ACIM Mentor

        In her book, The Real Christ , Bernadette Roberts details how Christ , or the awareness of truth, was lost in a cult of Jesus that arose in the early Christian Church. One of the ways this occurred was through a rigid insistence that only certain approved language could be used by writers and teachers, which meant much authentic experience was lost. If someone wrote about their genuine experience in language that was not approved by the Church, they were labeled a heretic and executed. She lamented this when she had begun having experiences that were not described in the contemplative or mystical teachings of her Church ( The Experience of No-Self ), leaving her without validation and support. Eventually, the Church’s power diminished and within and outside the Church there were many contemplatives and mystics who did write about their experience in their own authentic language, but she still could find only one or two teachers who wrote about what she was ex...

          “Could you tell more about the factor of predetermination in one of the upcoming newsletters? Specifically, how we can discern if our longing and drive to wake up comes from the ego or from Spirit?” – D   As truth (pure consciousness) rises to conscious awareness, along with mystical experiences and/or a growing awareness of truth, it shows up as a motivation and sometimes desire for spiritual study and practice in some form. These are effects, not causes, of truth rising to conscious awareness. They may also serve as a form of preparation for changes that will occur as truth rises further in conscious awareness. It sometimes occurs that a desire for something, be it an object or situation, shows up out of the blue before the object or situation shows up. This is not a personal desire; it does not come from a sense of lack. It simply signals an awareness of what is to occur. I’ve heard the longing for greater spiritual awareness described a...

            Perhaps you are aware of Russian nesting dolls—matryoshka—where a larger doll contains a smaller doll which contains an even smaller doll and so on. I’ve discovered that the absolute and consciousness and ego are like this, which is why there is confusion about which experiences are true and what is the ultimate truth, the absolute. Let’s begin with the actual only truth, the absolute . Being all, the absolute must contain the idea of its own opposite. Being all, the absolute cannot have an opposite so its opposite can only ever be an idea . It can never be real. Moreover, as soon as the idea of not-absolute arises it is simultaneously undone by the absolute’s all-encompassing nature. In the absolute, there is only the absolute. So, in the absolute, no opposite actually arises and must be undone. The idea of a truth that must undo its opposite can only be representational . These ideas play out in a “space” we call consciousness . In conscio...

           Ego fell away here, but I did nothing to cause it to fall away. It happened because it was to happen. Before it fell away, ego went through many stages; it went on a “spiritual journey”. This was merely the effect of truth rising to conscious awareness here. The journey did not result in ego falling away. Truth rising to conscious awareness resulted in what looked like ego going on a “spiritual journey”. While an effect of truth, the journey had nothing to do with what truth actually is. In general terms, the journey was symbolic, an indication of truth rising to conscious awareness. But the specifics of the journey were wholly in the context of ego. This is why enlightenment was such a shock. A Course in Miracles is also an effect, not a cause. It was the result of Bill Thetford’s awakening, not the cause of it. Truth was to rise to his conscious awareness and the Course was his “spiritual journey” or “individualized curriculum”—how truth ri...

            When I write articles like the past two where I emphasize the centrality of your awareness of your inner teacher (Holy Spirit) to your sense of inner peace, I hear from those who say they are not aware of their inner teacher. Everyone experiences their inner teacher at some point, but they may not identify it as such. So, let’s look at some obstacles to identifying your inner teacher.   The expectation that your inner teacher will stand out , be something dramatic, lofty, or special in some way. Your inner teacher is always in your mind, and its ordinariness may make it hard for you to pick it out from ego’s many, also familiar experiences. So, it sounds and feels like you, but a quiet, rational, detached you.   Your inner teacher is quiet , so easily lost in ego’s cacophony. However, this quiet can be how you distinguish it from ego—in time. Ego will try to be quiet to mimic it, but you will sort that out in time through othe...

           Years ago, I had a client who had been attending a weekly A Course in Miracles study group for years. In our first session I asked, as I do if it has not already come up, about his relationship with his inner teacher (Holy Spirit). He was surprised. He told me that many of the participants in his study group could quote the Course chapter and verse, but no one discussed their inner teacher. Whatever topic someone brought up, someone else would merely quote what the Course teaches on the topic. Now he understood why he felt stuck. Once I received an email from someone who described herself and her friends as highly educated, but they were struggling to understand certain aspects of the Course . Those were aspects that would only be understood through experience. So, I asked her about her spiritual experiences. “Oh,” she wrote back. “There’s supposed to be an experience ?” Indeed, there is.   “A universal theology is impossible, but a...