Random post for ACIM students

 My qualifications for writing this depend only on what I am doing for all of us on a worldwide scale.  For that, I offer a petition I have online.  However, the intent is not to advertise that petition.  It is only to share insight.

A Course In Miracles is an interesting book.

It was written by professors at a prestigious university.  They were the teachers of some of today's leading medical doctors.  There's a problem with that book.

One professor heard a voice repeat "this is a course in miracles, please take notes."  Her name was Helen Schucman.  She heard the voice each morning when she awoke, for a couple months.  She thoughts she was losing her mind, so she decided to ask for help.

Helen approached her supervisor, Bill.  Bill was the department lead at NYC's University Of Columbia School Of Medicine in the 1960s.  His answer was simple: "well, we're doctors.  Why don't you come into my office and we'll talk about it."

Bill listened to Helen's worry.  He asked, "Did you even think of writing it down?"

Helen retorted, "What do you think I am, crazy?"  It was, however, what Helen needed to hear.  Bill was willing to examine what was going on inside Helen's head.

Helen accepted the suggestion, because she really didn't know what else to do. 

The next morning voice continued, "This is a course in miracles."

Helen couldn't believe she was having the dialog.  She asked, sarcastically, "Is this a required course?"  She meant it well, but also in the sense that universities offer elective and compulsory courses.  She was looking for a way to end her misery.  She thought the answer would somehow make this new unwelcome experience end.

The voice continued.  "Yes and no.  It is a required course, but the time you take it is up to you.  You can elect to take it now, or later.  Free will does not mean you can establish the curriculum.  Free will means only that you can elect what you want to learn at any given time in what you know to be your life."

Nothing the voice said interfered with any of the beliefs Helen or Bill had.  In fact, they couldn't argue with what Helen's hand was scribbling in short-hand notes before work each morning.  Bill decided to type the notes. 

The book, A Course In Miracles, is the direct translation of their studies over a seven year period.

Bill and Helen started running some of the script past others.  Before long, there was a whole team working together to present the idea in a readable way.

The idea is simple: we are all gods who are confused about how, possibly, there could really exist just one common sentience equally available to us all, at the same time.  If there is such a sentience, why are there so many horrors in the world?  Clearly a common sentience implies that every problem has a solution, so why do accidents keep happening?

The voice seemed to have every answer.  Helen later clarified that she did not hear a voice in the way that other people who are plagued with negative voices hear voices.  Rather, it was more of an inner process of dictation.  Like a part of her mind attempting to sort out another part.

The voice explained accidents as needing to occur only because of the many wishes each of us makes.  We make wishes, then we forget we make them.  We hold onto them, and remember them at later times, only to re-enforce them or to release ourselves of that wish.

The voice explained, because free will exists, all wishes must be attainable.  However, not all wishes can be granted at the same time.  If a person makes different goals and those goals are not mutually exclusive, then they are harmonious.  However, if a person retains the desire for wishes that are not harmonious, an accident must occur to the individual because the individual is conflicted.

A Course In Miracles is about understanding how our mind works. 

If we have conflicting wishes, we can release ourselves of the conflict only with forgiveness.  Ultimately, there exists only one mind.  So forgiving anyone else for something we think they've done intentionally to harm us is the exact same as forgiving a part of our mind.

When we truly forgive our unrecognized higher mind, we allow that higher mind to show us how we had misunderstood.  We usually don't think about how often that actually happens in our day.  And we certainly are not aware of the great benefit to all of us when the released tension is absolved back into a state of mental calm.

There is false calm, forced calm, and eternal calm. 

The voice for A Course In Miracles emphasized over and over again that understanding a concept is not the same as experiencing it.  No accidents need occur, except when we are not willing to prevent them.  It teaches that we do not believe that we can prevent what we do not know will happen, and so we are left learning the habit of forgiveness to at least prevent further unnecessary accidents.

A Course In Miracles includes a workbook.  The purpose of the workbook is to help us think better of ourselves, and all that we encounter in any moment of the day.  The purpose is not to increase stress to us.  Some of those later workbook lessons seem to take a lot of time, but that is the whole point! 

The point of A Course In Miracles is learning to forgive ourselves to the point of living in a constant state of forgiveness where we can finally say to ourselves, "Wow, it's really ok if I never do another workbook lesson again in my life!"  However, to experience that understanding, we must understand that every person is a walking forgiveness lesson to us because they will have different thoughts about reality, and our thoughts about reality and theirs are going to conflict.  We become, in effect, teachers of A Course In Miracles to everyone at all times of the day just so that we can be sure that we're always remember to live the course ourselves.

The book is like a virus.  It infects us.  It causes us to think more of others, and to put the needs of others first.  It's not at all a bad thing, since putting others first does directly help our greater self.  The rest is our self-concept. 

Our self-concept is our ego.  If our ego truly desires us to be wholey united with God in an experiential way, then we must teach that concept to others at all times in the day!  We must empower others with the understanding that they are God and that God is a singular sentience!

It doesn't matter what we call "God".  If we say, "There is no God here", then we accept that we are here now, and we accept we are either at the whim of others, or able to help others understand they are at the whims of others. 

It really doesn't matter how we think about the process of learning, understanding, teaching, and living.  The point is only that we do what we do for a reason, and we've had many reasons that we no longer recall.  If we are at all intelligent, we'll always act with a reason that is not exclusive of any other reason, to be sure that the actions we don't recall cannot harm us at a later date.

In that way, we are all becoming perceptually smarter.  We are collectively becoming more sentient.  Together, we are learning what sustainability means, and that we only help or delay the greater process in any moment.  We really don't need to remember anything at all, except for everyone else who still believes that blaming is the way to go.

Courts of law are established to mitigate our collective madness.  In court there are only two sides.  The man in the middle is the referee.  The idea of blame is expressed as a desire for punishment.  We could actually establish a worldwide legal process that is centered exclusively on helping others, but that would require a serious change to the global legal structure. 

The first required change is the willingness to work together.  There was an argument that brought any two parties into the court process.  If one person is eternally willing to work with the other person, that person will always work for both sides of the court at the same time.  That is why some courts simply do not permit religious arguments to be brought into the court room.

If someone is truly religious, they must respect a higher authority that is not physical in origin.  That idea incorporates an idea for heaven, or an eternally united state.  To serve any eternal state, the idea of service to others must be demonstrated.  In court, that translates into the infallible desire to always promote mediation in place of blame, punishment, or loss.

Mediation can absolutely end with the words "thank you". 

A truly religious person will be able to argue any argument to that conclusion from the perspective of the other party.  Since the other party must be eternally thankful for the argument to be fully absolved, it takes a lot of willingness. 

Only a seriously religious person will understand that absolute religion means that acceptance of absolute responsibility for every argument known to anyone in any environment shared with the religious fanatic.  That way, the religious fanatic becomes more of a ghost, or, entirely selfless always with intent, and actioned intent, for harm to none.

There is always more.  I started another book today... I may or may not get it done.  It is, like all things, a potential.  My work is for a school to certify teachers for A Course In Miracles, globally. That work is ongoing.  It is currently at http://talk2dream.com