re: A Course In Miracles

This is the time of the Great Sense.

2014-08-23T14:36:00.000+02:00

“We look to the right or to the left, we build theories, reform our Churches, invent super-machines and go out in the streets to break the Machine that stifles us - we struggle in the small sense. When the terrestrial ship is sinking, does it matter whether the passengers drown to the right or to the left, under a flag black or red, or celestial blue? Our Churches have already sunk: they are reforming their own dust. Our patriotisms are crushing us, our machines are crushing us, our schools are crushing us, and we build more machines to break out of the Machine. We go to the moon, but we do not know our own heart nor our terrestrial destiny. And we want to improve what is - but the time for improvements is past: can one improve rot?

This is the time for SOMETHING ELSE. Something else, which is not the same thing with improvements.

But how shall we proceed?

They preach violence to us, or nonviolence. But these are two faces of the same Falsehood, the yes and no of the same impotence: the little saints have gone bankrupt with the rest, and others want to seize power - what power? That of the statesmen? Are we going to fight over the prison keys? Or to build another prison? Or do we really want to get out of
it? Power does not flow from the barrel of a gun, neither does freedom flow from the bellies of the dead – for thirty million years now, we have been building on corpses, on wars, on revolutions. And the drama is enacted over and over again. Perhaps the time has come to build on something else and find the key to the true Power?

So let us look at the Great Sense.
Here is what the Great Sense tells us:
It tells us that we were born so many million years ago – a molecule, a gene, a quivering bit of plasma-and we have produced a dinosaur, a crab, an ape. Had our eyes stopped halfway along the road, we could have said with good reason (!) that the Baboon was the summit of the creation and nothing better could be done, except perhaps to improve our simian capacities and create a United Kingdom of Apes.... And we may be committing the same error today in our jungle of concrete. We have invented enormous means at the service of microscopic consciousnesses, splendid devices at the service of mediocrity, and still more devices to be cured of the Device. But is man truly the goal of all these millions of years of striving? – The secondary school for all and the washing machine?

The Great Sense, the True Sense, tells us that man is not the end. It is not the triumph of man that we want, not an improved version of the intelligent dwarf-it is another man on the earth, another race in our midst.

‘Man is a transitional being,’ Sri Aurobindo said. We are right in the middle of this transition, it is bursting forth on every side: in Biafra, in Israel, in China, on the Boul’Mich’.

Man is uncomfortable in his skin.

And the Great Sense, the True Sense, tells us that the only thing we can do is to set to work to prepare that other being and collaborate in our own evolution instead of going round in circles and grabbing false powers to rule over a false life.

But where is the lever of this Transmutation?

It is within.

There is a Consciousness within, there is a Power within, the very power that strained and strove in the dinosaur, in the crab, in the ape, in man – it strives still, presses farther on, clothes itself in a more and more perfected form as its instrument grows, and creates its own form. If we grasp the lever of that Power, it will itself create its new form, for it is itself the lever of the Transmutation. Instead of letting evolution unfold through millennia of fruitless, painful attempts and useless deaths and fake revolutions that revolutionize nothing, we can hasten the time, we can make a concentrated evolution – we can be the conscious creators of the New Being.

In truth, this is the time of the Great Adventure. The world is closed, there are no more adventures outside: only robots go to the moon and our borders are guarded everywhere – in Rome or in Rangoon, the same functionaries of the great Machine are watching us, punching our cards, checking our faces and searching our pockets – there is no more adventure outside!

The Adventure is with in – Freedom is within, Space is within, so is the transformation of our world by the power of the Spirit. Because, in truth, that Power was always there, supreme, all-powerful, prodding evolution on: it was the hidden Spirit growing to become the Spirit manifest upon earth, and if we have trust, if we want that supreme Power, if we have the courage to descend into our hearts, everything is possible, for God is in us.”

How to Question Everything? Question the Idea of Death!

2013-09-18T05:22:00.002+02:00

A Course In Miracles is the necessity to question everything I think I know, everything I have learned and accepted as true at some point in time, because reality has nothing to do with this world. This world is a product of my mind. I made it up. Certainly, I did not make it by using clay or whatever and forming a world, an objective world outside of me. It is made up and maintained solely in my mind, by my thought, and that is where the solution must be applied. That is where the solution is either rejected or accepted. That is where all conflict is resolved.

In order to do that, I am given a mind training with a lesson for every day of the year. Every lesson is a lesson that teaches the idea of forgiveness as Jesus teaches me, not as the world and its institutions tell me.

The aim is the removal of the blocks to the awareness of love and peace as known by God which leads to the discovery of my Self as God created me. By denying my denial of God and Self, by letting go of my self-identity and all its justifications I will undergo a miraculous undoing of my fearful old self-identity. That is my salvation. Just to give some examples, I quote a few lesson titles:

"Nothing I see means anything."
"I have given everything I see all the meaning it has for me."
"My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts."
"God goes with me wherever I go."
"I am the light of the world."
"I am as God created me."
"I am not a body. I am free."
"There is no death. The Son of God is free."

"Still-Life with a Skull" by Philippe de Champaigne

Nowhere is there room for what I previously thought about my so-called self or other projected identities. All of it must be false, if what Jesus offers me is true. It is false, because truth is true and nothing else is true. It is false, because an opposite to God does not exist. It is false, because there is no separation which is the fundamental idea on which this world rests.

There is no one who hasn't struggled with the mind training of A Course In Miracles. In fact, it always escapes me in my idea of what it is. It is not conceptual. So, how does it work? What is it? I quote the Master Teacher with his incredible lucidity and reason:

"Success is not based on your conceptual acuity. It’s based on your capacity to take your conceptions and convert them into a new association of your mind.

...you suffer from the illusion that you can be wrongly treated and that somehow forgiveness is necessary.

You say, 'Well, I already know this.' You obviously don’t know it, or you would not continue to practice the idea that there’s actually something to forgive. There’s nothing to forgive. The world is not real. This is the solution that I have offered you that you have discovered, so you don’t have to continue to practice getting over being wrongly treated. Do you hear me? Inevitably, that will be misunderstood, because forgiveness to you retains the idea of the sin instead of releasing it. Forgiveness for the human conception is exactly the opposite of what forgiveness really is. Isn’t it?

Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. That’s all I’m going to read of that. I just wanted you to see that. That’s what forgiveness is. 'You haven’t done anything to me, because I’m not doing anything here, myself. And because I’m not doing anything here, myself...' Do you see what happened? Obviously, if I am here, it would be sinful. Since I’m not here and nothing is here, I cannot be sinful, so there can be nothing to forgive.

An unforgiving thought – one thought... You don’t have to know what it is. Do you see that? It’s what your fundamental identity is based on. You don’t have to examine it. What is it? Death. Watch it. Boom! 'I’ve got an unforgiving thought.' That’s what death is. From that moment on, you don’t look at it. If I walked up to anyone here – I’ll use you, out there – 'You’re going to die.' Say, 'I know it.' [I know it] That’s absurd. That’s your one unforgiving thought. You can’t open that one to examination. If you did, you would have to open up all your thoughts to examination. If I say to you, 'No, Jesus Christ is risen and you’re in Heaven and there is no death,' you immediately turn that around that he’s going to die for you. That way, he can remain unforgiven in your own mind. Yet all he ever asks from you is the totality of his resurrection through his saviorship. Do you see that? Death is nothing but that unforgiving thought. You will not raise it to doubt because your other unforgiving thoughts depend on it. Obviously, death would be a denial and an attack. Come on!"

- Master Teacher in a video from the archives for which you have to register: http://www.themasterteacher.tv/members/videos/MTS-11

Death is a thought which takes on many forms. To question it will save me a lot of time.

Heaven Is Here, Heaven Is Now

2013-08-30T06:58:00.000+02:00

There is one thing that you have never done; you have not utterly forgotten the body. It has perhaps faded at times from your sight, but it has not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement happens. Afterwards you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view of it when you return.
-Jesus Christ, A Course in Miracles

Listen to this radio shows and enter a new experience that has nothing to do with this world at all...

Another lawsuit concerning the copyright of A Course In Miracles?

2012-12-10T15:41:00.000+01:00

Hereby I present a letter signed by the administrator of Neue Christliche Akademie Endeavor Academy e.V. in Germany, Gerhard Frank, in which he calls for help in the face of a new copyright lawsuit:

"Support Neue Christliche Akademie Endeavor Academy e.V. in the lawsuit by the Foundation for A Course In Miracles over A Course In Miracles copyright in Germany

A call for help...

We, Neue Christliche Akademie Endeavor Academy e.V. (“EA”), Wusterwitz, Germany, are reaching out to the international community of students and teachers of A Course in Miracles to ask for financial support in conducting a defense in a lawsuit initiated by the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (“FACIM”), Temecula, California, USA, before the District Court in Frankfurt, Germany.

FACIM requests the court to order us to refrain from using our brochures in English and German, containing passages from A Course In Miracles.

FACIM bases its claims on the validity of its A Course in Miracles copyright in Germany, notwithstanding the invalidation of its copyright in the United States in 2003.

Another lawsuit concerning the copyright of A Course in Miracles?

Yes, another lawsuit about what we thought was decided in favor of the freedom of A Course in Miracles.

In 2003 New York Judge Robert W. Sweet rendered FACIM’s copyright in the United States invalid on the grounds of pre-publication distribution and A Course in Miracles thus entered the public domain.

In the present lawsuit FACIM takes the position that the invalidity of its copyright in the United States, on the ground of a “formality” as pre-publication distribution, did however not affect the validity of its copyright in Germany, because

i. pursuant to the international copyright treaty of Berne (the Berne Convention) FACIM could yet claim a valid copyright in Germany in accordance with German copyright law and
ii. German copyright law would indeed recognize FACIM as being entitled to the copyright to A Course in Miracles.

EA’s defense against this position is, fundamentally, that the invalidation of FACIM’s United States copyright and the fact that A Course in Miracles consequently entered the public domain, in effect stand in the way of FACIM still claiming a copyright in Germany or any other country which is part of the Berne Convention.

Why is this lawsuit important?

EA represents the purpose of the transformation of mind through A Course In Miracles. That is why we have felt it to be our responsibility to seek legal representation in the lawsuit and aim at a denial of FACIM’s claims, as those claims purport to limit us in using A Course in Miracles online and in printed material such as for invitations to our Advents of A Great Awakening.

But the outcome of this lawsuit goes beyond what might be considered the interests of EA. A judgment in favor of EA is likely to set a precedent for any future A Course in Miracles copyright issues in all of the 166 countries which have subscribed to the Berne Convention. As students and teachers of A Course in Miracles we share our need to teach the Course in order to learn it. And we should be free to use what has been given us to share with anyone who is interested and wants to apply it. ‘Fair use’ provisions in applicable law should be available to us and rights to our own translations to secure more affordable prices of A Course in Miracles in various countries.

Your contributions will be gratefully accepted.

Legal fees in respect of the lawsuit require us to come up with about 15,000 Euro by the end of January 2013. Any contribution you may be able to give will be gratefully accepted.
If you would like to transfer your contribution to our account please use one of the following options:

• For transfers from outside Germany (fee-free within Europe):
IBAN: DE79 1605 0000 1000 9593 99
BIC: WELADED1PMB

• Our Paypal account:
info@endeavoracademy.de

• Our bank details for your donations (from within Germany)

Bank: MBS Potsdam; BLZ: 160 500 00; Account #: 1000 959 399

In love and gratitude,
Gerhard Frank
Neue Christliche Akademie Endeavor Academy e.V."

Edit, 12/14/2012: I went back to the original idea to present the letter in the name of Gerhard Frank.

A Course In Miracles Announcements

2009-03-31T22:30:00.006+02:00

I have a few announcements about things and events I really care about. You should too, because A Course In Miracles is not about concepts, but about an experience that goes far beyond anything this world can offer. You are offered a light experience not of this world that will show you your way and encourage you to be about it.

If you haven't been to the Miracles Healing Center in Wisconsin Dells yet, this Easter is maybe your time. We will have an Easter Celebration to celebrate Jesus' resurrection as ours, for it is truly our salvation. That is then "The Fun of Being Everywhere All the Time" which is also our new musical play. Premier will be Easter Sunday.

Then there is a new website available which offers the work of The Master Teacher of A Course In Miracles. You will find three volumes of his catalogue of videos, also books in print and audio recordings. For every video there you will find a 10 min YouTube preview as well as one complete video for every series. Master Teacher was and is to me the most vibrant, humorous, inspiring and powerful demonstration of what A Course In Miracles offers me. Please do share this site with your world. If you like, here are two banners for you to use:

If you are in Europe, you may want to celebrate Easter in Wusterwitz, Germany, where there is a very lively Center for A Course In Miracles. See the PDF flyer for more information: Easter Celebration.

Update: Kira and Scott are no longer teaching in Carmel Valley.

Thank you so much. Happy Easter.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, Easter, Master Teacher, light experience, A Course In Miracles teacher, A Course In Miracles videos, A Course In Miracles classes, A Course In Miracles Center

My Ego "Playing Tricks on Me"?

2009-03-12T07:06:00.003+01:00

There is a tendency to think of the ego as a thing apart, acting independently from the mind, fooling, deceiving and playing tricks on it. Someone may say, "my ego was giving me a hard time", or, "my ego seeks to make me guilty", or, "it beats me up again." Students of A Course In Miracles are no exceptions to that kind of thinking. Yet this attempt to solve the conflict can hardly be helpful.

(Artist: Beo Nguyen. I like his paintings.)

A Course In Miracles to some extent encourages that approach when it talks about the ego as if it were a separate thing, like in the following quotes from Chapter 4.I:

"When you are afraid, be still and know that God is real, and you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Do not let your ego dispute this, because the ego cannot know what is as far beyond its reach as you are."

"The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you, because it cannot build otherwise."

"The ego tries to exploit all situations into forms of praise for itself in order to overcome its doubts."

In the following paragraphs we learn about the ego's origin, about how it was made and how it is maintained. This will solve the question of responsibility. Important is that the ego is an idea, and ideas do not leave their source.

"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. Their interaction is a process that alters both, because they were not made by or with the Unalterable. It is important to realize that this alteration can and does occur as readily when the interaction takes place in the mind as when it involves physical proximity. Thinking about another ego is as effective in changing relative perception as is physical interaction. There could be no better example that the ego is only an idea and not a fact.

Your own state of mind is a good example of how the ego was made. When you threw knowledge away it is as if you never had it. This is so apparent that one need only recognize it to see that it does happen. If this occurs in the present, why is it surprising that it occurred in the past? Surprise is a reasonable response to the unfamiliar, though hardly to something that occurs with such persistence. But do not forget that the mind need not work that way, even though it does work that way now.

Think of the love of animals for their offspring, and the need they feel to protect them. That is because they regard them as part of themselves. No one dismisses something he considers part of himself. You react to your ego much as God does to His creations, - with love, protection and charity. Your reactions to the self you made are not surprising. In fact, they resemble in many ways how you will one day react to your real creations, which are as timeless as you are. The question is not how you respond to the ego, but what you believe you are. Belief is an ego function, and as long as your origin is open to belief you are regarding it from an ego viewpoint. When teaching is no longer necessary you will merely know God. Belief that there is another way of perceiving is the loftiest idea of which ego thinking is capable. That is because it contains a hint of recognition that the ego is not the Self." (A Course In Miracles, Chapter 4.II)

Later in the same section Jesus says that "the ego is the mind's belief that it is completely on its own." It would be foolish to maintain that a belief or idea exists independently, or acts on its own. The question is not that, but how the mind regards the idea. This then is a decision of the mind, which brings us back to our "one remaining freedom" as prisoners of this world: "the power of decision".

"Appetites are 'getting' mechanisms, representing the ego's need to confirm itself. This is as true of body appetites as it is of the so-called 'higher ego needs'. Body appetites are not physical in origin. The ego regards the body as its home, and tries to satisfy itself through the body. But the idea that this is possible is a decision of the mind, which has become completely confused about what is really possible." (same section)

So, what then does Jesus have in mind when he talks about the ego as he does? In the same chapter Jesus gives an explanation. I will quote from the original dictation, for it is a stronger statement than what is given in the second edition:

"We have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate thing, acting on its own. This was necessary to persuade you that you cannot dismiss it lightly, and MUST realize how much of your thinking is ego-directed. But we cannot safely leave it at that, or you will regard yourselves as necessarily conflicted as long as you are here, or more properly, BELIEVE that you are here.

The ego is nothing more than a PART of your belief about yourselves. Your other life has continued without interruption, and has been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate. The ratio of repression and dissociation of truth varies with the individual ego-illusion [...], but dissociation is always involved, or you would not believe that you ARE here."

So, we clearly see that the ego is not a separate thing and neither acts apart from what the mind decides or wants. This is obviously crucial if one is supposed to take back control and take responsibility for what one experiences. As long as I think I am a body, in time and space, I am what ego is. Whatever my "individual ego-illusion" may be, it is still ego. Seeing this allows me to come to terms with what I think about myself. Being honest, I let go of the facade of being a spiritual and holy human being, because it is all the same illusion.

I want to be free, that is all. I want to go beyond this world entirely. That is what I have agreed to do. That is what I need to do in order to be free. And nothing can stop me, but I have to truly want it.

If conflict is an expression of fear, I have to admit that I am afraid of myself, afraid of own thoughts, otherwise why would I conflict with myself, conflict with my thought, dissociate from it and call it ego etc.? There is only one way to undo and heal the split.

"Fear arises from lack of love.
The only remedy for lack of love is perfect love.
Perfect love is the Atonement." (A Course In Miracles, Chapter 2.VI)

"There is a kind of experience so different from anything the ego can offer that you will never want to cover or hide it again. It is necessary to repeat that your belief in darkness and hiding is why the light cannot enter." (A Course In Miracles, Chapter 4.III)

I need to train my mind to be vigilant and stay with truth and God only, instead of giving meaning to what is meaningless, because "the world I see holds nothing that I want." Letting the light in is my healing. There is no other way. It is a required course.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, Jesus, ego, God, conflict, thinking, mind, responsibility, idea, belief, love, freedom, truth

"On a Clear Day"

2009-02-17T05:14:00.008+01:00

Again and again we get to see that the message and promise of A Course In Miracles was always known to man. It was and is expressed in the arts, science, and everyday life throughout time, but it still takes one to see and hear it expressed.

For a trained mind that is only natural. In the video On A Clear Day Master Teacher did years ago as part of the Mind Training Series, he uses the song that goes by the same title to show what A Course In Miracles is. Though a great song, someone might not see much meaning in it. But a mind that is changed through miraculous intervention literally thinks differently, and it shows in everything it does. As an expression of a complete healing and transformation Master could not not use everything to teach the message of A Course In Miracles. He surprised with a revelation of new associations and meaning in the most ordinary things. Just as the Course says, "Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong." That is how a trained mind experiences his own reality, seeing God in everything.

On a clear and warm day the ice of the frozen Wisconsin River breaks and melts, but to a still mind everything opens up and gets transparent to see through, forever. Master Teacher expressed it as a translation of space to time.

The song “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” contains everything that you would ever have to know in regard to who you are. Everything that is an indication of a holy instant that’s possible for you to share will be a part of this. If I were just meeting you right now for the first time, I would say, “Would you like to sit and listen with me to a song that is going to offer us a solution to this incredible problem of who we are that we’re experiencing?” Listen.

“On a clear day you can see forever.” An association in time that is ready to orchestrate this lyric is ready to awaken, because the lyric says, “On a clear day you can, on a clear space you can see time. On a clear day you can see forever.” The capacity of your mind (and I’m teaching again here) to translate space to time should begin to amaze you. You take it for granted that you could understand, “On a clear day I can see forever.” No, it’s not really what you said. You didn’t say you could see a great distance. You said you could see forever. You could see eternity.

“You’ll be part of every mountain, sea and shore” is the entire reference of the teaching. “You can hear from far and near a world you’ve never heard before.” I don’t know what you think that lyric is. Obviously it’s the whole Workbook of A Course in Miracles. If I didn’t have the Course in Miracles, I’m liable to come and sit with you and say, “Sing this with me,” or “Talk to me about this,” because this is a direction that’s being offered you that you could actually take.

I’ll try it. “On a clear day rise and look around you.” That got us up to Lesson Number 7. “On a clear day I’m determined to see.” “Today I’m going to rise and look around me.” “And you will see who you are.” It doesn’t say you’re going to discover something out there. What does it say? It says you’re going to see who you are. Who are you? The only living Son of God, cast into a dream for just a moment from which you are now awakening.

“On a clear day how it will astound you.” The amazing experience that I’m sharing with you right now is astounding you. Isn’t it? Are you being astounded by the revealing of what’s suddenly happening to you? “On a clear day how it will astound you.” Are you ready for this next sentence? Who? Yes. Barbra Streisand. Yes, I’m aware of that. Barbra is a very old, dear friend of all of us. You guys are really something.

“On a clear day how it will astound you that the glow of your being outshines every star,” that the essence of the brilliance of your mind in association with the Creative Reality outshines a little twinkling of stars that you heretofore had given all sorts of light associations. “You feel part of every mountain, sea and shore. You can hear from far and near a world you’ve never heard before. On a clear, on that clear day, you can see forever and ever more.”

So I hope you’re happy to hear that God, Eternal Life, doesn’t know anything about the little dream of death that you’ve been having in your own mind. If you’ll let me, I intend to show you an alternative.

You can order videos by Master Teacher at the Miracles Communication Center. "One A Clear Day", however, is available only on VHS on special request.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, eternal life, God, Master Teacher, mind, space, time, Barbara Streisand, change, healing, transformation

The Beautiful Poetry of A Course In Miracles

2009-02-07T05:55:00.008+01:00

The poetry of A Course In Miracles always fascinates for its perfection. I love how much thought and precision is expressed and given in the text which is published as prose, but both in the Textbook as well as in the Workbook gradually changes to poetry using the form of blank verse. The form and structure of that shift is astounding, if you really look at it. My friend Ray Comeau wrote more about that. See his post, Prose and Poetry of A Course In Miracles.

This aspect of the Course does show the divine origin of this masterpiece. As Steve Russel put it,

"The magnitude and beauty of the Course, simply as a work of literature and without regard to its miraculous content, adequately belie any notion of its human authorship. To those who wonder why Jesus chose to use this form, I can only say that it is clear from the content of A Course In Miracles that healing is its only purpose, and so this poetry must also serve that purpose."

Here is one example of blank verse in the Course, mainly using the structure of iambic pentameter:

"The state of sinlessness is merely this:
The whole desire to attack is gone,
and so there is no reason to perceive
the Son of God as other than he is.
The need for guilt is gone because it has
no purpose, and is meaningless without
the goal of sin. Attack and sin are bound
as one illusion, each the cause and aim
and justifier of the other. Each
is meaningless alone, but seems to draw
a meaning from the other. Each depends
upon the other for whatever sense
it seems to have. And no one could believe
in one unless the other were the truth,
for each attests the other must be true.
Attack makes Christ your enemy, and God
along with Him. Must you not be afraid
with "enemies" like these? And must you not
be fearful of yourself? For you have hurt
yourself, and made your Self your "enemy."
And now you must believe you are not you,
but something alien to yourself
and "something else,"
a "something" to be feared instead of loved.
Who would attack whatever he perceives
as wholly innocent? And who, because
he wishes to attack, can fail to think
he must be guilty to maintain the wish,
while wanting innocence?
For who could see the Son of God
as innocent and wish him dead?
Christ stands before you,
each time you look upon your brother.
He has not gone because your eyes are
closed." (ACIM, Chapter 25.V)

Christ "has not gone because my eyes are closed." I love that.

Finally - the reason why I wrote this post - I want you to meet my friend Ray introducing you to the beautiful poetry of the Course much better than I can do.

Please comment, rate and share The Sheer Poetry Of A Course In Miracles - Ray Comeau on YouTube. Thank you.

Ray Comeau also appears in the documentary film A Course In Miracles Unleashed.

Do you know the Course to be from Jesus Christ?
Does the poetry of A Course In Miracles speak to you of its divine origin?
What is your favorite poetic passage in the Course?

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, poetry, blank verse, jambic pentameter, divine origin, Jesus, sinlessness, Son of God, Christ,

Playing - Five Questions by Danielle

2009-01-29T07:32:00.008+01:00

I am playing an interview game. You can play, too. You'll find the rules below.
Danielle LaPorte, author of the refreshing white hot truth, gave me among twenty others who replied to her interview answers, five questions to look at myself. All interview is innerview, isn't it? Thank you for your time and spirit, Danielle.

1. What feeling are you usually trying to create for yourself?

Like everyone else I want to be happy, too often choosing means that guarantee exactly the opposite. As a teacher of A Course In Miracles I am committed to uncover my pursuits of insane ideas to let them be healed. What I experience in this endeavor shows me that I don't know what will make me happy in any given moment. I want to be happy, but don't know how to "create" that feeling except to let go of whatever I think will make me happy. I can only be happy. I consider the lilies of the field and decide for happiness, till I forget and need to remember again that my function is happiness. God created me to be happy as He is.

2. What teaching from the Course In Miracles was most effectual for you?

Oh my, single out one, when they all point to the same thing. What helps me at any given time changes. However, from the beginning I loved the idea that God does not know of this existence, meaning that I am doing it but to myself. Jesus tells me that I am not a body and need not suffer anything. I love the idea that I am seeing only the past. But to answer your question I would have to say that asking for help, asking for a miracle to change my mind, helped me the most. We have to ask for help.

3. What's your guilty pleasure?

Thinking of a "guilty pleasure", my mind still goes to sex immediately. But more and more I come to realize that sex is actually no pleasure. It never was for me. I thought it was, but I was taught wrong. So what is my guilty pleasure? My thoughts and judgments about others? I love to surf and read on the Internet, and often do get lost with it for which I then feel guilty when I stay up late or "waste" a beautiful day, forgetting that I am doing exactly what I want to do. Another thing is driving fast on the highway. In my adolescence I was vehemently opposed to driving a car, especially a heavy and fast one. I don't have one, but I would love it.

4. What 3 books rocked your world?

Well, there are A Course In Miracles, the writings by Master Teacher and the Bible. At university I devoured Norbert Elias.

5. Milk chocolate or dark?

I share your love for milk chocolate. But it needs to have some nuts. Hazelnuts.

I loved your short and pithy answers on your post. Thank you, Danielle.

The interview rules:

* leave me a comment saying: "interview me"
* all comments will be published
* I will e-mail you five questions of my choice
* you can then answer the questions on your blog {with a link back to my blog}
* you should also post these rules, along with an offer to interview anyone else who e-mails you wanting to be interviewed
* anyone who asks to be interviewed should be sent 5 questions to answer on their blog
* it would be nice if the questions were individualized for each blogger

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, happiness, change of mind, help, miracle, guilt, Bible, interview

"Wholly Worthy of Forgiveness"

2009-01-21T23:37:00.007+01:00

Everyone practicing A Course In Miracles knows this; we have our favorite lessons, sections, chapters, and we refer to them more than to other parts of the Course. But then, when everything seems to fail to help us find back peace and joy, and we are willing to sit for a moment to let the miracle occur, anything can come to mind to help and guide us to the dawn of light in us.

The other day I reached, or better admitted to and expressed a point of hopelessness and futility for which I really needed a solution, because it was just too painful to ignore it and waste any more time on it. I shared it, admitted defeat and failure, and really did not know what to do. Nothing new, it was just more obvious at that time. So I sat in that, joining the one I had a grievance with in prayer and the desire for change. This line occurred to me: "regard one brother as wholly worthy of forgiveness." I remembered the Golden Rule, admitting that I need to give/offer forgiveness, because that is what I want for myself. I focused on the idea of "wholly worthy of forgiveness" and asked or was willing that my brother be wholly forgiven. I can't do it, but it can be done. It can and will be done by the Holy Spirit the moment I invite him and let him do it. That is so true. It was done. There was the light again. Tears rolled down my cheeks, I started to laugh and experienced communication again. My grievance was undone. Thank God. How easy it is, if I be willing.

Here is the context for the line that came to mind. I love it. My concept of myself seemed real and inescapable. Wrong. All my investment in it - misplaced. Desire something else, and you can be sure it will be given you.

"You cannot give yourself your innocence, for you are too confused about yourself. But should one brother dawn upon your sight as wholly worthy of forgiveness, then your concept of yourself is wholly changed. Your "evil" thoughts have been forgiven with his, because you let them all affect you not. No longer do you choose that you should be the sign of evil and of guilt in him. And as you give your trust to what is good in him, you give it to the good in you.

In terms of concepts, it is thus you see him more than just a body, for the good is never what the body seems to be. The actions of the body are perceived as coming from the "baser" part of you, and thus of him as well. By focusing upon the good in him, the body grows decreasingly persistent in your sight, and will at length be seen as little more than just a shadow circling round the good. And this will be your concept of yourself, when you have reached the world beyond the sight your eyes alone can offer you to see. For you will not interpret what you see without the Aid That God has given you. And in His sight there is another world.

You live in that world just as much as this. For both are concepts of yourself, which can be interchanged but never jointly held. The contrast is far greater than you think, for you will love this concept of yourself, because it was not made for you alone. Born as a gift for someone not perceived to be yourself, it has been given you. For your forgiveness, offered unto him, has been accepted now for both of you." (A Course In Miracles, Chapter 31.VII)

Interested in more about A Course In Miracles? Please check out our new fantastic A Course In Miracles documentary. See and experience what the practice of this revolutionary mind training offers you:

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, forgiveness, Holy Spirit, peace, hopelessness, failure, prayer, change

Free from All Past Associations

2009-01-04T05:33:00.009+01:00

Today's lesson of A Course In Miracles, "I do not understand anything I see", is a great lesson of undoing our false perceptions and concepts regardless of how we may feel about them. They are all meaningless because reality has nothing to do with them. Reality does not need to be understood. Reality does not need our definition to be what it is. There is nothing to understand. There is nothing hidden. Reality is perfectly clear and open, but it cannot be understood. It can only be known. Yet what are we doing in our minds? We judge. We define everything. In other words, we give everything all the meaning it has for us, and we suffer from the delusion that we understand what we think and see and do.

The meaning we give all things is not true, because we are not thinking with the mind of God Who is the only Source of reality and truth. Justifying what we think things are will not solve our problem. What is our problem? We don't know ourselves.

We don't know the only thing that can be known. We don't know the very thing we are and by which we live. That is impossible and clearly the case of our insanity. Yet normally as humans we do not doubt our situation. Our situation is not based on one true idea. That is why we are given lessons to undo our situations and identity. We train our minds to no longer give meaning where there is none. We train our minds to overlook any appearance and experience of separation. As a result of that we wake up and experience a different world and self. We see Christ and God in everything, no longer to be subject to meaningless and past thoughts. That is a very different experience.

Anything we see is a proper subject for our application of today's lesson. Questioning the suitability of anything for application of the idea is really just our need to be faithful to our own mistaken thoughts and ideas. It is very clear to me that the Course is either totally true or not at all. Truth is true, and nothing else is true. While we can and must not deny our emotions - we are emotionally involved - we cannot let ourselves be deceived by any "emotionally-charged meaning" things may have for us. We have to put such feelings aside and use them as everything else. That is easy if we want to. It is easy when we include everything in with our practice. Only that will set us free. In our judgments we become the jailer of things, and no jailer is exempt from what he does. We practice to be free from our own past associations and let things be what they are. They don't need our thoughts about them.

"The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them." (A Course In Miracles, Workbook Lesson 3)

Did you already check out this fantastic A Course In Miracles documentary? See and experience what the practice of this revolutionary mind training offers you:

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, undoing, false perceptions, meaning, source of reality, free, understanding, past associations

What Is Life to You?

2008-12-14T22:12:00.012+01:00

Recently I commented on a discussion between Christopher Hitchens and Frank Turek. The question was: "Does God exist?" Following the link you can see them both on video. Frank from a Christian Evangelical and Christopher from an atheistic viewpoint offered their ideas. Both ask some valid questions, I think, but both do not go far enough in looking at their implications of what they say. I liked Hitchens for his passionate and eloquent statement that this place cannot possibly have anything to do with love or a loving God, but because he does not doubt the reality of this world, there can be no God in his mind. Frank asks the question of mind and consciousness to reject the idea of "there is no God", but then does not see mind and matter as mutually exclusive which devalues his objection completely.

My initial response was that they both completely avoid the idea and possibility of happiness, of true happiness, and I presented some ideas that should really challenge someone looking at this debate. I had fun with it and liked to clarify my ideas. Rich, who posted the video on his blog, is willing and open to learn of differing viewpoints. But regardless of that, and because our concepts of reality are so different, there seemed to be no communication possible. While we all know about the lack of communication in this world, the actual experience that we literally do not communicate through concepts is still stunning to me. It is not possible to do it. Amazing. It has to be a miracle.

It reminded me of lesson 132 from A Course In Miracles, "I loose the world from all I thought it was", where Jesus says,

The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts' effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.

What we experience is the effect of what we think. To let someone see that this is so is not possible unless there is an allowance of questioning the source of his thoughts which would indicate that there is another way to think, a different kind of thought, because there is a different mind. Obviously God does not think like we do in a body identity. Jesus in communicating A Course In Miracles did not come from a conceptual frame of mind. Definitely, from a conceptual frame of mind the declaration and expression of Jesus, or of any enlightened mind are not understandable. That is the whole dilemma. The source of thought needs to be questioned before there can be something else, because it has to be something entirely different to be meaningful.

We obviously need help, help of a different kind or light that gives us a completely new understanding and perception of ourselves and everyone in this world. This is what A Course In Miracles is about. It lets us train our minds to a new perception to really change and heal our minds.

There is a light in you the world can not perceive. And with its eyes you will not see this light, for you are blinded by the world. Yet you have eyes to see it. It is there for you to look upon. It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from your sight. (A Course In Miracles, Lesson 189)

Here is an excerpt from a transcript of a video that Master Teacher did many years ago. I think his statements question our human assumptions about life in a beautiful and challenging way. This is necessary. Until one reaches the point where he says and truly means that there has to be something other than this, there is no hope. What is the relevance of that to my daily life, one might ask. There is none. This is an offering of a complete alternative. Is that why the world doesn't want anything to have to do with Jesus Christ? Yes.

Let’s look at what you define life is, just for a moment. Say to me, “Life is a nitrogen fixation.” Say that to me. [Life is a nitrogen fixation] Yes. If you stand back with a map, even of the galaxy – never mind the galaxy; just go to the solar system – and you look at the containment of the world, of the earth, you can see that it’s surrounded by a nitrogen cloud. I know all of you are aware of the inevitable statistical fact that the constitution of your atmosphere is 79.7 percent nitrogen. The vast majority, the other 20 percent of it, is the poison called oxygen, which is needed as a fix to justify the associations of your body form.

Now, obviously, that’s what you believe life is, but if you’d care to look at it with me, it would seem fairly ridiculous that you would be a nitrogen-oxygen fixation. It has to be a molecular association of form somewhere that the variations are the number of protons contained within the nucleus. So after you get to six, which is nitrogen, you add on seven and you’ve got carbon, or the reverse of that, and you’ve got oxygen. So your entire constitution is a molecular association of nitrogen and oxygen? That’s it? That’s 99.1 percent. Thankfully, we’ve got a little argon in there. Argon, another .8 percent. A little krypton, maybe. A little krypton and argon might help you facilitate yourself.

Can I say this to you? If you believe that that’s the constitution of reality in your mind, you’re ridiculous. What you’re saying to me is, if I’m mostly nitrogen – I am fixed in nitrogen – literally, what you’re saying is “I’m either going to crap on myself or blow myself up.” Laugh. This is the carbon cycle, guys. Everything I do either turns to crap or dynamite. It’s either nitrogen or oxygen. And that remains the fact of the matter. But why that would possibly constitute the formulations of your association with the innovative factor that you employ in order to demonstrate your creative purpose is a complete mystery to my illuminate mind and will be to yours in just a moment, this entire teaching, that you are a captive within the body form within this ridiculously contained idea that doesn’t even represent light in any true sense.

So you’ve been representing darkness. So I’m offering you a new idea, and along with this new idea will be the necessity for you to escape from the confines that you have defined within your own objective reference. Is this true? [Yes] I must offer you a manner by which your mind can expand its consciousness identity into a realization that transcends the lock of the nitrogen fixation that you are using to identify your molecular association.

I’m talking to some of you out there, who, on the experience of the joy of self-reality, that is, the idea in a moment of revelation that you are indeed free as God created you, only to have it reduced to the idea of, let’s call it, “practical application,” if you want to stay with me just for a moment... The idea of practical application, the idea that we would take this revelatory association of your mind that constitutes the joy of your creative purpose – I’m speaking of my mind here now or your mind as you come into this new facility – and we would have to reduce it to an exchange factor that would justify motivations for remaining in the stricture of your conceptual mind are meaningless and very depressing. They’re very depressing. If you’d look at it, what in the hell would be more depressing than the idea of a practical application of a revelation that showed you an entire reference of the association of eternal life, only to be reduced to some sort of exchange?

Are you aware that that’s how it works? Are you aware that you can constitute all of the innovative ideas expressed in the certainty of research that will give you surprising alternatives based on accumulative thought processes that your innovating mind can express, only to have them simply thrown out because they have no application? Are you aware why you don’t like the mind training of A Course in Miracles? Very simply because it’s the offering of direct contact with God and actually it has no practical application in regard to your necessity to stay in a nitrogen fixation and die. Is that so? Do you see that?

So, what is life to you? Do you still believe in the story you tell yourself? Or did it become absurd enough to allow for the possibility of something else altogether?

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, life, God, atheism, Frank Turek, Christopher Hitchens, mind, thought, Master Teacher

How Dare I Say, You Are Dreaming...

2008-11-16T05:29:00.021+01:00

"The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist." This is a statement directly out of A Course In Miracles, which teaches a new way to think and perceive through a revolutionary mind training program. There simply is no world, you made it all up. It doesn't exist, because it is not based on a true idea. Yet it is based on an idea. It is only your beliefs that hold it in chains. You maintain it in thought, yet it is already over. It was over a long time ago.

Wouldn't this be joyous news to anyone in this world? All your sickness, pain, getting old and dying is not so. You are just dreaming. Why would you in your right mind object to this idea of you being an hallucination in your own mind?

Take a closer look at it? I like to think things through. Well, shall we ask, what if?

You appear to be a human being in a body in an objective world, and you are confronted with the idea that no part of your limited existence is real, that you are simply dreaming a dream of separation that is not based on reality in any regard? You obviously in your current mind set either reject the idea, or accept it. You can discuss and analyze it all you want, however, thereby you do not accept it. You reject it instead. There is no consequence to that. You just continue your existence in an objective world. We want to look at the second possibility: You accept the idea that there is no world, and that you are merely dreaming. What if you accepted this idea to be true?

What would you lose, if you accepted this, except what you don't want? You don't want to suffer pain, or be unhappy, and you don't want something seemingly good, if it's result is pain. Not really.

If this world is not real in any regard, and you knew it, would you want it? Would things at the very least not become much easier and lighter, if you knew you are really dreaming all of this? You could even go on dreaming, pretending all is still playing out as it seemed before. Maybe, you might take things not as serious as before. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you don't do them, except you see that you really want something else. It would not have to mean that you become irresponsible to people and things around you. Why would you? What reason would you have to act unlovingly if you knew you were dreaming? What reason would you have in any regard to act unlovingly? There is no justification for an unloving act. It's just that you don't remember what loving is, and you don't know yourself as what love is. You are dreaming. But in the light of this idea you would have a chance to look differently at yourself and the world. You could let go of fear and a deep sense of deprivation, because they would not be based on anything real.

Would there be any immediate changes in your experience? How far would you want to go with it? It would depend on your decision, wouldn't it, if your action of mind got you to the point where you are now. (Follow deeper this thought below.)

What about the scenario where there is truly an objective world of bodies of space and time, and you just accepted this "crazy" idea that there is no world but in your dreams? Say, you would live as if the idea were true, faking your fake identity. Again, we see that it would be meaningful only, if you did it all the way. It could only bring change in your experience if you let the idea be true in all circumstances. But in the end, what you did in your mind would make no difference, because you, just like anyone else, would share in the same fate every occupant of this objective world suffers. You would get old, sick and die. No matter what belief you held all along.

Just recently some people of some news station painted deliberately, by selection of material completely out of context, a bleak and fearful picture of Endeavor Academy, saying the people there (I) don't think for themselves (myself), and saying they (I) might be in danger to even kill themselves (myself). My mind works differently. What gain is there in engendering fear? And why in hell would I want to hurt myself or anyone else, if I have the idea that this world is not real? Would that get me anything? If I knew that this world is not real, the idea of getting something would no longer be a valid one. If it is all a dream, what could I really get except more of the same?

If it is all a dream, it would have to be my dream. If it is my dream, I obviously determine the content of my dream by my choice of what I want and want to be. I would have very good reasons to examine my mind and decide about what I want to do in my mind, if I am getting the result of my action of mind.

So, why is this idea fearful? What if you are hallucinating? What if you knew you are hallucinating? So far, there are only indications that it would offer a much greater sense of freedom and choice, even a real possibility to escape the idea of suffering forever. Why would someone need to be protected from this idea that he is dreaming? Could it be that he knows already, and knew all the time that he is indeed dreaming, and would have to face the collapse of a false sense of self, of a false sense of reality, that does not hold, and never will do so? Could it be that this fear of having to admit to his falsity governs this blind and bewildered objection A Course In Miracles meets everywhere in this world?

Because if he thought through the idea, he would see that his sense of self does not depend on anything in his dream. So what then is he? Who is he, and how did he get here? Does he know? Is there an answer?

How dare I say all this... Am I your reflection, and you are about to wake up?

Any questions? If you reasoned with me, and in any case, you might want to check out our new documentary film, A Course In Miracles Unleashed.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, Endeavor Academy, dreaming, hallucination, fake identity, the world is not real, illusion, mind training, freedom, thinking through

What Is the Real Poverty?

2008-10-16T06:43:00.005+02:00

Poverty has many faces in this world of deprivation and separation from any real abundance, and many bloggers covered these conditions today in their posts, looked at strategies to overcome poverty, or wrote about being grateful for what they have and can do to make a difference.

Yet what is poverty really? What is it based on? Is there anyone in this world who will say that he, being truly loved by God, is poor? Is it possible that you could lack anything that you need when you have a true friend, when there is a whole universe that wants to give to you and does so for the mere asking? In my experience I am either poor or rich and given everything, depending on what I think I am. Depending on what I believe and hold to be true about myself. If there is a loving God, I could not possibly be lacking anything. All sense of lack would have to be my delusion of being deprived and cut off from life and happiness as God shares it with me always.

Depending on my discipline of mind, my determination to no longer side with and tolerate what is false about myself but by denying and letting go of my old ideas about the world and everyone in it, I experience myself as coming out of the darkness of this world of poverty. I am waking up from this dream of lack, need and endless seeking for what is not there. I am not a victim, and so is no one here on earth. What is true about me, is true for everyone. I am not special, but given everything by the will of God. To share what God gives is to deny poverty in any form. Nothing in this world is true, and never will be. That is what A Course In Miracles teaches me, and that is what I practice: the training of my mind to a new perception of myself and others in order to escape the bondage of the false laws of this world that would only impoverish and deny me my happiness. It is all in my hands.

Do you consider yourself or others as poor or given everything and therefore whole and complete, as powerless or powerful, as all-powerful? What do you want? This is a real question, because it all starts and ends with you. What is it that you want?

What is poverty then really? It would have to be a condition of my refusal not to answer God's calling on me to be who I am and accept His gifts to me to share them with all of my mind. The Last Unanswered Question is a section from A Course In Miracles that challenges me to overcome the false identity of a human being, offering me a new and necessarily constant because true experience instead of the poverty I find myself in in this ever changing world:

"Do you not see that all your misery comes from the strange belief that you are powerless? Being helpless is the cost of sin. Helplessness is sin's condition; the one requirement that it demands to be believed. Only the helpless could believe in it. ...

No one believes the Son of God is powerless. And those who see themselves as helpless must believe that they are not the Son of God. What can they be except his enemy? And what can they do but envy him his power, and by their envy make themselves afraid of it? These are the dark ones, silent and afraid, alone and not communicating, fearful the power of the Son of God will strike them dead, and raising up their helplessness against him. They join the army of the powerless, to wage their war of vengeance, bitterness and spite on him, to make him one with them. Because they do not know that they are one with him, they know not whom they hate. They are indeed a sorry army, each one as likely to attack his brother or turn upon himself as to remember that they thought they had a common cause.
...
The army of the powerless is weak indeed. It has no weapons and it has no enemy. Yes, it can overrun the world and seek an enemy. But it can never find what is not there. Yes, it can dream it found an enemy, but this will shift even as it attacks, so that it runs at once to find another, and never comes to rest in victory. And as it runs it turns against itself, thinking it caught a glimpse of the great enemy who always eludes its murderous attack by turning into something else. How treacherous does this enemy appear, who changes so it is impossible even to recognize him.

Yet hate must have a target. There can be no faith in sin without an enemy. Who that believes in sin would dare believe he has no enemy? Could he admit that no one made him powerless? Reason would surely bid him seek no longer what is not there to find. Yet first he must be willing to perceive a world where it is not. It is not necessary that he understand how he can see it. Nor should he try. For if he focuses on what he cannot understand, he will but emphasize his helplessness, and let sin tell him that his enemy must be himself. But let him only ask himself these questions, which he must decide, to have it done for him:

Do I desire a world I rule instead of one that rules me?
Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?
Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?
And do I want to see what I denied because it is the truth?

You may already have answered the first three questions, but not yet the last. For this one still seems fearful, and unlike the others. Yet reason would assure you they are all the same. ... This final question, which is indeed the last you need decide, still seems to hold a threat the rest have lost for you. And this imagined difference attests to your belief that truth may be the enemy you yet may find. Here, then, would seem to be the last remaining hope of finding sin, and not accepting power.

Forget not that the choice of sin or truth, helplessness or power, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. For healing comes of power, and attack of helplessness. Whom you attack you cannot want to heal. And whom you would have healed must be the one you chose to be protected from attack. And what is this decision but the choice whether to see him through the body's eyes, or let him be revealed to you through vision? How this decision leads to its effects is not your problem. But what you want to see must be your choice. This is a course in cause and not effect.

Consider carefully your answer to the last question you have left unanswered still. And let your reason tell you that it must be answered, and is answered in the other three. And then it will be clear to you that, as you look on the effects of sin in any form, all you need do is simply ask yourself:

Is this what I would see? Do I want this?

This is your one decision; this the condition for what occurs. It is irrelevant to how it happens, but not to why. You have control of this. And if you choose to see a world without an enemy, in which you are not helpless, the means to see it will be given you.

Why is the final question so important? Reason will tell you why. It is the same as are the other three, except in time. The others are decisions that can be made, and then unmade and made again. But truth is constant, and implies a state where vacillations are impossible. You can desire a world you rule that rules you not, and change your mind. You can desire to exchange your helplessness for power, and lose this same desire as a little glint of sin attracts you. And you can want to see a sinless world, and let an 'enemy' tempt you to use the body's eyes and change what you desire.

In content all the questions are the same. For each one asks if you are willing to exchange the world of sin for what the Holy Spirit sees, since it is this the world of sin denies. And therefore those who look on sin are seeing the denial of the real world. Yet the last question adds the wish for constancy in your desire to see the real world, so the desire becomes the only one you have. By answering the final question 'yes', you add sincerity to the decisions you have already made to all the rest. For only then have you renounced the option to change your mind again. When it is this you do not want, the rest are wholly answered.

Why do you think you are unsure the others have been answered? Could it be necessary they be asked so often, if they had? Until the last decision has been made, the answer is both 'yes' and 'no'. For you have answered 'yes' without perceiving that 'yes' must mean 'not no'. No one decides against his happiness, but he may do so if he does not see he does it. And if he sees his happiness as ever changing, now this, now that, and now an elusive shadow attached to nothing, he does decide against it.

Elusive happiness, or happiness in changing form that shifts with time and place, is an illusion that has no meaning. Happiness must be constant, because it is attained by giving up the wish for the inconstant. Joy cannot be perceived except through constant vision. And constant vision can be given only those who wish for constancy. The power of the Son of God's desire remains the proof that he is wrong who sees himself as helpless. Desire what you want, and you will look on it and think it real. No thought but has the power to release or kill. And none can leave the thinker's mind, or leave him unaffected." (A Course In Miracles, Chapter 21)

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, poverty, power, abundance, gifts of God, will of God, happiness, belief, waking up

Music as Spiritual Practice - Michael Waters

2008-09-29T20:09:00.012+02:00

A friend of mine introduced me to Michael Waters, an amazing and truly excellent musician on the acoustic guitar. I am not used to write about music, but to me his is pure, powerful and thoughtful. I absolutely love it. No surprise if it makes you cry.

Michael says about himself and how he came to write his music:

"My pathway has been unusual - 20 years playing as a spiritual practice before composing two songs, then another thirteen years before finally reaching a correct approach to music, resulting in continuous composing since October 2004."

There truly is a plan for all of us. We will play our part when we are ready. It is inevitable and certain, because it is impossible. We just have to look at ourselves and see what is true, innocent and whole. All else will fall away in this healing of our separate minds, and we express and offer our perfection and light to include everything. Having found his way, he says, the "music has matured, and I can no longer approach it as a search, having touched its source."

About his music in short, Michael writes:

"The music I play is not easy to describe, as it has grown as a natural personal expression over 35 years. To young people it is acoustic psychedelic chill, to over 40s it is a classical/world music/flamenco sound... All the indigenous musicians I meet understand it immediately..."

On his website you'll find a presskit with more information about Michael, including reviews, a radio interview and an interesting statement about his playing technique. He also offers beautiful pieces to download for free, according to his own words, "rough sketches and loose recordings", but nevertheless they are beautiful and inspiring.

Technorati-Tags: Michael Waters, acoustic guitar, Famous in Mongolia, spiritual practice, world music, indigenous musicians, flamenco, acoustic psychedelic chill

I Am the Light of the World

2008-09-15T04:59:00.005+02:00

I had an intense week of grievance and upheaval in my mind. Some teacher really got to me, teaching all week long and using all the right words, but what an attitude! It made me FEEL everything I do is shit, and I should read more in the Course, watch more Master Teacher videos, do this, do that and on and on. Or maybe better that I am nothing but shit. And he is right, but what does that help me? I did not want to listen to him anymore. I got into this paranoid fear of being up against everything, and each and everyone and everything against me. Seeking for allies and friends that would share my perspective and experience, all the while feeding my perception of a schism between those with and those objecting to the teacher, seeing only two categories in my mind: friend and enemy, and I split in between with no means to solve this conflict. Who is the hero in all this? Who is the hero of my dream? Oh, it couldn't be me, could it?

I did not run away, though I kept my distance. I practiced the lessons of the Course like a madman. "I am the light of the world." "I need do nothing." "I am not separate from God." I had to, otherwise I would either give into what seemed complete insanity to me, or I accumulate more and more grievance and rage. And I have to give, I have to love, I have to extend to everyone and everything. Otherwise I am nothing. And loving is entirely possible, it just takes willingness. I don't know how, I feel totally justified in my rage, but I am willing to love, because only that can offer me an experience of love. I stood still. I went for a walk and talked with a great friend. And I had a talk with two friends I thought would be on the other side. I had a straight talk, plain honest and simple, and suddenly there is the light. I don't compare myself. I just ask for how things are for me. I don't need to judge when I turn to the light and, in fact, I have to suspend judging in order to turn to the light. I am NOT the author of reality. I need to be shown, so I look for help and certainty in God. And there is all the help. I am so grateful. What a good conflict can be used for. Amazing.

So what can I say? I could care less what anyone says, I have to remember always, I am not separate from God. I am the light of the world. There is nothing outside of my mind. Let it all break loose, and in my non-defense, taking responsibility as the light of the world, I experience a freedom and joy that is truly MINE forever, and that no man and nothing can take away from me. How awesome it is to be inspired and infused by the light of God, by this ever gentle but certain light that is in each of us to guide us and to call us home to God.

"How are things for me?" "How is this for me?" "How is that really?" Instead of relying on what someone else has to say, I turn inside, and THERE I find certainty and release, and possibilities to give and love, to stay and extend peace of mind. That is what I want, and I am sooooooo grateful to have found this, miraculously, by not running away from conflict, but by looking towards the solution and only option I have which is that I am whole and perfect as God created me. I can't believe it. It is so good.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, light, help, God, conflict, upheaval, paranoid, grievance, love, judging, author of reality, grateful, freedom,

This Need not Be

2008-09-01T08:07:00.001+02:00

Today I heard it read again, the passage in the Course where Jesus says, when you feel guilty etc, know this need not be. I post here part of it. It is such a great and simple reminder:

If you cannot hear the voice of God, it is because you do not choose to listen. The fact that you DO listen to the voice of your ego is demonstrated by your attitudes, your feelings, and your behavior. Your attitudes are obviously conflicted; your feelings have a narrow range on the negative side, but are never purely joyous; and your behavior is either strained or unpredictable. Yet this IS what you want. This is what you are fighting to keep, and what you are vigilant to save. Your minds are filled with schemes to save the face of your egos, and you do not seek the Face of God.

The glass in which the ego seeks to see its face is dark indeed. How can it maintain the trick of its existence except with mirrors? But where you look to find yourself is up to you. We have said that you cannot change your mind by changing your behavior, but we have also said, and many times before, that you CAN change your mind. When your mood tells you that you have willed wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then KNOW this need not be.

In every case you have thought wrongly about some Soul that God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a darkened glass. Think honestly what you have thought that God would NOT have thought, and what you have NOT thought that God would have you think. Search sincerely for what you have done and left undone accordingly. And then change your minds to THINK WITH GOD'S.

This may seem hard to you, but it is MUCH easier than trying to think AGAINST it. Your mind IS one with God's. Denying this and thinking otherwise has held your ego together, but has literally split your mind. As a loving brother, I am deeply concerned with your minds, and urge you to follow my example as you look at yourselves and at each other and see in both the glorious Creations of a glorious Father.

When you are sad, KNOW that this NEED NOT BE. Depression ALWAYS arises ultimately from a sense of being deprived of something you want and do not have. KNOW you are deprived of nothing, except by your own decisions, and then decide otherwise.

When you are anxious, KNOW that all anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and NEED NOT BE. You can be as vigilant AGAINST the ego's dictates as FOR them.

When you feel guilty, KNOW that your ego has indeed violated the laws of God, but YOU have not. Leave the sins of the ego to me. That is what the Atonement is for. But until you change your mind about those your ego has hurt, the Atonement cannot release you. As long as you feel guilty, your ego is in command, because only the ego CAN experience guilt. THIS NEED NOT BE.

It is so true. The reason I don't hear God speaking to me is that I am simply not listening. I listen to my ego, to my own voice which tells me that I am separate from everything else. This cannot not be fearful, and all my defenses are rooted in this one idea. But it need not be. I am not a body. I am free. I am still as God created me. But hearing God's voice is the only way to be healed. It is up to me. Just to know that it need not be, let's me relax and shift my attention to what I really want.
You can read more of "this need not be" under The Escape from Fear...

Regarding the distribution of A Course In Miracles Unleashed, we have set up some widgets, hoping people would use them to embed the movie trailer in their blogs, websites etc. Here are five Clearspring widgets of different sizes for you which offer a ton of social media applications:

Source Resonance Films's Widget
A Course in Miracles Unleashed Trailer
A Course In Miracles Unleashed -- Documentary Trailer
ACIM Documentary Film Trailer
A Course In Miracles -- Movie Trailer

Thank you for your support.
Remember, today is the official release for the DVD, A Course In Miracles Unleashed. Don't miss it. It will change the world, because it did. It is certain, because it is impossible.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles Unleashed, fear, release from fear, change the world, God, Jesus, depression, laws of God, attention, defenses

A Course In Miracles Unleashed -- GO!

2008-08-26T06:00:00.003+02:00

Source Resonance Films announces the DVD release on September 1, 2008, of the long-awaited indie documentary, A Course In Miracles Unleashed: A Direct Encounter with Jesus Christ In the Evolution and Enlightenment of the Human Species.

This unique 4-part documentary film takes the viewer on a journey without distance into the arcane process of individual spiritual enlightenment, through the singular dramatic experience of over 100 ordinary men and women from around the world, who were awakened and illuminated by the revolutionary mind training program of Jesus Christ in his Course In Miracles.

After watching the movie, Reverend Alden Hughes of the Miracles Healing Center in Wisconsin Dells, WI. had this to say: "The exciting astonishment accompanying this transformation of mind is plainly visible in the stories and in the faces on the screen. You are invited to participate in this very personal yet transcendent film experience that will heal the world as it heals you."

Source Resonance Films is a whole part of A Course In Miracles International, a worldwide not-for-profit organization with headquarters in Wisconsin Dells, WI. A Course In Miracles Unleashed is its first feature length film.

For more information visit the film website, A Course In Miracles Unleashed.

Technorati-Tags: A Course in Miracles, A Course In Miracles Unleashed, enlightenment, illumination, awakening, Jesus Christ, mind training, documentary, evolution, healing the world, not-for-profit, Source Resonance Films

"There Must Be Another Way" by Ray Comeau

2008-08-11T01:24:00.004+02:00

<br>scrolling="no" marginwidth="o" marginheight="0" frameborder="0">My friend Ray Comeau published a new book, a collection of 20 essays, "based on deeply-felt, personal experiences of reading the Lessons and the Text of A Course In Miracles." This is the fruit of his contemplation of the ideas of A Course In Miracles and his listening to the Voice for God in order to find and experience the peace of God. I am certain, anyone will greatly benefit from this book in his application of the ideas of A Course In Miracles. Ray is a great writer, and deeply appreciates the power, beauty and depth of A Course In Miracles. Please consider buying his book, and spread the word.

Also, the official release of our new documentary, A Course In Miracles Unleashed, is approaching fast. Use this link for more information and maybe participation in its distribution. I will be busy the next few weeks with translating it into German. Of course we want it to be available in all major languages.

I also was thinking about moving on to a self-hosted blog, using Wordpress as a publishing tool. It looks more professional and allows for more sophisticated plug-ins. Do you have any suggestions? Would you like to be notified? I appreciate any feedback on this. Thank you for coming back to my blog.

Technorati-Tags: A Course in Miracles, A Course In Miracles Unleashed, peace of God, writer, Ray Comeau, contemplation, Voice for God

Guided and Inspired by the Holy Spirit

2008-07-29T22:49:00.000+02:00

When I was a kid, I wondered about the idea of the Holy Spirit when I saw rays of light coming from the sun through the clouds. I thought, here is God's descending spirit, and I liked the beauty of how it looked very much. I believe it was my desire for inspiration, being filled with joy and awe, that was behind this fascination.

Today I learn that the Holy Spirit, God's Voice is indeed speaking to me. He speaks to me all the time. I love this idea. It doesn't depend on anything except me listening, regardless of where I am or what I am doing. I am given a Teacher, a Comforter, a Guide to decide for God, for life instead of the death of my own ideas. I use Him to give meaning to the thoughts that come to mind, because I am tired of my own interpretation and judgments. I love it. He guarantees me happiness I could not provide for myself. He keeps me free. He keeps me out of troubles, unless I fall back into my judgmental activity again.

I use Him to do my lessons in A Course In Miracles. Its words came to me from God through Hims. He knows what they stand for. I learn through and with Him, because there is nothing that I can do by myself. Nothing. What I do by myself is all in vain, me in my own little bubble, having no effect upon Reality, yet being unaware of Its glory and love. No more. I am as God created me, that is whole and perfect.

Invest with me in the idea of being created whole and perfect by God in His likeness? I love this part in the course, where it says, we have to invest in wholeness with spirit, which is will, and will is the "price" of Heaven.

"Behold the Guide your Father gave you, that you might learn you have eternal life. For death is not your Father's Will nor yours, and whatever is true is the Will of the Father. You pay no price for life for that was given you, but you do pay a price for death, and a very heavy one. If death is your treasure, you will sell everything else to purchase it. And you will believe that you have purchased it, because you have sold everything else. Yet you cannot sell the Kingdom of Heaven. Your inheritance can neither be bought nor sold. There can be no disinherited parts of the Sonship, for God is whole and all His extensions are like Him.

The Atonement is not the price of your wholeness, but it is the price of your awareness of your wholeness. For what you chose to 'sell' had to be kept for you, since you could not 'buy' it back. Yet you must invest in it, not with money but with spirit. For spirit is will, and will is the 'price' of the Kingdom. Your inheritance awaits only the recognition that you have been redeemed. The Holy Spirit guides you into life eternal, but you must relinquish your investment in death, or you will not see life though it is all around you." (Chapter 12.IV, ACIM)

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, God, atonement, Holy Spirit, will, spirit, comforter, price of Heaven, ACIM, investment, beauty, love, learning, freedom, mind

I Do not Understand anything I See

2008-07-28T03:51:00.007+02:00

"I do not understand anything I see", is the title of lesson 3 of the workbook of A Course In Miracles. When I apply this lesson to anything I see, I free myself from the past, because all my understanding is based on a past learning. I thereby deny my past learning and let it go. It then cannot hold me to a past reference that is over and gone. That is a very freeing experience, and the question is only, where do I stop applying it? What is so valuable to me that I dismiss the practice of the lesson in any instant? My world is not doing anything in that regard. It is me valuing certain things, ideas or circumstances, habitually reacting to them and thereby defending an idea and image about myself that is not in accord with what God knows and wills. Or I reject something based on what I think that something or someone is and does and my differing preferences, thereby creating a spit identity in my mind by setting up an enemy in my mind, an alien thought that I no longer see as mine, but applying only to the "other".

Fact is, I never deal with things directly. My physical eyes do not see. They do not report to me WHAT I see. I always react to my interpretations of things. I always deal with thought. And here is the whole problem, and also the solution. Mis-perception is going on in my mind, and it is only in my mind. Since it is always based on an idea, I can let it go by changing my mind. I don't have to buy my own ideas about things. They are entirely meaningless, because I have to admit I do not understand a single thing about anything I deal with on a daily basis. I think I do, but I don't. Without a heightened awareness I go through my day without even suspecting that I have no clue whatsoever. That is what is called "sleeping".

Let's say, I went swimming today. I take off my clothes, stand naked for a moment before I put on my swim wear. What do I know about my body? I mean really know about it. What does the world really know about it? That it is all space, made up of protons and electrons with a vast amount of space in between? What does that help me? What does my body do? Who is governing its movements? O.k, then, dressed, I decide to walk to the pool and jump into the water? Who is doing what? Who lifts my right foot, and not my left? And the water? What is water? It is cool, smooth, soft, gives way to every movement, but also resists. It is made of hydrogen and oxygen, H²O. What else? What do I know by these statements? It has some practical value, yes, but what do I really know and understand? And how much does my self-proclaimed and "blind" knowledge of things get in the way of recognizing something of real meaning?

What to do with this lesson, "I do not understand anything I see"? Well, you are asked to apply it without making any distinctions. What you see in any given moment, is the proper subject for your practicing. You are not asked to question the "suitability of anything for application of the idea", since this is not an exercise in judgment, regardless of what "emotionally-charged meaning" things may have for you. What is the point of it?

"The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them." (Lesson 3, ACIM)

Try it out. See for yourself. This is exciting and liberating. What is going to happen, if you allow yourself to loose your ideas about things and stand naked in not knowing what things are? That is called "being undone" in A Course In Miracles. That is obviously a requirement of the mind training to stabilize a new perception in our minds. And that is what forgiveness is. The idea that something happened in the first place is changed. Nothing did happen. You cannot be hurt. Why? You are not a body. You are free, still as God created you in His likeness.

What do you say what you are seeing? What do you say you know about it? Are you doing the workbook lesson of A Course In Miracles? Please share.

Technorati-Tags: A Course In Miracles, mind training, mind, past, learning, God, freedom

The Bible and A Course In Miracles

2008-07-20T05:51:00.010+02:00

Today I opened A Course In Miracles and found something I have never read. It's about the idea that the Course means what it says. Often Christians who know the Bible much better than I do, reject the idea that A Course In Miracles and the Bible say exactly the same thing. They even go so far as labeling A Course In Miracles as nothing but another cult.

I found a reference that helps us to look deeper into what is said in the Bible. For some reason it was taken out of the second edition of A Course In Miracles. It is found only in the original source text and the edition done by William Thetford. The later edition misses the first paragraph of the following. I find it contains a very helpful answer to the idea that what the Bible says is to be taken literally. I love the Bible, but with many ideas I have struggled. They did not seem to speak to me of a God of love and light.

While teachers like Emmet Fox helped me to come to a deeper and more consistent understanding of what is said in the New Testament, I never found the issue expressed better than here, by Jesus himself. Thank you, Jesus.

"You have begun to realize that this is a very practical course, because it means EXACTLY what it says. So does the Bible, if it is properly understood. There has been a marked tendency on the part of many of the Bible's followers, and also its translators, to be entirely literal about fear and ITS effects, but NOT about love and ITS results. Thus, 'hellfire' means burning, but raising the dead becomes allegorical. Actually, it is PARTICULARLY the references to the outcomes of love that should be taken literally because the Bible is ABOUT love, being about GOD.

The Bible enjoins you to be perfect, to heal ALL errors, to take no thought of the body AS SEPARATE, and to accomplish all things IN MY NAME. This is not my name alone, for ours is a shared identification. The name of God's Son is One, and you are enjoined to do the works of love BECAUSE we share this oneness. Our minds are whole BECAUSE they are one. If you are sick, you are withdrawing from me. But you CANNOT WITHDRAW FROM ME ALONE. You can only withdraw from yourself AND me.

I would not ask you to do things which you CANNOT do, and it is impossible that I could do things YOU cannot do. Given this, and given this QUITE LITERALLY, there CAN be nothing which prevents you from doing EXACTLY what I ask, and EVERYTHING which argues FOR it. I give you NO limits, because God lays none upon you. When you limit YOURSELF, we are NOT of one mind, and that IS sickness.

And once again, if you haven't seen the trailer for the upcoming feature length documentary about A Course In Miracles and what it means and does for some 120 teachers and students, please watch it, spread the word. It will be released and published shortly.

Update: The documentary film, A Course In Miracles Unleashed, was released in Septermber 2008, and is available on DVD.

Thank you.

I Will Forgive

2008-07-12T06:21:00.006+02:00

Today's lesson of our Course In Miracles is lesson 193, "All things are lessons God would have me learn."

That lesson offers the end of conflict, for why would I need to continue to choose between this or that when all things are lessons God would have me learn? Or let me do the choosing. There is no loss, because all things are lessons God would have me learn. I can't escape the lessons I need to learn. So, how do I learn?

"God does not know of learning. Yet His Will extends to what He does not understand, in that He wills the happiness His Son inherited of Him be undisturbed; eternal and forever gaining scope, eternally expanding in the joy of full creation, and eternally open and wholly limitless in Him. That is His Will. And thus His Will provides the means to guarantee that it is done."

How do I learn? I do not only need to accept the goal of learning, but also the means, coming from Him. Trying to set up my own curriculum will guarantee failure. But if the goal is possible, the means to accomplish it, must be possible as well. Insisting on doing it my way could only mean my wanting of God's purpose has been shaken.

"God sees no contradictions. Yet His Son believes he sees them. Thus he has a need for One Who can correct his erring sight, and give him vision that will lead him back to where perception ceases. God does not perceive at all. Yet it is He Who gives the means by which perception is made true and beautiful enough to let the light of Heaven shine upon it. It is He Who answers what His Son would contradict, and keeps his sinlessness forever safe."

God does not see what we see. Contradiction is alien to Him, as well as perception. Talk about the depth and insanity of our condition. Everything about it, everything about us is false. God does not know of it. God does not know of our limited self-identity. Yet our perception is being used for a new purpose; the purpose of healing.

"These are the lessons God would have you learn. His Will reflects them all, and they reflect His loving kindness to the Son He loves. Each lesson has a central thought, the same in all of them. The form alone is changed, with different circumstances and events; with different characters and different themes, apparent but not real. They are the same in fundamental content. It is this:

Forgive, and you will see this differently.

Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness. Yet that is the content underneath the form. It is this sameness which makes learning sure, because the lesson is so simple that it cannot be rejected in the end. No one can hide forever from a truth so very obvious that it appears in countless forms, and yet is recognized as easily in all of them, if one but wants to see the simple lesson there.

...

This is the lesson God would have you learn: There is a way to look on everything that lets it be to you another step to Him, and to salvation of the world. To all that speaks of terror, answer thus:

I will forgive, and this will disappear.

To every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering, repeat these selfsame words. And then you hold the key that opens Heaven's gate, and brings the Love of God the Father down to earth at last, to raise it up to Heaven. God will take this final step Himself. Do not deny the little steps He asks you take to Him."

How easy. All I need to do is forgive. It makes no difference, whether "someone else" or "me" is sick. It is all my perception, and I need to forgive it. In my forgiveness does the problem disappear. How simple. What a simple way to tell whether I have learned my lesson. When I have forgiven, it is gone, it has disappeared. If I still remember the problem, I haven't forgiven. That is also what Emerson wrote in his essay called "Circles":

"People say sometimes, 'See what I have overcome; see how cheerful I am; see how completely I have triumphed over these black events.' Not if they still remind me of the black evens, - they have not yet conquered. Is it conquest to be a gay and decorated sepulchre, or a half-crazed widow, hysterically laughing? True conquest is the causing the black event to fade and disappear as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and advancing."

So, I will forgive. I don't want to hold onto my grievances. My way of seeing things is wrong. I allow it to change through miracles. I will forgive. I will forgive everything, because everything is my memory, a part of me. That is my conversion. When I see something less than perfect, I need healing. When I see someone sick, I need healing, and I need to offer healing in order to be healed. How could I be free and healed as long as I hold anyone to my old ideas of pain, sickness and death?

That is A Course In Miracles. There is no difference between the attacker and the victim. It is one thing. There is no separation. I accept at-one-ment for myself, for I am still the holy Son of God Himself.

If you haven't seen the trailer for the upcoming feature length documentary, A Course In Miracles Unleashed, please watch it, and spread the word. It will come out very soon. Thank you.

A Course In Miracles Unleashed

2008-07-01T05:02:00.012+02:00

The making of a feature length documentary presenting the teachings of Jesus Christ in A Course In Miracles is coming to an end. A Course In Miracles Unleashed: A Direct Encounter With Jesus Christ In The Evolution and Enlightenment of the Human Species is about to be released shortly. Therefore it is time to spread the word for this testimony of awakened teachers and students of A Course In Miracles witnessing their miraculous transformation and illumination through the practice of a simple idea for every day which is the mind training program of A Course In Miracles.

Thank you for watching this trailer. Thank you for spreading the word about this movie.

The happy and joyful accounts of the teachers and students in this film speak for themselves. They carry a miraculous message of love and forgiveness that leads us back to our home in Heaven that we never left. All we needed was to listen and apply the ideas to our life. The miracle and light does the work. We are so lucky. You are so lucky. We have no idea.

For more information about the movie, see A Course In Miracles Unleashed.

Thank God for the miracle, thank God for the light, thank God for Jesus and Master Teacher and A Course In Miracles. I needed this, and it really saved my life, because it is a miracle. A Course In Miracles is obviously not of human origin, coming from Him who is my brother and friend, Jesus Christ.

" This world you seem to live in is not home to you. And somewhere in your mind you know that this is true. A memory of home keeps haunting you, as if there were a place that called you to return, although you do not recognize the voice, nor what it is the voice reminds you of. Yet still you feel an alien here, from somewhere all unknown. Nothing so definite that you could say with certainty you are an exile here. Just a persistent feeling, sometimes not more than a tiny throb, at other times hardly remembered, actively dismissed, but surely to return to mind again.

No one but knows whereof we speak. Yet some try to put by their suffering in games they play to occupy their time, and keep their sadness from them. Others will deny that they are sad, and do not recognize their tears at all. Still others will maintain that what we speak of is illusion, not to be considered more than but a dream. Yet who, in simple honesty, without defensiveness and self-deception, would deny he understands the words we speak?

We speak today for everyone who walks this world, for he is not at home. He goes uncertainly about in endless search, seeking in darkness what he cannot find; not recognizing what it is he seeks. A thousand homes he makes, yet none contents his restless mind. He does not understand he builds in vain. The home he seeks can not be made by him. There is no substitute for Heaven. All he ever made was hell.

Perhaps you think it is your childhood home that you would find again. The childhood of your body, and its place of shelter, are a memory now so distorted that you merely hold a picture of a past that never happened. Yet there is a Child in you Who seeks His Father's house, and knows that He is alien here. This childhood is eternal, with an innocence that will endure forever. Where this Child shall go is holy ground. It is His holiness that lights up Heaven, and that brings to earth the pure reflection of the light above, wherein are earth and Heaven joined as one.

...

You have not lost your innocence. It is for this you yearn. This is your heart's desire. This is the voice you hear, and this the call which cannot be denied. The holy Child remains with you. His home is yours. Today He gives you His defenselessness, and you accept it in exchange for all the toys of battle you have made. And now the way is open, and the journey has an end in sight at last. Be still an instant and go home with Him, and be at peace a while."
(Lesson 182, A Course In Miracles)

Did Jesus Fake His Ordeal?

2008-06-26T04:29:00.007+02:00

What a question! What assumption would I have to make in order to seriously come up with such a question? Or could it be that as a Christian I accepted ideas about Jesus that would conclude in this question, although I knew that it is out of question, and would not dare to pose it. Let's see...

Today in session I saw an old video -- “The Power Of Decision Is My Own” -- with Master Teacher. There was this particular expression about Jesus in it that I thought was very cool. Master Teacher raised this outrageous question, "you mean he faked his ordeal?", thereby showing the absurdity of the idea that Jesus did not undergo his own transformation and conversion.

In Gethsemane, on the cross, Jesus walked in our shoes in a most extreme example, and like any human being in his moments, he felt abandoned and forsaken. That is what makes him a savior. He was really here. He went through it, and came out the other side, demonstrating the unreality of this world. That is our salvation. There would be no need for such a demonstration when it would have been clear from the beginning that there was nothing to demonstrate. If he was perfect and not also man for this moment in time as I am and as you are, he would not have been here at all to show us another way.

(Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
by Edward Coley Burne-Jones; 19th century)

So, here is the quote. It is transcribed from the video of a session in 1999 in San Fransisco in the Herbst International Exhibition Hall, The Presidio:

"I heard on television yesterday from a very noted Christian theologian that at the time of the crucifixion Jesus Christ knew exactly who he was. Come on! That he’d been sent from Heaven by God in order to show everybody through his sacrifice that there was nothing to sacrifice. I took one look at it and I said, 'You mean he faked his ordeal.' He would have to. What the hell good is a savior who fakes his ordeal? Can you hear me? If he knew he was perfect, he wouldn’t have to be here. There has to be a moment for him to save me when he felt that moment of conversion.

'Oh, he was sent by God and is perfect, and he faked his ordeal.' That’s not the truth of the matter. The truth of the matter is in Gethsemane, when he went off and all his disciples feel asleep … and he said, 'God, I’d certainly appreciate it if you’d remove this. I’ve done everything you told me to do. I’m standing here and I’m about to be killed. I’d appreciate it if you’d remove this', what happens? Nothing. God can’t hear him when he talks about death. Death heard him and justified his death."

That also is an amazing idea: "Death heard him and justified his death." God does not know of death. "There is no death. The Son of God is free." So, how could He hear anyone talking about death. If God knew about death, we would be condemned to death forever.