When to NOT Use ACIM
A Course in Miracles is not dogmatic. It is not a doctrine to live by. It is not a prescription, but a suggestion, as it was for, and was written in in the context of, Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford’s relationship. No one must “get it right” or be a “good Course student”. In fact, there are times when it is most loving to yourself to put it aside.
The real, lasting value of A
Course in Miracles is it leads you to an awareness of, or validates an
awareness you already have of, the teacher of truth (Holy Spirit) in your mind.
If you get only this from it, it will have done its job in your life. If you do
not have this, then the Course’s value will be limited and may not even
be there for you. In fact, it might be harmful. Like anything else, the Course
is a weapon in ego’s hands.
The awareness of ego and how
it works, the practices suggested in the Course, and the ontology and
theology of the Course are not for everyone, and you do not have to “get
it” all. And even if it is to be the primary or a fundamental part of growing
your awareness of truth or finding relief from the pain of ego, there are still
times when it is best for you to put aside its ideas and practice. Even if you
do have an awareness of your inner teacher to lean into, in times of crisis or
loss the ideas in the Course can seem brutal, and practice can seem
impossible. At these times, it is best to focus on the comforting presence of
your inner teacher rather than on the theory and practice of the Course.
And if you do not have an awareness of your inner teacher, then focus on those
passages in the Course that you find comforting and disregard the rest.
Many students will recognize
the experience of thinking that they are advancing as Course students
until they find themselves facing a crisis or loss and find that they have not
advanced at all. But there is another experience that comes when you have an
established relationship with your inner teacher. A crises or loss occurs and,
lo and behold, you discover that there is a comforting presence within you that
mitigates the pain of your situation, helps you to detach from it, and/or
guides you through it. You do not get that from a book, but from an awareness
of truth within you.
In fact, any time you find the Course cruel or impossible, but it aside. Focus on your awareness of truth, your relationship with your inner teacher. And when you do study the Course, read it with your inner teacher. It has little value without that relationship.
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Comments
this sharing reflects my exact experience with ACIM over the past 18 years. ACIM has given me the gift of awareness of the Holy Spirit within and helped grow that relationship. i no longer feel identified so much as a course student; the inner guidance of the HS has become my curriculum, the way.
your support and validation for my growing relationship with HS has been essential in strengthening my willingness to trust a process that is now unfolding in unimaginable ways, and also helped me to avoid a full co-opting by the ego. i think without this blog, i may not have continued...
the timing of the unfolding and your presence within it has been sublime. i remain deeply grateful. nicci
Miracle=The Memory of God
“The miracle comes quietly into the (m)ind that stops an instant and is still. It reaches gently from that quiet time, and from the mind it healed in quiet then, to other minds to share its quietness. And they will join in doing nothing to prevent its radiant extension back into the (M)ind which caused all minds to be. Born out of sharing, there can be no pause in time to cause the miracle delay in hastening to all unquiet minds, and bringing them an instant’s stillness, when the memory of God returns to them. Their own remembering is quiet now, and what has come to take it place will not be wholly unremembered afterwards.
He (HS) to whom time is given offers thanks for every quiet instant given Him. For in that instant is God’s memory allowed to offer all it treasures to the Son of God, for whom they have been kept. How gladly does He offer them unto the one for whom He has been given them! And His Creator shares His thanks, because He would not be deprived of His Effects. The instant’s silence that His Son accepts gives welcome to eternity and Him and lets Them enter where They would abide. For in that instant does the Son of God do nothing that would make himself afraid.”
T28.1:11,12
but the fullness of Gods Mind (The Miracle, His Effects) being offered to us.