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.
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