ACIM Mentor

 “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” (W-153)             You have two thought systems in your mind. The ego is the thought system that teaches you that you are a self in a body in a world. Because this isn’t true when you identify with the self you experience lack and vulnerability. You spend your time defining and defending the self’s identity in an attempt to undo your sense of lack and to feel safe.             The “defenselessness” referred to in this lesson is the other thought system in your mind, what A Course in Miracles calls the Holy Spirit. This thought system comes from the part of your mind that is always aware of God, or True Being. In this awareness you feel whole and complete. You feel safe so you have nothing to defend.             So this lesson is not asking you to be defenseless in th...

“….Last week I was reading Jon Mundy's magazine on the Course ….  In his mag, there was an advertisement notice that there was a new book out, A Course of Love ,  www.acourseoflove.com ...Have you heard of this book?  Will you read it?  If you will not read it, why not?  I am curious to get your opinion about its close similarity to only knowing the Truth and meditating just on the Truth...” – SS I heard of this book many years ago and I continue to get advertisements for it. But, no, I will not be reading it. The need to study fell away from me naturally many years ago. Since then I find reading spiritual material to be superfluous and, frankly, rather tedious. I can only liken this to reading a recipe for a dish I make every day. After a while the recipe becomes unnecessary and turning to it actually gets in the way of making the dish quickly and efficiently. So when I read spiritual material now I feel, “too many words”.  They are not neces...

“Let's say I'm going about my business feeling no stress, conflict or pain and suddenly, "out of the blue" comes some disturbing thought about a person/incident from the past which feels like I'm under attack, requiring me to defend and counterattack etc. I haven't seen this person for years, they're not in my life but there they are. While I believe that circumstances and people don't create feelings in us but rather we project our feelings onto them (it's entirely my movie), what I don't get is the suddenness, and absence of current context for these thoughts. Why now?...” – ES What you describe is when something of which you are not conscious, or not fully conscious, triggers a memory of a person or circumstance. It may be some object your eyes light upon, a snatch of music or another sound, a body memory, or a train of thought that you had not been consciously following. It may also be that if the ego (personal thought system) in your...

“When I read the text, the manual and/or the lessons, I invariably fall asleep with the book open in front of me, often even when I’m fresh soon after waking. I first read the Course nearly 30 years ago. Ever since, it happens each time I read the Course , including your “Message of…” versions of them. It does not happen when I read them with a group. But this falling asleep — more like passing out — is often a remarkable experience because when I wake I experience a sense of release, clarity, energy, and a great welcome for what is happening in the present. It’s something more than merely waking from a nap or even from a deep night’s sleep. The words of the Course seem to have so much power that they virtually sort through my thoughts and find a new place, such that “my” thoughts seem to be set aside. The result is that I feel a great sense of peace even though I’m perplexed why I seem to pass out while reading. Is this an experience you’ve had, and is there a way that I can be co...

You say that we are mind but I read others who say mind does not exist. Then there are terms like awareness, consciousness, and perception that seem to be used in different ways by different teachers. I get very confused. Can you clarify?             You are correct that these terms are used by spiritual teachers in various contradictory or interchangeable ways. I cannot clarify how anyone else uses them. But I will clarify how I use them. Before I do that, however, I want to point out that these contradictions can be useful if you are a serious student of spiritual material. Words are symbols and will never mean the same thing to everyone. Discerning how a teacher uses these words can be a way of both deepening your understanding of their teaching and your own understanding of the ideas that the words represent. So bring your confusion to the Teacher of Truth (Holy Spirit) in your mind and look at them. How do you use these ...