Ask: How can I lead my study group out of comparisons to peace?
“In my ACIM
study group, I notice that when we get to a passage with convoluted syntax or a
concept that pushes us out of our comfort zone, we’ll quickly engage in an
off-topic discussion, for example, about “the media,” “religion” or “churches.”
This is usually prompted by a participant’s remark about how the world of
illusions doesn’t understand or live by the Course we so much appreciate. Like the rest of the group, I want to think
there is something outside of me that can make me feel “good" about the Course. I’m curious how I can find a way to let go
of feeling either “good” or “bad” and help the group locate the source of peace
within the Course text.” – GB
What
you describe is very typical for new students. The ego’s (personal thought
system’s) thinking is always evaluative: right/wrong, good/bad, better/worse,
etc. It’s simply the way it works. But although this thinking is from the ego I
suspect its source is actually the speaker’s way of expressing gratitude for
having found the way to peace that works for them. And what they see in the
outside world is their own past – the way it used to be for them. So you could
simply point this out, perhaps by stating it as your own experience: That you,
too, look out at the world and see how you used to be and how grateful you are
to have found your way to peace.
>>>>>
Do you run a study group and run into questions you cannot answer or issues with your members? I mentor study group leaders and other teachers of ACIM on issues related to their study group and their own process to peace. Learn more about what I offer at www.acimmentor.com.
Comments
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this question from GB was very relevant to the study group i attend. your response was compassionate and as clear as the purest lake. the depth of your understanding demonstrates for me what it is like to look upon the world with the Vision of the HS. again thank you.
endless L, n
i have had no success whipping my identity with a personal self into submission. offering instead these days, these moments, the willingness to accept where i am now, by Loving and forgiving what isn't real... over and again. endless L, n
will, i hear you re the demons! i was sooo happy when someone started a study group in albany. it was maybe seven years into my study and i had only just started to accept that none of my friends or family were likely to stop thinking i was bonkers, laugh! and i was just starting to realise how i was not respecting them with my desire to bring ACIM into everything (though ceasing that took quite some time still), and that i was actively driving a wedge in our relationships. so finding a group to talk with and learn with just made me grin like an idiot. at first i didnt care that the teacher had different views of what acim was teaching, it all felt interesting and valuable. but as i became more sure through my own studies, and more inclined to speak up about what i perceived the meanings to be, and i started to do again what id done with my family, (always try and verbally teach a better way!) things got rough. i was projecting soo much anger onto the teacher, and she onto me. i worked and worked on myself, lol.. or should that read whipped and whipped, on trying not to feel angry, to have respect for her teaching space etc, to accept that she WAS in fact teaching what most people there were wanting to learn. mu success with that would seriously fluctuate though! it wasnt until a couple of the teachings of liz' blogs combined in my mind that i actually started to grow with it all.. the 'between me and me' blog and the blogs about the two spiritual goals finally helped me work through my projection and anger. i finally started to put the teachings into practise in my own mind, rather than throwing theory around like a weapon of kind intent, laugh! then the gratitude came back, such a relief! i only go along now if the urge takes me, you guys are my study group, lucky things ;)
"...a participant’s remark about how the world of illusions doesn’t understand or live by the Course we so much appreciate. Like the rest of the group, I want to think there is something outside of me that can make me feel “good" about the Course."
My take on what you wrote is that the participants in your group are looking in the wrong direction - out instead of in. The world of illusions is insane and that's the way it is. It sounds like your colleagues are lamenting this which reflects their own lack of peace. Believe me I'm the same way. My focus with the Course is to adjust my mind to the world and not the other way around ie. noticing the guilt I'm projecting onto what I see and releasing it - no small task. There will always be something to distract us (especially a Trump circus and the normalising of madness) but lets use it to remind us of peace and move on.
i wish you all dear friends as you journey on this remarkable path the grace of That Love we all deserve,
we all are.
endless L, n