A Course in Miracles presents a clear picture of the nature of God's reality and His Kingdom of Heaven. Nevertheless, understanding the nature of God continues to prove difficult for many people, including most students of ACIM. Many people have theories about what God and His Creations must be like, how they relate and interact. But too often these theories are incomplete, confusing, or even completely mistaken. This had led to profound levels of confusion and misunderstanding, and a tremendous distortion of the teachings of A Course in Miracles.
In this groundbreaking book, Paul - an ACIM student and teacher with over 20 years experience, casts aside all confusing guesswork and presents a very clear and logical explanation of reality. Using simple logic that's easy to follow, and starting at the very beginning with God Himself, Paul draws astonishingly obvious conclusions which make complete and total sense. The book is structured in such a way that each chapter builds upon the ones before, gradually fleshing out a consistent and clear picture of the ultimate truth.
Many people attempt to find the truth by starting at the bottom and working backwards, reverse-engineering the bigger picture based on small glimpses of insight found in the dark. This is like trying to assemble a puzzle without the picture to reference. In this book we do the complete opposite, starting from the top down and assuming nothing. Step by step you will see that God's inherent nature automatically leads to the creation of His Kingdom, the sharing of everything with his Creations, and the beautiful extension of Himself through co-creation. This puts everything in its proper place, seen in its proper light as the only possible truth.
This book can be also said to be a theory of everything, since it spells out precisely and accurately the true nature of ultimate reality. The logic in the book has been designed to be "bullet proof" and irrefutable, so impeccable and precise that it cannot be argued with. The conclusions drawn are not opinions or interpretation but factual outcomes and consequences. We ask the logic to tell us what must be true, and we listen.
It just so happens, as you will see, that the independent conclusions that we arrive at also happen to completely and perfectly align with the teachings of A Course in Miracles. This validates that A Course in Miracles is logically completely true and is giving us the actual truth about our lives. In turn, this book is further validated because A Course in Miracles, a renowned and deep spiritual text, tells us that the exact same truths are true, and nothing else is true.
If you are done with all the confusion, arguments about whose interpretation is right, the inconsistencies and sense of difficulty trying to unravel the depths of ACIM's teachings, then this is the book for you. Put aside everything you've learned and let's take a fresh and extremely clear look at the truth together. Let's brush off the sea of opinions and cast aside the logical errors which are so prevalent in the thoughts of many. There can only be one truth and this is it.
This book will lay a new foundation in your mind, a background and firm footing, on which to build and draw further conclusions. It will act as a beacon of light in your mind to help you to compare and contrast what is true and what is not. It will sharpen and clarify your grasp of A Course in Miracles profoundly, and will lay to rest untold amounts of wasted time and frustration. If you want to know what Jesus is really telling us about the nature of reality, of God and his creations, and ultimately about yourself, this is the book for you.
The book is 283 pages, and almost 58,000 words. The size of the book is 6" wide by 9" tall. Large print edition is 8.5" x 11" at 297 pages.
This book is available in e-book, paperback and hardcover versions. The book is printed on demand so is always in stock. There is also a second paperback version which is the large print edition, at 50% larger size.
Paperbacks and hardcover are available from Amazon, including country-specific Amazon sites such as amazon.co.uk.
The e-book is available on Kindle via the same amazon sites, through a kindle device or free kindle reader app. A kindle device is not needed - you can install the Amazon Kindle Reader App on your desktop computer, laptop, tablet or phone (PC, Mac, Android, iOS).
You can "look inside" or "read a sample" of the book on the Amazon websites. Note that the Kindle edition sample is longer than the paperback sample.
Most stores include Kindle e-book ($6.99), paperback ($17.99) and hardcover ($25.99). Prices shown here are approximately the regular paperback prices. I typically make only a few dollars from each book sale due to Amazon fees.
Amazon.com (USA) ~$17.99 USD.
Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)~15.71 UKP.
Amazon.de (Germany) ~18 EUROS.
Amazon.fr (France) ~17.79 EUROS.
Amazon.es (Spain) ~17.49 EUROS.
Amazon.it (Italy) ~17.49 EUROS.
Amazon.nl (Netherlands) ~18.33 EUROS.
Amazon.jp (Japan) ~2916 YEN.
Amazon.com.br (Brazil) Unknown.
Amazon.ca (Canada) ~24.62 CAN.
Amazon.mx (Mexico) ~447.07 PESO?
Amazon.com.au (Australia) ~34.32 AUS$.
Amazon.in (India) Unknown.
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Dedication
Author’s Note
Introduction
1. Absolute Truth
2. Aspects of Reality
3. Permanent Perfection
4. Possibility
5. Inclusion and Wholeness
6. Omni-Presence
7. Holographic Reality
8. Unlimited Sharing
9. True Equality
10. The Golden Rule
11. Inclusive Logic
12. Creation Means Sharing
13. The Power to Create
14. God is Alive
15. The Act of Creation
16. Co-Creation in the Kingdom
17. The Premise of God
18. Cause and Effect
19. Permanent Creation
20. Free Will
21. God is the First Cause
22. The Awareness of Knowledge
23. The Vision of God
24. Real Relationships
25. The Machinery of Mind
26. Unlimited Power
27. Joy and Happiness
28. Permanent Peace
29. Unconditional Love
30. Absolute Freedom
31. Worth and Validity
32. Willingness
33. The Freedom to Deny God
34. The Potential for Miscreation
35. The Light of Truth
36. Gratitude
37. Innocence and Holiness
38. The Good and The Positive
39. The Expansion of the Kingdom
40. Giving and Receiving
41. Multiple Wholeness
42. The Attraction of Meaning
43. Symbiotic Relationship
44. Communion and Prayer
45. Every Soul is Christ
46. The Sonship as The One Son
47. The Family of God
48. The Brotherhood of Christ
49. Super-Natural Miraculousness
50. Oneness
51. The Father-Son Relationship
52. God is Greater Than You
53. The Creation of Your Kingdom
54. Independence
55. Immortality
56. The Holy Spirit
57. Angels of God
58. Final Word
The body is nothing more than a framework for developing abilities. It is therefore a means for developing potentials, which is quite apart from what the potential is used FOR. This IS a decision. The effects of the ego's decision in this matter are so apparent that they need no elaboration here. But the Holy Spirit's decision to use the body ONLY for communication has such direct connection with healing that it DOES need clarification. The unhealed healer OBVIOUSLY does not understand his own vocation.
ONLY minds communicate. Since the ego CANNOT obliterate the impulse to communicate because it is also the impulse to CREATE, it can only try to teach you that the BODY can both communicate AND create, and therefore DOES NOT NEED THE MIND. The ego, then, tries to teach you that the body can ACT like the mind, and therefore IS self-sufficient. But we have learned that behavior is NOT the level for either teaching OR learning. This MUST be so, because you CAN act in accordance with what you do NOT believe. But this will weaken you as teachers AND learners because, as has been repeatedly emphasized, you teach what you DO believe. An inconsistent lesson WILL be poorly taught and POORLY LEARNED. If you teach both sickness AND healing, you ARE both a poor teacher and a poor learner.
Healing is the one ability that everyone CAN develop, and MUST develop, if he is to BE healed. Healing IS the Holy Spirit's form of communication, and THE ONLY ONE HE KNOWS. He recognizes no other, because he does NOT accept the ego's confusion of mind and body. Minds CAN communicate, but they CANNOT hurt. The body in the service of the ego can hurt other BODIES, but this CANNOT occur UNLESS the body has ALREADY been confused WITH the mind. This fact, too, can be used either for healing or for magic, but you must realize that magic is ALWAYS the belief that healing is HARMFUL. This is its totally insane premise, and so it proceeds accordingly.
Healing ONLY STRENGTHENS. Magic always tries to weaken. Healing perceives NOTHING in the healer that everyone else does not share WITH him. Magic ALWAYS sees something special in the healer, which he believes he can offer as a gift to someone who does NOT have it. He may believe that this gift comes from God TO him, but it is quite evident that he does NOT understand God if he thinks HE has something that others DO NOT. You might well ask why SOME healing CAN result from this kind of thinking, and there is a real reason for this.
However misguided the "magical healer" may be, and however much he may be trying to strengthen his ego, HE IS ALSO TRYING TO HELP. He IS conflicted and unstable, but AT TIMES he is offering SOMETHING to the Sonship, and the ONLY thing the Sonship can ACCEPT IS healing. When the so-called healing "works," then, the impulse both to help and BE helped have coincided. This is co-incidental, because the healer may NOT be experiencing HIMSELF as truly helpful at the time, and the belief that he IS, in the mind of ANOTHER, HELPS HIM.
The Holy Spirit does NOT work by chance, and the healing that is of HIM ALWAYS works. And unless the healer ALWAYS heals BY Him, the results WILL vary. But healing itself IS consistence, because ONLY consistence is conflict-free, and only the conflict-free ARE whole. By accepting exceptions, and acknowledging that he can SOMETIMES heal and SOMETIMES not, the healer is OBVIOUSLY accepting INconsistency. He is therefore IN conflict and TEACHING conflict.
Can ANYTHING of God NOT be for all and always? Love is incapable of ANY exceptions. Only if there is fear does the whole IDEA of exceptions of any kind seem to be meaningful. Exceptions ARE fearful because they were made BY fear. The "fearful healer" is a contradiction in terms, and is therefore a concept that ONLY a conflicted mind could POSSIBLY perceive as meaningful. Fear does NOT gladden. Healing DOES. Fear ALWAYS makes exceptions. Healing NEVER does. Fear produces dissociation because it induces SEPARATION. Healing ALWAYS induces harmony because it proceeds from integration.
Healing is predictable BECAUSE it can be counted on. EVERYTHING that is of God can be counted on, because everything of God is WHOLLY REAL. HEALING can be counted on BECAUSE it is inspired by His voice, and is in accord with His laws. But if healing IS consistence, it CANNOT be inconsistently understood. Understanding MEANS consistence, because GOD means consistence. And because that IS His Meaning, it is also YOURS. YOUR meaning CANNOT be out of accord with His, because your whole meaning, and your ONLY meaning, comes FROM His and is LIKE His. God CANNOT be out of accord with HIMSELF, and YOU cannot be out of accord with Him. You cannot separate your SELF from YOUR Creator, who created YOU by sharing HIS Being WITH you.
The unhealed healer wants gratitude FROM his brothers, but he is NOT grateful to them. This is because he thinks he is giving something TO them, and is NOT receiving something equally desirable in return. His TEACHING is limited because he is LEARNING so little. His HEALING lesson is limited by his own ingratitude, which is a lesson in sickness. Learning is constant and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his power in an instant, and change the world in the next. That is because by changing HIS mind he has changed the most powerful device that was ever created FOR change.
This in no way contradicts the changelessness of mind as GOD created it. But YOU think that you HAVE changed it, as long as you learn through the ego. This DOES place you in a position of needing to learn a lesson which SEEMS contradictory: you must learn to change your mind ABOUT your mind. Only by this can you learn that it IS changeless.
When you heal, that is exactly what you ARE learning (doing). You are recognizing the changeless mind in your brother by perceiving (knowing) that he could NOT have changed his mind. That is how you perceive the Holy Spirit in him. It is ONLY the Holy Spirit in him that never changes His mind. He himself must think he CAN, or he would not perceive himself as sick. He therefore does not know what his self IS. If YOU see only the changeless in him, you have not really changed him at all. But by changing your mind about HIS FOR him, you help him undo the change his ego thinks it has made in him. As you can hear two voices, so you can see in two ways. One way shows you an image, or better, an idol which you may worship out of fear, but which you will never love. The other shows you only truth, which you will love because you will UNDERSTAND it. Understanding is APPRECIATION, because what you understand you can identify WITH, and by making it part of YOU you have accepted it with love. This is how God Himself created YOU, in understanding, in appreciation, and in love.
The ego is totally unable to understand this, because it does NOT understand what it makes. It does NOT appreciate it, and it does NOT love it. It incorporates to TAKE AWAY. It literally believes that every time it deprives someone of something IT has increased. We have spoken often of the INCREASE of the Kingdom by YOUR creations, which can only BE created as YOU were.
The whole glory and perfect joy that IS the Kingdom lies in you to give. Do you not WANT to give it? You CANNOT forget the Father because I am with you and I CANNOT forget Him. To forget ME is to forget yourself and Him who created you. Our brothers ARE forgetful. That is why they need your remembrance of Me and Him who created Me. Through this remembrance you can change THEIR minds about themselves, as I can change YOURS. Your minds are so powerful a light that you can look into theirs and enlighten them, as I can enlighten yours.
I do not want to share my BODY in communion because this is to share nothing. Would I try to share an illusion with the most holy children of a most Holy Father? But I do want to share my MIND with you because we ARE of one Mind, and that Mind IS ours. See ONLY this Mind everywhere, because only this IS everywhere and in everything. It IS everything, because it encompasses all things within ITSELF. Blessed are you who perceive only this, because you perceive only what is true. Come therefore unto me and learn of the truth in YOU.
The mind WE share IS shared by all our brothers, and as we see them truly, they WILL be healed. Let YOUR minds shine with mine upon their minds, and by our gratitude to them make THEM aware of the light in THEM. This light will shine back upon YOU and on the whole Sonship because this IS your proper gift to God. He will accept it and give it to the Sonship, because it is acceptable to Him, and therefore to His Sons. This is the true communion of the Spirit Who sees the altar of God in everyone, and by bringing it to YOUR appreciation calls upon you to love God and His Creation.
I think perhaps we under appreciate what being "ruler of the universe" really entails. It seems fanciful and lofty and like some kind of fake superhero idea.
"My self is ruler of the Universe." - "It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen."
What Jesus is saying is that we should, in our more natural state of mind, adopt a position of great responsibility. We should be powerful beings who cannot be affected by the world. We are free from fear, causing us to be decisive and certain. We no longer are tossed around by the world and its changes, but instead remain in a continual state of calm and strength, acting deliberately, fully conscious and purposeful.
"It is a conscious choice. For they have learned that all choices are made consciously, with full awareness of their consequences."
It is not a state in which you are a victim, or affected by the world, or upset by anything, or caused in any way by any person. It is not a state in which you are constantly changing and adapting and reacting and cleaning up a mess. It's not a state in which you are being bossed around, intimidated, offended, attacked, persuaded or caused against your will.
Jesus is asking us to step into shoes of authority. Shoes of responsibility not only for everything we feel and see and experience, but even responsibility for causing things to happen. As he states clearly, you as ruler of the universe rule your destiny, even in this world. You DECIDE what you want to happen and it MUST happen. You decide what you do not want to happen, and it DOES NOT happen. This is not wishful thinking. This is the power of God to alter the world and affect events. This is being a miracle worker.
In our lives we are probably used to being pushed around, caused to changed, made to feel upset, affected and stressed, scared and attacked. At the same time, the very world that we give power to upset us, is also given power to do things "favorable" to us. We want to get from the world, but only the stuff we approve of, and the rest remains an enemy. But this is not an enlightened or empowered state.
To move out of victimhood into authority, we have to learn to exercise our power consciously and deliberately. We have to learn to stop giving our power away, and we have to learn to take it back from where we have disowned it.
"If you give no power to the fog to obscure the light, it HAS none, for it has power ONLY because the Son of God gave power TO it. He must HIMSELF withdraw that power, remembering that all power is of God."
It is only because you give your power away to the world and to people and events that you seem to allow them to DECIDE FOR YOU what you are, what you feel, what you experience and what happens. You have to learn to stop doing that. Stop enabling people, in your mind, to have possession of YOUR authority, and stop USING them to attack yourself.
The problem mainly is that by giving power to things that have no power, we keep asking them to give us what we want. We keep searching externally for salvation. We want it to do things to us. We want it to give us peace, make us happy, love us, worship us, please us, and bestow gifts upon us. And when it doesn't, or does the opposite, we instead allow it to decide for us that we will not be happy, will not be at peace, and will be upset. As Jesus says, any time that we search externally for the gifts of God, we are mentally ill.
"Peace is an attribute in YOU. You cannot find it outside. All mental illness is some form of EXTERNAL searching. Mental health is INNER peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without, and capable, through your own miracles of correcting the external conditions, which proceed from lack of love in others."
Being the ruler of the universe, you get to be a boss, of sorts, along with the Holy Spirit working with and through you. You use the POWER of your decision, your decisiveness, to DECIDE what will and will not happen. You make it so with the power in your mind. If you say something will be healed it will be healed. If you say something will not happen, it will not happen. You get to decide your destiny. You get to decide who will or will not do what.
"What do you think "the meek shall inherit the earth" MEANS? They will literally take it over because of their strength."
This is not the same as "control" or "manipulation", or other ego fantasies of tyranny and dictatorship. This is your true freedom and power. If you want to not be a victim, you have to step into the role of being an authority and a powerful being, of being responsible and in command, of choosing and deliberately deciding what will occur for you, and NOT assigning responsibility for it to other people or the world. You have to stop sitting on the sidelines and stand up to be counted.
You get to call the shots here, you get to direct your life, and you get to never have to tolerate or put up with any shit ever again - knowing that you only ever put up with what you did to yourself to begin with.
"I am not weak, but strong."
"I am not helpless, but all powerful."
"I am not limited, but unlimited."
"I am not doubtful, but certain."
"I am not an illusion, but a reality."
"I cannot see in darkness, but in light."
"It is impossible the Son of God be merely driven by events OUTSIDE him. It is impossible that the happenings that come to him were NOT his choice. His power of decision is the DETERMINER of every situation in which he seems to FIND himself by chance or accident. No accident or chance is POSSIBLE within the universe as God created it, OUTSIDE of which is nothing. Suffer, and YOU decided sin was your goal. Be happy, and you GAVE the power of decision to Him Who MUST decide for God for you."
"The Holy Spirit does NOT work by chance, and the healing that is of HIM ALWAYS works. And unless the healer ALWAYS heals BY Him, the results WILL vary. But healing itself IS consistence, because ONLY consistence is conflict-free, and only the conflict-free ARE whole."