ACIM Mentor

Wondering if you could just take us through a day in the life for you in regards to "forgiving".  And maybe how you first started "forgiving" versus how you do it now. From forgiving the whole world to forgiving a hang nail.  Sometimes it seems when I read about child abuse for example, and I say "it's not real" it kind of feels like I'm discounting the horrible pain the child has gone thru…it's just my projection seems kind of like a cop out or something.....I really do understand it's all a dream, but still. I've been doing my forgiveness work for almost 3 years now and I really don't feel any happier or peaceful and it's starting to zap my motivation..... I do what the Course says: 1.      Notice it - acknowledge it's you/your projections 2.      Realize it isn't real/truth 3.      Release it to the Holy Spirit Am I doing something wrong ? – DC      ...

“ Is the ‘ache’ I feel for others a judgment? …What I am experiencing is an overwhelming sadness/ache for others and I sense this is in fact the flip-side of the ego coin and is a form of judgment in its own right.  The arrogance of ‘feeling sorry for people’ perhaps, although it doesn’t feel like pity…I feel overwhelmed at times by this ‘ache’ for others, for the state of the world and so on.  I wonder if it is like any other projection that needs to be recognised for what it is, forgiven and released to the Holy Spirit?  That said, the ego tells me that if I felt neutral and peaceful over the plight of others I would be cold and heartless.  I understand that the pain and suffering of the world is not the Truth, but as a seeming person living ‘in it’ I can’t quite grasp that, although I get the metaphysics of it… ” - AM             You are projecting meaning (judgment – wrong/bad) onto what you see happeni...

A Course in Miracles tells us: “ 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) I have to admit that I have a hard time seeing how others are just ideas in my mind. There they are, a body, which seems so solid and real to me… (September 12, 2014) The body, like all of the universe of form, is only an empty symbol onto which you project the idea of a “person”. For example, my mother died over 10 years ago and yet when I think of her I still get a feeling that I think of as “Mom”. It’s the same feeling I had when there was a body here onto which to project “Mom”. It’s really an aggregation of thoughts and the feelings to which they lead that I think of as “Mom”. Sometimes it is so vivid that it is as though she is present. So it’s pretty clear now that Mom’s body is gone that the body could not have been the source of my expe...

“…Please can you give specific examples of how you personally "extend or create" as Truth?  My understanding is that as egos we extend and this is seen in all examples of projecting and then believing our projections as truth.  But egos' projections are illusions that end in chaos. For the awakened mind, instead of projecting it "extends or creates" in Truth.  Can you translate how as a unified One we constantly create? I recently read that Albert Einstein described himself as someone "just wanting to know the thoughts of God."  When I try to commune with Truth I try to just center myself on Truth so I might be able at some point "download" intuitive thoughts or feelings from the Truth. Creating peace. Don't know if perhaps this communing with the Truth inside me is the "extending or creating in Truth"?  Can you elaborate?” – SS             As it does with so many terms, A Course in Miracles re-d...

My friend’s friend passed away recently and my friend said, “I am happy he is home in God now and relieved his pain is over.” But the man who passed did not seem to have any interest in spiritual awareness at all. So is it true that he went home to God? If so, then why go through the hassle of becoming aware of God in the world if you are going to go back there in any case?             There is a faulty premise behind your questions and it is that in you there is some part of God (True Being; Reality) that left God and that will, upon the death of the body, return to God. But God is whole and complete always (eternal now). No part of It ever leaves It or needs to return to It. This idea is how the ego (personal thought system) makes it seem that the illusion has some reality. No part of illusion comes from Truth (God) so no part of it needs to return to Truth. All of not-Truth is wholly illusory.     ...

“Would you do a blog on how you first started practicing and how it has evolved over the years? I would be very interested to hear that and I'm sure it would be a big help to a lot of people.” – WW             My spiritual path began in 1984 with A Course in Miracles . I was 20 years old. I had been doing some other psycho-spiritual reading before I found ACIM but ACIM is what grabbed me. Its teaching was really my whole path until study fell away naturally.             In the beginning I did not really practice. Oh, sure, I did the lessons. But I was terrified and I could hardly stand to read them every morning and evening. If I remembered twice a day to do those lessons that were supposed to be done every hour it was a good day! However, much more sunk in than I knew at the time. I repeated the Workbook for another year and didn’t do much better    ...

“…Many people extol the benefits of tithing (usually in the amount of 10 percent or more) to wherever they feel they are being spiritually fed. I'd very much like to hear your views on tithing from A Course in Miracles perspective. I'm sure nothing in either the text, workbook, or manual mentions it (or not that I've come across anyway), but some ACIM teachers recommend it nonetheless. Is there a sound basis for this Course -wise?...” –LH             You are correct that tithing is not mentioned in A Course in Miracles . No behavior is necessary for inner peace. If you want inner peace you only have to be willing to be aware of God (True Being). And willingness is of the mind, not of the body.             Like all behavior in the world, tithing is meaningless in itself. Some people tithe as a traditional practice. Others tithe as a practical way to express gratitude...

Aren’t we addicted to the ego?             No. But when you think that the ego (personal thought system) is your reality you do think that you need it to live. So you feel that you have a dependency on it. Let’s look at the distinction between abuse, addiction, and dependency. These words are often used interchangeably but there is a difference between the experiences.             Abuse refers to using a substance, behavior, or situation improperly, thereby harming or risking harming yourself. This does not necessarily lead to addiction or dependency. For example, most of us abuse food on occasion. You may overeat at a meal or regularly overindulge in a certain food. Or you may get drunk or high, even quite often, without developing an addiction or dependency on alcohol or drugs. Abusing substances can be a passing phase, for example when you are young and want to enh...

“ Could you help with some guidance in the work of quieting fear from thought when facing seemingly unchangeable physical problems, i.e.,  the slow loss of one's  vision or serious health diagnosis in one's child or a close loved one.  What can one do consistently in a practical way to combat the frightening feelings that come so tenaciously.....so often in the nighttime?  I am wondering if there are honest affirmations or words that might help break the dark fears of the future - and give one a sense of hope and control of the right kind?”  – LK             The personal experience is one of limitation, lack, and inevitable losses. Peace comes only from the awareness of the whole, unchanging, eternal Truth (“God” in A Course in Miracles ) within you. Truth is untouched by anything that does or does not happen in the world. It is wholly apart from the personal experience. So as often as possib...

“…I recently started a new position at work in which I am the supervisor of 6 people. 2 of them approached me about their unhappiness with one of their coworkers work ethic they demanded action. It was really hard for me as I just don't like to judge anyone. I did do it in the spirit of love and it did seem to work out pretty well but I was curious of your thoughts. I'm just learning that even in that situation I could be peaceful and not fearful. It was the first experience that I have had that kind of inner peace even in a conflicted situation. I also asked the Holy Spirit for the guidance and saw my onesies with these brothers…” – JW             Since you experienced peace in the situation I’m not quite sure what more I can offer! You must’ve done something right. Perhaps you still feel conflicted over the idea of “judging” others even though you experienced peace in the middle of what you once considered a situation of con...

“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...