ACIM Mentor

Students often ask me, sometimes indirectly, if they have to give up what they value. Single students may ask if it is okay to date; someone who likes to travel may wonder why they should continue to learn about the world; a careerist may question their ambition. It is normal to start questioning your values once you embark on a path of awakening from the world. But often students have only intellectually challenged their values. These values are still real to them. You do not have to give up anything until it seems easy and natural to do so. Otherwise you will feel you are sacrificing, and this is in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit’s goal. Everything you now value can be used by your Holy Spirit to teach you forgiveness. In the examples above, each person will learn a new purpose for what they value. Forgiveness will show them what is real and what is not, what part of their goal has value as they awaken, and what is an obstacle to their awakening. As they learn to value what is ...

Your passage through time and space is not at random. You cannot but be in the right place at the right time. (W-42.2) Sometimes students complain to me about how they feel the work they do in the world to earn a living is meaningless, out of step with where they are spiritually. But it cannot be. Your real work is forgiveness – remembering Truth no matter what is appearing. And this is needed everywhere. The Course trains you in everyday life, not just for your convenience, but because God’s teachers are needed in everyday life. One of my students pointed out that each time we forgive, each time we see through what is appearing and see Truth instead, we are dissolving a little of the illusion for the Part of God that dreams. As you do your part to dissolve the illusion of separation from God, you not only allow Light to shine in your mind, but in every mind, because all minds are One. Over time, as you forgive where you are now, you will move on to where you are needed to learn forg...

Miracles are expressions of love, but they may not always have observable effects. (T-1.I.35) The other day I was in a doctor’s waiting room with several people who were obviously ill. I got into a conversation with a very ill woman and her mother. We talked about her various illnesses as well as the illness of the person I was with. In quiet moments, in breaks of the conversation, however, I stopped to remember Truth. I never said anything out loud, but in my mind I remembered “Only the Truth is true” and looked past what was appearing to Truth. Did anyone in the room suddenly jump up all healed and whole again? No, but we were all healed. I know because I saw Truth, I felt the connection. That is the healing. To be concerned with what is appearing is to be lost. Because what is appearing – be it “health” or “sickness”-- is always false. This is what forgiveness recognizes. What motivated me to remember Truth was not a desire to heal anyone else. I simply did not want to get so caugh...

You make attempts at kindness and forgiveness. Yet you turn them to attack again, unless you find external gratitude and lavish thanks. Your gifts must be received with honor, lest they be withdrawn. And so you think God's gifts are loans at best; at worst, deceptions which would cheat you of defenses, to ensure that when He strikes He will not fail to kill. (W-197.1) I was amazed when I came across this quote because I have found that as I get closer to God, I have these lurking fears. I seem to trust God – up to a point. Not long ago I found I fear I am being tricked, that I am being lured closer with loving promises only to be punished in the end. What this quote above is saying is that we project our own ego’s behavior on God. In our ego-identification, we snatch away kindness and forgiveness when we find they are not met with our own expectations of gratitude. And so we are sure that that is how God is responding to us. We have not been perfectly grateful and so we think we w...

The Course tells us that very few can go from being fully immersed in the dream of separation from God to being fully awakened to God. This would be too shocking to the mind and it would retreat deeper into fear. So the Course and other paths with the same goal of Truth are here to help us to awaken gently. We awaken gently through stages. The goal is to become what the Course calls a “teacher of God”, or one who remembers their Oneness with God. Once you have had the experience of Oneness, even if only briefly, you are a teacher of God because your mind is forever changed. You can no longer wholly believe only this world and your individual identity are true. Whether you accept it or not, the light of this awareness shines on all minds. Yet the Course also refers to those who have gone the distance to remembering only God as “advanced” teachers of God. This is total awareness of yourself as One with God – the ultimate goal. Guided The world is your classroom, but you get to choose...

It is impossible to identify with the body/ego and not feel guilt. You identify with what you believe in and if you believe an individual identity is your reality, you believe you have successfully overcome God and you will feel guilty for it. There is no way to escape guilt but by shifting your identity to Truth – where It really belongs. Everyone tries to make the compromise of believing in this world and not feeling guilty. All of us, when we first become students of the Course and learn that sin isn’t real, feel relief. But then we have to learn what “sin” means and the way that it manifests to us. All the behaviors that are called “sin” and all the guilt we feel for them are meant to preoccupy us with the body/ego and “prove” that we have triumphed over God. So we seek at first to find the “right” way to live to not feel guilty, yet the source of our guilt is not our behavior; it is our mistaken identity. The way to overcome guilt is learn that you have not overcome God. The way...

Any discussion of death is really pointless because it is about the individual self, which doesn’t exist. How can one meaningfully answer what happens to what isn’t real when something equally unreal happens to it? Actually, the individual self – the body/ego -- is death because it doesn’t exist. And because it was made to represent the death of God. The body/ego is supposed to be the “proof” that God has been overcome, and the inevitable “death” of the body is supposed to be the ultimate proof of this. So when you identify with the body/ego you are identifying with death. However, even some experienced students of the Course seem to think the only way to reach God is through the “death” of the body. This despite the Course emphasizing throughout that you are in God now and 365 lessons teaching you how to reach an awareness of this! Every student at some point asks, “Why don’t I just kill myself and go back to God?” Think what they are saying: They can reach God only if they destroy...

A teleclass for: · Students who want a deeper understanding of A Course in Miracles · Non-students who are curious about what the Course says We meet over the phone on a bridge (like a conference call) so you can live anywhere in the world. Tuesday, October 3, 4-5pm PST/7-8pm EST: Theology: You Are Part of God Tuesday, October 10, 4-5pm PST/7-8pm EST: Practice: The True Meaning of Forgiveness Cost for series: $20 US Contact me at Liz@acimmentor.com . Space is limited on the telebridge. When I receive payment I will send you the bridge phone number and an access PIN number. You are responsible for any long-distance charges (the bridge has a 503 area code). Cell phones are not recommended. Please sign up only if you will have access to a land line at the time of the call. NO Vonage, VOIP or speaker phones as these will cause interference.

The world is an illusion. Those who choose to come to it are seeking for a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their own reality. Yet when they find their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way. (W-155.2) Students of the Course who are raising children often wonder how they can pass along to their children what they are learning from the Course . Of course, you cannot tell them that the world is not real or that their lives here are not real. You cannot even tell adults that until they have shown some willingness to accept the idea. This is why it is always best to step back and let your Self lead the way when it comes to talking to others about your path (or not talking about it, as the case may be). Your children will learn by watching you. Older children may see a change in you and ask what has brought it about. Depending on their age and maturity, you may be able to read the Course with them. You can also prepare them for opening themselve...