ACIM Mentor

Whenever something dramatic happens in the world I hear from students who read something into it indicating the “Son of God’s” regression from or progression toward God, and they share with me their own despair or hope because of it. Lately students have been interpreting the world economy and the U.S. elections. What these students are seeing is the judgment of the ego within themselves that something in the world is “good” or “bad”, and they are deciding that what they think is “good” means that the “Son of God” is moving toward God, and what they think is “bad” is a sign that the “Son of God” is moving away from God. Whenever you “read the signs” out there in the world – or even in just your own life - you are simply seeing the ego’s interpretation that the world is real and meaningful. You are perceiving nothing and interpreting it as something. The Holy Spirit’s interpretation of the world is always the same: The world is not real, so you do not have to interpret it, or give it me...

Sometimes when students of A Course in Miracles talk to me about the Holy relationship I realize that they are confusing it with the idea of “soul mate”. In fact, if I hadn’t had both experiences I think I would have a hard time understanding the distinction myself. They are completely opposite experiences. “Soul mates”, as an experience of the special relationship, is about individuality, ego, and limitation. The Holy relationship, though a special circumstance with one other that you once perceived as separate from you, extends your awareness of yourself beyond individuality to the One Spirit That is Everywhere. In the soul mate experience you feel as though you have found your other half, or someone who completes you. You may feel that you knew them before, maybe in another life. But it’s limited to the two of you, even if it’s limited to your “souls” or spirits. What happens in the "soul mate" experience is you and another unconsciously find in each other similarities to...

I’ve always loved the use of the idea of “temptation” in A Course in Miracles : You cannot make yourself separate from God, so listening to ego is only a “temptation” to be separate from God. Your separation from God can never be real; it is never more than a temptation. There is only One Mind, and it is yours. There is no “God’s” Mind, “my” mind, “their” mind. There is only One Spirit, and there is only one ego, too. There is no “my” ego or “their” ego. What you perceive is in your mind, and it is either an extension of Love, or a projection of ego/separation. Those are your only choices. The great deception of ego is the many forms it takes, but it is all the same because all illusion is illusion. So when you are affected by appearances of separation in any form you are seeing your own temptation to make separation from God real to you. It does not matter where you think the idea of separation is coming from; if it affects you, you are seeing your own temptation. When you are bothere...

I have offered my Four Habits for Inner Peace to help students stay centered in God, but many report to me that they are confused as to how to apply them on a daily basis. (The Four Habits should come after you have completed the lessons in the Workbook). Understand that if you find it difficult to have only one thing to do each day – stay centered in God – that this is just your resistance because you have other goals. In fact, one of the benefits of using the Four Habits is that they make you bump up against your obstacles to Peace sooner, and one of those obstacles is your having other goals besides Peace. So if you are resistant to centering your life in God this resistance is the first obstacle you must overcome. You do this through persistence, and in time, the rewards of practicing the Four Habits will motivate you to keep doing them, and you will overcome this obstacle. Practically, keeping yourself centered throughout the day using the Four Habits looks like this: As soon as ...