Tag Carmen Cameron

Offer of Assistance in ACIM ~ Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Good Questions
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~

[As it appears in the July 2011 Newsletter]

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 16 years.

Question:You have offered your experience of calling upon Jesus for guidance and assistance in our weekly study group.  Is His offer of assistance specifically referenced in ACIM?  If so, can you point me to the sections where Jesus makes reference to this? Thanks!  ~Logan McC
Answer:  Is it referenced in ACIM?  Oh gosh YES!

ALL of the functions later ascribed to the Holy Spirit in ACIM are initially ascribed to Jesus, personally, in the early chapters, ESPECIALLY His offer of help and guidance.

The popular reasoning for that shift from Jesus to the Holy Spirit as our Guide is that the Holy Spirit is a “higher” form of spiritual Help and Guidance and Jesus was encouraging us to “progress” on to that level, gently and gradually during the process of the dictation.

My own theory, however, is that Helen was way too uncomfortable with the intense intimacy of that kind of relationship with Jesus as a personal entity (a well-attested to conflict for Helen) and so she was far more comfortable with “distancing” those functions “up” to the much more impersonal, symbolic and abstract Holy Spirit. (Jesus speaks directly to Helen’s preference for the abstract in the Urtext as a limitation on her ability to comprehend the concrete and practical.) But, seeing Helen’s resistance, and ever the gentle and helpful “older brother”, Jesus just accommodated her.  And through her struggle with Jesus’ help, apparently Jesus found a way to help many of us!

There are dozens of references to Jesus offering to be our guide and role model even in the heavily edited Foundation for Inner Peace [FIP] version but the most direct ones are in the Original Edition and most especially in Helen’s notes and Urtext.

Jesus tells Helen to ask Him about everything she must decide: from what to wear to work, to when to stop channeling His dictation, to where to shop for her new coat – and even a very particular diamond broach!

The “personal” note where Jesus calls Himself “The Higher Shopping Service” is my personal favorite of all these references because it so clearly demonstrates both His sense of humor and His practical understanding through personal experience of just what it is to be a human.

Over the years, I have asked for guidance from both Jesus and the Holy Spirit and I just personally prefer to go to Jesus because of His delightful sense of humor – He can correct my errors bluntly but make me laugh at myself simultaneously – while the guidance from the Holy Spirit seems more dry and matter-of-fact, that being the primary distinction between them.  BUT it is also my belief that Jesus cautions us to not attempt to go too quickly to the Holy Spirit before He’s helped us actually recognize our fears:

T-4.III.7. It has never really entered your mind to give up every idea you ever had that opposes knowledge. 2 You retain thousands of little scraps of fear that prevent the Holy One from entering. 3 Light cannot penetrate through the walls you make to block it, and it is forever unwilling to destroy what you have made. 4 No one can see through a wall, but I can step around it.

It is my belief that this is the explanation why so many ACIM students have so much difficulty in distinguishing between the Holy Spirit’s Voice and their own egos’ – they have skipped over this major step of clearing the fear that blocks the Holy Spirit with the tender and patient help of Jesus.

There are specific references in the early versions to things as down-to-earth and specific as even asking Jesus about whom to marry, how to resolve personal and professional counseling situations, and even customized “prescriptions” relating to physical symptoms.

But if you’re asking for something to cite from the standard FIP, here’s just a small selection:

T-1.II.4. “No man cometh unto the Father but by me” does not mean that I am in any way separate or different from you except in time, and time does not really exist. 2 The statement is more meaningful in terms of a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. 3 You stand below me and I stand below God. 4 In the process of “rising up,” I am higher because without me the distance between God and man would be too great for you to encompass. 5 I bridge the distance as an elder brother to you on the one hand, and as a Son of God on the other. 6 My devotion to my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I render complete because I share it.

T-1.III.1. I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin. 2 When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do it to <yourself> and me. 3 The reason you come before me is that I do not need miracles for my own Atonement, but I stand at the end in case you fail temporarily. 4 My part in the Atonement is the cancelling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct. 5 When you have been restored to the recognition of your original state, you naturally become part of the Atonement yourself. 6 As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my voice, learn to undo error and act to correct it. 7 The power to work miracles belongs to you. 8 I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing.

T-1.II.5. Revelations are indirectly inspired by me because I am close to the Holy Spirit, and alert to the revelation-readiness of my brothers. 2 I can thus bring down to them more than they can draw down to themselves. [Jesus is claiming here to be the means for us to reach revelation.]

T-1.III.4. I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately, because I am the Atonement. 2 You have a role in the Atonement which I will dictate to you. 3 Ask me which miracles you should perform. 4 This spares you needless effort, because you will be acting under direct communication.

T-1.III.8. That the miracle may have effects on your brothers that you may not recognize is not your concern. 2 The miracle will always bless <you>. 3 Miracles you are not asked to perform have not lost their value. 4 They are still expressions of your own state of grace, but the action aspect of the miracle should be controlled by me because of my complete awareness of the whole plan. 5 The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures your grace, but only I am in a position to know where they can be bestowed.

T-1.IV.4.6 I assure you that I will witness for anyone who lets me, and to whatever extent he permits it. 7 Your witnessing demonstrates your belief, and thus strengthens it. 8 Those who witness for me are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they have learned belongs to them.

T-1.VII.5.4 I have been careful to clarify my role in the Atonement without either over- or understating it. 5 I am also trying to do the same with yours. 6 I have stressed that awe is not an appropriate reaction to me because of our inherent equality. 7 Some of the later steps in this course, however, involve a more direct approach to God Himself. 8 It would be unwise to start on these steps without careful preparation, or awe will be confused with fear, and the experience will be more traumatic than beatific. 9 Healing is of God in the end. 10 The means are being carefully explained to you. 11 Revelation may occasionally reveal the end to you, but to reach it the means are needed. [See T-1.II.5.2 above.]

T-2.II.1. You can do anything I ask. 2 I have asked you to perform miracles…

T-2.V.A.11. (1) 3 When you perform a miracle, I will arrange both time and space to adjust to it.

T-2.VI.1.3 My control can take over everything that does not matter, while my guidance can direct everything that does, if you so choose.

T-2.VI.4.9 Before you choose to do anything, ask me if your choice is in accord with mine. 10 If you are sure that it is, there will be no fear.

T-3.IV.7.3 I was a man who remembered spirit and its knowledge. 4 As a man I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge, but to correct error from the bottom up. 5 I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body and the power of the mind. 6 By uniting my will with that of my Creator, I naturally remembered spirit and its real purpose. 7 I cannot unite your will with God’s for you, but I can erase all misperceptions from your mind if you will bring it under my guidance. 8 Only your misperceptions stand in your way. 9 Without them your choice is certain. 10 Sane perception induces sane choosing. 11 I cannot choose for you, but I can help you make your own right choice.

T-4.IV.11.   I do not attack your ego. 2 I do work with your higher mind, the home of the Holy Spirit, whether you are asleep or awake, just as your ego does with your lower mind, which is its home. 3 I am your vigilance in this, because you are too confused to recognize your own hope. 4 I am not mistaken. 5 Your mind will elect to join with mine, and together we are invincible.

T-4.VI.6.     My trust in you is greater than yours in me at the moment, but it will not always be that way. 2 Your mission is very simple. 3 You are asked to live so as to demonstrate that you are not an ego, and I do not choose God’s channels wrongly. 4 The Holy One shares my trust, and accepts my Atonement decisions because my will is never out of accord with His. 5 I have said before that I am in charge of the Atonement. 6 This is only because I completed my part in it as a man, and can now complete it through others. 7 My chosen channels cannot fail, because I will lend them my strength as long as theirs is wanting.

T-4.VI.7.     I will go with you to the Holy One, and through my perception He can bridge the little gap. [Again, Jesus is saying he is the bridge – the intermediary – between us and the Holy Spirit’s Help, at least in the beginning] …7 Because you are the Kingdom of God I can lead you back to your own creations.

T-4.VI.8.     As you come closer to a brother you approach me, and as you withdraw from him I become distant to you. 2 Salvation is a collaborative venture. 3 It cannot be undertaken successfully by those who disengage themselves from the Sonship, because they are disengaging themselves from me.

T-4.VII.8.7 The truly helpful are God’s miracle workers, whom I direct until we are all united in the joy of the Kingdom. 8 I will direct you to wherever you can be truly helpful, and to whoever can follow my guidance through you.

And finally:

T-5.II.3.7 The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. 8 His is the Voice that calls you back to where you were before and will be again. 9 It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. 10 It takes effort and great willingness to learn. 11 It is the final lesson that I learned…

“The final lesson that [Jesus] learned”…learning to distinguish the Holy Spirit’s Voice and listening to no other…how vain then would it be to think that I could learn to do that on my own WITHOUT his help! Thankfully, Jesus offers us his help in doing so.  Repeatedly.

I truly hope that this was helpful, Logan.  God bless!

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Authentic Guidance ~ Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~
[As it appears in the May 2011 Newsletter] 
There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years.  
Question:Can two people receive authentic guidance on an issue even if that guidance is completely opposite for each?
Answer: I’ve gotten that question many times over the years (especially from couples).  And the short answer is YES!Remember that the Course is a customized curriculum.  Each person that comes to it is learning different lessons and in a different order.  So two (or more) people may each be told by the Holy Spirit to follow what seems like a conflicting path simply because they each have a different lesson to learn.This is true even if their (or our) guidance isn’t really from the Holy Spirit but from the ego mind, instead.So, two very sincere ACIM students may feel guided to vote for different candidates for president, for instance.  One student needs to learn the lessons that come from taking responsibility for the outcomes from their choice of the winner and the other has lessons that may center on how they deal with supporting the loser wholeheartedly.

The more important question though is how we respond to situations in which our guidance isn’t the same as the guidance of those we are closely associated with.  For if their choice has brought up a negative reaction in us, the lesson is ours, isn’t it?

I sincerely pray that this is of help to you and God bless you on your perfect journey, always.

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Scribing by Sun~Rose

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

 

Guidance from Elder Brother

as Received and Transcribed by Sun~Rose*

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

[as it appeared in the April 2011 Newsletter] 
 

GUIDANCE ON EASTER and the RESURRECTION

LESSON 69
[Words from A Course in Miracles-original edition are Bold and Gold ]

It has been said that every Sunday is a little Easter.  And I am going to bring Easter much more present than that statement.  The Truth is that every instant is a potential Holy Instant – or full-blown Easter.

Your Resurrection or Awakening is present with You – as You – at this very moment, quietly, expectantly, waiting for Your willingness.  That’s very simple, isn’t it?  Sounds too simple.  I must be Someone special since You don’t know of another example of Resurrection, although You may have heard there are Others, living off in the Himalayan mountains, but They’re special too.

Well what have I said to You when discussing the Miracle Principles?  Every One of You is special, priceless and precious to God.  And I will again quote Saint Augustine: God loves Each One of Us as if there were only One of Us.  That makes You – All of You – the “only begotten Son”, just as I am.

And so, how is it that Your Resurrection/Awakening is right now present, not just with You, but as You? … … It’s the Holy Spirit!  It’s Your True Mind.  Today We are working with Lesson 69, although I could excerpt from any of the Lessons, We will use where We are today.

You have, for the most part, heretofore, thought of Resurrection as something happening to the body.  Well it is not.  It is a transformation of the mind, from little m mind to capital M Mind; from the ego state of thought to the Holy Spirit’s Knowing.

Think of your mind – and the mind We are looking to reach is the Mind You know – or have heard of and which is now being described – as a vast round area, – as the Holy Spirit, hidden from view, – surrounded by – where You are abiding now, which is almost always the limited ego sense of mind, that here in this lesson, is being visually described as – a layer of heavy dark clouds. You can see only the clouds because you seem to be standing outside the whole area, and quite apart from it.  So seems the Holy Spirit to You, as not a part of You but something separate, mystical and magical, and far more than You could ever be.

And so – From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a brilliant light hidden by the clouds. The clouds seem to be the only reality. Just as ego thinking seems to be Your only mind.  They seem to be all there is to see. And so You do not realize how much there is to You and how very marvelous You are.  Therefore you do not attempt to go through them and past them, which is the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance.  – for cloudy doubtful thoughts are so often what and how You think You are. So You need encouragement, and this is what I give You now. We will make this attempt today.  This effort will not be half-hearted but joyous and enthusiastic!

This is how I approached My Resurrection: with great joy and enthusiasm.  The certainty of God as all Reality – and therefore, My Consciousness – shone as blazing Light, keeping Me from slipping into the human dream of anger, fear, and crucifixion, all clamoring for My attention.  I lived – and still do – the glorious words to God from Isaiah 26:3: “Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on Thee.”

And He is keeping You in perfect peace too, as You stay Your mind on Him.

This is Your Resurrection and Your Awakening.  Your Easter Joy.

Where, You may be thinking of Yourself, is My crucifixion?  There is no crucifixion for You.  Only the ego sense feels crucified because it has been crucifying You for eons.  Is it not time to accept Your freedom?

As the moon retires in the light of the sun, let Us together retire crucifixion in Light of Resurrection.  The true retirement of crucifixion is the Awakening which brings the disappearance of the ego.  And the ego sense is all that will disappear in the Resurrection of Awakening.  Where You thought a painful and a troubled world abided so clearly will it be seen that the Kingdom of Heaven has been here all along.

Feel My Love for All of You, as I rejoice in Your Resurrection.  For what is Resurrection but Your dwelling once again as Your rightful place: the Holy Spirit and You as a joyous One, the Belovèd Son of God You are, and have always been, despite the endless, troubled dreams that hid Yourself from You.  Our Father waits with joyous expectation for Your glad return.

All that’s asked is that little willingness for miracles abound, and Your glad Homecoming encourages all the sleeping Sons of God to waken and make the journey with You, the journey without distance, as Heaven waits for You right here and now.

You have long confused Heaven with the dream of dying.  This could not be farther from the Truth.  Heaven is the true experience of Life Awake instead of life asleep.  For the two experiences are both at hand, right where You are.  You have chosen dreaming for so long, there hadn’t seemed to be another choice.  And so I’m here to offer You a far, far better sense of Life than dreaming endless, fitful dreams that You perceive as lifetimes.

How real is Your sleeping dream?  The waking one is no more true.  Your Resurrection, just like Mine, is from the unreal to the Real.  Nowhere to actually go, it’s just a simple change of Mind from Me to We.  From separation and loneliness to inclusion and a Love and safety long forgotten.  And yet this Love has not forgotten You.  You will not lose Your loved Ones for They will come along with You, inspired by Your Joy.

How does this journey begin?  The same way that it ends: You Joining with the Holy Spirit, and He is What You really are.  All fear is gone forever, melted by the Love of God, exemplified as He and now as You.  You had forgotten Who You are: joyous Son and Daughter of the King.

Welcome Home.  

*~*~*~*~*

*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

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] 1 Comment

Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By Carmen Cameron*

 [as it appeared in the March 2011 Newsletter]

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 Question: I know that, as a spiritual person, I’m not supposed to be into things but the Course says that the Holy Spirit knows that I need things while I am here just to survive until I learn to go beyond this level of existence.  Things are really tight for me right now and it’s becoming a big distraction to my spiritual progress.  Any ideas?

Answer: Have you ever heard about “The Higher Shopping Service“?

It’s a service Jesus offered Helen and Bill and it’s available to ALL of us. (And I’ve found it to be downright miraculous since living on such a mini budget these last few years so it would be helpful to you, too, while you’re kinda’ short. 🙂

Jesus says he’ll help find the things he knows we need – along with “a reasonable amount of whims”, as well (his words, not mine) – AT THE PRICE THAT WE CAN AFFORD so that a) he can prove to us that he exists and hasn’t left us (as he promised), and b) to save us time dealing with the worry and frustrations so we can spend more time in doing what we’re here to learn to do (just extend the love of God to each other :-).

Using THSS always results in a win-win outcome, miraculously.  Using it proves to us that we’re not alone and we’re being heard and cared for.  And eventually, it makes us feel so safe and secure that very little can shake our peace, distracting us from loving life.  And each other.

It’s really cool!  I’ve had things I need just show up (often left right on my doorstep).  I’ve had a gazillion experiences of finding the perfect thing at the unbelievably low price I could afford (comfortably)!  And I’m far from being alone in learning that THSS is not only real, it’s DEPENDABLE.  (And fun – ‘cuz you just never know HOW that perfect item will turn up, and it’s often in such a way that telling the story almost sounds like fiction! lol )

Over the years since learning of THSS, our group has extended it to a broader “reach” into:
– the higher relationship counseling service
– the higher career counseling service
– the higher whatever-you-need-in-the-moment service.

Maybe you’re in the place to need THSS just because it’s time for you to learn how safe you are (if you already haven’t, that is 😉

Loving you, sweet child of God.  You are beloved!

                                                                  ~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

 Good Questions 
Questions & Answers
By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the February 2011 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 Question: HOLINESS ~ What does it MEAN? And what does it have to do with ME?!? 

 

Answer: MANY of us struggle with the idea that we are “holy” when repeatedly presented with that as an unalterable FACT throughout the Course and especially in some of the early Workbook lessons. (e.g. One of my favorites, “There is nothing my holiness cannot do.” Lesson 38)

I think that our resistance to the idea that we are holy is based on the concept of “holiness” that we are taught by mainstream religions, a concept that makes a separate class of people (the “saints” of all religions) special amongst us. The common understanding is that “holiness” is the exception, not the norm. And that it is something one has to “earn” by constantly fighting against temptation – an “earning” that proves our worthiness to become God’s “adopted children” (according to St. Paul). It is an incredibly difficult requirement for most humans to accomplish.

“Holiness” is not believed to be inherent in God’s creations. What God created must work for holiness. And failure is expected.

EXAMPLE, from the New Catholic Dictionary 

“Holiness (from Anglo-Saxon: perfect, or whole) – In the Old Testament the Hebrew, kadosch (holy), signified separation from the profane [they do not define “profane” anywhere in this dictionary], dedication to God’s service… Applied to God it sets forth His separation from, and opposition to all evil. Outside of God only that is holy which has some relation to Him. Holiness of creatures can be subjective, objective, or both. Subjective holiness in rational creatures consists essentially in sanctifying grace (separation from sin, possession of virtue). Objective holiness in any creature denotes its exclusive dedication to the service of God: priests by ordination, religious by vows, sacred vessels, vestments, etc., either by consecration or by blessing.”

Note that “holiness” is said to encompass the ideas of “separation from the [undefined] profane”, “opposition to evil” and “separation from sin” and (my personal favorite) being “holy” by virtue of an external and ritualized “consecration or by blessing” by an authorized human being (as in “holy water” and priestly vestments), none of which is readily accessible to ordinary human beings.

Is it any wonder, then, that we are resistant to the notion that WE are holy – by nature and by right?!? And unalterably? Hard to accept! But that is what the Course says again and again. So now let’s take a look at what one of my favorite Course expert has to say about “holiness”. From Robert Perry’s Glossary of Terms

“Holiness, Holy – A quality of divine innocence or purity, untainted by the slightest sin, guilt or impurity. A quality that comes from God to those things that are like Him. Holiness is the natural condition of God’s creations and is shared. It is characterized not by separation from the impure (as in some traditional notions), but by oneness with all things. It can never be tainted or lost, only obscured. Salvation comes through overlooking all unholiness and seeing again the native holiness in others and in oneself …”

Okay, now we’re not struggling to be “holy”; we just ARE holy, because we’re made by God and God can only make the WHOLE. It is now something that isn’t “earned” but merely RECOGNIZED (or re-membered, as Jesus says, quite literally and consciously re-attached to our sense of self) through our understanding that we are “one with all things”.

And here is one of the most telling descriptions in the Course of what that MEANS:

“I thank you, Father, knowing you will come to close each little gap that lies between the broken pieces of Your holy Son. Your Holiness, complete and perfect, lies in every one of them. And they ARE joined, because what is in one IS in them all. How holy is the smallest grain of sand, when it is recognized as being part of the completed picture of God’s Son! The forms the broken pieces seem to take mean nothing. For the Whole is in each one. And every aspect of the Son of God is just the same as every other part. Join not your brother’s dreams, but join with HIM, and where you join His Son, the Father IS.” T-28.IV.9 – 10.1

Soooo…your holiness and my holiness are part and parcel of our creation by God as an “aspect of the Son of God”, seen through physical eyes as a separate “broken piece” but, in fact, inseparable from not just the obviously sentient other aspects but also from even the tiniest of and most insignificant inanimate components of the world.

I am one with ALL of that. And it is one with me. So I cannot be broken, separated off or less than whole in ANY way.

From the Urtext: “God WOULD be mocked if ANY of his creations lacked holiness. The Creation IS whole. The mark of Wholeness is Holiness, not holes. The Sonship has no holes anywhere.”

This is one of those times in the early dictation where Jesus is “playing with words”, something he did for two reasons that he, himself, made clear elsewhere:

1) to show Bill (who loved word-play) that he was dear to Jesus; and

2) because it made things “easy to remember”.

(Helen, herself, clearly states in the notes that she doesn’t like these kinds of sayings, comparing them to doggerel, so not surprisingly, this and all similar, often humerous, sayings were deleted prior to publication.)

The point being that Jesus is associating “holiness” with its root word and source, “wholeness”. This urtext quote was immediately followed by the miracle principle that stresses the connection between our ability to perceive (or project) God’s creations’ natural state of “wholeness” and miracles:

“36. Wholeness is the perceptual content of the miracle…thus corrects (or atones for) the faulty perception of lack.” FIP Miracle Principle # 41

Ahha! Wholeness is the miracle’s correction for LACK! This is important because: “…’lack’…does not exist in the Creation of God, it is VERY apparent in the creations of man. It is, in fact, the essential difference.”

It is our perception of lack – i.e., limitation – in every form it takes that obscures our holiness/wholeness from our minds.

But the Holy Spirit – “The Great Transformer of perception” – will give us vision (once we’re open and willing to see our wholeness as reflected in the interconnectedness of all things) that…

“The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass a sign of God’s perfection. From the forgiven world, the Son of God is lifted easily into his home.” T-17.II.6.3 – 7.1

Bottom line: There are no holes in you. No limits. No gaps. No lacks. The perception of them in yourself – or in anyone else – in ANY form, is a denial of the truth of you. The acceptance of your oneness with the entirety of creation calls on the power of the entire universe to deny whatever illusions you have made from your erroneous perception of yourself as weak and alone or inadequate. And from that wholeness, you can rest in peace. And holiness. 

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the January 2011 Newsletter]

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 Question: Does the Course give us any ideas about setting a New Year’s Resolution?

Answer: The Course says that clarifying our goal from the beginning (like at the beginning of a new year) determines the outcome we achieve (T-17.VI.2.3) .It would appear that ACIM actively approves of our making a New Year’s Resolution, at least those that are compatible with its principles.  And it even offers us some recommendations for our resolve:

“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 ALL your relationships be made holy FOR you.” 
Original version of T-15.XI.112

            Accepting the Holy Instant and letting our relationships be made holy for us are both statements that are clear and easily understood.  The third suggestion, however, about making this year different from all others by making everything the same requires a little more thought and consideration.  It took me years of study (yes, I am that slow) to understand what it means (at least, a meaning that works for me).

There is a section that deals with sameness that I think helps make its meaning clear:

But in this world, there are no simple facts
because what is the same and what is different remain unclear.
The one essential thing to make a choice at all is this distinction.
And herein lies the difference between the worlds.
In this one, choice is made impossible.
In the real world is choosing simplified.

Salvation stops just short of Heaven, for only perception needs salvation.
Heaven was never lost and so cannot be saved.
Yet who can make a choice between the wish for Heaven
and the wish for hell unless he recognizes they are not the same?
This difference is the learning goal this course has set.
It will not go beyond this aim. Its only purpose is to teach what is the same
and what is different, leaving room to make the only choice which can be made.

There is no basis for choice in this complex and over-complicated world.
For no one understands what is the same
and seems to choose where no choice really is.
The real world is the area of choice made real, not in the outcome
but in the perception of alternatives for choice.
That there is choice is an illusion.
Yet within this one lies the undoing of every illusion, not excepting this.

 Is not this like your special function, where the separation is undone
by change of purpose in what once was specialness and now is union?
All illusions are but one. And in the recognition this is so
lies the ability to give up all attempts to choose between them
and to make them different.
[How simple is the choice between two things so clearly unalike.]
original version of T-26.III.21-24

            Only perception needs salvation because Heaven was never lost.  And how do we stabilize our false perceptions?  We can’t.  But we can allow for a new perception – a perception based on truth.  A perception that makes way for truth.  The truth of our UNPERCEIVED YET ENTIRELY REAL unity as aspects of the completed picture of God’s Son:

Joining with Him in seeing is the way in which you learn to share with Him
the interpretation of perception that leads to knowledge.
You cannot see alone. Sharing perception with Him
Whom God has given you teaches you how to recognize what you see.
It is the recognition that nothing you see means anything alone.
Seeing with Him will show you that all meaning, including yours,
comes not from double vision but from the gentle fusing
of everything into one meaning, one emotion, and one purpose.
original version of T-14.IV.30-31

            And how do we allow for that fusion to happen?  The best answer to that, in my opinion, is by doing the ACIM Workbook, allowing it to make us question ALL that we believe is true – especially in those early “undoing” lessons – in order to create a space in our unstable and conflicted minds for the Holy Spirit to fill with His higher truth.  And, in order to do that – as I pointed out about the Workbook last month – we must resist the seemingly overwhelming “need” to let that newly cleared space to be filled in by any other voice than HIS!

Allow the meaning of everything you see to be gently released from whatever it was that you ascribed to it before and let the Holy Spirit show you the only meaning that He ascribes to EVERYTHING: the healing of God’s Son.

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

 Good Questions
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the  November 2010 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. 

As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years.

 

  Question: “This may seem silly but, as we approach the holiday season, I always get a little depressed.  Thanksgiving is a massive hassle. Christmas never lives up to its ideal. I never seem to be able to keep my New Year’s Resolution so I just get down on myself every time I think about making one. And then there’s the long, dreary winter that follows. Do you have any practical suggestions of how to deal with “seasonal depression” based on the Course?”

Answer: I don’t think that is a silly question at all.  It’s a very human one (and the Course was written for human beings).

             In answer, I’ll let the Course, itself, speak to your question:

 “Neither time nor season means anything in eternity.

But here, it is the Holy Spirit’s function to use them both,

NOT as the ego uses them.”  T-15.X.1.3-4

             This quote is speaking specifically about Christmas, but I don’t think Jesus meant to limit its meaning only to that one season.  So – for myself – I have personally emphasized the need to go to the Holy Spirit with each season (and individual holiday/holy day) to ask HIM how to see it in alignment with his purpose of helping me to awaken.  And that simple practice has changed EVERYTHING about how I perceive – and act upon – the seasons!  Therefore my feelings have changed, too.

             For instance, we have just passed Halloween and its companion holiday, All Saints Day.  The Holy Spirit has given me new interpretations of both which have completely redirected how I relate to each of them. 

             All Saints (November 1st) is intended to honor the “blessed dead” – those who have passed here before us that have(at least, in the eyes of some) mastered the process of becoming loving expressions of our Father here on earth.  The Holy Spirit showed me that instead of dogmas or rituals (or singling out certain people as “special” or “better than” me), to use that day to recommit to reconnecting with souls that are more highly purified than I am yet, people the Course describes as “ascended masters”, people who are still available to help me (I don’t have to “reinvent that wheel” as others have already done so and, therefore, can genuinely help me with it, too). In point of fact, they WANT to help me; I just have to LET them.  All Saints Day is now – for me – a welcome reminder of that fact.  Plus it’s a day marked on my calendar as a handy reminder that help is available whenever I ask.

             Halloween literally is All Hallows Eve, the day before All Saints, and it exists because people thought that on the day before the “blessed dead” were to be honored, the souls that had passed in a state of anger would attack the living, wreaking evil retribution and trying to stop their holy celebrations.  And so people would leave out tasty foods to bribe the evil spirit off or post scary masks and images in order to drive them off. (Hence, “Trick or Treat”.)  But the modern way of celebrating Halloween has totally lost sight of its intent.  Even so, the Holy Spirit has turned the new, more fanciful method of its celebration into a very helpful practice for me.  I now use it as an opportunity to do my own INTERNAL “trick or treats” by looking WITH the Holy Spirit at all the “ghosts” – the parts of my long dead past  for which I fear retribution – still genuinely haunt me; at the “monsters” that seem so powerful to me that they still seem to make me feel so small that they can block my path; at the lurid mists of illnesses that some part of me still cherishes.

             The point is that every single holiday and season has an inner, hidden meaning that, once understood and utilized, has incredible spiritual meaning – a meaning that has the power to feed us once we’re willing.  And constant spiritual nourishment leaves no room for any depression.

             And so Thanksgiving becomes just that: an opportunity to express my gratitude.  Not just to God but to every person that I know and love.  (My practice this year according to my instruction in meditation is to express that gratitude in writing to at least one beloved person each day from now through the holiday.)  How could I possibly feel depressed when contemplating dozens of incredible lists of just how much I am blessed?

             Christmas is no longer about celebrating what happened 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem.  It’s about birthing the Christ Mind in me by seeing it first in OTHERS.  And calling It forth through that recognition! And it’s about giving now, not receiving (even though I still love getting presents, now they’re the icing, not the cake).  So every gift I give – whatever the form – is really about the content: an expression of the love of God for another that just appears to be coming through me.  And in affirming my ability to give the love of God to others, I am also expanding my capacity to receive it as my own.  That simple shift in intention around the Christmas tradition has changed EVERYTHING in my experience of it!

             And I, too, have given up on making my New Year’s resolution.  On my own.  As the end of each year approaches now, I sit down with the Holy Spirit and ask HIM what my goal for the coming year should be.  Then each time that I’m tempted to break it, I remember that it was His gift (and the Holy Spirit always maintains the gifts He gives, so it isn’t my “job” to enforce it, just allow it).  And He makes smooth my path, leaving no stone for me to trip on.

             As for the long dreary winter, I no longer perceive it that way.  Now it is a very special and hopeful time. I see it as a season with abundant opportunities to get as quiet within myself as Mother Nature is without.  (The perfect motivation for doing the Workbook one more time.) Just as it is for all living things, it is a time for purification and regeneration in preparation and strengthening for the blooming of my internal spirit that I will EXPECT to accomplish in the spring when I, too, am resurrected – or, at least, a few tiny steps closer to it – at Eastertide.

 May this holiday season – and the time to follow – be your BEST time EVER!

Carmen

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Good Questions
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the October 2010 Newsletter]
This month’s article isn’t so much an answer to a question as a response to a call for help. But it is such a common – and timely – call for help that it feels like it could be helpful to others who might be reading this, if not for themselves then for someone they know and care about. 

 Just by way of explanation, the “God box” that she refers to at the outset is a beautiful box that we use in our ACIM study group as a visual aid to the injunction of giving everything that hurts us to the Holy Spirit; we pass the box around the circle and each participant “sees” their problem going into the box as a
GIFT OF WILLINGNESS into Spirit’s Hands and then we collectively pray for each other to just let their problem GO.

Question: “Please put my husband and me in the “God box”….it’s about his job….nail the lid shut and remind me to ask the Holy Spirit to see this another way and show me what to do. ”

          Answer:  You’re already doing the first thing you need to do, dear. You are calling on Spirit and placing IT at the center of this situation. Remember that EVERYTHING given to the Holy Spirit is turned to good. There simply are NO exceptions!

            Know now that you are SAFE, that there is NOTHING to fear. Because simply to reject the sense of DANGER that is ALWAYS of the ego IS to ask for your miracle!

            And consciously CHOOSE to put yourself under the complete protection of the Laws of God – which GUARANTEE that there is NO loss in this (or in anything else, for that matter) – whenever you notice yourself going into fear again.  (Lesson 76, “I am under no laws but God’s” is particularly helpful here as is its partner lesson, “I am entitled to miracles,” which immediately follows it – not by accident, by the way.)

            Fear, itself, is magnetic (just like love) and so it DRAWS that which is feared. Acknowledge the fear each time it arises and then GIVE IT AWAY to the Holy Spirit, expecting His answer to show you WHY your fear is utterly groundless.  And then PROVING to you that it is in precisely the perfect form that will SHOW you beyond the shadow of a doubt that the reason you feared IS false.

            We are NOT bound by the world’s economy. But we must first be willing to be SHOWN that fact by merely claiming the completion and abundance that is our rightful inheritance as a part of God’s perfect Sonship.  The Course promises us that we are SAFE – even HERE, where chaos reigns. “Trials are but lessons.”  NOW is a perfect opportunity to LEARN that your trust in the Course has NOT been misplaced.

            AND remember that we are told that we need not trust the Holy Spirit any farther than what He will SHOW us He can do for us – things that are so amazing that we will KNOW for a FACT we couldn’t do it for ourselves!  (T-25.VIII.9.3)

            Reject fear by claiming your safety.  I have personally seen the most unimaginable results from this one simple practice, love, and it works EVERY single time! Just claim that promise, sweet soul, and hold onto it with all your might.

And THEN, with Spirit’s guidance, find some place in your life that is already so abundant that you can FEARLESSLY give it away to others who are in need of it.

            THEN the Holy Spirit will offer you a miracle for every one you let Him do THROUGH you.  (T-14.XI.10.10)  So just remember:

            “You cannot perform a miracle for YOURSELF because miracles are a way of GIVING acceptance AND receiving it. In time the giving comes first, though they are simultaneous in eternity, where they cannot BE separated. When you have learned that they ARE the same, the need for time is over.”   T-9.VI.6.3-5

            ACCEPT your REALITY of COMPLETE and UNBROKEN abundance BY setting the process of receiving your miracle HERE in motion BY GIVING A MIRACLE to one who Spirit knows CAN accept it. And then EXPECT a miracle (and not a disaster) in return!

Holding you both in my heart and in the Light! And KNOWING that you’ll be MORE than fine – in ALL ways!

Carmen

~~*~~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Good Questions
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the September 2010 Newsletter]

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question“, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 
Question: “While I understand that fear isn’t real intellectually, I’m still having a hard time dealing with fear emotionally.  Do you have any thoughts to share that might help me?”

Answer:     That is an absolutely crucial and huge question – with, what I expect, is a uniquely personal answer. But I have prayed about how to answer it and share these thoughts which have worked best for me:

            The first thing to remember is that it is our habitual response – usually supported by our culture, our pride, and even our own bodies – to try to master fear. For the most part, the attempt to “master fear” is to repress or to deny it, leaving its source undiscovered and, therefore, unhealed. So the “mastery of fear” is futile and (according to the Course) counterproductive to the Atonement. The proper course for healing, ACIM says, is not through the “mastery of fear” (which is impossible) but through the mastery of love, instead. But what exactly does that mean?

            All fear is premised on ONE belief: that I am alone and on my own. In other words, separate from God, therefore, unlike the way that He created me. And so any thought to “master fear” is to affirm not only that there is something real to fear but that something not of God has the power to harm something that He created – that there is a force more powerful than God; a will opposed to – and able to – dominate His Will. Absurd.

            To me, to “master love” is to train myself into the habit of consciously reaffirming my choice to be connected to Love (my favorite prayer is: “I let Love decide.”), no matter what appears to be before me – One fear at a time. “Big” or “small” doesn’t matter. And from that one simple different perspective than what the ego’s world has taught me, I can look with fearless clarity on the source of fear to let it be dissolved in Light.

            For me, it’s been a process of “baby steps” toward Love – of testing my connection to the power that created “the universe of universes”, and then just judging by the results (which are far more convincing than any words); A gradual – and organic – path of learning that I am safe, no matter what seems before me (Or within me, for that matter.)

            Or, to paraphrase the introduction of The Rules for Decision: “Decisions [of whether or not to go into fear] are continuous. You do not always know when you are making them. But, with a little practice in the ones you recognize, a set begins to form which sees you through the rest. It is not wise to let yourself become preoccupied with every step you take. The proper set, adopted consciously each time you [FEAR], will put you well ahead.”

            This is “the purification process” – the testing of what ACIM says – its truly “practical application” – One fear at a time. Until the last temptation to believe that anything not of God could hurt me – and nothing of God ever would – must simply fade away as the tiny, mad idea that is its premise becomes increasingly crystal clear and then is eventually rejected altogether.

            The results prove that you and I are safe. So safe that eventually, with your and my experience of that safety through our conscious (intellectual) reconnectimg to Love, you and I can get it emotionally that there is nothing at all to fear and then we’re almost home.

            But in the meanwhile, though, we must remember that it is unwise to “become preoccupied with every step” for that will lead us back to guilt and fear. So please be gentle with yourself along the journey. Each tiny choice for Love is progress!  For not even the smallest effort is wasted, ever.

            Just trust in that. And, if you have the time, please read Lesson 109, “I rest in God.” It has always been incredibly helpful to me in my own personal times of crisis.

            I pray this has been helpful to you. Your progress, dear, is also mine!

~~*~~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

 Good Questions 
Questions & Answers
By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the July 2010 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question“, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 
Question:  “Why are there no commandments in the Course?”

Answer:  A. I know that it is really a jarring experience for anyone raised in a traditional Judeo-Christian or Muslim tradition to encounter a spiritual thought system like the Course that has no clear-cut list of “do’s” and “don’t’s”.  Those of us raised in those religions grow up with the simple clarity provided by a structure of rules that draw a comfortable and obviously demarcated “fence” around our lives. 

 
Having no commandments, the Course can FEEL a little too “permissive” to be helpful – or even somewhat “scary”, especially in the beginning.  (The personal responsibility that comes with so much freedom is something that can psychologically overwhelm a mind that takes very clear behavioral boundaries for granted.)
 
But the essence of commandments is controlling behavior – which is an effect – and NOT addressing the cause – the split in will (in other words, a split mind), at all:
 
            “Correcting at the behavioral level can shift the error from the first [willing two conflicting actions] to the second type [doing what you “should” in spite of it not being what you want to do] of strain described above, but will NOT obliterate the fear.”  T-2.VI.5.10
 
So while commandments may restrict negative human behaviors temporarily (and that’s a good thing), they force a constant need for control (not so good – it’s very stressful, in fact) because the CAUSE is obscured and overlooked.  And the ego just loves control, which is a defense, for just that very reason!
 
And so commandments are, at best, a temporary – and, at worst, a superficial – solution to the problem. 
 
Dealing with the cause is all that really works, however.  And that’s why ACIM focuses on the cause, not its effects.  And that is sure to cause the ego fits! (I am chuckling softly here at the self-recognition that last sentence brought to mind.)
 
And that, in turn, is why the closest thing to a “commandment” in the Course is its endorsement of “The Golden Rule”.  But even that has a qualifier:
 
            “Consider the Golden Rule again.  You are asked to behave towards others as you would have them behave toward you.  This means that the perception of both must be accurate, since the Golden Rule is the order for appropriate behavior.  You can’t behave appropriately unless you perceive accurately, because appropriate behavior DEPENDS on lack of level confusion.  The presence of level confusion always results in variable reality testing, and hence variability in behavioral appropriateness.”  the original form of  T-1.III.6
 
Without accurate (or healed) perception – which is the major goal of ACIM – even the Golden Rule falls short of yielding genuinely appropriate (i.e., consistently loving) behavior!  Rather, the mind and will must be changed at a far more fundamental level than mere behaviors.  And that change is challenging (and daunting) work.  That’s why there is so much resistance to it. 
 
And it’s also why commandments feel so comfortable even though:
 
            “It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose. Yet the means are tedious and very time consuming, for all of them look to the FUTURE for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy.
            Your way will be different, not in purpose, but in means.”  T-18.VII.4.8 – 15.1
 
The Course gives us those means.  Not more – or even better – rules and regulations.  But it gives us the simple truth of reality, instead, so we can see (and choose) more truly.  Trusting that we are no longer spiritual children but finally ready to mature beyond the “need” for a heavenly parent’s list of do’s and don’t’s.
 
 And please be gentle with yourself, dear reader, in this process for just like learning to walk, some stumbles are almost certain.  But our goal is GUARANTEED!  (I rest in that.)

~~*~~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the June 2010 Newsletter]

 


There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question“, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 
Question:

“There are so many spiritual teachers to choose between and some of their teachings seem to conflict. Do you have any advice on how to discern between them?”

Answer:

What a great question! (And also what a delicate one, as well.)

I will share with you what has helped me in my own learning to discern whose teachings will be most helpful for me.

One of the things (and it took me years to learn) is that there are no “perfect” people for the Holy Spirit to use as teachers.

Just like you and me, dear soul, even the “big” teachers are still learning, too. Some faster than others. Some with purer hearts than others. But ALL of them are flawed, one way or another (or they just would not be in form, would they?)

And it is also important to remember that the Plan of the Atonement is so all-inclusive and yet completely gentle that each and every teacher is responding to a call from a specific set of hungry minds that can best hear the truth as it is expressed by that particular teacher’s method of explaining it.
(I call that group of people specific to each teacher their “divinely ordained target market”.)

Plus, in my own internal struggles with this question through the years, I have gotten some very specific guidance on how to discern a genuine teacher of truth that might also be helpful to you.

TIP #1: Are they empowering their students or are they “special”, claiming some unique connection to Spirit that isn’t available to EVERYONE?

It is a really bad sign if someone is claiming the latter simply because it goes against everything the Course has to say about authentic teachers – THEY teach in order to EQUALIZE.

And Spirit is simply never partial!

 

TIP #2: While not expected to have perfected any one of them yet, is a teacher clearly demonstrating the 10 Characteristics of a Teacher of God listed in the Course’s Manual? 

And those traits are:  Trust (of both God and their brothers), Honesty (what they do is consistent with what they teach), Tolerance, Gentleness, Joy, Defenselessness, Generosity, Patience, Faithfulness and Open-Mindedness.

The Manual is like the photograph on the cover of a jigsaw puzzle box – it shows what the “completed picture” looks like – in other words, how to recognize what the Course’s goal for YOU actually is by seeing its demonstration by an authentically advanced teacher.

TIP #3:  Can they be questioned or are they upset or angered by it? Are they open (“Open-Minded”) to new or different information or do they reject (or ridicule) a questioner?

If the really good teachers have anything in common, in my opinion, it is that they must first be consistently devoted and committed life-long STUDENTS.

And a good student not only allows for questions but actually welcomes them as a precious gift – a way to refine their own understanding – a highly useful learning tool that, not incidentally, actually serves to  underscore their innate equality with their brothers and reaffirms their actual status as the HOLY SPIRIT’s student.

And it might be helpful to remember that absolutely everyone, who is actually growing, will “graduate” from one human teacher to another human teacher as the student authentically progresses (and the teacher being graduated FROM should be happy for their students’ progression). And this process will be both natural and true until the student is ready to go straight to the Ultimate Teacher – the Holy Spirit – for themselves, once they feel confident enough to do so. This would be the natural result of a state of mind that is hopefully achieved through the love and encouragement of all their former (merely human) spiritual teachers.

That is why I try to keep reminding people that the Holy Spirit is their best and truest Teacher and that I am (along with ALL the other dedicated teachers) merely one of His MANY helpers for them until they are comfortable that they are able to recognize their own personal, INTERNAL Guidance.

The Course says that the Holy Spirit will bring to each teacher the particular souls that they can help. That fact MEANS that there will be many valid teachers with particular “divinely ordained target markets”. So don’t worry or feel guilty if a particularly popular teacher doesn’t seem to be speaking to you. It just means that you’re not in their “demographic”. Nothing more than that.

Anyway, by way of summation, just trust, dear soul, that your own path is absolutely perfect (and so is everyone else’s) and put aside any doubt or guilt and just begin taking your own first steps toward learning how to TRUST that you, too, have the God-given capacity to discern your OWN Internal Guidance.

(That’s really the only lesson that a genuine teacher of God teaches, anyway.)

~~*~~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and presented again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the May 2010 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It isalso a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 

Question: I am confused by how some Course students and teachers use the term “magic” in relation to miracles of physical healing.  Can you help clarify what ACIM means by “magic”?


Answer: Great question!  A lot of Course students seem to be confused on the distinction ACIM makes between “magic” and “miracles” – a confusion that is apparently so common that the Course, itself, refers to it as “the magic-miracle confusion”.  As a start, let’s look at what the Course has to say about “magic”:           

1. ACIM says that magic rests on “the belief that there is a creative ability in matter which the mind cannot control.”   (T-2.IV.2.8) and…           

2. Magic also refers to “the powers which the ego ascribes to itself.”  (T-4.II.9.1)Both of these statements on “magic” are amplified in the Workbook Lesson 50:

            “In this world, you believe you are sustained by everything but God. Your faith is placed in the most trivial and insane symbols; pills, money, “protective” clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the “right” people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with magical powers.          All these things are your replacements for the Love of God. All these things are cherished to ensure a body identification. They are songs of praise to the ego.”   (W-50, paragraphs 1 & 2)

            The first statement about magic is completely clear.  It says that “magic” is when we believe that the power in matter is greater than the power of our minds.  So, as Lesson 50 says, we believe that there is a power in pills that heals and a power in germs that can harm – or even kill – us.  That belief makes us “victims” to physical matter and is the complete reverse of the truth in us, i.e., the utterly supreme power of our own minds.  There simply is no power in things beyond the power our minds GIVE it.           

Simply put, Jesus’ miracles of physical healing two millennia ago were for the express purpose of showing that, “as a man, …I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body AND the power of the mind…”.  Proving the power of mind over matter isn’t “magic”; it’s miracles.

         The second statement is a little less clear in what it’s saying but the elaboration in Lesson 50 explains it quite well. Magic, as “the powers which the ego ascribes to itself”, are those attributes that appear to make our egos “special”, i.e., our personal resources like money, areas at which we excel, like high I.Q’s, etc.

         “Magic” sees specialness in one’s self or in other people, giving some people powers that other people seem to lack instead of seeing those resources as a means for EQUALIZING ourselves and our brothers.

          The primary source of confusion about miracles of physical healing and some Course students’ belief that they are “magic” seems to stem from a conflation of what the Course says about magic with Sigmund Freud’s theory about “magical thinking” (a belief in God that he identified as “infantile”) coming from a way of thinking that we develop as children – seeing our parents as all-powerful beings due to their seemingly god-like ability to fulfill our needs upon request – and that desire and ability to fulfill our every need being projected onto some heavenly being people call “god”.  In actuality, that is exactly what the Course says that God would do for us should we allow it.  (T-14.XI.7.3)

          The utter dependence upon God (that could easily be equated with Jesus’ injunction to “be as a little child”) is precisely what the Course encourages in its students despite the fact that, in Freud’s estimation, that state of mind is childish.  Ironic, isn’t it? 

           But then, in the urtext of the Course we find that (in Jesus’ own evaluation of Freud’s work), “Freud could not divorce miracles from magic.”  And some of ACIM’s students clearly still seem to share in Freud’s confusion.

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the April 2010 Newsletter] 

 


There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It isalso a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 

Question: One of the hardest things for me to deal with in the Course is its seeming rejection of everything of the world. I’m really into nature and seem to be closest to God in my garden. That seems to be a conflict for me. Any thoughts that might help me?

Answer: This was a very big deal for me, too, in my resistance to getting the Course. I, too, feel closest to God in nature and I can’t imagine joy without the spectrum of color or the diversity of textures and forms we see there, especially at this time of year when everything around us is coming into a new budding of life. And I found an answer that works for me only just recently on a discussion board online.

And that answer was that it wasn’t really the colors of the flowers or the smells of the growing plants or even the beauty of the sky and water that I really loved. It was the FEELINGS that that they draw from me I cherish!

Also I would like to say that, unlike what seems to be the prevailing sentiment in the Course community, I do not dismiss the world entirely as “just a mere illusion”. How can it be only that when the Course itself says:

“How holy is the smallest grain of sand, when it is recognized as being part of the completed picture of God’s Son!” T-28.IV.9.4

And the Course only uses some form of the word, “recognize”, when it is referring to truth and KNOWLEDGE! The Course says – repeatedly – the world AS WE SEE IT is an illusion, yes. But it is also, in my belief, our collective CREATION, albeit, a very imperfect one. And I believe that, as such, we are to USE the horrors in it as an outer reflection of our inner state of mind, finding the source of that pain and lack within our minds and giving it over to the Holy Spirit for total healing. In other words, forgiveness:

“Forgiveness turns the world of sin into a world of glory, wonderful to see. Each flower shines in light, and every bird sings of the joy of Heaven. There is no sadness and there is no parting here, for everything is TOTALLY forgiven. And what has been forgiven MUST join, for nothing stands BETWEEN, to keep them separate and apart. ” T-26.IV.2

And, once the sources of pain in our minds have been identified – all the ways separation and lack have manifested before our eyes – and rejected, then the earth will be TRANSLATED into a perfect creation and continue on in reality in some way or manner beyond my ability to imagine but that is, as the Course says, “totally satisfying”. For it is not the forms of the world that you and I are actually so attached to. Rather it is the FEELINGS of love and joining we experience here. And those are real. Eternal. Heaven.

“Fantasies become totally unnecessary as the wholly satisfying nature of reality becomes apparent.” T-1.VII.3.11

And I rest in that.

Here are some of my other favorite Course quotes that you, too, might find of comfort:

“…the Kingdom is attained through the Atonement, which creates it in you. The word “create” is appropriate here, because once what YOU have made is undone by the Holy Spirit, the blessed residue IS restored, and therefore continues in creation. ” from
T-5.V.2.1-2

“Not even what the Son of God made in insanity could be without a hidden spark of beauty which gentleness could release. All this beauty will rise to bless your sight as you look upon the world with forgiving eyes.” T-17.II.5.5 -6.1

And my favorite quote of all:

“In YOU is all of Heaven; every leaf that falls is given life in you. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in you. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for you.” T-25.IV.5

Enjoy your Spring!

~*~

  * Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Rev McCulloch on WORDS

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

The Miracle of Words
By Rev. Logan McCulloch*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the March 2010 Newsletter]
 
  

 

 

I found Love in the back of a Nissan Xterra on a frigid night in November of 2001. No, dear reader, this is not that kind of a love story! I was parked at a trailhead adjacent to the Dolly Sods Wilderness in the mountains of West Virginia, having arrived too late in the day to begin a solo backpacking trip. I had no idea that my life experience was about to be irrevocably changed as I opened a little book I had grabbed off my wife’s nightstand before I left my home that morning.

At the time I told myself I needed this trip to clear my head as I prepared to begin a new job. In retrospect, this trip represented so much more. Disintegration by definition must precede integration, and at the time it felt as if my life was falling apart. My work environment was poisonous, my marriage (my third) was deteriorating, my family relationships were strained, and my yearning for meaning was intense. I did not understand what was occurring in my life.

And then that night in my sleeping bag in the back of my vehicle, by the light of my headlamp I read Change Your Mind, Change Your Life by Dr. Gerald Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione. I began reading at 7pm and finished as dawn was breaking. It was my first introduction to A Course in Miracles, and over the next three days as I walked through the forest I thought of little else. Those words, symbols on a printed page, stirred and released some long held emotion locked deep within me.

Now eight years later, I am a student and a teacher of ACIM. And of late I have become fascinated by language; more specifically the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) messages imbedded in our Self-created words. If ultimately every language, every assemblage of symbols, was created in an attempt to describe, interpret and communicate reality, then perhaps it is no stretch of the imagination that in the very creation of language the Holy Spirit was offering loving guidance.

Recently I’ve begun to believe that we (our higher Self) have left ourselves clues, pointers if you will, in the very language we absent-mindedly utilize for our day to day existence. Perhaps we’ve left a trail of symbolic breadcrumbs as we journeyed along our various paths from home.

Information, Imagination, and Emotion

Here are three powerful examples of the breadcrumbs we may have left ourselves within the English language. Perhaps it’s time to create a new metaphysical dictionary, one that defines and illuminates the overlooked power of these symbols we use to *communicate.

In-form-ation: the process of coming into form; be-coming something, somebody; the substance of the universe.

I once heard a quantum physicist describe the universe as “an infinite sea of potentiality composed purely of information”. Physicists commonly use the language of mathematics to attempt to describe and define reality. It appears to be a growing belief in scientific circles that the essential substance that comprises our universe has the potential to become anything. If this is so, then it is an absolutely true statement to declare that: anything is possible. This is true because quite literally, everything and everybody is information.

Imag-in-ation: the ability to form images and ideas in the mind, especially of things never seen or experienced directly; an act of creating a semblance of reality.

Where does creation begin? Where does something or somebody begin to come into form? In my experience I am, and have always been, exactly who I imagine myself to be. Why do I so stubbornly resist the idea of imagining myself as being One with God, created from the substance of my Creator?

If we live in a holographic universe, as more and more evidence confirms, and if then it follows we are holographic beings, then every individual image we hold in mind contains the potential to create a collective image. In other words, each part contains the potential for the whole (Holy). Our many minds are whole and complete aspects of the One Mind. Said another way, there is One Universal Mind, and we share it. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, “We are it”. Hence, the images we hold in mind contain great potential power.

E-motion: energy in motion; a strong feeling about somebody or something

If, as many quantum physicists now posit, matter is merely a sensory illusion, then emotion is quite literally the universal force. Energy is perhaps set in motion by our imagination. When we create and hold an image in mind, and then feel the emotions we associate with that image, we engage the creative power of the universe to bring the image into form. We are always creating…either unconsciously in fear, or with loving intention. Author Greg Braden, among many others, refers to emotions as “the language of the Soul”. Perhaps it is the one universal language that has the power to bridge any communication gap. If so, why are we so resistant to learning, or perhaps remembering, this language when it contains the real potential to remind us who we truly are?

The Language of Creation

Imagination (the universal mind) + Emotion (the one spirit) + Information (the substance of the universe) = Creation. If we are naturally creative beings, imbued with the power of our Creator, then we have the God-given ability to combine our spirit and our universal mind with the substance of God and bring into form our hearts desire. Perhaps creating a physical version of “heaven on earth”, realizing our ability to bring that potentiality into form, only depends upon our hearts desire. What if we surrendered to our hearts desire to be who we truly are, as opposed the image we’ve been conditioned to believe we should be? Can you imagine that? Can you feel that? Can you bring that into form? Yes, you can. Allow, allow, allow.

God offers us his eternal information, imbues us with our infinite imagination, and patiently awaits our willingness to allow them to combine and divinely create using the language of the Soul…the emotion that naturally flows around and through us. Are you willing to allow your hearts desire to flow through you? Are you willing to see things differently?

*Authors Note: The words in italics are those the reader may choose to reflect upon in greater measure. They are among the countless “breadcrumbs” we may have left ourselves as we journeyed on our paths from home. Perhaps through examining their deeper meanings they can help expedite our return.

Footnote to Reader: In my experience it is common for most of us to evaluate something we read, some reformed information, through the filters of our past conditioning. More specifically, we unconsciously compare and contrast a new point of view against our current model which is typically derived from past experiences. My invitation to you is this: before you judge what is correct or incorrect, right or wrong, take a deep breath and look for value and unity in any teaching. Both always exist. But the human mind is often conditioned to first look for exception and division. An open heart coupled with an open mind allows the natural unity to be revealed.    

~*~

* Rev. Logan McCulloch is active in the Louisville KY community and is currently writing his book, “Breadcrumbs”.

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the March 2010 Newsletter]

 


There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It isalso a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

 

Question: The Course places such an emphasis on meditation and prayer but I find it is just so hard to get really quiet in meditaiton because my mind is FILLED with random thoughts. Any suggestions?

Answer:

Ah, “monkey mind” is just SO familiar to all of us on the spiritual path! Here’s what helped me learn how to “tame” it.

 

Psychological studies have shown recently that only 5% of our thoughts are conscious while the remaining 95% of our thoughts are repressed into the subconscious meaning that a person can control their conscious mind 100% and still have a stampede of mental activity going on – and that stampeding horde is literally set free when we attempt to relax our mind (in either prayer or meditation).What to do in the meanwhile?  Try defining “meditation” a little more broadly for starters. Absolutely everyone I’ve ever asked, “Is there something you do that makes time stand still for you? Like walking or painting or playing music?” has answered with a resounding “YES!”  Well, in essence that’s a form of meditation, a way that comes naturally and easily to YOU.  Start there.  Begin your walk or other activity with your intention to be open to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to communicate with you in the coming moments.  I think you’ll be amazed at the results you’ll get.

So what to do? Pay attentioin to the thoughts that come up instead of JUST rejecting them, for one, understanding tht they’re coming up into your mind simply BECAUSE they’re Unattended.
Cleaning up the thoughts that arise from a “freed” subconscious eventually leads to a simpler state of mind, one that can relax AND be quiet because it’s no longer a mental prison for a virtual circus of undealt-with thoughts!

AND you’ll be both learning what getting quiet actually feels like – so you’ll be more capable of discerning what interferes with it – plus getting motivated to do it more frequently.

I hope this info has been helpful to you!

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the February 2010 Newsletter]

 

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years.  Here is another of my favorite ones:

 

Question: Am I crazy or are there messages in today’s movies that are very much like those in the Course?

Answer:

No, dear heart, you’re not crazy. (Unless I am, too. 😉

To be awake in this world is a bit of a burden because you want to wake up everyone – but you can’t. Truth feels like attack until someone’s READY to hear it and that’s why we call people “crazy” for speaking the obvious (and the inescapable) truth. But art has a way of presenting hard-to-digest truths in a way that is palatable – and the Holy Spirit clearly uses that human quality to reach us.WHY THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF SPIRITUAL INFORMATION NOW?

We are “a people apart”, not separated from others by traditions, politics or blood but simply by the ability to see what is right in front of us.

There is a psychological sub-study called Semiotics which is specifically focused on how and why people filter out “inconvenient” knowledge. The only thing that can break down those barriers is usually some kind of crisis bad enough to make a person willing to change simply because it’s either that or die.  But art (like movies) can get around those barriers and filters!

Do the most creative minds among us have a direct line to the Highest Source of intelligence? Yes! (That’s why truly creative innovations are called inspiration which literally means “of the spirit”.)

Spielberg, Lucas, Luc Bessom and even James Cameron can see and hear and tell us truths that are presented in such an artful way that they CAN get past the outer layers of our mental filtration systems – go AROUND the walls we build for our own self-protection – and they show us what could be if we were willing to crawl out from behind our barricades. God bless ’em!!!

I don’t know if you’re asking about a particular movie but I just saw “Avatar” a couple of weeks ago. Despite lousy critical reviews, everyone seems stunned by that movie’s vast and lasting appeal. But it really is very simple:

It’s a “return to the Garden” parable — something that we each long for with all our hearts – a reconnection in a tangible way to both each other and our world, a simplification of needless complexities, a sense of meaning and real belonging.

Cameron uses color (I noticed this particularly because I dabble in color drawings) to reach around our heads and get a death-grip on our hearts. The human scenes are SO familiar and yet so grey and drab (and heartless) and in such an incredible contrast to the startling vibrancy of the rainbow pallet that lights the natives’ world like flaming jewels. Brilliant, indeed!

(Any psychologist will tell you that much of the appeal of art is its ability to get past our protective walls by entrancing our intellects with color.)

And the simple message of Avatar is that we are all connected in completely real and tangible though unseen ways. And the message is getting across: they have noted a new psychological pattern for people who have seen the movie and are now depressed (wittily dubbing it “The Avatar Blues” 😉 and not wanting to go back to the grey world of their normal lives – some are even suicidal. And bless their hearts, they don’t know WHY.

But YOU know why. And so do I. The world we’ve made is an abomination – a total perversion of our nature – and it is bringing humanity right to that place where you get willing to change or die.

How do I look on such a sight and still stay sane – and even HAPPY?!? Because I know that it’s ALL under “intelligent management”, as David Wilcock likes to say. NOTHING is by accident. This, too, is part of a grand design. And I’ve had enough experience of that “management” to know two things with all my heart:

#1. It’s real. And it has very real effects. All we have to do is be open to the possibility it’s real and then it will SHOW us far beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt.

and #2. It’s totally benign. It’s wants us safe and happy and wholly fulfilled in alignment with our true AND  individual natures. But the most sacred part of that nature is free will (so it can NOT force itself upon us).

Beyond those two things, for me, the specifics do not matter. And I can accept everyone where ever they’re at knowing that their process – for them – is absolutely PERFECT.

I don’t know if this has helped you or if it has answered your question entirely but know that I feel very blessed that you used this as a reason to get connected.

Yours is a very clear and precious being and the universe is dedicated to using EVERY means at its disposal to help you learn exactly that. Including movies!

Another related idea is this:

This certainly is the “Information Age”, if it is anything! Sometimes I feel like a sponge – thirsty to absorb everything – NOW. 😉

And yes it won’t last forever (if much longer at all) and so it behooves us to be very dedicated to learning all that we can asap.~*~

One of the maxims about esoteric (hidden) knowledge is that those in power always attempt to wipe it out because it so empowers the “little” people, so it is hidden for most of human history in order to protect it from being destroyed. The second part of that maxim, though, is that the knowledge DOES come to light just before it is needed.

A sobering thought…

But whatever is coming in the coming years, dear heart, the thing that I hold onto is that it is ALL for our own GOOD (somehow) – that it is about teaching us how powerful we really are. And in discovering that power we will also realize that we can return to the Garden in a very real sense WHENEVER we choose to do so.

I find that a comforting thought…

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the January 2010 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years.  Here is another of my favorite ones:

 

 

 

 

Question: Does life have to be a struggle?

Answer: Everyone knows what it’s like to “be in the flow” (and loves it). The strain in our existence comes from trying to solve or fix what is before us on our own (intellectually). The ego finds that methodology very rewarding (and the adrenalin rushes can be addicting 😉 because it LOVES to “win” (i.e., look good to other egos). LOL

Plus, the idea that we’re meant to struggle is a message the world holds dear so it supports it by rewarding those who do so if with nothing more than a pat on the back for having “tried”.

Before the Course, my whole identity was tied up to being “Miss Fix It” – the go-to-girl in dramatic circumstances – and so my ego was highly insulted by the idea in ACIM that my “little part” was just to ASK for Help. (I remember feeling very threatened by the very suggestion. ;-)… See More

But I also had to own the fact that most (if not all) of my “fabulous” solutions, while they might have fixed the obvious problem, created multiple NEW complications that would have been impossible to foresee (science calls this very familiar human phenomenon the Law of Unintended Consequences). lol

The Course says that everything we do when we are out of our natural environment (i.e., connecting with God) becomes a strain (and I’m assuming that that is what you mean when you use the word, struggle, here). Jesus even made a joke out of this in the urtext when he made a pun using the idea “that the only inevitable things are death and taxes” in one of the miracle principles, making sure that Helen and Bill knew that one of he meanings of “tax” was “strain”.

The fact that giving up the “need” for strain and stress in life on earth gives rise to so much resistance in us comes from nothing more, I think, than what the Course, itself, says. And that is that we have chosen to make our lives complicated and stressful IN ORDER TO avoid the simple truth that’s all around us (and within us).

The struggle is an avoidance mechanism – a delaying tactic of the ego – a way to keep our minds so completely preoccupied with trivia that we have an excuse to overlook what really matters: seeing the extension of God/love that is our brothers and ourselves.

Competition and struggle are very deeply ingrained in the modern psyche (in no small measure due to the unquestioning acceptance of the Darwinian ideal of “survival of the fittest”). Everyone is trained to “prove” themselves – to prove their value and right to live. And then along comes the Course and throws a monkey wrench into that sense of value. lol

Does life have to be a struggle? More importantly, SHOULD it? No. By connecting with the One Mind – the “field of infinite information” if you’re a hyperdimensional physicist – makes life into a constant flow – easy, spontaneous, unconflicted, i.e., joyful.

Am I there all the time? No. But this former full-time drama queen is now only a part-time princess.

Because I love the results I get from being in te flow so much more than I live the adrenalin rushes. And because my ego is much smaller now that it isn’t what I turn to first. And sometimes – when I’m feeling bored with how simple living here can be – I take a jog down memory lane and play the struggle game (just for fun ;-).

I didn’t mean to write a thesis here, Kim, but your topic is HUGELY important (so please forgive my running on – it just flowed lol).

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is:  http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]


Good Questions 
Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the December 2009 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years.  Here is another of my favorite ones:

 

Question: What exactly is the ego? How do I recognize it? And how do I deal with it?

Answer: There is a line in the Original Edition (Bill Thetford’s first edit of the typed manuscript that Helen Schucman took in dictation of the Voice) that for some reason was deleted from the FIP editions that is the clearest and simplest explanation of what ACIM means whenever it is speaking about the ego. And that line reads:

“The ego IS the belief of the mind that it is completely on its own.”*

So, the ego is nothing more that the subconscious belief that you are entirely separate and on your own. And that belief gives rise to a whole range of complex and automatic reactions to your environment based on that one, single premise. The belief that you are completely on your own, separate from everyone and everything you see (and, most importantly, separate from God), makes you react in self-defensive (self-protective) ways whenever you are presented with a choice. That complex of automatic and unexamined defensive reactions is the seemingly separate “entity” that the Course refers to as the ego.

This belief (and its resulting “network” of automatic responses) leads to choices based upon separateness which in turn lead to experiences of separation, forming a self-reinforcing feedback loop of even stronger belief and ever more extreme new experiences.  And those experiences are always of exclusion, rejection and loss that “prove” the reality of that one original belief. And so we create a wall of defenses, mostly subconsciously. This is what the Course is talking about when it refers to the “wall” comprised of a “thousand shards of meannesss”** – the thousands of hurts from the past that make us want to defend ourselves as separate beings from separate “others” with separate interests. And it is this that the Course asks us to question. (See Lessons 1-7.)

And the Course says it will lead us to NEW experiences – experiences through which we will ultimately learn the happy news that we are NOT alone, separate OR unsafe.***

Ego (from Latin, first person pronoun) definition: me, myself, I – alone, separate and independent. And the thought that “I” could have different and separate interests from you (any “you”) makes me hold “you” off at a distance. Makes me think “I” can win at your expense. Tells me that openness and honesty (the truth) will cost me something, somehow. For a defined and separate “you” presents a myriad of threats to limited “me”.

And so: “PRESENT joining IS your dread.” CH.26.IX.70 Because, “All choices in the world depend on this; – You choose BETWEEN your brother and yourself, and you will gain as much as he will lose, and what you lose is what is given him. How utterly OPPOSED to truth is this, when what the lesson’s purpose is to teach that what your brother loses YOU have lost, and what he gains is what is given YOU.” CH.31.IV.40

And the gentle but constant examination of that premise of separate interests behind our every choice is the undoing of the ego. Doing the Course really is that simple. Truly.

~*~

* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/

 

Q and A with Carmen

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Questions & Answers

By the late Carmen Cameron*
~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the November 2009 Newsletter]

 

There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by “good question”, I mean a thought provoking one – a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I’ve been making a note of them for the last 15 years.  Here is one of my favorite ones:

 

Question: The Course clearly appeals to people from very diverse religious backgrounds. Why do you think that is?

First and Foremost: A God you can love wholeheartedly

The diverse appeal of A Course in Miracles is due in very large measure to the way it completely reshapes our relationship with God. We do not have to earn our way back into our Heavenly Father’s love because we never lost it!

That’s what Jesus himself was saying when he gave us the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Lord’s Prayer. Like the Prodigal Son, a child of God need only to change her direction back to home, and God the Father will run to meet her with open arms.

The appeal of the truth of ACIM is very great, undoubtedly, but even before we can get to an understanding of that truth, the appeal of a completely loving God is what kindles most student’s motivation to learn and then maintains our momentum home.

Second: The desire for peace

“You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. You never really WANTED peace before, so there was no point in being told how to achieve it.”

The horror of nuclear destruction shocked a generation about the potential costs of war. Instant video news coverage and graphic Hollywood productions shoved the routine horror of war in the world’s face. All romantic nonsense about the glory of military combat could be questioned, and rejected.

For the first time in history the instructions for peace could be heard by a significant slice of the population, for the simple reason that people of all nations were ready to listen. A Course in Miracles is a comprehensive “how-to” manual for genuine peace.

Third: Eliminate the (often corrupt) middlemen

Eastern traditions and ideas have been percolating around the Western world for several hundred years taking root. A new generation coming of age in the 1960’s flocked to the promise of a direct personal connection to the transcendent world, and to God. The stale preaching of worn out doctrines by hypocritical clergy were not enough to satisfy a growing hunger for the divine.

A Course in Miracles presents itself as a truth to be tested and experienced, not as dogma to be blindly accepted. A revolt against the guardian priests was gaining strength.

Fourth: The inner world

Some sixty years after Freud popularized the idea of the unconscious mind, an educated public was ready to take it seriously and to go exploring. Saints and sages throughout the ages had know of this secret, and wrote about it, but it has been just recently that the terrible fear of the unknown depths relaxed its grip on the public consciousness.

A Course in Miracles provides a comprehensive set of spiritual exercises designed to deal with the dark nightmares that haunt our minds, and it lends us the courage to face them.

A perfect storm

These factors combined at the perfect time and in just the right place to make A Course in Miracles possible. The Course came as an answer to the heartfelt cries for help from the people of a war-weary world. The Course appeals to people from very diverse religious backgrounds because the Course promises what everyone wants deep down.

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* Carmen Cameron, who is a founding member of Course in Miracles Society, has been teaching classes in A Course in Miracles since 1994.  She was a presenter at the 2009 Miracles Conference in San Francisco and is scheduled to present again at the 2011 Conference. Carmen’s website is: http://peaceful-path.blogspot.com/