ACIM Mentor

           “What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?” (W-135.18) That’s a lovely idea, isn’t it? But some of my clients and readers have a hard time with it. Understandably.   We all know it was true for Bill Thetford, whose life was described in the Manual for Teachers of A Course in Miracles . He went to live in California with groups of friends, “mighty companions”, made up of some of the first Course students. Even his death is described in the Course : He would see the real world and then “God would take the last step.” He saw the real world (“I’m there.”) and passed away. You could leave it there and just read the Course as the story of Helen Shucman’s and Bill Thetford’s “holy relationship” in bringing the Course into the world and take some wisdom and a practice here and there for yourself. You wouldn’t be ...

              When Liz here was young, in any situation in which a decision was required, she would ask herself what she wanted. The answer was not always clear. Most situations had pros and cons and she was conflicted. Eventually, of course, something would happen, seemingly by her decision or not, and she would have to deal with what she felt were the “cons” of the situation. “What do you want?” is a question family and friends and therapists will ask you when you are confronted with a choice. The answer might tell you about yourself but not about what will happen. Everything that unfolds is predetermined. Your person’s life is unfolding as part of a greater unfolding (what most call God ). If you cannot accept this, you can at least see that in any given situation rarely is your choice the only factor in what occurs. Sometimes even when you’ve made a choice you find that choice remade for you. For example, you are conflicted about taking a certa...

          “I would like to see a discussion on what Christianity calls Holy Spirit.  As I see it, Christianity does not have exclusive ownership of it, it's just called something else in other spiritual teachings such as, spirit, consciousness, or presence. As I see it, it's the awareness that we all are…” – HC   You are correct that there are universal experiences, some of which some call the Holy Spirit . I doubt there will ever be agreement on what any term means or to what experience they should be applied. It is up to the beholder to label their experiences. Most of us try to find labels that come close to how the experience is experienced or, if we are part of a tradition, to apply the label to what we think the label is supposed to mean in that context. A Course in Miracles uses the term Holy Spirit for one’s inner teacher. It is the Voice for God in each of us that can reveal to us our part in the plan of the Atonement (correction of th...

              In 2008 when Liz here was translating A Course in Miracles into plain language , a message it held stood out the whole time. In fact, it felt like it was slamming into this mind over and over again. It was this: “My conflict is not with a world outside of me or a god outside of me. My conflict is between me and me.” It was refreshing to see this, even though it didn’t end the conflict. As a student of the Course , this mind thought it was being shown that conflict is within and that it must be the false self’s (ego’s) conflict with the true self (spirit). But something about this didn’t seem complete to this mind. It either wasn’t seeing it correctly or there was something more to see. This experience lasted beyond translating the Course , but it eventually faded away as other lessons came forward and it was mostly forgotten. Eventually, the core of ego, the “I”, fell away, leaving only its thought system to “wind down” and when that e...

             In show biz, there’s a thing called “typecasting” where an actor is cast to play the same type of character often if not always. This is most common with character actors, the supporting actors you see in many TV shows and movies. For example, the actor who always plays the supportive best friend, or the conceited sister, or the critical mother. Originally, it’s based on how they look, and if they play the character well, they can get stuck being typecast. Once, Liz here saw an actor who usually played tough characters, often bad guys, in an interview and she was floored. He was well groomed, artsy, sensitive, and soft-spoken in contrast to his rugged face and how he was usually cast. When Liz was a child, she learned early in primary school that the best-looking kids were not necessarily the best people. They were nice to look at but not necessarily nice to be around. She also quickly learned that someone she liked to be around grew bet...

            Back in January there was an article here, Being Conscious , about the experience in this mind of pure consciousness in conscious awareness. This has continued to advance, and it is refreshing. And I see now clearly what ego did with those experiences before. Before ego fell away in this mind, when pure consciousness (truth) rose to conscious awareness (rare), leading to an experience of feeling very conscious (very present, very clear), ego did one of two things with it: If it felt it was going to be judged by this “presence” (which was how ego experienced it), it feared it, so when it passed, ego quickly “forgot” it (denied it) with one distraction or another. But other times, it used it for itself, it became part of its own story. This presence, which was benevolent and strong, had arrived, to ego’s way of thinking, for the sake of ego, like for comfort, or it meant something about ego, for example, that it was ego’s “true self”. Because i...

            When Liz here has occasion to read A Course in Miracles , say, with a client or to look something up for these articles, what comes across now is a feeling of benevolence . It was always the case that she felt something lovely when she read the Course . In hindsight, this mind now understands why as an early student she carried all three hardcover books in a backpack with her everywhere, not because of all the mind blowing things it said, but because of how she felt when she read it. For a long time, the only time she felt the Holy Spirit was when she was reading the Course . When the Holy Spirit became her constant companion, her reading tapered off. This is, of course, the experience for probably everyone who has a distinct “holy book”. The experiences felt while reading whatever teaching it is comes from the reader, not from the book. Liz read the Bible and felt none of what she felt reading the Course . Yet, multitudes feel something love...

              After The Break here, when the “I”, ego, fell away, the gamut of darker personal experiences rose to conscious awareness, without covers. One of the aspects to emerge was a weak, whiny, self-pitying aspect that felt childish. In fact, for a while, it was thought here that perhaps something from the inner child was trying to be seen, but in time it was realized this was just fear appearing as insecure and whiny. What we think of as ego can be childish and often seems undeveloped and unevolved. The thing is, if those traits are ego, what is rationality, responsibility, empathy, compassion, strength of character—in other words, maturity? Certainly, these personal traits aren’t the Son of God or the Holy Spirit as those are not persons . So, if they aren’t ego, what are they? This mind did not know how to label them until ego fell away at The Break. It’s become clear here now that ego used A Course in Miracles to dissociate its negative ...

          There used to be something here that learned and grew. It made choices. It could be right-minded or wrong-minded. It could be honest about its dark side or it could wear a mask and pretend it was only “good”. It could remain stuck in painful thoughts and feelings, or it could call on the Holy Spirit, its “true self”, for help. It is probably what Ken Wapnick referred to as the “decision maker”. It was thought to be the true “I” that would discover, if ego, the deceiver, fell away, that it really was “God”. But at The Break here eight years ago, it fell away. And this is why the whole “I” experience, not just negative thoughts, attitudes, and traits, have come to be referred to as ego in these articles. (Ego is Latin for “I”, after all.) It was thought here in this mind from the beginning of being a student of A Course in Miracles that what was referred to in the Course as ego was the entire personal experience. This is not what the Course teach...

             Often when something uncomfortable is occurring in their lives clients will ask if, on some level, they want it. They’ve heard from teachers that nothing happens against their will and even if they are not conscious of it, on some level they want everything that occurs. They are sometimes told that they have in fact asked for it because of what they could learn from it. A Course in Miracles says you ask for your experience, either fear or love, but not the events in which they seem to occur. There is the appearance of free will and you can choose to see things either through fear or love. You can use uncomfortable situations to remind you to turn your mind to love. Or at least, if you are stuck in fear, you can ask love for another way to look at the situation. But lets examine the idea that you want what happens. Truth does not lack so it does not learn. Only ego learns. Putting aside ego choosing or asking for experiences to learn,...

              It happens more now that a thought will pass through this mind and then show up in the world in some way. For example, this mind will make a connection or see a pattern or simply receive information about what is going on in the world and in a day or two come across an article about it. This was just a passing thought not shared with anyone, not researched, so no algorithm picked it up. This is not new, just occurring more because this mind is quieter and clearer and so is more aware of passing information. Coincidences and synchronicity have always been a part of this mind’s awareness, but what was occurring was not fully understood. Liz would take up an interest, say a hobby or a certain type of fiction she had not tried before, and suddenly it would explode in popular culture. This was long before social media and algorithms, so Liz was not joining a trend she was aware of, she was unconsciously moved to be on the leading edge of it....

            In the 1980s, when Liz here was first a student of A Course in Miracles , there was a famine in Africa and a bunch of musical artists got together and gave huge concerts to raise money for food for the people of Africa. At the time, Liz was in a Course study group with mostly much older people (Liz was only 20), many of them a group of friends from a nearby church. One of the women from this group was very involved with famine relief. But one day the leader of our group talked about how for famine to be wiped out, there would have to be a paradigm shift in consciousness away from lack toward abundance. This made the woman feel her involvement with famine relief was pointless, it was indeed only, as the first concert was called, a Band Aid . (For those not in the US, Band-Aid is a common brand of bandaging for everyday cuts.) Why was she bothering if it was only a temporary fix and wasn’t bringing real change? Certainly, there was a very urgent...

            So, if one’s person’s life is an expression and is not for ego or a “soul” (disembodied ego) to “get somewhere”, as was explained in last week’s article, then how is one to approach their life? You live in the day, moving with however you are moved that day. To do this comfortably, here’s the trick: Without judgment. Your person’s life is part of a greater whole. It is not unfolding independent of everyone and everything else around it. The greater whole, which is the story unfolding in time, is what most consider “God”. Ego, however, has its own ideas about what “should” happen based on the identity it has devised for your person and the goals it has set for itself through the person. This is the sense of separation it fosters. This is how it makes itself a god unto itself. The thing is, what’s going to happen is going to happen, without regard to what ego wants. So, ego can go along with what happens and work on how it sees it and therefor...

           Lately in these articles it has been explained that the spiritual journey isn’t from truth or to truth but is the effect on ego (I, me) and the person of truth rising to conscious awareness. It is an expression rather than an aspirational journey for a soul (disembodied ego). Truth rises to conscious awareness and one finds themselves on a journey of personal and spiritual growth. In most cases, one seeks validation of their experiences in spiritual teachings that are already around. In rare cases, one is moved to bring forth a new spiritual teaching or practice or religion. Some have expressed confusion about this, so an analogy arose in this mind, and clients have found it helpful. Imagine the ocean, vast and deep and powerful and seeming never-ending. On the surface of the ocean is the usual debris, plant material from shores, like palm fronds and coconuts; items that have fallen off boats, like rope and seat cushions; plastics and other hu...