ACIM Mentor

You Don’t Have to Go It Alone When I was a new student of A Course in Miracle s going through the long and uncomfortable (sometimes downright painful) “period of sorting out” it would have been so nice to speak every now and then with someone who had been through what I was going through and who had actually attained the inner peace I wanted. But there was no one around then who offered a professional relationship like that. So I muddled through in more discomfort and pain than was necessary. And, eventually, when I was ready I became a mentor for others so that they could have an easier time than I did as they made their way to inner peace. Obviously I do have clients so some people have taken me up on this offer.  But it is frustrating for me to hear of others who are still trying to go it alone. Clients tell me of friends who have questions or blocks to peace that they need help working out. They tell them, “Call Liz!” But they rarely do. Sometimes I can tell from comme...

One of the things I help my clients sort out is what is the neutral personality of the self and what is the ego (personal thought system). They are confused because the ego is the thought system in their mind that tells them that the self is their reality and that they need to measure themselves by the self. So it’s hard for them to see that the self – the body and personality – is neutral and that it is the ego that is not neutral. For example, clients will say something like, “I know it’s ego but…” “…I like mountain biking…” “…I want to study medicine…” “…I enjoy horror stories…” “…I prefer to be alone…” Etc. First, you can see by the “but” that what they mean is, “I want this even though I know it’s bad.” They judge the ego as “bad” so what they see as expressions of ego are therefore “bad”. But actually the ego is not wrong or bad. It is nothing. Second, all of those traits that come after the “but” are just neutral expressions of a neutral personality. They ha...

When I was a young child sometimes when I played alone I would experience a reassuring, comforting Presence with me. I felt in those experiences that everything would always be okay. These experiences were very rare. I had a happy, secure childhood and I had no conscious need to seek reassurance. But of course I was still having the human experience of everyday lack and insecurity. I was unconsciously open to Truth at those times. These experiences seemed very natural so I didn’t question them. Nor did I think of them beyond their occurrences. As a teenager I would in times of desperate adolescent angst turn to what I thought of as my “inner Therapist”. These were very rare occurrences, too. But you can see how a shift had unconsciously occurred for me: The Presence was no longer with me; It was within me. It was still Other, but I knew It was in my own mind. I thought of It as my “inner adult” the way as adults people speak of their “inner child” left-over from their childhood....

Each time I read A Course in Miracles different concepts stood out for me. Concepts would sink in, I’d move past them, and I was ready to learn new ones. The last time I read ACIM for myself was as I translated it into plain language. Then one lesson was driven home to me over and over again: This whole process to peace was between me and me. My sense of conflict was not between me and a world outside of me. It was not between me and a god outside of me. All of my conflict was occurring only within me. All of the reconciliation I needed was between a part of my mind (the split-mind) that was alienated from the Totality of my mind (Truth). There was nothing else and no one else involved. Each time this realization hit me with the force of a thunder clap. I was already aware that I made my own world by projecting meaning onto a meaningless universe of form. I was used to bringing my conflicts with the world or the concept of a god back to what I was doing in my own mind. But actuall...

“I just finished reading over your 3/23/16 blog ( http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2016/03/love-peace-and-joy-as-effects.html ) in which you mentioned having a terrifying experience of the ‘fear of not existing’. I was recently thinking about a former friend who had created a persona which expressed itself as an obnoxious role he was compelled to play in all his interactions with others. I thought that he was so invested in this fake identity that if he was prevented from playing it, he would not know ‘who he was’ and would be terrified of not existing (not consciously of course). Is this what you were talking about? I have experienced a horrible foreboding of impending doom a few times when I traced back some fear, through guilt etc. I also experience pre-dawn anxiety every day which always seems to be about various trivial things in my life. Do you think that the ‘fear of not existing’ is actually the ‘mother of all fears’? And most important of all - what to do, especially while it...