ACIM Mentor

              As another year is about to start, I know many begin the Workbook of A Course in Miracles over again. But remember:   “The training period is one year.” (W-in.2)   While I suggest students read the Workbook if they are so moved, I remind them they do not have to do the lessons over again. Because as the Workbook says about the last five lessons (underline is mine):   “Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth .” (T-fl.in.1)   It can be uncomfortable to leave behind structure you can see in the form of words in a book and turn to an unstructured relationship with immaterial Spirit. But moving from identifying with the material world to immaterial Spirit is the very journey you are on! So, after a mind-training period of one year, in which you learn of Spirit from a book, you are asked to take a leap of faith. If you are concerned that it is you that you canno

  The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within, and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come.   A Course in Miracles (T-15.XI.2)

“If you haven't covered this subject already, could you please write about the difference between the practical holy relationship and the mystical holy relationship?”— MK   I have indeed written about the difference between the mystical and the practical holy relationship many times, pretty much any time I’ve discussed the holy relationship. (See 4 volumes of The ACIM Mentor Articles as well as any of these articles you may have missed at www.acimmentor.blogspot.com ). But I will clarify them again here. Before I do so, I want to make it clear that the term holy relationship is from A Course in Miracles and the designation of mystical and practical relating to the holy relationship is my own and is based on my own experience. A mystical holy relationship is the result of spiritual Vision , which comes spontaneously, or is what some might call a “gift of grace.” Vision cannot be made or conjured and it is of Christ . ( Christ is the label given to What of God one can be

          The expression of consciousness known as Liz shifted from ego to Spirit consciousness over four years ago. And one thing that has come along is a kind of “recovered memory” of a time as a child of around seven when she had some sort of Christ experience which was met by fierce ego resistance. The memory of this experience has spontaneously surfaced and unfolded over the past few years, revealing many unconscious responses and implications for Liz’s life. One aspect of the experience was Liz felt at the time that Light and dark were fighting over her. She felt this rather impersonally, as though she was not involved, but could only be the object of this battle, small as she was compared to these forces. Liz didn’t remember any of it, it was denied, repressed, she went on, and then at twenty A Course in Miracles came into her awareness, she had mystical experiences and hovered for a time on the edge of Spirit-consciousness, then this passed, and she went on in ego-consciousn

 (Th e “I” in this article is consciousness, not Christ).   As some of you know, I am in a mystical holy relationship with an Australian woman named Hannah. I am asked about this relationship now and then, so I thought I would give an update. But first, since many of you may not have read my memoir or may be new to this newsletter/blog, I want to explain a few things to catch you up. First, I have experienced the holy relationship in two ways, mystical and practical. These are my terms and not from A Course in Miracles . Most students of the Course eventually make it a practice to bring Spirit into their relationships, and this results in what I call the practical holy relationship. A mystical holy relationship, however, involves spiritual Vision , which is a perception (consciousness, awareness) of Christ beyond consciousness. This is not something you can choose or make happen. If it is to happen for you, it will. Of course, anyone in a mystical holy relationship will natu