Tag Carol Howe

Carol Howe ~ Extra Material

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]
 

Extra Material
By Carol Howe* 

For those new to the groups, this is the sixth in a series of short excerpts that did not appear in the book, Never Forget To Laugh, Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course In Miracles.  (I apparently only know how to write books with long titles!)  They refer to experiences Bill’s friends had with him after his passing.

During the course of writing Never Forget To Laugh, it was my good fortune to spend considerable time on the phone with Judy Skutch Whitson as she recounted her memories and experiences with Bill.  As our own connection deepened, I found myself increasingly “tuning in” to her and to Bill.  One afternoon after a lengthy conversation with Judy, I entered a place of quiet and seemed to receive a personal message from Bill for Judy.  Here he was again, sending Judy messages through someone, but at least this time it was a friend!  (On another occasion, a message about Judy’s mother’s imminent death came from a very unlikely source.)  I thought it was a very comforting and confirming message and one anyone would be happy to receive.  And it was thought-provoking.  When I gave her this message, she jokingly responded to tell Bill to mind his own business!   Undeterred, he continued to offer kind and encouraging words to be given Judy.

Bill seemed intent on not minding his own business.  During that same period, in addition to messages for Judy, I was becoming engaged in a dialogue with him that included advice and encouragement about the book writing endeavor.   I still found it unusual to be having a discussion with someone we have been conditioned to think of as “dead” although this was not the first time he had definitely come through.  I inquired inwardly, “How do I know this is you, Bill, and not thoughts of my own invention?” Bill’s silent response was, “Ask Judy about her plaid dress and her answer will let you know you’re really talking to me.”

That definitely got my attention because just prior to the time these messages from Bill were coming, in my mind’s eye I had unexpectedly envisioned Judy as a little girl with long dark hair, happily running free and wearing a plaid dress with some red in it.  Although I couldn’t actually see it, I sensed the details about it.  In no way was I attempting to see something about Judy; the inner pictures simply intruded into my awareness unbidden.  Therefore, after that surprising statement by Bill (how did he possibly know I had entertained that fleeting thought?), I emailed Judy but approached the subject obliquely because it was so astonishingly specific.  I asked her if a plaid dress had ever been important to her when she was a little girl because I was getting a strong impression of her wearing one and that she was very happy.  I did not add the second half of the story that Bill had asked that I do this to certify the authenticity of his presence.  To my considerable amazement, she shot back an email in capital letters, “ABSOLUTELY and I have the pictures to prove it!”  I breathed a sigh of relief and then told her the remainder of the reason I was asking – this was a “test” of Bill’s authenticity in my mind.  She then sent pictures of herself in her plaid dress, which did have red in it, with her baby sister—their first taken together by a professional photographer and dear to her as her sister died suddenly many years ago.

Try as we might, there is no getting around the fact that we’re all still here together as One, beloved and safe, regardless of the presence or absence of bodies.  So here’s a special round of New Year’s gratitude for Bill and everyone, forever at home in the heart of God.

For more about Bill’s book and what others have to say about it , please go to: http://www.neverforgettolaugh.com.

* Since 1979 Carol Howe has presented highly interactive seminars, workshops, retreats, classes, and lectures on universal spiritual principles and their practical application — for the general public, health-related and other special interest groups, and corporations – nationally and internationally. Please visit Carol’s website to view her Books, CDs and Tapes.

After the publication of her book, NEVER FORGET TO LAUGH: Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course in Miracles, Carol began to share additional material regarding Bill. This material is currently being shared on her Facebook Group and will eventually be available on her website.

 

Never Forget to Laugh

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Never Forget to Laugh

Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course in Miracles

by Carol Howe

                                                                                  MORE INFORMATION

This book is magical!!  It brings the life of Bill Thetford to our awareness in such a heartfelt and loving way.
After reading it you feel as if you knew him as your best friend and his spirit is still with you.

———————————————————————-

AMAZON BOOK REVIEW by Reja Janaki Joy Green

If you have read and enjoyed “The lives of Helen Schucman and William Thetford” by Neal Vahle then I recommend that you read Carol Howe’s book: “Never Forget To Laugh: Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course In Miracles“. Although Neal Vahle’s book is a well documented account of the lives of both scribes in which he includes Carol among the many people who had a major impact on Bill, Carol’s book adds the depth that comes from truly knowing someone, having personally participated in his life. Neal recounts how Judy Skutch remarked in 1979, shortly after meeting Carol, “I know why you are here. Bill needs to be socialized. I bequeath you Bill.” And thus began Carol’s friendship with Bill.

Even though some of the material in Neal’s book is also in Carol’s book, Never Forget To Laugh: Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course In Miracles is not simply a work of research. Carol brings a very unique perspective: Bill had been a house guest in Carol’s home; he had taken road trips with Carol, along with her husband Bob; and Bill had also participated with Carol at various Course events – as well as just simply meditating together.

Carol’s reflections gave me a very personal sense of Bill, as if I had known him all my life. If you are a A Course in Miracles student, then Bill has already touched your life. With this book, Carol has given all of us glimpses of another dimension of Bill. He is our Brother and our Friend and someone who will always be a part of our lives. Treat yourself to this gift from Carol and find your connection with the beautiful and gentle soul of Bill Thetford.

For reviews, articles, testimonials, and unpublished segments from the book visit http://www.neverforgettolaugh.com/

Carol Howe

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Joy ~ The Spirit of Christmas
By Carol Howe*
~*~*~*~*~*~
[as it appeared in the December 2010 Newsletter]

 

     

           From our earliest days, most of us have associated the holiday season with the message of joy and peace.  ACIM also promises that joy is here now and our part is to find and release all the barriers to our awareness of it.  Many years ago, I was graced with an exceptional experience of joy concurrent with a profound lesson about the obstacles to its constant presence.  In 1985 the Dalai Lama had decreed that the world was in such a state that a Tibetan Buddhist initiation, normally available only to the Buddhist monks, was to be offered to the general public on five different occasions in 1985-86.     No requirements for attending; whoever showed up was meant to be there.  The purpose was not conversion to Buddhism but the offering of an opportunity for anyone so moved to recommit to his/her own spiritual practice, to take another step toward release.  A friend of mine who lived in Hawaii, one of the five locations, had attended and said it was not to be missed should I have the opportunity to go.  On checking, I found that Boulder, Colorado was one of the five locations and several of us from Denver, my home at the time, signed up for the  initiation scheduled for March 1986 at the event center at the University of Colorado.

 

           The initiation process, worthy of an entire article, lasted for forty hours spread over five days.  After many preliminary lectures in both English and Tibetan, accompanied by other instructions and activities, the time came for the more than two thousand participants to line up, section by section, to pass through the several stages of initiation administered by a dozen or so monks.  We were told that the other monks on stage, whom we were advised to ignore, were busy processing all the energy released by those in attendance as a result of the ceremony’s purifying effect.

 

           As one might imagine, the slow procession of two thousand plus attendees through the actual ritual took many hours, during which time one could only sit.  We had been instructed not to leave or talk during this long afternoon and evening.  Just sit, when not in line ourselves, and listen to the trumpets, drums, and long horns emitting other-worldly sounds played without ceasing for the entire duration.  Every two hours another shift of monk musicians would seamlessly take over so the first ensemble could rest.  Of course, sleep was impossible because the seats were not conducive to resting and the sounds were both loud and compelling.  One either loved those sounds, which I did, or those who didn’t, I’m told, nearly went crazy. 

 

           Thus, after several hours of sitting and listening, our section finally proceeded through the ceremony and we were back in our seats waiting for the others to finish.  Through more endless sitting and listening my mind settled, both from lack of stimulus and from all the processes we had undergone.  Suddenly, a great burst of joy filled my awareness like the sun in all its glory rapidly appearing over the horizon.  I was stunned to say the least.  And I found it nearly impossible to sit still.  I finally left my seat and went over to sit next to a couple of friends who were also attending.  I had no particular desire to speak with them about it, but the high was so intense I had to share it if only by sitting next to them, grinning from ear to ear.  It was literally unspeakable.  As I wrote the end of Never Forget To Laugh, recounting Bill Thetford’s last days when he was in such a state of joy he could hardly keep his feet on the ground, I understood exactly. 

 

           After a short while, I was once again impelled to make a change, so almost as if moved by a volition not my own, I got up and found another seat – this time a few rows up and directly in front of two men I did not know.  There was no reason for my choosing that seat; it just happened.  (The event center held a much larger crowd then we were so there were many empty seats scattered throughout.)

 

           Then the fascinating lesson began to unfold.  Although we had all been asked not to talk or make any extraneous noise, these two fellows were not only talking but being judgmental and insulting about other participants.  As the line of yet-to-be-initiated slowly processed forward toward the stage far below, these two were laughing and making derogatory remarks and they reeked of alcohol.  Hard to imagine anything less in keeping with the spirit of the event.  I suppose the only reason they were not asked to leave is that the music was so loud they could not be heard unless you were quite close.  In any case, it was clear they were there for my realization if nothing else. 

 

           As I listened to their ongoing diatribes, I realized that in the state of joy still strongly present in my awareness, I had lost my capacity to judge their behavior.  This was not a matter of being a nice person and choosing not the judge them, it was no longer possible.  The vehicle for judgment in my mind had been effectively dismantled.  It would be like a person without a car saying they were choosing not to drive;  with no vehicle one cannot drive.  Joy and judgment are mutually exclusive states.  Hence, our desperate need for forgiveness.  We are called to release all judgment because it fixates our attention on thoughts and objects, rather than on the pure consciousness that we are.  If judgment is valued in the slightest, joy disappears and cannot be coaxed back no matter how desperately we try, how much we study, or how good we try to be. 

 

           From the section entitled The Forgiving Dream: “The slave of idols is a willing slave.  For willing he must be to let himself bow down in worship to what has no life, and seek for power in the powerless.  What happened to the Son of God that this should be his wish; to let himself fall lower than the stones upon the ground, and look to idols that they raise him up? – – – A dream of judgment came into the mind that God created perfect as Himself.  And in that dream was Heaven changed to hell, and God made enemy unto His Son.  How can God’s Son awaken from the dream?  It is a dream of judgment.  So must he judge not, and he will waken.”  (Text, Ch. 29)  And he will know joy!

 

           Indeed, judgment obscures our joy like a cloud before the sun and we wonder why we feel bereft.  This season, let us realize as never before the fierce and absolute price we pay for our habitual judgments and renew our dedication to watching for them, then letting them float away as valueless, cherished no more.  And don’t forget to ask our brother Bill for help.  He reclaimed his joy and so can we.

 

           So once again we recommit, as we bring this year to a close: 

“This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ.  I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish.  Nothing will be lacking and you will make complete and not destroy. – – – So will the year begin in joy and freedom.  There is much to do and we have been long delayed.  Accept the holy instant as this year is born and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening.  Make this year different by making it all the same.  And let all your relationships be made holy for you.  This is our will.  Amen.” (Text, Ch. 15)

 

 
 

 

* * *

 

 

* Since 1979 Carol Howe has presented highly interactive seminars, workshops, retreats, classes, and lectures on universal spiritual principles and their practical application — for the general public, health-related and other special interest groups, and corporations – nationally and internationally. Please visit Carol’s website to view her Books, CDs and Tapes.
 
After the publication of her book, NEVER FORGET TO LAUGH: Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course in Miracles, Carol began to share additional material regarding Bill. This material is currently being shared on her Facebook Group and will eventually be available on her website.

http://www.neverforgettolaugh.com

Carol Howe

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]

Extra Material
By Carol Howe*
[as it appeared in the  November 2010 Newsletter]

 

We need to know that as people—the everyday man, woman or child—we are individually profound.

In Never Forget To Laugh I had occasion to quote two gifted psychics who had read for Bill during his lifetime. In addition, I spoke with several others in 2006 and 2007 out of curiosity to see what they might pick up about him. During a reading with the first one, I mentioned that I was commencing research for writing a biography about a deceased friend of mine, Bill, well-known in some circles, and might she have anything to say about that. After making some relevant and accurate comments, she said, “I’m hearing – did this Bill have anything to do with typing? He is showing me this old-fashioned typewriter and when it gets down to the end you push the carriage over and then it goes back. I want to say he’s written a lot of things or come up with lots of ideas. He seems to be gathering notes together. . . . I feel joy with him, I feel happy with him. And I feel as if this is something he would like very much to have done. He will help you very, very much with it.”

If there is any symbol within Course circles associated with Bill, it would certainly be the typewriter on which the original notes were typed so I was, needless to say, impressed and reassured with the few right-on comments she made about him.

Six months after that conversation, I spoke with another psychic/healer, one of the most gifted in my personal experience (who chooses to remain anonymous) and asked her if she could tune into my friend, Bill, as I was writing a book about him. The following are a few short excerpts of her much longer “tuning-in.”

“Your friend is very happy to speak with you. Okay, what I am hearing, Carol, is that he is at some sort of precipice for his development and growth, a moving on. So what I’m hearing is that the timing of this call is very good. . . . They’re saying to remember him because when you who are yet part of the physical world remember him, you bring him to the physical world. It’s part of how he gets here, like a bloodhound tracing the scent. Your remembering him helps him touch base in the physical world, helps him move about if that makes any sense. I don’t know any other words than that. You help transport him to the people he needs to reach, as well as to be with you, too.”

“Bill wants you to remember all of the living examples you can, like the stories you were just telling. He didn’t talk the talk necessarily, he lived it. He did very ordinary things and yet he had an extraordinary ability to touch other people, whether it was building a sand castle at the beach or whatever. How he did that, what that looked like – you and he can “talk” that back and forth. The concern would be that it would ‘pedestalize’ him because he was so extraordinary. The reader might avoid doing work, thinking, ‘Well shoot, I’m not anywhere near that smart or clever. This kind of insight, this kind of understanding must come to only very top brains, or something.’ . . . Any person can have a sense that he/she is extraordinary, too.”

“He’s saying that humor is very important, stress the humor. God is a funny guy. In other words, not to take our lives, the story that we make up about our lives, so seriously. One of the things that the guys (her “guides”) had to work hard on teaching me is that I don’t really have it until I can laugh at myself. Once I can see how terribly funny something was—whatever it was—then I have it, so he wants you to stress that.”

“He’s (Bill’s) also saying, Carol, that it’s time for this whole power thing to be broken in some way; it has to come down from the mountain. We pretend the power belongs to a special few – the pope, the president, and corporate entities. We need to know that as people—the everyday man, woman or child—we are individually profound. And the everyday person comes with their his/her own mission, too. He wants you to get that message to folks. It’s a big message but I feel pretty strongly that you guys can talk just fine, interacting across the aisle, so to speak. . . . In other words, you’re very receptive to him, which is great. . . . I just saw kind of like two magnetic things touched and okay, good. The contract is made and the deal is signed. Your intention and his are in sync so there should be no problem.”

It will be left to the reader to decide if our “interacting across the aisle” worked!

As in his earthly life, Bill is nothing if not tenacious. In many ways he seemed to attempt to make his presence and his help known. In late October 2008, while driving to an appointment, I was focusing on him, feeling his presence deeply, and receiving his message that I did not have to rely on my memory alone, or that of others, because he was remembering for me. It was unsolicited but once again reassuring and I was feeling very happy about this writing enterprise. Within less than a minute of feeling his words, I glanced over to the lane of traffic to my right and my attention was riveted on the car just ahead sporting an out-of-state license plate that read WNT-65xx. I didn’t focus on the last two digits as I was stunned at the confirmation – William Newton Thetford who died at age sixty-five and the Course was born in 1965. By this time, it would be very difficult for me to adopt any position other than that Bill’s imprimatur is laid on his biography. As Shakespeare famously said in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

* * *

* Since 1979 Carol Howe has presented highly interactive seminars, workshops, retreats, classes, and lectures on universal spiritual principles and their practical application — for the general public, health-related and other special interest groups, and corporations – nationally and internationally. Please visit Carol’s website to view her Books, CDs and Tapes.

After the publication of her book, NEVER FORGET TO LAUGH: Personal Recollections of Bill Thetford, Co-Scribe of A Course in Miracles, Carol began to share additional material regarding Bill. This material is currently being shared on her Facebook Group and will eventually be available on her website.

http://www.neverforgettolaugh.com

 

 

 

Bill Thetford’s Independence Day

Course in Miracles Society [CIMS] 1 Comment

    Fireworks

Bill Thetford [co-scribe of A Course in Miracles] died on July 4, 1988.  On that day, not long before he collapsed of a heart attack, he had announced to his close friend Judy Skutch Whitson that it was Independence Day and finally he himself felt free.

“By the time of his death in 1988 at age 65, Bill Thetford had practiced these lessons to perfection, leaving this world of time and space free of guilt and grievances. As his time on earth grew to an end he was able to release all that held him back from true peace.  Would that we could all reach that goal.” Excerpt from review by Alice T. Mac Mahon of “Never Forget to Laugh” written by Carol Howe.
————————————————————
From Carol Howe’s FACEBOOK List: “Never Forget to Laugh”
On the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of Bill Thetford’s passing, it seems timely to offer you the third in a series of extra material not found in his biography, Never Forget To Laugh. For those of you who have not read his amazing story, Bill pronounced ahead of time that he would declare his independence of the Fourth of July, and he did – July 4, 1988. Enjoy!

“Apparently, Bill, from beyond the veil, still has some things to say to those who choose to listen, either through waking experience or in dreams. Visiting in Hawaii at the time of Bill’s passing, Jack and Layle Luckett were on their way to a friend’s birthday party when they were given the news. Their informant started to choke up on telling them and Jack said, “Don’t go into fear. Be joyful. This is a wonderful moment!” although he wasn’t sure how it was going to be returning to their La Jolla apartment without Bill. (Bill and the Lucketts shared a condo at that time.) However, knowing they would tell the assembled group about his passing at the appropriate time and that many strong feelings would be evoked, Jack said, “I was led to a reading from A Course In Miracles and told the group, ‘Hold hands, as I have some wonderful news for you.’” The reading that came to him was from Lesson 253, My Self is ruler of the universe – “It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen . . ..” Jack knew it was perfect and felt Bill had given him the lesson to read.

When they returned home to La Jolla, on entering the condo they shared with Bill, they found fresh red gladioli he had left for them and felt his welcoming presence, hardly the cold, empty place they might have anticipated. They also found on his bed a copy of the Course with a bookmark at Lesson 253 – My Self is ruler of the universe—the very lesson Jack had been led to read as they announced the news. They then proceeded to their bedroom where they found a cartoon Bill had fastened to a pillow. Knowing that Jack had been, among other things, a criminal lawyer, Bill knew he would get a kick out of it. The picture showed the foreman saying to the judge, “We find the guilty defendant not guilty!”

Layle added, “Right after he left—I think it might have been the next day—he spoke inside me and I really felt it. He said, ‘Tell everybody in the Course in Miracles groups to tune into me, that I am available to them and will bring whatever visits, messages, confirmations, verifications – whatever it is they need.’” Layle shared this message with a woman in Australia who said she had been looking for a place to live and wondered if that might be “too dumb” a request for Bill. Layle suggested she ask him, which she did, and the woman recounted, “He came to me in my dream and told me where to look, what to do, how to say it, and everything else.” The next day she found her place to live.

People in the Garden group (the Lucketts’ ACIM group) also had experiences they felt were unmistakably from Bill. One of their group told them of her “big dream.” She indicated that in her dream she saw herself on a city street and felt drawn to a tall, multi-storied building. She stepped in and looked over the offices listed in the lobby. One on the top floor, written in bold letters, stated Office of the Holy Spirit. With great excitement, she took the elevator to the top floor and, as the doors opened, saw a sign shaped like a hand that read, “To the office of the Holy Spirit.” She walked down the hall to the old-fashioned doors with frosted glass inset in mahogany on which was printed in gold, “Office of the Holy Spirit.” Unable to wait another second, she opened the door, looked in and found the room empty except for a desk. Sitting behind the desk with a big smile on his face was Bill Thetford.”

Although a dream, it says it all and it is literally true that anyone, whether they knew him personally or not, can still call on him for help. Seems like all the world could use a little of that Bill Thetford warmth, irrepressible sense of humor, and acceptance. And the way for us to experience those blessings is to offer them.