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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-30-12

6-30-12
3 Spirit is the part that is still in contact with God through the Holy Spirit, Who abides in this part but sees the other part as well. The term “soul” is not used except in direct biblical quotations because of its highly controversial nature. It would, however, be an equivalent of “spirit,” with the understanding that, being of God, it is eternal and was never born.

So, I imagine a duplex with ego setting up housekeeping on one side and spirit on the other. Holy Spirit abides with spirit, but Holy Spirit has many super powers, including xray vision, so He sees through the wall and is aware of what the ego is up to. One of His super powers is to discern the truth, and so He knows the ego for the deceiver it is, but also knows the ego is not real, so He is a dependable interpreter. He shares this information with me, but only when it is welcomed.

For instance, I become angry with a friend who I feel let me down. The Holy Spirit recognizes that this is an ego reaction born of fear. He hears the ego voice egging me on; “What kind of friend would act like that?” He understands why I listen to that voice. He understands my fear and doubts, my worthiness and abandonment issues. But because He knows they are unfounded, He can help me see the situation differently, if I’m up for that.

I start to feel uncomfortable with my judgment and the lack of peace it causes, and I want relief. I know from past experience that my roomie can see things in a way I am temporarily blind to and I want to ask for His interpretation, but I’m reluctant to let my friend off the hook. Would that really be fair? After all, she is guilty of letting me down. And if she is not guilty, who is? I’m the only one here and how could it be fair to make me the guilty party. I didn’t do anything.

The Holy Spirit hears all of this ego justification and He understands it. He knows I hold certain beliefs, and from the standpoint of those beliefs, my behavior makes sense. He also knows they are false beliefs, and waits patiently for me to ask for His help so that I can return to my natural state, which is peace.

I begin to tire of feeling like this so I ask the Holy Spirit for help. I’m not really ready to relinquish all blame, but I am willing to consider there may have been extenuating circumstances and maybe there is some reason she acted the way she did. The Holy Spirit smiles indulgently, knowing that I am not quite ready for His help. In praying for my friend to be less than innocent, I am praying for the truth not to be true and of course this is not a true prayer so He can’t answer it.

Finally, I cannot abide this conflict any longer. I don’t care what it takes, I want to return to peace. I tell the Holy Spirit I have confused myself. I am having trouble remembering how it is that my friend could be innocent when appearances so clearly prove her guilty, but I am willing to see the truth. I ask Him to heal my mind of the belief that she could ever be guilty.

There, it’s done. Ahhh.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-29-12

6-29-12
2 In this world, because the mind is split, the Sons of God appear to be separate. Nor do their minds seem to be joined. In this illusory state, the concept of an “individual mind” seems to be meaningful. It is therefore described in the course as if it has two parts; spirit and ego.

Appear and seem are two very often used words in the Course. I appear to be different than you. Our minds seem not to be joined. But this could never be true. I am one with everyone and every living thing in spite of appearances. The split only seems so and therefore there seems to be effects.

One of the chief learning devices in the Course is the idea of choosing between the ego and spirit.
• There are two voices and I listen to the one I would have be true for me.
• There are only two choices, ego and spirit.
• Even in this world I can learn to listen to only the Voice for God.
• I am always vigilant for my thoughts and asking the Holy Spirit to correct them.
• I ask the Holy Spirit to purify my thoughts.

All of this is the way I find my way back Home, the way I heal the split in the mind. It is my whole purpose here, my function. And yet, in reality there is no split in the mind. I am whole and complete and just as God created me. The split is imagined and the effects are imagined. I cannot have an individual body, self, will, mind. That is an illusion along with the split mind that imagined it.

And yet. And yet, even though I know on some level that this is true, evidently I remain unconvinced on some other level, even though levels do not exist. This is why we work our way backwards through the illusion to return to the truth. We Sons of God are master Creators and we have done an excellent job of the impossible. We have done such a good job that we have become lost in our own dream and must awaken a bit at a time so as not to scare the bejeesus out of ourselves.

The way to do this seems to be to treat the illusion of separation as if it were a real thing to be undone so that we can finally come to the happy conclusion that it never existed. So, I spend my days looking at the thoughts and watching the emotions. I notice how my choices affect Myron, how they make her feel. I learn to choose from the true thoughts in the mind and watch the change in Myron as I do so. Eventually, through this play of stories and characters, through the slow realization that I exist before and after Myron so must be something else, I begin to awaken. And I realize that nothing is at it seems.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-28-12

6-28-12

MIND - SPIRIT
1 The term mind is used to represent the activating agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy. When the term is capitalised it refers to God or Christ (i.e., the Mind of God or the Mind of Christ). Spirit is the Thought of God which He created like Himself. The unified spirit is God’s one Son, or Christ.

I honestly am not clear on what this means. Obviously, Mind is Christ or God, and mind is not. I understand that part. But what exactly does Jesus mean when he says that the term mind represents the activating agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy? In Inner Ramana I read that the mind is a tool that allows us to see what is not there, to see objects where there is only light. (I don’t have that book with me, so forgive the lack of accuracy in the quote) I find it easier to see how the mind is used to make illusions when I think of it like that.

When the Mind is being Creative it is then the God Mind, or the Christ Mind, and we have that Mind in us, but we are not in touch with that Mind while here in the illusory world. But when we are using mind to form illusions, this is not Creative, but it is done with the same energy. I think this is where the terms make and create are helpful. The Mind creates, and the mind makes. Both use creative energy to do this, but the outcome is very different. Our creations are eternal, and what we make in the world of illusion is just play and ends when we lose interest in them.

I apologize if the above is not clear. I think that it is important that we remember what Jesus said in the Introduction. The meanings of words is going to be fluid when we talk about these things so it is best not to get hung up on any of them and try too hard to pin the meaning down. Probably, for my purposes it is enough for me to understand that the Mind that is in Christ is in me, though I am not in touch with that Mind now. I do have mind which powers the illusion that is my experience right now, and it seems to be very creative, but ultimately, what it makes is not eternal and so not true Creation.

Spirit is the Thought of God which He created like Himself (that’s us) and when we all remember who we are and see that there are not many spirits but only one unified spirit, then we will remember ourselves as the one Son of God. The important thing to me in this definition is that I cannot know myself as the Son of God until I stop thinking of spirit in the plural. The thought, I am a spirit and you are another spirit, is what keeps me from knowing God, because God knows only Wholeness.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-28-12

6-28-12

MIND - SPIRIT
1 The term mind is used to represent the activating agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy. When the term is capitalised it refers to God or Christ (i.e., the Mind of God or the Mind of Christ). Spirit is the Thought of God which He created like Himself. The unified spirit is God’s one Son, or Christ.

I honestly am not clear on what this means. Obviously, Mind is Christ or God, and mind is not. I understand that part. But what exactly does Jesus mean when he says that the term mind represents the activating agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy? In Inner Ramana I read that the mind is a tool that allows us to see what is not there, to see objects where there is only light. (I don’t have that book with me, so forgive the lack of accuracy in the quote) I find it easier to see how the mind is used to make illusions when I think of it like that.

When the Mind is being Creative it is then the God Mind, or the Christ Mind, and we have that Mind in us, but we are not in touch with that Mind while here in the illusory world. But when we are using mind to form illusions, this is not Creative, but it is done with the same energy. I think this is where the terms make and create are helpful. The Mind creates, and the mind makes. Both use creative energy to do this, but the outcome is very different. Our creations are eternal, and what we make in the world of illusion is just play and ends when we lose interest in them.

I apologize if the above is not clear. I think that it is important that we remember what Jesus said in the Introduction. The meanings of words is going to be fluid when we talk about these things so it is best not to get hung up on any of them and try too hard to pin the meaning down. Probably, for my purposes it is enough for me to understand that the Mind that is in Christ is in me, though I am not in touch with that Mind now. I do have mind which powers the illusion that is my experience right now, and it seems to be very creative, but ultimately, what it makes is not eternal and so not true Creation.

Spirit is the Thought of God which He created like Himself (that’s us) and when we all remember who we are and see that there are not many spirits but only one unified spirit, then we will remember ourselves as the one Son of God. The important thing to me in this definition is that I cannot know myself as the Son of God until I stop thinking of spirit in the plural. The thought, I am a spirit and you are another spirit, is what keeps me from knowing God, because God knows only Wholeness.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-27-12

6-27-12
-Clarification of Terms
-INTRODUCTION

1 This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. The structure of “individual consciousness” is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the “original error” or the “original sin.” To study the error itself does not lead to correction, if you are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error. And it is just this process of overlooking at which the course aims.

2 All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends. 

3 This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. It is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been raised. However, this answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. These are attributes of the ego. The course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent. 

4 The ego will demand many answers that this course does not give. It does not recognize as questions the mere form of a question to which an answer is impossible. The ego may ask, “How did the impossible occur?,” “To what did the impossible happen?,” and may ask this in many forms. Yet there is no answer; only an experience. Seek only this, and do not let theology delay you. 

5 You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in the course is brief and early. Afterwards and soon, it drops away to make way for the central teaching. Since you have asked for clarification, however, these are some of the terms that are used.

When I first began studying A Course in Miracles, it was all so new and strange to me. I read each word carefully, as if the words themselves had the answer to the meaning of life, and if I missed a word or misunderstood a word, I would miss the answer. I would struggle to understand, spending hours thinking about what I was reading and trying to pin these concepts down.

When I had someone to study with, we would debate the meaning of words and concepts. And, oh how I would struggle not to use those certain words or accidently state an idea in the wrong way. If I said that we create instead of make, if I said someone was special, you would have thought I had created a mortal sin. Evidently, Catholicism and that kind of structured thinking and fear of sin can carry over into a learning system designed to end that very thing.

I think the reason the Holy Spirit sent me on forays into related but different studies from time to time was to help let go of this kind of rigid thinking and to become more malleable. Words are but symbols and as the Course tells us, they are but symbols of symbols and are thus twice removed from reality. This means, don’t get hung up on words.

We are not meant to study the Course with the ego, that is we are not mean to study with the thinking mind. The ego mind will always separate and categorize and try to insist on rigid meanings. The ego mind wants its symbols to be absolute and stay in one place. If nothing is special, then quit using that word, the mind tells me. You can’t say create when you mean make, it insists. And it loves to find words and ideas to explain and limit the concepts the Course speaks of.

We do need to speak the same language and we are trying to reach a new understanding, so we must agree on the words we use, but we don’t need to be rigid about it and to do so is to miss the point of the Course. Using the language correctly does not mean that we have understanding and healing, just like using the language more loosely doesn’t mean we misunderstand. I always appreciated Ken Wapnick’s suggestion that we not be weird. ~smile~

A Course in Miracles is meant to be studied with the Holy Spirit. He will guide us from the concrete to the abstract. Studying with the thinking mind will never do this for us, and in fact, will entrench us more deeply into the concrete. As I stopped trying to think for myself and became more dependent on the Holy Spirit for interpretation, I relaxed into the process, stopped policing my mind (and stopped judging others as well) and my mind began to heal.

Not only do I not need to understand everything there is to understand, I can’t, and the Course does not try to bring me to that understanding. The only thing A Course in Miracles does is direct me toward what comes next by introducing me to my Guide and Healer, the Holy Spirit, helping me to understand that everything I think I know is wrong, and that all of it must be forgiven. It helps me understand that I am not what I thought I was, but does not attempt to teach me what I am. Yes, it teaches I am Love, but it does not try to teach what Love is.

Its all so very simple. I am not bad or sinful. I am not this separated thing I call a body. I am not alone and abandoned. God does not hold my evil deeds against me, and in fact nothing has happened at all. I am not victim to any of this, but rather, the maker of this. All I have to do to change anything is to desire that change wholly. I only imagine I have a will separate from God. The only problem I have is that I think I am separated from God, and the solution to that problem is in my mind. My job seems to consist of watching my mind and becoming willing to be healed of what I find there that is not what I think with God. I must do all this with the Holy Spirit.

Even if I didn’t know any of this stuff, I could still awaken from this dream-like trance of separation I find myself in. If I could follow and not veer from these three steps, I would get to the same place the most ardent student of the Course aims for.
1. Watch my mind vigilantly.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to correct my thinking and heal my mind.
3. Accept His guidance, His love and His comfort.

If I could do only this, it would be enough. I read the Course and do the lessons and spend years studying only to convince myself I want to do those three steps. Understanding is not necessary, only that I desire healing above all else. But since few of us know that we want to know God above all else, and are confused about what will make us happy, we are given this beautiful path to guide us to that realization. 

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-26-12

6-26-12
And now in all your doings be you blessed. God turns to you for help to save the world. Teacher of God, His thanks He offers you, And all the world stands silent in the grace You bring from Him. You are the Son He loves, And it is given you to be the means Through which His Voice is heard around the world, To close all things of time; to end the sight Of all things visible; and to undo All things that change. Through you is ushered in A world unseen, unheard, yet truly there. Holy are you, and in your light the world Reflects your holiness, for you are not Alone and friendless. I give thanks for you, And join your efforts on behalf of God, Knowing they are on my behalf as well, And for all those who walk to God with me.
AMEN

Holy Spirit, I read this prayer from Jesus to me and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love. Jesus is thanking me for my work and assuring me that he is joining me in it. I don’t know how to respond to that. I am so happy that I have the way to do this work, and I gladly agree to be a teacher of God.

I also feel some fear that I will not be the teacher I could be. I know that this could not be true, that God does not choose His teachers in error, but I’m in my mind all the time and so I see the doubts and fears, the judgments and the grievances, and so it is hard to believe in myself.

Holy Spirit: Yesterday you heard the ego voice tell you that you should be offended by a response you got from a brother. You saw this thought come up over and over and you saw the ego try to build a story around that response. You also noticed that you were not interested. Do not be concerned that the thought passes through your mind. If you find you are attracted to a thought, bring that thought to me as you always have, and I will heal your mind as I always have.

Last night you had a dream that frightened you. This morning you recognized that the dream was caused by a fear you have not relinquished. Let me have that fear, my dear one. You have spent much of your life looking at fear, finally realizing that you don’t have to live in fear.

This morning you thought to say, “I cannot be in pain because pain is not in God.” You actually said, “I cannot be in fear because fear is not in God.” That was not an accident. That was a gift from Me, a thought that you were finally ready to acknowledge. You may live the rest of your life fearlessly if you so choose. You have asked for this and it has been given to you. It awaits only your acceptance.

Don’t give thought to how you will be a teacher of God, or whom you will teach. That is not your concern. Continue to heal your own mind and those who are ready to learn what you are learning will be guided to you. The time will be made. The words will be given. Remain willing, listen, speak or act according to your Inner Guidance. Take joy in this. God wants happy learners and the world wants happy teachers. You are appreciated and you are loved.

Me: Thank you, God. I love you, God.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-25-12

6-25-12
7 Remember you are His completion and His Love. Remember your weakness is His strength. But do not read this hastily or wrongly. If His strength is in you, what you perceive as your weakness is but illusion. And He has given you the means to prove it so. Ask all things of His Teacher, and all things are given you. Not in the future but immediately; now. God does not wait, for waiting implies time and He is timeless. Forget your foolish images, your sense of frailty and your fear of harm, your dreams of danger and selected “wrongs.” God knows but His Son, and as he was created so he is. In confidence I place you in His hands, and I give thanks for you that this is so.

Truly I still see myself as weak. I so easily fall back into ego thinking, and I spend long periods of time listening to ego chatter before I even notice I am doing it. I entertain judgmental thoughts, and I still project my fears and doubts placing blame outside my mind onto others and onto my body. I do all this less often and for much shorter periods of time so I see myself as getting better, but still.

What Jesus reminds me here in this paragraph is that my weakness is an illusion. Actually, I have the same strength in me that is in God, because He created me as an extension of Himself. Anything that is not like God must be an illusion. I made up the idea of weakness just like I made up the idea of pain. It was all part of my plan to have a experience that is different from God.

If you take out the mistaken belief that we have actually done something real and irreparable, then there would be no reason for guilt and so no reason for fear. Then this experience would simply be interesting, and even fun. After our forays into our made up world we would sit around and talk about how it feels to be afraid and what rage does to the body. And if we were no longer drowning in our guilt and fear, we would have been through with the game a long time ago.

Fear of facing our Creator has kept the illusion in place. We are like children who snuck out of the yard for an adventure in the nearby woods. We realized we were late for supper and were probably in serious trouble, and in our fear of our parent’s anger, went more deeply into the woods.

The longer we stayed the more trouble we expected to be in and the more afraid we became. Finally, we were in the woods so long we got lost and then decided, like kids everywhere today, that if you don’t think about something its like it didn’t happen. So we lost our way and lost our memory, and our fear keeps us in this sorry state.

Finally one of our brothers began to remember. He learned to listen to that Voice of Reason, the Voice of God that is still intact within our mind. He made it back to sanity and has made it easier for us to do the same. What we are doing now is getting in touch with our true Self. This Self is, of course, just as Its Creator. It is powerful and perfect. It is Love. It is everything our illusory self is not.

This Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, remembers all and whispers the truth into our Hearts all the time. When we are ready, when we feel strong enough to look past our fear, we begin to hear it. It takes courage and determination to do this. For me, it has been helpful to practice what I hear until my memory becomes stronger than my illusion.

So when I am in pain I remind myself that this cannot be true. I cannot be in pain because I am in God and God is not in pain. When I feel weak, I remind myself that this cannot be true. It must be part of the illusion, because I am in God and God is not weak.

This seems to be taking a long time, and sometimes I back off from it because the part of my mind that is still afraid starts to look at the illusion for proof that I am weak and sick and fearful. It always finds plenty of proof because it put it there. But I have also formed the habit, through my practice of listening to the Holy Spirit, and so I can now pull my attention away from the false proof and allow my mind to be soothed and comforted and healed.

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