ACIM Mentor

What exactly is meant by “spiritualizing the ego”? Does ACIM discuss this? And why is it undesirable?             What is popularly called “spiritualizing the ego” is called “confusion of levels” in A Course in Miracles . It refers to confusing the seeming-levels of your mind: ego/perception/illusion with God/Knowledge/Truth. “Ego” in the context of “spiritualizing the ego” means spiritualizing not just the personal thought system but all form. The personal thought system, the body/personality, and the rest of the universe of form are all not-God (not-True). But all forms have no meaning or purpose in themselves. The personal thought system, however, is a form without meaning but which gives itself the purpose of negating God (Truth) in your mind. It uses all other forms to do this. So what is called “spiritualizing the ego” really means “spiritualizing the ego and its tools”, or more simply, spiritualizing not-God. And of c...

I’m new to A Course in Miracles . There seem to be so many books about and teachers of ACIM and often what they teach seems to conflict. How do I know who to follow?             The only Perfect Teacher is the Holy Spirit within you. Teachers in the world are imperfect. We teach because we are still learning. Teachers are at various stages in their awareness of Truth. This can make it seem like we contradict each other when it is just that some are more aware of Truth than others. If we are truly open to the Holy Spirit then our teaching evolves as we grow more aware of God (Truth). And this can make it seem like what we teach now contradicts some of our own past teachings. Teachers in the world are instruments of the Holy Spirit for you only when you follow the Holy Spirit within you. So be sure to first invite the Holy Spirit into your awareness when you choose to read or to listen to teachers in the world. Otherwise you ...

So if I am choosing my illness, what about animals? What about plants? They get diseases, too. What about infants and small children who get sick? Are they all choosing, too?             The entire universe of form, including all plants and animals, is a projection of not-Truth from the split mind. As not-Truth it is inherently limited, imperfect, and disordered. The split mind projects itself into not-Truth by projecting itself onto only one animal – humans. Your seemingly-individual split mind is a projection of THE split mind projected onto a specific human animal in the projection. So it seems as though humans have a choice where plants and other animals do not even though they are all equally not-True. With regard to the body, choice occurs in your mind in two ways, generally and specifically.  When you choose to identify with a body you choose all of the imperfection and disorder that comes with it. Then within th...

I get confused about if there is one projection that we all share or if we are each living in our own projection…             It’s both. Not-Truth is a universe of form projected from one split mind. This projection includes billions of versions of the split-mind which make their own projections of meaning onto the universe of form. These projections are what make the experience seem dense, multi-layered, complex, mesmerizing, and convincing to each seemingly-individual mind. The shared projection, or macro-projection, is the larger story for space and time that is generally agreed upon by the split minds. This projection has no meaning in itself. Each seemingly-individual mind makes the macro-projection meaningful to itself through its own projections of meaning. These micro-projections are made from each self’s individual story in time. So, for example, Letitia and Jose are looking up at a vast, cloudless, blue sky. They a...

I had an encounter with someone who I would classify as a narcissist.  During a particular conversation, he lost control himself and became irrational and demanding.  What followed is a long story but basically he blames the whole argument on me.   We are no longer on speaking terms which, to be honest, is a good thing because he started to be nasty even before that conversation. Strangely enough, I felt guilty about it even though I tried my best throughout.  I feel like this situation is teaching me that even though other people are having tantrums (and projecting their guilt on me), I don’t need to sacrifice or blame myself.  However, it is difficult.  The question is: why do I identify so much with guilt in this situation? It's been a couple weeks and I'm still going over the gory details.   Thank you. – Anonymous             You identify with guilt because you i...