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Study of Manual for Teachers 1/5/12

Day 5

Chapter 1. WHO ARE GOD’S TEACHERS?

1 A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else’s. Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure. A light has entered the darkness. It may be a single light, but that is enough. He has entered an agreement with God even if he does not yet believe in Him. He has become a bringer of salvation. He has become a teacher of God.

A couple of things jump out at me in this paragraph. Anyone can be a teacher of God; all he has to do is to recognize that his interests are not apart from someone else’s. I notice that this does not say that I need special training. The requirement is extraordinarily simple. I just need to realize my interests are not separate from someone else. I don’t have to recognize my interests are not separate from everyone else, just someone else. I don’t even seem to need to hold this recognition forever to call myself a teacher of God. That I did it at all, establishes my direction.

I am reminded, of course, of the circumstances that began the process that would lead to the recording of A Course in Miracles. Helen and Bill had a very contentious relationship. One day Helen, probably in frustration, said, “there must be a better way,” and Bill said that he would help her find it. In that moment they did not see their interests as separate. And look what came from that! They truly became teachers of God.

Everything we read about their lives and their relationship from that point on indicates that you do not have to be a perfect teacher of God. In fact, the introduction of the Manual for Teachers assures us we are not perfect or we wouldn’t be here. I would be willing to bet that Helen and Bill did not, in that one dramatic moment, experience a permanent change in their relationship. That change probably came over a period of time.

Its very likely they didn’t think of those words as dramatic. It was probably only in retrospect that they recognized the significance of them. Do you remember the moment that you made a different decision, one that put you on the path? I don’t. I am very aware of the circumstances that led up to my study of the Course, and I’m aware of the thought that propelled me into the Pathways of Light ministerial courses and so began my more formal teaching path. But those are not the moment when I saw my interests as the same as someone else.  And that is the moment I became a teacher of God.

In fact, Jesus seems to be saying that we can be totally clueless about our agreement, and that doesn’t lessen the impact. I don’t even have to believe in God to be His teacher. Once again I recognize that “Myron” is just my representative of sort, my avatar for the experience in this dream story. She doesn’t have a clue, really. She has these light bulb moments, but really she doesn’t know what anything is for. She didn’t even “get it” when she became a teacher of God. This is a good indication that she should do her best to get out of the way and allow God to live through her, a process she seems to one moment embrace, and another to resist.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 1/4/12

Day 4

5 Except for God’s teachers there would be little hope of salvation, for the world of sin would seem forever real. The self-deceiving must deceive, for they must teach deception. And what else is hell? This is a manual for the teachers of God. They are not perfect, or they would not be here. Yet it is their mission to become perfect here, and so they teach perfection over and over, in many, many ways, until they have learned it. And then they are seen no more, although their thoughts remain a source of strength and truth forever. Who are they? How are they chosen? What do they do? How can they work out their own salvation and the salvation of the world? This manual attempts to answer these questions.

They are not perfect, or they would not be here.
For most of the years I studied the Course, I was alone in my studies. I had a bit of help from a few books. First, there were not many books, then when they first started appearing in number, I didn’t know about them. In those early days (for me that was around 1981 or so) I had a group to study with. We were all clueless and were fumbling our way through the book. We had one opportunity to listen to a teacher, actually, two for the price of one, Barbara and Robert Varley. Boy, were we excited!

I moved sometime shortly after that, and didn’t have anyone to study with for a long time. I was slow to discover computers so it wasn’t until around 1998 that I discovered that there were now many resources and many teachers. And they were completely available to me. I was rich! I was so impressed with the idea of teachers of the Course that I tended to put them on a pedestal, and if they showed any sign of being less than perfect, it was a crushing blow to me.

This came to a head with the Gary Renard/Jon Mundy controversy that you may or may not be aware of. Jon, using his widely read magazine, Miracles, refuted Gary Renard and gave this same platform to Robert Perry and Greg Mackie to do the same. I didn’t know what to think. My heroes were acting like regular people. It was so upsetting to me. After a couple of days of distress I took it to Holy Spirit.

Me: First, I hate that the people I have come to think of as leaders in the Course community are taking part in, and seem to be encouraging, controversy. Don’t we have enough of that in the world without bringing it into the Course? 



Holy Spirit: If anyone is still in the illusion, there are forgiveness lessons to be learned, and those who are in a public position are offering many an opportunity to heal with them. Are you not experiencing this right now? Are you not being given the chance to see past the controversy to the innocence in each one of them? 



Me: Yes, you are so right. I am grateful to all of them for this forgiveness lesson. Something else that is causing discomfort for me is that I don’t know who to believe or what to think. These are people I depended on to help me see more clearly, and now I am so confused. I feel like someone pulled the rug out from under me.



Holy Spirit: Listen closely because this is an important lesson. Were you thinking that God’s Voice speaks only to certain “special” people? This Voice is equally available to all. You may read something that helps you see things a little differently, but if you never read another book it would not matter. God’s Voice would provide all that you need to know Myron, the answer is not out there. When you need clarification, don’t look for it in the world; go within where God placed the answer. You don’t do anyone a favor when you try to make him “special” nor do you do yourself a favor when you see yourself as lacking in any way. The only rug pulled out from under you was the rug of “specialness” and you may be glad to see it go. You now stand on solid ground. 



Me: Thank you, Holy Spirit. I am so grateful for Your Voice. What I can see now that You have helped me remove the blocks to truth, is that I know what is important. I know that my purpose is to join with others in forgiveness. I know that means I will see the innocence in whoever is in front of me, and that I make no exceptions. I know that I will step back and let You lead the way. I know that I will continue to bring the illusion to You and allow You to correct my thinking and heal my mind.

After that I took all my “idols” off their pedestals, and I learned not to confuse the messenger with the message. I was able to take from their teachings what was helpful, without needing them to be perfect, realizing that they were doing exactly what it says in this section. They were teaching perfection to learn perfection.

After I stopped judging these teachers, I could do the same for myself. Now I accept that I teach perfection; then I teach something else entirely. ☺ Then I teach perfection again. I’ll continue this as long as it takes until the gap between perfection and perfection closes up completely.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 1/3/12

Day 3

3 The curriculum you set up is therefore determined exclusively by what you think you are, and what you believe the relationship of others is to you. In the formal teaching situation, these questions may be totally unrelated to what you think you are teaching. Yet it is impossible not to use the content of any situation on behalf of what you really teach, and therefore really learn. To this the verbal content of your teaching is quite irrelevant. It may coincide with it, or it may not. It is the teaching underlying what you say that teaches you. Teaching but reinforces what you believe about yourself. Its fundamental purpose is to diminish self-doubt. This does not mean that the self you are trying to protect is real. But it does mean that the self you think is real is what you teach. 


4 This is inevitable. There is no escape from it. How could it be otherwise? Everyone who follows the world’s curriculum, and everyone here does follow it until he changes his mind, teaches solely to convince himself that he is what he is not. Herein is the purpose of the world. What else, then, would its curriculum be? Into this hopeless and closed learning situation, which teaches nothing but despair and death, God sends His teachers. And as they teach His lessons of joy and hope, their learning finally becomes complete. <strong></strong>

It seems I am always teaching what I think I am, what I believe about myself and what I believe about you in relation to me. What I say may not be congruent with what I believe, but that will do nothing to change what I believe. This self I teach and through teaching constantly reinforce is not real, but it is what I teach and so it is real to me.

Here is an example, as I understand this. For a long time I believed that I was a victim of the world I see. Because this was the belief in my mind, this was the interpretation I gave everything that happened to me. For instance, I did not know how to mother my first two children and did not do it well. I felt deeply ashamed and guilty, and I told myself that this was not my fault.

This was the story I told myself. My mother was a poor role model, so I was a victim of my circumstances, and of her failure as a mother. I needed to reinforce this story if I was going to believe it and convince others it was true, so I found a therapist who told me the same story. And I collected friends who were willing to witness to my victimization.

To appear even more innocent (to myself and others) I added martyr to my image as I made excuses for my mom. “She was just doing the best she could” stories. But though my words seemed charitable, they had nothing to do with what I believed, so what I was really teaching was that I was a victim, and she was guilty of victimizing me.

All the time I thought I was protecting (or maybe hiding) this image of myself through projecting blame; I was teaching victimization and learning victimization. And so, many victim stories followed. I was building this image of myself as a helpless victim with layers and layers of stories of being victimized. I often said I did not want to be a victim, and as I learned some psychology I used different words, that sounded good, but those words were hollow because I believed I was a victim and so this is what I taught.

And of course every victim needs a victimizer so I collected those as well, and so I taught, through my relationships with them that they were victimizers. What a sad and self-defeating cycle this is, and yet it is the cycle we all live in one form or another until we choose differently through choosing a different teacher.

What a relief it is to read in paragraph 4 that there is a way to break the cycle of teaching what is the cause of our suffering.

Into this hopeless and closed learning situation, which teaches nothing but despair and death, God sends His teachers.

Helen, through her willingness to do the work given her and thereby bringing A Course in Miracles into the world is an outstanding example of this. As I have studied and practiced the Course I have accepted that my role is one of teacher, and so I am an example of this, though because I have not fully mastered this practice, I am an inconsistent teacher. We all are teachers of God as we allow our mind to be healed, and to the degree to which we allow that healing.

All of us reading this are at least sometimes teaching for God, because our mind is at least partially healed through our practice and our willingness. And as we teach, in whatever way our curriculum leads us, our healing becomes more and more complete.

My assignment

Keep my reminder handy: My every word, thought and deed is teaching me and everyone else. Is this what I want to teach?

I am going to be especially vigilant today to notice what I am actually teaching others and myself. It is not really hard to do this.  Are my words and my thoughts congruent? Am I saying that I am at peace while I try to smother the anxiety I feel as I think time is slipping away from me? (I’m laughing because I couldn’t immediately think of an example or how to say this and so I asked Holy Spirit for something, and I was surprised by that last sentence. Evidently I had been hiding this from myself.) So let me rephrase that. Are my words and thoughts and feelings congruent? My feelings will often help me become aware of the belief that is the source of the thoughts, words and actions.  My words are not always the measure of what I am teaching myself. Holy Spirit, please help me to be aware of the beliefs that are driving my life so that I can ask for healing where needed.

I will remember my gratitude today that as I teach my lessons of joy and hope my learning is becoming complete. Thank you, God.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 1/2/12

2 To teach is to demonstrate. There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. The question is not whether you will teach, for in that there is no choice. The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you want to learn. You cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself, and this you learn through teaching. Teaching is but a call to witnesses to attest to what you believe. It is a method of conversion. This is not done by words alone. Any situation must be to you a chance to teach others what you are, and what they are to you. No more than that, but also never less.


I am teaching all the time. This I have already established in my mind through yesterdays study and practice, but I need constant reminder so I am going to use this idea every day as part of my assignment. When I identify with the ego thought system, I teach separation as I did at Walmart and Books a Million. I put Walmart on one side and me on another. I made myself a victim of circumstance, a victim of Walmart’s decision to not provide enough cashiers, and a victim to my own impatience. Then I invited everyone else to join me in my beliefs, to witness to my beliefs.

My experience has been that I do not decide what thoughts are in the mind. I didn’t begin by thinking, “now I am going to decide to think about Walmart’s long lines.” If I did not have the thought to think this, I did not put the thought in my mind. It simply happened. Where my choice occurs is in whether I want to believe the thoughts in my mind or identify with the thoughts in my mind.

If they are not thoughts I would think with God, then I can recognize this is not a true thought and let it go on to wherever it came from. If I am identifying strongly with the ego thought I can grab hold of it with my mind and engage in it. Then more similar separation thoughts are attracted by my decision.

By the time I got to the cashier at Books a Million I had come to my senses and made the decision to let go of those ego thoughts. I felt to compliment the cashier on how quickly he was moving the line along. I could tell by his expression that he appreciated that I was seeing him in this way. He smiled and said he was trying. I am glad I made the decision before I got to him, so I when it was time to teach him what he was to me, I could teach him his innocence.

My assignment

Keep my reminder handy: My every word, thought and deed is teaching me and everyone else. Is this what I want to teach?

Holy spirit, help me to pause before I speak and consider what I am teaching my brother about himself.

Before I go to bed I am going to ask the Holy Spirit to review with me what I taught this day, ask Him to heal my mind of the errors, and then I am going to let go of the day so I start afresh the next day with a clean slate.

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

1 The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world. The reversal is characteristic. It seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself. Further, the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity, in which one engages only a relatively small proportion of one’s time. The course, on the other hand, emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same. It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant process; it goes on every moment of the day, and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.

I went to college to be a teacher but never finished. I would have made a good teacher as it comes to me naturally. When I was Catholic I taught Catechism and mine was the favorite class.  All the kids wanted to be in it. A teacher once told me I am a natural teacher. And I do love to teach.

So why didn’t I graduate and become a teacher? The ego made up a lot of reasons to explain my “failure” to graduate, because this is what the ego does. But in truth, it simply was not my path. Teaching would turn out to be a tool that I would use, and this is why I am provided with that gift. I would need when I became a teacher of God.  Not that this is a required skill for every teacher, but it is helpful for the path that was designed specifically for me.

In truth we all teach all the time. We teach with our words, with our actions, with our thoughts. We teach to learn, and though we seekers study and study, it is really only through our practice (which is our teaching) that we learn. So what we do every day, what thoughts we entertain are very important. They are teaching us what we are. They are teaching the Mind what it is.

The Course says: I am alone in nothing. Everything I think and say or do teaches all the universe. Now there is a thought that will give me pause if I make yourself aware of it. When someone in the office upsets my customer and I want to jump down her throat, maybe I would like to pause a moment and remember the far reaching consequences of that action, the words I am planning to say, and yes, even the judgmental and angry thoughts in my mind.

I went to Walmart two days before Christmas, and the checkout lines were backed up into the clothing department. To tempt me further the ego mind pointed out they didn’t even have half their lanes open. The next day I went to Books A Million and while standing in line began a conversation with the person in front of me to pass the time. It was fine until she started remarking on her experience at Walmart the day before. I told her my story and we talked about the evil giant for awhile.

Suddenly I realized what I was doing. I couldn’t believe that this is what I chose to teach and therefore learn. I looked around and noticed everyone else who could hear us complaining. I thought about what a peaceful line of people it had been, and hoped I had not poisoned the atmosphere. I don’t want to be the one who sets my brother back on his path. My words were teaching the thought system I was identifying with at that moment. I am grateful that I now realize that I have a choice, and in that moment I made a different choice.

Here is my assignment to myself for the rest of the day. You can join me in this assignment if you like, or ask the Holy Spirit what He would have you do to reinforce this learning. All the study in the world won’t wake us up; only practice will do that.

I am going to write a note to myself and put it in a prominent place. It will say:

My every word, thought and deed is teaching me and everyone else. Is this what I want to teach?

Then I am asking the Holy Spirit to bring to my attention those times when I am teaching something I don’t want to learn, so I can make a different choice.

And finally, I am going to ask the Holy Spirit to teach me in my dreams.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Root of Fear

While I was journaling my lesson, Holy Spirit talked to me about fear.

Holy Spirit: When you see some form of fear in your mind today, Myron, remind yourself that God loves you. He loves you with a love that is complete and unchanging, that is unaffected by your imaginings. He delights in you and all that you do. He doesn’t know judgment, only love. By using the ego’s fearful moments in this way you are allowing the root of fear to be shaken loose. Each time you do this, fear’s hold on you is permanently lessened.

Me: Of course. I see that when I try to avoid or change what seems to scare me I am just teaching myself that it is real and the cause of my fear. If I am worried about money then try to earn more to alleviate my worry, I have brought myself deeper into the illusion. I have caused myself to believe that the world is real and the cause of my concerns.

Holy Spirit: Yes, that is true. Fear found a place in your mind and the mind created images to explain the fear. The fear came first. The circumstances that you see with the body’s eyes are simply a reflection of this fear. All are within your mind; the fear, the story, the body that seems to be experiencing the story. Healing, therefore, must occur within the mind. Do not worship fear for it is a false god. Turn your back to it, and look toward your Creator Who is Love and does not offer fear. In this way are all fearful symbols relinquished for all time.

Later that day I had a wonderful opportunity to practice what I have been learning. Lately one of our chief competitors has become very proactive in soliciting our customers, and is sometimes successful. I went to see a very large customer and, while he had not bought from the other company, I could tell by his questions, he had been approached.

When I left I noticed how anxious I was. I noticed fear and fear defenses in my mind. Luckily, I had just downloaded NTI and was listening to Matthew while I drove. This was wonderfully helpful to me as I looked at the fear. I also received many thoughts from the Holy Spirit to help me remember the truth.

I remembered that this situation did not scare me. Nothing about it is the cause of my fear. It is the fear in my mind that caused the situation; so correcting the situation will not solve my problem. I imagine it this way: I see a leak in the levee. I put my hand over the leak to keep the water out, and just out of reach is another leak. Yikes, what now? This is what it is like trying to control the effects of the fear I have given a home in my mind.

The only real solution is to turn from the world where the problem is being played out, and to give my attention to the beliefs in my mind that created the story. As I remembered that it is not the story in my life that caused my fear; it is the fear in my mind that caused the story, I gladly asked for healing of the cause, rather than trying to rearrange the effect.

It was hard at first because I couldn’t take my eye off the water gushing out of the leaking levee. It is very hard to convince the thinking mind to ignore its warning system 〈what the body’s eyes tell it〉 and to understand the cause of the problem is somewhere else. So that is why I shut the thinking mind down entirely. It is only a distraction in a case like this.

I repeated my mantra several times. I allowed it to calm me down and take me from my thinking mind to my Heart. There I was reminded of the love my Father has for me. I was reminded that I am not fear. If I were fear, God would have to be fear as well, because He created me like Himself. I remembered to ask Him what I should do, rather than asking the ego mind. I remembered my purpose. My purpose has nothing to do with keeping customers. My job is to extend love to them and my competitors alike.

I had to repeat this or parts of it a few times, but in the end, peace prevailed. It was interesting to note that as I lost interest in financial fears, the ego tried to hook me with bodily fears, then relationship fears. It is a persistent little devil.

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Into His Presence

Holy Spirit, I ask that you be with me all day today, helping me to keep my focus on what is true. When I allow my mind to wander into illusions of what might have been or what I fear is to come, please remind me of the moment I am in now and that this is the only moment there is. It is in only this moment that I can choose again.

As I go through my day acting and reacting, please help me to bring my attention to my lesson, understanding that the body and the world are just the classroom for the lesson. I often forget that this is true and begin to act as if the purpose of life is to change the classroom. Help me to keep the purpose of life clearly in the forefront of my mind.

When I stand before my brother I often see the body and its actions and errors. Please help me to see the light that stands behind this dark vision so that I may learn to see the light within myself. I will be mindful of the judgments I make of my brother’s behaviors and I ask that you correct my thinking so that I don’t foolishly believe my brother is his behavior any more than he is his body.

Holy Spirit, it is so easy for me to forget that the body and personality associated with Myron is just a story of separation, and that I can watch this story to help me remember the truth about who I am. Please help me to remember to step back from this dream figure and notice what she does and says rather than thinking I need to control what she does and says. I am tired of trying to fix the dream, and long to awaken from it, but at the same time, it calls to me and tempts me to once again enter it fully. I cannot do that because I no longer fully believe in the illusion, and yet cannot fully release it. Please help me as I learn to detach from the dream.

This morning it is quiet and easy to feel Your ever present help. I can rest in You, and feel deep gratitude for that rest. As others join me in today’s story I become distracted and feel like I have lost my contact with You. Please help me to see that this is not possible. Help me learn to rise above the battleground and to be aware of You within me all during the day no matter who joins me or what dramas distract me. Help me to see the dramas as lessons rather than distractions.  Amen.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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