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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-2-12

6-2-12
26. CAN GOD BE REACHED DIRECTLY?
1 God indeed can be reached directly, for there is no distance between Him and His Son. His awareness is in everyone’s memory, and His Word is written on everyone’s heart. Yet this awareness and this memory can arise across the threshold of recognition only where all barriers to truth have been removed. In how many is this the case? Here, then, is the role of God’s teachers. They, too, have not attained the necessary understanding as yet, but they have joined with others. This is what sets them apart from the world. And it is this that enables others to leave the world with them. Alone they are nothing. But in their joining is the power of God.

I have many concepts about what God is and how I relate to Him and yet I know that none of them are true and so I don’t dwell on them. I am satisfied to know that I cannot be apart from God and it brings me courage and to think this. It makes my heart glad to think that He is in my memory and cannot be erased, and that His Word is written on my heart, even though I don’t know what that means. I am surprised to discover that I no longer care that I don’t understand anything and am content to work where I am until I am someplace else.

How do I come to remember God? This is my work. I have placed many barriers in my mind to block that memory, but now have tired of the game and long to return Home, so must remove the blocks to the awareness of God’s Love. Now when I encounter anything in my mind that is unlike God, I become willing for it to be gone. I become willing to live without it and the Holy Spirit takes it from me.

And so the wall starts coming down, slowly at first, one bit at a time, then more quickly as I begin to realize that there are not many different blocks. I see that each block is a different shape, but while they look different, they are all the same. This understanding helps move the process along, but alas, I am still easily distracted and sometimes forget the blocks are harmless illusions of separation. When I take them seriously, I believe they must be treated seriously and deserve my attention. I give them power to make feelings of guilt and fear and temporarily become uncertain of my desire to reach God.

All of this seems to take time and seems to be sometimes very hard. I feel optimistic though because I feel the Love that is God more often. I feel it moving in me, and tears of joy spring to my eyes. Even though I still get lost in my stories for awhile, I also have these moments of clarity.

Jesus says the reason I am waking up, the reason I am removing those barriers, is that I have joined with others for this purpose. And you, my readers, are the others I have joined with. Together, we will take down the wall of concepts, beliefs, judgments, and guilt that hides the truth from our mind. It was our desire for a separation experience that caused it to go up, and it is our desire for truth that brings it down. Alone we are nothing, but in our joining is the power of God.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-1-12

6-1-12
6 Any ability that anyone develops has the potentiality for good. To this there is no exception. And the more unusual and unexpected the power, the greater its potential usefulness. Salvation has need of all abilities, for what the world would destroy the Holy Spirit would restore. “Psychic” abilities have been used to call upon the devil, which merely means to strengthen the ego. Yet here is also a great channel of hope and healing in the Holy Spirit’s service. Those who have developed “psychic” powers have simply let some of the limitations they laid upon their minds be lifted. It can be but further limitations they lay upon themselves if they utilize their increased freedom for greater imprisonment. The Holy Spirit needs these gifts, and those who offer them to Him and Him alone go with Christ’s gratitude upon their hearts, and His holy sight not far behind.

I have always believed in psychic abilities and known there was more to the world than was obvious, but I did not think of these things as serious or important. In fact, I thought of them as being really interesting ego distractions. I wondered why the Course was giving a whole section talking about them. Now I see this differently. Here is what I have learned while studying this section.

Psychic abilities are natural and available to anyone and these powers will become accessible to them as their awareness increases. Psychic abilities are forms of communication that supersede the barriers to communication made to keep the illusion in place. These abilities are useful to the degree that they are under the Holy Spirit’s direction. If not used for the purpose of true communication they will devolve into magic and simply strengthen the ego. I have been dissuaded of any idea I had that psychic abilities are not useful to the Holy Spirit and thus not worthwhile, as I read the last sentence in this section.

The Holy Spirit needs these gifts, and those who offer them to Him and Him alone go with Christ’s gratitude upon their hearts, and His holy sight not far behind.

Studying this section on psychic abilities has changed my thinking about this subject. I have had some truly inspirational messages come through me from the Holy Spirit. I have even had brief instances of genuine automatic writing. I have spoken words that did not come from my thinking mind and were as much of a surprise to me as to the person to whom the words were directed.

I have had many “knowings” that did not come from thinking and this is increasing. I have suddenly noticed that I am speaking to someone in a way that is unlike me, and I don’t know why. It is not what I say that is different, but how I say it, and later realized that I was meeting that person’s needs in a way I couldn’t have done on my own.

These are some of the abilities of amplified communication that are evolving as I become open and willing, but I also block this at times. I say that it is nothing, just coincidence or imagination. A couple of times I have known that Jesus was speaking through me but completely turned my back on that voice because I still saw Jesus as special and felt unworthy.

I am now removing some of the blocks to greater communication because I understand that they are useful and natural, more natural than not having them. I understand that the Holy Spirit has use of these powers. I am not afraid of misusing them because I know my purpose and I will not forget it. I know there is no one special because I know there is only one. Misusing the abilities for the glorification of the ego was certainly a consideration at one time, but that is no longer true. I am not seeking anything in particular, but I open myself to any ability that Holy Spirit would find helpful.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-31-12

5-31-12
5 Even those who no longer value the material things of the world may still be deceived by “psychic” powers. As investment has been withdrawn from the world’s material gifts, the ego has been seriously threatened. It may still be strong enough to rally under this new temptation to win back strength by guile. Many have not seen through the ego’s defenses here, although they are not particularly subtle. Yet, given a remaining wish to be deceived, deception is made easy. Now the “power” is no longer a genuine ability, and cannot be used dependably. It is almost inevitable that, unless the individual changes his mind about its purpose, he will bolster his “power’s” uncertainties with increasing deception.

In understanding what Jesus means in this paragraph, I am going to return to my own experience. I was doing spiritual counseling and I was uncertain what to say. I asked Holy Spirit for words and nothing came. This is always a difficult moment for me. Sometimes when I do not hear words, that actually is the answer. I am to say nothing. But the ego is very uncomfortable with that answer.

The ego wants to answer. It wants to look good, to be the one that has wise words and solutions. Actually the ego just loves it when others think well of her. The ego is always in competition with the world, and to be admired and appreciated feels like winning. So when the Holy Spirit gives me no words the ego wants to fill that silence with its own words.

I am not without an ego and I am aware of the desires of the ego. I feel the ego desire to speak and to uphold its shaky reputation as wise woman, and each time it happens I must choose the voice I would listen to. I must decide again if my purpose is to be the most unique and special separated self I can be, or if my purpose is to awaken from that self and be as God created me.

All of this happens in my mind in a moment, a micro second, and it doesn’t feel so clear cut as it seems when I write about it. I ask for words, there are no words and I think that it is time to be silent, but then I wonder if I have lost that connection and can’t hear, and I have to say something to cover that up, and I start talking. It all happens very fast and sometimes the thing I am aware of is nothing coming to me and then I am talking. I can always tell when this happens, when I am talking on my own, because it feels wrong. Then I have to decide; shall I shut up or keep talking.
The error lies in that moment when I forget my purpose which is to heal and be healed by allowing myself to be a channel for Holy Spirit. I begin to think that my purpose is to be special and it is that moment of choosing ego that I feel uncertain and think I must bolster my “power’s” uncertainties with increasing deception. That is when I keep talking even though the Source of my words has become silent. Now my words are a deception.

This happens less and less now because my desire to be special is diminishing. When it does happen I can often catch it really quickly because I truly don’t want to fool myself anymore. Even though it feels like we do things unconsciously, that isn’t really true. We always know exactly what we are doing, and then we hide this knowledge from ourselves and pretend ignorance.

I will always wind up acting on my desires even when I pretend I don’t know that desire, or pretend to myself that I have given it up. No matter how cleverly I disguise my intentions, I am told out by my life which perfectly expresses those unacknowledged desires. So when I notice that I am babbling and that it feels really uncomfortable, I just realize what it happening, make a different choice and wait for Holy Spirit to give me words again.

No need to feel guilty or make amends. This going off course will happen until my mind is completely free of the desire to be separate and special. My job is to notice the evidence of that desire and to choose again. As I do this, my motivation becomes purer and my gift more dependable.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-30-12

5-30-12

4 Nothing that is genuine is used to deceive. The Holy Spirit is incapable of deception, and He can use only genuine abilities. What is used for magic is useless to Him. But what He uses cannot be used for magic. There is, however, a particular appeal in unusual abilities that can be curiously tempting. Here are strengths which the Holy Spirit wants and needs. Yet the ego sees in these same strengths an opportunity to glorify itself. Strengths turned to weakness are tragedy indeed. Yet what is not given to the Holy Spirit must be given to weakness, for what is withheld from love is given to fear, and will be fearful in consequence.

It’s very clear that psychic abilities, when they are genuine, are useful to our awakening, but they are useful only if given to the Holy Spirit, Who will guide their use. If we ask Him to be in charge we don’t have to worry that they will be misused. Everything can be used by the Holy Spirit to help us awaken if that is our choice, but if it is not used for that purpose, then it will be used by the ego to keep us in fear.

I’ve had a fascination with astrology for a long time, and recently with numerology to a lesser degree. In both cases I was amazed at how accurate the readings have been. I have never been confused about how to use this information. I read my personality traits and I don’t see them as a box that limits me in any way. Instead, I see what I came here to work on, as well as the tools I can use to do the work. It’s interesting to me to read those traits now and note the ones that used to be true, but that I have left behind.

I used to be conflicted about psychic readings. I wanted them, but I approached the whole thing with skepticism. I wanted this person to give me something they had and I did not. I sought to have my special needs to be met by someone with special gifts. It was a special relationship in which I was trying to fill a lack in myself by taking what the other person had to offer, thus making it another sad exercise in defense and attack. When approached in this way, it was just another way to reinforce separation, and it was never as helpful as it could have been.

Now when I receive a reading from a psychic I first ask the Holy Spirit to bring forward what will be most useful. I approach this as two brothers joining for a single shared purpose so the encounter will be a holy one. I don’t see the psychic as special and me as lacking. We are aspects of the same holy Self, joining, sharing, giving and receiving equally. Everything is simple when I realize that all things have only one purpose, and that is to help us all to awaken from the dream that we are separate.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-29-12

5-29-12

3 The seemingly new abilities that may be gathered on the way can be very helpful. Given to the Holy Spirit, and used under His direction, they are valuable teaching aids. To this, the question of how they arise is irrelevant. The only important consideration is how they are used. Taking them as ends in themselves, no matter how this is done, will delay progress. Nor does their value lie in proving anything; achievements from the past, unusual attunement with the “unseen,” or “special” favors from God. God gives no special favors, and no one has any powers that are not available to everyone. Only by tricks of magic are special powers “demonstrated.”

My ability to write and to teach are the abilities I was guided to develop because these are the abilities Holy Spirit would have me use for His purposes. They have nothing to do with the “me” self. I have always wanted to write, but the reason I wanted to write was so that I could be famous and make lots of money. That was the ego’s reason. But every time I tried to write it was just horrible. Still, the desire was there and I would try from time to time with the same discouraging results.

The desire to write was there because Holy Spirit had use for it, but it was not time. I had to get to a place in my mind where I was willing to use that skill for a higher purpose. I think that if I had been an established author earlier in my life, I would have interfered with the Holy Spirit’s message. I would have thought I knew something about writing and would have listened to my thinking mind. I can only hear one voice at a time and to effectively hear Holy Spirit, I must stop listening to ego.

I wonder what use the Holy Spirit has for other forms of communication. For instance what about a gift such as mediums have? I try to imagine what that would be like and how I could be used if that were a gift of mine. I can see how a person might use it as a parlor trick, or to make themselves feel special, to impress people, or to make money. Evidently really good mediums can make a great deal of money, and there is nothing wrong with making money, but I can see how any of these uses would be a really major distraction and delay if any of them were the chosen purpose.

On the other hand, that gift could be given to the Holy Spirit for His use and I imagine that it could be very helpful. It might be useful to encourage the belief that death does not affect life, that we continue as before with or without a body. Whatever use it has, if it is used by the Holy Spirit, only good could come of it.

Because I don’t have any of these psychic gifts I have been imagining that one of them would develop. I am doing this so that I can understand what Jesus is telling me. I imagined possible uses and also imagined pitfalls and thought I was through. Then Holy Spirit caught my attention and pointed out that to be helpful, any gift should be used by Holy Spirit, rather than for Holy Spirit.

I thought about that for a moment and realized that it might be easy to fall into the ego habit of deciding for myself how an unusual ability should be used. It would be easy to fool myself if I seemed to be using it for spiritual purposes, but all things, to be truly useful, must be placed under Holy Spirit’s direction. I see what You mean, Holy Spirit; by You, rather than for You.

Once again, I see that I must become empty of self-will if I want to experience Self-Will. The ego would want to use unusual abilities to glorify Myron. A different choice would be to set aside that idle wish and look within the Heart for my True desire. I would find that I want to become empty of self so that I could be lived by Self.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-28-12

5-28-12
2 Certainly there are many “psychic” powers that are clearly in line with this course. Communication is not limited to the small range of channels the world recognizes. If it were, there would be little point in trying to teach salvation. It would be impossible to do so. The limits the world places on communication are the chief barriers to direct experience of the Holy Spirit, Whose Presence is always there and Whose Voice is available but for the hearing. These limits are placed out of fear, for without them the walls that surround all the separate places of the world would fall at the holy sound of His Voice. Who transcends these limits in any way is merely becoming more natural. He is doing nothing special, and there is no magic in his accomplishments.

I’ve never experienced most psychic abilities, but I have noticed that as I am “tuned in” to Holy Spirit, my life flows more smoothly. I hear disturbing news about a friend’s health and I realize I don’t believe it. I don’t worry about that person or think in terms of what will happen next and whether she will survive it. I just know that the problem will resolve itself or something. It is never clear-cut or in words, just a knowing.

I drive a lot and often this in rural areas, sometimes so rural that even my GPS becomes confused. If I relax and ask for guidance, I am inevitably “led” to the right place. I thought about this because it happened again recently. I was going to a wedding, and though I know they can’t start without their minister, I don’t like to be late. Brides are nerved up enough without me adding to their stress level.

The wedding was taking place out in the country at their home and even though I had been there for the rehearsal, I was coming from a different direction this time. I put the address into my GPS and wound up on a dead end road. I felt a moment of panic because I had not allowed time to get lost when I headed out. I stopped a moment to allow myself to relax and to rest the thinking mind. I turned off the GPS and asked Holy Spirit which way to go. I turned around and went straight to the house.

Another way this kind of intuitive knowing is helpful is when I am facilitating a student or doing some spiritual counseling. I always ask the Holy Spirit to guide my words. Sometimes I will say something that is absolutely perfect without even knowing it until afterwards when the person tells me. Sometimes I will say things that don’t even make sense to me and yet, they are perfect. Sometimes I am as surprised by what comes from my mouth as is the person I am speaking to.

Most of the time this is not very dramatic. I say what I am led to say and it just feels like a helpful conversation. But I know what a conversation coming from the ego thinking mind sounds like, and I know that when it comes from Spirit it is an entirely different thing. If this connection with Holy Spirit were not available to me, I guarantee you that I would not be a minister at all. I certainly would not be teaching and facilitating and counseling people. I am under no delusions that I am a gifted, or even skilled, communicator.

One of the most dramatic differences shows up in my writing. I have tried to write something without Spirit guidance and believe me when I say that I am not a gifted writer either. I am not any kind of writer. But from the day I started listening to Holy Spirit as I write, the words have flowed easily and helpfully.

I don’t think of this intuitive speaking and thinking or even writing as being psychic, but it is something out of the ordinary. It is not the way we usually think of communication. It is communicating without the involvement of the thinking mind, and that is always a good thing.

The thinking mind only recycles the bits of information I have stuffed into it in the past. Guidance comes from an All-Knowing Source and does not depend on, nor is limited to, information gathered from past experiences. It is not even limited to this little sliver of mind I call my own. It is from the whole Mind and so is relevant to any and all involved.

This ability to hear Holy Spirit is certainly not limited to a few “special” people. Anyone can do this and everyone is meant to do it. All that is required is the desire to do so and the willingness to put aside the self if only for the moments needed to hear Spirit. Holy Spirit will not out-shout the ego voice.

He speaks clearly and quietly and does so whether we are actively listening or not. But to hear Him, we have to stop listening to the ego voice, the voice of the self. That is all we have to do, and eventually we all will do it. The Course tells us that it is possible to hear only this Voice. Even though I am not there, I am getting closer and closer to that day.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-27-12

5-27-12
25. ARE “PSYCHIC” POWERS DESIRABLE?

1 The answer to this question is much like the preceding one. There are, of course, no “unnatural” powers, and it is obviously merely an appeal to magic to make up a power that does not exist. It is equally obvious, however, that each individual has many abilities of which he is unaware. As his awareness increases, he may well develop abilities that seem quite startling to him. Yet nothing he can do can compare even in the slightest with the glorious surprise of remembering Who he is. Let all his learning and all his efforts be directed toward this one great final surprise, and he will not be content to be delayed by the little ones that may come to him on the way.

I used to be enamored of the idea of being psychic. I really wanted this mysterious ability for myself. Of course the reason I wanted it was to be special and to have something others didn’t. This is the way we misuse ideas and is typical of ego thinking. Later I kicked the baby out with the bathwater and decided that it was the desire for the ability that was the problem and so I gave myself a new identity. I am one who has no psychic ability. I have been very determined to be that one.

I still like the idea of psychics and have always totally believed in them, though as time went on I noticed that many were not very good at it, and this became just another way in which I used judgment to create more separation; there are good psychics and bad psychics and all of them are different from me.

I also realized that I really wanted to know what was coming and this desire often stemmed from fear of the future, and a desire to be in control. Even wanting to know if I would meet a tall dark stranger took me out of the moment and put me into the ego desire to make another story and to distract myself from the only purpose I have.

And yet, there is nothing the Holy Spirit will not use for my good if that is my true Heart’s desire. One day I had a strong feeling to call a particular psychic. I didn’t know why but I didn’t question it. It was tempting to get distracted by all the fun stuff she said, but I also recognized the reason I was to call. She said some things that helped me to get on track with a part of my ministry that I had been ignoring. Once I recognized this, I realized that I had been getting this same message from Holy Spirit, but had not been paying attention. This more dramatic message caught my attention.

I think there is no restriction on what I am able to do if I am open to it. I am no longer interested in doing anything for the purpose of being special, being different, being admired. The ego mind wants and wants and wants and it mostly wants to be in control, to decide what everything is for, and to use everything to reinforce the separation idea. I want to always use whatever the Holy Spirit would have me use for His healing purposes. I would be psychic or not psychic according to what would be helpful, and I would not decide what that is

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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