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

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

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

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

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

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

In fact, it stops the system.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Lesson 67] Love created me like Itself.

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

~ ACIM OE Workbook Lesson 84 Review of Lesson 67

What could this ‘knowing’ mean for us?

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

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

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

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

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

As we learn in A Course in Miracles:

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

~ ACIM OE Text CH 8 VI

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

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

And so it is!
AMEN ♥

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

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

Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles. As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus’ words and to deepen our experience of his teaching. As teachers, we work to circulate the message of A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds and by the example of our lives.  Jcim.net

VITAL MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS

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

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

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

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

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

“Joy,

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

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

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

It is a strong lesson indeed!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The paragraph begins with,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the beginning of paragraph 27 we learn,

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

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

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

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

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

Love is the only answer, as He tells us,

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

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

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

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

Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles. As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus’ words and to deepen our experience of his teaching. As teachers, we work to circulate the message of A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds and by the example of our lives.  Jcim.net

TEMPTATION to Disbelieve in
A COURSE IN MIRACLES

Article by Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green*
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What does it really mean to be ‘tempted’?

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word TEMPT as:

Definition of TEMPT

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

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

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

Origin of TEMPT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the Voice for Love teaches us thus:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles. As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus’ words and to deepen our experience of his teaching. As teachers, we work to circulate the message of A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds and by the example of our lives.  Jcim.net

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

Article by Rev Reja Janaki Joy Green*
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The following is an EXCERPT from the NEW REALITIES interview of Bill Thetford Sept/Oct 1984 Issue:

NR:  The authenticity. . ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles. As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus’ words and to deepen our experience of his teaching. As teachers, we work to circulate the message of A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds and by the example of our lives.  Jcim.net

WHAT IS REVENGE?

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

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

Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles. As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus’ words and to deepen our experience of his teaching. As teachers, we work to circulate the message of A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds and by the example of our lives.  Jcim.net