Ask: I feel hoodwinked by ACIM...

           “…If I feel like taking a long break or even not going back to spiritual practice then that is the atonement working through me. …I feel almost angry that I was somehow hoodwinked, yes childish but true.”

 

“Why do you feel hoodwinked?”

 

“I think because after doing the lessons in acim I felt like it was a guide to enlightenment.  I felt I could realize it. The lessons do seem to espouse that way of thinking or so I believed.” –email exchange with Anonymous

 

THE Enlightened Mind is here within you now. So what is this other story that you need to reach It but an illusion of you? A Course in Miracles does teach this and offers the holy instant as the way to practice awareness of it. So, your choice is to spin in a story of not being enlightened or to turn this instant to the Enlightened Mind within you.

Not all students read A Course in Miracles the same way. Some of my first articles pointed out that there were students who read the Course as a guide to living better in the world and that there were others, like myself, who read a deeper meaning. I, too, saw it as a guide to Enlightenment. But that is not a universal experience of the Course. There is a reason it was yours. Trust that you felt you could realize Enlightenment and express your trust by practicing the holy instant when ego comes a-doubting.

>>>>> 

If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and I will answer it in this newsletter/blog.

Comments

will said…
Anonymous,
Congratulations! You learned a lesson that will save you endless grief. Having enlightenment as a goal is the same as having specialness as a goal. The ego rushes in to judge you, your spiritual program, your progress or lack of it and every other facet of your spiritual life it can get to. You already see the unhappiness it is creating.
Good Luck.
10:46 AM
will said…
Enlightenment only becomes a problem when the mind makes it into an idol. Which it invariably does.
12:19 PM
will said…
How many years did Jesus spend preparing for his ministry...
11:56 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ask: What is meant by "extend Love"?

I wonder exactly what is meant by "extend love" or how one extends love. Is it a loving intention toward the person, or a wish for them, or what? Can you give an example? – JO “Extending love” means replacing unloving thoughts in your mind with the awareness of Love in your mind. For example, your peace of mind is disturbed while watching something on television. Your peace is gone because you believe that what you see is reality. You extend Love in this situation by turning inward to Truth (God), feeling Love’s Presence within you, and remembering that It, not the images appearing, is What is Real. It may take you a while to accept that only your own thoughts cause you pain. So at first you may feel that you need to extend Love “out there” to the images that seem to be causing you pain. Or you may extend Love to another who is sharing their painful story with you. You can do this by imagining the situation or the person in a Loving Light. Or you may use some other image to
Read more

If the World Isn't Real, Why Ask For Guidance?

Every now and then a student asks me why they should follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance if the world isn’t real and if it has nothing to do with God. What difference does it make how you live in the world, then? All that you made can serve salvation easily and well. The Son of God can make no choice the Holy Spirit cannot employ on his behalf, and not against himself. (T-25.VI.7) The world is your perception that you are separate from God. Calling on the Holy Spirit to guide you in it corrects this misperception. You are no longer separate from God when you are following the Holy Spirit. What you ask the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Sprit answers is not important. What is important is that you asked and that you accepted an answer . When you follow the Holy Spirit the purpose of every circumstance becomes a means to be with the Holy Spirit. The world that was made to make separation from God real to you becomes a means of remembering you are One with God. It doesn’t matter to God ho
Read more

More on Emotional Satisfaction or Freedom

Last week’s article ( http://acimmentor.blogspot.com/2017/02/emotional-satisfaction-or-freedom.html ) about the two possible approaches to spirituality and how one way to characterize them is the pursuit of emotional satisfaction for the self or transcending the self led to a lot of comments and questions that I will try to clear up here. (The article was a follow-up to two other articles I had written on the same topic. Some of the questions readers had could be answered in those earlier articles and links were provided in last week’s article. If you still have questions I suggest reading those as well as last week’s article for a fuller look at the topic). The emotional satisfaction I wrote about in the last article was not referring to what one seeks in relation to others. It was referring to the desire for an emotional connection with Truth (God) that one would characterize as “warm”. I was highlighting how which goal we pursue in spirituality can often be revealed by the
Read more