ACIM Mentor

“The more I read RG (Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace) the more it resonates with me. Since I'm retired and no longer have the imposed structure of a job and also divorced and no longer have the daily stress of my former marriage I can easily focus on what's going on with me. I can follow my feelings and what shows up is a free-floating, non-specific fear which according to the Course is guilt. There is no denying it or attributing it to anything outside of me. While I'm not happy about it I do believe this is what's true for me and an authentic way to see myself and live my life right now. So I study the Course by reading. I meditate to invite the ToT (Teacher of Truth) into my awareness which so far has gotten little response. I started the lessons and gave up after 5 out of boredom. I refer to the 7 Rules for Decision Making from to time to time. I reach out to friends including my ex who loves your books. I distract myself by reading history, watching a ton of ...

“I was doing a meditation the other day that guides you to feel the space around your body and eventually leads you to a state where you are "no self".  I noticed when I did the meditation that I felt a sensation of energy (lightness, tingling, a distinct presence of energy) and I did have a definite feeling of being something other than my body.  My question is how does one differentiate between the feeling of spirit/a connection to truth and the energy that you might feel that accompanies a level of our form (as in energy work such as Reiki)?  I had fear arise suddenly that I might be strengthening form instead of connecting with truth..."  – MB             If the feeling of being something other than a body was an experience of the dropping of boundaries and an expanded sense of Being then it was an experience of Truth or Formlessness. If you were awa...

“My question relates to a recent answer you gave about the feeling of deep peace that you experience.  I know from having done some bodywork, including Alexander Technique, that there is a correlation between a certain head-neck alignment and a feeling of deep peace.  I see this emphasized strongly in the Zen tradition of meditation as well, where posture is seen to be the means and the end of attainment as well.  Judging from your online photos, I can see you also have a very good alignment of the head and neck. Did you work on this consciously, and in any case, do you believe in the importance of this correlation?” – OT             I have never heard of this, so, no, I did not work consciously on my head-neck alignment as a means to attain inner peace. I have worked solely on my mind being open to Truth and to working out my obstacles (guilt, fear) to being aware of Truth. And, no, I do not believe the corre...

“ Is it true, as the Course promises, that there is a peace sweeter than the peace I image will be mine when I become financially debt free? Because I can't seem to let that go. I fantasize about being debt free and the peace that washes over me is palpable. But it doesn't last. And the peace of God seems just as elusive. I've been studying the Course for about a year and I love the teachings but can't get past this.” – T             Oh, yes, there is a Peace so broad and so deep that there is no correlation to It in your experience of the self and its world. What you imagine you will feel when you are debt free is only the teensiest, weensiest taste of It. No, it’s not even that. What you imagine is a peace that comes from the fulfilling of a lack. That’s really just temporary satisfaction. The Peace of God (True Being) is far beyond that. It is a Wholeness so complete that lack does not exist There even as an idea. ...

"Why is it so easy to identify with the ego and it takes so much work to "awaken" even when you want to?" – T             You are born into a consciousness (ego) that is the opposite of Truth (God) in every way. It is real to you and you do not question it until one day maybe you do. Perhaps you question it because on some level you were open to Truth and had an experience that is not of this world. Maybe you question it because it never seemed to you to be all that could be. Or you may question it because you hit a bottom so low that you opened to Truth in desperation. In any case, it’s easy to identify with the ego because the ego is what you think is real and true! It’s all that you thought you knew.             It seems to take work to awaken (to be aware of Truth) because you have to undo your belief in a thought system (ego) as your reality that is wholly the oppos...

“…I recently read that the Course is like a hologram (whatever that might be) in the sense that any part of it contains the whole. I've had an unconscious intuition about that and used it as a rationale for studying the Course the way I do - reading books that clarify its essence, not doing the daily lessons, not buying the Jesus connection etc. What do you think?” – ES             The kind of hologram to which you refer is one where a picture is made up of many pictures of the picture itself. For example, if you looked at each individual pixel in the picture you’d see that it is a miniature picture of the picture itself, shaded for its particular part in the macro picture.             It is true that as you become familiar with the themes of A Course in Miracles you will come across phrases, paragraphs, and sections that will make you declare, “Why, that sums up the w...

Do words have power? Some teachers say we shouldn’t swear, be careful what we say about what we want or wish, etc. because words are powerful…                         No, words do not have power. They are empty symbols that have no meaning in themselves. They only have the meaning for you that you give to them. Your unconscious and conscious beliefs are powerful. Only they affect you and your words can symbolize them or they can contradict them. Words can lie. Feelings do not lie. Your feelings reveal to you what you truly believe, no matter what you say to yourself and/or to others.             (For example, it’s very common for students of A Course in Miracles to say, “I know the world isn’t real, but…” because they’ve read in ACIM that the world is not real. But they clearly still believe that the world is real ...

I have been a student of A Course in Miracles for many years but I have to admit I still fear death. How do I overcome this?             What you experience as fear of death is really not your fear but the personal thought system’s (ego’s) fear of ceasing to exist. So you will overcome the fear of death when you release yourself from the limitation of identifying with a self and you identify with Truth instead.             There is no death. The Truth within you is eternal. It has no beginning and no ending. It just is. Growing your awareness of the Truth within you brings you peace of mind precisely because It is eternal and never changing.             There is no death for the self, either, because it doesn’t really exist. It was never really “born” so it never “dies”. It is just a mistaken way of thinking abou...

Some teachers say to not bring worldly problems to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not come into the world and fix them. But you seem to suggest that we do so. I’m confused…             I do not suggest that you use the Holy Spirit (Teacher of Truth in your mind) as a problem solver. I suggest that you use your perceived problems as opportunities to grow your awareness of the Holy Spirit.             Whatever you perceive as a problem is never the real problem. The real problem is that you feel that you are not your True Being (“separate from God”) but that you are a self in a body in a world. All of your perceived problems are an expression of this one problem. You overcome your real problem by becoming aware of your True Being (God) through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the thought system in your mind that replaces the personal thought system (ego) when you ...

In an earlier article you said something about things not standing out to you anymore and that the world has “flattened out” for you. Can you explain what you meant? (May 16, 2014)             One of the first things that even new students report to me is that when a “crisis” occurs they find that they are not as upset as they once would have been. They are disturbed by this even though peace is what they want! This is the beginning of the “flattening out”. Things in the world that once stood out as significant and to which you once had a strong positive or negative reaction now evoke much less of an emotional response. Very dimly you have accepted that peace is real and that the world is not so the ego’s responses to the world no longer have the meaning for you that they once did. It takes a long time, but this awareness does grow to a point where you live in peace and are not much affected by the world. This has happened f...

“I read somewhere in your story, or a blog post, that at some point in your journey with the Course , you experienced heavy ego "rebounding." I am 1/3 through the workbook. I find there's strong correlations for me between a day or few days of inner peace, much less ego chatter, etc, followed by very persistent, loud, insistent(!) ego noise and demands. Some mornings after a previous day of consistent meditation are particularly noisy. How did you deal with ego rebounding, and what do you recommend for those periods when my ego's voice, and its resistance to any of my meditative work, is strong?” – M             Yes, you have described the ego’s rebounding very well. This is the process. You experience peace or an insight and as soon as you even so much as glance (usually unconsciously) in the ego’s direction it does whatever it needs to do to hold your attention. And it’s usually not something nice! This will go on as long as...

“...I have always felt a tremendous affinity to the Native American ways and their utter respect for a great Spirit and as keepers of the earth planet. So, here is the "angst" for me...I am clear that ACIM is my primary path, but the connection to the earth, animal totems, etc really speak to me. Yet, I know from the ACIM perspective, there is no world and the emphasis isn't on saving something that isn't "there". Natives saw "spirit" in everything...trees, mountains, streams, corn, buffalo. Is it compatible to have and tend the "love and respect of natural beauty" and be a serious student of ACIM?  I remember Ken W saying that frustration with inanimate things was as significant as anything else. Clearly, I'm confusing some things here...” – KL             Your desire to love and to respect the natural world would only be incompatible with your study of A Course in Miracles if it prevented you from being aware that the T...

“ I am continually confused by most everything about the meanings in ACIM of the concept of guilt. I was brought up in a home that taught that God loves us unconditionally and is present everywhere; that we reflect Him and all his qualities; that we are already "perfect" in reality.  Being "perfect" as a young person took time to take in however, being a good person did not.   Where and when do folks buy into guilt?  Human guilt is another thing.  Most of us feel human guilt easily which impedes our human and spiritual growth but can be a teaching tool, I think. Is there a time when we ‘should’ feel guilt?” – LK             Very simply, when you identify with limited form (the self) you are aware on a deep, unconscious level that your mind is not in its natural state of limitless, formless Being (what A Course in Miracles calls “God”). So you are uncomfortable. To preserve itself in your mind the...

“…I understand that everything is an illusion, just as Einstein discovered with his telescope, no matter just energy. But what I'm having a problem understanding is, since my body is an illusion, what's the point in trying to eat properly and taking supplements and curing disease naturally that enters my body, all of which are illusions?...” – AM                         Before I get to your question, let me clarify that Truth is formless so the universe of form is the illusion. There is no relationship between Truth (Formlessness) and illusion (form); they are diametrically opposed. What Einstein discerned and then proved with math (not a telescope) about matter being made up of energy (form, too, though invisible) is an explanation for how the universe of form works. He did not reveal what A Course in Miracles means by “illusion”. This will never be revealed through scie...

(This is the conclusion of a conversation published as the March 21, 28, and April 4 articles).  “ So what you're saying is I shouldn't derive my sense of self from this world because it's not real? Why does it feel real to me? I've realized I misunderstood my readings of the Course , so now I'm doubting whether to continue studying the Course or not. How do I know if I've misunderstood something or not?” – KR It feels real to you because you were born into this consciousness and you don’t question its reality until something happens to make you question it.  Workbook Lesson #132 discusses this a bit: “There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach. Not everyone is ready to accept it, and each one must go as far as he can let himself be led along the road to truth…But healing is the gift of those who are prepared to learn there is no world, and can accept the lesson now. Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in so...

(This is a continuation of a conversation published as the March 21 and 28 articles).  “… You have said, ‘I think you may be locked in the old, religious habit of spiritualizing the ego. That’s when you think that there is a connection between the Truth and what you do or do not do as a person’. By judging me as thinking from 'old religious habit of spiritualizing the ego' haven't you contradicted yourself and judged me from the ego?             Also, how can there not be a connection between the Truth and what you do or do not do as a person? That's clearly separation thinking because WE ARE TRUTH. How then am I so calm and less stressed out since I started studying the Course ? As I study the Course and Jesus points me gently towards the Truth I feel peaceful even for a little bit, why is that? If there is no connection between Truth and what I do as a person?         ...

(This is a continuation of a conversation that began in the March 21 article). “Thank you very much for answering. I'm so happy that at least one spiritual teacher answered instead of ignoring…I'm also a student of A Course in Miracles , I've recently started studying of my own accord. Jesus says there's really only one of Us in reality and that this world is a dream, a hallucination of the One Mind. The belief that we are separate from Him and God is the only belief that needs healing. We are all the Sonship. Therefore answer me this, would you ask for money from your family? By making people as your 'clients' instead of brothers and sisters of the One Family, aren't you reinforcing the idea of separation? Therefore contradicting your 'teachings'? People may assume that you're a con artist instead of a 'spiritual teacher' in that case, making millions off 'spirituality' when in reality Truth is abundant and available to anyone...

(This article is the first of four in a dialogue with the same questioner that will be published here today and through the next 3 weeks). “ I would really like to know why all spiritual teachers I've come across including yourself ask for money in return for teaching people about God. No one has ever answered me this question, so please answer me. Why are you making the Truth corporate? Jesus didn't ask for money or anything in return to teach people about God.” – KR I cannot speak for others, but I offer a service that no one needs but that some may want. Obviously God (True Being) is in every mind so no one needs me to bring God to them. But some want to grow their awareness of God and I offer assistance with that. And just as everyone brings to their work, I offer my time, energy, attention, education, and experience. I ask for money in exchange for all of this because money is required to exchange for things that facilitate living in the world. So my business is jus...

“…What are your favourite Workbook lessons?  Which ones have you personally found to be the most useful for bringing your awareness back to Truth?  Are there any which you found yourself repeating more frequently than others, as you trained your mind?” – OT This June it will be 30 years since I started A Course in Miracles . I did the Workbook right away, at the same time that I also dove into the Text and Manual for Teachers (I was hungry for it all!). So it has been a very long time since I’ve done the Workbook. I do not remember which lessons resonated with me back then. I do know that I thought I did a lousy job of it. But a lot more of it sunk in than I was aware of at the time. I can say that the idea in one of them which says something like, “We say God is and then we cease to speak” was one I was brought back to again and again in many different forms by the Holy Spirit (Teacher of Truth in my mind). The most transformative practice for me has been to simply o...

“… If we are not really individuals once we leave this illusional world how was Jesus able to communicate as a former individual self to dictate the course?  Is there a memory of who we once were (which would explain near death experiences where people meet loved ones) that remains with us when we return to our oneness?  Is all of who we thought we were here in this illusion forgotten?  If that is the case, it makes Jesus claim of being a former body confusing to me…”             The story of Jesus is one of a man who became so aware of God (True Being) that he stopped identifying as a man and identified with God instead. In A Course in Miracles this awareness is called “Christ”. The potential for this awareness is in every mind because God is in every mind. But for some “Christ” is too abstract an idea so they need a concrete symbol. “Jesus” can b...