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Showing posts from August, 2013

Ask: How can I use my awareness of Truth to sing freely and effortlessly?

I am studying to be an operatic singer, and I am under the impression that when I become aware of Truth, my singing will spontaneously feel free and effortless, and my stage fright will disappear.  Learning to sing involves a keen awareness of the body, and it is to this that my voice teacher directs me.  Hence I have been completely preoccupied with doing things correctly.  I can see how I have created a punishing god out of my body, and an 'absolute morality' out of singing freely.  As a result, I fear and avoid singing and performing.  What do I need to understand in order to release these fears?  Is there some guarantee that my larynx will drop and open fully and permanently when I accept a certain Truth?  I have enjoyed several thrilling glimpses of singing on an open throat, but how do I get it to be permanent? – O.T.             What you need to understand is there is no relationship between Truth (God) and your singing or anything else in the world. Truth is unawar

Ask: Why are there ego-based conflicts at ACIM events?

I’ve tried to attend study groups in my area and I’ve been to ACIM-based conferences and I’m always disappointed to find the usual ego-based conflicts arising between the people there. I guess I just think that students of ACIM should know better...             You are disappointed because you are looking for something at these events that they cannot deliver. If you are looking for God (wholeness; abiding love, peace, happiness) you will find It only within. If you are looking to understand A Course in Miracles better and to learn from others’ experiences with it you may find these at these events.             Sometimes people confuse community with other people with communion with God. Humans are social animals and survive through cooperation. So joining with others is rewarded through the release of endorphins in your brain when you meet with others. This temporary feeling of well-being, or even of being “high”, is often confused with the joy of communion with God. But eupho

Ask: Why would I fear God?

A Course in Miracles says that I fear God. But I don’t feel that I fear God. It also does not make sense to me. Why would I fear God?             You think that you do not fear God but look at the evidence: Are you aware that God is your True Being and that only God is real? Do you recognize that the self and its world are nothing? If you knew these things you would experience only peace all of the time. Do you? If not, what is blocking your way? It can only be fear.             When you are identified with a self you fear God for many reasons. God is formless Being extending infinitely. It is an experience of wholeness unlike the limited experience of the self in every way. From the limited experience of the self God seems like the Great Unknown. And what is unknown is frightening. You also know on some level that an awareness of God undoes the self. So when you are identified with a self you feel that God will “kill” you .             The personal experience is the opposi

Ask: How can I declare myself an alcoholic when I am a holy child of God?

I've  been in a 12-step program for many years. I’m no longer comfortable declaring myself an alcoholic because I know from A Course in Miracles that I am a holy child of God. But I have benefited from the program and part of me wants to continue in it. I’m in conflict and don’t know what to do. (August 9, 2013) Your mind is an extension of God’s Mind (Truth). God within your mind (child of God/Christ) is one with God. But your mind is split and God is not all that is in it. You also have a self and a thought system about the self in your mind. The self (body/personality) with which you identify and its thought system (ego) are not part of God. These are ideas completely apart from God. They do not come from God and they will never be one with God. And it is the self that has the disease of alcoholism. When you stand up in a meeting and say, “I am So-and-so and I am an alcoholic” you are simply stating a fact about the imperfect self. You can state this while knowing that