ACIM Mentor

Last week I wrote about how I learned to put aside expectations that arose from spiritual study and to allow myself to be led from within. An example of this would be how I was led to an approach to the body that was different from what I read in A Course in Miracles . When I first became a student of ACIM I was, like everyone, filled with guilt (but didn’t know it). So I read ACIM through a filter of guilt. I read a lot of love and release (forgiveness) in ACIM, too, but in many ways I felt condemnation when I was reading. I vaguely knew this was coming from me but my belief in guilt was so strong that I couldn’t look at this directly for many, many years. One of the topics over which I felt tremendous guilt while reading ACIM was the body, especially when it came to physical illness. ACIM teaches that the universe of form, which of course includes bodies, was not made by God. Therefore, the body is not real. However, I experience a body and denying that I experience the body...

If I had my way (oh, there’s so much I could say after this!) no one would be able to read spiritual material or to listen to spiritual teachers that are more advanced than they are. It seems to cause so many problems. And of course the problems are not in the material but in the readers and listeners. I’ll say again what I’ve said often lately: this path has not unfolded in the way that I thought it would. I have gone along for a ride that has taken some surprising turns. Of course the way I thought it would unfold was shaped by what I read into others’ experiences. It was not necessarily what the writers intended. Sometimes I misunderstood what others shared because I was not yet at their level of awareness. Sometimes I didn’t have their experience and felt I must be failing or missing something. And sometimes others simply used different words to describe an experience we shared. Often I reached a point where I’d say, “Screw what I’ve read! What has my experience taught ...

A Course in Miracles is a self-study course for inner peace. It is an inward path that does not require you to be involved with other students. It is meant to be studied with the Holy Spirit (awareness of Truth) in your own mind. ACIM is not a passive path. You must have some self-starter qualities to truly benefit from ACIM.  You must have some trust in your own discernment and critical thinking. You must use your own experience and common sense. When you begin ACIM it can be helpful to study and discuss the practice of ACIM with other students, especially with those who are more experienced. But helpful study and practice with others will reinforce, not replace, your awareness of the Holy Spirit within. Unfortunately I’ve heard of three ACIM groups that are cult-like in their approach to teaching. And I’m sure that they are not the only groups like that out there. These groups ask their members to follow their leader or leaders rather than the Holy Spirit within. And in thi...

I’ve always had trouble answering the question, “Do you believe in God?” First of all, “believing” to me means “accepting a concept without evidence”. If I have evidence then I know instead of believe . I experience God so I know God. Also, more often than not, when people say “God” they mean a judgmental being with power over them that made the universe of form and that has power over it. They are not referring to the one benign Being that is Reality beyond this seeming-reality and that has nothing to do with this seeming-reality. So I know what they are asking about is not what I experience. I don’t believe in a god as that concept is usually held so I would be an atheist as far as they are concerned. But of course most atheists would not consider me an atheist. I’m a spiritual teacher for heaven’s sake! But I’ve always respected atheists for their honesty. They do not experience anything beyond this world and they do not pretend that they do. They do not say they “believe”...