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Overcoming the Righteous Guilt Phase

             A Course in Miracles tells us that when we learn that we are projecting guilt outward, ego’s response is to see the guilt within, not undo it. This shows up as what I call the righteous guilt phase where students become hyper-responsible for everything occurring in their person’s life, sometimes to the extent of taking responsibility for other people’s behavior or denying that others are also contributing to problems in their relationships with them. This feels good to ego because, first, you still see guilt as real; second, it feels righteous to take responsibility for it; third, problems don’t get resolved, so ego gets to continue spinning on them. Many spend years in this phase, taking responsibility for everything occurring, and not addressing problems in their relationships, feeling this is the “spiritually correct” thing to do. Upsets are not caused by what is occurring in the material world but by your projection of meaning onto occurrences, making them seem re
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If You Are Disappointed in ACIM

             It is not uncommon for me to hear from clients and readers that they are disappointed in A Course in Miracles after a while. They are not getting from it something that they expected. Yet, they still feel compelled to read it and try to practice it. Sometimes, they’ve left it, only to come back, frustrated that they can’t let it go but they can’t get it to work for them, either. If this is happening to you, you have set up a goal for studying and practicing the Course that is not in line with how the Atonement is being expressed through you (your “path”). Your attraction to the Course , despite your discomfort with it, indicates that it is a part of your expression of the Atonement. So, what you need to look at is how your expectations do not line up with your unique expression of the Atonement. Most students begin the Course pretty much the same way, sticking to its theory and suggested practice, often for many years. Some do the Workbook later rather than sooner,
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Ask: What are your thoughts on free will?

         “In the past decade free will has come under quite a bit of scrutiny as to it being an illusion. Several books have been written regarding this, and of course, the science of the mind is nowhere close to being complete. I have been looking for references in ACIM about this subject. It speaks of course about the world and its illusionary nature as well as the self.  It reminds us that the world was over long ago. It does speak of willingness quite a bit. What are your thoughts on free will?” —ESA   My experience of the concept of free will as it is usually understood—that a person determines their own thoughts, feelings, and actions—is that it is impossible because I now see what unfolds in time and consciousness as a symbolic depiction of the idea of not-God arising in God (Reality) and simultaneously being undone by God’s all-encompassing nature. So, what unfolds in time is an expression of the Atonement, it is not bringing about the Atonement. This is my understanding o
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When Forgiveness Does Not "Work"

          My mentoring and life-coaching clients run the gamut from those trying to nail down the theory of A Course in Miracles to those who would like guidance dealing with a situation in their life. The latter often express their attempts to forgive a person or situation in their life, personal or at work, that they find painful. They want to know what they are doing wrong because, no matter how willing they are to forgive the situation, nothing has changed. Forgiveness isn’t “working.” They expect either a person or situation to change, or to change themselves and to no longer care that they are being abused or manipulated. When I tell them that perhaps they should leave the painful circumstances in which they find themselves, they are surprised. They seem to expect me to tell them that they are blocked or somehow not truly forgiving the situation. Doesn’t the Course say that they should not run away but stay and forgive? Aren’t they the problem, aren’t they projecting? In the
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Trading in the Word Christ for the Word Spirit

            Ah, words. Consciousness is just the play of symbols, and words are symbols of symbols. But, oh, what strong ideas and emotions words can evoke, and how hard those can be to overcome! For me, the word Christ evokes experiences of an Eternal Light in my mind, which springs from Reality (God) beyond consciousness.   The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within, and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come. (T-15.XI.2)   I want my clients and readers to know that the Light that was in Jesus’ mind is also in theirs.   Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you . (C-5.5)   But alas, in teaching I have been frustrated in efforts to separate the word Christ from the man Jesus for them. For example, when speaking with a client or writing an article, I may say, “Christ blah blah blah…” and later a client or reader will refer to what I said as, “You said Jesus blah blah blah…” Sigh . “
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Ask: What do you have to say about prayer?

          “I’m wondering what you would say about the topic of prayer…It would seem that it is always the ego that is praying for “more”, “better”, etc. But to Whom is the ego praying, is it heard, is it answered, or is it a waste of time since “all is written”? If all is in the mind, is it one part of a mind praying to another part of the same mind, or a dream praying to the mind that is dreaming it,  or… ?” —PW If prayer is supplication, it is always ego that prays, as only ego experiences lack. To what exactly it prays depends on the particular ego, I suppose! Perhaps ego prays to a god in its own image which it projects but that does not exist, which would be the dream praying to the dreamer as ego is both dreamer and dream. Or, in true despair, it may be a cry to God (Reality beyond consciousness). Since “the script is written”, praying could never be the cause of bringing something about. This is why it seems only some prayers are answered. When prayers seem to be answered, it
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Consciousness and the Brain

          Many years ago, I had a client who told me that she took LSD in the 1960s and had an experience of expanded consciousness and oceanic love. What she described sounded like some of my mystical experiences and I was dismayed. Although I had heard stories like this before, I did not stop to think about the implications of them until this woman shared her experience. I had thought my experiences were Spirit (Truth), but what she and others before her shared told me that those experiences were effects in the brain . At first, I experienced this as a loss. But I soon realized I lost nothing. I already knew from direct revelations of God (Reality) that nothing in consciousness is like the Glory of God. And I could still have those desirable experiences in consciousness, as they were obviously induced not only by brain altering occurrences like drugs, strokes, tumors, etc. but as I had experienced them, through an awareness of Spirit. They just were not Spirit in themselves. Later,
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