It may appear there are many problems, all of which are different and seem to call for very specific solutions. The form of each problem tempts you with its appearance, to believe it is unique and unlike anything else, calling for a response that must be dictated by the form of the problem. This suggests to you the only solution is the one that matches the problem, and that nothing else will work.
But what if love is like a skeleton key, able to unlock every problem, able to solve every situation, and able to heal all difficulties? What if there is one simple answer to all scenarios, requiring you to trust that love can solve all problems and answer all issues now? What if your "go to" is to become just one tool, miraculous love, which enables you to accomplish the impossible?
"Every problem is the SAME to Him, because each one is solved in just the SAME respect, and through the SAME approach"
"In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved."
"There is NO problem, in ANY situation, that faith will not solve"
"Today I would remember the simplicity of salvation by reinforcing the lesson that there is one problem and one solution."
"Yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution which solves them all is to be accepted."
"Everyone in this world seems to have his own special problems. Yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution which solves them all is to be accepted."
"No-one could solve all the problems the world appears to hold. They seem to be on so many levels, in such varying forms and with such varied content, that they confront you with an impossible situation. Dismay and depression are inevitable as you regard them. Some spring up unexpectedly, just as you think you have resolved the previous ones. Others remain unsolved under a cloud of denial, and rise to haunt you from time to time, only to be hidden again but still unsolved.
All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem, and therefore not to let it be resolved. If you could recognize that your only problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance. Perceiving the underlying constancy in all the problems which confront you, you would understand that you have the means to solve them all. And you would use the means because you recognize the problem."
"The Holy Spirit will repeat this ONE inclusive lesson of deliverance, until it has been learned, REGARDLESS of the form of suffering that brings you pain. Whatever hurt you bring to Him, He will make answer with this very simple truth. For this one answer TAKES AWAY the cause of every form of sorrow and of pain. The form affects His answer not at all, for He would teach you but the SINGLE cause of all of them, no matter WHAT their form. And you will understand that miracles reflect the simple statement, "I have done this thing, and it is this I would undo." "
We have repeatedly stated that the basic concepts referred to throughout the notes are NOT matters of degree. Certain fundamental concepts CANNOT be meaningfully understood in terms of co-existing polarities. It is impossible to conceive of light and darkness, or, everything and nothing, as joint possibilities. They are all true OR all false. It is absolutely essential that you understand completely that behavior is erratic until a firm commitment to one or the other is made.
A firm commitment to darkness or nothingness is impossible. Nobody has ever lived who has not experienced some light and some of everything. This has made everybody really unable to deny truth totally, even if he deceives himself in this connection most of the time. That is why those who live largely in darkness and emptiness never find any lasting solace. (This really answers B's question about whether people return voluntarily.)
Innocence is also not a partial attribute. It is not a real defense UNTIL it is total. When it is partial, it is characterized by the same erratic nature that holds for other two-edged defenses. The partly innocent are apt to be quite stupid at times. It is not until their innocence is a genuine viewpoint which is universal in its application that it becomes wisdom.
Innocent (or true) perception means that you NEVER misperceive, and ALWAYS see truly. More simply, this means that you never see what does not exist in reality. Whenever you lack confidence in what someone else will do, you are attesting to your belief that he is not in his Right Mind. This is hardly a miracle-based frame of reference. It also has the disastrous effect of denying (incorrect use) the essentially creative power of the miracle. The miracle perceives everything AS IT IS. If nothing but the truth exists (and this is really redundant in statement, because what is not true CANNOT exist) Right-Minded seeing cannot see ANYTHING BUT perfection. We have said many times that ONLY what God creates, or what man creates with the same will, has any real existence. This, then, is all that the innocent can see. They do not suffer from the delusions of the Separated ones.
The way to correct all such delusions is to withdraw your faith from them, and invest it ONLY in what is true. To whatever extent you side with false perception in yourself or others, you are validating a basic misperception. You CANNOT validate the invalid. I would suggest that you voluntarily give up all attempts to do so, because they can be only frantic. If you are willing to validate what is true in everything you perceive, you will make it true for you.
Remember that we said that truth overcomes ALL error. This means that if you perceive truly, you are canceling out misperceptions in yourself AND others simultaneously. Because you see them as they were really created and can really create, you offer them your own validation of THEIR truth. This is the real healing which the miracle actively creates.
(Reply to Helen Schucman question: Is this all? The reason why this is so short, despite its extreme importance, is because it is not symbolic. This means that it is not open to more than one interpretation.) This means that it is unequivocal. It also explains the quotation which you have never gotten correctly in complete form before: "But this we know, that when He shall appear (or be perceived) we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure." Every man DOES have the hope that he can see correctly, because the ability to do so is IN him. Man's ONLY hope IS to see things as they are).
In our default ego react-to-the-world mode, it seems that how we feel is dictated by what happens. The "hierarchy of illusions" tells us that something has a given amount of importance or seriousness and that we should have an appropriate amount and type of reaction.
How much ego emotion you have about external events seems to be driven by those events, as if automatic. As if you should be upset when you find out about cancer, or you should be frightened by a tornado, or you should be hurt when someone attacks you. As if you are merely an effect of the world.
But Jesus is training us to be more responsible for how we feel, what we think, and what we experience or make of things. He's telling us that we are cause, not effect. After a while we start to notice a certain amount of detachment from external stimuli. What happens doesn't necessarily have the power to change who we are, dictate how we feel, or force us to be upset.
This entails a combination of knowing yourself, taking responsibility for thought and sight, not giving away your power, the cessation of playing the victim role, dis-identifying with the attackable body, an increased recognition of reality, and a willingness to forgive.
This movement away from victimhood towards empowerment gives you the strength and clarity to remain "less changed" by what happens. You are not so easily tossed about on a rollercoaster of suffering. And you are equipped with more tools to help you apply principles and techniques to get you out of victim-mode sooner.
You might then start to notice that when you're in a better frame of mind, you feel more invulnerable, more confident and assertive, able to stand your ground and remain true to what you choose to experience. When external problems arise, you are less thrown around and more able to stay centered. Your happiness is less disturbed and your peace of mind less upset.
You will probably also notice that when you are not in such a great fame of mind, have entered into upset, are having reactions, buying into temptation and illusions, suffering and in pain, sorrowful and unhappy, you feel really out of touch with it. As if you're back to square one, forgetting how to forgive and feeling like a powerless victim.
But eventually you'll rise up again in strength and light and love and forgiveness, and remember your training, and return to a state of greater peace and confidence. And then you'll compare the two states and realize that how you feel is not really dependent on the world. What you make of events, how you perceive them, and the effects that you put into yourself, are not quite so strongly bound to the world or other people.
That means you awaken the ability to deliberately choose to remain in the light more often. You start to realize that you aren't happy or unhappy "because of" external things. You realize that if you are unhappy about something it is really an internal state, and not really caused by the external. And that anything that's disturbing you is the result of you putting it there through a mistaken choice.
Gradually you separate yourself off from the external and spend more time in the happiness and strength that you want to be in. You realize that, if you could just be happy right now, a certain event or situation or problem wouldn't be upsetting to you. That you don't "have to" have certain upsets or reactions or ego emotions of despair and fear.
Then it becomes more about moving through life as though you are in the world and less "of" the world, being "passer-by", being less changed and disturbed regardless of what happens, buying into illusions and temptations less, remaining more calm and centered in your truth even if it contradicts what's happening, etc. It means you become more in charge of your destiny and able to not only cause things to happen deliberately but able to withstand the ego's onslaughts more easily.
"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. This must I accept." UrW253
And so you develop a real sense of there being a difference between what happens and what you feel. That how you feel is not based on the world or its problems or how people are doing or what's happening. And you can in a way float above it or beyond it, out of reach of it, regardless of what seems to be transpiring. This places you "above the battleground", where you are safe and invulnerable.
When you dip into ego and nightmares and victimhood you'll probably forget all this, lol. ... but when you rise like a pheonix back out of the ashes, you'll remember again and laugh. And you'll stop making all your feelings dependent on external things. You'll return to being able to stay centered in power and stillness, a calm in the storm, a "need do nothing" of rest, regardless of the world.
"He will remain when you forget, and the body's activities return to occupy your conscious mind. But there will always be this place of rest, to which you can return. And you will be more aware of the quiet center of the storm, than all its raging activity. This quiet center, IN WHICH YOU DO NOTHING, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent." UrT18H10
Eventually you'll master this so much that you'll remain in your "happy place" forever. No longer driven by outside events, deceived by appearances, tossed around by threats or made to be anything not of God.
"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. This is the little gift you offer to the Holy Spirit, and even this He gave to you to give yourself. For, BY this gift, is given you the power to release your Savior, that HE may give salvation unto YOU." UrT21C3
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[BOOKMARK,about-the-acim-book] [PREVIOUS,top] [NEXT,whats-inside-acim] Part 1About the BookThe ACIM book comprises a theoretical Text, a practical Workbook with 365 lessons, and a Manual for Teachers. The course is:
Let's take a look at some of the facts about this deeply spiritual and transformative book. |
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[BOOKMARK,acim-editions] Official ACIM EditionsA Course in Miracles First Edition
A Course in Miracles Second Edition
A Course in Miracles Third Edition
Physical Book Specs
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[BOOKMARK,whats-inside-acim] [PREVIOUS,about-the-acim-book] [NEXT,acim-audience] Part 2What's inside the BookA Course in Miracles - the Official Foundation for Inner Peace 3rd Edition, combines all the major portions of scribed material into one volume:
Let's take a look inside. |
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[BOOKMARK,inside-cover] ACIM Book CoverThe cover of A Course in Miracles print editions have traditionally been a dark blue background with metallic gold text.
ACIM is available in hard-back, soft-back and paper-back versions, all of which feature a blue and gold coloring, with the inscription "Foundation for Inner Peace" near the bottom of the front cover. When the second edition combined the volumes into a single book, the cover and spine were redesigned. The three main books (text, workbook, manual) are listed on the cover, but not the clarification of terms (which is included at the end of the manual). A small logo of a star (or representing the Holy Spirit) was added to the cover also. In the third edition, more details were added including:
[BOOKMARK,inside-preface] PrefaceThe preface was added in the second edition of A Course in Miracles. It provides an introduction to the book, due to requests for one by the course community. The preface contains three sub-sections:
Each section briefly describes an aspect of the course, as follows: 1. How it cameWritten by Helen Schucman, this section briefly describes how Helen Schucman and William (Bill) Thetford were struggling in their professional relationships and felt that "there must be a better way". This willingness to find a better way together, led to the beginning of transmissions from Jesus to Helen, dictating the Course material. 2. What it isWritten by Helen Schucman, this section provides a brief overview of the structure of the book, describing the text, workbook and manual for teachers and their purposes. It touches upon the curriculum of the course, the theory of the text, and the practical application of the workbook. 3. What it saysDictated by Jesus, this section begins to present some of the general themes of the course in terms of its theology and message. It begins with the now well-known and very abstract truth: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." There is a brief discussion of the difference between the worlds of knowledge and perception, which have given rise to heaven and its opposite. It touches upon the basic idea of how the world appears to change as our perceptions of it change. There is also brief mention of minds joining, special relationships, and the body. It finishes with a brief introduction to the idea of christ vision or true perception, coupled with forgiveness. [BOOKMARK,inside-text] TextThe "Text" portion of A Course in Miracles was originally a separate book volume when the first edition was printed. It was later combined into the unified volume in the second edition. The text provides a mostly theoretical, metaphysical and psychological presentation.
A vast majority of ACIM's theology is presented in the Text, and lays a theoretical foundation for being able to better apply the workbook lessons which follow. As the introduction to the workbook states: "A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful." This suggests that the text should be read and understood first. Jesus covers a wide range of subjects in the Text ranging from miracles to forgiveness to relationships, from the body to the world, all manner of aspects of perception and mind, and provides extraordinary insight and depth into the functioning of our minds. He also details how we arrived in our present condition, and how we can return home to God. The text is incredibly deep and profound and life changing and provides a metaphysical framework for the workbook and further transformation. [BOOKMARK,inside-workbook] Workbook for StudentsThe ACIM "Workbook", also known as "the lessons", features a lesson for each day of the year. There are in total 365 lessons, all of which include additional descriptive material, meditations and practices. The lessons may involve a few minutes of application and may be repeated a variable number of times throughout the day and as needed. The intention is that you:
In addition to the lessons, the workbook includes an introduction and several additional pieces of material which act as introductions to later sections of the workbook. The workbook also revisits and summarizes earlier lessons in "review" periods to help cement and generalize the learning. The workbook is intended for the development of Christ Vision, which A Course in Miracles refers to as a highly spiritual state of perception, establishing your function of forgiveness, teaching and miracle-working, while also paving the way to returning home to God. As it states: "The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception." ... and ... "The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world." [BOOKMARK,inside-manual] Manual for TeachersThe manual for teachers recognizes that after a period of learning and transformation, a student may become equipped to teach and help others. While many aspects of the course appear to be a "self study" or experienced in private, other aspects call for providing services to others. Content includes:
It also speaks on topics answering some common questions, such as whether reincarnation is real or helpful, the meaning of healing, etc. [BOOKMARK,inside-clarification] Clarification of TermsThe clarification of terms in ACIM is a short section attempting to clarify and distinguish what certain terms in the course mean. It provides some extra background and context to put these terms into perspective. Originally this document was called the "Use of terms". The clarification covers these topics:
[BOOKMARK,inside-psychotherapy] Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice
The supplement is presented in such a way as to be of interest to someone in a therapeutic role, such as a psychotherapist, but can be applied to any relationship in which there is an aim to provide help and healing. It has the following sections:
The psychotherapy pamphlet talks about the various roles of the two individuals, how one helps and teaches and heals the other, and how they might work together for a common goal. It also suggests that psychotherapy is the only therapy due to everything being in the mind. [BOOKMARK,inside-song-of-prayer] The Song of Prayer
This supplement describes how we are in a constant state of prayer, always asking and always receiving. It describes how the spiritual quality of this prayer ranges from requests which are heavily identified with forms, objects and worldly problems, to a very high form of communication with God which paves the way to communion. The aim of "singing a higher song" spiritually is to raise one's mental giving and receiving to "tune" closer to God. This results in receiving higher spiritual gifts and support as well as a more spiritual outlook. The Song of Prayer is divided into three main sections, a kind of "how to do it" on each of these subjects:
[BOOKMARK,inside-gifts-of-god] The Gifts of God
Helen Schucman also published some of her poetry in a book called The Gifts of God. Although the book is described as poetry, it include a portion of material which distinctly appears to be further dictation from Jesus. The material uses iambic pentameter and expresses in the same way as the rest of the ACIM material. The Gifts of God is named as such because it talks about gifts received from and given to God. The material is not included in any official edition of ACIM, but can be purchased from the ACIM.org website. It includes the following sections:
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[BOOKMARK,acim-audience] [PREVIOUS,whats-inside-acim] [NEXT,where-to-buy-acim] Part 3ACIM Audience and CommunityThe official editions of A Course in Miracles have sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Along with several unofficial editions, ACIM has spread to a worldwide community of individuals and organizations. Read on to learn more about its audience and reception. |
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[BOOKMARK,acim-worldwide] Worldwide AudienceIt is estimated that editions of A Course in Miracles published and sold by the Foundation for Inner peace total near to 3 million copies, as of 2020. But there are also other unofficial editions for sale, and also a variety of freely available editions. The list includes:
It's very difficult to estimate the audience size, but there could be as many as 5-10 million individual readers/listeners of the course. We must also consider that the number of people actively still using or studying the course is likely far less, perhaps less than half. But A course in Miracles still likely has a reach of at least a few million active users. A Course in Miracles has found its way around the world and is now available in almost every country. |
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[BOOKMARK,acim-curriculum] The Universal CurriculumIt's worth mentioning what A Course in Miracles itself might say about its audience. The course teaches that before the world seemed to come into being, all souls lived happily in heaven with God. "The separation" or "fall of man" resulted in the making of the physical universe and its contents. This places every separated soul in a position of needing salvation. God responded to the separation with the creation of the Holy Spirit and the initiation of His Atonement Plan. The goal of the plan is to eventually return everyone back to Heaven, with no exceptions. This means that for all separated individuals, which includes everyone on Earth, there is one Truth to learn (the Truth of God), which is accepted in the Atonement. Therefore the same truth is to be learned by all individuals. This leads to a universal curriculum in which everyone must eventually learn the same truth. However, the path by which an individual comes to that same truth may be unique depending on their current beliefs, yielding an "individualized curriculum" for each person. The plan of The Atonement is to bring about the atonement of each individual, leading to the return of all souls to Heaven. Regardless of what beliefs, religions, opinions, attitudes, states of mind, preferences or conditions any individual is currently experiencing, all individuals are a part of the mandatory curriculum and are learning whatever is necessary to eventually awaken to the reality of God. This means that even those who do not study A Course in Miracles - as given in the book, are still participating in the universal curriculum, no matter their present path or interests, because all roads lead to God. As ACIM says: "It is crucial to say first that this is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what to take when. It is just because you are not ready to do what you should elect to do that time exists at all." "Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in some form which they can understand and recognize. Some see it suddenly on point of death, and rise to teach it. Others find it in experience that is not of this world, which shows them that the world does not exist because what they behold must be the truth, and yet it clearly contradicts the world. And some will find it in this course, and in the exercises that we do today." Whether or not a person is well suited to gaining from A Course in Miracles, depends on their readiness, baggage, beliefs and history. Some are more willing than others. Some would see the course as a serious danger, even accusing it of being evil. Some would be completely disinterested. And some would never even encounter it in their lifetime. ACIM itself is not for everyone, but the universal curriculum is. ACIM is just one form of the curriculum designed for a particular audience, who will encounter it if that is part of the plan. Others will take different routes on the journey home. For this reason you will naturally see that those who believe things highly contrary to what A Course in Miracles claims, will be most offended or adamant about its wrongful nature, while those who can relate to it and benefit from it, will be more open and ready to receive it. In the big picture, this means that all criticism of the course is really just an interplay of egotism between certain individuals and the course's representation of the truth. which they are not yet willing to be open to. Some may accept parts of it, some may accept parts and recoil and rebound. Others may avoid it entirely. But everyone will go home in the end. If we give due credit to Jesus, author of A Course in Miracles, recognizing his mastery and perfection, and trusting his word, then we can see that reactions agains the course are almost certainly egoic in origin, and faulty at best. Essentially everyone should accept its truth, but many will likely find other paths which lead to the eventual same goal. God guarantees that everyone will return to Him sooner or later, it's just a matter of willingness and their individualized curriculum. |
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[BOOKMARK,acim-translations] Language TranslationsOriginally A Course in Miracles was dictated in English, leaning towards American English, since its scribe, Helen Schucman, spoke American English. Jesus delivered the words in the language which its scribes and the later audience were able to understand. The Course has now been translated into more than 25 languages with more languages to follow. The list includes:
Some translations are of the 2nd Edition of ACIM, while others are the 3rd edition. ACIM is also available in translated languages in e-book format for Kindle etc. Translations of unofficial versions may also be available. TIP: It's possible to freely translate an online ACIM website page, using a translator service such as translate.google.com. Simply choose the source and destination languages, enter the full url of an ACIM website page, and it will provide a link which, when clicked, will take you to a translated version of that website. If you apply this to a website which hosts A Course in Miracles online, you can read the whole course in over 100 languages. Note that the translation may or may not be accurate in capturing the meaning of the words. |
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[BOOKMARK,acim-reception] Reception"The Course in Miracles" has been generally well received and is respected for its depth, clarity, insight, beauty and transformative power. This is not to say it is popular with everyone. Indeed some groups would consider the book to be evil or wrong, depending on their current belief system. A Course in Miracles uses a somewhat Christian language, and there is some overlap with Christianity in many areas, just as there is also some overlap with Christian Science, Buddhism, Hinduism etc. But there are also areas where it diverges profoundly, often opposing common beliefs. There are subjects in ACIM which are similar to subjects in a variety of religions, such as God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, sin, forgiveness, love, peace, etc. Different people find it more or less relatable depending on their current state of mind and preferences. Some criticism has been made that the course is too long, too wordy, too difficult to understand, too dense, too hard to apply, too hard to relate to etc. Some people do not like the language or how it is written. The course may not be for everyone in its current book form, but for some it is very accessible. Some have accused ACIM of stealing existing or long-held beliefs and theologies present in other doctrines and religions, suggesting that it does not offer anything new. This is partly because there is always some truth in every life path or belief system, so it's natural for there to be some overlap. ACIM doesn't really claim to be 100% unlike anything that has ever been said before, although in some areas it is highly original and groundbreaking. But it does claim to be giving the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Any individual or organization will have to decide for themselves whether ACIM is right for them.
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[BOOKMARK,acim-community] ACIM CommunityThe proliferation of A Course in Miracles around the world has naturally led to the formation of various groups and organizations. ACIM is not a religion, it is a spiritual path which you can participate in individually or as a group. And its aim is to restore openness, sharing and communication. "Miracles are given by those who temporarily have more to those who temporarily have less." "A miracle is a service. It is the maximal service that one soul can render another. It is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself." Various ACIM study groups have sprung up in various communities and countries. Some students meet periodically online or in person to share discussion and application of ACIM principles, to study the material and to share a connection. Indeed ACIM encourages all special relationships to become holy relationships and tells us: "Those who are to meet will meet, because together they have the potential for a holy relationship. They are ready for each other." ACIM students also congregate on all social media platforms including facebook, pinterest, reddit, twitter, youtube, forums etc. There are also groups who meet or participate in courses over "zoom" and through other media, as well as through online radio and podcasts. There have also been movies made about the course and a wide variety of course-related books have been published. The ACIM community is growing. There are A Course in Miracles conferences of various kinds every year, including meetups, workshops, training courses and various other events held periodically by various groups and individuals. Many cities host one or more ACIM study groups. It is also easy to meet and talk with other ACIM students on social media channels. Some ACIM organizations and non-profits have also been established, some of which offer courses, church-like gatherings, and in some cases ordained ministerial training. Phone support, websites and various other forms of interaction have all sprung up to support and build the growing A Course in Miracles community. Ultimately every soul God created is a worthy member of God's Family, whether they are using A Course in Miracles or not. |
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[BOOKMARK,where-to-buy-acim] [PREVIOUS,acim-audience] [NEXT,bottom] Part 4Where to buy ACIMMost editions of A Course in Miracles are available at Amazon. You can simply search for the book titles. Alternatively, and perhaps of more financial benefit to the publishers, you can also purchase most editions from the publisher's websites. You can also find versions of ACIM in various bookstores. Below we'll take a look at some of the more popular editions. |
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[BOOKMARK,buy-acim-choosing] Choosing an EditionWhen A Course in Miracles was first scribed, Helen Shucman wrote down the words Jesus dictated into note books, using her own shorthand. Later "The Notes" were typed into plain English with the help of Bill Thetford. This formed an early version commonly referred to as "The Urtext". The urtext was then considered to contain some material which was somewhat personal, various typing errors and so on, so further editing took place. Various material was removed and/or changed, especially in the earlier chapters. Chapters and section headings were inserted and this eventually formed the "Hugh Lynn Cayce" edition, so named due to a version given to the Edgar Cayce foundation and uncovered in the ACIM copyright trial. Some consider this version to be where Helen and Bill had finished editing. Ken Wapnick later arrived and felt the Course needed further editing. More material was removed and changed and cleaned up. This eventually became the Criswell edition, which then become the Official First Edition. The Foundation for Inner Peace published an initial run of 5000 copies of the 1st edition, with the 1975 copyright, in mid 1976. There was then a legal court case in which the copyright of ACIM was brought into question, mainly due to general distribution of course material prior to the 1975 copyright. The copyright was then voided, making the first edition public domain. This then led to further editing, which accomplished a few things:
This became the official 2nd edition, sold by the Foundation for Inner Peace. In years to follow, a final 3rd edition was published as a result of further edits, including two of the supplements. Meanwhile, relating to events in the court case, the Notes and Urtext were photocopied and leaked on the internet. Also later editions such as the Criswell and first edition were typed and posted online. Efforts by various individuals and organizations resulted, legally or otherwise, in the publishing of the earlier material in book form. Since that time, various editions of ACIM based on available materials have been published in print, and are available for sale. This includes the Original Edition, Urtext Manuscripts, Sparkly Edition and the newer Complete and Annotated Edition. RecommendationIf you are newer to the course, I would recommend either the Foundation for Inner Peace 3rd Edition, or the Circle of Atonement Complete and Annotated edition. The Circle of Atonement edition has a lot more material, but it includes material which was edited out by FIP. This includes many references to souls, discussions about sex and various other matters. The material reads more conversationally than in the FIP edit, but may not be as "clean and to the point" or "sanitized" as the FIP edit. More experienced students may benefit from extra insight gained from the earlier material. The urtext is a popular go-to, since the notes are not easily human readable. But now that the "Complete and annotated edition" and "The complete authentic original edition" are or will be available, which are based on a new translation of the notes, these are fast becoming more popular renditions of Jesus's original dictation. |
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[BOOKMARK,buy-acim-popular] Popular ACIM EditionsSeveral editions of A Course in Miracles are now available for purchase as physical print books. To follow are the more popular books. Most are available at the publisher's websites, otherwise all are available at Amazon.
A Course in Miracles Combined Volume"A Course in Miracles Combined Volume" published by the Foundation for Inner Peace. This is the current official version as published by the original publisher, originally authorized by Helen Schucman. It includes all material except "The Gifts of God", and is quite highly edited.
A Course in Miracles Complete and Annotated Edition"A Course in Miracles, Complete and Annotated Edition" published by the Circle of Atonement. This is a modern new edit, combining as much material as possible from The Notes, and some from the urtext. It provides a version as close to the original scribing as possible, but does not include supplements.
A Course in Miracles Urtext Manuscripts"A Course in Miracles Urtext Manuscripts" published by Miracles in Action Press. This is a a complete set of all urtext material including all supplements. A new edit based more firmly on the Notes will soon be available, titled "A Course in Miracles - The authentic original edition".
A Course in Miracles Original Edition"A Course in Miracles Original Edition" published by the Course in Miracles Society. This is the same as the Hugh Lynn Cayce edition, the final version following editing by Helen and Bill prior to the official FIP versions. This edition also includes some additional material from the urtext, but contains no supplements.
A Course in Miracles Sparkly Edition"A Course in Miracles Sparkly Edition" published by the Thetford Foundation is similar to the Original Edition, minus some urtext material, and has some capitalization/punctuation changes. The version is called "Sparkly" due to it sparkly cover. It also contains no supplements. |
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[BOOKMARK,buy-acim-free] Free Online EditionsMost versions of the course are available online with free access. These are usually hosted as a set of web pages on a website, or as a downloadable pdf. One of the most extensive archives of ACIM material available for free is at the Miracles in Action Press website. You can browse based on the edition of the ACIM material, and also by the volume (Text, Workbook etc). Material hosted includes pdf facsimiles, transcribed e-texts, the Urtext Manuscripts book in pdf form, html versions of various editions, and also a concordance. It includes documents on the Notes, Urtext, Hugh Lynn Cayce/Original, Criwsell and FIP editions. There are also other websites hosting A Course in Miracles as web pages. A few of the better ones include:
You can find ACIM online by Googling ACIM online or A Course in Miracles online. Most of the online websites have a search feature built in. TIP: You can also use Google in combination with one of these websites to find content. For example, if you type site:a.courseinmiracles.com forgiveness into Google, you will see Google's search results for the terms you enter, confined to that website. You can also put terms in quotes like site:a.courseinmiracles.com "forgive your brother" for narrower results. Note that Google might not include every single page in their search results. You can also find various editions in PDF form, by Googling ACIM pdf or ACIM urtext pdf etc. Note that these will either be transcribed versions, or might be a collection of facsimiles of photocopied pages, which can be harder to read. |
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[BOOKMARK,buy-acim-other] Other EditionsA well as print books and online versions, ACIM has been published via many types of media. You can experience it in book form, for example as an ebook on a device like Kindle or via Apple Books. You can also experience it as audio recordings in various ways. There are official and unofficial audio book recordings of various versions. You can also find these converted into videos on YouTube, sometimes where a person is visibly reading the book and other times just as audio with pictures. On YouTube there is a wealth of ACIM material including collections of videos from a variety of organizations and individuals, either reading the ACIM books or talking about ACIM topics. There are videos for every workbook lesson from several sources. If you are on social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Reddit etc, you are likely to encounter ACIM quotes and memes and various visual expressions of A Course in Miracles which are socially shared. You can also find ACIM distributed in software app form, with apps for iOs and Android, a well a for desktop PC's (windows). These are available from ACIM.org and others, and on the app stores. It's also worth mentioning again that ACIM has been translated into over 25 languages and a vast majority of these are available at the ACIM.org website, which is the official website of the Foundation for Inner Peace. |
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[BOOKMARK,bottom] [PREVIOUS,where-to-buy-acim] Part 5ConclusionA Course in Miracles is a truly profound and potentially life changing book.
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THIS IS IMPORTANT!
"Some miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others. But remember the first principle of the course; there is no order of difficulty in miracles. In reality you are perfectly unaffected by all expressions of lack of love." - ACIM
Miracle principle 1: "There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal." - ACIM
In the ego's dream, there is an ILLUSION of a hierarchy of difficulty. That is, forms appear to take on different properties and meanings or different levels of severity. It may seem "easy" to cut an apple, but "hard" to fix a broken leg. It may seem "easy" to walk down a street, but "hard" to teleport yourself to your destination.
The appearance of a given form, and all forms are illusions, dictates what it SEEMS its qualities are, or how much of a challenge it presents, or how difficult it would be to change it.
You will find that in the ego thought system, when something "more serious" happens, you also have a bigger reaction. This is practically automatic, psychologically. For example if someone tells you you have a booger hanging out of your nose, your reaction might be slight embarrassment. But if someone tells you you are terminally ill and will die in a week, your reaction will be horror and terror. Buy does it HAVE to be? Unchecked, the ego will react to the degree it perceives a threat, and you'll find that big problems cause big reactions, only because we're convinced by their appearance or order of difficulty.
These reactions that you have, are directly in proportion to the appearance or illusion of what this "external cause" is capable of doing to you. If the thing seems like a tiny threat, you consider it insignificant and have insignificant reactions. If it seems "life threatening", you consider it to have some kind of profound power, that it's really serious and dangerous, and you subsequently exhibit really strong symptoms or reactions within yourself, or in your body.
BUT ALL OF THESE ARE ILLUSIONS. All of these levels of meaning and significance and severity are illusions. There IS nothing special or important or difficult or harder to change about someone's broken leg, than to get them to wipe their nose. If someone shows up with a broken leg we'd have bigger automatic reactions. We think it's more serious, that it contains more "power" to make bad things happen, and therefore is much more of an opponent, is harder to change, harder to heal, harder to fix. It's not.
We are tasked with learning to change our perception to such a degree that we do not BELIEVE these illusions. When the Course tells us that we've given everything the meaning it has for us, this goes even to the extent of how we perceive and believe that some things in the world are more serious than others or warrant a bigger response. Getting rid of a hurricane is NO MORE DIFFICULT than getting rid of a booger, IF you can recognize clearly - and RECOGNITION is the key here - that the profound ILLUSION of the intense severity of a hurricane IS NOT REAL, IS NOT TRUE, and HAS NO POWER more than a booger on someone's face.
The ego deliberately made illusions of death and destruction, in contrast to illusions of "relative calm", to tempt us to believe that some illusions are worse than others, some should be avoided, some should be kept, and some are preferred. Jesus warns us not to mistake an illusion of peace (absence of "hard levels of difficulty"), for real peace. Similarly we need to learn to completely overlook ie NOT BUY INTO, any suggestion by any FORM - physical bodies, environmental objects etc - that what it is is dictated by HOW IT APPEARS. It is not that. All of those appearances are FALSE!
If we want to become miracle workers, it DOES REQUIRE us to learn NOT to believe in the hierarchy of illusions. And that means, if someone comes along with cancer, we RECOGNIZE that IT IS NOT REAL CANCER, it has nothing true about it, it is not difficult, it is not a "bigger threat", it does not cause more fear, it has literally NOTHING to it any more significant than a puff of air. If we can't see and recognize it this way, we will fall for the illusion of the reversal of cause and effect, disempower ourselves, react with the ego, and FAIL to work a miracle of healing.
We need to so completely collapse our own belief in the STORY of how cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, broken limbs, strokes, organ failure, brain damage etc, are all ILLUSIONS with ABSOLUTELY NO TRUTH TO THEM WHATSOEVER. Not one single aspect of any of these things is true, and every way that they TRY TO TEMPT US TO BELIEVE THEY ARE, is the ego's attempt to tempt us to believe the Son of God is a body which can die. Basically in a word - bullshit.
Miracles CAN heal the sick and raise the dead, literally. They CAN move mountains, literally. They CAN part the sea, literally. And they CAN heal absolutely all forms of sickness, all illusions of separation, and all ways in which problems show up. And this is because to be MIRACLE MINDED you MUST RECOGNIZE illusions for what they are and not be fooled by them, otherwise you WILL believe in a hierarchy of illusions, you will believe in orders of difficulty, and you will therefore incapacitate yourself and be unable to change those forms because you yourself believe they have a special power to RESIST the miracle.
No-ones sickness, no matter how advanced, or how much the person believes in it, or how much they have chosen it, or how much they want to keep it to protect them from the truth, or how much they want to die, NOTHING has power over miracles. There is NO order of difficulty. Not some, not a little, NONE. All illusions are the same illusion. Believed in, tempted by, convinced by, is a state of not being miracle minded. Once you CAN recognize illusions properly and not be FOOLED by them, you WILL be able to change them at will, in an INSTANT, and **EASILY!** Jesus himself said in the course how EASILY these thing can be changed.
Make no mistake, the entire world and all forms and objects and bodies are ILLUSIONS within a MIND which is dreaming them, and it's not just about fixing your own personal perception OF those things or about those things. You need to learn to recognize those things for what they are and not believe in them whatsoever. If you think you are awake and you're still incapable of healing the sick or raising the dead, you probably are not awake all the way. You are still subject to the laws of chaos. And the dream is still telling you where to get off.
Miracles are miracles for a reason. They completely defy ALL of the laws of the ego's world, completely IGNORE all appearances of the severity of problems, and TRANSCEND form entirely. "Miracles are shifts into invisibility, that is why they heal" - meaning they are a movement by mind AWAY from the illusion of form and therefore has power OVER form to change form and "heal" form. Even if that healing is temporary, and even if we are not bodies, and even if the entire world is just a symptom of sickness, we CAN and SHOULD and WILL develop a miracle-working ability IF we are to truly awaken from this world. To not do so is to be convinced by illusions and remain in the cycle of birth and death. This is also why the Bible says, "signs and wonders follow those who believe."
Cause and effect means that causes produce effects. Cause is a power and effects result from it. This is only has any meaning in terms of a dreamworld because outside the dream there is no dream and no dreamer.
Either you are identified with cause, or you are identified with effect. This means either you are dreaming the dreamworld, or the dreamworld is dreaming you. When the dreamworld is dreaming you, what this really means is the dreamer of the dream is dreaming of a world in which he himself becomes identified as part of the dream, so that it seems he is dreamed by the dream - ie dreamed by himself. This is the ego's entire concept of creation.
You come into the world through what appears to be the dream giving birth to you, originating in the parent's bodies and taking the form of a baby. If this is true, then the dream has dreamed you and you are its effect. If this is true, you were created by the ego/dream and not by God. But the truth is that you are not a body or a form of a part of a dream and God DID create you, but the dream will never testify to that. As God's creation, YOU are the cause of the dreamworld and you are the one who invented ALL bodies and all body-based relationships.
Cause and effect become reversed the moment that you identify with the dream and believe that you are a part of it, made from it, or created by it. The responsibility for causal power which was inside you, capable of dreaming, is now projected outside of you AS the dream, and the dream now seems to be the causal power. The dream IS your own causal power displaced away from you and disowned.
If the dream is causal, then it is indeed true that it would seem the dream has the power to both create you (birth) and destroy you (death) at its own whim, and in complete violation of any supposed rights or power you might have. When the dreamworld is causal, YOU become its effect. As an effect, you are powerless and are a VICTIM. Whatever the dreamworld wants to throw at you, whatever it wants to do to you, however it wants to REDEFINE who and what you are, you can do nothing to stop it.
When you are the effect of the world you see, therefore, you become 'affected by' the world. It does stuff to you. It seems to change you. It seems to be capable of eliciting a REACTION in you. This is what it means to be an effect. External causes decide who and what you are, you do not. You are then a passive victim and if the world decides to CHANGE YOU in any way, to redefine your identity, to treat you a certain way as if to say that this is how you should be treated because of what you are, you can do nothing to stop it. If you believe the dream is causal, then this is what will happen to you.
In childhood, then, when you have entered the dream through a 'doorway' of birth, after which you believe that the dream has created you, you have a mind which perceives this way. As a baby you are a passive victim. You receive. You soak everything in. You have no identity of your own but you start to develop one. You develop an identity based on what the DREAM tells you you are. This can come through the form of any person or experience that occurs, mainly through parents role-modeling or examples given by others. You "learn" an identity based on what the dream/ego tells you you are.
It goes further. Because now, anything that happens to you BY the dream, redefines not only the meaning of who you are (as anything other than powerful, unconditionally lovable, truth, God-Created, immortal etc). Since the dream is itself void of any truth it can only redefine you FALSELY, and however it treats you is like a statement telling you what is true of you. So if someone abuses you, that person represents a signal from the causal dream, as if it is an expression of TRUTH, telling you what you are.
If you are abused, and if the abuse is truth, then you MUST be something abuseable, you MUST have asked for it, there MUST be something wrong with you, and you simply ACCEPT and ALLOW this display of lies to enter your mind. It reconfigures your sense of who you ARE, which modifies your IDENTITY. And especially as a young person you have no memory of your true self and nobody is modeling unconditional love for you all the time, so you basically lose sight of the truth about you. You form a sense of self which is artificial, dictated by the world, and you actually believe it is true - it is what you are. You have been turned into an abused victim by the dream, not by the events that seemed to make this happen or by the people who were involved, but by the sheer fact that you believed and perceived the dream was your creator, it had power to define you, and that you are at its effect.
This can of course go on for years before you start to get a sense of discord within yourself, which may lead you to healing paths or exploring who you really are or trying to find out why these things happened. But ultimately, it all boils down to the reversal of cause and effect. All the ways the "dream dreams you", dictates your identity and defines what you are. If you allow that, accept it, believe it, or go along with it in any way, having abandoned your TRUE SELF, you become a powerless victim. Unconscious. The dream would kill you if you let it.
Correction is needed. Healing is called for. A reawakening to the TRUTH about you is absolutely required. You need to reverse cause and effect back to its proper orientation, which means learning that YOU are the cause and the dream is YOUR effect. You have command over it, dominion over it, power over it, and it extends solely from you. It never happens TO you, you are never victimized BY it, it is never responsible for turning you into an effect against your will, and essentially, it is nothing. Effects are nothing. They have no power, they do not make anything happen, they aren't real.
Recognize then that EVERY SINGLE TIME that you RE-ACT to the dreamworld, it must be that you believe the dream is dreaming you. You have become the effect of it, and the cause has been displaced outside of you. You are reacting TO it because of what it is doing TO you. You've disowned your power. You've got things back to front. You've forgotten that YOU are the cause, and have turned into a victim. You cannot be victimized when you take back your power and learn that you are the cause of the dream. You are the dreamer, not the other way around!
All reactions are reactions to the belief that cause is outside of you. All reactions are the responses that the `powerful dream` with an `alien will` has determined you are supposed to have. Its as if the dream is broadcasting a signal "this is what you are" and you are receiving it, and your experience of victimhood or upset is how it feels to receive that signal and to experience its power OVER you, changing you against your will. All reactions are the redefinition that the dream is trying to impose onto you, to change who you are and to affect you. All reactions are responses and retaliations that map to the stimuli that is being thrown at you.
Seemingly serious and important external causes seem to call forth seemingly larger reactions in you. This is the hierarchy of illusions. Big causes call for big effect. If you are constantly re-acting to the dreamworld, it is because you firmly believe that CAUSE is outside of you and that YOU are at its effect. Everything about the dream testifies to this. Every single thing that 'happens' is an attempt to affect you and redefine your identity as the ego. The ego is the dream fabric and the ego-dream wants you to be described AS a dream. It sees you only as a victim and as your own victimizer.
Because projection makes perception, and because perception could be likened to 'receiving' the dream into your senses (symbolically), it is perception which seems to trigger ALL reactions. You perceive something external has caused something, and now it has produced effects in you. These artificial effects attempt to mangle and distort you and throw you into chaos, with upset emotions and crazed thinking. All reactions are reactions to perceptions. What came before perception?
Before perception there is projection. And this is why you have to take responsibility for what you are projecting, in order to free yourself from your OWN reactions to your OWN STUFF. It is YOUR OWN CAUSALITY out there staring you back in the face and scaring the shit out of you, to which you then react as if it is NOT yours and is some other horror show made to upset you. YOU gave it its power, YOU gave it its causality, by disowning your own. It's YOU that is attacking you. It is YOU that has been projected AS the very dream that now attempts to dream you. You must move past the reactions by realizing you are reacting to your own projected power, AND TAKE BACK THAT POWER, so that you can admit that the cause is IN YOU. YOU are the dreamer of the dream. Get it straight! It takes orders from you. You're the boss.
What is life like when you are 100% the cause? When you are 100% cause there are no effects, no dream, no illusion, no suffering, no death. Immortality is a state of perfect causality, the 'effect' of which is the same thing as the cause, with no separation between them. You are not a victim of the world you see. Take another look at this with Holy Spirit and admit the truth. The truth shall set you free. You dreamed up all this shit, remember?
Jesus asks us to be responsible for everything we experience. Part of this entails being responsible for all of your feelings and reactions.
This sounds simple enough but you might not realize how much you don't do this. I know I am just starting to find out.
Most of the feelings we have are 'caused by', or are reactions to, things outside of us. External causes. These external causes seem to have power over us. Anything that happens in the world seems to be 'reality', and what is real is true. So as anything happens, it's as though it is a statement of what is true. For example, if someone attacks you, and if it's a statement of what is true, then its saying "it's true that you deserve to be attacked".
Left unchecked, your ego will take this suggestion and agree with it. "Yes, it's true that I deserve to be attacked", Ie that you don't deserve love. And in order for you to align with that, you'll attempt to CHANGE YOURSELF into a different identity. You'll try to make yourself into "a self that isn't loveable". And what will that feel like? It'll feel like guilt, like unworthiness, like sadness, like shame.
So 'reactions' are actually your attempt to comply with the power that an external cause is trying to have over you, which is trying to dictate and change what you are. So if you go along with it, you will 're-act' by acting as if you are what it tells you you are. In other words, you attempt to be an EFFECT of this external cause. By being the effect, you are 'affected by' it. And this doesn't feel good to turn yourself into a condition that runs against your true nature.
You'll also notice that when you have these reactions, these effects, which accounts for most emotional responses other than real love or joy, the way you EXPERIENCE the feeling entails a sense that the feeling isn't just inside your body. Or that it isn't yours. Because you perceive the feeling as having been caused by something external, the feeling ITSELF will feel like it is connected to, attached to, and dependent upon that external cause. If that thing caused you to feel this way, then the feeling essentially "came from" that thing, and was dictated to you by that thing. In your awareness, as you have this reactive feeling, you feel like your feeling is going outside your body and projecting onto that external source, or at least that it is "about" something other than you.
You're very used to this, so it seems to you that it's completely normal for reactive 'feelings' to feel like they go outside your body. Since you're so used to believing that you are "affected by" external stuff, and that this upsets you (changes you into an upset person by redefining what's true about you), you don't believe you are responsible for your feelings. It's someone else's fault. Something else is making you upset. It's not 'yours'. So quite literally you perceive that YOUR OWN FEELINGS are NOT YOUR OWN FEELINGS, that they belong to someone or something else "out there". And that therefore you don't have control over them. And this makes you into a victim. This also has a lot to do with why you block and deny and do not want to feel these feelings, because you believe they are not really yours.
Now, what I'm going to suggest is that you need to learn to take full responsibility for the *experience* of feeling. Whatever the feeling is, no matter who seemed to create it or cause it, you need to OWN IT and own up to the fact that this is YOUR FEELING, not someone else's. And that means, this feeling is actually INSIDE YOUR BODY and not extending out to project into other people as the cause of it. And it also means, these feelings are not really there BECAUSE OF someone or something else, but BECAUSE OF YOU.
A phrase which I've begun to remind myself with is:
"I am responsible for these feelings".
So no matter what's going on, if I'm feeling upset that my neighbors are making a lot of noise.. I have to say, "I am responsible for these feelings". I'm not having these upset feelings 'because of' my neighbors. I'm having these upset feelings because I AM THE ONE who is having them, which means I am the cause of them, which means they come from ME. They're mine. If I were to assert that I'm being caused to be upset by my noisy neighbors, then I would have to believe my feelings are caused by them, so my neighbors are responsible for my feelings, and not me.
Or how about, your parent doesn't love you enough and you come to believe it means you're unworthy (because you believe they're treating you with the truth so that must imply you don't deserve love). If you feel hurt because of them, by them, or they caused it, then you will not be responsible. So long as you disown how you feel, and blame the cause of the feeling on them, you are stuck. So really... your feeling of hurt or abandonment or unlove or unworthiness is NOT because of them. It's NOT them that caused it, otherwise that would mean these are their feelings. Yes, you tried to take on their feelings as your own. But it's not yours. What YOU are feeling is YOUR feelings and YOU are the one choosing to feel this way.
"I am responsible for these feelings". This frees you. It affirms that no matter what you feel, that feeling is IN YOU, because it is YOURS. It's confined to your body. And as you claim this responsibility and detach from blaming it on someone outside of you, you'll notice something odd happens.
You'll start to become aware that no matter what, no matter how severe circumstances are, no matter who is doing what 'to you', your feelings are YOUR responsibility. Which means you cannot project the onto anyone else or blame anyone else. This is a whole new level of responsibility. To walk around in this world with all kinds of stuff happening and people doing stuff and to NOT see them as having the POWER to CAUSE YOU to feel a certain way. This is a step toward invulnerability.
This takes pracice, mainly because we're so used to being victims and so used to tying our feelings to other people and events. I have to own up to the fact that no matter what I'm feeling or 'why', I am ONLY feeling it because I WANT TO and because I'M CHOOSING TO. Otherwise I am a victim. These are MY feelings, and it's nobody else's fault.
The odd thing that happens, and I've found this quite unexpected, is IF and when I claim responsibility for what I'm feeling, quite often I suddenly start laughing, or the feeling disappears really quickly. If I see that this feeling is entirely within me and has nothing to do with anyone else, it has nowhere to go. This perceptive change of 'being responsible' prevents me from buying into victimhood, or into believing that someone external 'caused this'. This SETS ME FREE. It completely undoes the foundation of victimhood, which largely undoes the foundation of the feeling itself, which really was just a mistaken thought or attitude.
I've also noticed something else very weird. A couple of times now I have been in situations where, normally, I would have a 're-action'. Like getting cut off by a driver in traffic. I noticed I was 'supposed to' or normally would react in some kind of anger or skapegoating. But instead, I didn't do anything. I stayed responsible, which meant staying responsible for my own feelings, which meant that person didn't have the power to cause me to feel differently. And I watched as my feelings.. ... didn't change. It was like, I'd switched off 'reacting'. Same event still happening, but no reaction. Hmm.
There is something else odd that I've been experiencing. If all my feelings are my own and I am feeling them BY CHOICE and not really because of or at the effect of anyone else, then I must be quite literally walking around INVENTING feelings on-demand, just spontaneously, in order to take the opportunity to try to scapegoat, but nevertheless creating these feelings for NO REAL REASON. All of my supposed re-actions are really just me choosing to feel something at a given time, all on my own, all within myself. It's got nothing to do with anyone else. Ano if that's the case, then WHY am I doing that? What's the point? Maybe I should just stop making this shit up!!
This is part of how we show our brother that they have not done anything to us, by demonstrating that WE have not been affected. We haven't been affected because we are not the EFFECT, we are the CAUSE of what we feel. This happened to me one other time too and I found it remarkable that, even in a situation which would have 'called for' a big reaction, there was no reaction at all. It's like being unplugged from the story. Being immune and invulnerable. It seems like CHEATING! Lol .... But it works.
I know I will keep practicing this and will continue to become more responsible for what I am and what I feel. I encourage you to do the same.
God's Will is your salvation. Would He not have given you the means to find it? If He wills you to HAVE it, He MUST have made it possible, and very easy to obtain it.
Your brothers are everywhere. You do not have to seek far for salvation. Every minute and every second gives you a chance to save YOURSELF. Do not lose these chances, NOT because they will not return, but because delay of joy is needless. God wills you perfect happiness NOW. Is it possible that this is not also YOUR will? And is it possible that this is not ALSO the will of your brothers? Consider, then, that in this joint will, you ARE all united, and IN THIS ONLY. There WILL be disagreement on anything ELSE, but NOT in this. This, then, is where peace ABIDES. And YOU abide in peace, when you so decide.
But you cannot abide in peace unless you accept the Atonement, because the Atonement IS the way to peace. The reason is very simple, and so obvious that it is often overlooked. That is because the ego is AFRAID of the obvious, since obviousness is the essential characteristic of reality. You CANNOT overlook it, unless you are NOT LOOKING. It is PERFECTLY obvious that if the Holy Spirit looks with love on all He perceives, He looks with love on YOU. His EVALUATION of you is based on his knowledge of what you ARE, and so He evaluates you truly. And this evaluation MUST be in your mind, because HE is.
The ego is also in your mind, because you have ACCEPTED it there. ITS evaluation of you, however, is the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit's, because the ego does NOT love you. It is unaware of what you are, and wholly mistrustful of EVERYTHING it perceives, because its own perceptions are so shifting. The ego is therefore capable of suspiciousness at best, and viciousness at worst. That is its range. It cannot exceed it, because of its uncertainty. And it can never go BEYOND it, because it can never BE certain.
You, then, have two conflicting evaluations of yourself in your minds, and they CANNOT BOTH BE TRUE. You do not yet realize how COMPLETELY different these evaluations are, because you do not understand how lofty the Holy Spirit's perception of you really is. He is not deceived by ANYTHING you do, because He NEVER forgets what you are. The ego is deceived by EVERYTHING you do, even when you respond to the Holy Spirit, because at such times ITS CONFUSION INCREASES. The ego is, therefore, particularly likely to attack you when you react lovingly, because it has evaluated you AS UNLOVING, and you are going AGAINST ITS JUDGMENT.
The ego will begin to ATTACK your motives as soon as they become clearly out of accord with its perception of you. This is when it will shift abruptly from suspiciousness to viciousness, because its uncertainty is INCREASED. But it is surely pointless to attack in return. What can this mean, except that you are AGREEING with the ego's evaluation of what you are? If you are willing to see yourself as unloving, YOU WILL NOT BE HAPPY. You are condemning yourself, and MUST therefore regard yourself as inadequate.
Would you look to the ego to help you escape from a sense of inadequacy it has PRODUCED, and must MAINTAIN for its own existence? Can you ESCAPE from its evaluation of you, by using its methods for keeping this picture INTACT? You cannot evaluate an insane belief system from WITHIN it. Its own range precludes this. You can only GO BEYOND it, and look back from a point where SANITY exists, and SEE THE CONTRAST. Only BY this contrast, can insanity be judged as insane.
With the grandeur of God in you, you have chosen to be little, and lament your littleness. Within the system which DICTATED this choice, the lament IS inevitable. Your littleness is TAKEN FOR GRANTED there, and you do NOT ask who granted it. The question is meaningless WITHIN the ego's thought-system, because it OPENS THE WHOLE THOUGHT-SYSTEM TO QUESTION. We said before that the ego does not know what a real question is. Lack of knowledge of ANY kind is ALWAYS associated with UNWILLINGNESS to know, and produces a TOTAL lack of knowledge, simply because KNOWLEDGE is total. NOT to question your littleness is, therefore, to deny ALL knowledge, and keep the ego's WHOLE thought-system intact.
You cannot retain PART of a thought-system, because it can BE questioned only at its foundation. And this MUST be questioned from beyond it, because WITHIN it, its foundation DOES stand. The Holy Spirit judges against the reality of the ego's thought-system, merely because He knows its FOUNDATION is not true. Therefore, nothing that arises from it MEANS anything. The Holy Spirit judges every belief you hold in terms of where it comes from. If it comes from God, He knows it to be true. If it does not, He knows it is meaningless.
Whenever you question your value, say, "God Himself is incomplete without me." Remember this when the ego speaks, and you will not hear it. The truth about YOU is so lofty that nothing that is unworthy of God is worthy of you. Choose, then, what you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for HIM, for YOU do not want anything else. Return your part of Him, and He will give you all of Himself, in exchange for your return of what belongs to Him, and renders Him complete.