Equal Access to God

The other day someone said something to me along the lines, “When the translation is published and you are signing books…” I told them that I will not be signing any books. The ideas in the translation do not come from me and it would be inappropriate for me to take credit for them. But even if I had written a book that was original to me I would not be signing copies of it. Who am I that my signature has some special value? What would my signature in a book give to another that they don’t have? This is not false modesty or even true modesty. I’m nothing special and I don’t say this out of low ego-self esteem but out of recognition of the Truth, Which is beyond estimation. Why would I want to teach myself anything else?

God is everywhere and we all have equal access to God because we are all One with God. The ego likes to make some teachers in the world “special” and to exalt them as a way to put distance between you and the teacher. It will make you think that you are doing something good to give some people special status but it’s obviously perpetuating separation and, more importantly, teaching you that you cannot attain what these teachers have because they have “special” gifts or a “special” role. On the extreme end you can see the idol that has been made of Jesus, a simple teacher of God Who so many worship rather than learn from as an example. Some in the A Course in Miracles community even make an idol of Helen Schucman, who also was no different from the rest of us. She simply did her part in the Great Awakening. To Jesus and to Helen and to every teacher of God (which is anyone you choose to learn of God from, so potentially everyone) your gratitude is appropriate but nothing more.

Are there special teachers? Everyone is a special teacher in the sense that the Holy Spirit works in and through each of us in a unique way that essential to the Great Awakening. This means each awakening is of equal value. It’s not wrong or bad to make an idol of others but it is a delaying tactic of the ego. Whenever you are tempted to feel more than gratitude for another stop and look at what you are teaching yourself. Remind yourself that God is within you as God is within everyone and is everywhere. Specialness is not a gift to bestow on others but an illusion from which to release yourself. If you believe others are special you believe that you are special and you are limiting yourself to a personal self and not recognizing your Limitlessness in God.

Comments

TStrang said…
Hi Liz,

What you have written makes sense to me on a certain level but I keep rereading what you've written and keep wondering if you're making too much of a signature. I have accepted an offer from authors to have a book signed because I thought it seemed a little rude to say it didn't really matter to me if the book was signed. It seemed like refusing would create distance between me and the authors over something to which I didn't have to give any meaning. What do you think?

Sincerely,
Tamara
9:43 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
Tamara, I find I am often guided differently in specific situations than in general situations. For example, I have met with students who live in or are visiting my city and who simply want to meet me. The same with with taking calls from people who just want to connect with me. That's different than setting myself up to sign books.

In the same situation I, too, would have accepted a signed copy so as not to offend the writer.
12:18 PM
TStrang said…
Thanks very much, HS(?), for the response. The response makes the post clearer to me. ... This post brings up something I continue to wonder about. It appears that you do not sign your name to emails you send or to your posts. If you do this intentionally, is this your way of acknowledging that the source of the thoughts in the emails and posts is not a personal identity?
1:28 PM
ACIM Mentor said…
It never occurred to me to sign my posts, Tamara, because I've really always viewed them as articles rather than traditional blogs. They now go out in a weekly newsletter as well.

My responses to comments on my blogs are accompanied by "ACIM Mentor said..." and my picture so it seems to me a signature there would be superfluous.

I sign certain formal emails but not those that I see as "conversational". I figure that both I and the other emailer know who we are speaking with!

Although the Holy Spirit often speaks through me I take full responsibility for what I write.
2:33 PM
TStrang said…
Another case where my guess was completely wrong. Let that be a lesson to me. I'm not really sure why I kept wondering about this issue but now I'll stop.
2:46 PM
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