ACIM Mentor

The Course offers us a resolution to make for the New Year: This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ. I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. Say, then, to your brother: I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself. I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself. In the name of my freedom I choose your release, because I recognize that we will be released together. So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. Make this year different by making it all the same. And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will. Amen. (T-15.XI.10) www.acimmentor.com Look for my booklet, Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students on ...

Prepare you now for the undoing of what never was. If you already understood the difference between truth and illusion, the Atonement would have no meaning. The holy instant, the holy relationship, the Holy Spirit's teaching, and all the means by which salvation is accomplished, would have no purpose. For they are all but aspects of the plan to change your dreams of fear to happy dreams, from which you waken easily to knowledge. Put yourself not in charge of this, for you cannot distinguish between advance and retreat. (T-18.V.1) The Course tells us that a happy dream precedes awakening. It is a dream of Oneness that reflects the peace and joy of Heaven. It is necessary because it would be too shocking to go from the dream of separation and fragmentation back to the Oneness of God. It is the means of gentle awakening. The dream of separation becomes a happy dream when you recognize you are dreaming. You recognize the world and the ego aren’t real and therefore they become a trans...

The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within, and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come. He comes demanding nothing. No sacrifice of any kind, of anyone, is asked by Him. In His Presence the whole idea of sacrifice loses all meaning. For He is Host to God. And you need but invite Him in Who is there already, by recognizing that His Host is One, and no thought alien to His Oneness can abide with Him there. (T-15.XI.2) Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy. Let us join in celebrating peace by demanding no sacrifice of anyone, for so you offer me the love I offer you. What can be more joyous than to perceive we are deprived of nothing? Such is the message of the time of Christ, which I give you that you may give it and return it to the Father, Who gave it to me. For in the time of Christ communication is restored, and He joins us in the celebration...

If you point out the errors of your brother's ego you must be seeing through yours, because the Holy Spirit does not perceive his errors. This must be true, since there is no communication between the ego and the Holy Spirit. (T-9.III.3) When we are first students of the Course many, if not all of us, want to “spread the word”. There are two motivations for this. One is seeing that others are in pain and wanting to offer them relief. The other is not wanting to accept that we are responsible for our own perceptions. The first error is one of looking out from ego and not seeing others as they really are; the second error is obviously responsible for the first. It is uncomfortable to accept we are responsible for our perceptions when we have invested so much in being a victim of a cruel world. Once I read where a woman suggested taking the Course door-to-door. She apparently did not accept what the Course tells us is our only responsibility: To accept our Oneness with God for o...

…healing rests on charity, and charity is a way of perceiving the perfection of another even if you cannot perceive it in yourself. (T-2.V.9) Charity is a way of looking at another as if he had already gone far beyond his actual accomplishments in time. Since his own thinking is faulty he cannot see the Atonement for himself, or he would have no need of charity. The charity that is accorded him is both an acknowledgment that he needs help, and a recognition that he will accept it. (T-2.V.10) In the world, charity is usually a material gift given by one perceived to have more to one perceived to have less. The Course teaches us that charity is seeing Christ in another even when we cannot yet see Christ in ourselves or the other cannot yet see Christ in their self. Charity strengthens the awareness of Christ in both minds. Charity gives to both the giver and the receiver. During this holiday season students want to know if they are supposed to give money or do charity work. There is n...

I used to feel guilty setting boundaries. Boundaries are the lines we put around ourselves for our own comfort. When others do not respect these boundaries, we boot them from our lives. For example, “You must treat me with respect to be in my life”; “You are an adult and you must act like one to be in my life”; “I’ve asked you to stay out of my business and if you can’t you must get out of my life”; “You must take responsibility for your own actions or you cannot be in my life”, “You must follow the company’s rules or be fired”, etc. When I was growing up, what I learned from my mother (what I was teaching myself) was how to be an emotional rescuer. When I embarked on a spiritual path my lack of boundaries became even worse. For some reason I equated being spiritual with being a doormat. Naturally I attracted other adults who were looking to be rescued. I found their neediness to be such a drag on my energy that I didn’t care to be around most people. I was angry and irritated much of ...

I’ve written about not needing to sacrifice before (09/27/2006 and 10/17/2006) but it is such a common obstacle that I encounter with students I must write about it again. Many students – and I was certainly one of them – make the mistake at the beginning of their path of deciding to put up with an uncomfortable, unhappy or downright painful situation because they think they’re supposed to use it to learn forgiveness. They become martyrs and practice one of the ego’s versions of forgiveness -- what the Course calls forgiveness-to-destroy because it reinforces the illusion that you are separate from God rather than lets it go. Martyrdom can take a couple of forms. One is “I don’t like this situation but I’m supposed to use this as an opportunity to learn forgiveness.” Another is, “I really want this but I shouldn’t want anything in the world because it’s all an illusion. So I’m going to try to not want it.” Sacrifice is the ego’s highest value because it was made from the sacrifice of y...

Some students fear detachment because they fear they will be perceived as cold and unfeeling and will lose the people in their lives. They fear they will be lonely. When I talk about detachment I am talking about detaching from the ego and its perceptions. This shows up as detaching from the ego in others as well. This does not happen until you feel a conscious, ongoing connection to God. You don’t feel alone. The Holy Spirit is your constant Companion and loneliness is not possible. You are filled up, you are whole. You naturally detach because you don’t need anything from other egos. Your relationships are no longer based on “need”. You have only to give. Believe me, the people around you will not find this cold and unfeeling! What will happen is you will no longer be interested in the drama of others and the world. You won’t be annoyed, frustrated or impatient with it – those are ego responses – you will be indifferent to it. You will be at peace within and untouched by the chaos sw...

"The plan is not of you, nor need you be concerned with anything except the part that has been given you to learn. For He Who knows the rest will see to it without your help. But think not that He does not need your part to help Him with the rest. For in your part lies all of it, without which is no part complete, nor is the whole completed without your part." (T-20.IV.6) "Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done. It does not matter. For your part is still what all the rest depends on. As you take the role assigned to you, salvation comes a little nearer each uncertain heart that does not beat as yet in tune with God." (W-169.11) Some students want to know what will happen to them if they are not fully awakened, or have attained enlightenment, by the time they leave the world. Will they have failed? Will they still go to Heaven? Heaven is an awareness of Oneness. You accepted Heaven w...

Everyone makes an ego or a self for himself, which is subject to enormous variation because of its instability. He also makes an ego for everyone else he perceives, which is equally variable. (T-4.II.2) When you accept the above quote it makes forgiveness easier because you realize that what you are seeing in another is merely an idea in your own mind. This is why it is always your own illusions you have to forgive. We talk about different egos but really there is just the one idea of ego, or a self separate from God. This idea takes many forms to confuse us and hide from us the fact that it is just an idea. We pick among egos, liking some and disliking others, as though one illusion of separation is better than another. They are all illusions so they are all the same. The details are not important. It is easy to release judgment when you recognize there is nothing from which to choose. And without judgment as a veil across your mind you can easily let go of what you are seeing and ch...

Separating Truth from illusion is how spiritual awakening is accomplished. Unless you experience Truth, or your Oneness with God, you cannot really understand the Course when it tells you that the world and bodies/egos are illusion. They are all you think you know. The experience of Oneness with others or directly with God shows you how radically different is God from what you think is real. So how do you invite these experiences? By retraining your mind with conscious and consistent effort. Here is what you need to do: See Christ in others even when you do not really yet see Christ in them. You can do this by deliberately seeing light around them or in them to represent the idea of Christ to you. You consciously decide to focus on this instead of what is appearing. Then one day instead of seeing what you put there you will see Christ. I cannot describe this to you, but you will know it when you see it. In fact, it will be more familiar to you than what you are used to experiencing. W...

The Course tells us that you always attack yourself before you attack others. That is because you attack others to fill a perceived lack in yourself: A lack of love, fulfillment, safety, peace. So the first attack is the perception of yourself lacking and the attack on another simply perpetuates your sense of lack and guilt. You will keep attacking until you realize that attacking is not making you feel whole and safe. How do you stop attacking? Realize that others cannot supply what you perceive yourself as lacking. Only God can supply what you need because all needs arose from a perception of separation from God. Commune with God and let God fill you up with love and peace and safety and wholeness. When others attack you, you can understand that they are feeling a lack and are really attacking themselves. They are coming from fear. Their attack on you has nothing to do with you but with their perception that you can give them what they are missing. Of course you cannot, but you can ...

Most of my students first heard of A Course in Miracles through popular books they read where it was mentioned. Most of them are pretty shocked when they read the Course and find out how different the Course is from the books that led them to it. If you’ve been to my website or read through my past blogs you may have seen a topic called “Three Types of Course Students”. In there I discuss what I call “practical students”. These students take from the Course what they think they can use to dream a better dream and disregard the rest. Mostly, they take what they learn about projection and relationships. Many popular writers who reference the Course fall into this category. Of course there are other writers who write directly about the Course , but they are not likely to be so popular at this time. Most people are not looking to wake up, but rather to dream a less painful dream. They have not yet realized that the source of their pain is that they are dreaming and that the only way ...

When I was first a student of the Course I made the mistake of thinking I had to convince my ego to accept what the Course said and to accept my experiences of Oneness. I felt a deep sense of recognition when I read the Course , much like the experience of Oneness I would soon experience with another in the holy relationship. But I was also deeply identified with my ego and it resisted what I read and what I experienced. It told me what I read didn’t make sense, that it contradicted “reality” and that my experiences were insane even though they were more familiar and real to me than this world. I couldn’t see how I could ever wholly accept what I was experiencing because the ego would never let me. And I was right. After more than twenty years my ego still says the same thing. Particularly when I have a profound experience that shifts me out of the world and shows me what is real, my ego follows up with a vicious attack. It knows that, even if it was only for an instant, I went somep...

In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider, very simply, is "What do I want to come of this? What is it for ?" The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is this which will determine the outcome. (T.17.VI.2) You are always teaching yourself what you believe you are. You can only teach yourself you are ego or God. So in any situation the question becomes, what do you want to learn? When you enter into an encounter that you anticipate will be uncomfortable, step back and set the goal. It’s always easier if this is done before or at the very beginning of the encounter. Ask yourself what you want to learn – that you are ego, separate from God; or that you are Part of God? If you decide you want to learn you are Part of God, let go. Now the Holy Spirit can be your Teacher. Realize that you do not know what the relationship is about and what this particular encounter is about. Keep your mind open. You will be amazed at the results...

The other day I was in a home where someone had left their church’s magazine open on a table. The magazine was open to an article that said you could always trust in God. The blurb about the article stated that if you lived a worthy life you would be given guidance by the Holy Spirit. (I didn’t read the article so I don’t know what a “worthy life” looks like to them). How different is this idea from what we learn in the Course! The Course tells us that anyone, anywhere at any time can be guided by the Holy Spirit if they are only willing to hear and follow. It does not matter who you are or who you have been. Your worth is established as Part of God and the Holy Spirit is your True Voice. The idea that you have to do something to become worthy of God reinforces the idea that the separation from God is real and that your guilt for taking power from God is justified. Whenever you find yourself feeling that you are unworthy ask yourself if it is really possible that you are more powerful...

A student of the Course posted to my blog asking me where he could find my blog of 6/21. When someone posts to my blog all I get in my email is the content of their post. I don’t know to which particular blog they posted unless I click on a link that comes with their comments. I rarely bother to do this because most comments are generic or about the poster’s own experience. In this case, I assumed he had been reading through the archive of my blogs in June and looked in my own files where I found I did not have a blog for 6/21 and emailed this to him. But something (guess Who?) made me click on the link before I deleted his email. I found that he had actually been referring to my blog of 10/28 and that in it I had incorrectly referenced a previous blog as 6/21 instead of 10/21. What was ironic was that the blog in which I had made the mistake was the one called “Your Mistakes Are Corrected For You”, in which I explain how the Holy Spirit always finds a way to correct your mistakes! I ...

All real pleasure comes from doing God's Will. (T-1.VII.1) When I talk about giving from abundance and not from sacrifice or about giving to increase the value of an idea in your mind not “giving to get” students sometimes ask, “But don’t you feel good anyway? And doesn’t other people’s gratitude feel good, too?” Actually, no. When I am connected to the Holy Spirit the pleasure comes from the connection itself. I feel whole and good and at peace regardless of whether this results in action taken in the world. Whether I am guided to do something for someone else or not is not important. How an ego responds to my action (or lack of action) is totally irrelevant. Do not deceive yourself into believing that you can relate in peace to God or to your brothers with anything external. (T-1.VII.1) Our journey is inward. There came a time on my path when I thought the Holy Spirit was teaching me how to “be there” for others. But what I really learned was how not to be there, how to step a...

In my blog on 10/21 I wrote about how often students become paralyzed when they first turn their life over to their Holy Spirit because they are uncertain which way to go. Related to this paralysis of indecision is the fear of making a mistake. First, you have to understand that making a mistake is not a sin. It calls for correction, not punishment. So any fear you have here is unjustified. Second, if you have turned your life over to your Holy Spirit, then you have the Correction with you at all times. Remember, there is only one mistake: The perception that you have separated yourself from God. If you are connecting with your Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God, then your one mistake is corrected. And this is manifested in the correction of any other mistake you may seem to make in the world. Remember the story I told you on 10/21 about the couple who were planning to move but bumped up against too many obstacles. Their plan to move was out of accord with where the Holy Spirit needs them...

When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself. (T-8.III.4) The Holy Spirit teaches you that if you look only at yourself you cannot find yourself, because that is not what you are. Whenever you are with a brother, you are learning what you are because you are teaching what you are. (T-8.III.5) When I was first a student of the Course I was very resistant to the idea of seeing Christ in others. First of all, I didn’t think that most people were Christ-like at all. I misunderstood and thought I was supposed to see Christ in their egos, or individual identities, instead of seeing Christ instead of their egos. Second of all, I thought that the point of seeing Christ in others was to be “good” and I knew many attempts to be “good” only lead to hypocrisy. Any image-related concern (li...