Resistance to the Workbook

A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth. (W-in.1)

I’ve observed that some students of the Course are reluctant to do the lessons in the Workbook. In case they are afraid the lessons will require a commitment of too much time in their busy lives I show them how simple they are to integrate into their daily life. At the beginning, the lessons in the Workbook take no time at all, then the time they take increases incrementally. If this doesn’t allay their resistance to the Workbook, I show them some of the lessons. It’s all about changing their conscious mind, no writing, no digging around in their personal psyches.

The Course tell us that:

In some cases, it may be helpful for the pupil to read the manual first. Others might do better to begin with the workbook. Still others may need to start at the more abstract level of the text. (M-29.1)

However, there’s a difference between feeling it’s not quite time to start the Workbook and resisting the Workbook. I sense those who resist are aware on some level that the Workbook will train their mind in a different direction and it is to this that they are resistant. Yet if they are not studying the Course to become a teacher of God, what are they studying it for?

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Comments

carrie genevachild said…
Liz wrote: " I sense those who resist are aware on some level that the Workbook will train their mind in a different direction and it is to this that they are resistant. Yet if they are not studying the Course to become a teacher of God, what are they studying it for?"

New Age students are using some of the positive affirmations to create "miracles," to cure cancer and save a broken marriage.
12:38 PM
Anonymous said…
They simply feel intimidated by it and intimidation is, what else, a form of fear. That's why, I'm guessing, that most "students" are relying on the "better dream teachers" and the books they've written.

I first learned about the message of The Course from a woman that lent me her copy of Marianne Williamson's book A Return to Love; A Reflection On The Principals In A Course In Miracles and she told me that it was her "bible" so I'm surmising that she didn't even own a copy of The Course.

I love how your site here answers a lot of questions. Namaste.
8:58 AM
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