ACIM Mentor

             A discomfort often reported to me by clients and readers is their confusion over why certain spiritual experiences, like shifts in perception and mystical experiences, are not consistent or why these experiences don’t seem to make discernable progress. They may grow through these experiences and in that sense they progress, but the experiences themselves do not seem to grow or develop. For example, someone may have a mystical experience revealing truth beyond ego and the world and never have another. Others feel the nearness of truth often, but it doesn’t break fully into their conscious awareness. Some have reported living in a lovely awareness of truth for months or even years only to have it fade. The problem isn’t truth (pure consciousness), of course, but the nature of ego. Ego thinks everything that happens in consciousness is for it and its person. That is its reality and it knows no other. It makes stories, and in doing so, deve...

              It’s always worth revisiting this modern-day parable now and then. Comments afterward.   ** The Old Man and the Flood   An old man lives in a town where a flood comes through. The water rises to his porch, and a fire truck comes by.   “Get in,” the firemen call to him. “We’ll get you to higher ground.”   “No, thanks,” says the old man. “God will take care of me.”   The next morning the water had risen to his second story. He’s hanging out a window when a rescue boat comes by.   “Get in,” the would-be rescuers call to him. “We’ll take you to higher ground.”   “No, thanks,” says the old man. “God will take care of me.”   The next morning finds the old man on his roof as the water has all but covered his house. A helicopter flies over and drops down a ladder.   “Climb up,” his would-be rescuers call to him. “We’ll take you to higher ground.”   “No, th...

             A  common question clients and readers ask when they begin to see the way to peace is, “How can I be happy when others are unhappy?” Sometimes, the “others” are distant people, in war torn countries, for example. Other times, the “others” are people close to them. They feel it is selfish to choose peace. A Course in Miracles states at least three times that your only responsibility is to “accept the Atonement” for yourself . In the Course , Atonement means “correction of the perception that you are separate from God.” That correction means to lead to your happiness. But in many ways, the Course tells you that your shift in perception away from separation toward unity also helps others. It is not difficult to see how this works if you think in terms of energy. Your joining others in their unhappiness only increases the amount of misery in the room—or in the world. And certainly, if someone cares about you, they don’t want you to ...