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Ask: Does ACIM say the world is an illusion or my thoughts about it are?

              A confusion this mind had as a new student and that Liz here sometimes hears from clients and readers is, “Is A Course in Miracles saying the world is an illusion or how I’m seeing it is an illusion?” This mind loved the idea that the world isn’t real. This was radical, yes, but also completely liberating. However, this made ego uncomfortable, so there were times it asserted that, no, the Course is saying only your perceptions are illusions. This was not as liberating, but ego was a bit more comfortable. Actually, the Course says both are illusions and it all comes together in Lesson 132 in the Workbook, “I loose the world from all I thought it was.” (For those confused by the word loose here, change it to release .) Paragraph 4 begins, “The world is nothing in itself. Your mind must give it meaning.” This is the awareness that the Workbook of the Course fosters from the start. The world is a neutral appearance, so any meaning ...
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Ask: Do words matter to God?

            “I would like to see a discussion on: Does God understand our words? Since words have been invented as a communication device in the illusion, does God even know they exist? I have seen people agonize over what words to use in prayer. Does it matter?” – HC   “Strictly speaking, words play no part at all in healing. The motivating factor is prayer, or asking. What you ask for you receive. But this refers to the prayer of the heart, not to the words you use in praying. Sometimes the words and the prayer are contradictory; sometimes they agree. It does not matter. God does not understand words, for they were made by separated minds to keep them in the illusion of separation. Words can be helpful, particularly for the beginner, in helping concentration and facilitating the exclusion, or at least the control, of extraneous thoughts. Let us not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality.”...
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Ask: Have you experienced a sort of "energetic indwelling"?

           “I have noticed a kind of embodiment of something…Holy Spirit, the Heart…not sure how to articulate, but an energetic indwelling…have not seen any reference to this in ACIM…another egoic experience or something aligning with HS, Source, etc.? Have you experienced anything similar?” – MG   “Energetic indwelling” is rather vague, but I know these experiences are hard to describe. I assume you mean that you are experiencing something within that is out of the ordinary. The fact that you initially want to describe it as the embodiment of the Holy Spirit or the Heart, by which I think you mean it feels loving, means that you are pretty sure it is something aligned with truth, but you have your doubts. Here’s how you can tell the difference between an experience of truth or of something new from ego that you think might be truth: Truth is quiet and unmoving. It just is . You use the word “energy”, but many use that word when they want to expr...
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God

             This is about what is labeled God and how sometimes in spiritual teachings contradictory things are labeled God , which leads to confusion. So, here’s some sorting out. There is what is going to happen in your person’s life and there is ego thinking it is autonomous and has free will and that it determines what happens in the person’s life. Even if you cannot accept that everything is predetermined, objectively you can see that your person does not exist in a vacuum. Their life is influenced by others and circumstances, often people and circumstances that are far away. Your person’s life is part of a greater unfolding. Adjusting to this fact is what is called maturing . Spirituality accelerates maturity by fostering acceptance of what is unfolding, often through the idea that what happens is the “will” of a supreme being, often called God . Ego senses things beyond itself and these it tends to label God or a like term. The supreme be...
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Ask: Everything is gently planned for my good? Really?

           “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 ...
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Living With What is to Happen

              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...
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Ask: Could you discuss the idea of the Holy Spirit?

          “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...
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