"Awakening" in ACIM

           In ego-consciousness, Liz here was in the first generation of A Course in Miracles students, having come to it in 1984 at the age of 20. Right away she had mystical experiences that revealed to her the nondualistic teaching of the Course—that the one and only truth is beyond appearances. The study group she was in at the time did not discuss the kinds of things she experienced. The members were mostly focused on relationships and giving things to the Holy Spirit. Because of her experiences, Liz felt pulled in another direction and left the group to form a relationship with the Holy Spirit and study the Course on her own.

(Back then, I did not use the term nonduality. I said the Course was “Eastern religious philosophy in Christian language.”)

From what she heard and read about Course teachers in the years that followed, no one was talking about the kinds of experiences she had. When she returned to a Course study group in 2000 after taking a break from all things spiritual for a couple of years, she found nothing had changed. No one was talking about truth and illusion, and their forgiveness practice seemed to resemble what forgiveness had always been, not as she understood the Course to teach it—nothing appearing is real.

Up until that point, Liz had pushed aside her mystical experiences, and her reading of the Course was largely intellectual. But now she realized she could not really understand the Course without them. Through the lens of what she had seen, she began to understand the ideas in the Course as a whole rather than understanding only parts of it. It was like puzzle pieces coming together to form a whole picture.

From then on, she felt the Course could be read on two levels: One was the practical that dealt with relationships and practicing forgiveness by giving situations to the Holy Spirit. This mitigated ego, it was “dreaming a better dream”. The other was a nondualistic understanding, which she felt revealed true forgiveness, the awareness that nothing appearing was real. She felt this was “awakening from the dream”. Liz’s understanding belonged to the latter interpretation of the Course.

When she began writing and mentoring students of the Course in 2006, still no one else seemed to be teaching the Course as she did. Even though the internet had been around for a while, it was not until social media took off in the 2010s that nondual teachings seemed to explode into the Course community. Suddenly, her clients and readers were talking about consciousness and awakening and saying things like “awareness aware of awareness”. Some found nondual teachings, usually some form of Advaita Vedanta, mirrored the Course and felt they validated and reinforced the Course for them. Others found the Course to be not truly nondual. Some of these students left the Course behind.

(There are two interpretations of nonduality, though both say there is only one truth. One is that a singular truth is beyond all appearing and all appearing is an illusion. [My experience.] The other is that all appearing is the manifestation of one truth.

The Course does say there is only one truth, which it calls God. It also acknowledges anything else is illusion. However, it also calls that illusion God’s Son! The Course does not work hard at ontological or theological consistency. Its primary goal is to lead you to truth within, your “inner teacher”.)

And this is where we come to the problem of language. Terms from the East were translated to words that might have a different use in the West. Notably, terms like consciousness, self-realization, and awakening or enlightenment, the latter two often used interchangeably (as I used to do). And, of course, even in the West, the meaning of these words are informed by context. Take the word “awakened”, which is now popularized (and demonized) to “woke”, meaning someone’s awareness of ingrained and institutionalized prejudices. This is hardly how the term is used in spiritual circles! The same thing with the term self-realization. In the East, this term refers to the realization of a true self (Atman in Advaita Vedanta) where in the West, it refers to a psychological and/or spiritual actualized ego-self that is scrubbed of the worst of ego.

In the Course, the idea of awakening means coming to be aware of truth (God, Christ, Spirit) in your mind. Ultimately, this means mystical experiences, seeing the “real world”. This often comes in glimpses, what some call “awakening experiences”. Specifically in the Course, it refers to what happened for Bill Thetford, who saw the real world just before his death. However, especially since the burst of nondual teachings in the Course community, many mistakenly think awakening in the Course means they are being led to what I now only call enlightenment, truth rising fully to conscious awareness and ego falling away. And this is not what the Course is about, leaving many feeling the Course has failed them or they are failing the Course.

Putting aside that enlightenment cannot be taught, the Course never indicates that is what it is for. While its ontology is nondualistic, its practice is not. No practice can be nondualistic as practice only occurs in what seems to be another reality. A nondualistic awareness can inspire practice but it is not to bring about the awareness of one truth. Practice is to recall truth once seen, which can bring relief from the suffering of ego. This is what the Course teaches. The result is a “better way” to be in the world, particularly in relation to others.

Liz’s mystical experiences were “awakening” experiences that showed her truth beyond appearances. This led Liz to read the Course in a way that brought the nondualistic ontology forward for her. Her practice of the Course was led and modified by her awareness (Holy Spirit) that the truth is true. Enlightenment occurred, but it was not caused by her being a student of the Course. Many students have mystical (awakening) experiences, and these inform their reading of the Course. Many do not but do feel the Holy Spirit. Some sense something when they study, but that is all. Some claim to feel nothing at all but still feel moved to study it. There are all sorts of Course students, and they are all expressions of the movement of truth toward conscious awareness. They are all at least awakening.

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