!

4 Let us come daily to this holy place and spend a while together. What could be lovelier than Our holy Divine Communion? Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, – can You imagine! – for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. Yes! You got a feel for its great goodness! The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perception. Silent spring has been replaced by such joyous overflowing! Night has gone, and we have come together in the light, with brand-new Vision.

5 From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here salvation was received. Happiness has replaced all misery. Every tear is gone, each one has been dried by the warmth of Love. The song of our rejoicing – cannot be contained, joy running over – is the call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God’s Son has but an instant more – an Holy Instant, pregnant with promise! – to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams are done, eternity has shined away the world, and only Heaven now exists at all. Strange nightmares gone, as if they never had existed. They have been replaced by Love!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

1 Here Our Brother, with His Love of the Bible, especially the Psalms, is referencing Psalm 19 that the Laws of God are are “sweeter far than honey and better far than gold”. And true this is, for the Laws of God are but Love.

 

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

What is Forgiveness ~ Guidance Scribed by Sun~Rose


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I was in prison and you came to me.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

What is Forgiveness

 

What an awesome question! I know I’m going to be told there’s nothing to forgive! This is but a dream, although it seems real.

1 Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. You’re only dreaming! Stop gnashing Your teeth! That is the good news! In fact, all the news I am giving You is Good! Stop resisting it dear Sisters and dear Brothers. For it means Your sins also are unreal, and not just Your Brother’s! It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. This is but a dream! Albeit, no matter how convincing it does seem You. And in this view are all your sins forgiven. Every one of them; even the worst of them that You’d thought were unforgiveable. What is sin except a false idea about God’s Son? You’ve forgotten Who You are, Belovèd. Forgiveness merely sees its falsity and therefore lets it go. It will help to stop believing in the dream. Right now, perhaps! What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God: grand Reality.

2 An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true. The judger does believe the dream is real; oh so very real. The mind is closed and will not be released. The ego is both prison and jailer.The thought protects projection, tightening its chains so that distortions are more veiled and more obscure, less easily accessible to doubt, and further kept from reason. The ego mind holds tight to its own very ‘loved’ ‘creation’What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its needed goal? Projection is deliberate; it must protect the ego. That’s its only job.

3 An unforgiving thought does many things. To nurse its fantasy and keep it ‘real’. In frantic action, it pursues its goal, – let’s say doggedly – twisting and overturning what it sees as interfering with its chosen path. Its one ‘god’ is self. Distortion is its purpose and the means by which it would accomplish it as well. It sets about its furious attempts to smash reality, without concern for anything that would appear to pose a contradiction to its point of view. It cannot afford to have You know what’s real. That would be its death knoll. We could say knell if You prefer. Either way, the ego just must be right!

4 Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still and quietly does nothing. For Love needs not to do, but simply Be. Let’s let Love be free to create miracles for You and Me. It offends no aspect of reality nor seeks to twist it to appearance that it likes. For all things look like Love to Its Vision. It merely looks and waits and judges not. He who would not forgive must judge, for he must justify his failure to forgive. Don’t let this line just slip on by You; make sure to give credence to it, for it is extremely crucial.But he who would forgive himself must learn to welcome truth exactly as it is. For heeding it will most surely heal You.

5 Do nothing, then, and let forgiveness show you what to do through Him Who is your Guide, your Savior and Defender, strong in hope, and certain of your ultimate success. His Voice will lead You very carefully, that You not stumble. He has forgiven you already, for such is His function given Him by God. Now must you share His function and forgive whom He has saved, whose sinlessness He sees, and whom He honors as the Son of God. You and Your Others, every single extremely precious One.

 

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book,“YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE“, Jesus’ Guidance on the Miracle Principles

She is also author of,“RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

BOTH now available on amazon.com

Holy Spirit or the ego?

Questions and Answers
In Light of ACIM

By Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green

Graphic by ©Deposit Photos

The following is a question often asked by A Course in Miracle students:

QUESTION: “How do I know when I am actually hearing Guidance from my Right Mind, a.k.a. Holy Spirit and not the ego?”

ONE POSSIBLE ANSWER:

That’s the 64,000 dollar question. [Baby boomers will remember that TV Show. ;-] And the ANSWER for me is: “Know Thyself”.

When I listen to students of A Course in Miracles talk about the “Holy Spirit”, and when I listen to myself sometimes,  I notice that often there is a reference to HS as if IT were a Being outside of ourselves and separate from who we are.  Perhaps that is just a habit of ours, here in this seeming world of separate bodies.  The Course, however, reminds us several times:

CH 5 HEALING AND WHOLENESS, 9 The Holy Spirit is nothing more than your own right mind. He was also mine. The Bible says, “May the mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus,” and uses this as a blessing. It is the blessing of miracle-mindedness. It asks that you may think as I thought, joining with me in Christ-thinking.

Even though the above quote makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is our “own right mind”, and is present when we are “Christ-thinking”, the sentence before that quote makes it seem as though it comes from outside of us:

CH 5 HEALING AND WHOLENESS, 9 I told you that I could reach up and bring the Holy Spirit down to you, but I can bring Him to you only at your own invitation.

If the first quote were true, and of course it is, then this bringing down of the Holy Spirit is in a figurative sense, and not literal. Our Elder Brother can open the way to our “own right mind”, but he is reminding us that it must be at our own invitation. “The Holy Spirit’s Voice is as loud as your willingness to listen.” ACIM CH 8, 78

If our Elder Brother could open the way to our “own right mind”, that could only mean that our Minds are joined and that there is one MIND and that the communication within this MIND is universal and internal.

CH 18 THE DREAM AND THE REALITY, 56The body is a limit imposed on the universal communication which is an eternal property of mind. But the communication is internal. [It is not made up of different parts which reach each other.] Mind reaches to itself. It does not go out. Within itself it has no limits, and there is nothing outside it. [It encompasses everything.] It encompasses you entirely; you within it, and it within you. There is nothing else, anywhere or ever.

Thus the Holy Spirit is Mind reaching to itself, pulling itself up by its own boot straps. We might call it the cosmic REBOOT. When all else fails REBOOT and if that fails: “Read the Manual”. LOL

CH 26 THE TRANSITION, 49 Ideas are of the mind. What is projected out and seems to be external to the mind is not outside at all but an effect of what is in and has not left its source.

Again and again, one finds that our sense of identity is at the center of this Miraculous thought system offered through A Course in Miracles.  Every truth we believe is in direct relationship to who we think we are and who we  think our  brothers are and Who we think Jesus and God are. Minds communicate in ideas. Our Source gave of itself in the idea of us and we are also able to give of ourselves, which is our selfhood. The Course keeps reminding us that we are an idea, in full communication with all that ever was, which has never left its Source.

CH 15 THE PURPOSE OF TIME, 63 It is through us that peace will come. Join me in the idea of peace, for in ideas minds can communicate. If you would give yourself as your Father gives His Self, you will learn to understand selfhood. And therein is love’s meaning understood. But remember that understanding is of the mind and only of the mind. Knowledge is therefore of the mind, and its conditions are in the mind with it. If you were not only an idea and nothing else, you could not be in full communication with all that ever was. Yet as long as you prefer to be something else, or would attempt to be nothing else and something else together, the language of communication, which you know perfectly, you will not remember.

The Course is teaching  or reminding us, of a radical new perspective, which is based on this language of communication we have forgotten. We have forgotten that MIND extends to itself, being all there is. Love is all there is and what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. VIOLA! No separation, unless we choose to separate ourselves away from our Reality through judgment and unforgiveness – a.k.a. ‘wrong-mindedness’, a.k.a. the ego. We are adrift until we make the choice to ‘think’ with our CHRIST MIND.

CH 5 HEALING AND WHOLENESS, 11 The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind, which senses the knowledge that lies beyond perception. It came into being with the separation as a protection, inspiring the beginning of the Atonement at the same time. Before that, there was no need for healing and no one was comfortless.

In any given instant I could ask myself: Are my thoughts the loving Thoughts of God? Are my thoughts those of my Source, which is LOVE? Do I see no separation between myself and my brother?  “Every altar to God is part of your Soul because the light He created is one with Him.” ACIM CH 10, 33  Also, He tells us, “It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God’s Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Souls.” ACIM CH 5, 20

Am I relating to the TRUTH within that KNOWS that I am whole and complete and still as God created me? Or am I relating to a separate self, with separate needs and desires?  One sense of Self dwells in eternity and abundance and the other in time and scarcity.  “Those who see themselves as whole make no demands.” ACIM LESSON 37, 2

In every instant I make that choice. Now is the only time there is. What am I choosing now? What am I identifying with? Is it the Voice for Love that sings within, waiting to be acknowledged and expressed or the dirge of the ego.

The original question was: How do I know when I am actually hearing Guidance from my Right Mind, a.k.a. “Holy Spirit”, and not the ego?

And the Answer is: Know ThySelf. If the guidance is aligned in the knowledge of Who you are in truth, that you are one with your Brother and one with your Source, then  it is a reflection of Love and Reality. Your next thought, and the one after that, and the one after that, are either from your Christ Mind, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit, a.k.a. Love,  and are healing or they come from a misperception of who you are, born of fear. When we feel that tinge of separateness in our heart and there is no peace, that’s not the Holy Spirit. That’s our call to choose once again. There is no judgment. Who you are hasn’t changed. You are always the sinless and guiltless Son of God and now you get to choose again in each new moment.

Ɲαɱα§ɫé ॐ

 

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [Daily Lesson Mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

 

Our Creations

 OUR CREATIONS

by Reja Janaki Joy Green*
~*~*~*~*~*~

Ah that word ‘Creation’ again. It has plagued Course students for decades. We think we know what it means and then we lose it again.

On the M-F ACIM TEXT Conference Call today we read the following. [By the way, the call is free and open to everyOne. More info is here: http://www.jcim.net/acim-conference-calls/]:

Chapter Eight The Journey Back  VI. The Power of Joint Decision http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/TxtChap-8-6.php

45 “You want your creations as He wants His. Your creations are your gift to the Holy Trinity, created in gratitude for your creation. They do not leave you, any more than you have left your Creator, but they extend your creation as God extended Himself to you. Can the creations of God Himself take joy in what is not real? And what is real except the creations of God and those which are created like His? Your creations love you as your Soul loves your Father for the gift of creation. There is no other gift which is eternal, and therefore there is no other gift which is true”. ACIM CH 8 VI

So we might question, “What are our CREATIONS?” Can we ‘see’ them. Can we take joy in them if they are not ‘real’? Ah perhaps that’s the key. Are they ‘Real’?

We perceive what is transient and finite. And we are learning that only what is Eternal is True and stems from Knowledge. So it would seem that the beauty of our ‘creations’ on this plane is merely an illusion. How could they be TRUE if they are perceptions.

And thus, in this Dream, it would seem we are learning that creation is impossible and that this world is an illusion.

Or is it?

I’m thinking that we might not be able to ‘understand’ what is meant by ‘our creations’ but we may very well ‘experience’ what is meant by them.

We read in today’s TEXT reading segment about ‘experience’:

51 “The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described, and it cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself. [emphasis is mine.]” ACIM CH 8 VI

Maybe we need to pause and step back to see it from outside of the usual way we think of ‘creation’ or anything-everything, for that matter.

I recall coming across this in “GOD I AM: From Tragic to Magic” by Peter O Erbe, a book that has been described as a mini-ACIM:

GOD I AM:“We should not lose heart when we are told that this world is an illusion. The tree, the lake, the lark and the sky or a crisp mountain morning-the delight of little ones chasing clumsily through meadows lift our hearts and thus point the way. The truth becomes reversed when these are seen as being apart from us.

“There is beauty here, indeed – in fact, the elation at the sight of creation seen as my Being, and not perceiving myself as being separate from it, reverses the known picture to the extent of beauty being All-There-Is. Nothing outwardly may have changed, but one’s seeing is now knowledge, not perception any more. In an instant one is transported into a higher dimension. One has come into one’s own. That now the outward scene adapts itself to one’s reality, should not come as a surprise.” Pg 161

This reminds me of Lesson 268 “Let all things be exactly as they are.” .

“1 Let me not be Your critic, Lord, today, and judge against You. Let me not attempt to interfere with Your creation and distort it into sickly forms. Let me be willing to withdraw my wishes from its unity and thus to let it be as You created it. For thus will I be able, too, to recognize my Self as You created me. In Love was I created, and in Love will I remain forever. What can frighten me when I let all things be exactly as they are?ACIM Lesson 268

We also learn in the Course that “Heaven is here. There is nowhere else. Heaven is now. There is no other time.” ACIM Manual for Teachers #24  And so it keeps dawning on me that we could awaken RIGHT NOW. Change can come in the twinkling of an eye, which is an idea expressed in this exquisite song created during those magical days at FINDHORN:

CHANGE CAN COME (Words and Music by Lark Batteau)

“Change can come in the twinkling of an eye,
In the ripple upon a lake.
Change can come in the color of a flower,
In the sparkle of morning dew.
When the Light catches you.
In that tiny moment, you are transformed.And the radiance of Christ Shines forth in reply
From within, and has made itself known,
And from the two is born A new world.

Come let us join Our many gold flickerings
And create one Light, Together, Forever.”

Orbe’s book continues on:

GOD I AM: “This is the awakening. One now sees all as it really is and the memory of one’s ‘normal’ state of mind in Social Consciousness seems like death itself. One has come home. And it is so natural. One experiencing this knows this to be the natural heritage of every soul on Earth. The thrill of joy, the excitation, and yet the absolute peace one IS, is too far beyond words. One is complete.” Pg 161 GoodReads Review

This brings to mind recounts of Near Death Experiences [NDE]: Anita Moorjani, Billy Fingers and Dr. Rajiv Parti, for example. The Dr shared that he experienced this change in perception during his NDE and when he regained consciousness he was filled with GRATITUDE! NDE Stories .

GOD I AM: “Such sight would be at a loss for words, for words for this have not been coined. One with such sight would weep with joy and utter only this: Thank you God for being God! Thank you for being the ME of me.

“Such one would see his brother as he truly is, as God created him. And if his brother be the meanest the world has known, capable of horrifying deeds – this one sees with eyes unveiled and what does He behold? He cannot share his sight in words, for there are none. In speechless wonder he beholds a radiant jewel, a beauty so divine, – his crystal SELF. He becomes witness to the living God. To him who sees with such sight, the true meaning of the Last Judgment is revealed And truly, there is such a thing as this. And He who speaks it, says: BEHOLD – MY SON IS INNOCENT! What else, I ask, could Love say to its own SELF?”

How powerful this is!

GOD I AM: “At this point we may have comprehended in depth already what this material is trying to bring to our awareness: our experience of life on Earth can be Heaven on Earth, if we allow it to be so. To allow means not to resist but to see life as a whole and not single out parts and value those as wholes in themselves. If we insist on our upside-down perception we fail our mission.

“Our brothers and the Earth itself with all its beauty are not the illusion But our perception of it is. Truth is not absent here, make no mistake, but it is certainly obscured.” Pg 161

Thank you God, for being GOD! Thank you for being the ME of me. ♥

I will let everything point the way Home! Everything can be an expression of Love – IS an expression of Love. I will be witness to the living GOD – right here and right now.

Om SHANTI!

Photo by Mitzi Condit ~ NM, USA

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*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster,  eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [example of mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.  Rev Reja Joy facilitated the 2013 free ACIM Daily LESSON Conference Calls along with Rev. Pamela Whitman.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

Perception versus Knowledge

Questions and Answers

In Light of ACIM

 [as it appeared in the JAN FEB 2014 eMAGAZINE]

QUESTION: “How do we release our past conditioning which effects how we perceive everything in this world and keeps us stuck in illusion and away from knowledge?”

ANSWER: We begin with a definition of both perception and knowledge. This distinction will help us to understand the dynamics between them and their relationship to our Awakening. This Awakening is the release of our past conditioning.

Some people would define ‘perception’ as the end-result of the processing of our senses. For example, we process the feeling of the sun on our face by our sense of touch. The sun‘s rays touch our face and we process the sensation into a perception. We perceive its warmth.

Once we translate that sensation into a perception we relate it to our store of prior events which brings an understanding of what the perception is. We eventually come to comprehend that our sun which orbits our planet earth is radiating its light and warmth. However, is this later realization knowledge or ‘comprehension’?

Knowledge would likely be defined by most people as the end-result of the processing of our perceptions. In other words, we process the feeling of the sun on our face by our sense of touch into a perception. Then our mind analyzes the perception further into what we might consider as knowledge of the various attributes of the sun’s rays, the chemical processes on our skin, etc.

But, again, is this knowledge or is it merely ‘comprehension’?

In a remarkable book titled “GOD I AM: From Tragic to Magic”, channeled with the aid of Immanuel and St. Germain, scribe Peter O. Erbe writes:

“God can be known but not comprehended. Comprehension is perception with the mind. To perceive, I have to be apart from the perceived. This indicates division. Physicality is polarity. God is union, therefore not comprehensible by a polarized, that is divided, mind.”
“From within the realm of polarities we can only feel into the subject matter in a manner which induces the remembrance of an ancient knowing in our soul.” P. 17

And we find these complimentary thoughts from within A Course in Miracles:

12 God honored even the miscreations of His Children because they had made them, but He also blessed them with a way of thinking that could raise their perceptions until they became so lofty that they could reach almost back to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Mind of the Atonement. It represents a state of mind that comes close enough to one-mindedness that transfer to it is at last possible. Transfer depends on common elements in the old learning and the new situation to which it is transferred. Perception is not knowledge, but it can be transferred to knowledge or cross over into it. It might even be more helpful here to use the literal meaning of “carried” over since the last step is taken by God.  ACIM.OE.CH5.12 [bold emphasis is mine]

Perception can be lifted up and brought close to knowledge. Comprehension, of that which is perceived, gives way to that which cannot be perceived but only KNOWN. Oneness knows only Wholeness and Unity.

We are told that “From within the realm of polarities we can only feel into the subject matter…” which induces within us “the remembrance of an ancient knowing in our soul”.

From Chapter 21 of A Course in Miracles we find the following:

8 Listen-perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten, and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. But you remember from just this little part how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you. ACIM.OE.21.8

Recently in an ACIM Study Group, the discussion centered on how our perceptions stem from our prior conditioning and how very difficult it is to rid ourselves of what we have learned. This problem almost seems to be beyond healing and yet we are learning, in the Course, that healing is certain. Let’s look closely at the mechanism that is keeping us trapped within perception and away from Right Perception, which moves toward Knowing.

What is the nature of this TRAP?

“Repeated experience causes repeated judgment. This creates habits of perception. Habits of perception may be seen like grooves in the mind. The deeper the groove, the more fixed becomes our belief in what the groove contains. “ GOD I AM p.28

And the Course poignantly describes this dilemma as such:

6 The blind become accustomed to their world by their adjustments to it. They think they know their way about in it. They learned it, not through joyous lessons, but through the stern necessity of limits they believed they could not overcome. And still believing this, they hold those lessons dear and cling to them because they cannot see. They do not understand the lessons keep them blind. This they do not believe. And so they keep the world they learned to “see” in their imagination, believing that their choice is that or nothing. They hate the world they learned through pain. And everything they think is in it serves to remind them that they are incomplete and bitterly deprived. ACIM.OE.CH21.6

So we now see that our thoughts are trapped within the grooves of our mind, carved out by habits of perception. We could acquiesce to the way we think things are, believing there is no other choice, that it is this way or nothing. Or we could open our minds to a way to be released from bondage by believing that there is another way.

As long as we perceive ourselves within the groove, we are attached to the groove and we continue to blame the groove, viewing it as the CAUSE of our suffering.

“The form always represents the effect, not the CAUSE. Treatment of the effect, being only a symptom, can only displace or shift the symptom.” GOD I AM p. 28

A Course in Miracles describes it as such:

8  Today we seek to change our minds about the source of sickness, for we seek a cure for all illusions, not another shift among them. ACIM.OE.LESSON140.8

By focusing on the ‘grooves’ of our learned perceptions, we stay stuck. More than that, we ‘stabilize’ these perceptions rather than release them. So we might ask how do we stop this vicious cycle? How do we release the habit of thinking the grooves are the CAUSE of our unhappiness and believing we are unable to behave differently and thus deepening the grooves. Are we only solidifying our perceptions by our beliefs? Can we pick ourselves up out of the grooves by our own bootstraps. In other words, REBOOT using perception?

Yes, and the answer is the KEY to Happiness -> True Perception without judgment!

“To perceive without stabilization of perception, however, it becomes imperative to abandon the judgment of that which is perceived, for it is judgment that stabilizes perception. Yeshwa’s advise: ‘Judge not by appearances’ may be understood better in this light. Evaluating, that is judging what we perceive results always in False Perception.

“The thought then, logically and consequently thought to its end, is this: where judgment is not, accusation is absent. Where accusation is not, guilt is absent. Where guilt is not, forgiveness has no purpose and a state without a need for forgiveness must, of necessity, be a state of pure Being, of innocence, a state of enlightenment.”  GOD I AM p.28

What is described here is Vision which is within us for the asking, or rather for the ‘allowing’. We were given this Vision at the same ‘time’ we chose to believe in the illusion of separation. We keep the grooves strong and in place and in fact deepen them by our insistence that correction lies in our perception and therefore ‘judgment’ of the grooves. The groove is not a CAUSE of our pain. It is the effect of our thinking that we are separate from our Source and alone.

We were given the Holy Spirit [our Right Mind] which is both able to ‘perceive’ and to ‘know’ and this is the bridge.

12What is a miracle but this remembering? And who is there in whom this memory lies not? The light in one awakens it in all. And when you see it in each other, you are remembering for everyone.  ACIM.OE.CH21.12

The MIRACLE is the Shift out of this way of ‘thinking’ and into allowing the Thoughts we think with God to enter our most Holy Minds, for they have never left it. They have only been covered up by our belief in fear, our belief in lack and our belief in the grooves! We don’t need to ‘think’ our way out of our rut. We simply need do nothing which allows Love to enter of Its own accord. The Course teaches that ‘Love waits on welcome, not on time.”

“So the answer to the question of how to leave the groove is to wake up to Reality, the very purpose of the soul’s sojourn through the world of matter.” GOD I AM. p. 29

“True Perception [Forgiveness] of this illusion will set us free from the bondage of this dream. It allows the miracle in to heal. A miracle is devoid of degrees. It cares not what we perceive our problem to be, how big or small – it matters not. For where we see many problems, it only knows of one: Separation from Oneness. And to the one problem, it can only bring one answer, provided the miracle is invited and allowed in. For what we call a miracle is nothing else but the truth rushing in if we surrender our defenses.” GOD I AM p.29
[bold emphasis is mine]

“Change can come in the twinkling of an eye.
When the Light catches you.
In that tiny moment, you are transformed.

And the radiance of Christ
Shines forth in reply
From within, and has made itself known,
And from the two is born
A new world.”

~ Words and Music by Lark Batteau [See MUSIC ARTICLE]

Truth will come rushing in when we choose Love, for that is what we ARE. With faith, we come to Know that change can truly come in the twinkling of an eye. ♥
Question and Answer segment written by Rev Reja Joy Green ~ CIMS eMagazine editor

ARTICLE on CIMS Website

Le s s o n  243
Today I will judge nothing that occurs.

1 I will be honest with myself today. I will not think that I already know what must remain beyond my present grasp. I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. Today I recognize that this is so. And so I am relieved of judgment which I cannot make. Thus do I free myself and what I look upon, to be in peace as God created us.

2 Father, today I leave creation free to be itself. I honor all its parts, in which I am included. We are one because each part contains Your memory, and truth must shine in all of us as one.

ACIM.OE.WB.243

 

 

Temptation to Disbelieve

TEMPTATION to Disbelieve in
A COURSE IN MIRACLES


Article by Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green*
~*~*~*~*~*~

What does it really mean to be ‘tempted’?

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word TEMPT as:

Definition of TEMPT

1 : to entice to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain
[Tempted to go off my diet!; I’m tempted to reject these ideas since they seem to be telling me that I need to relinquish even the pleasure and joy I receive from loving those in my life .]

2 a : to make trial of : test [Evaluate so as to accept or reject]
   b : provoke tempt fate>  [To arouse a feeling or action]
   c : to risk the dangers of [Some think that wet hair tempts a cold.]

3 a : to induce to do something [The pull was tempting.]
   b : to cause to be strongly inclined <was>tempted to call it quits></was>

Origin of TEMPT

Middle English, from Anglo-French tempter, tenter, from Latin temptare, tentare to feel, try First Known Use: 13th century

Whatever we value intensely in our life we seem to identify with and if it were taken from us, we feel as though our life, as we know it, were over. It no longer seems worth living. Perhaps it is a son or daughter, a spouse, a title, a job, our health which might be or has been taken from us. Now life has no meaning. “That which I deeply valued and gave my life meaning, is gone!”

We might also value JOY in our lives, feeling as though it were our only hope of survival in a world made sick by fear. And if this JOY were threatened, then we feel as though our life were threatened as well. And when the threat seems to have occurred, we feel we have to respond in some way or the JOY will be gone and so will our Joie de vivre; our reason for being here.

And the response we choose is determined by what we think is TRUE about the JOY and what we think is TRUE about ourselves.

If we feel as though our JOY is something that can be threatened, we will be enticed to give up the offending thought system so as to protect our JOY. [This is the first item in the definition of being TEMPTED.] If we feel as though we are a mortal being, finite and at the mercy of the outside world, we will believe we need to protect ourselves.

We might feel as though the Thought system of the Holy Spirit, our Right Mind, A Course in Miracles, has put us on a restrictive regime, too harsh for us to continue. Especially if the regime means we are called to give up JOY!

Yet we are taught in A Course in Miracles that “The Holy Spirit is the spirit of JOY.” A If we trust the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, the JOY in our hearts, would it ever tell us to release it? Wouldn’t our Holy Minds tell us that the JOY we feel in our lives is as eternal as we are?

“Joy is eternal. You can be sure indeed that any seeming happiness that does not last is really fear. Joy does not turn to sorrow, for the eternal cannot change. But sorrow can be turned to joy, for time gives way to the eternal.” ACIM-OE CH 22, par 18

JOY is not only what we HAVE, as a Gift of God, it’s what we truly ARE. When we are feeling JOYOUS, we are in our Right Mind!  Never would we be counseled to reject this, for this is the only reality this dream has.

The second definition of TEMPT is to ‘make trial of; to test’.  And so our minds may ask, “How could this curriculum be true when it asks me to give up JOY!” We put the curriculum on trial, test it and judge it. Then we listen to the ego, which knows nothing, as it tell us we are guilty if we feel JOY. It not only tells us this untruth, but then it tells us that this is what A Course in Miracles is teaching. It cautions us that we need to exchange this restrictive thought system for what is familiar to us and less threatening, or we’ll lose everything dear to us. It suggests that we’d rather be guilty than give up JOY! And love tells us to “Hear not this now!”

When we think that our relationships are beginning to bring us pain, we hear the ego tell us to get rid of them for something that will bring us JOY. When we think that our ‘thoughts’ are beginning to bring us pain, we again hear the ego tell us to get rid of them, in exchange for what will bring us JOY.

And the Voice for Love teaches us thus:

“Now the ego counsels thus-substitute for this another relationship to which your former goal was quite appropriate. You can escape from your distress only by getting rid of each other. You need not part entirely if you choose not to do so. But you must exclude major areas of fantasy from each other to save your sanity.

“Hear not this now! Have faith in Him Who answered you. He heard. Has He not been very explicit in His answer?

“Now He asks for faith a little longer, even in bewilderment. For this will go, and you will see the justification for your faith emerge to bring you shining conviction. Abandon Him not now, nor each other. This relationship has been reborn as holy. “ ACIM-OE Ch 17, par 49

We may ask ourselves, “Can our relationship with A Course in Miracles be reborn as holy? Can we have faith, ‘even in bewilderment?’ HE asks us to “Abandon Him not now, nor each other. ”

“In every difficulty, all distress, and each perplexity Christ calls to you and gently says, “My brother, choose again.” He would not leave one source of pain unhealed nor any image left to veil the truth. He would remove all misery from you, whom God created altars unto joy. He would not leave you comfortless, alone in dreams of hell, but would release your minds from everything that hides His face from you. His holiness is yours because He is the only power that is real in you. His strength is yours because He is the Self that God created as His only Son.” ACIM-OE Ch 31, par 87  ♥

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*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [example of mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.  Rev Reja Joy facilitated the 2013 free ACIM DAILY Lesson Conference Calls along with Rev. Pamela Whitman.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

William Thetford’s Final Independence

WILLIAM THETFORD ~ Co-SCRIBE of ACIM
April 25, 1923 – July 4, 1988


Article by Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green*
~*~*~*~*~*~

The following is an EXCERPT from the NEW REALITIES interview of Bill Thetford Sept/Oct 1984 Issue:

NR:  The authenticity. . ?

WT:  Well, the material was something that transcended anything that either of us could possibly conceive of.  And since the content was quite alien to our backgrounds, interests and training, it was obvious to me that it came from an inspired source.  The quality of the material was very compelling, and its poetic beauty added to its impact.

NR:  It seems quite unusual that you, an established psychologist holding two very prestigious positions, would even consider embracing such material, considering your training and the rigid tenets within academia to which you no doubt subscribed and adhered.

WT:  I think if it had not been for many of the extraordinary experiences that occurred during the summer of 1965, neither Helen nor I would have been willing to accept the material she scribed.  You have reported some of those experiences in these pages in the material from Robert Skutch’s new book “Journey Without Distance, The Story Behind A Course In Miracles“.  However, our experience associated with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was not reported in “New Realities.”  Perhaps as much as anything, this series of events crystallized the whole new direction that we would take.

NR:  The Mayo Clinic even occurred in September and didn’t the Course begin the next month in October?

WT:  Yes.  I had been asked to go to the Mayo Clinic and find out why they made money on their psychological service operations, while at Columbia-Presbyterian it seemed that we were always losing money.  I thought I knew the answer to that question because we saw primarily clinic patients who couldn’t afford fees, and the patients at the Mayo Clinic were middle or upper class and able to pay.  Nevertheless, it seemed this was an important trip to make and I asked Helen to accompany me.  Just before we took off – I think it was the night before – Helen had this very vivid image of a church, which she described to me in great detail, she even made a sketch of it.  It was an old church with a number of turrets and towers.  She thought it was probably a Lutheran Church.  She was convinced that somehow we would see that church from the airplane window as we were about to land in Rochester.  That, of course, seemed rather unlikely, since the airports I know aren’t built near churches.  Anyway, we kept our attention very closely focused on the windows during landing, and much to Helen’s disappointment and distress no such church was visible.  In fact, Helen was so upset at not finding her church that I didn’t hold out much hope of accomplishing our business the next day unless she could somehow be reassured.  Rather desperately I suggested to Helen that we hire a taxi and see if we could find her church anywhere in the Rochester metropolitan area.

So Helen and I went church hunting.  At first we thought we would confine ourselves to Lutheran churches.  I think there were two of those, and neither one was remotely like Helen’s image.  Then we decided that we might as well see all the other churches while we were at it.  I think there were twenty-seven altogether in the environs of Rochester.  And not one of them bore any resemblance to Helen’s image.  Obviously, she was pretty crushed, but we pulled ourselves together in preparation for the following day’s business.

The next day after we had successfully completed our survey, Helen and I prepared to leave our hotel.  I went down to the lobby to wait for her with the luggage, and noticing a newsstand I decided to get a paper.  Instead, I saw a little booklet entitled, “The History of the Mayo Clinic.”  Thinking it would be nice to have a souvenir of our visit, I purchased it for a dollar.

 

As I leafed through it very quickly, I saw a picture of Helen’s old church, exactly as she had described it with all the turrets and towers.  It was even a Lutheran church.  The only problem was that it had been razed and the Mayo Clinic was actually built on the former site of this Lutheran church.  It was a very dramatic moment, and I was eager to share it with Helen.

When she came down, I said quickly, “Helen you really weren’t out of your mind after all.  Your church was there but it’s no longer around.  When you thought you were looking down on it as from an airplane you were really looking back through time.”

Helen displayed a peculiar mixture of emotions.  On the one hand, relief that she wasn’t totally crazy, on the other hand, it was clear that she was doing something which she regarded as highly paranormal, and this was an area that made her very uncomfortable.

On our way back to New York, we had to change planes in Chicago.  While we were sitting in the waiting room, Helen spied a young woman in the corner reading a magazine and looking vaguely unhappy in the way people frequently do when they are waiting for planes in airports.  I was surprised when Helen said to me, “See that young woman over there, she’s really in serious trouble – she’s got a lot of problems.”  Helen insisted that she would go over and speak to this woman.  As it turned out the woman, whose name was Charlotte, had never been on an airplane before.  She had flown on Ozark Airlines to Chicago en-route to New York and was in a state of panic.  She knew nothing about New York.  We later found out that she was leaving her husband and two young children, and was in a state of great distress.

Charlotte was booked on the same plane as we.  During the flight, we sat on either side of her, holding her hand, and trying to calm and soothe her.  We asked where she was going to stay in New York since she didn’t know anyone.  She said that since she was Lutheran, she thought she would contact a Lutheran church and somehow they would find a place for her in the city.  It was at this point that Helen and I exchanged glances.  The message was clear to both of us. Helen heard her inner voice saying, “And this is my true church, helping your brother who is in need; not the edifice you saw before.”  The authority of this inner voice became increasingly familiar to both of us when the Course began a few weeks later in October.

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Article “Bill Thetford’s Independence Day”
https://cimsmiracles.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/bill-thetfords-independence-day/

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*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [example of mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.  Rev Reja Joy facilitated the 2013 free ACIM DAILY Lesson Conference Calls along with Rev. Pamela Whitman.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

There is no cruelty in God

 

THERE IS NO CRUELTY IN GOD AND NONE IN ME.

ACIM LESSON 170

by Reja Janaki Joy Green*
~*~*~*~*~*~

Quiet Recognition

1 No one attacks without intent to hurt. This can have no exception. When you think that you attack in self-defense, you mean that to be cruel is protection; you are safe because of cruelty. You mean that you believe to hurt another brings you freedom. And you mean that to attack is to exchange the state in which you are for something better, safer, more secure from dangerous invasion and from fear.

2 How thoroughly insane is the idea that to defend from fear is to attack! ACIM Lesson 170

HE tells us in this lesson that “No one attacks without intent to hurt. This can have no exception.” And yet we make exceptions almost immediately.

One exception might be a situation in which we would attack someone and feel justified.  And what about ‘self defense’?  Wouldn’t we, at the very least, attack in self-defense?  How could we not? Doesn’t the god of fear tell us all that if we do not defend ourselves, we could be hurt?  Doesn’t the god of fear tell us that our only protection and security, from a dangerous invasion and from fear, is to ATTACK in retaliation? And so we defend ourselves  to keep what we have; or we attack another to get what we think we want. How could we possibly think that we could gain at another’s loss?

60 The whole belief that someone loses but reflects the underlying tenet God must be insane. For in this world, it seems that one must gain because another lost. If this were true, then God is mad indeed! But what is this belief except a form of the more basic tenet, “Sin is real and rules the world“? For every little gain must someone lose and pay exact amount in blood and suffering. For otherwise would evil triumph and destruction be the total cost of any gain at all. You who believe that God is mad, look carefully at this and understand that it must be that either God or this must be insane, but hardly both. ACIM CH 25 VIII

A VISITOR to our ACIM Study Group recently shared that an incident had occurred in his home ACIM Study Group.  He described the facilitator of his Group as very non-confrontational and accepting. And he described his group demographics as all women, except himself, who were over 60 years old.

A man, an INTRUDER, joined their group and announced that he was going to be taking over. Our VISITOR told us that this man hinted that he had a weapon.

That’s when our VISITOR made the decision, based on the inability of the Facilitator to protect the group and based on the vulnerability of the elderly women in the group, to proceed with a preemptive strike.  He told the man that he was leaving and escorted him out by force. As he did so, someone had already called the police and the police took the INTRUDER away.

Our VISITOR reasoned that he was merely acting out the ‘dream’ of the INTRUDER. The INTRUDER was ‘dreaming’ that it was his job to attack the group and cause a reaction.  And so our VISITOR was just giving him what he wanted. When he mentioned this, our group exploded in laughter! It seemed like a plausible scenario.  The INTRUDER ‘wanted’ to go to jail!

And yet is there another way to see this?

This situation in the ACIM Study Group is a symbol for the many times we ‘see’ attack as real and our defense as justified. We judge what is real for us in any situation and then respond. HE tells us in ACIM Ch 3, VIII:

It does not matter in the end whether you judge right or wrong. Either way, you are placing your belief in the unreal. This cannot be avoided in any type of judgment because it implies the belief that reality is yours to choose from. ACIM CH 3 VIII paragraph 62

When we make a judgment from the belief that we can choose what is real in any situation, we are placing our belief in the unreal. “Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists”, from the ACIM Introduction. We separate ourselves into separate ‘bodies’ and then protect these bodies by mitigating a perceived attack.

In our Lessons we are being taught to ‘see’ holiness in everything. We are taught in Lesson 37: “My holiness blesses the world.” In this lesson HE tells us:

This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world or why you are here. Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness. Thus are you and the world blessed together. No one loses; nothing is taken away from anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision. It signifies the end of sacrifice because it offers everyone his full due. And he is entitled to everything because it is his birthright as a Son of God. ACIM Lesson 37

Amazing!!!  No one loses. Nothing is taken from anyone. Blessing everything and everyone with our holiness, with our sight of wholeness and perfection, is our salvation. That is why our brother is our Saviour! When we bless him, no matter what he is choosing to ‘act out’ from his nightmare, we teach the meaning of love.

Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. Those who see themselves as whole make no demands. ACIM Lesson 37

How could we possibly ‘bless’ this INTRUDER, in this situation? He tells us “Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him.” In any attack, there is an opponent which is needed for the attack to have meaning. When there is no opposition, the attack fails. It returns to the nothingness from which it came. Its seeming ‘reality’ comes only from the defense it engenders. Without a ‘defense’ it becomes impotent.

He tells us you teach the world by “your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed.” ACIM Lesson 37  What could occur that does not warrant our quiet recognition of this holiness in all things?

Yet we may wonder how could we ever see that this seeming attack warrants our quiet recognition of ‘holiness’. If we do that, won’t we open ourselves to pain and suffering? Without our defense, wouldn’t there be chaos? And He tells us without the ego all would be Love.

He also tells us that in our defenselessness our safety lies. Attack and defense are two sides of a dance that has been re-enacted over and over since the beginning of our illusory time.

He also tells us that “If I defend myself I am attacked.” ACIM Lesson 37 The situation becomes an ATTACK only if and when I DEFEND myself.

I shared the following in my article, “Avatar and ACIM”:

In the book, “Creating Miracles” written by Carolyn Miller, PhD, there are many examples of those who were in the face of imminent death and yet in that moment they experienced a clarity and a peace and a sense of unconditional love and wholeness that encompassed everything, including the perpetrator. In that moment they became ONE with the perpetrator. The would-be murderer knew that they had been forgiven and released of their guilt and in that Holy Instant they were transformed.

The strength of right perception is so great
that it brings the mind INTO accord with His
because it yields to His pull which is in all of you.” OrEd.Tx.5.36

So, how could this ‘situation’ have been different?

What could you not accept if you but knew that all events, past, present, and to come, are gently planned by One whose only purpose is your good? ACIM L135

A man comes into the group and announces he is taking over control. The reaction by those who are in the group is one of surprise and then perhaps gaiety! “Welcome dear one!! We’ve been awaiting your arrival.  How blessed we are to have you with us today.” The group knows themselves, and the INTRUDER, as whole and complete and still as God created them and from this knowledge of their wholeness they make no demands.” Out of their Knowledge of Who they are and Who the INTRUDER is, they know they need only extend their love.

The INTRUDER is totally caught off guard and then the sinlessness in him recognizes the love that is being shared with him! He opens to the shared recognition of his wholeness and his light. Isn’t that what we all want as well? Isn’t that what we are all searching for?

You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourselves and your brothers totally without judgment.

When you recognize what you and your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way is without meaning.

In fact, their meaning is lost to you precisely because you are judging them.

In the presence of knowledge, all judgment is automatically suspended, and this is the process which enables recognition to replace perception. ACIM CH 3 VIII paragraph 63

And so we lovingly bless this brother by seeing what is REAL in him. We need nothing from him. He need not be different.  From our Wholeness we see him as Whole. We see him with the eyes of Love. And as we see him, we see ourselves. This is why we came here. This is our salvation.

Your holiness is the salvation of the world. It lets you teach the world that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything, but merely by your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed, along with you. ACIM Lesson 37

========================================

*Reverend Reja Joy Green is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]; She is the CIMS webmaster, eMagazine editor and producer of the Daily Lesson Mailings [example of mailings]. Rev. Reja Joy facilitates the Course in Miracles study group in Omaha and is ordained as a Community Miracles Center minister.  Rev Reja Joy facilitated the 2013 free ACIM DAILY Lesson Conference Calls along with Rev. Pamela Whitman.

As a registered Yoga Instructor, Rev. Reja Joy teaches through her RejaJoy-Yoga-Studio from the perspective of A Course in Miracles and hosts several social media groups for those who share this journey. Rev. Reja Joy currently resides with her loving 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.  Jcim.net

Our Attack Thoughts


Our Attack Thoughts Attack Our Invulnerability

BY REJA JOY GREEN*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The-Light-Within

Recently I received a group email which was purported to be “An Actual Craig’s List Personals AD”. 

The AD and my RESPONSE are below.

Craig’s list ad–Read it closely folks… a good one.

AN ACTUAL CRAIG’S LIST PERSONALS AD

To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in Downtown Savannah night before last.

Date: 2011-11-27, 1:43 am. E.S.T.

I was the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you demanded that I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend, threatening our lives. You also asked for my girlfriend’s purse and earrings. I can only hope that you somehow come across this rather important message.

First, I’d like to apologize for your embarrassment; I didn’t expect you to actually crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket.. The evening was not that cold, and I was wearing the jacket for a reason.. my girlfriend was happy that I just returned safely from my 2nd tour as a Combat Marine in Afghanistan .. She had just bought me that Kimber Custom Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for my birthday, and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that very evening. Obviously you agree that it is a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head … isn’t it?!

I know it probably wasn’t fun walking back to wherever you’d come from with crap in your pants. I’m sure it was even worse walking bare-footed since I made you leave your shoes, cell phone, and wallet with me. [That prevented you from calling or running to your buddies to come help mug us again].

After I called your mother or “Momma” as you had her listed in your cell, I explained the entire episode of what you’d done. Then I went and filled up my gas tank as well as those of four other people in the gas station, — on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 153 gallons and was extremely grateful!

I gave your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go’s, along with all the cash in your wallet. [That made his day!]

I then threw your wallet into the big pink “pimp mobile” that was parked at the curb ….. after I broke the windshield and side window and keyed the entire driver’s side of the car.

Earlier, I managed to get in two threatening phone calls to the DA’s office and one to the FBI, while mentioning President Obama as my possible target.

The FBI guy seemed really intense and we had a nice long chat (I guess while he traced your number etc.)

In a way, perhaps I should apologize for not killing you … but I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your threatened crime. I wish you well as you try to sort through some of these rather immediate pressing issues, and can only hope that you have the opportunity to reflect upon, and perhaps reconsider, the career path you’ve chosen to pursue in life.. Remember, next time you might not be so lucky. Have a good day!

Thoughtfully yours, Semper fi,

Alex

Probably don’t have to ask you to forward this one, it is priceless!


Dearest Friend, This email is so incredibly mind blowing on so many levels. [Even if this email were not authentic, none of our thoughts are idle. They produce effects on some level. We should be asking ourselves, what DO we want to create?]

All I could think of, as I was reading it, were these words,

“In my defenselessness my safety lies.”ACIM Lesson 153

Today’s Lesson is “My holiness blesses the world.” And in the lesson HE tells us, “Those who see themselves as whole make no demands.”

In this morning’s Recorded CONFERENCE CALL I mentioned this email, just saying that I received it from a long time Student.

What came to mind was Les Miserables, where the Bishop told the police that he gave Val jean what he took but said he forgot the candlesticks.

I also remembered a story that KEN WAPNICK shares about how a robber came into his bedroom window to rob him. KEN saw him with the eyes of Christ and offered him more than he was wanting to take.

As the thief left he asked for Ken’s blessing!

“Those who see themselves as whole make no demands.” 

Can we remove the idea of SACRIFICE in this world and not reinforce it. Holy Child of God, when will we learn that we are truly invulnerable and to attack our brothers in any way [even if we perceive that he is ‘attacking us’], is to attack our own invulnerability.

As the Son of God, WHO or what could BE attacked. There is nothing anyone could take from us. We are whole and complete and still as God created us. These aren’t just words.  They are TRUTH.

Today this was the paragraph that it was my turn to read. How synchronistic!

2There is no other way in which the idea of sacrifice can be removed from the world’s thinking. Any other way of seeing will inevitably demand payment of someone or something. As a result, the perceiver will lose. Nor will he have any idea why he is losing. Yet is his wholeness restored to his awareness through your vision. Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. Those who see themselves as whole make no demands.  ACIM Lesson 37

I bless you dear One, as the Son of God.


~Reja Janaki Joy Green
Omaha, NE

*Reja Janaki Joy Green [Reja_CIMS] is one of the founding members of the Course in Miracles Society [CIMS];

 

Forgiveness and Blaming the Victim


ACIM Q&A

Forgiveness and Blaming the Victim

BY REJA JOY GREEN
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Forgiveness-Not Blaming The Victim

The following is a question, posed on the new blog, “From Anxiety to Love: Finding Inner Peace with A Course in Miracles“. Corinne answered this question beautifully on her blog and a followup answer by Reja is below.

Question: “I don’t understand how forgiveness in the Course is different than blaming the victim. I know that abusive people can, and have, misused the Course and other spiritual teachings to act from ego and hurt others. However, I still see in the Course amongst its teachers that the person who was hurt must then forgive by “accepting that what you thought happened, didn’t” and realizing that one “chose to hurt oneself through the abuser” and other concepts.”

Thank you so much Corinne. The explanation you’ve given on your blog which is here-> http://bitly.com/ACIMQandA-BlamingVictim will resonate with a lot of Course students, I’m sure.

What I’d love to do is hear from other Course in Miracle students on how they would answer this question as well.

I felt the challenge to ask within my Self for how I would have answered this question if it were posed to me and so this Article was born.

~*~

The first part of the question stated:

“I don’t understand how forgiveness in the Course is different than blaming the victim.”

From the wording of this first part of the question, there seems to be a perception that blame is not only possible but that blame is actually occurring in the name of ‘forgiveness’, which makes it seem as though the ‘victim’ is being unfairly treated. And from the perspective of separation, this makes sense.

However we, as students of A Course in Miracles [ACIM], are learning to choose a different kind of ‘perspective’.  And it’s a perspective to be used even here in this dream of physical space; even now, in our seeming experience of linear time. There IS NO OTHER Place or Time. The perspective of the Holy Spirit, of our Right Mind, of FORGIVENESS, will bring us to an experience of Peace and JOY ~  here and now! And this is the first step toward our awakening; the first step on this journey without distance to a goal that has never changed.

The whole crux of the solution then is to understand the perspective that ACIM is teaching us. And the answer is closer to us than our breath. It is truly our own BEING. It is the Love that we ARE.

When we choose to come from our Right Mind, which is actually a definition of ‘Forgiveness’,  then we are literally coming from the part of our Mind referred to as the Holy Spirit, Higher Self, or Guidance.  And this MIND shows us what is REALLY going on, past the limited perception of the ego which is based on separation. And that vision is what Forgiveness truly is.

From the perspective of LOVE [aka Holy Spirit, Higher Self, Guidance, whatever you may call it], blame is impossible. It’s impossible because there is no condemnation. And there is no condemnation because there is no belief in separation. The Course asks us many times who would we attack if we truly knew the ‘other‘ as our Self?

In order for attack to even take place we must first separate ourselves from the other. We must first think that we are different from them; that they are truly separate from us and then we decide whether they deserve either punishment or forgiveness.

From the alternate perspective of UNITY, there is not only no condemnation, there is no separation between the person ‘perceiving the other’ and the ‘other’. This alternate perspective allows us to ponder the idea that what is truly going on is so much more than what our limited minds are showing us. It allows for the idea that what our limited minds are showing us is not Reality. We are not different from our brothers. We are Spirit having a human experience and we are ALL facets of the ONE.

The Course is teaching us that MINDS are JOINED; That we share One Mind with God although we have divided that One mind in separate, warring parts that do not remember their Oneness. Our thoughts create the separation and then we react to it as if it were real.

The SHIFT away from the view that perpetuates ‘separation’ to one that allows the Reality of UNITY to come forward is the MIRACLE. The Course tells us that the miracle is when we remove the blocks to Love’s awareness. The Course tells us that everything that comes from Love is a Miracle.

Now, the next part of the question tells us that the questioner admits:

I still see in the Course amongst its teachers that the person who was hurt must then forgive by ‘accepting that what you thought happened, didn’t’….”

In this statement we first of all see that the person ‘was hurt’ and then the person who ‘was hurt’ is being told they MUST FORGIVE by denying that it happened. This truly sounds ludicrous and yet there is more here than meets the eye.

If we first look at the idea that the person is HURT, it is agreed that the appropriate reaction is NOT to deny this person’s experience. That would be something the Course calls:  ‘denying the DENIAL’ and the Course urges us NOT to do this. So what is DENIAL? DENIAL is occurring when anyone DENY’S their perfection. But our healing will never occur if we continue to deny that we are in DENIAL. J

Yes, the person is hurt. Or yes, I am hurt. We should not deny that feeling. But the HEALING of the DENIAL and the pain which the DENIAL causes is what the Course is teaching us. We hurt. Yes. But in Reality we are still as God created us. We are not the weak and vulnerable and separate person our egos want us to believe we are. That concept of ourselves can cause us to feel hurt but that is not who we are.

Actually, there is nothing outside of us. In reality there is One Mind and that Mind I share with God. Everything else is a call for help and healing, whether it’s from me or from the other person. Any concept of who I am that does not include my perfection and Eternal Being, is a concept supported by my vulnerable ego and will suffer pain.

The Course tells us “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” We learn this so beautifully in Lesson 281 as He teaches us this prayer:

1 Father, Your Son is perfect. When he thinks that he is hurt in any way, it is because he has forgotten who he is. And that he is as You created him. Your Thoughts can only bring me happiness. If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what You think and put my little, meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong and where They are. I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. The Thoughts I think with You can only bless. The Thoughts I think with You alone are true.
ACIM Lesson 281

Nothing outside of us can hurt us or change our eternal Reality in any way. The Course is teaching us that we can ALWAYS choose again when we are in pain. No one can hurt us unless we give them the power to do so. In the very last few paragraphs of the Course, we are gently reminded that:

87 Trials are but lessons which you failed to learn presented once again, so where you made a faulty choice before, you now can make a better one and thus escape all pain which what you chose before has brought to you. In every difficulty, all distress, and each perplexity Christ calls to you and gently says, “My brother, choose again.” He would not leave one source of pain unhealed nor any image left to veil the truth. [He would remove all misery from you, whom God created altars unto joy.] He would not leave you comfortless, alone in dreams of hell, but would release your minds from everything that hides His face from you. His holiness is yours because He is the only power that is real in you. His strength is yours because He is the Self that God created as His only Son.    ACIM OrEd.Tx.31.87

This is what we are learning. It is the concept that, as soon as we are feeling anything but JOY, there’s a RED FLAG that is there, letting us know that we need to ‘choose again’ and this time we choose for Reality and not what we thought was going on.

That’s where the next part of this question comes in:  Once the person perceives themselves as hurt, it was thought that they must then

– “forgive by ‘accepting that what you thought happened, didn’t’….”

There’s that pesky word ‘FORGIVE’ again.

Forgive, in the Course’s use of the word, does not mean that we make some action or thought real and then forgive it so we can be absolved or the other person can feel better.

Forgive means to ‘see’ the action or thought with our Right Mind. It means to see it with the Mind of Christ. We will then know what is Really going on.  What ‘didn’t happen’ is anything that could change our Eternal Reality as LOVE. Nothing can change that. When we identify with WHO we Truly ARE, nothing of substance has changed.

Yes, we make mistakes while we are coming from the perspective of separation and ego, but what is REAL cannot be changed by those mistakes. It’s as if they never happened.  You thought that someone hurt you but they cannot. The only thing that can be hurt is a limited sense of who you are, which is the ego.

The Course tells us that our mission here is to demonstrate that we are not an EGO. And we demonstrate that by Knowing that no matter what anyone says or thinks or does they cannot change my Reality as a perfect Son of God nor change their Reality as a perfect Son of God.
“It didn’t happen”.  😉

The last part of this questions is:

“..and realizing that one “chose to hurt oneself through the abuser” and other concepts.”

When we use this new ‘perspective’, that we are learning as Course students, and view the ‘abuser’ we do not see anyone different from ourselves. We don’t continue to perpetuate the idea of separation which is not Real. They are the Son of God as we are. And they are either coming from Love or calling for Love, as we are. While they are calling for love, their Reality as the Son of God hasn’t change. That is their Eternal Being. It hasn’t changed even when it is not recognized by themselves or by others. The Love that you ARE waits on welcome, not on time. It will NEVER change.

Only our Thoughts can hurt us in anyway. How we ‘see’ our brother and how we ‘see’ ourselves will either be through the eyes of illusion and separation or through the eyes of Christ/Holy Spirit/Love. And this is our choice. We choose to hurt ourselves if we are choosing to ‘see’ our brother as an abuser and if we ‘see’ ourselves as someone who can be abused.

If I see someone as an abuser then I must be coming from the perspective of ‘separation’. If I am ‘hurt’ then I must be coming from the perspective of ‘separation’.

It all comes down to who I identify with and the Course is teaching us that we are LOVE. Nothing we have thought about ourselves has changed our True Identity as the Perfect Son of God. Nothing we have thought of anyone else has changed their identity as the Perfect Son of God.

When we keep coming back to Forgiveness, which is ‘seeing’ with Right Perception; with the eyes of Christ/Love, then all things fall into place. “Love doesn’t conquer all things but it does set all things right.”

Nothing REAL can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God.

~Reja Janaki Joy Green
Omaha, NE

GAFF ~ Thoughts of a Fisherman, Battle of the Books


GAFF: And The Battle of the Books
Thoughts of an Old Fisherman
by Lorena R. Peter, Ph.D.*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[as it appeared in the April 2012 Newsletter]

 

Priscilla was reading from the Course. “’The continuing will to remain separated is the only possible reason for continuing guilt feelings.’ And later it says, ‘Any decision of the mind will effect both behavior and experience.’”

The three friends were sitting on Gaff’s spot, watching the clouds float across the sky and the pelicans dive for food. In the silence, each contemplated the meaning of the passage. Gaff silently asked the birds to leave him at least one fish for the cooler. He hadn’t caught many that day and he had promised his family a dinner of fresh grilled fish.

Bobby smiled, “Well, if you always come out of love, you won’t do anything to feel guilty about.”

Priscilla tapped his knee and smiled her agreement. She looked as though she were about to speak.

Just then Wally’s voice reached them from the land side of the beach. “Just the people I wanted to see.” Gaff turned around to see Wally bearing down on them, a big grin on his face. When he saw Gaff turn toward him, he waved a book. “It’s all in here. You’re always bashing me for my sermons about the Apocalypse that’s going to destroy the earth. Well, here’s another book describing the very thing you say won’t happen.”

Gaff grinned, “And what book might that be?”

Wally slammed the book on the palm of his other hand. “It’s not even a man of the cloth. And he prophesies the end of the world—and soon, too.”

Priscilla glanced at the book, one about Paul Solomon and the messages he got while in trance. She smiled. “Bet you haven’t gotten to the end of it.”

Wally frowned. “How do you know that?” He looked at the page with a corner turned down. “Page 195.” He closed the book and looked at the other three. “That’s enough to see where he’s going with it. End of the world. And not a pretty one. The collapse of the Soviet Union was the start of all hell breaking loose. And those guys in the Middle East are going to bring it down on all of us. Bombs. Nuclear. A third of the people on the planet will bite the dust.”  His expression was smug and not just a little proud that his point of view was supported by the descriptions of death and destruction he was reading.

Priscilla’s grin got bigger, but she didn’t say anything.

Wally looked from one to the other of his friends, finally burst out, “What? What are you smiling about? This proves my point. Gonna tell the story from the pulpit this very weekend. “ He nodded, pleased with himself.

Gaff looked at Priscilla. “I’m guessing you’ve read that book.”

She nodded.

Gaff turned back to Wally. “I have, too.”

Wally looked at Bobby. “You, too?”

“Nope.”

Wally plopped down on the sand. “I was beginning to think I was the only one coming late to this read. It was published in the ‘90’s. Found it on the shelf at the Rectory.” His smug expression gone, he looked at Gaff and Priscilla. “I’m guessing from the looks on your faces that he talks about something good happening after the earth is destroyed. A field of daisies or something like that.”

Priscilla chuckled. “You remember in the beginning of the book he says that a prophecy that comes true is one that has failed?”

Wally frowned. “Ye-e-es?”

She continued, “Right where you’re reading now, he’s talking about a lot of people through the ages who predicted a horrible final act.”

Wally opened the book to the marked place and glanced through several pages. “Yep. That’s what he did. Some really important, credible people mentioned in this chapter.”

Gaff was enjoying this. “You haven’t gotten to the place where he talks about how to avoid it?”

Wally closed the book. “He does?”

“He does.”

Now Wally looked suspicious. “And how would this be done?”

Priscilla was really grinning now. “By feeling only love. By getting rid of any other feeling and only acting out of love.”

Gaff glanced at the tip of his rod to find it wiggling: something big was on the line. “Yep, the way that guy describes the remedy– it is to get rid of duality.”

Priscilla cut in, “You know, like love/ hate. You get rid of the hate part and keep the love part. That’s the same thing this book says.” She tapped the book resting on her knees.

Wally glanced at the black book under Priscilla’s hand. “A Course in Miracles. You’ve mentioned it before. I’ve read that it is absolute blasphemy.”

She nodded. “You have, have you? In fact, the part I was reading just now says that no one needs to feel guilty.”

Wally hurrumphed. “You see. Blasphemy! What about feeling guilty when you do evil?”

Priscilla went on, “The only reason we continue to feel guilty is so that we can feel separate from God.”

Bobby added, “I think the most important thing is what it says about believing stuff like the end of the world coming.”

Wally sniped. “And what would that be?”

“What you believe influences your feelings about situations. Because if you expect to see something bad, you’re leaning in that direction anyway and you’ll interpret things as leading to the end you envision. Your feelings influence the way you act, too. So if you decide that the end of the world is coming, you’ll be fearful and every time a comet is spotted nearby, you’ll think it’s going to crash into the planet and kill us all. Then you’ll act afraid, maybe hide… or lash out at others.”

Gaff added, “Worse yet, you might wage war against the people you think are going to cause the end of the world… and that would only add to the problem. Fighting begets fighting.”

Wally was nodding, thoughtful. But his face said he was looking for the flaw in their logic.

Priscilla said, “This whole book is about learning to think loving thoughts in all situations. ”

Wally spoke slowly, “So I’m supposed to stand there and let people attack me and knock me around?”

“Are they attacking you… really?”

Wally was trying on this idea. “So if I think the world will end in flames, I may also do things to bring that end on? The reverse of what you’ve told me in the past– to be more accepting and loving so that others can love me.”

“Here’s a thought. If you fear that the world is going to burst into flames, that’s thinking that there’s something out there ready to DO it to you. If you feel only love for the whole and you feel that you are a part of that whole, you are creating the future for yourself. You are the created AND the creator. If you act out of love, why would you create anything that was not loving?”

Wally nodded slowly, deep in thought. “Let me see if I’ve got this. Feel that I am a part of the whole universe. And so I can create what I want for the universe. If I act out of love all the time, then whatever I do create will be loving… always!”

“If you feel guilty or afraid, you are feeling separate from God.”

Wally pounded his fist on the book.”What about all those people out there who are waging a war of terrorism in order to kill me and my family? Am I supposed to love them?”

Gaff nodded. “Isn’t that what Jesus taught?”

Another hurrumph.

Bobby laughed. “I think it works in both directions. You feel a part of God, the ultimate source of love, and you’re so full of love that there’s no room for fear or guilt. Or, if you feel only love, you know that love is all around you, and that enables you to feel that you are part of God!”

Wally looked at Priscilla’s book. “Hmm, that’s in your book there?” He held up his own book. “And this one, too? Maybe I need to finish reading this book before I start quoting it.”

The three friends laughed. Gaff said, “I think you’ll like the end.” Then he stood to move toward his rod. He motioned toward it. “And I’m going to like what’s on the end of my line! Those birds may just have left some fish to jump on my hook after all. Julia and my kids are going to love pulling this one off the grill.”

Priscilla stood next to him as his rod bent from the weight of the catch. “It’s a big one! You are always taken care of by the Source of all Love and by your friends out there. WE are part of the whole.”

~*~

*Lorena Peter, Ph.D., writes entertaining mysteries, romances and wisdom books.
All have strong spiritual underpinnings and paranormal elements. She blends aGaff By the Sea medical intuition and healing practice (and travel) with her writing. You may contact her on Facebook. For her understanding of the Course, she thanks Carmen Cameron and the class in Louisville, KY.

 

Lady Gaga’s JUDAS and ACIM by Corinne Zupko

 

Lady Gaga’s JUDAS and
A Course in Miracles

by Corinne Zupko*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

http://www.innerbalanceliving.com

“Judas was my brother and a Son of God,
as much a part of the Sonship as myself.
Was it likely that I would condemn him
when I was ready to demonstrate
that condemnation is impossible?”

~ A COURSE IN MIRACLES,      I am a fan of Lady Gaga. I love her for her messages of choosing love, acceptance, and non-judgment, over hate, exclusion, and judgment. And I believe she often listens to her Inner Guidance System, which is what “A Course in Miracles” (ACIM) is teaching us to do.

Being that my operating system is A Course in Miracles “one-point-0,” I tend to look at everything through the lens of ACIM. When I first watched Lady Gaga’s video, “Judas”, I didn’t get it. But as I watched it over and over through my ACIM lens, I ended up being moved to tears. If you haven’t seen it check it out on YouTube.

To me, the lyrics of “Judas” speak to the state we find ourselves in this world. The song is about the split we feel in deciding between truth versus illusion, or love versus fear. We know that it is love that is good for us, and yet, we persist in choosing fear. In the song, Jesus represents love, truth, and Oneness. Judas represents the ego, which, according to the Course, is the part of our mind that WANTS to be separate from Oneness. Another way to describe the ego is fear.

ACIM OrEd.TX.6.20 

♫ “I wanna love you,
but something’s pulling me away from you,
Jesus is my virtue,
but Judas is the demon I cling to” – Lady Gaga’s “Judas”

Our true state is one of Love. We are eternal, and we are One. And yet, according to “A Course in Miracles” we had the “tiny mad idea” that we wanted to experience ourselves as separate from our Source. And so we chose to enter earth school – this state of seeming separation that we believe is really happening. We chose to listen to the ego rather than to Love. And so the ego coaxes us to follow it, but all it offers us is dissatisfaction, loneliness, and pain. We know that Love is our virtue and will make us happy, and yet we cling to the ego to hide from Love. We really believe the ego has something to offer us.

♫ “I’m just a holy fool, and baby it’s so cruel
but I’m still in love with Judas, baby.” – Lady Gaga’s “Judas”

We are holy fools! The Course constantly likens us to spiritual children. We think we know everything. We think we know what is best for us. We think we know what makes us happy. And we think a love affair with the ego brings joy. Yet, we’re mistaken. Nothing here in this world really satisfies us or lasts forever.

The ego’s motto is, “Seek but do not find” (~ACIM).

How many times have we said, “when I get that better relationship, then I will be happy” or “when I get that new job, or those new clothes, then I will be happy.” When we achieve that which we were after, maybe we’re satisfied for a minute. Then we’re off searching for the next thing.

The only true place to find happiness is within. Nothing outside of us can make us happy. The only thing that will really satisfy us is our connection to Spirit. With that comes a knowing of WHO we really are – that we are love, we are never alone, we are whole, and eternal. Being a channel for Love is what will make us happy.

CONTINUED READING FROM NEWSLETTER

And then the ego sings:

♫ “I’ll bring him down, bring him down, down.
A king with no crown, king with no crown.” – Lady Gaga’s “Judas”

When I intently watched the video and listened to the lyrics, seeing the forceful swoop of the dancers hands as they motioned bringing Jesus “down” I couldn’t help but feel emotional. In Jesus’ example, his persecutors (those who were identified with their ego) wanted to bring him (Love) down. Yet, we still do this over and over every day when we choose to listen to our egos and block out the Voice of Love. Judging one another and attacking one another are all various forms of wanting to bring love down. They are not acts of love, they are calls for love.

According to ACIM, our egos are not our friends. The ego actively wants to keep love out. It doesn’t want you looking within, because if we really find what we are, which is love, we would stop believing in the ego. So the ego wants to take down Love. It wants to kill it.“The ego is therefore capable of suspiciousness at best, and viciousness at worst”(~ACIM).

And yet, the Course also teaches that the ego is really nothing, and it is certainly nothing to be afraid of! It is just a dream with no power to change love at all.

“Where there was darkness now we see the light. What is the ego? What the darkness was. Where is the ego? Where the darkness was. What is it now and where can it be found? Nothing and nowhere. Now the light has come…” – A Course in Miracles

Where love is, the ego is not. And when we choose to identify with Love, the ego has no power over us. This makes me think of this “Judas” lyric:

♫ “Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain
Even after 3 times, he betrays me” – Lady Gaga’s “Judas”

Jesus forgave everyone. Even his crucifiers. The ego’s actions had no power over him.

I watched a documentary on the Gospel of Judas recently, and was struck to learn that according to that gospel, Jesus instructed Judas on what his part would be. According to this gospel, Jesus actually told Judas that he should turn him in. Judas had a key role to play, so Jesus could demonstrate with an extreme example that love, which is what we are, cannot be destroyed.

In the Course, Jesus states:

“I elected, for your sake and mine, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, does not matter.”

No matter what awful picture the body seems to go through, Jesus’ resurrection showed us that we cannot kill love.

We are not asked to be crucified. We are simply asked, in much less extreme situations, to be willing to see with the vision of Love, rather than with fear. We cannot choose to see with love on our own, we need to call upon our Inner Guide that is within each and every one of us, for help. For this Inner Guide knows the way to love. We don’t. Learning to remove the blocks that we’ve put up to love and discover the beauty that is already within each of us what “A Course in Miracles” is all about.

~*~

*Corinne Zupko, Ed.S., M.A., C.P.C., is a speaker, adjunct professor, coach, writer, and meditation teacher. Corinne began her work with the Course in 1996 after struggling with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. By practicing the Course principles, “what appeared as terrifying and  Love or Fearunresolvable, ended up being one of the most growth-enhancing experiences in my life.” Her growth and healing journey led her into a career in the helping professions where she is passionate about helping others find and connect with their inner truth.
For more information, Corinne is a regular contributor at  www.twitter.com/CorinneZupko

Website:

 

Closing the Gap ~ Daniel Tipton


Dare to Be Happy

By Daniel Tipton*

CLOSING THE GAP

[as it appeared in the April 2012 Newsletter]

CLOSING THE GAP

There is a gap we all experience but may not always be aware of. It is the gap of time between a grievance and a miracle. It is the time spent in hell. It is the time spent on the cross before the resurrection. It is this period of time that the Course is trying to get us to pare down to the holy instant.

“I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. I believe that the problem comes first, and time must elapse before it can be worked out. I do not see the problem and the answer as simultaneous in their occurrence. That is because I do not yet realize that God has placed the answer together with the problem, so that they cannot be separated by time. The Holy Spirit will teach me this if I will let Him.” (OrEd.W.90.5)

By practicing A Course in Miracles, we are attempting to close the gap between grievance and miracle (or forgiveness). We start with a grievance at the beginning of a period of time and have to struggle to reach the miracle at the other end. As we all know, this period of time can be minutes, hours, days, or even years. All the while, we allow ourselves to suffer in that period of time.

[78] Let miracles replace all grievances.
5 “By this idea do I unite my will with the Holy Spirit’s and perceive them as one. By this idea do I accept my release from hell. By this idea do I express my willingness to have all my illusions be replaced with truth according to God’s plan for my salvation. I would make no exceptions and no substitutes. I want all of Heaven and only Heaven, as God wills me to have.” (OrEd.W.89.5)

The time spent in unforgiveness is the time we are attempting to do away with. It is the only reason we have time in the first place. No matter how big or small grievances seem to be, God would not have us misuse time in this way. We attempt to close this gap by being mindful (Mind the gap! 😉  ) and practicing the Course. The gap will eventually shrink down into nothingness, which I believe is the holy instant. We can track our progress by how long we stay with a grievance. It may be particularly helpful to compare the times spent with similar grievances.

“Do not be concerned with time and fear not the instant of holiness which will remove all fear. For the instant of peace is eternal because it is wholly without fear. It will come, being the lesson God gives you through the Teacher He has appointed to translate time into eternity.” (OrEd.T.15.17)

“This course is not beyond immediate learning unless you prefer to believe that what God wills takes time. And this means only that you would rather delay the recognition that His Will is so. The holy instant is this one and every one. The one you want it to be it is. The one you would not have it be is lost to you. You must decide on when it is. Delay it not. For beyond the past and future, in which you will not find it, it stands in shimmering readiness for your acceptance. Yet you cannot bring it into glad awareness while you do not want it, for it holds the whole release from littleness.”  (OrEd.T.15.35)

“The necessary condition for the holy instant does not require that you have no thoughts which are not pure. But it does require that you have none that you would keep. Innocence is not of your making. It is given you the instant you would have it. Yet it would not be Atonement if there were no need for Atonement. You will not be able to accept perfect communication as long as you would hide it from yourself. For what you would hide is hidden from you.” (OrEd.T.15.43)

My favorite thing about the Course is that is has all responsibility fall on us. How long do we want to stay in hell? It is our choice. This is not saying that forgiveness becoming immediate is easy, but it is saying that it IS possible if we want it. Yet our wanting it is the little bit of willingness that Jesus asks for. All he wants is for us to lay down our swords and our shields, and ask him: “Jesus, there must be a different way. Please, show me”. That IS all.

“The Holy Spirit asks only this little help of you. Whenever your thoughts wander to a special relationship which still attracts you, enter with Him into a holy instant and there let Him release you. He needs only your willingness to share His perspective to give it to you completely. And your willingness need not be complete because His is perfect. It is His task to atone for your unwillingness by His perfect faith, and it is His faith you share with Him there. Out of your recognition of your unwillingness for your release, His perfect willingness is given you. Call upon Him, for Heaven is at His call. And let Him call on Heaven for you.” (OrEd.T.16.69)

I think we can track our progress by being aware of the time we spend with a grievance. It can be anything but it might help to choose something we are faced with over and over. (The re-occurrences are probably a sign that it’s time to move on anyway). For instance, I used to get pretty upset when my roommates were sloppy. It was more or less a grievance I carried around with me all the time, and one I used to deploy passive mental attacks. As I prayed and progressed, I noticed the time spent being bothered became less and less. It started only coming and going. Then, it would only last about an hour. Then, a few minutes, until I got to the point when I was able to shake it off almost immediately. It  comes. I see it. I shake it off. This lasts maybe 3 seconds now. I say “shake it off” because I usually shake my head to take me out of that thought and onto whatever else. This is not a form of denial because I address the issue if I feel I need to. It is ridding myself of unnecessary attack thoughts.I hope to apply this to all areas of my life. There are many I’m still working on, but I have noticed as I focus on them, and pray, I do progress. There is always something I can work on. It’s not hard to find new projects once one has been brought to a comfortable level. May we all shorten the time distance to miracles. May we all close the gap.

Blessings to all.

DanielDaniel Tipton

*Daniel Tipton resides in Omaha, NE and is a member of the Course in Miracles Society study group. He is in his second year of the 2 year ACIM Ministerial Program offered by the Community Miracles Center; Daniel attended the 2011 Annual ACIM Conference in San Francisco and is currently working on a masters degree in Counseling at UNO. He will be assisting at the 2013 ACIM Conference which will be held in Chicago. More Conference Information here

Note of Gratitude by Karen Bentley

On Tues, Mar 6, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Karen Bentley, Author of  “THE POWER TO STOP”, wrote:

All versions of the Course work to change your mind and enable you to experience yourself as Love. That said, the ACIM original edition is the message Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford intended to put out into the world, and it speaks to me deeply. Just like less food processing makes for healthier food, less word tinkering makes for a more wholesome and less engineered reading experience. I also very much like that the hard cover edition of this book is built to last. As all Course people know, once you start reading the Course, you never stop. That’s why these seemingly inconsequential hardy physical features are important. Many thanks to the ACIM Original Edition publishers for making such a high quality book available to the world and to the Community Miracles Center for distributing and selling it at a discounted, affordable price. With gratitude. Karen Bentley

——————————————–
Karen Bentley is the author of 17 books including The Power to Stop, an ACIM-based program that teaches stopping as the path to self-love, personal power and enlightenment. http://www.powertostop.com/

Finding Fulfilling Employment ~ Daniel Tipton


Dare to Be Happy

By Daniel Tipton*

FINDING FULFILLING EMPLOYMENT

[as it appeared in the March 2012 Newsletter]

FINDING FULFILLING EMPLOYMENT

DANIEL TIPTON:

I asked: “How important is matching your career up with your spiritual life (Course principals)? Does anyone have experience with working your spirituality into your career? Or how about changing your career to be more in line with your spirituality? I’m making a career change in the hope that I will enjoy work more. However, there is fear that I will run into the same problem if I don’t make more of a fundamental change. I know so far that I am thoroughly enjoying my counseling classes. (I’m enrolled in a Masters program in Community Counseling so that I can be a licensed counselor.)”

NOTE: I graduated from the culinary institute and work in food research but was bored. It wasn’t supporting me in what I really want to do. I’m now at UNO in the Master’s program for Community Counseling and am hoping this is the right choice.
When I was working as a legal secretary and feeling very unfulfilled, I prayed sincerely to God to give me meaningful work and the first thing that happened was He told me I was an undercover minister and was a source of Light for everyone at the law firm where I was working–from the biggest executives down to the mail-room guys. I was astounded as I thought everyone there had more than me (I was single, no children, very lonely, not living up to my potential, etc) … but then there was the shift in perception and I “got” that it was true that I could be their undercover minister. I accepted that quiet role and let myself glow around the office [:D] The next thing that happened was I was guided to go back to school and become a Gestalt psychotherapist (I was in therapy at the time and healing a lot from it) so I did! I excelled in school in a way I never had before–everything came easily, I did really well. It was four years of demanding schoolwork and financial obligation but I managed it and began my private practice in my 2nd year of school (most people waited until after they graduated). My career has been very rewarding emotionally. … Hope this helps!

CORINNE ZUPKO:

I’m happy to share my experiences as well! I was led into the counseling field when I was in college. Through my own healing in therapy, I knew it was my calling to help others (though I later realized this was all about healing MY mind.. i.e. “The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept atonement for himself.”). I ended up working as a licensed counselor for 10 years in a busy counseling center. Although there was really no way to openly talk about Course principles, I found that I practiced these principles whenever I could, to find my own sense of inner peace (the job became increasingly stressful over the years with an escalating amount of crisis situations occurring). There were definitely some clients who were into exploring their spirituality, and it was really fun to work with these folks. But by far, most of the Course work I did in that job was not verbal but was IN ME (willingness to see my clients differently, willingness to hand over the judgments, what I thought was best for them, willingness to recognize them as my “brothers”, etc.).

It’s funny as I ponder your question… because as I think about it, I  don’t really see the job I had as a counselor as lining up with my spiritual principles at all! It was totally stressful and “of the world” like any other job! Instead, I see it as exactly where I was supposed to be at that time in my life for my best learning, my “training ground.”  Whether that training ground was counseling, or working in some other profession, it isn’t about the form as much as the choice that I am making in every moment to follow my ego or to follow the Holy Spirit.

Having said that, I grew increasingly unhappy in this position as a therapist. I had a job that had all the appearances of being glorious (the setting I worked in was a very competitive setting AND I had the summers off!) The “picture” seemed perfect, but my discontent slowly grew. The job just didn’t “fit” me anymore. It was almost 2 years ago now, that I “knew” I needed to do something different (guidance was coming in so strongly to quit that I was thrown into anxiety and panic trying to not  listen to it out of fear of losing my steady salary). But I HAD to do something more in line with my spirituality. It almost felt like it was killing me not to.

I was guided out of that position and stepped into a role that IS more in line with my sense of spirituality. I’ve been writing about and teaching ACIM – and this is just something I didn’t feel that I could safely do when I was in my former job. I’m now teaching as an adjunct faculty member in a Community Counseling MA program which pays the bills (and which I love!), and writing about and teaching the Course which FILLS me up!! I’m simply where I’m supposed to be right now, and in that is  peace.

This is the beauty of the counseling profession – you can do SO MANY things with your degree!    So after all that, I guess I would say that practicing the Course doesn’t mean you need to have a job that appears to be in line with it. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be right now. But if you feel a pull to enter the counseling profession, honor it! Your lessons will come no matter where you are or what you’re doing.  I’m psyched to hear that you are enjoying your classes!

DANIEL:

Since receiving these comments, I’ve had time to consider my work situation some more.

I’ve realized that moving on can sometimes be running away from a chance to heal. This is my second time working at my current job because I left for “something better”. I found out there were the same problems, but worse. Luckily, they hired me back for a part-time position while I go to school. It wasn’t long after returning here that the feeling of discontent and resentment crept back in. This has made me think that there is probably a different way of dealing with this discontent. I started to pray for clarity on how I can be content with my job since I will need to work for at least three more years in a non-counseling field.

What I am beginning to see is that much of my discontent was due to some harsh criticism of almost everyone I worked with. I saw something wrong with almost everyone. This led me to believe that my work relationships might need healing. So I began to pray for guidance on how to improve and forgive my work relationships. After a while, I noticed that I started feeling compassion for people that I had never felt before. I also started feeling more accepting of everyone. This has led to a much happier work day

I don’t think these changes in feelings toward people would have shifted by changing jobs. My harsh criticism had made my work environment full of guilt and fear. I am getting along a lot better at work now and am finding more purpose. Letting go of my judgments of other people has been key. It has taken me much time and suffering to see this but I think I am finally getting it.

On the other hand, I still have a passion for counseling. I will stay in school and finish my degree because I am finding the coursework interesting. However, I feel that this inner work is crucial no matter what I decide to do. Without it, I might go into a counseling career with thought patterns that not only cause me misery but prevent me from excelling in the very career I think is best for me.

are giving you all of their attention and seem to understand exactly how you are feeling. Imagine how honored you feel, how loved you feel, how much you love them for giving you their attention, which is totally at their own discretion. It is not always easy to be a good listener, but it might do wonders for our relationships. Simply taking our attention off of our own thoughts for a minute to really hear somebody might be one of the most rewarding acts we can perform with the least amount of effort.

 

*Daniel Tipton resides in Omaha, NE and is a member of the Course in Miracles Society study group. He is in his second year of the 2 year ACIM Ministerial Program offered by the CommDaniel Tiptonunity Miracles Center; Daniel attended the 2011 Annual ACIM Conference in San Francisco and is currently working on a masters degree in Counseling at UNO. He will be attending the 2013 ACIM Conference which will be held in Chicago. More Conference Information here

Forgiveness 1-2-3 by Gene Skaggs

Forgiveness 1-2-3
by Gene Skaggs*

*~*~*~*~*
[As it appears in the March 2012 Newsletter]

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

www.geneskaggs.com


       Forgiveness, the main doctrine of A COURSE IN MIRACLES is described by personally invoking the taking of two steps followed by the Holy Spirit taking the final one. Sounds simple, 1 – 2 – 3. Let’s look at each step individually because each one is independent of the other but naturally leads one to the unfoldment of the next.

“This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced.” Workbook Lesson 23

The first step is the identification of the cause of the discomfort. I have found this to be, for students, not only the most misunderstood, but the most difficult to implement. Look at the first step and what it says, “that the cause be identified.” The identification process is observing the emotional response that the event/person has brought to your awareness.

Example: Someone did or didn’t do what you have deemed appropriate and the action or lack of action has caused an emotional response to the event might take the form of anger. The first step in the forgiveness process is now complete. You have identified the emotion that you have chosen to keep you from your Source – anger. The identification process is NOT what the other person did, but your emotion to what took place on your perceptual viewing screen/world.

“Unless you give it back, it is inevitable that your perspective on reality be warped and uncorrected.” – – – A COURSE IN MIRACLES

Technically your part in the forgiveness process is complete. The next step is taken by the Holy Spirit and that is the removal of the unwanted emotion of anger.

The Course doesn’t give you a step four but it explains another step. After the guilt (anger) in your mind has been removed you will have to do something. You might be guided to do nothing, but in the refraining from taking action motivation is done consciously.

The Holy Spirit will speak to you and tell you what to do in any particular situation that you have allow the mighty Voice for Truth to be in charge. It will always be a win/win situation for both parties.

“The Holy Spirit will not delay in answering your every question what to do. He knows. And He will tell you, and then do it for you.” – – – A COURSE IN MIRACLES

http://www.geneskaggs.com

Gene Skaggs has been a student of A COURSE IN MIRACLES since 1979, a teacher since 1988, has written four books on A COURSE IN MIRACLES entitled: A BEGINNER’S GLOSSARY TO A COURSE IN MIRACLES, THE RELATIONSHIP GAME CHANGING THE RULES, 101 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE COURSE, and BIBLICAL QUOTES FROM A COURSE IN MIRACLEGene SkaggsS  REINTERPRETED.

Gene has a private counseling practice, and is a certified psych-k facilitator. He also has written a book about his son who laid his body down at the age of 22 in 2009. The book contains messages after he laid his body down, as well as, who he was as a person while he walked this planet.

 

GAFF ~ Thoughts of a Fisherman, Ocean of Plenty


GAFF: And The Ocean of Plenty
Thoughts of an Old Fisherman
by Lorena R. Peter, Ph.D.*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[as it appeared in the March 2012 Newsletter]

Priscilla and Bobby remained with Gaff even as the rest of the crowd drifted away down the beach to whatever they were doing before Bobby hooked THE BIG ONE. They were watching the spectacle of life in the ocean before them. Appreciating the nuances and the synergy. Listening to the crashing waves and the calling birds. Smelling the salt in the damp air brushing against their skin. Feeling the prickles of the sand carried by the wind against their legs.

Suddenly, Priscilla turned to Gaff. “I’ve been wondering what you do with all the fish you catch, Gaff. You’re out here on the beach so much you must have tons of fish stored at home by now.”

Bobby laughed. “She’s got a good question there, you know. Been wondering that myself. Either your freezer is the size of Iowa or your family have all grown scales and fins by now!”

Gaff laughed with a genuine twinkle in his eyes. “Good question. Especially after all my talk about being a steward of the planet.”

Bobby laughed. “That’s right.”

Gaff got more serious. “You know that fish fry the Reverend Wally’s church had last week? The money was for their scholarship fund to help some of the local children get an education.”

Bobby turned to him, grinning now. “Your fish?”

Gaff smiled toward Mother Water. “Our fish. Mother Water provided those fish and a bunch of us along the beach donated them to the cause. We do that from time to time.”

Priscilla screwed her face into a frown. “Wasn’t that the first fish fry Wally had?”

Gaff nodded, “The Methodists have an outreach to help families in need. A lot of groups do. There’s more need now, what with the economy so bad and jobs going overseas.”

Bobby kicked the sand. “I guess you either buy American stuff or you pay to support the people put out of work.”

The silence that followed was filled with thinking, serenaded by sounds of the waves and calling of the gulls.

Priscilla’s voice was small. “Bobby, would it be all right to give Harold some of the fish in our freezer? I know he hasn’t been on the beach this winter because of his arthritis. And we’ll never eat all we have. He’s always so friendly when I walk past his house. Waves—offers me tea and cookies. Probably lonely since his wife died.”

Gaff went to tend his fishing gear and they followed him. “Be nice to visit him, but I don’t think Harold needs any fish just now.”

Priscilla nodded with understanding. “Oh.”

“You might offer some to Ivy for her family, though.”

Priscilla frowned again. “What? That horrible woman who can’t talk below a roar? Why would I give her anything but a cold shoulder?”

Bobby grinned. “You could offer her a visit to a counselor. Or a gaff on her noggin to knock some sense into her.”

Gaff baited his hook and then turned to look at Priscilla. “Remember that you are the one interpreting her behavior… and you really don’t KNOW what it means. You also told me that you often don’t know what is in your own best interests.”

Bobby poked a finger into her ribs, “Ya hungry? I think you’re gonna eat your words here.”

Priscilla put hands on hips and watched Gaff with interest. “OK?”

Gaff cast his hook into the channel in front of the sandbar. “ Don’t I remember your saying that one of the lessons is that you don’t know what anything is for?”

She repeated, “OK?”

He continued, “That can apply to Ivy’s yelling. You don’t know why she is that way. You also don’t know how you might change the situation by just being nice to her.”

Priscilla grinned. “Oh, ho ho. I’d be the only one on the beach.” She hesitated a beat. “Except maybe for you. You’re nice to everyone.”

Gaff set the reel and placed the second rod into its holder. Bobby was finished tending his gear, too, and the three friends made their way back to their seats. Plop, plop, plop into the chairs.

Gaff continued as if there had been no gap in the conversation. “Maybe she needs a gal friend who is studying The Course?”

Priscilla responded slow and low. “May…be?”

Gaff laughed. “Didn’t you tell me that my attack thoughts were what attacked my own invulnerability? And that ‘Above all else, I want to see things differently’? Well this your chance to act on those words.”

Bobby chuckled. “Bet you’re not hungry now—those words tasty?”

Priscilla’s frown returned. “What you’re saying is that I have no idea what’s going on in her life to cause her obnoxious behavior and that I should assume that there is some good in her. Maybe if I make some friendly gestures toward her…”

Bobby interrupted, “You can add some sunshine to her life… the same as you add that sunshine to mine.” He was still smiling, but this smile radiated love for Priscilla.

Gaff patted her on the back. “This will give you a chance to practice turning the other cheek and being a model of performing random acts of loving kindness.”

Bobby pulled his bait knife out of his cooler and a sharpening stone out of his sack. “Just remembered to do this little task. Just to cut my bait. Not to use on Ivy.” All three laughed.

Gaff laughed the loudest. “Glad to hear it.”

Three sets of eyes took in the swells out in the distance and the clouds rolling in from the southwest. Gaff was hoping that Priscilla could make inroads where he had not. He was wondering how he could help her reach Ivy.

Bobby ran the blade along the stone, first one way and then the other. Slow, purposeful, the scraping sound a regular rhythm. Finally, he voiced his thoughts. “And what is Priscilla to do if Ivy starts yelling at her?”

Gaff shook his head, a line etched between his eyes. “You’re not being asked to sacrifice yourself, but only to offer a blessing. She may or may not accept it. We can only hope. You’re choosing differently and at the same time you’ll offer her a chance to choose differently. Remember what the Course tells you about being invulnerable. You’re invulnerable because you have the best backup. What I do in times of doubt is to open myself to guidance from the Holy Spirit through Mother Water. She really pulls through when I need her. I have only to ask… and then to listen.”

Priscilla said slowly, “So I go over to visit Ivy with a bunch of fish from our freezer.”

Bobby interrupted, grinning. “And you could take some of those great cookies you bake.”

“OK, cookies and fish. Then I see what happens… and it would be good to expect a miracle while I’m at it.”

Gaff smiled. “Might help to ask for divine assistance before you knock on her door. Then if things don’t go well, you walk away. If they do, you stay and make a new friend.”

Priscilla smiled. “Can’t have too many friends.”

Gaff continued, “Whatever happens, it is divine order. It isn’t your responsibility to change another person. You are there to act differently yourself, to put into action the words you’ve been reading. Sometimes by seeing things differently and by acting from that new understanding, the whole situation changes.”

Bobby smiled a sly one. “Might ask for protection before you knock.”

Priscilla was quiet for a spell and then her face suddenly brightened. She straightened her back and looked full of energy and determination. “I’ll do it. She’s about due for another stay. Spring break’s this week and they always come for spring break.” She hopped out of her chair and called over her shoulder on her way toward the boardwalk. “Think I’ll go bake some cookies… just in case.”

Bobby laughed. “It worked. She bakes so many of those cookies that I’ll get some, too!” He cut his eyes toward Gaff and added, “I can bring some to the beach, too.”

Gaff patted his stomach. “What were we saying about not consuming more than we need?”

Bobby laughed, “I’ll only bring you two then.”

The tip of Gaff’s rod was wiggling to beat the band: a fish on his hook. He pushed himself out of his chair to tend to the new gift from Mother Water. As he moved, he answered, “Take more than two!”

Bobby stroked his knife back and forth across the stone. “And now we fish to help others! You are full of wisdom, Gaff. You always help me see things differently.”

“Mother Water helps us by giving us fish and we pay it forward by helping people not yet ready to fish for themselves.”

Bobby’s hand stopped mid-stroke. “Do they ever learn to fish for themselves?”

Gaff stood with rod in hand and looked first at Mother Water. Then he turned toward Bobby. “Most times they do, but not everyone becomes a prize-winning fisherman who hooks the BIG ONE! We just need to have faith in them. They are where they are meant to be and they’re doing their best.” He turned back to tend his gear, all the while thanking Mother Water for her help and sending healing energy to her.

Bobby dragged the knife against the stone. In low tones he said, “Faith… and patience… takes a bunch of patience.”

~*~

*Lorena Peter, Ph.D., writes entertaining mysteries, romances and wisdom books.
All have strong spiritual underpinnings and paranormal elements. She blends aGaff By the Sea medical intuition and healing practice (and travel) with her writing. You may contact her on Facebook. For her understanding of the Course, she thanks Carmen Cameron and the class in Louisville, KY.

 

GAFF ~ Thoughts of a Fisherman, Land of Plenty


GAFF: And The Land of Plenty
Thoughts of an Old Fisherman
by Lorena R. Peter, Ph.D.*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[as it appeared in the February 2012 Newsletter]

Bobby laughed as he reeled in his second fish of the morning. This one wasn’t giving up without a fight. He was lost in the thrill of it all, yelling to his prey that he would not be bested by scale-covered muscles. The fish on his hook was so strong, the rod bent almost double as he worked it. All the muscles in his arms tensed as he pulled. Then he reeled in the slack in his line ending with a step toward the water. Straining to pull his catch closer and then reel in as much as he could before his opponent could swim back out over the sandbar. Muscles pitted against muscles. Arms against fins. A battle to the finish, if Bobby had anything to do with it.  A battle to get his aquatic opponent onto the beach and then into his cooler and eventually home to his freezer. Priscilla would just love this one: easy to fillet. Big and juicy on the table. Tasty.

Gaff laughed, too, enjoying his friend’s excitement. A number of people from up and down the beach were gathering for the spectacle of landing the BIG ONE. This one might even be prize-winning: a great way to start the fishing season. And everyone was cheering for him to finish it off, to best the monster fish!

The splash of fins on the sandbar brought cheers from the crowd. Gaff and a number of the other fishermen ran into the water to see what Bobby had on his hook. Suddenly, several of them turned toward the shore, waving their arms and shouting. Bobby             couldn’t make out the words from that distance. He only heard men’s voices mingled with the crashing waves.

Gaff was faster getting in than the rest, “We have to cut the line. Cut the line to let her go!”

The crowd moaned in unison. Chaos erupted as everyone spoke at once, wondering what was happening.

Bobby was stunned motionless. “What?”

Gaff ran to his cooler and grabbed a knife. As he passed, he shouted, “She’s loaded with eggs. Hasn’t spawned yet. Hold the line steady so I can cut it.”

Bobby answered with his own shout, “Cut the line? Are you crazy, old man? This is the biggest I’ve ever hooked. I want to bring her in, finish it. Man over beast.”

Several of the other fishermen were yelling, “Cut the line. Cut the line.”

Others answered, “No, let him bring her in. There’s others. There’s plenty. Let him bring her in.”

Gaff was out on the sandbar now and with a sure swipe of the knife, cut the line. The line went suddenly slack and Bobby had to do some sand dancing to keep from falling. A flash on the sandbar, movement of fins and the fish was out to deeper water.

Bobby yelled at the men on the sandbar, “What right have you to cut my line? That was my fish and I wanted to bring it in.”

Gaff led the other men onto the beach, “She was big and filled with eggs. Fish that big wouldn’t have been this close to shore if she wasn’t on her way to or from the estuary. Only way we have any fish at all is if we let the females spawn.” There were sounds of agreement from the experienced fishermen.

Gaff waved toward Mother Water. “She isn’t just there to serve us. It’s a partnership. We have responsibilities, too.”

Bobby spit out his words, still angry, “Yeah, I know. You harp on keeping the beach clean.”

Gaff interrupted, “We also follow the rules set out by the smart guys who tell us how big our catch has to be and how many we can keep. We do that because we want to leave enough little ones in there to grow into something worth eating. We are stewards of this planet, not just another group of predators.”

There were nods and sounds of agreement from onlookers. Some were grumbling and groups were breaking off to return to their own spots. Some heated versions of this discussion moved away with them.

Bobby was boiling mad. “The birds take more fish out than we do. What about the commercial fishermen? They pull in tons of fish with those nets of theirs. Bet they don’t let the females go.”

Some of the crowd agreed with Bobby. Gaff knew that any response would fall on deaf ears, ears not yet ready to hear, and so he hesitated. In that moment of quiet, Priscilla’s voice preceded her out of the crowd….

……… “I do not perceive my own best interests.”

She made her way to stand next to the two arguing men. “Bobby, don’t you remember the lesson for today? ‘I do not perceive my own best interest’.”

Bobby wasn’t ready to concede defeat yet. “What does that have to do with the price of eggs?”

Priscilla laughed. “The higher view, from what is important for the planet, says it has a lot to do with the price of eggs. If we eat all the chickens, there won’t be any eggs. Even if you were starving, it’s better to leave some of those old biddies scratching around the coop so you can eat their eggs… for years to come. Not just today.”

Bobby started to repeat himself, “But the commercial fishermen”

She interrupted, “Just because someone shoots another person out of anger, does that mean you should shoot me when we argue? You’re pretty mad at Gaff. Should you shoot him?”

Bobby looked at the sand, abashed.

She continued, “I agree with Gaff, that each of us has a responsibility to care for this planet.”

His voice was small, “So we are kind to the planet so that the guys out in the boats can fill their nets.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement. “We’re only individuals, single fishermen that dot the beaches along the coast. What can we do in that grand scheme of things you talk about?” His words were punctuated by the calls of the gulls and the crash of waves on sand.

Gaff smiled, “We are a nation of individuals, a world of individuals, and each of us has a responsibility to all the rest. I can only decide for me. You have to decide for you. And the more of us doing what we can to protect the planet, the more powerful we become. Individuals become a group become a crowd become a mob. Eventually those guys in the boats out there will get the idea and be more careful, too.”

A voice from behind them added, “I heard the government is thinking about shutting down the shrimping lane to let the population recover a bit.”

Another voice added, “About time, I’d say.”

Then another, colored with bravado, “You know, we can shrimp in the mouth of the Cape Fear River. But just individuals in their own boats. Near the estuary.”

Priscilla laughed, “Why would you do that? So you can deplete the supply faster? Net younger and younger shrimp so that they don’t have time to grow to a decent size and repopulate the lanes?”

She was answered by a soft voice, “Hadn’t thought of that. I was just thinking about how tasty they’d be.”

Priscilla’s voice softened. “Is it wise to eat the chickens or can you wait to eat their eggs for years to come?”

Gaff smiled at this exchange. “So that book of yours agrees with the idea of thinking beyond what you would like to see happen in this moment to what this moment might mean in the grand plan.”

Priscilla grinned. “We’re going through the lessons again this year, one by one. It’s like I’ve never seen some of them. So far, we’ve just been talking about the idea that our interpretation of a situation isn’t always accurate. It’s often based on fears or a belief in scarcity.” She waved in the direction of the ocean. “The book would say that our interpretation of that water over there may not be right. It might be something we’ve come up with to suit our own needs, our own view of the world.”

Bobby laughed, “Maybe Gaff’s way of looking at that water is the best: Mother Water, an expression of the Source. A connection with God.”

Priscilla looked toward the blue-green water. Her voice was soft. “Not just a source of food for the body, but a source of food for the soul, for the spirit.”

Gaff grinned, but his voice was almost reverent. “She’s there to help and guide us by example. Her creatures teach us so many lessons. She is a constant source of nurturing. The sea of unlimited potential.” His words drifted as he watched the swells far out on the ocean.

Bobby chuckled without humor. “OK, OK…the problems start when we humans decide that we know better and act stupid and selfish. But she really knows how to slap us in the face… hurricanes and all.” He, too, sought a connection with the water, the great source of life. Fluffy clouds skittered across the blue sky making a background for the birds diving for their dinner. Waves crashed on the sand, mixing with the calls of the hungry birds. A beautiful tableau to entertain and instruct.

Had Bobby gotten a glimpse of the whole rather than being so distracted by his little slice of that whole? Some old fishermen stayed behind after the others drifted on down the beach. They shook Bobby’s hand and congratulated him, both on the BIG ONE he almost caught and his wisdom for letting her go so she could do her part in adding to the minnow population. More for the hook next year.

~*~

*Lorena Peter, Ph.D., writes entertaining mysteries, romances and wisdom books.
All have strong spiritual underpinnings and paranormal elements. She blends aGaff By the Sea medical intuition and healing practice (and travel) with her writing. You may contact her on Facebook. For her understanding of the Course, she thanks Carmen Cameron and the class in Louisville, KY.

 

Shekinah by Amy Torres

Shekinah, Divine Feminine
and the Holy Spirit

by Amy Torres*

[As it appears in the February 2012 Newsletter]

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

http://www.amytorresacim.com/


Last night we had a guest from Israel in our Course in Miracles class. About an hour into class, I referred to the Holy Spirit as “He” and our guest, Hila, bolted upright with surprise! “He?” Hila said, making sure she heard me right. “Yes,” I answered, “The Course is written with Christian terminology. It’s a genderless “He” but the masculine is used.” “Not in the Hebrew edition,” she said. “What does the Hebrew edition say?” we asked. “She,” was the answer. And then a lightbulb went off in my mind: Shekinah–the Divine Feminine.

I suddenly remembered my interfaith seminary education where the concept of “Shekinah” was introduced to me by an African-American classmate. I am no scholar when it comes to Shekinah, but this is what I’ve gathered from a bit of research:

Shekinah is the spark of the Divine within us, what A Course in Miracles calls the memory of God within us, aka, the Holy Spirit. Shekinah and the Holy Spirit each seem to be a bridge to help us Home–both are often presented visually with the symbol of a dove. Shakti is also an aspect of Divine Feminine, found in Hinduism, but it is more concrete as an activating force within the world of form–Shakti is the life force within humans, animals, minerals, etc. I’m sure the Divine Feminine goes by many other names offered by countless cultures (Kwan Yin, Yemaya, Green Tara, on and on). The point is, as the Course teaches me, I don’t know anything. But I can use everything I think I know in service of God’s Will with the Holy Spirit/Shekinah as my Guide. I have ascribed meaning and interpretation to everything in the world, because I am the dreamer of the world. When I allow my source of knowing to be from Beyond this world then Love becomes the only pronoun.

Women, and sometimes men, often ask for inclusion of the feminine in A Course in Miracles language. It is interesting to find out that “She” is used in the Hebrew translation of the Course to represent the Holy Spirit. Remember, what is most important is that both “He” and “She” in A Course in Miracles are all-inclusive, therefore genderless. A pronoun is necessary to communicate with us, but whether it is male or female is ultimately unimportant. A Course in Miracles is not political–it is spiritual.

Spirituality, by definition, must be both female and male because the truth is we all are One. Spirit is the ultimate equalizer. Spirit is what truly empowers us. Miracle principle #1: “There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not “harder” or “bigger” than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal.” Because Love is maximal. No matter what the representation of Love–Jesus, Mary, Holy Spirit, Shekinah–Love is maximal. Love is the content which is constant, eternal. Everything else is symbolized in form, which is ephemeral, ever-changing.

My background is in psychology, not the bible nor the torah. And my resonance with A Course  in Miracles has a lot to do with my desire to understand human nature non-judgmentally, with an  open heart and an open mind. The Course tells us that anything that upsets us is of our own  making–we have chosen pain and victimhood.

CONTINUED READING FROM NEWSLETTER

So when women (or men) feel left out or  devalued by the omission of the female pronoun in A Course in Miracles, it is an opportunity to  examine how we are separating and devaluing ourselves. Eleanor Roosevelt told us, “No one can  make you feel inferior without your consent.”

The scribe of A Course in Miracles was Helen Schucman, a very accomplished professional  woman. Her partner, without whom she could not have fulfilled her task, was a man, Bill  Thetford (who happened to be gay). Ken Wapnick was instrumental in helping to organize the  raw ACIM material, but Judy Skutch was the one who got it published. Ken started the first  ACIM teaching institute, with his wife, Gloria Wapnick. And Marianne Williamson is the one  who really popularized the Course–on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Everyone is included in  God’s plan. If we are excluding ourselves, and we are true Course students, it is incumbent  upon us to take responsibility for self-exclusion and give that fear-based belief to our Higher  Self: Shekinah/Holy Spirit.  

Sometimes students ask me, “Where is Mary in A Course in Miracles?” I don’t know. I don’t  see Mother Mary or Mary Magdalene in A Course in Miracles, but it doesn’t matter to me.  Because I know that if I want to commune with Mother Mary or Mary Magdalene, or Kwan Yin  for that matter (the Buddhist Madonna, or Mother of All Buddhas) They are Right Here, Right Now.  All I have to do is tune in to Her and ask for Her Grace, Her Compassion, and Her Guidance. Any spiritual  teacher you desire is available to you–take the time to pray and meditate and you will find that  out for yourself.

When the Course in translated into other languages, it is translated back into English again before  being published, to make sure the Course teaching is accurately retained. Isn’t it beautiful and  true that whether we say “She” or “He” the Holy Spirit remains the same Loving Memory of God  in our mind? We can count on the constancy of Love Itself. There are no semantics, there is no  discrimination within God’s Mind. God is empowering, God is empowerment. God is Love  Power. Know God and you will know Thyself, masculine, feminine and everything in-between.

P.S. I received an email from Hila, the student who told us about “Shekinah” on her arrival home  in Israel. Hila said: “Just one more thing: my teacher, Efrat, was involved in the translation  process. She told us that there was a “debate” as to whether the Holy Spirit should be translated  to the Christian term “Ruach ha-kodesh” or to the Jewish term “Shekinah.”

Eventually it was the Jewish Shekinah that was used. However, in Hebrew, even the Christian  term for Holy Spirit –Ruach Ha-kodesh – is feminine. The decision was between the Jewish or  Christian term, but both alternatives in Hebrew were feminine.”   What a beautiful reminder that we are all the Same.

© 2011 Amy Torres

~*~

*Amy Torres is a Gestalt psychotherapist, interfaith minister, and yoga teacher, who teaches A Course in Miracles, which is the foundation of her work. She has developed the Language of Love, Harmony & Beauty© which is a form of emotionally responsible communication, conflict negotiation, and a way of “undoing” our identification with the ego. Reverend Torres is affiliated with One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in NYC. She loves dance, qi gong, the Sufi turn, latihan, and all forms of percussion. Her practice is based in Naples, Florida.

The Art of Listening ~ Daniel Tipton


Dare to Be Happy

By Daniel Tipton*

THE ART OF LISTENING

[as it appeared in the February 2012 Newsletter]

THE ART OF LISTENING

It has never been a talent of mine to be a good listener. My normal tendency has been to listen to somebody until a thought is triggered, and then impatiently wait until I get the opportunity to express my “important” idea. I’ve always been told that it is a virtue to be a good listener, but I’ve never really thought about what it feels like when somebody is listening to me attentively.

I am currently studying counseling and have been realizing that being a good listener is not only a nice characteristic, but also a healing one. Also, that there are some Course principals in counseling: non-judgment, quietness, not actually healing but letting healing be, and giving. Most notably, being a good listener is an act of giving. When we give somebody our attention, and try to make what they are talking about as important to us as it is to them, miracles are bound to happen.

Imagine that you are talking to somebody and they are giving you all of their attention and seem to understand exactly how you are feeling. Imagine how honored you feel, how loved you feel, how much you love them for giving you their attention, which is totally at their own discretion. It is not always easy to be a good listener, but it might do wonders for our relationships. Simply taking our attention off of our own thoughts for a minute to really hear somebody might be one of the most rewarding acts we can perform with the least amount of effort.

When we listen to somebody, we might not only help them to find their own answers within, but we might learn something about ourselves. Attentive listening is partaking in a holy relationship. In a holy relationship both parties are elevated to a place where they could not have gotten to on their own. The Course says:

11 Be still and listen to the truth today. For each five minutes spent in listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth. And they will hear the holy Word you hear. And when the hour is past, you will again release a thousand more who pause to ask that truth be given them along with you.
12 Today the holy Word of God is kept through your receiving it to give away, so you can teach the world what giving means by listening and learning it of Him. Do not forget today to reinforce your choice to hear and to receive the Word by this reminder, given to yourself as often as is possible today:
13 Let me be still and listen to the truth.
I am the messenger of God today.
My voice is His, to give what I receive. (OrEd.W.106)

This tells us to listen to the truth. I think that if we listen to the truth in our brothers, we help to release them. By releasing them through listening, imagine how many other lives they will touch until, realistically, a thousand more people have received the gift.
In counseling (or listening) we are advised not to give advice to clients. There are several reasons for this but the main one is that the answer is within the client. We each must find our own answers, but a good listener is an expediter to this process, and therein lies the value. The Course also says:

8 The therapist does not heal; he lets healing be. He can point to darkness, but he cannot bring light of himself, for light is not of him. Yet, being for him, it must also be for his patient. The Holy Spirit is the only therapist. He makes healing perfectly clear in any situation in which he is the Guide. The human therapist can only let Him fulfill His function. He needs no help for this. He will tell you exactly what to do to help anyone He sends to you for help and will speak to him through you if you do not interfere. Remember that you are choosing a guide for helping, and the wrong choice will not help. But remember also that the right one will. Trust Him, for help is His function, and He is of God. (OrEd.T.9.8)

I have this printed and hanging above my desk as a reminder of the kind of listener I want to be.

*Daniel Tipton resides in Omaha, NE and is a member of the Course in Miracles Society study group. He is in his second year of the 2 year ACIM Ministerial Program offered by the CommDaniel Tiptonunity Miracles Center; Daniel attended the 2011 Annual ACIM Conference in San Francisco and is currently working on a masters degree in Counseling at UNO. He will be attending the 2013 ACIM Conference which will be held in Chicago.
More Conference Information here

How CIMS and the Original Edition Came to Be

 

You actually may find the story of how an ‘early version’ of this course [ACIM] was discovered in 1999 quite interesting as it blew the Course Community wide open! For years students believed they were studying what the scribe, Helen Schucman and her co-scribe William Thetford, had written but not so.

The story of how the scribing came about is in itself quite amazing. Story of the scribing Helen was a militant atheist. She had investigated religion and finally settled on science, believing there was no God. “Helen was a clinical and research psychologist, who held the tenured position of Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.” About the Scribes And then she began to have psychic occurrences culminating in hearing, “This is A Course in Miracles. Please take notes.”

For 7 years she and her boss, William Thetford, took down what she was hearing from an internal VOICE which described itself as JESUS. This was embarrassing and disconcerting to Helen but on some level she knew she would take this material down. She said she wouldn’t do what it said and if it made any errors she was done!

Once it was finished Helen and Bill didn’t know quite what to do with it. They gave a copy to Hugh Lynn Cayce, son of Edgar Cayce, thinking perhaps they would publish it.

Shortly after this Helen and Bill met Ken Wapnick who thought that the manuscript should be edited further which they did. In 1975 the Course was published and copyrighted, with the acknowledgment that it had been edited by only minor changes in titles, subtitles and punctuation; in other words nothing major.

In 1992 the copyright holder started to enforce the copyright stringently and a few years later entered into a multimillion dollar law suit against a spiritual community which was ‘quoting’ the Course out of context. The spiritual community had only the lawyers who lived in the community and who offered their services Pro Bono. It was truly a David & Goliath scenario.

The spiritual community LIVED the theories of ACIM and came from unconditional love for ALL involved -> Judge, Plaintiffs, Defendants. ALL. I don’t think the Judge or anyone in the courtroom knew what hit them. It was LOVE. The copyright was overturned in 2003!!! Copyright Timeline

The most amazing part of this whole story was that during the ‘discovery’ phase of the trial, the early version manuscript given to Hugh Lynn Cayce was located, digitized and put up on the INTERNET!!

Realizing the beauty of this material and wanting to get it out into the world, a few of us formed a non-profit organization, Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] and published this manuscript under the name, “Jesus’ Course in Miracles” in 2000. Of course we were immediately presented with a restraining order and were sued as well. How Jesus Got His Copyright Back <- This link tells the story of what happened next.

We are the Course in Miracles referred to in the WIKIPEDIA article about ACIM. WIKI – ACIM Article And we are truly Non-Profit. No one at CIMS receives salaries or bonuses for what we contribute.

If the Course has crossed your Path, it’s not an accident. It’s your REALITY telling you it’s time. Check our blog out. CIMS BLOG Check out our website: CIMS Website.

There is something incredibly REAL behind the facade if you just take the time to peek in. 😉 Well….why am I not surprised the Huffington Post had this article. http://huff.to/LetLoveHostYourParty

Take care and thanks for taking the time to read this.
~ Reja
http://www.facebook.com/rejajoy
http://facebook.com/ACIM.original

The State of ACIM Dialogue ~ Daniel Tipton


Dare to Be Happy

By Daniel Tipton*

THE STATE OF ACIM DIALOGUE

[as it appeared in the January 2012 Newsletter]


The State of ACIM Dialogue

This is a part of a conversation that I had on the CMC online discussion board. I had been talking to one of the members, Bart Bacon (student of the Course since 1977), about the state of my participation on the discussion board and it led to a discussion about the state of ACIM dialogue. I think that this discussion would be useful to many students.

Daniel:
What I want to work on is my ability to substantiate and clarify [thoughts on A Course in Miracles]. It is much more work to substantiate a thought with quotations, but it is something that I must become accustomed to. I’ve just started work on a Master’s degree. I am finding that my professors have been asking me to clarify and substantiate my thoughts. I’ve been receiving lower grades because my comments lack explanation. It is all the same.
I used to look at a scholarly approach to metaphysical discussions as a contradiction. I used to think “it’s all based on feelings, right?” However, I am learning that we use a language that is composed of “symbols of symbols”. So when we want to communicate, it is important to use these symbols to the best of our ability so that we can come as close to mutual understanding as possible. The problem is that it is WORK! I need to accept that the work will be well worth the time; maybe more than I can imagine right now. I am always tempted to make “shoot from the hip” posts, but I am learning that they can lead to some confusion and hinder progress because there are so many holes to fill.
I’ve only been through the text and lessons once now. I will start up both again on the 1st. I am thinking that to post the way I want, I will have to start off short and slow. My posts on heavy topics like this may be short and spread out in the beginning. However, I do sometimes find that a deep thought can be explained in a few words. I think it would be better to share a few great words, rather than a bunch of wordy words, if you know what I mean. Quality over quantity.
Also, if I am to be a proclaimed student of Socrates, I must practice his methods of dialogue as much as possible.
I understand there is always a place for light discussion, but if I want to keep up with the “big dogs” ;), I need to nip laziness in the bud.

Thank you, my teachers and friends.

Daniel

~*~

Bart Bacon:

Daniel,

I have some thoughts on yours of December 23, 2011 at 05:15 PM.

You wrote “What I want to work on is my ability to substantiate and clarify. It is much more work to substantiate a thought with quotations, but it is something that I must become accustomed to.” Amen, brother!! My experience is that much (probably most) of the discussion in the ACIM community outside of CMC forums consists of people making up ideas in their heads and then convincing each other that they represent the ideas of ACIM, when in fact they are generally opposite to the ideas of ACIM. So I applaud and encourage your decision to substantiate and clarify. With regards to developing the ability, if you practice doing it, the ability will develop. Just like riding a bike, or playing a piano, or playing tennis.

You wrote “I used to look at a scholarly approach to metaphysical discussions as a contradiction. I used to think “it’s all based on feelings, right?” However, I am learning that we use a language that is composed of “symbols of symbols”. So when we want to communicate, it is important to use these symbols to the best of our ability so that we can come as close to mutual understanding as possible.” Amen brother again!! The idea that our spiritual paths are based on feelings is utterly false and…

~*~

…… runs counter to every page in ACIM. I posted at length on this in the first half of 2010. Do a search for “unity” or “pulpit” or “heart” at the “Personal Shares” and “Healing the Physical Body” threads if you care to read what I wrote. Feelings play a very important role, but “it’s all based on feelings” isn’t one of the reasons why Jesus wrote a thousand pages of intellectual ideas and mental practices.

You wrote “The problem is that it is WORK! I need to accept that the work will be well worth the time; maybe more than I can imagine right now.” Yup, it’s work. Does work have an unpleasant connotation? Look up the passage that says something to the effect that “all true pleasure comes from sharing the Holy Spirit”. If it’s not enjoyable at any particular point in time, if it’s not pulling you in, then ask the Holy Spirit whether he would rather have you doing something else at that point in time. Your emotions will tell you whether you are following the Holy Spirit.

You wrote “I am always tempted to make “shoot from the hip” posts, but I am learning that they can lead to some confusion and hinder progress because there are so many holes to fill.” The shoot from the hip approach has created vast problems in the ACIM community. I’m not saying don’t ever shoot from the hip. I shoot from the hip sometimes. But I would recommend that when you do so you preface your remarks with something to the effect of “my opinion” or “an idea that I’ve had” rather than making it look like a statement of definite truth. Take a look at my preface to my recent comments on “Universe of universes” for an example of what I’m talking about.

You wrote “I’ve only been through the text and lessons once now. I will start up both again on the 1st. I am thinking that to post the way I want, I will have to start off short and slow. My posts on heavy topics like this may be short and spread out in the beginning. However, I do sometimes find that a deep thought can be explained in a few words. I think it would be better to share a few great words, rather than a bunch of wordy words, if you know what I mean. Quality over quantity.” Second time through is marvelous. My first time through I recognized that I didn’t understand much of it but I wanted to know that I had read all of it once. I picked up a lot of new understanding my second time through. You can read it looking out for specific topics, such as “what is Jesus’ definition of miracle” and “does Jesus want our bodies to be healthy”.

You wrote “I understand there is always a place for light discussion, but if I want to keep up with the “big dogs”, I need to nip laziness in the bud.” Well, first I would say “U B U.” Some of us have been doing this for a long time. I personally am driven by the desire to address topics that I believe the ACIM community has ignored for a long time and the desire to address what I believe are errors that are holding ACIM students back. I think Maz might say something similar to that. But if I had been in a group like this when I was about to start my second time through, I would have written very differently. You are the only Daniel Tipton in this group and in this world. If you try to be Bart or Maz or Tony, then we won’t have the benefit of engaging with the authentic Daniel Tipton. When I was first starting ACIM what was HUGE to me was the way that it was transforming my personal relationships every day, not the theory. Now my relationships have been transformed so much and for so long that I don’t even want to discuss it. Sometimes I feel bad because I know Tony wants us to use this forum to discuss our day-to-day experience with ACIM, and I’m somewhat abusing it by posting about theory. So as I said, U B U. Post whatever you feel like posting. Someone may disagree, but I expect we’ll all be polite and I’m pretty sure everyone is juiced about your being among us.

With regards to laziness, I have a document that I’ve been building for years with regards to spiritual training, and one of the main things in it is “Learn to recognize distraction and ignorance as one of the main forms of attack in modern society. (DAIAA)” By all means make the effort to learn. If I were you I would try to make daily reading of ACIM a dedicated spiritual practice for about the next 100 years of your life. Reading is more important than posting.


~*~

*Daniel Tipton resides in Omaha, NE and is a member of  the Course in Miracles Society study group. He is enrolled in the ACIM Ministerial Program offered by the Community Miracles Center, attended the 2011 Annual ACIM Conference in San Francisco and is currently working on a masters degree in Counseling at UNO. Daniel will be assisting at the 2013 ACIM Conference which will be held in Chicago. More Conference Information here

Daniel Tipton

It Was A Very Good Year by July Wolfe [Karmic Eraser]

It Was A Very Good Year
by July Wolfe*

[As it appears in the January 2012 Newsletter]

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

http://thesanecurriculum.com/


I have a tradition of using the collective optimism and creative energy of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s resolutions to review all the wonderful things that happened—in the year to come.  On December 31stof 2011, I will make a cup of cocoa, crawl under the quilts with my journal, and thank God on paper for a list of Ten Things That Happened in 2012.  A year-end review, of sorts, of the year about-to-be.  The entire world is in a mood of joyous expectation and manifestation, wishing everyone prosperity, health, safety and love.  It’s a perfect time to reach into that magical merriment and create my year.  All of us are thinking about new beginnings and starting over.  But why step off onto a blank slate?

There’s a fine line between waiting for guidance and drifting aimlessly.  I’ve proven more than once in my life that I’m willing to change my entire world at a moment’s Divine Notice, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make a plan.  Since all thoughts manifest—always—I give mine a little electromagnetic, neural-net guidance by mapping out where I want them to take me.  Sales directors and financial planners will tell you that eighty percent of what you put on a goal poster comes to fruition.  Since we are more visual than verbal, some years I also make that poster, assembling a collage of pictures that represent my wishes for the coming year and hanging it in a frame in my room.  Each day when I sit down to meditate, I look forward at all of the things that already happened in the coming year.  After all, time is relative.

Whether the world is aware of it or not, forgiveness also plays a part in its New Year’s rebirth.  It’s almost impossible to be swept up in optimistic well-wishing and hold a grudge, against either a neighbor or the fates that still haven’t given you the promotion you deserve or a spouse who gets your lifestyle.  As a child I used to love the months between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, because my parents would dress to the nines, complete with perfume and sparkly high-heels, and go out dancing on the three holidays during that period.  There was a softening and a flush of acceptance and solidarity between the holidays, no arguments, no hard feelings, just love and anticipation.  And even as a child I wondered, if we can do this at Christmas, why can’t we maintain it all year long?  Why aren’t forgiveness and smoothing the surface habits of every day?

That was my childlike way of creating my future, an everyday where forgiveness is given even before the infraction is committed and the surface is smoothed by the love of that same Oneness and acceptance, magnified and multiplied.  It was many New Year’s Eves down the road before I found the Source behind the celebration.  “This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ,” says A Course in Miracles. Jesus, the Voice of the Course, says “I have perfect faith in you, to do all that you would accomplish. Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy.” So simply, so beautifully, Jesus guides our focus from the celebration of his birth to the exact peace I cherished as a child, and he tells us precisely how to acquire it, how to give it away, and how to maintain it in ourselves.  “Say then, to your brother, I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself.  I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself.  In the name of my freedom I choose your release, because I recognize that we will be released together.”  Jesus goes on to promise that because of our forgiveness, “So will the year begin in joy and freedom.”

~*~

CONTINUED FROM NEWSLETTER

   It has taken many New Years of practice and communion with the Source and the Course, but the breathlessness of a new beginning comes every day for me now:  What does Holy Spirit have to reveal today?  I have kept my year-end review lists from several years back.  There’s an enlightening pattern of what items got listed again and again without manifesting, as revealing as what attitude must have been behind the things that manifested very quickly.  Some items are material, some are self-improvement, most are spiritual.  Things as diverse as “I got to pet a tiger!” and “I met a wonderful mirror,” to “I found someone to share next Christmas with,” and “I healed my back.”  (I’m still waiting on the tiger thing.)  This year my communion has been so close and so sweet, I don’t feel compelled to make the list or create a poster.  I just want more of the same.  2012 is to be a year of dedication for me: more time, more attention, more surrender.              “There is much to do,” ends the paragraph in chapter 15, “and we have been long delayed.  Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening.  Make this year different by making it all the same.  And let your relationships be made holy for you.  This is our will.
Amen.”

~*~

*July Wolfe writes as “Karmic Eraser” in a daily blog about A Course in Miracles’ Workbook lessons.  She has been a Course student for seven years, and studied with Ramtha The Enlightened One for twelve years before that.  Her blog postings at TheSaneCurriculm.wordpress.com will be published on Kindle in January, as The Sane Curriculum, A Year of Forgiveness and Miracles.

Poetry ~ Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles


The  Risen Sun

~*~
By Helen Schucman*

[as it appeared in the December 2011 Newsletter]

 

Helen Schucman ~ Scribe of A Course in Miracles

Be still, my soul, and rest upon the Lord
In quiet certainty. For He has come
To rescue you from doubt. And now you stand
In blazing glory of a risen sun
That cannot set. It will forever be
Exactly as it is. You stand with Him
Within a radiance prepared for you
Before time was and far beyond its reach.
Be still and know. And knowing, be you sure
Your Lord has come to you. There is no doubt
That stands before His countenance, nor can
Conceal from you what He would have you see.
The sun has risen. He has come at last.
Where stands his Presence there can be no past.
Be still, my soul, and rest upon the Lord
Who comes to keep the promise of His Word
.
~FEBRUARY 11, 1974

MUSIC
by Martin Weber-Caspers [maz]

Maz SINGS Helen’s poem beautifully, and sets it to his MUSIC.


CLICK above and choose “The Risen Sun”

*Maz is currently the voice for the Original Edition [OE] of A Course In Miracles, produced by SonShipRadio. Maz serves the OE so that it can be shared globally; and as chairman of the Curtis Knight Foundation he produces local radio programs, internet radio shows and other endeavors to promote and support co-creativity on a broader scale.

More MUSIC from MAZ

*Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles, was also a poet who took down several poems even while she was scribing A Course in Miracles. This poem “The Comforter” was dated January 1, 1974 and is located among many of her other poems in a book titled, “The Gifts of God” published by the Foundation for Inner Peace [FIP]. The book is available through FIP and also through the Community Miracle Center CMC.

Judgment Our Own Personal Prison ~ George Wallace

Judgment ~ Our Own Personal Prison

by George Wallace*

[As it appears in the December 2011 Newsletter]

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

http://welcomingpeace.com/


George Wallace is the President and CEO of The Discovery Communications Group,
an award winning, fully integrated website design, marketing and advertising agency.
He is also author of the book

How To Enjoy Peace In Your Life Everyday

If you chain a newborn elephant to a stake in the ground, that elephant will grow into adulthood believing that his entire world is dictated by the length of the chain. The unfortunate elephant may seem perfectly content to remain within the limited confines of an artificial space and illusory world that was created for him. He does not know that, even as an infant, he had the power to pull the onerous stake from the ground as though it didn’t even exist, and walk away from that artificial prison at any moment of his choosing, to become truly happy, joyous and free. He does not know that his power and might are immeasurably greater than the life limiting stake to which he is attached, and he doesn’t know that he does not know. But the essence of this animal is buried deep inside, distant yet immediately accessible, constantly calling him to express his perfect reality, completely connected to his inner core, allowing him to run joyfully with his brothers and sisters, forever.

Every human being on the planet (as well as anyone who happens to be orbiting the earth on a space station) shares an element of the elephant’s pathetic existence. Metaphorically speaking, the stake represents our propensity to pass judgment on others, no matter how trivial it may seem, and the chain is our inextricable attachment to those judgments, ever burdening us with feelings of separation, isolation, loneliness and fear – whether we know it is there or not.

In many ways, judging other people places and things is extraordinarily easy to do, does not require much in the way of creative energy, and we very often engage in the practice without even knowing. Judgments are the result of the unique mental, spiritual and emotional conditioning we have undergone from the day we took our first breath. They are the combination of a lifetime of experiences, thoughts, feelings, relationships, emotions, automatic reactions, and learning that we accumulate by following the path of those who came before us. We are not to be blamed. We are to be forgiven and set free.

Judgments can be quite comforting because they provide us a mechanism of defining ourselves to ourselves, however erroneous the definition happens to be. By labeling and defining others, whether positively or negatively, we are by default staking out a position (remember the elephant) of our very own in relation to the world around us. Bear in mind that the entire world outside the boundaries of our own skins is a projected illusion. Everything we see and experience emanates from the inside. As Deepak Chopra says: “You are not in the world, the world is in you”.

But the good is very often the enemy of the best. So, while we get a temporary lift from the false feeling of superiority that judgment seems to provide, we are really allowing our own inbred fear to construct the jail cells of separation from other human beings that reinforces the original erroneous notion that we can be separate from God. Every judgment we make, good or bad, reinforces that lie.

~*~

Defining others negatively is a cheap method of inflating or own sense of superiority. If we can point an accusing finger at another person and relegate them to a status that is decidedly less than our own, we are simultaneously elevating our own perception of ourselves, however falsely, in our own eyes. Hitler had his master race, political parties have their platforms, the military has its “elite” units, religions have the one true God (which, by rigid and often unquestioned dogma, is better than the one true God of the other religions), and there always seems to be at least one country somewhere in the world that has the “moral authority” to exert its will on another country. Often lost in the deafening roar of the bombs and bullets is the complete irony that this “moral authority” is being expressed by the attempted extinguishing of entire civilizations, or the killing and maiming of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.

A Course in Miracles tells us that there is no degree of difficulty in the miracle, which also means that there is no degree of difficulty in the error. Therefore, if I judge another human being as being anything less than the perfect expression of the Love of God, it is the same thing as the government of the United States annihilating the “savage” Native Americans, British slave traders stealing African negroes and placing them into lives of enslavement and suffering, and people in positions of power advocating hatred of other groups from the imaginary authority of a Sunday morning pulpit.

Judgment is also a way of seeking balance. We have all arrived at the present moment as the result of having experienced a life that is entirely unique. No two people ever have the exact same (yes, the phrase “exact same” is redundant. I know. And it makes me crazy whenever I read it, and I have no idea why I used it. But I will keep it there because I can) combination of life experiences, interactions, relationships, thoughts, feelings and actions. The different paths we have all traveled define our lives today and inform every decision we make, thought we have, and feeling we experience as a result of those thoughts.

Our histories are the tools we utilize to stake out (a deliberate reference to the elephant at the beginning of the story) our own place in the world that is a little like living on our own separate islands without Gilligan and the Skipper to make everything alright. So, the balance we seek is a total agreement between the conditions of the outer world and the disparate functions (dysfunctions?) of our own inner worlds. And we go about achieving this balance in a purely backwards manner, attempting to shape the outer world to fit the mold of the inner world, with our judgments playing a major role in this drama.

So, the question is: “How do we extricate ourselves from living this self defeating cycle of the illusion of separation.” A Course in Miracles provides us the solution. The Course teaches us that we can no more be separate from our creator than a drop of water can find the place where it ends and the ocean begins. Through the Course, we learn that all we have to do is remove the blocks we have created in our own lives that keep us from connecting to, and experiencing, the Love of God that is in fact our own true reality. The Course is brilliant in the way it allows us to use our own understanding of the world to propel us forward to a place where the ego’s grip on our lives is significantly diminished. We hear phrases like: “I can see peace instead of this”, “In my defenselessness, my freedom lies”, “Teach love, for that is what you are”, or “An idea leaves not its source”.

We learn that we are not pin balls, propelled into the dizzying array of lights and sounds, bouncing from bumper to flipper, without the ability to select the path upon which we will tread. We get to make a choice, every minute of every day. We get to choose the thoughts we pay attention to and the ones we ignore. We get to decide what we will think about a certain person or situation in our lives, and refuse to settle for the default thinking that our past would dictate. And if you ever feel scared, lost, alone, in turmoil, or indecisive, all you need to do is stop a moment, look inside, and ask God for the help that He will most assuredly provide.

Ultimately, A Course in Miracles gently brings us to a place where we understand that genuine forgiveness is the only antidote to a lifelong habit of collecting prejudices, judgments, biases, errors and lies. The forgiveness of which I speak has nothing to do with letting go of our resentments toward another person because that does not correct our erroneous perception. In this scenario, we assume that the other person is, in fact, an accurate reflection of our negative thoughts and we are being magnanimous in our decision to overlook their indiscretion, thereby driving the stake to which we are chained ever deeper into the ground.

Genuine forgiveness assumes that we have made a mistake in our limited human perception, born of an understanding that whenever we judge another, we are simply re-living an unhealed past. Our judgments are a result of the past being brought into the present moment, thus ensuring a future that looks remarkably similar. It is like the movie “Groundhog Day” where Bill Murray re-lives the exact same (there I go again. I just can’t help myself) 24-hour sequence over and over again. The big difference is that Bill Murray is very funny, and our constant replay of the past is somewhat sad.

So, what will it be? The stake in the ground to which you will be forever chained, or the freedom that comes with choosing the Voice for God? Prison bars that keep you isolated from your brothers and sisters, or the light and love you experience when you decide to see only God in another person. Will it be love or will it be fear – door number one, or door number two? The choice belongs exclusively to you.

Sometimes it helps to simply stick your toe in the water to test the temperature. Allow yourself to notice one single judgment, call it for what it is, and decide to see the person or situation differently. Then, your whole life will change. And you will be glad it did.

~*~

 *George writes: “My ultimate goal is to become the person that God originally intended for me to be. I believe that the only way to accomplish this is to engage the passion for learning I have been given, and to be as true to myself as is humanly possible.”. George is the author of the book: “How To Enjoy Peace in Your Life Everyday.”

Do We Need the Ego?

WHAT IS THE EGO  is the section of the Workbook that we recently listened to in our weekly ACIM Study Group. It is read by Maz Weber-Caspers along with his own exquisite music.

Afterwards we had a discussion on the ‘Ego’ and the following question arose:

QUESTION:   DO WE NEED THE EGO?

ANSWER:     This is a fantastic question because it most likely stems from our prior conditioning and training which has TAUGHT us that the ego is normal and natural and very much needed for us to exist in the world. And this is true if we believe that the world the ego has created is REAL. The ego makes the world and then dictates its own reality within that world.  And yet HE tells us in A Course in Miracles this is “too ridiculous for anything but to be laughed away”. ♥

How willing are you to escape effects of all the dreams the world has ever had? Is it your wish to let no dream appear to be the cause of what it is you do?

No one asleep and dreaming in the world remembers his attack upon himself. No one believes there really was a time when he knew nothing of a body and could never have conceived this world as real. He would have seen at once that these ideas are one illusion, too ridiculous for anything but to be laughed away. How serious they now appear to be. And no one can remember when they would have met with laughter and with disbelief.   ACIM OrEd.Tx.27. 78

‘WHO’ then is even asking this question? Most certainly it is the one who does not remember their initial attack upon themselves and does not remember that instant when time was carved from eternity and limitation placed upon wholeness. And since we don’t remember, we continue to ask a question, predicated on our separateness: “Do we need the ego?”

We have learned that the ego is defined as a sense of ‘self’ distinguished and separated from other selves and yet the entire study of A Course in Miracles is a process of bringing us back to the Knowledge that we are not our egos and back to the Knowledge that we are not separate from one another.

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

He tells us that the ego stems from a sense of division. Healing our sense of separation is actually the only goal we have while we still find ourselves in this ‘world’. HE tells us that there is only one problem and that there is only one solution. The ‘problem’ is our belief in separation and the solution is the REALITY of our Oneness.

The ego is the belief of the mind that it is completely on its own. Its ceaseless attempts to gain the Soul’s acknowledgment and thus to establish its own existence are utterly useless. ACIM OrEd.Tx.4.33

When I was 19 years old I tried to do just that. I read a book called Psycho-Cybernetics and was inspired to try to change my personality. I tried to re-create myself using the ego as guide. The only thing I succeeded in doing was to lose all sense of who I was and what the world was. At the time it was frightening and yet it was a kind of liberation. I was completely in the NOW. I lost a sense of my past and very little was defined for me. And yet there was a Core of Being within my heart that was at Peace and Knew that which was Real could not be threatened. In the following quote, HE tells us that we are part of reality and all we need do is “see it as it IS.” We don’t need to struggle with concepts or ideas. We can allow Reality to BE what it IS. This is one of the most beautiful parts of the Course and one of my favorites:

The ego tries to exploit all situations into forms of praise for itself in order to overcome its doubts. It will be doubtful forever, or rather as long as you believe in it. You who made it cannot trust it because you know it is not real. The only sane solution is not to try to change reality, which is indeed a fearful attempt, but to see it as it is. You are part of reality, which stands unchanged beyond the reach of your ego but within easy reach of your Soul. When you are afraid, be still and know that God is real and you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Do not let your ego dispute this because the ego cannot know what is as far beyond its reach as you are. ACIM OrEd.Tx.4.15

It’s so soothing to hear HIM say, “YOU are part of reality, which stands unchanged beyond the reach of your ego but within easy reach of your Soul”. Thank God my ego has no effect on Who I truly AM. We also learn that the ego cannot know us because our true Reality is Soul. The ego cannot know what Soul is:

8 Nothing can reach the Soul from the ego, and nothing from the Soul can strengthen the ego or reduce the conflict within it. The ego is a contradiction. Man’s self and God’s Self are in opposition. They are opposed in creation, in will, and in outcome. They are fundamentally irreconcilable because the Soul cannot perceive and the ego cannot know. They are therefore not in communication and can never be in communication. Nevertheless, the ego can learn because its maker can be misguided but cannot make the totally lifeless out of the life-given. The Soul need not be taught, but the ego must. ACIM OrEd.Tx.4.8

And that is why we study A Course in Miracles. It is teaching us [and we are re-membering] that we can misguide ourselves into thinking the ego is real until the pain of that decision becomes unbearable. And then we can CHOOSE AGAIN.

 Your mission is very simple. You have been chosen to live so as to demonstrate that you are not an ego. ACIM OrEd.Tx.4.89

HE tells us in the Course that the ego is quite literally a fearful thought. And so we can be certain that when we choose LOVE, the fear [and the ego] return to the nothingness from which they came. And with Love in us, we have no need but to extend it.
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, has facilitated Course in Miracles study groups since 1983, is in the 2nd year of the CMC Ministerial program  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.acim-original.com/ <- More information about A COURSE IN MIRACLES

http://www.jcim.net

Scribing by Sun~Rose Guidance on What Am I


Guidance from Elder Brother
as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*

[As seen in the December 2011 Newsletter]


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

GUIDANCE on “WHAT AM I?”
INTRODUCTION to LESSONS 351 to 360
ACIM ORIGINAL EDITION  

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face.  The Guidance is in normal type   

In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You.  

When You see the word ‘YOU’  capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.   

I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love.   

Two little words changed gives wonderful understanding of what is the Son of God You are and of Your relationship with the Father-Mother.

What words are this these make such a difference? Listen carefully.

I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining AS the PRESENCE of His Love.

In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite.  

If the ego’s ‘You’ had to do this on ‘Your own’, a daunting job is it indeed! Yet this is not a request but rather a statement of fact. And for One to resist it or deny it would simply be ego defense of false humility.

I am the holy home of God Himself.  

These statements are the Truth of You, the Son. The Son has no gender, for God has not made two types of Son, one so-called ‘male’ and the other ‘female’. These are ego inventions for the purposes of various subjugations. My accommodations are simply to clarify: One is not ‘better’ than Another.

The Truth is: We are All the Son. There is no ‘male’ nor ‘female’.

All of Us are, indeed, the very Presence of Our God, Belovèd Source of All.  

I am the Heaven where His Love resides.  

Once more, here We see that Heaven’s not a ‘place’ at all, but a state of Consciousness.

I am His holy sinlessness itself, for in my purity abides His own.

How could One ‘sin’ when God is All of Us? And yet We see sin everywhere We look. And this is not about a blind eye to it, but rather sin’s unreality; along with the unreality of the entire dream.

2 Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared.

And it has been the joy of giving, a purpose that You will find eternally. It is the Truth of All Reality.

And thus you joined with me. So what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe.

Can words be used to describe the Natures Infinite of Love, or Life?  The understanding does come in the willingness to BE Them.

Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us.

To start with literally living Love is the key to Life that is only Living.  You are never born and never dying, and this is the Truth right here and right now.

3 We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed.

What is this word “salvation”?  What’s it mean?  Redemption of a sinner miserable and undeserving?  That’s not You!  That’s not any One of You! 

Salvation is but the expression of Life, Truth and Love, All lived and shared each moment, as Your very Be-ing ‘in the world’.

The world has need of Your Life, Truth and Love.  And it but waits on You to give Your Gifts.

And this, our gift, is therefore given us.

How else can Gifts as These, so wonderful, be experienced but in the Living of each one of Them?

Speak not of Love, but BE It.  Speak not of Life Eternal, just live It!  Don’t prattle about the Truth, Be Its Living Example!

We look on everyone as brothers and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gates of Heaven.

Nice words these are indeed, yet, how do You live them?  You do know the answer: Today I will make no decisions by Myself.

Speak not Your words, but the Holy Spirit’s.  For when You let Her (or Him if You wish) hear and see for You, then will the words of Love come forth so very naturally.  Just as they now pour forth as Me to You.  The Holy Spirit that I am communicates through to Holy Spirit You are.  And We All are this One Holy Spirit.

Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.

Just Be that Living Love and watch Your consciousness unfold and flower as the gardens of Your kindness spring up all over.

4 Ours are the eyes through which Christ’s vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin.

Ask Me what is really there, hidden by the dream of sin.  Be still and listen.  I will gladly tell You!

Ours are the ears that hear the Voice of God proclaim the world as sinless. We hear His Mind Divine ever expressing to Us: Here is ever Good!

Ours the minds which join together as we bless the world. – All things of which God is Aware must be Holy.  God Knows Good only.

And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy. 

This consummation is the Weddedness Divine of All the Sonship and All the Universe as well.

5 We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts.  

Having really learned the Truth and thus becoming It as well, We joyously do share this Love with Every One!

And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came and which we seek to serve.

We are no longer here for getting, but for giving, and Our happiness has now become Our Be-ing.  For getting is insatiable and never satisfied, while giving Gifts but Joy.

We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.

The discontent and suffering which had attended His existence for the eons of the dream have ended, and the Life which is Joy has again begun for Us.  Let Us with Our Joy share this great Heart Of God, this endless Love, until All Our Brothers have Awakened!

*~*~*~*~*

[Thank you Dear Brother]

*Sun~Rose is the scribe of the recently published book, “YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE: PREP NOTES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD’S LOVE” She is also author of, “RADIANT LIFE: RAW FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF LOVE”

 BOTH now available on amazon.com

 

The Shadow Side of Positive Change ~ Daniel Tipton


Dare to Be Happy

By Daniel Tipton*

THE SHADOW SIDE OF POSITIVE CHANGE

[as it appeared in the December 2011 Newsletter]

I like the title Dare to Be Happy because, most of the time, it takes courage to initiate changes that will make me happy. Sometimes I know what I want to do, but I get afraid. Before I broke up with my last girlfriend, I had never learned how difficult it can be to do the right thing. What do I mean by “the right thing.”? The right thing is whatever I know in my heart to be in line with my greatest self and greatest desires. I was in that relationship to experience all the lessons that it taught me. Then, there came a time when I felt strongly compelled to move on. At one point, I knew it was time to break up. I knew it needed to happen, so I told her. I felt liberated at first, but then fear worked its way in. The mind-altering drug of fear threw me for a loop I had never experienced before. I doubted everything and felt like the world had been turned upside down.

My thought going into the break-up was that if I am doing the right thing, the change will be easy. This is most definitely not always true. I had put much work into making that relationship what it was (which was not very healthy), and there was much work that needed to be done to withdraw. This experience taught me a valuable personal lesson though. “Scary” does not imply “take no action”. There is a difference between being scared and intuition telling me not to do something. Fear throws made-up scenarios at me to scare me off. Intuition is a gentle knowing that something should be avoided. Fear seems to make my heart hurt, while intuition seems to operate in my solar plexus. Fear is unreasonable, intuition uses reason. I had all the intuition I needed to get out of that relationship, yet I let fear delude me into keeping it going. I finally listened to my intuition to get out, but fear was sure to have its say.

I look back on things now and I say: “Did that really happen?” “Did I really make it through all of that?” I feel as though my fear slowly left me, but did so kicking and screaming. The Course says that we are creators, and that our creations are our children. I had created a nasty little child that suckled on my fear. When I started to dry up those reserves, this child went into attack mode. After time, it ran out of energy, and went to sleep to become a memory that is mostly quiet, yet still likes to push my buttons to test me every once in a while. All of these symbols are, of course, creations of my own thinking.

The only reason it is sometimes daring to make changes to be happy, is because the ego can be a strong foe. It should not be taken lightly. I need God’s help to overcome the ego’s many obstacles. That is why I have the Course, and why I have the Holy Spirit. God knows I am up against a mighty foe, because I have made it that way. Yet, He sees this foe as nothing, and wants to help me remember that it is nothing. When making a major change, I must be prepare to march forward against the onslaught of arrows the ego fires at me. God helps me remember though, that I hold the bow. I must set it down, and let the miracle take place.

~DANIEL

*Daniel Tipton resides in Omaha, NE and is a member of  the Course in Miracles Society study group. He is enrolled in the ACIM Ministerial Program offered by the Community Miracles Center, attended the 2011 Annual ACIM Conference in San Francisco and is currently working on a masters degree in Counseling at UNO. Daniel will be assisting at the 2013 ACIM Conference which will be held in Chicago. More Conference Information here

Daniel Tipton