Jesus, Christ and the Holy Spirit

Some students have expressed confusion about the terms Jesus, Christ and Holy Spirit in A Course in Miracles. Is there a distinction between them? Do you have to believe in Jesus and His story to be a student of the Course? Why do some teachers of A Course in Miracles refer to Jesus and others to the Holy Spirit?

Christ is the part of your mind that is Part of God. It is also referred to in the Course as the Son of God. Christ is your True Mind, completely unchanged and untouched by your sense of separation from God. The Holy Spirit is the teaching part of your Christ Mind. Jesus, being wholly identified with Christ, has become a symbol of the Christ Mind in all of us. So Jesus, Christ and the Holy Spirit are all One and the Same.

Some students find the idea of “Holy Spirit” to be too abstract to feel any connection to It. They find a personal connection with Jesus to be helpful. A concrete image, a “person”, representing their Christ Mind is something to which they can relate. Others, like me, find it easier to accept an abstract “Holy Spirit” as part of my mind and find it reinforces a sense of separation to call on a person for guidance. For me, a concrete image is a distraction from the abstraction of God. Many students find calling on the Holy Spirit in one context and Jesus in another works best for them. The right choice for you is the one which is most helpful in helping you feel closer to God. You may find that what works for you changes over time.

You may view the story of Jesus as a metaphor for spiritual awakening or you may accept His life as having actually occurred as it is described in the Bible. You may find that you believe something in between metaphor and fact. Again, it is whichever is most helpful in opening you to experience God directly that is the best choice for you.

>>>>
At www.acimmentor.com find information on one-on-one mentoring, a free weekly telephone study group, study and practice aids, and answers-by-topic from this blog.

Comments

The SMARTSTART Coach said…
Thanks for the post clarifying this. I'm a student myself and agree with many of the points raised.

Linda M. Lopeke
http://www.smartstartcoach.com
5:39 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Committed to the Spiritual Process

If you’ve been reading my blog/newsletter for the past few weeks then you know significant things have occurred in the life of this mind. Four years ago the ego (personal thought system) fell away. I didn’t realize it fully and I spent three and a half years personally in a rather barren place in this mind, though there was peace in the rest of my mind. I did feel done with the world, but I didn’t know what that meant. I just stayed with the feeling, wondering what would come next. The next thing arrived in this mind last summer with a subtle shift from emptiness to a delicious Spaciousness. This was followed by beautiful Golden Light, Love, and Joy filling the Space. Bewilderingly, an effect of this was a romance novel! From there, the Light and the shifts continued. During this time a client in Australia whom I have called Zelda in these articles, but whose real name is Hannah, became a friend as well. We grew closer over several months and began to experience a lot of sync...
Read more

Ask: What is meant by "extend Love"?

I wonder exactly what is meant by "extend love" or how one extends love. Is it a loving intention toward the person, or a wish for them, or what? Can you give an example? – JO “Extending love” means replacing unloving thoughts in your mind with the awareness of Love in your mind. For example, your peace of mind is disturbed while watching something on television. Your peace is gone because you believe that what you see is reality. You extend Love in this situation by turning inward to Truth (God), feeling Love’s Presence within you, and remembering that It, not the images appearing, is What is Real. It may take you a while to accept that only your own thoughts cause you pain. So at first you may feel that you need to extend Love “out there” to the images that seem to be causing you pain. Or you may extend Love to another who is sharing their painful story with you. You can do this by imagining the situation or the person in a Loving Light. Or you may use some other image to ...
Read more

Evolving Practice with ACIM

           The Course was dictated to two who had a sense of Spirit working in their lives. After all, they were taking down the Course itself! The Universal Christ Mind sought to develop and grow their awareness of Spirit through the lessons in the Workbook as well as simply in discussion with them, privately and through the Course . And for those who find the Course and already have an awareness of Spirit, even if only dimly, the Course functions in the same way. Through the practice suggested, they develop their trust in Spirit. But for many who come to the Course , the discernment of Spirit within has not yet occurred. For them, practice is the means of opening to the awareness and experience of Spirit. Those who do not understand this often feel frustrated and even angry with the Course for suggesting that they should be having experiences that they do not yet have. They feel that they fall short when they read the instructions and descriptions ...
Read more