Living in purpose WORKING WITH OTHERS

Transcription

1 Living in purpose WORKING WITH OTHERS HAVE FUN! REMEMBER TO LAUGH! God is but love and therefore so am i

2 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHER OF GOD TRAINING PROGRAM "THE POWER OF DECISION IS MY OWN." WHAT IS AN ADVANCED TEACHER OF GOD? CERTIFICATION AND MINISTRY TRAINING CURRICULUM TRUST IN GOD HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY? HEALING THE GREATER JOINING WHAT IS THE ROLE OF WORDS IN HEALING? WHAT IS PRAYER? LISTENING ACTIVE LISTENING BASIC ATTITUDES FOR ACTIVE LISTENING: BENEFITS OF ACTIVE LISTENING: CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD LISTENING HOW DO I LISTEN? WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD'S TEACHERS? FAITHFULNESS IN GOD WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF GOD'S TEACHERS? THE PROPER PURPOSE OF THE BODY BEING A MINISTER OF GOD: I AM AMONG THE MINISTERS OF GOD QUICK & EASY HEALING PRACTICE STEP BY STEP GUIDE I AM SURROUNDED BY THE LOVE OF GOD HOW TO ACTIVATE/INSPIRE GET SOMEONE BACK ON TRACK/CENTERED HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED? THE SIMPLE PRESENCE OF A TEACHER OF GOD IS A REMINDER PSYCHOTHERAPY BOOKLET WHO DECIDES WHAT SOMEONE NEEDS? TEACHER OF GOD COMMITMENT AS A MINISTER OF GOD: POSSIBLE EXAMPLES/SITUATIONS

3 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHER OF GOD TRAINING PROGRAM This training guide may help those get back into alignment quickly; becomes a lifestyle; But more importantly allows the Teacher of God Minister to see the face of Christ in all his/her brothers and remember God. The final goal of the mind training of A Course in Miracles is to remember the truth of your Identity One with God and to know the unreality of the world. I am One with God There is no Will but God s God is with me. I am safe, perfectly protected. I will step back and let Him lead the way. Thank you for being available to take your place beside Jesus in the Great Awakening, allowing your body to be used only for communication purposes by the Holy Spirit to bring the Word of God to those who have it not. A Teacher of God knows how to align themselves quickly back to God as to help others realize they don t have to stay stuck. We can easily transition back to the truth; recognizing the difference between the illusion and the fundamental truth. God is our safety net as we always fall back on into the heart of God and not stay stuck in a place. This starts with underlying commitment. A Teacher of God: Has Certainty Lives in Purpose Knows his/her assignment help Jesus save the world Is ready to carry the message to those who want to emerge from conflict. Has completed all 365 lessons of the workbook He cannot claim that title (Teacher of God) until he has gone through the workbook, since we are learning within the framework of our course. How Should the Teacher of God spend his day? ACIM, Teachers Manual 3

4 1.1 "THE POWER OF DECISION IS MY OWN." The power of decision is my own What does this mean to you?. Wb 152 L 1. No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants, and No one dies without his own consent. Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all details. Here is its whole reality for you. And it is only here salvation is. It is the function of God's ministers to help their brothers choose as they have done. God has elected all, but few have come to Realize His Will is but their own. And while you fail to teach what you have learned salvation waits, and darkness holds the world in grim imprisonment. Nor will you learn that light has come to you, and your escape has been accomplished. For you will not see the light until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own? Does truth have exceptions? Can pain be part of peace, or grief of joy? Can fear and sickness enter in a mind where love and perfect holiness abide? Truth is all-inclusive if it be the truth at all. Are there any illusions in your life (or in other people) that you react to, forgetting it is an illusion? Do you find that there is an order of difficulty in miracles in some things? 2 WHAT IS AN ADVANCED TEACHER OF GOD? When will a Teacher of God recognize he has reached an advanced state as a Teacher of God? When all magic (relying on yourself is recognized as merely nothing) the Teacher of God has reached the most advanced state. 4

5 2 WHAT IS AN ADVANCED TEACHER OF GOD Continued Not once do the advanced teachers of God consider the forms of sickness in which their brother believes. To do this is to forget that all of them have the same purpose, and therefore are not really different. They seek for God's Voice in this brother who would so deceive himself as to believe God's Son can suffer. And they remind him that he did not make himself, and must remain as God created him. They recognize illusions can have no effect. The truth in their minds reaches out to the truth in the minds of their brothers, so that illusions are not reinforced. They are thus brought to truth; truth is not brought to them. So are they dispelled, not by the will of another, but by the union of the One Will with Itself. And this is the function of God's teachers; to see no will as separate from their own, nor theirs as separate from God's. Not once do the advanced teachers of God consider the forms of sickness in which their brother believes. How Is Healing Accomplished? ACIM, Teachers Manual 3 CERTIFICATION AND MINISTRY TRAINING CURRICULUM READING REQUIREMENTS: Have read/completed A Course in Miracles from start to finish. ACIM Manual for Teachers ACIM Text all 31 chapters ACIM Workbook Lesson 365 lessons ACIM Clarification of Terms The Song of Prayer Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process 4 TRUST IN GOD The Teachers of God trust God. The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. It is governed by a Power that is in them but not of them. It is this Power that keeps all things safe. It is through this Power that the teachers of God look on a forgiven world. When this Power has once been experienced, it is impossible to trust one's own petty strength again. Defenselessness is strength. It testifies to recognition of the Christ in you. Perhaps you will recall the course maintains that choice is always made between God s strength and your own weakness seen apart from Him. Workbook Lesson 153 A Teacher of God must be sure success is not of him but will be given him at any time or place he calls for it. Yes No 5

6 4.1 HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY? To the advanced teacher of God this question is meaningless. There is no program, for the lessons change each day. Yet the teacher of God is sure of but one thing; they do not change at random. Seeing this and understanding that it is true, he rests content. He will be told all that his role should be, this day and every day. And those who share that role with him will find him, so they can learn the lessons for the day together. Not one is absent whom he needs; not one is sent without a learning goal already set, and one which can be learned that very day. For the advanced teacher of God, then, this question is superfluous. It has been asked and answered, and he keeps in constant contact with the Answer. He is set, and sees the road on which he walks stretch surely and smoothly before him. There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it. How simply and how easily does time slip by for the teacher of God who has accepted God s protection! All that he did before in the name of safety no longer interests him. For he is safe, and knows it to be so. He has a Guide who will not fail. He need make no distinctions among the problems he perceives, for He to whom he turns with all of them recognizes no order of difficulty in resolving them. He is as safe in the present as he was before illusions were accepted into his mind, and as he will be when he has let them go. There is no difference in his state at different times and different places, because they are all one to God. This is his safety. And he has no need for more than this. Yet there will be temptations along the way the teacher of God has yet to travel, and he has need of reminding himself throughout the day of his protection. How can he do this, particularly during the time when his mind is occupied with external things? He can but try, and his success depends on his conviction that he will succeed. He must be sure success is not of him, but will be given him at any time, in any place and circumstance he calls for it. There are times his certainty will waver, and the instant this occurs he will return to earlier attempts to place reliance on himself alone. Forget not this is magic, and magic is a sorry substitute for true assistance. It is not good enough for God's teacher, because it is not enough for God's Son. 6

7 4.1 HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY Continued When all magic (relying on yourself without God) is recognized as merely nothing, the teacher of God has reached the most advanced state. All intermediate lessons will but lead to this, and bring this goal nearer to recognition. For magic of any kind, in all its forms, simply does nothing. Its powerlessness is the reason it can be so easily escaped. What has no effects can hardly terrify. There is no substitute for the Will of God. In simple statement, it is to this fact that the teacher of God devotes his day. "There is no will but God's." His teachers know that this is so, and have learned that everything but this is magic. All belief in magic is maintained by just one simple-minded illusion that it works. All through his training, every day and every hour, and even every minute and second, must God's teachers learn to recognize the forms of magic and perceive their meaninglessness. Fear is withdrawn from them, and so they go. And thus the gate of Heaven is reopened, and its light can shine again on an untroubled mind. 5 HEALING THE GREATER JOINING In one paragraph please write and describe what the greater joining means to you.... Accepting the atonement for yourself means NOT to give support to someone's dream of sickness and of death. It means that you share NOT his wish to separate, and let him turn illusions on himself. Nor do you wish that they be turned instead on YOU. Thus have they NO effects. And YOU are free of dreams of pain because you let HIM be. UNLESS you help him, YOU will suffer pain with him because that is your wish. And you become a figure in HIS dream of pain, as he in YOURS. So do you BOTH become illusions and without identity. You could be anyone or anything, depending on whose evil dream you share. You can be sure of just ONE thing; that you are evil, for you share in dreams of fear. 7

8 5 HEALING THE GREATER JOINING Continued There is a way of finding certainty RIGHT HERE AND NOW. Refuse to be a part of fearful dreams WHATEVER form they take. For you will lose identity in them. You FIND yourself by NOT accepting them as causing you, and GIVING you effects. You stand apart from them, but NOT apart from him who dreams them. Thus you separate the dreamer from the dream, and join with ONE, but let the OTHER go. The dream is but illusion in the mind. And with the MIND you WOULD unite, but NEVER with the dream. It is the DREAM you fear, and NOT the mind. You see them as the same, because you think that YOU are but a dream. And what is real and what is but illusion IN YOURSELF you do not know and cannot tell apart. Share not in your brother s illusion of himself, for YOUR identity depends on his reality. Think, rather, of him as a mind in which illusions still persist, but as a mind which brother is to you. Let him acknowledge who he IS, by not supporting his illusions by your faith, for if you do, you will have faith in YOURS. Be certain, if you do YOUR part, he will do his, for he will JOIN you where YOU stand. Call not to him to meet you in the gap BETWEEN you, or you MUST believe that it is YOUR reality, as well as his. You CANNOT do his part, but this you DO when you become a passive figure in his dream INSTEAD of dreamer of your own. The Holy Spirit is in BOTH your minds, and He IS one, because there is no gap that separates His Oneness from Itself. The gap between your bodies matters not, for what is joined in Him is ALWAYS one. No one is sick, if someone ELSE accepts his union WITH him. His desire to be a sick and separated mind can NOT remain without a witness or a cause. And both ARE gone, if someone wills to be united with him. He has dreamed that he was separated from his brother, who, by sharing NOT his dream, has left the space between them vacant. And the Father comes to join His Son the Holy Spirit joined. The Holy Spirit's Function is to take the broken picture of the Son of God, and put the pieces into place again. This holy picture, healed entirely, does He hold out to every separate piece that thinks it is a picture IN ITSELF. To each he offers his identity, which the WHOLE picture represents, instead of just a little broken bit, which he insisted was himself. And when he sees THIS picture, he will RECOGNIZE himself. If you share not your brother's evil dreams, this IS the picture that the miracle will place within the little gap, left clean of all the seeds of sickness and of sin. And here the Father will receive His Son, because His Son was gracious to himself. 8

9 5 HEALING THE GREATER JOINING Continued I thank you, Father, knowing you will come to close each little gap that lies between the broken pieces of your holy Son. Your Holiness, complete and perfect, lies in every one of them. And they ARE joined, because what is in one IS in them all. How holy is the smallest grain of sand, when it is recognized as being part of the completed picture of God's Son! The forms the broken pieces seem to take mean nothing. For the Whole is in each one. And every aspect of the Son of God is just the same as every other part. Join not your brother's dream, but join with HIM, and where you join His Son, the Father IS. 6 WHAT IS THE ROLE OF WORDS IN HEALING? Strictly speaking, words play no part at all in healing. The motivating factor is prayer, or asking. What you ask for you receive. But this refers to the prayer of the heart, not to the words you use in praying. Sometimes the words and the prayer are contradictory; sometimes they agree. It does not matter. God does not understand words, for they were made by separated minds to keep them in the illusion of separation. Words can be helpful, particularly for the beginner, in helping concentration and facilitating the exclusion, or at least the control, of extraneous thoughts. Let us not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality. As symbols, words have quite specific references. Even when they seem most abstract, the picture that comes to mind is apt to be very concrete. Unless a specific referent does occur to the mind in conjunction with the word, the word has little or no practical meaning, and thus cannot help the healing process. The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete things. It always requests some kind of experience, the specific things asked for being the bringers of the desired experience in the opinion of the asker. The words, then, are symbols for the things asked for, but the things themselves but stand for the experiences that are hoped for. The prayer for things of this world will bring experiences of this world. If the prayer of the heart asks for this, this will be given because this will be received. It is impossible that the prayer of the heart remain unanswered in the perception of the one who asks. If he asks for the impossible, if he wants what does not exist or seeks for illusions in his heart, all this becomes his own. The power of his decision offers it to him as he requests. Herein lie hell and Heaven. The sleeping Son of God has but this power left to him. It is enough. His words do not matter. Only the Word of God has any meaning, because it symbolizes that which has no human symbols at all. The Holy Spirit alone understands what this Word stands for. And this, too, is enough. 9

10 6 WHAT IS THE ROLE OF WORDS IN HEALING? Continued Is the teacher of God, then, to avoid the use of words in his teaching? No, indeed! There are many who must be reached through words, being as yet unable to hear in silence. The teacher of God must, however, learn to use words in a new way. Gradually, he learns how to let his words be chosen for him by ceasing to decide for himself what he will say. This process is merely a special case of the lesson in the workbook that says, "I will step back and let Him lead the way." The teacher of God accepts the words which are offered him, and gives as he receives. He does not control the direction of his speaking. He listens and hears and speaks. A major hindrance in this aspect of his learning is the teacher of God's fear about the validity of what he hears. And what he hears may indeed be quite startling. It may also seem to be quite irrelevant to the presented problem as he perceives it, and may, in fact, confront the teacher with a situation that appears to be very embarrassing to him. All these are judgments that have no value. They are his own, coming from a shabby selfperception which he would leave behind. Judge not the words that come to you, but offer them in confidence. They are far wiser than your own. God's teachers have God's Word behind their symbols. And He Himself gives to the words they use the power of His Spirit, raising them from meaningless symbols to the Call of Heaven itself. 7 WHAT IS PRAYER? "Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed." Here is a prayer from Jesus to you, the miracle worker, from A Course in Miracles: "If you will tell me what to do, I will to do it and NOT to do what you would not have me do." What does this mean to you?.. Prayer is a way of asking for something. When we said that prayer is the medium of miracles, we also said that the only meaningful prayer is for forgiveness, because those who have been forgiven have everything. Once forgiveness has been accepted, prayer in the usual sense becomes utterly without meaning. Essentially, a prayer for forgiveness is nothing more than a request that we may be able to recognize something we already have. 10

11 7 WHAT IS PRAYER? Continued What to do when prayer or healing seems to not work: Don t worry about it. Healing should never be repeated. You have given the problem to God. There is nothing left to do. One of the most difficult temptations to recognize is that to doubt a healing because of the appearance of continuing symptoms is a mistake in the form of lack of trust. As such it is an attack. The real basis for doubt about the outcome of any problem that has been given to God's Teacher for resolution is always self-doubt. And that necessarily implies that trust has been placed in an illusory self, for only such a self can be doubted. 8 LISTENING When someone comes to you for help, simply be available with an open-mind, without pre-determining what you will say or do. JUST LISTEN. Listen to what this brother is saying to you and then listen to the Holy Spirit. Listening to others: Do you consider yourself a good listener? When someone is talking, what are you aware of while they speak? Do you realize this is the Christ come to you? Do you recognize this person as a mirror come to show you something? Are you not listening and thinking about something else or preparing what you are going to say to them? What is going on in your mind when someone else talks? Listening to God or the Holy Spirit: What is your practice?... Listening to the truth: What does this mean to you?... 11

12 8.1 ACTIVE LISTENING Active listening is a method of enhancing communications which: Does not try to solve problems or alter behavior. Is designed to establish and maintain communication of emotions between individuals in a non-judgmental, accepting way. Uses silence, verbal and physical responses which communicate empathic understanding. Allows each individual the right to their own problems and feelings, and the right to discover their own solutions. 8.2 BASIC ATTITUDES FOR ACTIVE LISTENING: Wanting to hear taking time Wanting to help Trusting the person s ability to solve their own problem Accepting the person s feelings (not fearing or wanting to fix) Realizing that feelings are transitory Seeing the person as whole and healed. 8.3 BENEFITS OF ACTIVE LISTENING: People become less afraid of negative feelings their own and others. Promotes a relationship of warmth and trust between people. 8.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD LISTENING 1. Stop talking! You cannot listen if you are talking. Wait! Your turn will come. 2. Put the talker at ease. Help them feel free to talk. This is providing them with a permissive, safe environment. 12

13 8.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD LISTENING Continued 3. Show them that you want to listen. Be interested. Listen for them, not to them. Listen to understand, rather than to reply. Maintain good eye contact. 4. Remove distractions. Don t doodle, tap, read, or shuffle papers. Turn off noisemakers, close the door, turn off cell phone, etc. 5. Empathize with them. Try to put yourself in their place, see their point of view. 6. Be patient. Allow plenty of time. Don t interrupt. Don t start for the door or walk away or make hand signals to hurry them along. 7. Watch if you start to angry or judgmental. An angry person will get the wrong meaning from words and the anger inhibits active listening. 8. Do not argue or criticize. 9. Ask questions. This encourages the clarification of their thought, shows that you are listening & helps them to develop points further, perhaps leading them to their own solution. 10. Stop talking! You just cannot do a good job of listening while you are talking. Nature gave us two ears, but only one tongue, which is a gentle reminder that we should listen more than we talk! The Role of Silence in Listening Silence is one of the most effective tools as a Teacher of God. Allowing silence is providing the space for Spirit to speak and show up for the person. Silence can feel uncomfortable; however, listening with the heart in the silence opens a space for safety for the one you are listening to. Be still and know that I Am God, Do comfort them strengthen them by being with them as Soul Companions. This is the greatest comfort, to be present to them. Do not give advice do not try to fix their problems. Know that their problems are not real. Help them to remember the truth. Do not fake understanding they will recognize this dishonesty and no longer trust you. 13

14 8.5 HOW DO I LISTEN? With Patience, Persistence and Practice! Steps to remember as you meet with others: Ask yourself what is my role/ purpose here?. Remember I have been called to witness and observe. Keep your heart, eyes and ears open. Keep your eyes open to what is happening right now witness the suffering, body language, choice of words. Ask yourself, do they feel abandoned by God? Do not immediately assure them that they have not been abandoned; that is no comfort to them in this moment. They feel alone in their pain. But YOU have not abandoned them. Listen to the pain. Acknowledge what they say they feel. You feel that God has abandoned you. Let them speak to this. Be open to hearing their suffering and complaining. Do not try to fix it. When you hear, Why is this happening to me? Do not answer. You cannot know why anything is happening. It just is. Suggest a prayer. 9 WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD'S TEACHERS? Trust Honesty Tolerance Gentleness Joy Defenselessness Generosity Patience Faithfulness Open-Mindedness 14

15 9 WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD S TEACHERS? Continued Ten Characteristics of God's Teachers: All ten of characteristics of God's Teachers has a different meaning (or is opposite) than the worldly meaning. Did you notice this as you read the descriptions? Most of these characteristics as the ego uses them are different than the qualities they describe for the Son of God? What is the difference between these characteristics as used by ego vs. as they as used by Holy Spirit? How do the open-minded forgive?. 10 FAITHFULNESS IN GOD: The Need for Faith: There is NO problem, in ANY situation, that faith will not solve. What does this statement mean to you? Is this your experience? What is faith to you? The extent of the teacher of God's faithfulness in God is the measure of his advancement in the curriculum. Does he still select some aspects of his life to bring to his learning, while keeping others apart? If so, his advancement is limited, and his trust not yet firmly established. Faithfulness is the teacher of God's trust in the Word of God to set all things right; not some, but all. Generally, his faithfulness begins by resting on just some problems, remaining carefully limited for a time. To give up all problems to one Answer is to reverse the thinking of the world entirely. And that alone is faithfulness. Nothing but that really deserves the name. True faithfulness, however, does not deviate. A Course in Miracles, Characteristics of God s Teachers, Faithfulness 11 WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF GOD'S TEACHERS? The Function of God's Teachers: A Course in Miracles talks about your "function" and mentions several seeming different things, which are actually all the same. What are they? What is your function? Feel free to do an online search at courseinmiracles.com and type in the word "function" in the Search box. 15

16 11 WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF GOD S TEACHERS? Continued Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers. Your real function on earth to be the light of the world Wb Lesson 61 True humility requires that you accept today s idea (I am the light of the world Workbook Lesson 61) because it is God s Voice that tells you it is true. This is a beginning step in accepting your real function on earth. It is a giant stride toward taking your rightful place in salvation. It is a positive assertion of your right to be saved, and an acknowledgment of the power that is given you to save others. FUNCTION/Purpose: Happiness is your one function: pause frequently today to tell yourself that you have now accepted happiness as your one function. I share God s Will for happiness for me, Wb Lesson 102 Accepting God s Plan and the one function you would fulfill: Once you accept God s plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you, WITHOUT your effort. ACIM, Entering the Ark Share God s Will and bring His Thoughts to still deluded minds. Our true purpose is to save the world, and we would not exchange for foolishness the endless joy our function offers us. Everything internal now reflects only the Love of God. Wb Lesson THE PROPER PURPOSE OF THE BODY The Proper Purpose of the Body: What is the "proper purpose" of the body as described in A Course in Miracles ("How Many Teachers of God are Needed to Save the World?" Manual for Teachers) Think about your body. What do you use it for? What is it to you? God's teachers need a body, for their unity could not be recognized directly. Yet what makes God's teachers is their recognition of the proper purpose of the body. As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body's function is but to let God's Voice speak through it to human ears. And these ears will carry to the mind of the hearer messages that are not of this world, and the mind will understand because of their Source. From this understanding will come the recognition, in this new teacher of God, of what the body's purpose really is; the only use there really is for it. This lesson is enough to let the thought of unity come in, and what is one is recognized as one. The teachers of God appear to share the illusion of separation, but because of what they use the body for, they do not believe in the illusion despite appearances. 16

17 12 THE PROPER USE OF THE BODY Continued Use the body to bring the Word of God to those who have it not, and the body becomes holy. Because it is holy it cannot be sick, nor can it die. Sickness is now impossible to him. Oneness and sickness cannot coexist. God's teachers choose to look on dreams a while. It is a conscious choice. For they have learned that all choices are made consciously, with full awareness of their consequences. The dream says otherwise, but who would put his faith in dreams once they are recognized for what they are? Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers. They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die. Yet they are not deceived by what they see. They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful. Unity alone is not a thing of dreams. And it is this God's teachers acknowledge as behind the dream, beyond all seeming and yet surely theirs. 13 BEING A MINISTER OF GOD: God s ministers have chosen that the truth be with them. It is the function of God s ministers to help their brothers choose as they have done. God has elected all, but few have come to realize His Will is but their own. And while you fail to teach what you have learned salvation waits, and darkness holds the world in grim imprisonment. Nor will you learn that light has come to you, and your escape has been accomplished. For you will not see the light until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own. God s ministers have come to waken his brothers from the dark dreams this story has evoked in his confused, bewildered memory of this distorted tale. God s Son can smile at last, on learning that it is not true. Today we will observe our trust as ministers of God in hourly remembrance of our mission and His Love. And we will quietly sit by and wait on Him and listen to His Voice, and learn what He would have us do the hour that is yet to come; while thanking Him for all the gifts He gave us in the one gone by. 17

18 13 BEING A MINISTER OF GOD Continued In time, with practice, you will never cease to think of God, and hear His loving Voice guiding your footsteps into quiet ways where you will walk in true defenselessness. For you will know that Heaven goes with you. Nor would you keep your mind away from Him a moment, even though your time is spent in offering salvation to the world. Think you He will not make this possible for you who chose to carry out His plan for the salvation of the world and yours? Today our theme is our defenselessness. We clothe ourselves in it as we prepare to meet the day. We rise up strong in Christ, and let our weakness disappear as we remember that His strength abides in us. We will remind ourselves that He remains beside us through the day, and never leaves our weakness unsupported by His strength. In defenselessness we stand secure, serenely certain of our safety now, sure of salvation; sure we will fulfill our chosen purpose as our ministry extends its holy blessing through the world. We call upon God s strength each time we feel the threat of our defenses undermine our certainty of purpose. We will pause a moment, as He tells us, I am here. Your practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love to help you keep your mind from wandering from its intent. Be not afraid or timid. There can be no doubt that you will reach your final goal. The ministers of God can never fail, because the love and strength and peace that shine from them to all their brothers come from Him. These are His gifts to you. Defenselessness is all you need to give Him in return. You lay aside but what was never real, to look on Christ and see His sinlessness I AM AMONG THE MINISTERS OF GOD Wb 154 L 13. Our lesson for today is stated thus: "I am among the ministers of God, and I am grateful that I have the means by which to recognize that I am free." 18

19 13.1 I AM AMONG THE MINISTERS OF GOD Continued The world recedes as we light up our minds, and realize these holy words are true. They are the message sent to us today from our Creator. Now we demonstrate how they have changed our minds about ourselves, and what our function is. For as we prove that we accept no will we do not share, our many gifts from our Creator will spring to our sight and leap into our hands, and we recognize what we received. It is the function of God's ministers to help their brothers choose as they have done. God has elected all, but few have come to realize His Will is but their own. And while you fail to teach what you have learned salvation waits, and darkness holds the world in grim imprisonment. Nor will you learn that light has come to you, and your escape has been accomplished. For you will not see the light until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own. The ministers of God can never fail, because the Love and strength and peace that shine from them to all their brothers come from Him. These are His gifts to you. Defenselessness is all you need to give Him in return. You lay aside but what was never real, to look on Christ and see His sinlessness. Wb 153 Be still and listen to the truth today. For each five minutes spent in listening a thousand minds are opened to the truth, and they will hear the holy Word you hear. And when the hour is past, you will again release a thousand more who pause to ask that truth be given them, along with you. Wb 151 L 17. Such is your Eastertide. And so you lay the gift of snow-white lilies on the world, replacing witnesses to sin and death. Through your transfiguration is the world redeemed and joyfully released from guilt. Now do we lift our resurrected minds in gladness and in gratitude to Him who has restored our sanity to us. 19

20 14 QUICK & EASY HEALING PRACTICE STEP BY STEP GUIDE 1. Remember God I am one with God Acknowledge God. 2.Remember the truth none of this is real. Not once do the advanced teachers of God consider the forms of sickness in which their brothers believes. 3. Take 100% Responsibility I am responsible for what I see this situation is not outside of me, it s in my mind, where healing occurs. 4. Remember who this brother is who comes to you with a problem or for help this is my brother whom I love. This is my savior. 5. Listen Be still, be quiet, and listen to God s Voice. 6. Give the problem to the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the only Healer and the only therapist. 7. Give blessing, Give thanks Thank you Father. Thank you God I AM SURROUNDED BY THE LOVE OF GOD. Lesson 245 Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe. Your peace surrounds me, Father. Where I go, your peace goes there with me. It sheds its light on everyone I meet. I bring it to the desolate and lonely and afraid. I give your peace to those who suffer pain, or grieve for loss, or think they are bereft of hope and happiness. Send them to me, my Father. Let me bring your peace with me. For I would save Your Son, as is Your Will, that I may come to recognize my Self. And so we go in peace. To all the world we give the message that we have received. And thus we come to hear the Voice of God, Who speaks to us as we relate His Word; Whose Love we recognize because we share the Word that He has given unto us. How to Support/Help someone without entering into their story, drama, dream PAUSE Get yourself Centered in God FIRST, before you do anything else! 20

21 14.1 I AM SURROUNDED BY THE LOVE OF GOD Continued LISTEN! Listen to what they say and have laser-beam focus (Christ vision) to really listen until they say something that is TRUE then mirror back to them what they said, but in a way that reflects the total truth. USE THEIR WORDS MIRROR BACK TO THEM WHAT THEY JUST SAID FOCUS ON THE TRUTH: Most people when they are speaking about their problems if you just let them talk without giving advice, if you just listen they will say something that is the PERFECT ANSWER FOR THEM. You are just there to find the needle in the haystack the gold in the river you are there to listen when Christ comes through this brother, and then say it back to them so they can hear it. They might say I m so sad, I just want to be happy and there it is! They have stated what they want to be happy that s the opening you are looking for, so you as a teacher direct them to remember how to be happy by helping them to remember their Identity in God. When someone comes to you with a problem or difficulty, you can remember the truth for him and yourself (since the advanced teacher of God is the saner of the two in that moment) by remembering your indebtedness and gratitude to him: Whichever is saner at the time when threat is perceived, should remember how deep is his indebtedness to the other, and how much gratitude is due him. AND BE GLAD that he can pay his debt, by bringing happiness to both. Let him remember this, and say, "I desire this holy instant for myself that I may SHARE it with my brother, whom I love. It is not possible that I can have it WITHOUT him, nor he without me. Yet it is WHOLLY possible for us to SHARE it NOW. And so I choose THIS instant as the one to offer to the Holy Spirit, that His blessing may descend on us, and keep us BOTH in peace." Closure/Release: How to end an so they do not write back with more story With a blessing or a statement of love or truth. I love you. Statement of truth: You are the light of the world. 21

22 15 HOW TO ACTIVATE/INSPIRE GET SOMEONE BACK ON TRACK/CENTERED How to Active/Inspire: How to Get Someone Back on Track/Centered. Do you have a process or technique for helping someone to remember what they are? What is it? Describe. Listen Acknowledge them for coming to you for help Appreciate them. Appreciation and Being Seen are USUALLY the only thing someone really wants, it s what they are really coming to you for they want to be loved, so love them. Use their words mirror back to someone what they said. Acknowledge them I see you I love you Never Correct Stay Out of Story One-Time Healing: What do you do if someone keeps coming back to you with the same problems, the same stories, the same difficulties? How do you end a phone call or an interaction with someone that stops a problem in its tracks? How do you remind someone that the problem has been solved or that healing is accomplished? No repeat healings. Healing is always accomplished whenever you have attempted to heal. What to do if someone is anticipating continuing to have problems, or to talk with you again so you can help them? Most times people will NOT come back to you if you have directed them to look within and reminded them that the problem has been solved. Never ask someone who has come to you for healing about their problem or how they are doing do not check to see if the healing worked 16 HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED? If the patient (student) must change his mind in order to be healed, what does the teacher of God do? Can he change the patient's mind for him? Certainly not. For those already willing to change their minds he has no function except to rejoice with them, for they have become teachers of God with him. He has, however, a more specific function for those who do not understand what healing is. These patients do not realize they have chosen sickness. On the contrary, they believe that sickness has chosen them. Nor are they open-minded on this point. The body tells them what to do and they obey. They have no idea how insane this concept is. If they even suspected it, they would be healed. Yet they suspect nothing. To them the separation is quite real. To them God's teachers come, to represent another choice which they had forgotten. 22

23 16.1 THE SIMPLE PRESENCE OF A TEACHER OF GOD IS A REMINDER. His thoughts ask for the right to question what the patient has accepted as true. As God's messengers, His teachers are the symbols of salvation. They ask the patient for forgiveness for God's Son in his own Name. They stand for the Alternative. With God's Word in their minds they come in benediction, not to heal the sick but to remind them of the remedy God has already given them. It is not their hands that heal. It is not their voice that speaks the Word of God. They merely give what has been given them. Very gently they call to their brothers to turn away from death: "Behold, you Son of God, what Life can offer you. Would you choose sickness in place of this?" 17 PSYCHOTHERAPY BOOKLET Have you read the Psychotherapy Pamphlet? If not, please do so now and then please answer these questions: What is "the process of illness"? What is "the process of healing"? What is the "definition of healing"? One thing and one thing only is required: The therapist in no way confuses himself with God. All "unhealed healers" make this fundamental confusion in one form or another, because they must regard themselves as self-created rather than God-created. This confusion is rarely if ever in awareness, or the unhealed healer would instantly become a teacher of God, devoting his life to the function of true healing. Before he reached this point, he thought he was in charge of the therapeutic process and was therefore responsible for its outcome. His patient's errors thus became his own failures, and guilt became the cover, dark and strong, for what should be the Holiness of Christ. 6 Guilt is inevitable in those who use their judgment in making their decisions. Guilt is impossible in those through whom the Holy Spirit speaks. 23

24 17 PSYCHOTHERAPY BOOKLET Continued Let us remember that the ones who come to us for help are bitterly afraid. The therapist s sees in the patient all that he has not forgiven in himself, and is thus given another chance to look at it, open it to re-evaluation and forgive it. When this occurs, he sees his sins as gone into a past that is no longer there. The patient is his screen for the projection of his sins, enabling him to let them go. Healing is holy. Nothing in the world is holier than helping one who ask for help. And two come very close to God in this attempt, however limited, however lacking in sincerity. Where two have joined for healing, God is there. And He has guaranteed that He will hear and answer them in truth. We have the Word of God to guide us, as we try to help our brothers. Let us not forget that we are helpless of ourselves and lean upon God s strength. A brother seeking aid can bring us gifts beyond the heights perceived in any dream. He offers us salvation, for he comes to us as Christ and Savior. What he asks is asked by God through him. And what we do for him becomes the gifts we give to God. The sacred calling of God s holy Son for help in perceived distress can but be answered by his Father. Yet He needs a voice through which to speak His holy Word; a hand to reach His Son and touch his heart. In such a process, who could not be healed? THIS HOLY INTERACTION IS THE PLAN OF GOD HIMSELF, BY WHICH HIS SON IS SAVED. For two have joined. And now God s promises are kept by Him. WHAT THEY MUST START, THEIR FATHER WILL COMPLETE. For He has never asked more than just the smallest willingness, the least advance, the tiniest of whispers of His Name. We are deceived already if we think there is a need for healing. And truth will come to us only through one who seems to share our dream of sickness. Let us help him to forgive himself all the trespasses with which he would condemn himself without a cause. HIS HEALING IS OUR OWN. 24

25 17 PSYCHOTHERAPY BOOKLET Continued Let us stand silently before God s Will, and do what it has chosen that we do. There is one way alone by which we come to where all dreams began. Hear a brother call for help and answer him. It will be God to whom you answer, for you have called on Him. There is no other way to hear His Voice. There is no other way to seek his Son. There is no other way to find your Self. The advanced therapist in no way can ever doubt the power that is in him. Nor does he doubt its Source. He understands all power in earth and Heaven belong to him because of who he is. And he is this because of his Creator, Whose Love is in him and who cannot fail WHO DECIDES WHAT SOMEONE NEEDS? Surely not you. There is something in him that will tell you, if you listen. And that is the answer; LISTEN. Do not demand, do not decide, do not sacrifice. Listen. What you hear is true. Would God send His Son to you and not be sure you recognize his needs? Think what God is telling you; He needs your voice to speak for Him. Could anything be holier? Or a greater gift to you? A holy therapist, an advanced teacher of God, never forgets one thing; he did not make the curriculum of salvation, nor did he establish his part in it. He understands his part is necessary to the whole, and that through it will he recognize the whole when his part is complete. Always silently ask the Holy Spirit to enter the relationship and heal it. It is in the instant that the therapist forgets to judge the patient that healing occurs. We are working with Jesus Christ 25

26 18 TEACHER OF GOD COMMITMENT I affirm I am called to ministry by God and dedicate my life to teach only love. I will to be of service in the spirit described and taught in A Course in Miracles AS A MINISTER OF GOD I am willing to: Maintain trust in God to set all things right, not just some, but all. Accept things just as they are. Invite the Holy Spirit in charge. Hold a spiritual space of possibility, trusting that God is in charge. Hold all that I hear during prayer with others in strictest confidence. Actively and in joy listen to a brother without judgment while remembering God. 19 POSSIBLE EXAMPLES/SITUATIONS My husband/wife/spouse died My husband/wife/spouse left me I have cancer I lost my job I have no money I feel that life is meaningless Are you hearing what you are saying? I feel that life is meaningless Are you hearing what you are saying? Are you experiencing the joy of what you re hearing? This situation with another person is giving me an opportunity to heal my own mind. When a situation is presented I can heal it for everyone through my own forgiveness and release. Look in your own mind for your own patterns. 26

27 19 POSSIBLE EXAMPLES / SITUATIONS Continued PAUSE CHECK-IN: How do I feel? Am I in my right mind? Am I knowing the unreality of this situation? Is this story (that someone is telling me) pushing any buttons in me? Am I knowing I am one with God? Am I judging what I am hearing? Am I taking this seriously? This is not serious. The Son of God remembered not to laugh. MINISTER TRAINING REVIEW 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHER OF GOD TRAINING PROGRAM A Teacher of God knows how to align themselves quickly back to God as to help others realize they don t have to stay stuck. A Teacher of God: Has certainty Knows his/her assignment Help Jesus save the world. Lives in purpose Is ready to carry the message to those who want to emerge from conflict. 1.1 "THE POWER OF DECISION IS MY OWN." No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. For you will not see the light until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own? 2 WHAT IS AN ADVANCED TEACHER OF GOD? Not once do the advanced teachers of God consider the forms of sickness in which their brother believes. They recognize illusions can have no effect. The truth in their minds reaches out to the truth in the minds of their brothers, so that illusions are not reinforced. 27

28 3 LICENSED MINISTRY TRAINING CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS: Have read/completed A Course in Miracles from start to finish ACIM Text all 31 chapters ACIM Workbook Lesson 365 lessons ACIM Manual for Teachers ACIM Clarification of Terms ACIM Supplements: The Song of Prayer Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process 4 TRUST IN GOD The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. 4.1 HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY? There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it. Yet there will be temptations along the way the teacher of God has yet to travel, and he has need of reminding himself throughout the day of his protection. How can he do this, particularly during the time when his mind is occupied with external things? He can but try, and his success depends on his conviction that he will succeed. He must be sure success is not of him, but will be given him at any time, in any place and circumstance he calls for it. 5 HEALING THE GREATER JOINING Accepting the atonement for yourself means NOT to give support to someone's dream of sickness and of death. It means that you share NOT his wish to separate, and let him turn illusions on himself. Nor do you wish that they be turned instead on YOU. Share not in your brother s illusion of himself, for YOUR identity depends on his reality. 6 WHAT IS THE ROLE OF WORDS IN HEALING? Strictly speaking, words play no part at all in healing. The motivating factor is prayer, or asking. What you ask for you receive. But this refers to the prayer of the heart, not to the words you use in praying. Sometimes the words and the prayer are contradictory; sometimes they agree. Is the teacher of God, then, to avoid the use of words in his teaching? No, indeed! There are many who must be reached through words, being as yet unable to hear in silence. The teacher of God must, however, learn to use words in a new way. Gradually, he learns how to let his words be chosen for him by ceasing to decide for himself what he will say. 28