The following writings are from my mind . . .

All of the following articles are from my thoughts in metaphysical, theological and spiritual thought.

"A Course in Miracles" (ACIM) - An Introduction

What is, "A Course In Miracles" all about? Who created it? Is "ACIM" a path for me? What is the meaning of, "a miracle"?

The ideas represented herein are the personal interpretation and understanding of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the copyright holder of A Course in Miracles, which is now, The Foundation For a Course in Miracles.

"This is a course in miracles. Please take notes." 1With these words, "A Course in Miracles" was first introduced to the human mind.
BACKGROUND:
The time was the fall of 1965; the place was New York City, and these words infiltrated the mind of a hard-nosed, Ph.D, research psychologist by the name of Helen Schucman. She would become the scribe of, "The Course", learning that the identity of the voice she was hearing was none-other than, Jesus, yet quite different from the one Christianity would exhalt to the status of, "The Only Begotten Son of God." This time, Jesus would identify himself as our elder brother - identifying us all as Christ, and part of the same Sonship to which he belongs. It is this Jesus that is the author of, "A Course in Miracles" - the same Jesus Helen had a love/hate relationship with for a good part of her life.

For the next seven years, Helen would have an ongoing relationship with Jesus as their minds joined in what would appear to have been an unlikely "partnership." Helen had been born Jewish and at different times flirted with Christianity through exposing herself to Catholicism and Baptist religious thinking - eventually spending the largest part of her life with agnostic or atheistic attitudes and beliefs, not unlike what she experienced during the "Course years". She was terrified by Catholiscim, yet was entranced by their pomp and circumstance.

Helen was a respected psychologist and Associate Professor at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and assistant to William Thetford, Professor of Medical Psychology at the University. He was also Director of the Psychology Department at Presbyterian Hospital. They would work together over the next several years on this project - ACIM. William Thetford "held" Helen's hand during these exciting, but trying times and helped her not only transcribe her notes, but he gave her support in every way - which she needed often. For a long time the Course was their secret. Helen suffered from much anxiety during these times.

Eventually, others would lend support and help make the rough manuscript into what the world would come to know as "A Course in Miracles." The Course was published in 1976 by more of the principals, namely Judith Skutch and Robert Skutch, along with Kenneth Wapnick - all of which are still very much involved in ACIM through two foundations - The Foundation for Inner Peace, in California, and The Foundation for A Course in Miracles, in Roscoe, New York. The latter now holds all copyrights to the material, while retaining the position of the only official teaching arm of ACIM.. Also, it should be noted that this Foundation has since moved from Roscoe to Temecula, California. Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford have both since passed away; in 1981 and 1988 respectively.

In the almost 20 years since publication, many persons have either sought to interpret, "TheCourse", or "borrow" from it liberally to make a point in one way or another. I would caution everyone with a serious bent toward making The Course a path for themselves to choose wisely who they read or listen to since misinterpretation of The Course is easy to do; becoming very confusing to the proper study of its message. One excellent thought to hold onto is: "Seek Not To Change The Course." This was the subject of a workshop by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick, and an issue with which Helen was very concerned. She knew the temptation that can befall us all - to change meaning to suit our own needs. Also, she was insistent that neither ACIM, nor those associated with it, should ever seek to become bigger than the message. The special relationship is of particular concern in The Course. Helen, herself, did not want her name on the Course, nor any unusual recognition, such as being a "prophet". In fact, during her life-time she refused to allow anyone to associate her with "The Course" apart from those who already knew her and her association.

PRIME SOURCE FOR THIS INTRODUCTION:
The primary source for this introductory facilitation of, "A Course in Miracles" will be Kenneth Wapnick's, "A Talk Given On A Course in Miracles - An Introduction". As stated earlier, Dr. Wapnick has been involved from its very early inception with a most integral role. While he is not the only interpreter of "The Course", he can be trusted to keep you on track. In fact, he not only knew the principal people involved, (right after the scribing was completed) but was instrumental in creating the final product from the multitude of notes, and verbatim transcription Helen recorded from Jesus.

THE COURSE:
The Course consists of three books (now consolidated under one cover). They are: a 669 page Text; a 488 page Workbook for Students; and a 92 page Manual for Teachers. Two pamphlets (Extensions of the Principles of ACIM) - are authored by the same source, Jesus, but are not a part of the Course, per se. They are, "The Song of Prayer - Prayer, Forgiveness, Healing" and "Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice." This is the complete course with extentions! All other material is ancillary and can be very helpful in understanding, "The Course."

The Course is not for everyone! At the risk of sounding snobbish, let me say that TheCourse recognizes many paths to God. This is but one of those paths. The Course holds forth essentially two things: To help collapse time (the illusion), and therefore shorten the amount of experiences we have believing in "life" in this world; and to help us find peace while believing we are still within the illusion. This is made possible through the help of The Holy Spirit - The Voice For God. The Course is not evangelistic, i.e., it does not seek to "gather people to it." Nor, does it make claims of being a special path to the exclusion of all others. It does not make claims of being a "religion", however it does have a theology. In fact, The Course says,: "A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary." (From the manual, pg. 77, Clarification of terms C-In 2:4)

The Course has a different theology than its closest association - Christianity. They are not the same thought system at all. In fact, ACIM speaks of a non-dualistic world, where, on the other hand, Christianity - and most other religions, as well as the world itself, are dualistic in thought. When "The Course" speaks of the "world" it is including the "whole physical universe." It might be mentioned at this point that ACIM views the "God" of the Holy Bible as a God more aligned with the ego thought system than as God Is otherwise viewed by "The Course". Since a direct knowing of God in the world is impossible, it is tempting to make one up - created in our own image, rather than as perceived by The Course. It is that part of the dualistic thinking we seem to have made at the conception - or that split into consciousness of, "A Tiny Mad Idea." (T-27 VIII 6:2)

But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves I will try and proceed with further information about what the course says in a more succinct manner.

THE BASIC MESSAGE:
"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." (T-Intro 2:1,2,3,4) If ACIM were to be accused of heresy, the following paragraph would certainly qualify. But, this thought is central to "Course" study.

God is all that there is! God is reality! Everything that is real is but an extension of God! God creates through extending His Thoughts (Ideas). As "humans" we cannot know God directly since we are not creations of God, nor is the physical world of His making. Our true identity, however, is The Christ and that is of God's making since God creates Spirit and that is what Christ is. Since we cannot know God directly, we simply say that God Is! We do, however, ascribe certain attributes to Him, and they are, that God is Formless; Changeless; and Eternal. This becomes our yardstick in which we can measure reality. All that does not measure up is not real and therefore, illusion. Of course, that includes the whole phenomenal world, including us! That is, we are not formless, changeless, nor eternal. (See attachment - Chart)

With that much said, let us hasten to add that ACIM, while radical to "our" thinking, is practical in its approach. The author, Jesus, having gone through this himself, knows that our experience of being, separate minds in separate bodies, completely on our own, is what we believe and therefore he teaches us from two standpoints: As though we knew our true identity (Christ) and knew we were at "home" in God (Heaven, where we never really left). We could call this Level I - contrasting One-Mindedness with the split mind. And then he teaches us from another level that we could call Level II, which is from within the experience that we believe we are having; contrasting wrong and Right mindedness in "the world" - fenced within a body surrounded by time and space; bearing mortal "specialness", like: Matthew, Ken, Mary, or George.

While God is not aware of the content of our illusion, [since for God to know about it would make it real,] He is aware that His Son - Christ is in a "dream" and He has placed the Holy Spirit into the dream as His Voice and as an available correction to unreality, should His Son want it. So,"You are at Home In God, dreaming of exile . . ."(T-10.I 2:1)! Jesus, having been through this also, has reached the Atonement and knows the truth about the illusion - seeing his and our true identity as, Changeless, Formless and Eternal, One with God and All Creation. Accordingly, Jesus is the Manifestation of, The Holy Spirt.

Before we go any further, let's define a miracle:
A miracle is a shift in our perception! A correction! (T-5.II.1:3,7) A reflection between The Father and His Son. "Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world." (T-21 In. 1:7)

In Heaven we have no need of miracles. In Heaven we live in a complete state of Knowledge. We have traded that certainty for a "world" of perception; a world of opposites and uncertainty where the reality of LOVE'S presence - our natural inheritance, is blocked from our memory. We seem to have replaced that inheritance with a seeming opposite - FEAR, . . . but what is all encompassing can have no opposite .(T-In. 1:8) The way for us to remember God's love and our true identity within the illusion is FORGIVENESS! While forgiveness reflects the Law of Heaven, forgiveness will not be found there because there is no need of it in Heaven. To offer it is the only way to have it and to have it offers correction for all the mistakes (sins) we think we have committed. Thus, forgiveness of the world becomes the gate of Heaven and, at last, forgiveness of ourselves.

REALITY AND ILLUSION:
Simply stated: ACIM is a path to correct the illusion that seems to keep us separate from the memory of our Father; God! No real separation ever took place, since this would be impossible. However, we are experiencing "life" as though we were separated from His Love and this course will help us re-establish the memory of that reality in a non-dualistic "world", called Heaven. The course also helps us to understand our experience and thus understand the mechanism of relationships and the use of substitutes for our seeming lack in the reality of love. It has been said that the Holy Spirit uses our bodies and our experiences as teaching aids in the classroom of "life".

To repeat one very important point: God does not know about our world because God Is in the reality business and we are not really happening - we are - simply stated . . . illusion. If He were to have "Knowledge" of us then that would make our world, and us, real.

With that much said, what is the implication and full impact of such a statement? Does it make any difference if the physical universe is "real" as long as we experience it as real? Are we just engaged in a game of semantics, or mind bending exercises? Illusion vs. Reality? If we experience the terror of death, the pain and joy of life, the belief in yesterday or the promise of a tomorrow, does it really matter whether we label it illusion or reality? At the risk of simply sounding rhetorical, I will answer these questions with a qualified: Yes, I think it does matter!

If all of this is real, then what is God? If the physical world and the world of Spirit, i.e. God, are both real, then for better or worse we are but the pawns of a "master" we cannot know. Or, perhaps no master at all - no God. On the other hand, with God in the reality business and His Son (us) believing in reality through a filter of dreams (illusions), we can see hope and expectations of some very promising experiences at the threshold of eternity. Eternity is that point where the twilight of time ends, as do all illusions, and life continues unceasingly, in a state of reality - in Love and Oneness.

If we believe in Spirit and a Creator of that Spirit, it becomes only a small step to see that a physical world of limitation could not occupy the same idea with limitlessness, i.e., GOD! The course states a very important principle here: "Ideas leave not their source, and their effects but seem to be apart from them." (T-26. VII 4:7) The reality of anything lies within the creation of it - the Idea. No idea leaves the domain of its creator - nothing is Created outside the Mind of God! Semantics? I think not!

Remember this: All that we perceive - about what we call the world, is temporary and passes away. What we know, in our true state of being about God, is always, enduring, and eternal. Which, would you prefer? Well, a line from The Course asks, "Do you prefer that you be right or happy?"(T-29 VII 1:9) Which do you think we choose?

WHO or WHAT ARE WE - WHO or WHAT IS CHRIST?:
All of this talk about "us" and our human experience, and that of Spirit and the experience of God - what does it all mean? ACIM teaches that God has one Son - The Christ. He is the extension of God's Mind, since that is how God creates - by extension. God is Spirit and therefore so is Christ. This state of beingness is called Heaven, and is perceived in our "world" as a state of Unconditional Love - still implying the duality of opposites. In our natural state of being, however, we Are, simply - Love. We should ask: "What are we? Not, who are we?

So, what about "us", you and I? Well, we believe we are people, called human-beings. The Course tells us we are Spirit, believing, if you will, that we are having a human experience. The Christ Mind, called the big "M" Mind, has fallen into a deep sleep in Heaven - or so Jesus describes metaphorically for us how the illusion seemed to begin. We say metaphorically because such a thing could never have happened, i.e., a perfect Mind entertaining an imperfect thought, such as the making of the ego and a domain such as the world - a miscreation made by the ego as an attack on God. "A place where 'we' could hide from God." A place where our self-authorship could fragment over and over and over again, causing our mind to believe it has become many separate minds, in many separate bodies, and all of us - completely on our own. A place where time exists for us and in a linear manner; where we believe in yesterday and tomorrow instead of thinking of time as a spiral where everything is in the now - simultaneous!

And thus, the "tiny mad idea" appeared: "Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh. In his forgetting (to laugh) did the thought become a serious idea, and possible of both accomplishment and real effects." (T-27.VIII 6:2,3) Believing that we separated from Our Father - mis-creating ourself as our own father (becoming first cause - God) in this moment of seeming madness, we took this whole idea seriously and the carpet of time rolled out, splitting our mind against the non-duality of Heaven and finding instead a dualistic world of opposites where fear would rule over abundance or scarcity and demand would give rise to war. We would perceive ourselvs as separate and outside the Mind of God, where projection - not extension, perceives instead of Knowing.

A perception of "Separate minds in separate bodies, completly on our own, would dictate necessity."31 The miracle does nothing just because the minds are joined, and cannot separate. 2 "Yet in the dreaming this has been reversed, and separate minds are seen as bodies, which are separated and which cannot join."(T-28.III.3: 1&2) And thus our seeming needs were born as our descent into Hell began and the unholy trinity of sin, guilt and fear rode heavy upon our backs to make our many decisions in the sandbox of time. A world where linear concepts of time and space would raise impossibilities - not to mention hardships in many forms, yet always with an unchanging content. A place where separation drives wedges against peace, and guilt and judgement is hurled at our brother in some attempt to rid ourselves of sin. I, not you, are God's Perfect Son! Our experience takes many forms, but the content is either an expression of love or a call for love (attack).

One of the most eloquent passages within the Course reminds us that a miracle is an inner shift: "The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love." (T-26.IX.6:1). Truly a correction by the Holy Spirit over the ego's way of presentation.

A GLIMPSE AT METAPHYSICS:
The world has become our screen; a place to act out our scripts that we project upon it. Our mind, like a projector, unfolds our dramas with more reality than would be believed. Dreams are thrust forth and we interact with our "brothers" in endless loops of myriad sets - sometime we are the victim and sometimes the victimizer. Bonding and separateness - two extremes upon the field of life, and the special relationship plays out substitute roles for the real thing - Love.

That which we experience is but of our choosing, yet while none would choose death one might choose life (in a body) knowing that it must surely die. Choice is made in some unusual ways and yet the memory of that choice is dissociated from our mind and seemingly never made. What is illness, then, except an expression of sorrow and guilt - a judgement upon the son of man and a decision against God and His Holy Son, Christ!

How does our understanding of the World of God come to our understanding in this world of material intellect? How does one know the beauty of love or even if it has what we could call, beauty? We sons of man come to know something through the interpretation of our physical senses, and perhaps what we call intuition - the sixth, "non-physical" sense. Yet knowing things outside our belief system; beyond our experience, is where the Holy Spirit is helpful. Jesus tells us in M-21 that he must speak to us in metaphorical language that we can relate to, because: " . . . words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality."(M-21 1:9,10) In other words, in Heaven no need exists for language or learning. Perfect knowledge is our constant state in oneness.

Contrast this absence of dualistic thinking and symbolism for the world we experience through perception with the following quote from Jesus' sometimes tongue-in-cheek humor: "The Laws of Chaos", in Chapter 23 of the text, illustrates this well:

"Can you paint rosy lips upon a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet it and pamper it, and make it live? And can you be content with an illusion that you are living?
There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven life is illusion. At best it seems like life; at worst, like death. Yet both are judgments on what is not life, equal in their inaccuracy and lack of meaning. Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stands; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven. Illusions are but forms. Their content is never true.

Thus, we have a beginning for an introduction to ACIM. This syllabus, as it stands, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. We are caught in time, with a split-mind - the ego on the wrong side and the Holy Spirit on the right side. The Course offers us "another way" of viewing our script - a choice in a world of choices - in a world of duality: "How shall I look at this?" And, thus, we offer our script to Jesus, or the Holy Spirit in the hope of a better interpretation - not to awaken from the dream entirely, but to experience a happier dream upon peaceful fields where Lillies grow.

If another chosen path is yours, that is fine - The Course believes all paths lead to God. After-all, our belief is that we never really left Him! If this path is for you, I can only reiterate what has already been said with this final statement of welcome - this is a course in unlearning; peeling away the layers of mistakenness that seem to have made the illusion real and obscured our true identity as Spirit! May Love, Peace and Joy be your experience along the way!
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1 A Talk Given On A Course in Miracles - An Introduction 5th Ed. 1993 By Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D, pg. 10. - Foundation for a "A Course in Miracles" 41397 Buecking Drive Temecula, CA 92590
2 A Course in Miracles, 1975 (ACIM) - Foundation For Inner Peace, Inc. P. O. Box 598 Mill Valley, California 94942-0598.
http://Miracles-IllusionsAndTheWorld.net
Rev. 5/26/96 at Roscoe, N.Y.- G.P.W.

Syllabus For: "A Course in Miracles and Christianity: A Dialogue"

Prepared by: George P. Walmsley, Jr.

The ideas represented herein are the personal interpretation and understanding of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the copyright holder of A Course in Miracles, which is now The Foundation for A Course in Miracles.

Both systems of thought have very different premises; even to the point of being mutually exclusive of each other. To begin with, Christianity takes the form of a formal religion while A Course in Miracles does not, because it is not. Both, however, have a theology that attempts to show the way of man's relationship to God. I think it is safe to say ACIM. is not even a religion in so far as the Course does not seek members, nor make claims of a special system of worship to a supernatural power or as a singular path to God.

In so far as ACIM is concerned, the treatment of behavior towards one another, or the reference to any matter within the world, is to be seen only as a relational teaching tool and not considered as fact. We should be careful here not to make the error real. This is the "drama" within the illusion that the Holy Spirit uses as a classroom lesson. The treatment of information as it relates to the level of God and Heaven within ACIM, however, would be considered more literal, at least metaphorically, since these references and those to our true identity as the Sonship are to be considered part of reality, albeit taken in the same context, as learning tools along with the rest.

The meeting ground and yet too its separation from A Course in Miracles and that of Christianity are found in the identity of the figure called, Jesus. In Christianity, Jesus is seen as, "The Christ" . . . the only begotten Son of God, and Divine. In A Course in Miracles, Jesus (the same physical person) is seen as one of us [our elder brother] - BUT, with one big difference: he has seen through the illusion of the physical world; connected with God through the Holy Spirit and in knowing the truth about the real world and our true identities, he seeks to help us see truth. He sees us equal as brothers and equal as sons. In the illusion that we experience as life, his presence is as the manifestation of The Holy Spirit - The Voice for God! It is only from this position - between equals - that it is possible to communicate miracles.

The theology and lessons of each system of belief are found more or less within their respective writings: The Holy Bible, consisting of Old and New Testaments, is the form that delivers the Christian Scriptures as, "The Holy Word of God". Then, "A Course in Miracles", is found in the form of a Text[book], Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers, as well as two pamphlets, "Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice" and "The Song of Prayer", all of which contain its thought system and lessons. The authorship of the complete Course is ascribed to Jesus as a metaphysical experience by Helen Schucman, the scribe.

Treating this opening information within the context of the Course, we should not only see the differences and similarities between the two thought systems, but the seeming separation from God clearly as an illusion and not as real. We should also have an even clearer understanding that the Course considers all material - regardless of the source, to be part of the illusion. That includes the Holy Bible and ACIM.

MAJOR DIFFERENCES:
1. A Course in Miracles teaches that God did not create the physical universe - The Bible states that He did.
2. The God of ACIM does not even know about the sin of separation (since to know about it would make it real). The God of the Bible not only perceives of sin directly, as in the Garden of Eden, but His responses toward it can be very human, such as demonstrating anger or jealousy and taking punitive measures - sometimes including the infliction of death.
3. ACIM' Jesus is equal to everyone else, a part of God's one Son or Christ; while the Bible's Jesus is seen as special, apart and therefore ontologically different from everyone else, and being the second person of the Trinity.
4. The Jesus of, ACIM is not sent by God to suffer and die on the cross in a sacrificial act of atonement for sin, but rather teaches that there is no sin by demonstrating that nothing happened to him in reality; while the Jesus of the Bible agonizes, suffers, and dies for the sins of the world in an act that brings vicarious salvation to humanity.

Now, what exactly does this mean to those of us who were raised within the religion of Christianity? The answer to this question is simple: What do you want it to mean? Obviously we cannot reconcile both thought systems. Most of us have worn "labels" all our lives. If we have called ourselves Christians with little or no adherence or belief in traditional theology, then perhaps it is time to move on to something in which we can believe. What we call ourselves is really only a matter of personal choice. The important point to remember is: Do not try to mix the two systems - it will not work and will serve only to confuse and undermine your willingness to see through the illusion.

There is a line in the Course that says: "Teacher of God, your one assignment could be stated thus: Accept no compromise in which duality plays a part". (Manual, p. 64; M-27.7:1) We not only can see that the thought system of the Holy Bible and "its" God are dualistic, but all of life within the illusion, as well. Allow this statement from the "Manual for Teachers" to be your guide in recognizing non-duality as Real and duality as a deceptive trap of the ego. Anywhere you see the word "duality", substitute the word "death" because duality is the illusion of separation where opposites are always lurking in the shadows with all their changing forms.

While the above is more than sufficient to demonstrate Christianity and A Course in Miracles as mutually exclusive thought systems, the Course does make an important and insightful point that we should all try to remember: "A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible, but necessary".

The world is certainly not short of theologies, nor religious vehicles to convey them, but when we ascribe our human frailties to God, we can surely feel certain that we just created God in our own likeness, once again. After all, unless we simply say that, GOD IS, and stop there, we are bound to impute limitations to Him because we would not know how to do otherwise. Our ego's insistance that we personify God is a summons we cannot ignore. We substitute form for content in the physical world all the time. This would not be possible in Reality - Heaven, since Jesus in ACIM tells us, God Is formless, changeless, and eternal. This, then, is a measure of, Reality. The physical world that we believe in does not meet such attributes as presented, and so, would be the miscreation of the Ego God that we read about in the Bible.

The world that we perceive as real - the physical world, is a world of opposites, set against a back-drop of time and space. An illusion of cause and effect whereby even perception does not exist in reality since perception would be a substitute for Knowledge (truth); and a thought system of duality whereby everything has an opposite; doomed from its inception since it incorporates its own weaknesses and perceives of separateness. The reality we attribute to God in ACIM, however, is non-dualistic; a oneness and completeness that extends only Love, making separation impossible - in effect, a seamless joining, for love is all there is. A basic tenet in the course states ". . . ideas leave not their source". The cause and effect of reality leaves nothing outside of God's Mind. We are as Thought; we are Spirit and in unity with The Reality of God. Our true identity, then, is an extention of His love, we are, The Christ.

It should be noted, perhaps, that Christianity does not stand alone as a religious system which finds incompatibility with A Course in Miracles. I believe it could be said that no other theology is in line with Course thinking. So, with the exception of obvious references to that of Christianity, one could probably apply the same thinking within ACIM to other religions, also. With this thought in mind it might be a good idea to approach the matter of interpreting ACIM through some of the basics which permit us to study the Course, whether as it relates to other thought systems or in its own right as another path.

It might be observed here that, ACIM does not seek to impede anyone's desire to seek some other path to God. The promise that the Course makes is two-fold: It will help you to find the experience of peace within the illusion, and it will help to collapse time that seems to stand between you and the eternal peace of God by trading a world you made of illusion for the reality of Heaven. These are miracles in response to forgiveness.

THE LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING:
ACIM is basically written on two levels. This is so Jesus can relate to us back and forth on both levels - from within the framework of Reality and also within the framework of the illusionary world we made up, yet a world we believing ourselves to be living in.
LEVEL ONE: The metaphysical level where Jesus can contrast the State of Heaven as the only reality and truth with that of the illusory nature of the physical world, e.g. God and ego, truth and illusion, Heaven and the world. Demonstrating a knowledge of both "places".
LEVEL TWO: As we perceive reality, i.e., within the illusion of the physical world and the dream of experiences where choices are made between the default guidance of the ego or by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's voice speaks of unity, joining and forgivness, while the ego's voice speaks of sin, guilt, fear, separation, attack, and judgement. Some sources have, with tongue in cheek, labeled the first three -, sin guilt and fear, as the, "unholy trinity".

At Level One, the metaphysical level, we can view the "real world" and contrast it with the illusory world. However, Jesus speaks to us at this level to demonstrate awareness of right thinking from wrong thinking and to contrast the real thought system of Heaven and the perceived thought system of illusion. It is here we get a good look at the contrast between non-dualistic and dualistic thought systems, or put another way, between reality vs. illusion. One is real, created by God, the other we made up - seemingly, a long, long time ago.
At Level Two, Jesus demonstrates the practical lessons of forgiveness within the illusion of the physical world as we as dreamers experience the influence of ego. He would show us the two basic ways of perceiving this world and ask us to ignore the ego's perception and be guided instead by the voice of the Holy Spirit. At this level he shows us the conflictedness that comes from trying to serve a dualistic thought system of perceptions and asks us to seek the Holy Spirit's help in making that shift. Basically, this level demonstrates our lessons from within the illusion, where we believe we are.

We not only can see there are radical differences in theology between Christianity and A Course in Miracles, but in cosmology also. Christianity would make the illusion of the physical world real, as well as Heaven. This would mean that we, as God's creations and what we perceive as the whole phenomenal world, would have been created outside of God - yet retain the status of reality. "Christianity believes that God created this material world out of nothing preexisting, that it is imperfect but still an image of God and basically good, and a theater for our moral and spiritual growth . . . ." On the other hand, ACIM believes the perception of the world is just an illusion, however in essence it would agree the world could be perceived as imperfect and therefore it could not be created by God; that God is perfect, creates only perfection and therefore needs no theater to learn anything that is not already known by our birthright as Christ. A Course in Miracles further sees that in reality, we are one with God, the Father - that separation is not possible, and if God created anything outside Himself He would be creating separateness, therefore making the separation real and intentional. As well, we would be "outside" the Mind of God, which is not possible.

SUMMATION:
One of the ways this contrast could be summarized neatly would be by looking at the Christian liturgy of The Nicene, or Apostolic Creeds. Some Bible Churches may not recognize the form of either of these Creeds, but I think they would accept their content as essentially the basis of Christian belief. On page 101 of the book, "A Course In Miracles and Christianity - A Dialogue", we find The Nicene Creed. If we read this we can see a very succinct statement of Christian belief whereby ACIM would stand in disagreement.
While it does not address The Nicene Creed on a point by point basis, I believe ACIM makes a basic statement of faith also:

"Nothing Real Can Be Threatened. Nothing Unreal Exists. Herein Lies The Peace of God."

As, A Course in Miracles unfolds before the student, this statement makes sense as a succinct statement, not only of faith, but as a basis for Course study.

One final note of marked disagreement with Christian thought is that the, "final blissful union with God" occurs in a transformed or "glorified" body. This would not be acceptable in ACIM. In Course theology, bodies keep us separate and in a state unlike our true Identity as spirit; as Christ, God's one Son. For us to look forward to such an action would have us look forward to separation from our source as not only desirable, but negating our final goal in eternity - the experience of Oneness, once again - uniting with the truth that we never left.

This paper is not considered a complete treatment of differences between ACIM and Christianity, but is sufficient to make the point that they are very different. A complete reading of the dialogue between Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D., representing ACIM views, and Father W. Norris Clarke, S.J., Ph.D., representing the Christian position in the book, "A Course in Miracles and Christianity - A Dialogue", would serve those of us well that have a desire to study the Course, or to just know more about the subject.

To Where Is Each Thought System Heading In The End?

FINAL JUDGEMENT: In the end, when the day of judgement is upon us, the living and the dead will be judged and divided into two camps - those adjudged good, or saved, will be forever rewarded in Heaven, and those adjudged sinners, or unsaved, will be cast into Hell for everlasting punishment. In the Christian way of atonement the expiation of humanity's sins are through the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, as willed by God - based upon the Old Testament tradition of atonement through sacrifice. The acceptance of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, etc., as more or less seen in the words of The Nicene Creed, determines if one has been saved or not.

NOTE: The Following Paragraph Is a Personal Observation - Not From The Course or, A Dialogue.

Self-righteousness has a pronouncement about it which makes the specialness of the ego appear in all its arrogance and is thus summed up, I believe, as stated above in the "final judgement. Some people seem to revel in this thought, looking forward to it happening just the way the Bible prophesy would have it happen; their happiness seeming to depend on being right about Judgement Day - not only dividing the Sonship for evermore, but making the ego-god once again in the likeness of man.

ATONEMENT: Atonement in ACIM is the waking from the dream - the end of all illusions and the acceptance of the truth that the separation from God never really happened. Clearly, oneness with all of God's creations, and the end of time, but not eternity!

NOTE: This paper was not intended as an debate to determine authenticity between two monotheistic thought systems, but rather to note how they are different - a dialogue. It should be noted that preparation was by ACIM student, and facillitator, G.P.W. on 6/05/95. A minor revision was made on 4/99.

Ancient Hatreds/Present Loves

Ancient Hatreds/Present Loves


It has been said that, "The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love." (T-26.IX. 7:4) Would it not be wonderful if all prejudice, all hatred, could end in just such a manner.

Are we our brother's keeper? Are we morally responsible for another? Would it not be enough that we be responsible for ourselves and those we have taken into our lives as a responsibility? Well, how should one answer? Is there a simple answer, or is this a dilemma?

If we explore for answers to such questions we can find much diverse reasoning, however, I believe we will find just two points of view. We are either responsible (morally) for others, or we are not. On the other hand, if we explore the real source of the issue, we just might find contextual use of the term, "responsibility", misleading. Perhaps the real issue is not our responsibility for our brother, but to our brother?

Is whether we love our brother, unconditionally, even as we love ourselves, of prime consideration? If it is, does this mean that the blanket of forgiveness is for evermore wrapped around our relationships; sewn with the golden threads of that holiness we call love. Or, perhaps another experience awaits us.

If we do not demonstrate this love, then might our consideration toward our brother be solely of an earthly nature; becoming as diverse as the stars and opening the door to what we know in this world as fear. If so, then what follows is not love, but attack - what we have come to know as a pervasive out-crying for love, churned up from our hollow pits of perceived despair. The loneliness of mistakeness . . . a common folly in a world of duality.

So, then . . . what are the lessons of life in this plane of space and time that we call planet earth? Is it a karmic balancing act of cause and effect, where a score card follows us from life experience to life experience? Should we be seekers of, "the truth" and explore the many diverse or similar paths to that which we call the Almighty? Do we enter the monasteries of our mind and deny the experience of life? Or, perhaps, we should plunge our egos to the hilt, tasting the passions of hedonism along the way and say there are no lessons beyond pleasure to be learned today. Does it matter? Are there, any lessons to be learned?

Let us think of this notion called, God! No matter what our background, even that of atheist, we have all made a judgement about the divine. All concepts start somewhere. It has been said that if there was no God, we would have invented one. Perhaps we just have a need to explain the unexplainable so we may lay our fears at the feet of a supreme being, and thereby evade much of our own responsibility. Or, perhaps, we have witnessed phenomena that cannot be explained in the rational course of experience so we attribute this to a source outside of ourselves. Accordingly, we then give it identity and power so that one minute we may cast blame upon it and in the next, ask favors of it.

A line from, "A Course in Miracles", states: "Ideas leave not their source . . .", which alludes to the cause and effect of God, God's Creation-The Christ, and the oneness of both. While this makes sense - that the existence of God and His Creation are made of the same "stuff", why does the acknowledgment of a child of God become necessary? One might suggest, since we are apparently not God, we must be someone else. So, perhaps, we are that child! Otherwise, we might place man in the same seeming position as other animals; little more than purposeless pleasures - a trophy sport in some scheme that scars the imagination, leaving us begging for justice and mercy as thinking people. This scenario, of course, can be found in almost any religious circle that we know today, i.e., that we are some errant creature apart from being true children of God. However, this role goes begging for suitable conclusions when trying to judge the Almighty by human ethics.

By God acknowledging us as His children, we at once compromise His lack of mercy to strange little creatures with a presence of love for His own kind, thus maturing him as our Father in the eyes of a hostile world, and endearing Him to us as one endears parental compassion. Then, what might this "stuff" be called that creates effect from cause? We could say with simplicity, thought; an idea, an idea in the Mind of God! And, this idea, we could call - Spirit!

So now, let us think of the absence of this notion we call, God! If we imply that our origin grew from chaos, as some grand accident, then the pathway we choose to travel through life is of no consequence. As such, would concepts, such as hope, faith, and a willingness to believe in a tomorrow that is bigger and better than our meager capabilities to make it so, have any real meaning to us? Would it matter? Wouldn't we do so anyway? Perhaps, but with a difference - through God we believe in the content of justice and mercy, of an endurance of the spirit that transcends even the belief we have in ourselves. This conviction demonstrates belief beyond our beliefs in natural cause, and thus creates hope beyond hope. Purpose before the all-seeing eye that sees everything.

Now, for the moment, let's indulge something we might call a hybrid of thought. Let us imagine for the moment that certain "natural" laws, or forces, are at work in this place we call the Universe. Not just those we know about and observe in this experience we call the physical world, but those that we sense in one form or another as present, - yet outside of what we call the natural forces. Those forces of intervention not understood by man within the natural boundries of common day expectation, but conceptualized through some sense of original superstition we could call magic.

Magic, as we know it, implies supernatural intervention in our affairs and is relegated to an "adept", i.e., one who knows the secrets of the "supernatural world" and can employ them in the physical world. These people have been accorded many titles, such as: magicians, wizards, witches, and, even priests - just to name but a few. We have held them in awe, exalted them and feared them. Many times we have even worshiped them - or their source of power. Now, we know that much of this action has been dispelled by the illumination of ignorance, yet some still remains. Some is found in the metaphysics of mind - a meeting place where ancient ignorance is given up to the present light of uncovered truths.

And, with that thought, we stand at the threshold of our journey - a journey not of distance, nor even of endurance, but a journey within a continuum called, THE MIND.

One method of demonstrating our presently known experience as human beings in a world of seeming chaos, i.e., unpredictable occurrences, albeit with predictable results, is to look at this life on mother earth as reality - with or without any supernatural intelligence in the background. We could simply look at this life as most of us have been taught to do, believing the physical world is "real" and that our five physical senses are as necessary to exploring this reality as our sixth sense is to that part of "reality" we don't quite understand yet. We could move through this medium made of space and time with or without a belief system that extends these properties beyond life on earth and into an obscure world known as the, "after-life". Many of us do, and not for any frivolous reason, either.

We have the experience of being born. We have the experience of early childhood, where lessons are learned and growth takes place within and without. We are taught the lessons as they are brought to us by our contemporaries in the human experience - and at some point, in what we believe is our future, advance that which we learn, thereby extending ourselves a little further than perhaps those throngs that surround us. Ancient truths lay naked before progress and the whimper of dying ideas fall before advancing ideas that bring yet new truths. And then, in the sometimes loneliness that separates our worldly experiences from that of others we question even "reality", relegating the form to that we call, abstract thought.

It has been said that abstract thought is what separates us from other animals. But, what about that property we call thought, itself? Is thought real? If so, it must not be part of the physical world where our five physical senses bring it under examination. And, if thought is an intangible reality, without form - yet with content, then perhaps it transcends the physical world; even standing alone in our world as the only reality. And, if that were so, what do we then call the physical world we have learned to identify with as, "reality".

Since we seem to be what we call, conscious, thinking beings, then any acknowledgment of thought as reality is easier than denying its existence. And, if this powerful medium where we seem to dwell is "life", then the physical world serves little more than to be the form of creation that offers challenge to the process of thought. That would further mean that the body provides a form of locomotion and interaction with the physical environment and for no other purpose.

And, if thought transcends the brain, i.e., is independent of the brain, the next logical step is where this process is coming from. If we call its origination point, the Mind, and can see a link between those many "minds" of mortals, then perhaps a universal mind may exist and is the fountainhead for all real thought of an unlimited nature. If this is so, the next logical step would be to designate this process with an awe inspiring title. God, perhaps?

If we can make a case for thought as reality, then is the physical world a part of that reality? Or, is the physical world a temporary manifestation of the universal mind and therefore unnecessary in the long-run, or even, at all, to those things produced by thought. If this is so, we must either justify useless baggage, or we look upon the physical world, including our bodies, as a figment of the mind's imagination - what we have come to acknowledge as illusion. Either way, we can make a case for thought as the interpreter of reality and the presence or absence of physical properties as simply defined within the life experience, as we know it.

First, let us look to the definition of the physical world. Webster looks at this concept as occupation within space, while employing those five senses that perceive the physical world we spoke of earlier. As an antithesis to this we find the concept of spiritual life forces. Interestingly, such a contrast between these two "worlds" seems to exist since the presence of one seems to block access by the other.

With the setting of this stage, let's take a look at a world set in spiritual garb as one might do when considering forces paralleling a physical world; working independently of it. If thoughts have manifestation properties, or the ability to be cause as well as effect, then it takes but a little imagination to place these properties at the center of what we could call the spiritual world. If we are born of the spirit and this is a process of Mind, then mental process is the force to be engaged. We might call this force an energy force, because it would seem to be dynamic, yet without the properties we have come to know as physical properties.

At the helm of such a world as this we might find a prime cause which we might call, God. For the moment, let's not assign any theological dogma to such an entity, but simply assume it to be prime cause. Now, if we are spirit, what is our purpose? "To Be or Not to Be", is more than a question, it is for us, at this time, a thought that not only interrogates the beginning of life, it defines it.

We obviously assume life, and further, that we are part of it or we would not posture such a position that there is such a thing. So, let us move right to the core of the issue: Are we spirit, believing we are having a human, i.e., physical experience - yet somehow are able to discriminate between the two? Or, are we purely part and parcel to a physical world, and delusional about all the rest?
A Course in Miracles gives us some help to guide us. Reality, says the course, is God. God is simply defined as, Formless, Changeless and Eternal. GOD IS! If we apply this definition to the physical world we can at once see that: It has form; it changes, and is anything but eternal. Further, it says that, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." Thus, if we can accept this brief concept of God's attributes and the maxim that follows, we can set the stage for, Reality Vs. Illusion.

More evidence seems to exist to support a physical world position of reality, but, lest we jump to conclusions too hastily we might ponder for just a bit. If we believe this to be our reality, appearing as it does, to unfold all about us, permeating our senses, then therein lies the rub. Our senses tell us so, but can we trust our senses? If our belief system mirrors unreality as reality; giving us the illusion of a world that is unfamiliar to us from our very first entry to it and continues reinforcing doubt forevermore as we move through the experience, in what do we trust?

Illusion can appear to be very real indeed, especially when reinforced over and over by scenarios filled with "actors", scripts, and props that would please the most discriminating producers among us. We believe we are people having a human experience because our consciousness tells us so. Yet, sometimes we sense something else - another "reality" that competes for attention, yet suffers on the obverse of a world in the wings; a world waiting to take center-stage. What if we are really spirit, created in the likeness of God, simply having a "human" experience?

A spiritual world, filled with reality awaits us once we cast no more illusions on the screen we call life. This, a world created out of love, will shatter the one we made from fear, and the light from a core now uncovered will shine forevermore upon my brother - for if this be truth, I am he.

When Time Suspended Reality, or When Eternity Fell Into a Deep Sleep . . .

When Time Suspended Reality, Or
When Eternity Fell Into A Deep Sleep


As consideration for my freedom I am told that "a little willingness" goes a long way. I am trapped within a world of fences; of limitation. Not by any mechanism not of my own doing, but wholly a choice made by me at the birth of time. It is an experience played out in time and space; a reflection of what I believe to be Hell.

Hell! A little definition is in order here. To borrow on one of our many dualistic terms in a world of opposites we are told by traditional Judea/Christian theology that Hell is a place, or state of consciousness in opposition to Heaven (where we are told, God resides) and Hell where rejected souls go or spend eternity as payment for sin. Sin, of course has been traditionally defined as an abomination in the face of God - a direct attack on God’s Peace of Mind. More recently we have been told that sin is more forgivable - not more than error, but still serious business.

So, within a framework of what we experience as the physical world - all the Universe in all of its vastness of time and space, we define our home as a body; as a creature of residence in this continuum we call the World. As an inhabitant called a human being I am led to believe that I am of the highest order of life here - at least on the planet we call Earth.

Of course religious thinking does differ somewhat on this point, but since we have no central authority, an "earth religion", if you will, I will take the position of what I grew up believing in the western world’s dominant religions of the Judea/Christian faiths.

Why did I say we define our home as a "body"? Why not one of our locations, such as Earth? Well, the creature we call "man" is without doubt the most self-aware and self-centered of all creatures. Accordingly, where his body (consciousness) is, becomes the exclusion to all else in the physical world. Those places "outside" the physical world where Gods and Devils reside are external of his experience and relegated to a status we could call "spiritual". More on this later.

So, there we have it! The framework where most of us may recall our life experience thus far. A place fixed in time and space with just a hint of something unknown to our experience - outside our consciousness, but not outside the palette of our imagination.

Ah . . . The Universe

Master, how might I look at the vastness of space? How can I measure it within the yardstick of time?


Ah, yes! You ask for an explanation which is elusive to one's reality; a state that does not exist except as a concept of mind - a notion!

First, let us envision the environment of this concept called earth. It appears to have size and shape, and of course, mass. Now, let your thoughts place this object at the center of your consciousness where you experience it with all your senses. Then, project your senses away and outward to the limits of their reach.

That which is beyond your senses does not exist, but when the mind is told it exists it therefore appears to have status, even to the degree of reaching infinitity when convinced that it can.

What you call, time - that unit of measurement to gauge any point in your field of space, is in inverse proportion to the seeming distance between that point and another. That is, as the perception of space expands the perception of time contracts and more of the latter is necessary to reach the limits of the former.
While in reality, neither space nor time have substance, this invention of mis-perception serves the world of physical limitations - a natural phenomena within the illusion!

Consider, if you will, Einstein's theory of relativity - E=MC2, which is more than theory now since it has been demonstrated to be fact in the scientific community. Until recent decades we believed that the Universe contained two known constants: Light and time. Einstein's work has shown us that time is not a constant, as we thought, but another dimension in space that can be changed relative to speed. As we approach the speed of light, a constant of 186,234 miles/second in a vacuum, time slows down markedly.

Because of the vastness of space the sheer distances between bodies needed a new unit of measurement - called the "Light Year." As the name implies, this is the distance light travels in one year. It really becomes a measurement in time as well as space. This distance is approximately six trillion miles, or 186,234 miles per second multiplied out for one year. This seems almost unfathomable, but necessary as we shall see.

Let's digress for a moment and take a quick look at the vastness of what we call space. We, that is, Earth, is a planet and we revolve around a star - our Sun. Our sun is but one star of billions of stars in our spiraled Galaxy - The Milky Way. Many Galaxies, or Star Systems, exist in space containing untold numbers of stars - trillions, and beyond. The distance between our star, the Sun, and the center of our Galaxy is about 27,000 light years apart. That is 27,000 times six trillion miles! Are we getting the picture of this field of intelligence?

Now, to continue - let us take a trip in space, we should see some principles that are enlightening. The nearest Galaxy to ours is the Andromeda Galaxy, a distance of some 1,500,000 light years away. If we were to make a round-trip, traveling at almost the speed of light, it would take us about 3,000,000 years to complete. That is, three million years would have passed on earth, but not in our space ship traveling near the speed of light. The time that would have passed for those of us aboard would be more like one year. This is because time is a relative dimension that slows perceptibly at these speeds and sets up a ratio of geometric proportions that near the speed of light will be about 4.2 days to 1 second.2

If those aboard could watch a monitor of earth life it would be a blur to them - flying by so fast their senses could not tell what was happening. If the reverse were true - people outside the relativity of the flight, monitoring those inside, they would be watching very slow motion. Extrapolating the above ratios we would discover that 1,000 years would be equal to about a day. Does this sound familiar?

Well, if you can't fathom this, you might want to take it a step further and realize that all of this is contained within what we call, "The Mind".

And Then There Was One . . . .

We are the collective experience of an ego-world. The world of the ego is a make-believe world; a seeming state of logical chaos whereby certain predictions can be made within "reasonable" limits. In this "world" we hold certain beliefs based on a system of thought we call, memory. That is, a part of the physical body we call the brain holds the means to store and recall experiences of our "past". It is in this process of recall that a form of explanation is offered to our consciousness and tends to become our "reality", giving rise to what we believe to be the "present", or "now".

This "reality" is experienced against the background of a phenomenal collection of symbols and sensory data that needs interpretation by the "master" of this universe - The Ego! It tells us in language that only ego-creatures understand; with paradoxical standards and concepts that are well respected and accepted in this vast history of what we have come to know as the human experience.

Life in the phenomenal world is an experience that begins with an idea - an idea of phenomenal proportion in the intellect! We are "born" into a form that sits well within the cradle of space and time. This form occupies space in a physical sense and is placed without delay on the treadmill of time to mark finite experiences with beginnings and endings, creating for us that state of mind we see as urgency.

Next, cob-webs of emotions tangle us between opposites where all that we perceive as good or bad can be experienced in other than what we believe to be its present state. A world of duality where the singular experience of love is lost to fleeting moments of fear and the reality of beauty, lost to interpretation in a field of illusory opinion.

It is a world of finiteness, change, and form where perfection lasts only as long as the prevailing opinions remain constant in a world that has but one "real" constant - the speed of light, and even that may be an illusion!

But, one might ask, What about the physical universe? We have such intricate demonstrations of reality in this world of solid facts and incontrovertible evidence of a physical universe. If we were to rest our case on the physical world being proof of reality and the opposite was demonstrated to be a fact, i.e., that the physical world was an illusion, what then?

First, let's take a look at The Premise we all believe in:
1. The physical world is reality and the laws that govern this world are considered truths that command our attention and govern our lives. The physical world is with form, changes, and everything in it that has life, dies. Nothing is everlasting!

2. Virtually an inescapable phenomenon takes place whereby our brains assimilate the real world for us, usually meeting our expectations. We manifest the un-manifested.

3. Studies of the metaphysical, on the other hand, including religious and spiritual thoughts, we consider to be beliefs and accordingly not part of the real world - with any truth ascribed to them based on one's faith in those beliefs.

4. In effect, we believe we are separate minds in separate bodies and completely on our own. We see ourselves with agendas that work within a system of scarcity and fosters competition for a limited amount of available things. It is driven by fear.

5. We look at the concept of time as linear, i.e., having a starting point separate from its ending - along a continuum that fosters a notion of past, present and future.

Now, let us take a look at the premise of "A Course in Miracles":
1. The Physical World is illusory and nothing is going on. This includes what we call the Universe and all attendant thoughts. We see the concept of time as also illusory, but within the illusion in the concept of a spiral where everything happened at once and was healed by God, rather than linear. The concept of space is also one we would relegate to a physical world and unnecessary in Heaven.

2. The one reality in this world is our access to the Voice of God, "The Holy Spirit". This may be interpreted and used interchangeably with a further illusion we can identify with, Jesus, as the Manifestation of The Holy Spirit, since it is his thoughts that reach us through the "Course". Jesus holds himself out to us as our elder brother and not as Divine.

3. Reality, or the Real World of Heaven, is of the Spirit whereby God Is and nothing outside of God can be that is not the reality of God and God's Creations. Attributes of God, and therefore His World, are Formless, Changeless, and Everlasting.

4. God Created one Child, known as The Christ. As an extention of the Father (God), The Christ is made of the sameness; the likeness we call Spirit! We are Love. We are that Christ!

5. The population of the illusory world, - humans, are fragments of a consiousness that until trapped in the world of the Ego shared a common mind with one another in that state of Spirit known as the, Christ.

A. Conscious thought invades the dream-world of the Illusion, but not Spirit.
B. That conscious system of thought is ego dominated and therefore fragmented and separate from the truth.
C. A constant struggle to know Self goes on in the "Batteleground" of the illusion, with the ego sharing one part of a split mind and the Holy Spirit the other.
D. In this world of illusion, the ego is the default system of thought, i.e., perception, and can only be diminished by availing one's self of the Holy Spirit's thought system - by an act of voluntary will - by choice.
6. In summary, the course says:
"Nothing Real Can Be Threatened.
Nothing Unreal Exists.
Herein Lies The Peace Of God."

Can these two premises be reconciled? Can we say without doubt which premise is the ultimate truth? Without equivacation, I believe the answer to the first question is "yes". Look around you: Is not premise number one not what we believe? Is premise number two not what we, as adherents to, "A Course in Miracles" believe? Of course!

As to the second question concerning ultimate truth, we can leave that to a discovery yet to come while we measure its promise in the now. While the course considers itself to be an illusion, it promises a chance for peace through the miracle of shifting one's perception, as well as collapsing time for us all. Between believing in the illusion and the removing of this erroneous thought of separation from Heaven and the, Father, a shift must take place.

Exploring, A Course in Miracles By G.P.W., Jr.

A Taste of Specialness

And why have you come to this class?

With your permission, I would like to observe the many blessings that are here gathered. I cannot say that I possess anything beyond normal experience, however. I am a wayfarer on a journey of light - path obscure, but appointed to be a gatherer, none-the-less.

Gatherer of what? Appointed by whom?

A gatherer of information that the human experience discovers in its search for knowledge. We all sort many pieces - some is part of the Grand Puzzle, some is not! We all appoint ourselves before arriving to this great challenge.
And that challenge . . . ?

To grow in our quest for Truth; to learn our each and every lesson; and, to know our brother in eternity. Once we arrive, we need not remember our course, nor pursue it if we choose not to.

How do you know this . . . now, I mean?

Because I asked and then listened for the answer. I was then given the sign.
And what was this sign?

That since I was at such a point in my eternal journey it was now time for me to become a conscious gatherer. This came after a long, long, period of what you call, time. I was told that the assignment was given me before my human birth and the key was in the information surrounding this birth.

You mean astrologically? Date and time and location of . . .

Yes! Exactly. Those who are to be "gatherers" are born under the sign of zero degree Aries - The first point of Aries, and with the Tropical arrival of the Vernal Equinox, we are ushered into consciousness. It is a very orderly system.

Are their many "gatherers"?

Yes. We are sometimes referred to as the Alpha/Omega children, since we are at the exact beginning as well as the exact end - of the zodiak. The Circle of Life, you know! Of course, our identity is as transient as our time/space location. That is,our reference as A/O children would not exceed what you call this Galaxy - the Milky Way spiral.

Is this not a great honor?

Not really! Oh, in your world it no doubt would be considered very special. But, in reality - in the long run of life, it is just a chore along the way. Something one must do. astrology is part of the illusion of the Universe, which is illusion itself - yet within the illusion of time and space it provides much order in keeping track of things and scheduling events.

Can you tell us more?

Not now. I must be about other "business," as you would say! We will chat more in what would be referred to as a future event.

Take care of yourself,
Love and good will,

Genesis Revisted . . . .

And in the beginning their was thought, and the thought was
pure. And the purity of this thought is called, GOD!

The thought was singular and devoid of duration or form. And since no aspect of dimension existed, no means of measurement was necessary. No time, nor space! No beginning, no end!

And the thought filled the void with Light. And the Light was Truth and The Truth is perfect in every way.

And GOD created His Child in the Light and the creation was spiritual and perfect in every way. And the Child was called, Christ.

And The Light was everywhere at once and called, Heaven.

Nothing exists in reality apart from The Creator and The Holy Spirit, The Sonship and, that State called Heaven.

All else that appears to exist is an illusion; a dream not made by The Creator, but instead the product of a dream-state made by the Son in some errant thought of exercising free-will. All that is real in this "world" of sensory make-believe is The Holy Spirit, limitless in everyway, yet powerless to intervene without invitation. It is a gift from The Father. Its presence occupies that part of the mind opposite the ego.

Illusions are tricks of the mind and are the result of ego consciousness and center on the self. And the self is another name for ego, the natural product of a seed that grew within the dream-state of the Christ from an urge for free-will in search of a life apart from its Creator, The Father.

And in pursuit of that dream - the creation perceived of a Separation from The Creator, and in this error - sin was born, to be followed by guilt, shame and a perceived need to hide from The Creator, The Father, . . . God!

And thus the ego created a mask, calling it body, and a world of physical proportions with laws of nature was born of the split mind; and, space and time became principal governors of that physical perception; and the body was called man and he would have dominion over his world, subject to all the limitations found therein.

And The Spirit shrank in magnitude to match the new "Thought", which was limited consciousness, perceiving of itself as being within this body; and thus was called the Soul of Man, possessed of the mind and super-ego. Thus, guilt was born.

And the world brought forth duality of mind with contrasting thoughts and choices, like so many bad echos; and the ego was at home in this environment and in charge. The natural choice, seated in the consciousness of man, reflective of its own needs and wants and at odds with its environment - the ego. Another choice, not so natural, yet available to the unity of the self, or the Christ in all of us, is the Holy Spirit - that path to God.

Truth Is: God is Immortal, Infinite Without Form and All Knowing, reflecting only one emotion - Unconditional Love.

While man and the physical world is just an illusion, mortal, finite and with form and unenlightened - a product of the ego and generating the opposite emotion - Fear.

But, through the Grace of God the illusory man is capable of opening the door to Truth with the Divine gift of Love and Forgiveness. By whatever path this is accomplished, lessons in miracles are provided to shorten the way home.
So, this is the Grand Lesson of Eternal Life: That all of God's children will "return" to the Loving Spirit from whence they came by awakening from the Dream - only to discover they are ONE Child, The Christ, having never really left; and that no separation ever took place between The Sonship and The Father - GOD!

The Grand Illusion is that life is real; that the physical world that supports life is real; and, that anything outside of Spirit is real!

GOD’s seeming opera has seemed to allow a race called human-beings to play in the Sandbox of time and space, indulging them while they spin cause and effect illusions between one another, searching for the solution to find what they never really lost . . . Absolute Completeness and Everlasting Joy by right of Being Divine.

With seeming endless form, the "Tiny Mad Idea" continues . . .