To have, give all to all (ACIM/ A Course in Miracles)

[Ernie Nemeth]

Every now and then I like to open the book to a random page and see how pertinent it is to my current situation. It is akin to tarot or I Ching in its mechanism. As usual, it was spot on for me. Today, I felt this might enlighten others as well.

ACIM, Capter 6 A

When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life. If we share the same mind, you can overcome death because I did. Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not deciding at all. Like any other impossible solution the ego attempts, it will not work.

God did not make the body, because it is destructible, and therefore not of the Kingdom. The body is the symbol of what you think you are. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist. The Holy Spirit, as always, takes what you have made and translates it into a learning device. Again as always, He reinterprets what the ego uses as an argument for separation into a demonstration against it. If the mind can heal the body, but the body cannot heal the mind, then the mind must be stronger than the body. Every miracle demonstrates this.

I have said that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles. He always tells you that only the mind is real, because only the mind can be shared. The body is separate, and therefore cannot be a part of you. To be of one mind is meaningful, but to be one body is meaningless. By the laws of mind, then, the body is meaningless.

To the Holy Spirit, there is no order of difficulty in miracles. This is familiar enough to you by now, but it has not yet become believable. Therefore, you do not understand it and cannot use it. We have too much to accomplish on behalf of the Kingdom to let this crucial concept slip away. It is a real foundation stone of the thought system I teach and want you to teach. You cannot perform miracles without believing it, because it is a belief in perfect equality. Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal Sons of God, and that is full appreciation. Nothing more and nothing less. Without a range, order of difficulty is meaningless, and there must be no range in what you offer to your brother.

The Holy Spirit, Who leads to God, translates communication into being, just as He ultimately translates perception into knowledge. You do not lose what you communicate. The ego uses the body for attack, for pleasure and for pride. The insanity of this perception makes it a fearful one indeed. The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes communion. Perhaps you think that fear as well as love can be communicated; and therefore can be shared. Yet this is not so real as it may appear. Those who communicate fear are promoting attack, and attack always breaks communication, making it impossible. Egos do join together in temporary allegiance, but always for what each can get separately. The Holy Spirit communicates only what each one can give to all. He never takes anything back, because He wants you to keep it. Therefore, His teaching begins with the lesson:

To have, give all to all.

This is a very preliminary step, and the only one you must take for yourself. It is not even necessary that you complete the step yourself, but it is necessary that you turn in that direction. Having chosen to go that way, you place yourself in charge of the journey, where you and only you must remain. This step may appear to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it, because it is the beginning step in reversing your perception and turning it right-side up. This conflicts with the upside-down perception you have not yet abandoned, or the change in direction would not have been necessary. Some remain at this step for a long time, experiencing very acute conflict. At this point they may try to accept the conflict, rather than take the next step, however, they will be helped. Once they have chosen what they cannot complete alone, they are no longer alone.

[greybeard]

Thanks Ernie---A course in Miracles is a very profound book.
The daily lessons are second to none.

" When you take up a position know that your identifying with an illusion"

That from the book is a constant reminder to me not to take my point of view too seriously.
The ego of course wants to be right and in order to be right it makes others wrong.

"Im the one, I know---you of course don’t---I’m the authority etc. That's typical ego.
Its so subtle you might not even notice that the me is causing problems.
ACIM gets you over your self

One of the daily statements/affirmations. "I want to know the truth"
In other words I want to see things as they really are without egoic concepts, the truth shorn of belief systems etc,
The ego could stand for Edge God Out, its a separatist device. (Duality)
The course goes along way to help remove duality--transcend the ego

Chris

[Nomatic]

What a powerful passage.....
ACIM if looked upon as a pathway to non dualism is one of the deepest things I have encountered....

Thank you for this!

[Rich]

The book(s) and the lessons are all free online I am currently on lesson 7.

By the way does anyone know who is behind the book?

[The Arthen]

Thanks Ernie.

[greybeard]

The book(s) and the lessons are all free online I am currently on lesson 7.

By the way does anyone know who is behind the book?

Hi EmEx

A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, Third Edition as published by
Foundation for Inner Peace.
Author(s) Helen Schucman

A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is a book that aims to assist its readers in achieving spiritual transformation. The book describes a purely non-dualistic philosophy of forgiveness and includes what are meant to be practical lessons and applications for the practice of forgiveness in daily life. The introduction to the book contains the following summary, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."[1]

Helen Schucman wrote the book with the help of William Thetford, although it does not identify them as authors, based on what she called an "inner voice" which she identified as Jesus.[2][3] The 1992 edition, the most recent copyrighted one, is published by the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP), the organization chosen by Schucman for this purpose. It consists of preface, text, workbook for students, manual for teachers (including clarification of terms), and two supplements. Kenneth Wapnick and Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) were awarded the copyright to this edition after the original copyright was overturned. This edited version earned copyright status since it derives from the original manuscript as edited by Wapnick. FIP reports that two million volumes of ACIM have been published and disseminated worldwide since it first became available for sale in 1976. Additionally, the book has been translated into nineteen different languages with eight new translations underway as of 2008.[4][5]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Course_in_Miracles


Chris

[johnf]

The book(s) and the lessons are all free online I am currently on lesson 7.

By the way does anyone know who is behind the book?

Hi EmEx

A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, Third Edition as published by
Foundation for Inner Peace.
Author(s) Helen Schucman

A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is a book that aims to assist its readers in achieving spiritual transformation. The book describes a purely non-dualistic philosophy of forgiveness and includes what are meant to be practical lessons and applications for the practice of forgiveness in daily life. The introduction to the book contains the following summary, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."[1]

Helen Schucman wrote the book with the help of William Thetford, although it does not identify them as authors, based on what she called an "inner voice" which she identified as Jesus.[2][3] The 1992 edition, the most recent copyrighted one, is published by the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP), the organization chosen by Schucman for this purpose. It consists of preface, text, workbook for students, manual for teachers (including clarification of terms), and two supplements. Kenneth Wapnick and Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) were awarded the copyright to this edition after the original copyright was overturned. This edited version earned copyright status since it derives from the original manuscript as edited by Wapnick. FIP reports that two million volumes of ACIM have been published and disseminated worldwide since it first became available for sale in 1976. Additionally, the book has been translated into nineteen different languages with eight new translations underway as of 2008.[4][5]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Course_in_Miracles


Chris

An amazing book, set of books really.
This is the story as I remember it.
Helen Schucman had a voice speak to her.
It identified itself as Jesus.
It would dictate whatever portion of the book she was able to write down at any given time.
This continued until it was finished.
Helen was a psychologist, with a P.H.D., and asked that her role as author not be revealed until after her death.
I can imagine!
This work seems gives a lot of died in the wool standard christians a bridge to the non-duality view of life.
It was an extremely rough experience for me because it seemed to stir up every thing that exists between my physical body existence, and the "Heaven" it describes.

What appears to be a direct experience of this "Heaven" or "Great Central Sun", that occurred in the middle of an lsd trip in 1972, was triggered in my by reading this book.
Having a lot of difficulty with this experience, and wondering why I couldn't just let it be what it was, I went to the friend of mine that suggested the course to me and told him about my troubles with it.
After trying some suggestions such as just let that experience go, and so forth he decided to just read a particular section of the book to me, and I had another experience of this "Heaven" as who I really was, and as my real origin.
Which seemed to take me completely outside of time.
When it ended, I stopped him, and we discussed my experience for a while.
It was interesting but it didn't really solve anything for me, other than to know that the basic message in the book
had something very real in it and explained how some of the phrases struck me as absolute truths beyond anything I had ever experienced before.
Trying to fit my experiences of this greater reality into my everyday life goes on today and, as a part of that I am watching the Dolores Cannon video and hearing mention of this central sun thing again, and the phenomenon of feeling like I need to go back there, as well as the depression others have felt concerning thier lives here. I find comfort and encouragement to continue on and smile as often as I can becuase of the immensity and value of this greater task.
Thank you Ernie for starting this thread.
Also let me repeat my favorite qoute from the work,
"Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God."
When I looked that up I was delighted to see it was used in the introduction.

[greybeard]

I went to a study group at the Findhorn Foundation for a few years.
I thoroughly enjoyed the company of like minded souls--- I may go back this summer.
Debating the lessons really did me the world of good.
It seemed that every week something happened in life that gave me the opportunity to practice at least one of the lessons.
ACIM is extremely practical and saw me through quite a few trying situations.

Chris

[Ernie Nemeth]

Ah, Greybeard, old friend, nice to see you. Hi Nomatic, Emex, The Arten, and John F, likewise.

Greybeard pretty much answered the questions posed, thanks Chris. ACIM doesn't usually get responses, so I am again surprised and grateful. Nice to know others are of this inclination. I no longer do the exercises but have been through them all twice - and read the book front to back at least five times. That does not make me an expert, rather, it shows I might be a bit of a slow learner at times. Still, the book is full of so much wisdom it is hard not to refer back to it in times of need. And for me, this is one of those times. Funny, every time I read from the book I wonder how I missed that point or the other. The truth is that there is a depth to this book and it is always pertinent no matter what level you might be on.

I posted this thread in the general topics section for a reason but, alas, it was moved and the point lost on the general audience I wished to reach. Oh well, just goes to show you the error of having an agenda. This was only a lead in to the real section I wished to quote for those others I wanted to reach. I wonder what would hapopen if I posted again in the general section?

Never mind, I will not burden those who wish to have their fun. But I will post that other part here so that those that need to see it will find it. It is not for me to decide. I'll leave that to the HS.

Peace to all.

[Hermite]

Ernie,

I never read the ACIM. That's because I've always been a rebel. I had many friends at the time reading it, so I heard about it and watched them. It didn't resonate with me at the time. But that first post there, well, I felt that so I thank you for sharing.

Across the miles..

[Ernie Nemeth]

Ernie,

I never read the ACIM. That's because I've always been a rebel. I had many friends at the time reading it, so I heard about it and watched them. It didn't resonate with me at the time. But that first post there, well, I felt that so I thank you for sharing.

Across the miles..

My pleasure, my friend - closing the distance.

Hearts

[markpierre]

Ernie,

I never read the ACIM. That's because I've always been a rebel. I had many friends at the time reading it, so I heard about it and watched them. It didn't resonate with me at the time. But that first post there, well, I felt that so I thank you for sharing.

Across the miles..

My pleasure, my friend - closing the distance.

Hearts

Thanks for that reminder Ernie. I spent so much time laboring through that text that I bled 'Course' quotes for years. Eventually I took Jesus' advice
and 'threw the book away', but not until I recognized how fundamentally it had changed me.

It's useful for me to pass along some hard won insight to anyone interested or casually picking up the book.
The 'change of mind' occurs through doing the workbook. The lessons themselves. The rest is lovely concepts, but nothing more useful than that.
There are instruction in the front of the workbook and you have to read them. Hermite sums it up beautifully, the human mind is in a state of rebellion.
I'm sure her friends discovered that as well, even in their efforts.
I did the 'one year course' three times before I ever read the instructions. So there's the clue. I'd accomplished nothing. Then I did it again, and again, and again,
but because it's such a masterpiece. You don't really 'do' the Course, the Course 'does' you.

Thanks again mate.

[Ernie Nemeth]

You don't really 'do' the Course, the Course 'does' you.

Great way of putting it, MarkPierre, thanks.

Yes indeed, and the course says as much. Once you begin you will finish, the time it takes depends only on your willingness - or your resistance.

[Rich]

There are instruction in the front of the workbook and you have to read them.


What do you mean with instructions? This?

http://acim.org/workbook_lesson_intro.html



People might find this book from Christ helpful:

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?55602-Christ-s-Way (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?55602-Christ-s-Way)

[Ernie Nemeth]

Since there is power in threes, I will post another excerpt from the course before I get to the one I originally intended. Just a quick note, I am not hunting through the text to find the best quote, I simply open it to wherever and that’s it. To be honest, I did not open it to this passage but the one that follows, but it is the longest passage in the book and I do not want to bog down this thread or intimidate people with such a long post. So, this post is the preceding entry:

ACIM, Chapter 21, Introduction

Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is nothing more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose instead to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy. Nothing perceived without it means anything. And where there is no meaning, there is chaos.

Damnation is your judgment on yourself, and this you will project upon the world. See it as damned, and all you see is what you did to hurt the Son of God. If you behold disaster and catastrophe, you tried to crucify him. If you see holiness and hope, you joined the Will of God to set him free. There is no choice that lies between these two decisions. And you will see the witness to the choice you made, and learn from this to recognize which one you chose. The world you see but shows you how much joy you have allowed yourself to see in you, and to accept as yours. And, if this is its meaning, then the power to give it joy must lie within you.

[conk]

I often do the same thing, just open up the book and see what is revealed. Any page, any day, and you'll find something profoundly interesting. Truly a remarkable book.

We gave one to the kid's music teacher, a devout Christian. I told her the history and that it may well be directly from Jesus. Over the many weeks since giving the gift, I note that it has not moved from the original spot on her shelf. Sadly, she only believes the Bible contains any worthwhile information. To me, the language of ACIM is more accessible than the convoluted narrative of the Bible.

Thanks for this thread! Who says channeled material is of no value?!

[greybeard]

I often do the same thing, just open up the book and see what is revealed. Any page, any day, and you'll find something profoundly interesting. Truly a remarkable book.

We gave one to the kid's music teacher, a devout Christian. I told her the history and that it may well be directly from Jesus. Over the many weeks since giving the gift, I note that it has not moved from the original spot on her shelf. Sadly, she only believes the Bible contains any worthwhile information. To me, the language of ACIM is more accessible than the convoluted narrative of the Bible.

Thanks for this thread! Who says channeled material is of no value?!

Hi Conk
Both Dr David Hawkins and Eckhart Tolle quote ACIM and validate it.
Hawkins was part of setting up "Attitudinal healing centres" based on ACIM--he maintained that many disorders were cured through study of the work.

http://blessyourhearts.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/acim-and-attitudinal-healing-principles.html


12 Principles of Attitudinal Healing - by Gerald Jampolsky, MD - based on A Course In Miracles

1. The essence of our being is love.
2. Health is inner peace.
3. Healing is letting go of fear.
4. Giving and receiving are the same.
5. We can let go of the past and of the future.
6. Now is the only time there is and each instant is forgiving.
7. We can learn to love ourselves and others by forgiving rather than judging.
8. We can become love finders rather than fault finders.
9. We can choose and direct ourselves to be peaceful inside regardless of what is happening outside.
10.We are students and teachers of each other.
11. We can focus on the whole of life rather than the fragments.
12. Since love is eternal death need not be viewed as fearful.
12a.We can always perceive ourselves and others as either extending love or giving a call for help.

Chris

[Ernie Nemeth]

Well, I should have known better than to have an agenda. Totally forget what I had intended to quote and I moved the bookmark so that’s that. Let me just open the book at random then...

Chapter 18, VII: I Need Do Nothing

You still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. What plans do you make that do not involve its comfort or enjoyment in some way? This makes the body an end and not a means in your interpretation, and this always means you still find sin attractive. No one accepts Atonement for himself who still accepts sin as his goal. You have thus not met your one responsibility. Atonement is not welcomed by those who prefer pain and destruction.

There is one thing that you have never done; you have not utterly forgotten the body. It has perhaps faded at times from your sight, but it has not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement happens. Afterwards you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view of it when you return.

At no single instant does the body exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced just now. Only its past and future make it seem real. Time controls it entirely, for sin is never wholly in the present. In any single instant the attraction of guilt would be experienced as pain and nothing else, and would be avoided. It has no attraction now. Its whole attraction is imaginary, and therefore must be thought of in the past or in the future.

It is impossible to accept the holy instant without reservation unless, just for an instant, you are willing to see no past or future. You cannot prepare for it without placing it in the future. Release is given you the instant you desire it. Many have spent a lifetime in preparation, and have indeed achieved their instants of success. This course does not attempt to teach more than they learned in time, but it does aim at saving time. You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. 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. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization; “I need do nothing.”

Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. “I need do nothing” is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.

To do anything involves the body. And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body’s value from your mind. Here is the quick and open door through which you slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way in which sin loses all attraction right now. For here is time denied, and past and future gone. Who needs do nothing has no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make peace within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides. He will remain when you forget, and the body’s activities return to occupy your conscious mind.

Yet there will always be this place to rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware or this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it.

[GloriousPoetry]

To have , give all to all....so simple....the more I remember the simplicity of such teachings the deeper meaning life has for me. Thank you!

where abundance lives is where I want to be like the treasure of Monte Cristo buried until affirmed that Spirit is where everything comes to fulfill its terms.

[johnf]

Well, I should have known better than to have an agenda. Totally forget what I had intended to quote and I moved the bookmark so that’s that. Let me just open the book at random then...

Chapter 18, VII: I Need Do Nothing

You still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. What plans do you make that do not involve its comfort or enjoyment in some way? This makes the body an end and not a means in your interpretation, and this always means you still find sin attractive. No one accepts Atonement for himself who still accepts sin as his goal. You have thus not met your one responsibility. Atonement is not welcomed by those who prefer pain and destruction.

There is one thing that you have never done; you have not utterly forgotten the body. It has perhaps faded at times from your sight, but it has not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement happens. Afterwards you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view of it when you return.

At no single instant does the body exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced just now. Only its past and future make it seem real. Time controls it entirely, for sin is never wholly in the present. In any single instant the attraction of guilt would be experienced as pain and nothing else, and would be avoided. It has no attraction now. Its whole attraction is imaginary, and therefore must be thought of in the past or in the future.

It is impossible to accept the holy instant without reservation unless, just for an instant, you are willing to see no past or future. You cannot prepare for it without placing it in the future. Release is given you the instant you desire it. Many have spent a lifetime in preparation, and have indeed achieved their instants of success. This course does not attempt to teach more than they learned in time, but it does aim at saving time. You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. 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. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization; “I need do nothing.”

Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. “I need do nothing” is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.

To do anything involves the body. And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body’s value from your mind. Here is the quick and open door through which you slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way in which sin loses all attraction right now. For here is time denied, and past and future gone. Who needs do nothing has no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make peace within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides. He will remain when you forget, and the body’s activities return to occupy your conscious mind.

Yet there will always be this place to rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware or this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it.

My experience in reading this thread today started with realizing that the quote "To have give all to all" was my least favorite quote. I spent a lot of time trying to reconcile that, with little success. Ernie's post above served to point to my attachment to, and my belief in the power of the body. The All to all statement brings up belief in limitation perhaps?
And my minds obessions seem to stem from trying to deny and escape from those beliefs, and result in laying more limitations on top of it.
This thought stream is similar to Scott Kiloby's talks about the idea of an inadequate self, weak self ,unlovable self, being the core of belief in separation.

[greybeard]

Hi johnf
Thanks, you reminded me about Scott Kiloby.

I have put his interview by Conscious TV here so not to be off topic
It is a very full account of the enlightened state in the first moments

Chris

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?860-Enlightenment-The-Ego-what-is-it-How-to-transcend-it.&p=638599&viewfull=1#post638599

[TOTHE]

Simon Magus many centuries ago, extended into the present and is currently distorting much of our understanding of the teachings of Jesus, both through the doctrines of many churches and through A Course in Miracles.. I got as far as chapter 19 in the ACIM when I started to have misgivings. ACIM may have been channeled into Helen by non other than the 1st century sorcerer Simon Magus.
quote from link below:

As I update this in April, 2011, I should mention a few things that have happened since I first put this article on the internet. I have gotten emails from a number of people who have greatly appreciated what I have written here, because they say they have tried for a long time to follow A Course in Miracles and found that the results were not what are promised in the Course. They wondered why, until reading this material, and then realized that the Course does not provide an accurate picture of the spiritual nature of humanity. When you follow its lessons and ideas you will not find spiritual enlightenment but will rather develop some very unhealthy characteristics, mostly based on the denial of the reality of the world, a denial of suffering, of our responsibility for our actions, of truthfulness and of the closeness of God in our world. God is not far away, as ACIM often says, but is close to us and our life in the physical body. Our physical life is not an illusion created by the ego, but is the basis of the most valuable spiritual lessons we can have.


source
http://www.thomastwin.com/20%20A%20ACIM,%20Simon%20and%20Trinity.html

[greybeard]

The late Dr Hawkins who was enlightened--- checked the course thoroughly and found that while both the text and work book had a high frequency, the workbook --daily lessons---was of a higher spiritual vibration.
As already said Eckhart Tolle also recommended it. You can not fool some one in the state of enlightenment.

I found the text heavy going, complex,confusing (to me) and could not really relate to it, but the work book is great, simple, workable, effective.

Chris

Ps Hawkins said that the textbook tended to make the ego into the enemy which is not helpful.

[johnf]

Hi johnf
Thanks, you reminded me about Scott Kiloby.

I have put his interview by Conscious TV here so not to be off topic
It is a very full account of the enlightened state in the first moments

Chris

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?860-Enlightenment-The-Ego-what-is-it-How-to-transcend-it.&p=638599&viewfull=1#post638599

I think you were the one who posted that video. It gave me the most down to earth example of how realized unity consciousness looks, and what some of the pitfalls are along the path.
And I think it addresses the concerns of TOTHE as quoted below.

"I have gotten emails from a number of people who have greatly appreciated what I have written here, because they say they have tried for a long time to follow A Course in Miracles and found that the results were not what are promised in the Course. They wondered why, until reading this material, and then realized that the Course does not provide an accurate picture of the spiritual nature of humanity. When you follow its lessons and ideas you will not find spiritual enlightenment but will rather develop some very unhealthy characteristics, mostly based on the denial of the reality of the world, a denial of suffering, of our responsibility for our actions, of truthfulness and of the closeness of God in our world. God is not far away, as ACIM often says, but is close to us and our life in the physical body. Our physical life is not an illusion created by the ego, but is the basis of the most valuable spiritual lessons we can have."

There is a real danger here of getting caught up in the intellect and just flat out denying actuality of everyday reality.
I am probably still stuck on this at some level, and ran into it real hard when attempting to study ACIM.

However when we have examples of people who can deal with the most sensitive subjects of life and always come back with a graceful invitation to look at ourselves in a way that lets us deal more effectively in the everyday world. And they way they got that way was to let go of thier illusions of separation, we have a way to neutralize this danger.
The kicker in ACIM is that it talks over and over about the real world, and people tend to have trouble fitting that together, with the idea that the world is an illusion. I take it as an invitation to look at the illusions I am putting between myself and what I believe to be a temporary creation.

[johnf]

I sadly left out a direct thank you Chris.
Um, so thank you Chris:o
As well as all the other videos of people who had found a practical way to integrate this sort of experience in their very practical lives. Karen Richards, Lisa Cairns. I had already spent some time watching Mooji, as well as Eckhart Tolle, each of these people have a different flavor to their talks ,and approaches that seem to fit different things I might be going through at the time.

[Ernie Nemeth]

Honestly, I do not follow the course any more. It made a hell of my life that has not yet fully abated, five years later. And as Chris says, it makes an enemy of the ego - which is not helpful.

Still, wisdom is wisdom, and the book is full of that, in my estimation anyways.

But I look for wisdom wherever I might find it. I often find that children are filled with simple wisdom that is soon programmed out of them. Nowadays the wisdom of children fades by age four. They used to hold onto it for much longer, maybe as old as seven and eight or longer.

A tree has wisdom, and a flower too, but they can't talk so you must "see" it to understand. Even the clouds and the ground under our feet has sage advice for those with eyes to see.

We are surrounded by the simplest and most profound wisdom but we are mired in our everyday, self-complicated lives and miss those opportunities that are presented to us had we had the time to just be aware of them.

ACIM has helped me and I am grateful for my exposure to its contents. I take what resonates and discard the rest, as all advanced beings do.

Thanks for the input folks.

[Rich]

There is one thing that you have never done; you have not utterly forgotten the body. It has perhaps faded at times from your sight, but it has not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement happens. Afterwards you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view of it when you return.


The body cannot exist at all without a story and for a story the concept of time is needed.
What is the difference between a million years having passed and 100 years?
I am not asking you directly Ernie I am just asking it as a general contemplative question.


The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is nothing more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose instead to change your mind about the world.

On the same day you posted this I was watching ''Vanilla Sky'' anyone seen that movie?
It can really make you think. The main character gets his subconscious
reflected back to him in the world and thinks it is reality.
Not a loop to easily get out of, is it?

[markpierre]

My experience in reading this thread today started with realizing that the quote "To have give all to all" was my least favorite quote. I spent a lot of time trying to reconcile that, with little success. Ernie's post above served to point to my attachment to, and my belief in the power of the body. The All to all statement brings up belief in limitation perhaps?
And my minds obessions seem to stem from trying to deny and escape from those beliefs, and result in laying more limitations on top of it.
This thought stream is similar to Scott Kiloby's talks about the idea of an inadequate self, weak self ,unlovable self, being the core of belief in separation.

The 'give all' is a little stressful. I think it's more that we don't identify with 'all' in a very healthy way. We don't have all, we can't give all. Believing we don't have all.
But we do, we just don't believe it by default. You're right, if you identify with the body, and most of us do, we instinctively protect what we have.

But it's a practice, not a command or an error that's being pointed out. When you give, you get filled back up. And the energy that wants to come in is active, and needs to be circulated.
When we're in a condition of 'withholding', and that's anything we keep from others, love, respect, assistance, encouragement whatever, we can't experience that movement of energy cycling through us.
It needs to move. And so having anything to give to, is sort of a trick, and taking the action of giving, is like taking the bait.
You do it, you like it, and eventually you can't get enough. Because you're being fed an experience of what you are through it. Not the altruism of giving, that's just a value system,
but the joy of the reward of discovering yourSelf. And what it feels like to be You.
Extension, instead of contraction.

Just try it out anyway you can. Experiment. Just seeing others worth is enough. Appreciation for everything is enough. Do it because you want to see what it feels like,
not because you're wrong or guilty if you don't.
Guys that take 'separation' and turn it into a separate thing can't see what they've just done. Separation is thinking there's another state than what you're now in.
You feel yourself contracting. Recoiling from something. I know it really well. Cycling and extending that energy is a way to discover there is no such thing.
Practice practice practice. Until you recognize that you are an action of mind, not a caretaker of it.

[markpierre]

Hey if anyone is interested in the earlier editions and the evolution I found a cool website http://www.miraclescenter.us/jcim.htm

It seems to have everything there on PDF, and normal windows and even audio files. It's crazy. There's a fair article there by Robert Perry about his take on the three versions. I have to recommend the earlier version because I was involved in the conspiracy to bootleg the original and print it.

To get it straight, Helen was purely a scribe. She'd been hearing the voice for a long time before she began to take notes. Here's a description from her http://acim.org/Scribing/the_voice.html
She was a psychology professor at Cambridge, and it rattled her professionally a little.
One day the voice said to her "Write this down.This is a course in miracles." and she started to take it a bit more seriously.
Bill Thetford was a close co-worker that she confided in and he began working with her. Bill typed the notes up for her and the two did the original editing of them into the original edition.
That edition was passed around as a manuscript to a few people for their opinions, and then stored away at the Edger Cayce Foundation, where it remained.

The blue edition that we grew up with was lovingly edited more toward a fondness for psychological language, by a very good psychologist friend of theirs. Ken Wapnic, and published. He then became the principle protector and teacher of the material.

No serious damage to the text and none to the lessons, but some omissions and obvious changes throughout the entire text that we didn't agree with, and a lot of the intimacy and personality that is there in the original manuscript had been removed. The original is Bill Thetford organizing into a form as much as possible, Jesus own words. I much prefer to hear it the way it was said.

The notes and manuscript got somehow liberated from the ARA by some 'tourists' around 1999 and mysteriously circulated. Bill's edition then manifested as a book. It was a little dodgy and we were sued, which was the plan. It broke the copywrite and released that version to the public.The ruling? You can't own a copywrite to something that's eternal. So Jesus was regarded by that court as something that's eternal. What an unusual judge. The court declared that Jesus wrote the book.
It was a bit more complicated than that, and we were a bit more naughty too. In the book itself is this instruction 'give this away'. So we did.

And the older URtext version is the actual words verbatim as scribed into Helen's notebooks. A lot of personal conversation between Helen and Jesus and Jesus and Bill.
It has an artifact feel to it. Like a pry into the divine. But I wouldn't attempt to work with it.
It's interesting, that it's the only teaching I can think of that's evolved backwards. Back to it's original.
And it also illustrates that anything you have that's been printed, has passed through a lot of human hands.

[markpierre]

There's something in some of these replies that disturbs me a little, and I haven't encountered it obviously since I stopped associating with 'Course' people.

There's usually a competition almost of people that want to compare understandings of concepts and stay in a conflict, because they won't apply the training to themselves.
Or they dismiss it all on the basis of that it doesn't seem to work through concepts. It won't work through the concepts.

The text of ACIM is NOT a belief system. He's not telling you some mystical cosmic truth. He's describing to you the way the egoic mind works,
and how the mind of God works through and around that.
And then he goes on about what it's possible to do when the mind is functioning in unison with God.
For the most part the concepts are for the conceptual mind to bat around, while the discipline does it's work in the background.
It's like giving a child a toy to distract it and stay still enough, while the medicine brings down the fever. The child does want to get well.

I can't talk to anyone who hasn't employed the workbook, except to encourage them to do so. Simply reading the text is completely useless.
But not without purpose if it gets you to eventually agree that you need to train your mind.
There are a lot of disciplines and training you can use. Pick one.
The text is not without it's pearls, but what do you use them for? Your wisdom collection?

He wants the concepts to be understood, but I'll be blunt about it, you won't know what they mean until you experience them in yourself.
The process won't be as fun and uplifting at times as you'd like.
Seeking relief was why you picked it up. But it might take you into conflict that you've always previously avoided, and you need to know why it's uncomfortable.
You need the comfort of recognizing that it's working. You're in pain because it's changing you.
The process won't leave you there unless you bail out of the process. And even that's just a delay, which can be a very painful one.

I had a good hard lesson in that.

[Rich]

I think Ernies post #18 was exactly what I needed, Ive been studying this chapter trying to understand what it means.
Does anyone want to translate a few sentences into 'normal' english for me? I am not sure what he is talking about here, the sentences I don't understand are in bold and my comments/questions are in brackets and underlined. (Please only answer if you feel like it, I'm sure I can find someone else to ask.)



Your way will be different, not in purpose but in means. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. (What is meant by that?)

Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. (Is he referring on concentrating on doing nothing or a holy instant with your brother?)

When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization; “I need do nothing.”
Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. (Practice what?)

“I need do nothing” is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.

To do anything involves the body. And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body’s value from your mind. (How can one recognize that one needs do nothing without contemplation?)

[Rich]

Simply reading the text is completely useless.

It depends on the person.
For me just reading the text is very useful.

[Ernie Nemeth]

This brought me out of hiding.

Very interesting MarkPierre.
I wonder what compelled you to work to bring the course to the world?
And then I thought what compelled you to leave the course?

I was exposed to the course just as I was starting Kundalini yoga for my yoga teacher's course. I think it may have been the same day.

Not a month later I gave up everything I ever thought I wanted (house, possessions, workshop, girlfriend of ten years, yoga course, money, security, you name it) and hooked up with this woman I met by chance on my birthday who so needed guidance and love.

I'm still with this one I thought was to be my holy relationship from the course days. I did the workbook. I connected with course participants. I did retreats and became a councillor for retreats. I took a practitioners course (one full year). It was good, and I was good at it. I helped a lot of people. There was magic in the air those days and lots of miracles, to be fair. Lots of unexplainable occurances, by everyday standards at least. It looked like I, we (my group), were on our way to mastery. Here comes the but...

But I was not taken care of. I couldn't pay my bills or the rent. I fell deeply in debt. I made an enemy of my ego - which I learned to actually hate. I noticed that those as devoted to the book as myself also had similar experiences. They are mostly in a daze these days, going through the motions of life, struggling to survive. Some still keep plugging away at the course, going to sporadic meetings and such, but their lives are a fiasco, devastated and desolate, unable to make their way in the world. Almost all have never fully recovered, like myself. I've been left in limbo, with a hole in my soul I cannot fill. I'm slowly coming out of the spell that was cast on me, like from a deep sleep, shaking my head and wondering what the heck happened. I still love my woman but it has never turned from a special relationship into a holy one as promised in the book. I've also slowly made peace with my ego and we are in the process of putting the pieces of my life back together again. I now wonder if there is a God at all...my opinion has changed a great deal on the matter, my faith tested to its limits.

Nowadays I trust only in myself and whatever esoteric knowledge I can verify by direct means. I've come a long way since then (5 years now) and I've learned many wonderous things, expanding my understanding untill, now, I can see beyond the box we are programmed into from birth. I don't think I will ever be able to fully recover, though. But I am not bitter, oddly, I am grateful.

The course allowed me to drop the BS of this world and shake off the shackles imposed on us by our societal conditioning. Still, I wait for others to join me here in the new world, a world of wonders and beauty, so that I can walk back into the midst of my brothers and sisters. I will not be free until they free themselves.

Meanwhile I remain on the sidelines watching the insanity of my race and refusing to put the yoke around my neck again. Even though my body must suffer for it, I stubbornly refuse to assauge it by doing what this world says I must do to have comfort.

I thought this thread had come to its end with my final book entry. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for listening. Thanks for opening up about your involvment with the Course.

Sorry for what must seem like a rant...

[Hermite]

What a way to start the day! Ernie, this thread led me to investigate ACIM again so for the past few days I've been having a go at it from a link posted earlier. Now your and MarkP's discussion here have given me much to think about. Thanks so much to Mark for sharing his experience and that fascinating website that I've just bookmarked. Can't wait to start digging around in there.

But then that last post gives me pause. I love what you said there in those last 4 paragraphs. That's exactly how I already feel. Wow.

[Fred Steeves]

A fine rant it was Ernie, and with that, I'll relay my ACIM experience. I almost did back in the thread's beginning, but didn't want to seem a party crasher.

My experience with ACIM is that I never read it, but not for lack of trying. Back during my devouring of books days I used to come across it all the time at the book store, would give it the usual thumbing through test ride, and it always looked very intriguing. Except, it always wound up back on the shelf, not to come home with the others.

I did go through a lot of books during those years that I now consider garbage, but I don't think not reading it was because of that, far from it. What might have happened though, is that I might have gotten stuck in it, like you were describing. I have nothing against the book at all, it just obviously wasn't for me.

Of course, I've now just opened myself wide open for someone to chime in: "Well maybe you're just not ready for it yet". :)

Cheers,
Fred

[Rich]

Wow, I don't know what to think of ACIM anymore after all these negative
posts about it and also reading the link that TOTHE posted, what is that
all about? ''disturbing'' as Markpierre said.

Many things said in the book just confirm my own experience and understanding
but perhaps I should not get carried away with this book and believe everything it says?!...
I don't need the book but I thought it would be a good supplement...now I am not so sure what to think anymore.

Sounds like people here seem to have a mix of positive and negative experiences with it.

[Ernie Nemeth]

Dear EmEx,

Don't be discouraged. If the course resonates with you then you are meant to delve into it. What Simon Magus says is true to a point only.

I like to think of it like this, in a nutshell...Jesus was a radical. He was not floating around on a cloud singing hymms and planting flowers. You must remember the historical context. His people were under the yoke of the Roman Empire, squeezed for every last tax dollar and tribute until their lives were miserable and virtually intolerable. But the vast majority, although they did a lot of complaining, still got up every day and went to their jobs. What else were they going to do? They had to survive and house and feed their families. Sound familiar? Jesus came along to show them there was another way...and we all know what that was.

So the way I see it, Jesus has just come back as best he could to remind us of that. But two thousand years later, this ruling class of elites has had plenty of time to perfect their means of control over the masses. It is far more subtle and insiduous today than it ever was; it is almost impossible to see through their nefarious ploy. How to rouse the masses then? How can you wake them up? By placing the human soul in conflict with its very survival mechanism - the ego. Stir that dynamic up enough and that would set the individual on a path of discovery that must eventually lead to a sort of desperate rational revelation. That, although God (and I still believe in an ultimate Supreme Being or Entity or Cosmic Intelligence or Source Feild or whatever you want to call it) doesn't care what happens here on earth, after all its only a game or a means of experience or path of spiritual evolution or whatever you want to call it, we here living all very much do!

The way to shake the yoke off for good is to realize we are manipulated, come together as one species in love and understanding, stand up on our own two feet as sovereign beings in full and responsible control of our destinies and say, "This far and no further"!

The only other thing I would add is that connecting to the Source and fully Trusting in that connection does help, immensely. That is what the workbook is designed for; Jesus didn't just leave us hanging, he provided the means to experience this connection both as an individual and as a collective.

Remember what the bible says, "Where two or more gather in My Name, there I shall be."(paraphrased, I like that better than memorizing another's words)

We cannot do it alone; we need each other.

Peace

[TOTHE]

Well said Ernie Nemeth. I was thinking all night on how to respond to EmEx. Your summation is pretty much on the mark.

To EmEx: you have to go deep into the book before you begin to see the annoying circular logic. Some of the lessons you can use in your meditative toolkit though..of course use the “no harm to you or no harm to others” filter. Tackle it as you would ‘speculative fiction’ and file it under ‘speculative spirituality’ on your ever expanding bookshelf like Fred Steeves. However it must be read and balanced with all you know on your own deeply personal intuitive level. All of us here are on a path to seek the experience of spiritual truth, and oh what a weaving path it is.

My ACIMcopy was the 1st edition “Canadian” published just after the U/R Text. I have seen and observed with interest the subtractions and editions in the subsequent Wapnick edited publications. It was given to me in November, 2009 by Larry Sayer at David Wilcock’s Convergence Convention. It took me a year before I dived into it..intuitive reservations??


ACIM and old Simon may be one of the players in the War.

War in Heaven. by Kyle Griffith
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vida_alien/warinheaven/warheaven-III.htm

WiH forum (read only)
http://revolutionaryspiritualism.yuku.com/forums/81/War-in-Heaven

Text from Appendices, I highlighted part of the text in item # 19:
http://revolutionaryspiritualism.yuku.com/topic/364/31-WiH-Appendices


Appendix C: Summary - A Revolutionary Cosmology

1 The human soul is composed of astral matter, which is different in subatomic composition from physical matter but still follows the same general set of natural laws. The soul is a complex biological entity just as the body is, and it is not immortal or imperishable. Like any living thing, it can grow, and repair its own tissues, but it can also be wounded or sicken and die. It also requires nourishment, which it obtains from the body while incarnated. The human body converts some of the chemical energy from the food it ingests into astral energy, which nourishes the soul.

2 After the physical body dies, the soul can survive temporarily in a disembodied state, living on energy it stored while incarnated. Disembodied souls (spirits) can also absorb astral energy radiated by living people who are in states of consciousness that activate their psychic powers - sexual orgasm, religious ecstasy, etc.; but this energy is not usually enough to nourish them adequately. Spirits can also drain astral energy directly from other spirits. Such spiritual vampirism and cannibalism is one of the principal causes of the War in Heaven.

3 The spirit world (astral plane) is not "the natural abode of the soul" as so much religious literature asserts, but is a harsh and hostile environment; many souls do not survive when they enter it after physical death. The astral plane is a condition, not a place. We can't see spiritual beings because the astral matter of which they are made does not reflect or absorb ordinary light, but they are all around us, all the time, right here on the surface of the Earth.

4 Some disembodied spirits can use their psychic powers to communicate with each other and with living people. Since the telepathic faculty of an average Earth person is locked deep in the subconscious mind, psychic communications from spirits and from other people usually are recorded directly in the subconscious memory banks without the knowledge or approval of the conscious mind. Because of this, disembodied spirits and living psychics can practice a form of mind control that most people find very difficult to detect or resist.

5 After physical death, some human souls become "Theocrats." They refuse to reincarnate, but stay disembodied indefinitely. Theocrats maintain political power over other spirits by falsely claiming to be gods, sustaining themselves by feeding off the vital energies of others. The Theocrats use certain forms of organized religion to enslave the souls of believers after death, and they oppose all efforts by living people to build a truly advanced civilization on Earth.

6 The psychic powers of the Theocrats are not strong enough to allow them to paralyze the will of a living person and simply take over direct control of his or her conscious mind. Instead, they practice mind control by telepathically reprogramming the subconscious of anyone who is in the correct state of consciousness to be vulnerable. Until recently, the Theocrats most often practiced this mind control during religious rituals, but they now also practice it on people who are watching television or listening to recorded music. It is no accident that so many people have compared the hero worship of media stars with the religious worship of gods. The purpose of both is the same: to enslave people to the Theocrats.

7 The cruelest Theocratic deception of all is the religious promise of "eternal life in Heaven." Everyone who enters 'Heaven" after death is really entering a Theocratic band. A few of the souls who become entrapped in such bands will eventually become Theocrats themselves. The rest will be devoured. And the concept that human souls can become immortal only by remaining on the astral plane with the "gods" is a lie anyway. A soul can survive almost indefinitely simply by reincarnating for life after life on Earth, and it can grow in wisdom and psychic power during the process.

8 The War in Heaven is an effort by another group of spirits, called the "Invisible College" in this book, to break the control of the Theocrats over the human race and allow people to continue their natural spiritual and cultural evolution. The subconscious telepathic manipulations of the Invisible College are responsible for most of what is good in modern civilization.

9 Some of the spirits in the Invisible College have been sent here deliberately by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that possess sufficient psychic technology to teleport souls over interstellar distances. These extraterrestrial spirits are partly motivated by altruism, but they are also serving the interest of their own societies. The Theocrats are potentially dangerous to the inhabitants of other worlds because they are perverting the natural capacity of the human soul to form god-like composite entities.

10 The human race exists in two forms: individual and composite. The individual form consists of a soul incarnated in a body, and is a complete living creature that can perform all life functions, including reproduction. An individual disembodied human soul cannot reproduce on its own. Every soul was originally created by a human body, and the body cannot survive without a soul. If a disembodied soul does not incarnate into an infant, a new soul forms through a natural embryonic process.

11 However, the human soul also has the potential to fore a composite entity similar to the group soul that a colony of social insects possesses. Instead of attaching themselves to bodies, a large number of disembodied souls attach themselves together, creating a composite entity with the potential to develop a conscious intelligence separate from that of the individual souls contained in it. If this entity possesses only an animal mind and emotions, it is called an Elemental Spirit. If it develops full creative intelligence and becomes a moral, rational being, it is called a God. (However, it is important to realize
that such a God has little in common with the Theocratic impostors who have been posing as gods on Earth throughout history.)

12 Both Elementals and Gods are complete living beings capable of reproduction, and they are not dependent on the human body to supply them with nourishment, because they can directly absorb the astral energy radiated into space by certain kinds of stars. However, they cannot do this while they are on or near the surface of a planet, but only while traveling through deep space.

13 When planet-bound, both Elementals and Gods can obtain the energy needed for life and growth only from psychic emanations of living people or by absorbing other disembodied spirits. In their embryonic stages, the Gods are just as parasitic on the living human race as the Theocrats are; of course, a human embryo is a parasite on its mother, too.

14 The natural course of human evolution on a planet is a grim and animalistic one, dictated by iron laws of ecology. It is natural for human civilizations to develop under the complete control of Theocratic spirits, and to make slow but steady technological progress that eventually allows the living population to increase into the billions. Such a society allows little opportunity for individual freedom or personal psychic development, and most souls that survive for more than a few incarnations do so only by becoming Theocrats.

15 Eventually, human overpopulation begins to destroy the planet's biosphere, and deaths begin to exceed births by hundreds of millions every year. Theocratic bands on the astral plane became larger and larger, and some of them develop minds of their own and turn into Elemental spirits. The Elementals devour most of the Theocrats who are running the civilization, which then collapses, causing the living population to drop even further. At this point, the Elementals depart into space and the whole cycle begins again, unless the planet has been too badly damaged to support human life any more.

16 These Elementals are extremely dangerous to people on other worlds. They have the minds and emotions of predatory animals. Whenever they approach an inhabited planet, they remember devouring human souls as infants and attack this concentrated supply of food. An advanced human civilization with a high level of psychic technology can survive such an attack, but only by fighting a desperate war and suffering heavy casualties. This is why the extraterrestrial spirits are now on Earth: to interfere with this process both for our sake and for their own.

17 If they succeed in winning this War in Heaven, new Gods will be formed instead of destructive Elementals when Earth's population reaches the die-off point; and with luck, a new advanced civilization of individual human beings will also be born.

18 There is very little that ordinary Earth people can do to assist the extraterrestrial spirits in their direct psychic battles with the Theocrats and the Elementals that the latter control. The Invisible College recruits a few advanced magicians to fight in this phase of the War in Heaven, but anyone with enough spiritual knowledge and psychic training to qualify already knew everything in this book before reading it. Most attempts to recruit Earth people to fight in the War in Heaven using operational magic are Theocratic deceptions.

19 What then does the Invisible College want people to do to assist in winning the War in Heaven? The most important thing you can do if you agree with the basic thesis of this book is to ensure your own survival after death, by avoiding all forms of Theocratic mind control and by developing as much conscious control over your psychic powers as you can. Stay away from religious and occult groups that practice religious mind control, and don't become addicted to popular music or the electronic media; but do work with occult or New Age groups that teach people how to take charge of their own spiritual destiny.

20 War In Heaven contains many negative, frightening ideas, but it is essentially a positive book. It is very probable that the Invisible College will win over the Theocrats, and that most of the human race will survive to enter a New Age. The only people who won't survive will be those who die and are swallowed up in Theocratic bands before this happens. The goal of the Spiritual Revolutionary movement is to allow as many people as possible to avoid this fate by spreading the message in this book and helping them to make a breakthrough in consciousness about the nature of spiritual reality.

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/Spiritrebel/RSGE_2/RSGD_JustThinkingOutLoud_009.jpg

[greybeard]

There is a book out on "Mastership" which claims that it is from the same source as ACIM---it quotes parts of the course.
A friend who has studied ACIM has read it and recommended it to me.
There are quite a few books supporting the students of ACIM--- clarifying etc.
Marianne Wiliamson http://www.marianne.com/
is one of the major promoters of the course.

I would recommend being part of a study group.

Chris

[markpierre]

Very interesting MarkPierre.
I wonder what compelled you to work to bring the course to the world?
And then I thought what compelled you to leave the course?




You wonder? Or you want me to explain it to you. Sure, my pleasure.

I didn't work to bring it to the world, I just joined in. I just started working with it and then s#it happened.

It was told I was supposed to work with it in a reading years earlier, so I bought it but couldn't make any sense out of it.
Or more accurately, it made me responsible for all the pain I was in, and I was in a lot of pain. I couldn't believe that I could trust the
mind that had caused it (which was all I knew) to get me out of the mess I was in.
So I put it back on the shelf.

Post illumination, after looking everywhere for something that showed any remote glimmer of what had happened to me for a couple of years,
I picked it up again. I understood it a whole lot better, because not only did it describe very closely what I'd seen (Jesus uses the term "The Real World" look it up)
I understood in that experience that the mind that undid the error was within me. I just had to uncover that mind. Ya right...piece a piss mate.

After passing through student identity into teacher identity, it dawned on me that I have no business telling anyone how to conduct their own business.
It was painful. And I hated the BS that goes on in the 'Course world' and the politics of it. It's a cut and paste culture, just like everything that forms around a teaching
and asserts itself in the world. If you know something (this is good for Christians to consider) how does it not come out of your mouth in your own words and from
your own experience?

Don't know, just stopped associating out of frustration. Not with Jesus, with myself. And then went on to other bizarre experiences which I don't regard as anything other
than more of all the things I'm meant to look at before I'm done here.

And as you can see, you can't leave the Course, because it doesn't leave you. Once you fully recognize that you are responsible for everything you see, and that it's up to you
just how you want to see it and that the reality of it has nothing (ever) to do with your interpretation, you can't be fooled by anything again.

It's a brilliant bloody piece of literature you've noticed. Alot of the text is written in iambic pentameter. Beautiful.

[markpierre]

Wow, I don't know what to think of ACIM anymore after all these negative
posts about it and also reading the link that TOTHE posted, what is that
all about? ''disturbing'' as Markpierre said.

Many things said in the book just confirm my own experience and understanding
but perhaps I should not get carried away with this book and believe everything it says?!...
I don't need the book but I thought it would be a good supplement...now I am not so sure what to think anymore.

Sounds like people here seem to have a mix of positive and negative experiences with it.

It won't serve you very well as a 'supplement' EmEx. It's not to be believed or disbelieved, you just accept it's purpose.
It won't agree with much if any 'new age' literature. And it may take you directly into conflict. But only because conflict is inevitable whatever you do. It takes
you through it quicker. It's a fast track.

It's a 'method' to undo your human conditioning. It won't leave you empty, and it won't replace your mind with new better concepts.
It's directing you to a 'right use of mind' which is a way of using your mind, not using judgement.
Conceptual mind functions exclusively with judgement.
What happens if you lose the ability to judge between the concept of 'right' and the concept of 'wrong'? All things become useful and purposeful.

I'm not selling it. It's not easy. It's a commitment. Used frivolously, it's a waste of time. There is a method somewhere that's right for you,
that should find you before you find it. That's if you're ready for discipline. You have to want the outcome more than what you have now.

You might, if you're feeling naughty, consider that the 'fruit of the tree of discernment' from Eden, was that change in the use of mind. Judgement. Deciding what something
is or means, rather than allowing it to 'be' what it is. It'll show you what it is, if you don't judge it something different first.
The Bible calls it 'sin', and religion makes a big nasty perverse deal out of that word. Jesus calls it 'error'. 'You won't find what you're looking for, looking where you're looking.'
They actually mean exactly the same thing. The bullseye is where the bullseye is. Not wherever the arrow wants to go.

[Lalaji]

I really like the philosophy of ACIM. Sometimes it is hard to understand, but it makes sense to me. What really helped me to "get it" was the Book "The Disappearance of the Universe" By Gary R. Renard. It is so interesting that I couldn't stop reading. All the questions I had were answered. After reading that book, ACIM got clear to me. A Course in Miracles really gives you the shortcut to get "there". It is impressive how my life changed and still is, after reading it. Amazing piece of literature. :-)

[Lalaji]

To me, the best teacher around is Kenneth Wapnick. You can search on YouTube his videos; he is the most reliable source of information, since he is the only one still alive who Helped Helen Schucman (the writer of ACIM) to edit the book. He also has many books written by him that will help to understand the course. I am lucky to live where the ACIM center is and had the privilege to listen to Ken in one of his workshops. He is amazing. The energy and kindness of that man fills up the room with peace. it is worth to watch his workshops; there are all over in youtube.

[conk]

[/QUOTE]
....
The 'change of mind' occurs through doing the workbook. The lessons themselves. The rest is lovely concepts, but nothing more useful than that.
There are instruction in the front of the workbook and you have to read them. Hermite sums it up beautifully, the human mind is in a state of rebellion.
I'm sure her friends discovered that as well, even in their efforts.
I did the 'one year course' three times before I ever read the instructions. So there's the clue. I'd accomplished nothing. Then I did it again, and again, and again,
but because it's such a masterpiece. You don't really 'do' the Course, the Course 'does' you.

Thanks again mate.[/QUOTE]Dr. David Hawkins says to go straight to the workbook. The book is nice, but the real deal is the workbook.

[Rich]

Well, I should have known better than to have an agenda. Totally forget what I had intended to quote and I moved the bookmark so that’s that. Let me just open the book at random then...

Chapter 18, VII: I Need Do Nothing

You still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. What plans do you make that do not involve its comfort or enjoyment in some way? This makes the body an end and not a means in your interpretation, and this always means you still find sin attractive. No one accepts Atonement for himself who still accepts sin as his goal. You have thus not met your one responsibility. Atonement is not welcomed by those who prefer pain and destruction.

There is one thing that you have never done; you have not utterly forgotten the body. It has perhaps faded at times from your sight, but it has not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement happens. Afterwards you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view of it when you return.

At no single instant does the body exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced just now. Only its past and future make it seem real. Time controls it entirely, for sin is never wholly in the present. In any single instant the attraction of guilt would be experienced as pain and nothing else, and would be avoided. It has no attraction now. Its whole attraction is imaginary, and therefore must be thought of in the past or in the future.

It is impossible to accept the holy instant without reservation unless, just for an instant, you are willing to see no past or future. You cannot prepare for it without placing it in the future. Release is given you the instant you desire it. Many have spent a lifetime in preparation, and have indeed achieved their instants of success. This course does not attempt to teach more than they learned in time, but it does aim at saving time. You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. 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. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization; “I need do nothing.”

Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. “I need do nothing” is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.

To do anything involves the body. And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body’s value from your mind. Here is the quick and open door through which you slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way in which sin loses all attraction right now. For here is time denied, and past and future gone. Who needs do nothing has no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make peace within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides. He will remain when you forget, and the body’s activities return to occupy your conscious mind.

Yet there will always be this place to rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware or this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it.

That was very random Ernie...NOT.:ROFL:

It's funny I started reading ACIM more and more because of quotes and excerpts I read on this forum, I already known the book for a long time, but never really gotten into it.
And this Chapter "I Need Do Nothing" is what gave me the most.

[Teleios_wonder]

I loved this book, and did the lessons twice over for 2 years! I have since discovered it may have been an implant by MKultra; for mind control.
Which makes sense because the first half of the lessons break down your beliefs and ego, and the second half work on re-building it with ACIM beliefs (called Truth, Reality).
Any book which claims to be The Truth is suspicious to me now. I am far less gullible. ACIM is mainly directed towards people who are desperate and suffering, and so are willing to give up their beliefs very readily to follow a path that promises the Truth and the end of suffering.

Speaking from my experience, living and breathing these lessons put me into an altered state and eventually led me to a very dangerous choice which took me half way across he world and nearly homeless. I thought I was working for God when in fact I was killing my soul (individuality) and most likely on the other end of the spectrum.

[Rich]

Welcome Teleios, I see you just joined recently.
Well, ACIM does not claim to be the only path, in fact it says there are 1000's of teachings that lead to the same truth.:flower:




For me ACIM helped to get a glimpse of what I/we really are - it is so beautiful words cannot do it justice.
And at the same instant you know you are eternal.
All fear of death is out the window, there is no death. :sun:

Why hold on to scraps of dust when you are a perfect being? Not a body!
It's the believe that love is fear.
I can see in my own past where I had this belief that caused me to run away
from my own Self, when all I had to do was stay still.


The Little Willingness

The holy instant is the result of your determination to be holy. It is the answer. The desire and the willingness to let it come precede its coming. You prepare your mind for it only to the extent of recognizing that you want it above all else. It is not necessary that you do more; indeed, it is necessary that you realize that you cannot do more. Do not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what he does not ask, or you will add the ego to him and confuse the two. He asks but little. It is he who adds the greatness and the might. He joins with you to make the holy instant far greater than you can understand. It is your realization that you need do so little that enables him to give so much.

Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without them you would not need the holy instant. Come to it not in arrogance, assuming that you must achieve the state its coming brings with it. The miracle of the holy instant lies in your willingness to let it be what it is. And in your willingness for this lies also your acceptance of yourself as you were meant to be.

Humility will never ask that you remain content with littleness. But it does require that you be not content with less than greatness that comes not of you. Your difficulty with the holy instant arises from your fixed conviction that you are not worthy of it. And what is this but the determination to be as you would make yourself? God did not create his dwelling place unworthy of him. And if you believe he cannot enter where he wills to be, you must be interfering with his will. You do not need the strength of willingness to come from you, but only from his will.
The holy instant does not come from your little willingness alone. It is always the result of your small willingness combined with the unlimited power of God's Will. You have been wrong in thinking that it is needful to prepare yourself for him.

It is impossible to make arrogant preparations for holiness, and not believe that it is up to you to establish the conditions for peace. God has established them. They do not wait upon your willingness for what they are. Your willingness is needed only to make it possible to teach you what they are. If you maintain you are unworthy of learning this, you are interfering with the lesson by believing that you must make the learner different. You did not make the learner, nor can you make him different. Would you first make a miracle yourself, and then expect one to be made for you?
You merely ask the question. The answer is given. Seek not to answer, but merely to receive the answer as it is given. In preparing for the holy instant, do not attempt to make yourself holy to be ready to receive it. That is but to confuse your role with God's. Atonement cannot come to those who think that they must first atone, but only to those who offer it nothing more than simple willingness to make way for it. Purification is of God alone, and therefore for you. Rather than seek to prepare yourself for him, try to think thus:

I who am host to God am worthy of him. He who established His dwelling place in me created it as he would have it be. It is not needful that I make it ready for him, but only that I do not interfere with his plan to restore to me my own awareness of my readiness, which is eternal. I need add nothing to his plan.
But to receive it, I must be willing not to substitute my own in place of it.

And that is all. Add more, and you will merely take away the little that is asked. Remember you made guilt, and that your plan for the escape from guilt has been to bring Atonement to it, and make salvation fearful. And it is only fear that you will add, if you prepare yourself for love. The preparation for the holy instant belongs to him who gives it. Release yourself to him whose function is release. Do not assume his function for him. Give him but what he asks, that you may learn how little is your part, and how great is his.

It is this that makes the holy instant so easy and so natural. You make it difficult because you insist there must be more that you need do, and it is very hard for you to realize it is not personally insulting that your contribution and the Holy Spirit's are so extremely disproportionate. You are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth, and makes it what it is. Yet we have emphasized that you need understand nothing. Salvation is easy just because it asks nothing you cannot give right now.

Forget not that it has been your decision to make everything that is natural and easy for you impossible. If you believe the holy instant is difficult for you, it is because you have become the arbiter of what is possible, and remain unwilling to give place to One Who knows. The whole belief in orders of difficulty in miracles is centered on this. Everything God wills is not only possible, but has already happened. And that is why the past has gone. It never happened in reality. Only in your mind, which thought it did, is its undoing needful.

[greybeard]

Teleios welcome to Avalon.

I went to the funeral of my best friends wife yesterday.
It was uplifting but traditional Christian (Im not of any religion)
As is usual there was the bit where Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.
Well if that works for a person fine--certainly my friend and the congregation got a lot of support from the sermon.

Similarly people get a lot from ACIM.
I went to a study group for several years but I have always crosschecked with various other forms of spirituality to find what works for me-- which is the serenity prayer and being still, being quiet, at least once a day. (meditation)

All teaching including ACIM is open to misinterpretation, miss understanding
---such is life.

Best wishes
Chris

[Teleios_wonder]

Thanks, Chris. Nice to be here! I am not sure if the MKultra/ACIM connection is true. I loved the workbook and text while I was studying it.
It gave me great comfort and I was amazed at the depth and breadth of the material in terms of understanding my suffering and myself.
Years later, my personal issue with it is the savior complex/idea. That doesn't sit right with me anymore.
But like you said, to each his/her own. Whatever works and harms no one.

P.S. is your signature quote by David R. Hawkins? It rings a bell.

[greybeard]

Teleios
you are astute.
Yes its a Dr Hawkins quote--I learned a lot from his books--also went to the USA to his "Living the dream" Seminar.
He was an advocate of ACIM as you probably know.
What you truly are has no need to be saved.
You are That.
In the illusion it appears that there is a need to be helped and help others--and that's ok

Best wishes
Chris

[Teleios_wonder]

Ha! I knew it :sherlock:
I was at his "Peace" lecture in 2009 and his last lecture in 2011.
Very lucky; I consider him one of my greatest teachers.

One of my favorite sayings (of his): 'Yours is the saddest story I ever heard!'

Hehe :)

Some people don't get him. But I loved his humor and his way of teaching really resonated and I loved how he would say something like, "If you're scared, be MORE scared" i.e. step on the gas and run it out,
and how perception is worse than we think :ROFL: That really reassures me.

He was the one who introduced me to ACIM. He said it could cure any disease. Cured his eyesight and he had no reaction to poison ivy!

[greybeard]

TW the thread I started April 2010
Was initially based on the work of the late Dr David Hawkins

Chris

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?860-Enlightenment-and-related-matters.&p=7764&viewfull=1#post7764

[Teleios_wonder]

364 pages!! It's like the world equivalent of a Netflix binge for me!

[greybeard]

364 pages!! It's like the world equivalent of a Netflix binge for me!

Pick a page any page. smiling
It shows an evolution of "my" understanding.
It just happened--certainly not my intention to keep it going this length of time.

Chris

[Ernie Nemeth]

It's so nice to see this thread revived. And it is nice to see new faces here. Especially nice to see you here, Chris. We haven't engaged much of late.

Hawkins is cool. Not my cuppa, but I respect his approach.

To me this lesson has got to be the most damnable hard thing to understand, unless I use ACIM rhetoric, of course. But I have learned my lesson in the other thread - nobody believes a person can come from two completely different places depending on circumstance and the best use of Will. They can, but no biggie. HS is always there, and does come through loud and clear, to some at least. That in itself is a miracle, I suppose...

To have, give all to all. Imagine. There cannot be a statement more fully reversing the universally accepted rules of exchange. To 'have' means what here? It cannot mean anything 'tangible' because to give of a finite sum means you have less.

What could 'give all to all' mean, too? To give anything the world values means you will have less. But to give all? You would have to be dead. For the most valuable thing in this world is life itself. Why must I give all to all in order to have? And have what?

The goal of the Course that's what. And what is the goal of the course? To brainwash you? To fill your head full of lies. To give you a savior's complex? To kill your ego and drive yourself insane doing it? To walk around spouting rhetoric? To perform miracles? To learn to love truly? To become the next guru? Nope. None of these, although you might feel inclined from time to time to display the more sensationalist side of your truth, to the marvel of the crowd. But no, that's just to hasten the inevitable and to save time.

No. The goal of the course is to set your mind at ease. The goal of the course is for the individual. The earnest seeker.

The goal of the course is Peace.

I've a ways to go yet.

How about you?

[greybeard]

Ernie that is a splendid post.
Its good to be on the same page with you.
We have to die to our Self to be born again--thats not literal. (Ego must go)
Also God is a jealous God--not true but Truth has to come first.
Through giving we receive.
Seek ye first the Kingdom and all things will be added unto you.
Wear the world like a loose garment.

There are many pointers through the words of Jesus and through ACIM

You have had many difficult times Ernie and you have come through--all respect for you.

Much love
Chris

[Rich]

To have, give all to all. Imagine. There cannot be a statement more fully reversing the universally accepted rules of exchange.

There is an excellent explanation in ACIM on why giving is receiving:

If you share a physical possession, you do divide its ownership.
If you share an idea, however, you do not lessen it. All of it is still yours although all of it has been given away.
Further, if the one to whom you give it accepts it as his, he reinforces it in your mind and thus increases it.
If you can accept the concept that the world is one of ideas,
the whole belief in the false association the ego makes between giving and losing is gone.
Let us start our process of reawakening with just a few simple concepts:

Thoughts increase by being given away.
The more who believe in them the stronger they become.
Everything is an idea.
How, then, can giving and losing be associated?

[Ernie Nemeth]

Thanks Rich. That is a nice quote from the book.

Every day we go to work, get caught in traffic jams, and worry about finances, health, relationships, retirement, etc, etc, - we cement over the last vestiges of our true reality. This world is anchored to our fundamental ideas of reality and there is no erasing it from our minds.

Yet if we cannot erase it we are doomed to continue re-enforcing it. It is a vicious circle.

The only way out is through. But the path is dark and the pitfalls many. We can only speculate about the direction to follow and stumble towards it in fits and starts...

That is why the book contends that one of the first lessons in the attainment of peace is: in order to have, give all to all.

What do I have that I can give, though? I don't know anything for certain, my worldly possessions are few, my talents can only serve so many, and my life I can only give once.

But I can give all my attention to the bigger picture: to the real, the now, the voice from above, the higher self.

You cannot serve two masters. You cannot pick and choose which bits of this reality you will keep and which parts of your true reality you will drop - a mixture of the two more to your liking. It is this world or the real world.

Every moment is another choice.

[Rich]

We have to see our self as the mind and not the body, the body is limitation/separation.
The mind can give and receive everything.


I have said that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles. He always tells you that only the mind is real, because only the mind can be shared. The body is separate, and therefore cannot be a part of you. To be of one mind is meaningful, but to be one body is meaningless. By the laws of mind, then, the body is meaningless.

[petra]

I loved this book, and did the lessons twice over for 2 years! I have since discovered it may have been an implant by MKultra; for mind control.
Which makes sense because the first half of the lessons break down your beliefs and ego, and the second half work on re-building it with ACIM beliefs (called Truth, Reality).
Any book which claims to be The Truth is suspicious to me now. I am far less gullible.

I laughed at the last statement, because the book that's getting on my nerves the most has actually got the word Truth in it's title! Could it BE any more suspicious?!? :P
The "Truth Book" came with a warning about needing to read the chapters IN ORDER, which in hindsight could have been an attempt at conditioning.
A lot of our understanding is based on our perspective at the time. For example Lalaji mentioned they didn't understand ACIM until after they had read The Disappearance of the Universe.

[Ernie Nemeth]

Yes. I believe that the course has an agenda not conducive to the human condition. Its philosophy is circular. At every level there is missing information. As a thought structure it is comprehensive, yet at a practical level the pertinent bits are hidden behind rhetoric.

Yet that is not its appeal or its strength.

The book introduces you to a new way of accessing information that may have not truly occurred to most. The universe is a field of information and it resonates perfectly with a peaceful mind. It must be conscious because it talks back! But in order to hear its unadulterated replies the recipient must have cleared themselves or at least have some measure of control over their ego.

The universe and the ego have a massive conflict of interest - you!

The book attempts to separate the ego from the authentic self, the existential side of human beings. This is misinterpreted by the ego as a threat. Yet that is only because the ego was made to protect the body, while the soul is creation itself. The body is merely a vehicle, the soul is the driver within.

Having misidentified with the body, the soul is a forgotten asset. It should be taught in school because it can be learned. The soul is a mighty force that has no equal. It is the reason we are here.

It would bode us well to make friends with ourselves.

[greybeard]

According to the late Dr David Hawkins, who was all for the course, its possible the first part was channelled from a different source than the work book daily lessons.
I would say that ACIM is a useful aid but I doubt that many became enlightened through it.

Self esteem is a good thing, honest pride in accomplishment is ok, ego as in identification with the story of me, is not helpful.(aggrandizing)
Hawkins said not to make the ego an enemy but did write a book on "Transcending the ego"

Chris

[greybeard]

"The moment you take up a position, know that you are identifying with an illusion"
Thats a great quote from ACIM
Helps to keep me neutral and therefore balanced, stress free.

Chris

[Ernie Nemeth]

Lesson 23:

I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.


The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed. Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. But this way cannot fail. Every thought you have makes up one segment of the world you see. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perceptions of the world is to be changed.

If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want. There is no point in lamenting the world. There no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cause. The effect will change automatically.

The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. Each of your perceptions of 'external reality' is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. One can well ask if this can be called seeing. Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for its result?

You see the world you have made, but you do not see yourself as the image maker. You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause. This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone? Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now. Loveliness can light your images, and so transform them, that you will love them, even though they were made of hate. For you will not be making them alone.

The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed. This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. The first two steps in the process requires your cooperation. The final one does not. Your images have already been replaced. By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.