ACIM Mentor

             In the Manual for Teachers of A Course in Miracles where it discusses how one should approach the Course it says:   “The curriculum is highly individualized, and all aspects are under the Holy Spirit's particular care and guidance.” (M-29.2)   How would you read A Course in Miracles differently if you read it as the highly individualized curriculum of, and description of what was to happen to, someone else? A Course in Miracles lays out the path of its first student, Bill Thetford, and describes what is to happen for him. He is led to work on ego’s grievances as they block his awareness of God. He is told that he will see the real world and soon after God will “take the last step” and he will “put the body aside.” This is what occurred for Dr. Thetford. At the end of his life, he said he had one remaining grievance. Then one day he announced that it fell away, and he said in joy, “I am there. ” A few hours later ...

It is always important to read a book’s introduction and/or preface because they lay out the context of the book, orienting your mind toward its purpose. When A Course in Miracles was first published, it did not have a preface. This came later, after requests from readers, and was originally a pamphlet one could insert into their copy of the three hard-bound books. It was included, however, in later editions. Over the years of my study of the Course , I sometimes found it helpful to return to the Preface, which lays out what the Course is and what it is about in very simple terms. It cuts to the chase. In the Preface, Helen Schucman states about the Course :   “Its only purpose is to provide a way in which some people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher.”   Notice “only purpose” and “some people” in this statement. The Course may or may not be for you. And if it is, all it is for is to lead you to the Holy Spirit within. How simple and undemanding is t...

        Take this in, it is important, even if you can’t see it. In fact, I’m not sure it can be seen until ego falls away. But it undermines many of the fears ego promotes regarding the person’s continuance if ego falls away.   Ego and the person—the body and personality—are not the same thing.   Ego is the asserted idea in a seemingly individual consciousness that God is not real. Like Spirit, ego is an immaterial, disembodied idea in consciousness. But to seem to be more than an idea, to seem to be a reality apart from God, it projects itself onto material appearances in consciousness, specifically, a person, a neutral expression of consciousness. Here is another thought to take in:   Ego identifies with the person. The person, as a neutral expression of consciousness, does not have the agency to identify with anything.   Ego asserts that the person cannot live without it. But that is ego projecting, because it needs the person ...

          “... People get bogged down with their concept of God and never break past it. Meister Eckhart was quoted ‘the ultimate leave-taking  is the leaving of God for God.’  The myriad of mental constructs of God or Truth seems to be a formidable barrier…I know you’ve been addressing this pretty much your whole life, it’s a big stumbling block for most people, and I wonder when you first broke through it yourself.” –ESA   A concept of God, or Reality beyond consciousness, is inevitable in ego-consciousness. A concept is all God can be to ego, which is the denial of God. So, ego uses concepts of God for its own ends, which is to validate its own seeming-reality. These evolve as one’s spirituality evolves, but they are always false and only fall away if ego falls away. There are two aspects of ego’s concepts of God. First, in practice, ego is the god in ego-consciousness. Ego is the arbiter of reality. It determines what is real and does not...