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Ask: What do you have to say about prayer?

          “I’m wondering what you would say about the topic of prayer…It would seem that it is always the ego that is praying for “more”, “better”, etc. But to Whom is the ego praying, is it heard, is it answered, or is it a waste of time since “all is written”? If all is in the mind, is it one part of a mind praying to another part of the same mind, or a dream praying to the mind that is dreaming it,  or… ?” —PW If prayer is supplication, it is always ego that prays, as only ego experiences lack. To what exactly it prays depends on the particular ego, I suppose! Perhaps ego prays to a god in its own image which it projects but that does not exist, which would be the dream praying to the dreamer as ego is both dreamer and dream. Or, in true despair, it may be a cry to God (Reality beyond consciousness). Since “the script is written”, praying could never be the cause of bringing something about. This is why it seems only some prayers are answered. When prayers seem to be answered, it

Consciousness and the Brain

          Many years ago, I had a client who told me that she took LSD in the 1960s and had an experience of expanded consciousness and oceanic love. What she described sounded like some of my mystical experiences and I was dismayed. Although I had heard stories like this before, I did not stop to think about the implications of them until this woman shared her experience. I had thought my experiences were Spirit (Truth), but what she and others before her shared told me that those experiences were effects in the brain . At first, I experienced this as a loss. But I soon realized I lost nothing. I already knew from direct revelations of God (Reality) that nothing in consciousness is like the Glory of God. And I could still have those desirable experiences in consciousness, as they were obviously induced not only by brain altering occurrences like drugs, strokes, tumors, etc. but as I had experienced them, through an awareness of Spirit. They just were not Spirit in themselves. Later,

Seek to Be With Spirit

             It makes far more sense to seek to live with Spirit as your Companion in ego-consciousness than to seek enlightenment, because enlightenment is rare, because it cannot be made to happen, and because it is not what ego wants anyway. Ego seeking enlightenment is like one spending their life studying and training for a position that they can only hope for since they cannot make it happen. Then, if the time comes for the position to be filled, they discover that it belongs to someone else forever and, worst of all, that they must now die for the other to fulfill it. So, all that time studying and practicing was not preparing for a better state, but for death. Ego imagines enlightenment is some sort of glorification of itself. But enlightenment is not a better ego experience. And Spirit is not ego transformed; Spirit is not ego’s True Self. Spirit is an entirely different experience of existence from ego. What you really want is what something like A Course in Miracles of

Bill Thetford's Individualized Curriculum

             In the Manual for Teachers of A Course in Miracles where it discusses how one should approach the Course it says:   “The curriculum is highly individualized, and all aspects are under the Holy Spirit's particular care and guidance.” (M-29.2)   How would you read A Course in Miracles differently if you read it as the highly individualized curriculum of, and description of what was to happen to, someone else? A Course in Miracles lays out the path of its first student, Bill Thetford, and describes what is to happen for him. He is led to work on ego’s grievances as they block his awareness of God. He is told that he will see the real world and soon after God will “take the last step” and he will “put the body aside.” This is what occurred for Dr. Thetford. At the end of his life, he said he had one remaining grievance. Then one day he announced that it fell away, and he said in joy, “I am there. ” A few hours later he died. Ego is the block to Spirit i

Please Don't Be a "Good Course Student"

It is always important to read a book’s introduction and/or preface because they lay out the context of the book, orienting your mind toward its purpose. When A Course in Miracles was first published, it did not have a preface. This came later, after requests from readers, and was originally a pamphlet one could insert into their copy of the three hard-bound books. It was included, however, in later editions. Over the years of my study of the Course , I sometimes found it helpful to return to the Preface, which lays out what the Course is and what it is about in very simple terms. It cuts to the chase. In the Preface, Helen Schucman states about the Course :   “Its only purpose is to provide a way in which some people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher.”   Notice “only purpose” and “some people” in this statement. The Course may or may not be for you. And if it is, all it is for is to lead you to the Holy Spirit within. How simple and undemanding is that? Mo

Ego is Not the Person

        Take this in, it is important, even if you can’t see it. In fact, I’m not sure it can be seen until ego falls away. But it undermines many of the fears ego promotes regarding the person’s continuance if ego falls away.   Ego and the person—the body and personality—are not the same thing.   Ego is the asserted idea in a seemingly individual consciousness that God is not real. Like Spirit, ego is an immaterial, disembodied idea in consciousness. But to seem to be more than an idea, to seem to be a reality apart from God, it projects itself onto material appearances in consciousness, specifically, a person, a neutral expression of consciousness. Here is another thought to take in:   Ego identifies with the person. The person, as a neutral expression of consciousness, does not have the agency to identify with anything.   Ego asserts that the person cannot live without it. But that is ego projecting, because it needs the person to seem to exist. This is why it equate

Ask: When did you break through your concept of God?

          “... People get bogged down with their concept of God and never break past it. Meister Eckhart was quoted ‘the ultimate leave-taking  is the leaving of God for God.’  The myriad of mental constructs of God or Truth seems to be a formidable barrier…I know you’ve been addressing this pretty much your whole life, it’s a big stumbling block for most people, and I wonder when you first broke through it yourself.” –ESA   A concept of God, or Reality beyond consciousness, is inevitable in ego-consciousness. A concept is all God can be to ego, which is the denial of God. So, ego uses concepts of God for its own ends, which is to validate its own seeming-reality. These evolve as one’s spirituality evolves, but they are always false and only fall away if ego falls away. There are two aspects of ego’s concepts of God. First, in practice, ego is the god in ego-consciousness. Ego is the arbiter of reality. It determines what is real and does not question this. The second aspect is th