A Miracle Distribution Center Publication March / April at the CENTER'S CONFERENCE. Wby Beverly Hutchinson McNeff

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1 A Miracle Distribution Center Publication March / April 2012 Have faith in only this one thing, and it will be sufficient: God wills you be in Heaven, and nothing can keep you from it, or it from you. Your wildest misperceptions, your weird imaginings, your blackest nightmares all mean nothing. They will not prevail Beverly Hutchinson McNeff against the peace God wills for you. (T268/T-13.XI.7) Faith Lifts In this day and age of concern over nuclear testing by third world countries, weather disasters attributed to global warming, and worldwide financial instability, it certainly seems as if our faith is being tested. These things are, as the above passage says, some of our wildest misperceptions, weird imaginings and blackest nightmares. And yet, we are reminded no matter how horrendous they may be and how impossible their solutions may seem, they will not prevail against the peace God wills for us. That may be all well and good, but those figments of our imagination seem pretty real to us. We can t very well ignore them with a casual wave of the hand and say they simply don t exist, and A Course in Miracles is not asking us to do We are simply asked to have faith that God cannot fail, to withdraw our faith in the mess we have made and believe in and offer it to the Holy Spirit whose job it is to give us a faith lift. OIN ME J at the CENTER'S CONFERENCE August by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff that. We are not asked to deny our problems but to instead look past the surface that may currently have our attention and see a deeper meaning, to see the truth. It has been said before that the Course is a non-dualistic system, meaning as much as we believe there are truth and illusion (love and fear), only one exists. And thank God the one the Course says is real is truth. Acceptance of the truth means we have not left our home in God; we have not attacked our Father and made a distorted image of ourselves; we are not simply a body forced to walk this world alone and frightened, hoping to carve out a meager existence before the uncaring god of time robs us of our only treasure, the life of our body. Truth tells us that even though we may currently feel we are separate from each other and from God, every experience, no matter how frightening or disheartening, is an opportunity to lead us to God and the peace and healing He promises us. We are simply asked to have faith that God cannot fail, to withdraw our faith in the mess we have made and believe in, and offer it to the Holy Spirit whose job it is to give us a faith lift! The Holy Spirit says to us: Truth is true. Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not Continued on Page 12 Beverly is the co-founder and president of MDC, one of the longest running organizations based on A Course in Miracles. As a student, lecturer and author on the Course since 1977, her recorded weekly commentaries on Course principles have become a wonderful source of inspiration and study for many around the world. Receive a FREE recording by contacting MDC. Where darkness was I look upon the light. Wby Beverly Hutchinson McNeff e recently had quite a rainstorm. At one point, I looked out the window and saw beautiful blue skies and the sun shining. But right next to this scene were the blackest rain clouds I have ever seen. Light and darkness stood side by side and eventually light prevailed. The rain ended, and the sun emerged triumphant. I see this as a metaphor for life. During those times of darkness in our lives, let us remember the light the answer that stands right beside it. Where will we dwell? Light or darkness love or fear. The choice is ours to make. As A Course in Miracles reminds us, Each day, each hour and minute, even every second, you are deciding between the crucifixion and the resurrection; between the ego and the Holy Spirit... The power of decision is all that is yours... You are guilty or guiltless, bound or free, unhappy or happy. (T275) Can the decision be difficult to make when the choices are so clear? Actually, for many of us the answer is yes. We have dwelled in the valley of the shadow of death for so long that darkness seems strangely comfortable to us. But the light has come another way stands right here. Even though we may still feel in darkness, the light has begun to dawn on our minds, and that darkness will never have the same hold on us again. Continued on Page 11

2 What s Happening Weekend of Miracles in Baltimore - Our next Weekend of Miracles will take place on April 13th and 14th, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. This location should be convenient for our friends in Washington, DC and the surrounding area. These popular weekend seminars are presented by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff and offer attendees a chance to go deeper into the Course s life changing principles to truly experience miracles. As one attendee wrote, Beverly, you are an amazing teacher. You help the learning process for your students by making the message of the Course so much clearer and easier to understand. When you read the Course, it went right into my mind and heart! It made the greatest sense. A Friday evening lecture sets the stage for a day-long intensive experience of A Course in Miracles. Watch our video about the weekends by visiting our website, then make your reservation to join us. Giving a truly meaningful Gift Here s what many students of the Course have done: given a taxdeductible donation to MDC in someone s honor or memory. If you would like to give in such a way, send your donation and request, and we will send him, her, or the family a personalized letter acknowledging your appreciation and support. It s a wonderful honor for that important someone or their family. And, what a blessing it will be to those the Center serves, for your donation will go to support its free services! Gifts in memory of... Vincent Jones, son of Muriel Jones, from Maggie Batts. If you re on Facebook, be sure to Like us and get all the most up-todate information about our Center and our work. Each day we post the daily lesson from A Course in Miracles. We also post announcements of events and new items from our bookstore. Also be sure you re on our ing list. We send a monthly online newsletter out to all our subscribers. You can find our Facebook page and our list on our home page at Annual Int l Conference on A Course in Miracles! We re pleased to announce the dates for our annual conference for 2012 will be the weekend of August in Irvine, California at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. This year Beverly will welcome presenters Jerry Jampolsky, Diane Cirincione, Jacob Glass, Jeanine Austin, Robert Rosenthal, Henry Grayson and Paul McNeff. We hope you will plan to attend and join hundreds of Course students from around the world who travel to be part of this inspirational event. The title of this year s conference is I will arise in glory. This thought is taken from workbook lesson 237 and reminds us what our true and very important purpose is everyday! Receive Your Free ACIM Bookmark Thank you for your prayers for Whit and me. I join every evening at 7:30pm here in Georgia to be at one in prayer with everyone. Thank you and love from us both. This simple, lovely note from Pat and Whit Rusk is truly what the heart of the prayer ministry of the Center is all about. The power of the Course comes from knowing we are never alone... that God is with us always. The prayer ministry helps us to know that we have a worldwide family supporting us, joining with us every step of the way. We invite you to join with us in prayer and feel this inner-connectedness that can truly create miracles in your life. Everyday at 4:30pm (Pacific Time), join with all in our prayer ministry to remember the power of love to transform our lives and this world. If you have a prayer request, please send it to MDC. Don t forget to request your free, full-color bookmark which lists all the thoughts in the prayer ministry for And don t worry if you miss 4:30 (or whatever time that may be in your part of the world), the time is only a point of focus, it s the content or reason for the joining that is powerful... and that s love! Affirmations for: March: God is the Love in which I forgive. (L46) April: I am sustained by the Love of God. (L50) May: God s Will for me is perfect happiness. (L101) Our beautiful 2012 bookmark features all the thoughts for our Prayer Ministry. Use the envelope enclosed in this issue to request yours today! 2 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

3 Miracle Musings... Of a Recovering Fundamentalist - George Washington...Course Student? by Paul McNeff Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. (Matthew 4:43-44) Paul McNeff The plan is not of you, nor need you be concerned with anything except the part that has been given you to learn. For He Who knows the rest will see to it without your help. But think not that He does not need your part to help Him with the rest. For in your part lies all of it, without which is no part complete, nor is the whole completed without your part. The ark of peace is entered two by two, yet the beginning of another world goes with them. (T335/T-20.IV.6.1-5) In anticipation of visiting Washington D.C. following MDC s Weekend of Miracles conference this coming April 13 and 14 in Baltimore, Maryland, I am currently enjoying brushing up on my American History by reading Washington, A Life. In this captivating new book about George Washington, noted biographer Ron Chernow sheds new light upon our nation s founding father, giving us a new look into his mind and spirit. Just for the fun of it, I d like to pose a rhetorical question. Was George Washington, the Father of our country, a student of A Course in Miracles? My fundamentalist Christian friends would say No way! Everyone knows that George Washington, One of the most admirable characteristics of Washington was how he respectfully treated others, even his enemies. along with most of our nation s founding fathers, were devout, evangelical Christians. Well, not quite so fast. They did refer to themselves as Christians but not of the evangelical type. Historians have recorded that Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and most of the other names of the day held to the belief of the common good that one should treat his or her fellow human beings with love and respect, in the christian way. In the1796 Treaty of Tripoli, the U.S. position, which Washington endorsed, said,... the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion. From this writer s perspective, in the nascent days of our country, the concept of being a Christian was more commonly utilized in a verb sense a loving action towards another. Unfortunately, the connotation of the term Christian in our modern understanding has morphed into a noun an exclusive status, a ticket to heaven for a few who are born again by belief in Jesus sacrifice on the cross. The founding fathers broader beliefs could more likely be found in the religious philosophy of Deism, a belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, determines that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. I m always interested in observing how Course principles have played themselves out throughout history. Back to the question: was Washington a Course student? A Course in Miracles was literally not published in our world (the illusion to Course students) until Washington was born in 1732 and died in Of course, having lived hundreds of years OIN ME J at the CENTER'S before the Course was published, we can CONFERENCE eliminate him as an actual Course student. But as the Course clearly teaches, the principles of love, forgiveness and oneness are not limited by linear time, and the experience of them cannot be gained through any thought system per se, but only by applying those principles in one s life. This process can take place only in the now. Past and future do not qualify. So with that as our criteria, I suppose we could state that Washington truly was a Course student, in content, if not in form. Without a doubt, he practiced many of the Course principles. And as the Course so often states, though we are not always aware of it, we all have the potential to become teachers of God. Washington had great respect for the element of human dignity within every person he encountered. And without overtly knowing it, I think he was devoted to the higher principle of the Course when it says a universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. One of the most admirable characteristics of Washington was how he respectfully treated others, even his enemies. Under his command, after the Continental Army won a military victory, Washington would issue strict orders to treat the prisoners of war with honor, respect and care. He was repulsed at the idea of unnecessary torture, gloating over a victory or plundering a man s property. In his mind, to participate in any type of vile action toward another was beneath one s humanity. Therefore, he did not want himself or his troops to be associated with those types of actions. The ennobling and foundational ideals of our nation that August Continued on Page 15 Paul McNeff is married to MDC s founder and has been a student of the Course since He is a professional singer and conductor and holds a master s degree in vocal performance. In 1997, along with Beverly, he founded KidSingers, an inner city after-school children s chorus. The program has won many awards and been featured on Good Morning America. Learn more at: March / April

4 Sacrificing Sacrifice Lessons in Light... Shifting our Perception of Lent by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff As lesson 323 in A Course in Miracles says, I gladly make the 'sacrifice of fear. If the idea of releasing fear and sacrifice appeal to you, then perhaps we can use the traditional time of Lent as a way to do just that. The Course invites us to look Beverly Hutchinson McNeff with a new vision, guided by the Holy Spirit, to view the ideas of Christianity in a new light; not one that separates us from each other, but one that unites us in healing. Therefore, during this time that leads up to Easter, which is referred to as the Lenten season, we will offer a series entitled Lessons in Light. Why even deal with Lent, since the Course does not speak about it? Well, it may not say the word but it does address the concept that is the focus of Lent, and an important one it is: sacrifice. So, as most in the western world might approach this time from the perspective of sacrifice, perhaps we can offer an alternative: light! In the Course, light represents knowledge or truth and can be radiated into this world. Just as the light of the sun causes life to exist on this planet, so does the light we radiate allow others to realize their true life purpose and thereby allow us to know it as well. So, we symbolically allow our light to shine during this time of Lent so the darkness and illusion of sacrifice may be shone away. In the Christian tradition, Lent is a time of fasting and penitence that begins with Ash Wednesday and continues until Easter. It is a time of So, we symbolically allow our light to shine during this time of Lent so the darkness and illusion of sacrifice may be shone away. sacrificing something we value, such as a certain type of food, a particular activity, etc., so that we might be closer to God, become more holy, and so on. In this scenario, God s love is seen as something we must bargain for, as the Course says, giving to get (T57), which is the central belief of the ego s thought system. When you associate giving with sacrifice, you give only because you believe that you are somehow getting something better, and can therefore do without the thing you give. (T57) Under the Holy Spirit s guidance there is no sacrifice, for there is nothing to pay or atone for. We are God s perfect children heirs to His kingdom. In His presence, all pain is healed and all thought of loss is met with peace. We are asked only to make the sacrifice of sacrifice (of suffering, sadness, anxiety, doubt, etc.) and to allow God s love and light to come streaming into our awareness. Therefore, let us use this time of Lent as a symbolic way of releasing the idea of sacrifice a world of suffering and pain and to learn to live in the world while not being of the world. The Course says that truth does not demand that we give up the world, for that would appear as sacrifice if we still value it, nor does it advocate we cherish the world. It invites us to walk a path that is between these two, one that leads away from loss, sacrifice and deprivation. To follow this path, we are asked to step back and let Him lead the way. We are asked to think of Him a while each day, so that He may speak to us and tell us of His limitless love and great trust. (paraphrase Lesson 155) This is our dedication as we begin these Lessons in Light together, that we may place into God s hands the pain, fear, worry, suffering, sickness and burdens of life, so that we may awaken to the resurrected child of God we truly are. As the mythical bird, the Phoenix, arose out of the ashes, we too dust off the years of sacrifice by affirming our desire to step back and let Him lead the way. (W291) Lessons in Light The following lessons will be practiced and discussed at MDC s study group from Wednesday, February 22 through April 4. We invite you to join us. These need not be a substitute for your regular workbook lesson from the Course, but rather a supplement, if you so choose. The printed series is available online at 1st Week of Light - Ash Wednesday (February 22), Workbook Lesson 157: Into His Presence would I enter now. This is our dedication, to enter into God s presence and allow Him to lead the way. This awareness and willingness becomes a blessing that touches everyone we meet, think of, or who thinks of us. It becomes a vision that can truly transform this world and assure us that peace and healing are possible, for it is God s will for us. 2nd Week of Light - (February 29), Workbook Lesson 93: Light and joy and peace abide in me. Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought; you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself... Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. (W162) We have forgotten our true identity and made a self which contradicts God s opinion. It is time for us to 4 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

5 stop believing in a lie and join our will with God s Will. This is our resurrection, our salvation and the world s. 3rd Week of Light - (March 7), Workbook Lesson 46: God is the Love in which I forgive. God does not forgive because He has never condemned, (W73) but through His love we find the strength to look at the pains of our lives and only see the calls for love. And as we recognize the pains for what they are, we recognize our innocence and that of all our brothers. 4th Week of Light - (March 14), Workbook Lesson 68 Love holds no grievances. You who were created by Love like Itself can hold no grievances and know your Self. (W115) Therefore if we are to know God s gifts and help for us, we must be willing to sacrifice grievances. Love holds no grievances. I would awake to my Self by laying all my grievances aside and wakening in Him. (W114/115) 5th Week of Light - (March 21), Workbook Lesson 34: I could see peace instead of this. Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises. (W51) It is our choice to experience peace! 6th Week of Light - (March 28), Workbook Lesson 47: God is the strength in which I trust. Our own strength has failed us, but God is our safety and strength in every circumstance. Use it [this thought] as your answer to any disturbance. Remember that peace is your right, because you are giving your trust to the strength of God. (W76) 7th Week of Light - (April 4), Workbook Lesson 50: I am sustained by the Love of God. Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. (W79) These lessons will be practiced and discussed as part of the Center s weekly Wednesday night study group starting on February 22, These meetings are recorded and available on CD or mp3 download. For information, call MDC at Your weekly study group CDs mean ever so much to me. That s how Ruth Ann in Carlsbad, CA feels about her weekly recordings of MDC s study group. She writes... Dear Beverly, Just to let you know that Gene and I are naturally and happily slowing down and not traveling any longer. So your weekly study group CDs mean ever so much to me. And, I thank you and Paul for all the many ways in which you are sending the message of love from A Course in Miracles to the world. I am not into the computer age, so please keep the CDs coming. I love you, both. Thank you! We are so honored to be here for all our listeners! In this day and age, it s not always easy to find or attend a meeting, but through these recordings on CD or mp3 you can keep the message of the Course close at heart! Plus, as an ongoing listener to MDC s study group you become part of our worldwide spiritual family each week, with access to an online listener message board so you can continue the conversation and develop a global family of support. Meetings are lead by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff, Center founder and a 35-year student of the Course, and tackle real life challenges using the healing power of the Course. We look forward to welcoming you. Receive a FREE CD or mp3 of our meetings or go online and listen to a meeting. Call ACIM (2246) Limited time offer As an ongoing listener, you not only receive the weekly lessons, but you have access to an online listener message board so you can continue the conversation and develop a worldwide family of support. When ordering monthly, each weekly meeting is only $6.50 on CD or $5.00 on mp3! We can charge your credit card, or debit your checking account, automatically once a month. If you would like to order, call or go online: ACIM(2246) or info@miraclecenter.org March / April

6 Heal Your Mind, Heal Your World Holding Each Other s Hearts Gently is the Road to Inner Peace by Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane V. Cirincione, Ph.D. We made a decision prior to marrying each other to do our very best to hold each other s hearts gently. At the same time, we also made a commitment to do our very best to have no thoughts or actions that Jerry Jampolsky & Diane Cirincione would be hurtful to the other person. Throughout our lives together, these commitments have formed an amazing bond and foundation on which our relationship is based. Diane came into the relationship with a gentle energy she has had all of her life. I, Jerry, on the other hand, could be very gentle with my patients, but outside of the office, with the drop of a hat, could lose that gentleness and become judgmental and attacking. I know, in the deepest part of my heart, that Diane came into my life as a teacher of gentleness and as a soulmate demonstrating gentleness with the greatest consistency. My father, in my mind as a child, was a very gentle person. But most of the fathers on the block where I lived were macho guys who would have thought gentleness was a sign of weakness, as I did. It was not until I was introduced to A Course in Miracles that I saw my father s gentleness was his strength, and something I wanted to learn to demonstrate. I like to find new ways of reminding myself of the importance of gentleness in my life. I am what I would call an amateur sculptor. I decided to make a sculpture of Diane s and my hands crossing each other and holding the other s heart. I titled it, Holding Each Other s Heart Gently. It is located by our fireplace so I see it every day, reminding me to hold Diane s heart and everyone else s heart gently. We are in the process of writing a book titled, Holding Each Other s Hearts Gently. The cover of the book will have a photo of this sculpture. As we learn from the Course that fear and gentleness do not go hand in hand, and decide to let go of fear, gentleness being an integral part of love begins to flow as our natural inheritance. We had a wonderful experience about seven years ago when we visited the Cecura Center for Attitudinal Healing in Guadalajara, Mexico. They had a group there titled: For Macho Men Who are Not Afraid to Cry. It was an amazing group of macho men who wanted to apply Attitudinal Healing to their lives. They began to become honest about their feelings and their fear of love. They began to become less fearful and learned to hear with love in their hearts. As a result, they became more loving and more gentle. The group could just as well have been titled: For Men Who are Not Afraid to Be Gentle. We like going back to the introduction of the Course and repeating the sentence, Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the Peace of God. When we go beyond believing and know that God is our Source, and we are the effect of God s Love, our fearful mind disappears and Love becomes our only reality. We stop believing that our identity is a body, and that all form we see is but an illusion. Where there is only love, fear is nowhere to be found. We live then in a timeless moment with no past or future, with no fear or attack. Gentleness then appears with flying colors. As we watch the candidates debate for the upcoming election in the United States, by and large, we do not see much gentleness, love or mutual respect. We see attack, attack and more attack. We find it helpful to remember that when we see people attacking one another, or when we find ourselves attacking another person, fear is in the air, and love and gentleness have disappeared. We do our best to remind ourselves that the world we see from our ego-fearful minds is insane, and we believe the definition that insanity is a state of mind in which we are not experiencing ourselves as Love, and we are not focusing on loving others or ourselves. Just this morning, we heard that the 6 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER I know, in the deepest part of my heart, that Diane came into my life as a teacher of gentleness and as a soulmate demonstrating gentleness with the greatest consistency. Available from the Center A Mini Course for Life by Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane V. Cirincione, Ph.D. Find new choices for dealing with old challenges and get amazingly adaptable lessons for solving problems and for whatever life sends your way. To Order ACIM(2246) or at miraclecenter.org $ Special Offer $ 6 95 Plus S&H. CA residents add sales tax August Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane Cirincione, Ph.D., international lecturers and bestselling authors, share their insights and experiences in applying the principles of A Course in Miracles in our world. Jerry and Diane s books and other items are available at OIN ME J at the CENTER'S CONFERENCE

7 United States is worried about instability in the government of Somalia. It occurred to us that this was a reflection of the instability of our ego minds. With that, these thoughts came to mind... Is this not the time to make our minds more stable with the consistency of gentleness, love and forgiveness in our lives? Is it not our state of mind that creates the world we see? Does the world need changing as our fearful minds tell us, or are those the thoughts and attitudes in our own minds that need to be changed? Is it possible that, as we see more value in love than hate, more value in gentleness than attack, we will experience more inner peace, and that the world we see will become more peaceful? Is it not possible for each of us to see the strength of being gentle to both ourselves and others, and to hold each other s hearts gently no matter what behavior we see? Is it not possible to heal the nightmare we are in by focusing on helping others with our gentleness and establishing an energy that is safe for others to be around? We want to close with this thought we wrote about gentleness... You can now follow us on Gentleness Gentleness and Kindness Walk hand in hand Gentleness and Tenderness Are mirrors of each other Gentleness and Compassion Are twin sisters to each other Gentleness and Open-heartedness Make up the same piece of cloth The heart of Love That Created us Envelops us in Gentleness Kindness Tenderness Compassion They are all parts of the Whole that we call LOVE, which Created us as Essence of Unconditional Love It is a LOVE that is Formless, timeless And eternal and never Ending It is a Love where Fear can never be found. Our Creator s Love Is always soft, gentle and kind, and never hurtful, hard or unkind. Gentleness always comes From the Strength of the Love from our Creator and is never a sign of weakness. Please say you like us on Facebook To sign up, just go to our home page at Get Your Miracles Today Our beautiful new color catalog is full of inspirational books, CDs, calendars and gifts that help bring the Course s message into your life. March / April

8 Listen, Learn and DO by Jacob Glass OIN ME J at the CENTER'S CONFERENCE August You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his heart, because this is what he is. (T-1.III.2) In the opening meditations I do at my lectures, we always go over gratitude and appreciation for all the blessings in our lives. Jacob Glass We take time to think about and honor all the good that we can often take for granted, like fresh drinking water, a bed to sleep in, paved roads to travel on, people who care about us, and such. During that section I instruct everyone to call to mind at least three things you can be grateful to yourself for three things you can honor about you. But I do sometimes wonder if anyone is really doing it or not. It still seems to me so many spiritual types have gotten humility and selfloathing confused. By the same token, they often think that saying something positive about themselves is bragging or arrogance. There is an actual superstitious guilt that rises up as if they will be punished for having a bold self-confidence! This is INSANITY and a favorite game of the ego mind. It certainly has nothing to do with God and nothing to do with the Course. Jesus was quite self-affirming, you know: I am the light of the world. I come that you may have life and have it more abundantly! These are BIG statements of confidence, not of arrogance. He certainly did not go around telling everyone that he was a mess and He certainly did not go around telling everyone that he was a mess and had really let himself go and needed to get back to the gym soon. had really let himself go and needed to get back to the gym soon. I recently asked a group of nearly one thousand spiritual people to publicly acknowledge themselves in a positive way... and you know what? Only one person stepped up to the plate to do it! But if I had asked them to tell me the current character defect they are working on, or who they are trying to forgive today, in what way they are still wounded, what tragedy has most impacted their lives, or what their current challenge is -- there wouldn t have been time or space enough for everyone to have their turn. It is one of the great delay tactics of the ego to have us forever working on ourselves so we never really get around to ENJOYING the fruits of our spiritual practice. And I am sure every one of those folks has read and loves Marianne Williamson s famous quote from A Return to Love that begins Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate... they ve probably ed it to their friends many times, posted it on Facebook and even have it framed and hanging on the wall in the den. They just don t want to live it or apply it personally to their own daily lives because they don t want to seem conceited. You see, nothing is cheaper than talk and theory. It is only what we can LIVE and demonstrate that actually has discernable results in our lives. Remember the Course tells us the motto of the Great Campaign is Listen, Learn and DO! It s not listen, learn and forward it to others by . Remember, to teach is to demonstrate. People are not really listening to our pontifications, they are watching what we DO, how we LIVE our lives. We teach our children by our ACTIONS, not by our philosophies. If you are a mother who is always muttering about how much weight you ve gained, how forgetful and overwhelmed you are, and you never take care of yourself or acknowledge yourself for the good you ve done, you teach your daughter to hate herself too no matter how much you talk to her about selfesteem. You cannot give what you don t have. You cannot teach what you are unable to demonstrate. Not only that, but because the Universe is nothing more than a consciousness mirror reflecting our own thoughts back to us, what we withhold from ourselves will seem to be withheld from us by the whole world. Then the ego has us going out into the world to try to get others to give us what we have denied ourselves. We want OTHERS to praise and uplift us with their words, but remember this: NO ONE CAN GIVE TO YOU WHAT YOU ARE UNWLLING TO GIVE YOURSELF. And while it is true that the Course does bust our chops quite a bit about the arrogance of our ego thinking, it also teaches us to AFFIRM AND SPEAK of ourselves with love and confidence:... devote several minutes to allowing your mistaken thoughts about your attributes to be corrected, and their opposites to take their place. SAY, for example: I am not weak, but strong. I am not helpless, but all powerful. I am not limited, but unlimited. I am not an illusion, but a reality. I cannot see in darkness, but in light. (W-91) Notice he doesn t tell us to think this, but rather to SAY this. Though it is not Course principle (since the world we see is an illusion created by ego), the biblical creation mythology tells us God SPOKE the world into being. He SAID let there be light and so on. In the same way, we are speaking our world into being all the time. When we use our words to constantly Jacob Glass has been speaking on spirituality since He is the author of The Crabby Angels Chronicles and lectures weekly in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Palm Springs, CA. 8 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

9 disempower ourselves, it makes fulfilling our Function extremely difficult and delays our progress. We are to use our words to STRENGTHEN ourselves so that we CAN fulfill our function without timidity or false humility. He has been extremely clear in telling us to think of ourselves as a wonderful work of God, wholly loving and LOVABLE. But He doesn t instruct us to ONLY think it, but also to SAY empowering, wonderful words out loud. So, though I am not suggesting you go around expounding to everyone just how amazing you are all day long in an obnoxious manner, I am suggesting you begin to acknowledge DAILY in spoken words your wonderful God-given attributes, talents, gifts and progress. As Marianne writes, when we do this we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. To teach is to demonstrate. Available from the Center How to Say Yes When Your Body Says No by Lee Jampolsky Lee Jampolsky examines how people become overwhelmed, and often unable to cope during a health challenge. He discusses the importance of focusing on inner work in addition to March / April 2012 $ Plus S&H. CA residents add sales tax medical treatment, pointing out that the mental diet we feed ourselves has profound effects on our physical well-being. To Order ACIM(2246) or at miraclecenter.org I m glad that you will continue to send THE HOLY ENCOUNTER in a printed edition. I am able to concentrate much better reading from paper than from a computer screen. That s how Aleid in The Netherlands feels about her issues of THE HOLY ENCOUNTER. She writes... Dear Beverly and Friends of MDC, Thank you for your letter of September Of course, I will make a donation again this year, as I agree with you that your work at MDC is needed now more than ever in this day and age. As there seems to be a financial crisis in the world, I decided to double the amount of what I gave last year. Somewhere in the Course it says: go the other way. I am glad that you will continue to send The Holy Encounter in a printed edition. I am able to concentrate much better reading from paper than from a computer screen. The contents of what I read sink in better and I enjoy reading some of the articles more than once because I have the paper version close at hand. I wish you all at MDC a very blessed and healthy 2012 with lots of miracles and the peace of God. We are so grateful for Aleid s support and comments. We, too, feel there is no substitute for a paper copy of THE HOLY ENCOUNTER that you can hold in your hands and refer to again and again. We have heard from many readers of how they came across an old issue in a file or a stack of papers and it was just what they needed at that moment. We appreciate hearing your stories and your continued support of our work and this publication. We invite you to use the enclosed envelope in this issue. Thank you! If you would like to order, call or go online: ACIM(2246) or info@miraclecenter.org 9

10 Recognizing Spirit by Dr. Lee Jampolsky, Ph.D. The last issue of THE HOLY ENCOUNTER included many quotes from my upcoming book (March 2012), How to Say Yes When Your Body Says No. In this issue, I offer Course students a means to grow from most health challenges by Lee Jampolsky recognizing our fear-based thoughts. The Three Primary Fears and Three Truths That Bring Freedom from Fear The fears I am referring to are the psychological fears that trap us and limit us. All fears reflect three primary fears: The fear of physical and emotional suffering and pain The fear of loss and unwanted change The fear of death and the unknown Your inner critic, or ego, milks these fears for all they re worth. My inner critic offered commentary about each of these, ranging from I won t be able to handle the pain, to What if I die? As you become aware of the commentary of your inner critic, you will see that most fear, grief, loss, and anger cease to have power when the commentary is not being unconsciously repeated. Further, you will become aware of what the real truths are in place of the three primary fears: Most suffering is caused not by the situation, but by resistance to what is happening. Regardless of what change is occurring, How to Say Yes When Your Body Says No Finding the Silver Lining in Life s Toughest Health Challenges A large percentage of people live on just such a mental diet, and their intake of high-fear thoughts exponentially increases during illness and other challenging times. we can love more deeply than ever. Since love is everlasting, death and the unknown need not be feared. Watching Your Mental Diet In the 2004 documentary film Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock willingly eats only high-fat fast food and limits his exercise for thirty days in order to see the effects. As a result, his health and well-being deteriorate greatly. After watching the movie, nobody would argue with the ways diet and exercise affect health. When I saw the film, I began to think of all the ways people put the mental equivalent of junk food into their minds, not just for thirty days, but throughout most of their lives. I began to wonder what would happen if, for thirty days, a person had only high-fear thoughts that led to worry, anger, lack of forgiveness, and stress. What effect would this thinking have on his or her physical, emotional, and spiritual health? What if the person had these fear thoughts for month after month, year after year? A large percentage of people live on just such a mental diet, and their intake of high-fear thoughts exponentially increases during illness and other challenging times. If left to its own devices during a health challenge, your mind will default to fear-based thinking. It would be nice if human consciousness were not this way, and that during a challenge, it would automatically abandon fear-based thinking for only healing thoughts, but in fact, the opposite is the case. The good news is that it is possible to change our mental diet. For me, making this change was at least part of what saved my life. However, just employing a program of positive thinking never really worked in a lasting way for me (or the patients I worked with). I had to learn how to observe my thoughts and emotions, which is much different than trying to have only positive thoughts. Exercise: Observing Your Thoughts and Feelings With this exercise, you can practice experiencing the feelings and thoughts surrounding any health challenge without being run by them, thus leading to peace of mind, increased choices, and effective responses. If you were to go to a nutritionist, one of the first things that he or she would likely ask you to do is keep a journal of what you eat. This record is important for a couple reasons. First, our memories are rarely reliable. Second, the act of observing and journaling is the beginning of positive change and growth. Begin keeping a journal of your thoughts and emotions as if you were a bird watcher chronicling the various species you see. A few times a day, sit and watch your thoughts and feelings, as you did in the Quieting the Inner Critic exercise. Name each thought or emotion as it comes and goes. For example, you may write, I am thinking about my next doctor s appointment, and I am feeling anxious. Try to not let yourself get involved in each thought or feeling; simply observe it, and write it down. Then watch what thought or feeling comes next. Don t try and catch or chase off any bird; just write down a brief description and wait for the next one. Name your thought or emotion, without grabbing hold of it, and wait for the next. Dr. Lee Jampolsky is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Carmel, CA. He is the author of several books based on A Course in Miracles. Lee can be reached at 10 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

11 Keeping this journal helps you continue to develop a very important skill, one that will become central to your focus and path to healing: the ability to watch your own thoughts and feelings without being ruled by them in the moment, and ultimately turning to the Holy Spirit for guidance. This skill, in turn, will begin to show you the impermanence of your thoughts and feelings (and even the impermanence of your body, which we will discuss later). It also provides a foundation for pain management, if you need that in dealing with your health challenge. Exercise: Acknowledging Choice Consider whether or not the following statement is true and applicable for right now, or if you believe something different: I may have not consciously chosen my physical situation, but I can choose how I respond, what I learn, how I am with other people, and how I live each day. If this statement is true, what does this mean? If you believe it is false, why is it false, and how does that belief affect your life? Deciding what you believe in this regard is essential to finding freedom from fear, essential in becoming able to say yes to Life. If you decide that the statement above is in fact true, then write it down on a card and refer to it often. You will be surprised how this one action deciding that the statement is true and then reading it often can transform your experience. Exercise: Extending Love and Kindness The purpose of this exercise is to reduce fear, suffering, and pain. The next time you are thinking about what is happening to you, telling yourself stories of what might happen, worrying, and fighting pain, take a minute and stop just stop. Consider it a short break, just a few moments. Think about someone in your life who you care about, or even a stranger, and extend love to that person. Nothing more than this, but also nothing less than very focused and complete giving. You can also do this exercise at times you may feel very alone. The next time you are at the doctor s office or even in a public place, look around you and extend kindness to whomever your eyes land upon. Imagine extending kindness is your single function, your job of jobs. Or imagine that, in a strange way, aloneness or anxiety triggers in you an auto response of kindness. Extending kindness in this way is an extremely effective tool in reducing suffering as well, such as when you re undergoing medical procedures that worry you or are painful. As an example, some years ago I was in the hospital with life-threatening pneumonia that was not responding to treatment. Due to a high and prolonged fever, most of the time I could not remember anything and was pretty delirious. But during some tests that were very uncomfortable for me, rather that focusing on the pain, I focused on Where darkness... Continued from Page 1 This Easter season, may we again awaken to the resurrection by choosing for love. We don t make this choice because we should, but because there is nothing else worthy of a child of God it is the only choice possible if we hope to know ourselves and the peace that we all truly search for. As we reach out to those dark situations or relationships, let us realize that we do not do so alone. The power of God s love is with us, and it will be triumphant over the storms of our lives. I hope we at Miracle Distribution Center (MDC) can be helpful to you on your resurrecting journey, through our many services. During the Lenten season, I will be presenting our series called Lessons in Light (found on page 4 and also online at This just might give you an opportunity to view and embrace this season in a little different way. I hope our East Coast friends will join us this year in Baltimore, Maryland, where I will be presenting a Weekend of Miracles workshop on April (details on the back of this issue). These weekends give us a chance to go more deeply into the Course to understand During those times of darkness in our lives, let us remember the light -- the answer -- that stands right beside it. caring in a deep way for the people in the room, primarily doctors and technicians that I did not even know. I don t know where the idea of doing this came from. In fact, it was not even an idea; it was almost an involuntary action. This may sound odd, for I did not even know these people, and I had plenty to worry about if I d chosen to. This experience brought with it a simple truth: when we are extending love and kindness (or compassion) in the moment, it is difficult to suffer as we do when we are consumed with our own situation and pain. This exercise is simple enough to try on your own, so let your experience speak for itself. what it s saying and the gift of healing (right NOW) it is offering us. New and long-time students alike have been inspired by these workshops, and I invite you to visit our website to watch a brief video about the workshop and read how others have been inspired and helped by them. I hope you ll join me. Remember we are here for you, so go to our website often for updates and information on all of our free services, or give us a call and request a catalog that lists all our free services. Together, we will experience the light! Where darkness was I look upon the light. Father, our eyes are opening at last. Your holy world awaits us, as our sight is finally restored and we can see. We thought we suffered. But we had forgot the Son whom You created. Now we see that darkness is our own imagining, and light is there for us to look upon. Christ s vision changes darkness into light, for fear must disappear when love has come. Let me forgive Your holy world today, that I may look upon its holiness and understand it but reflects my own. Our Love awaits us as we go to Him, and walks beside us showing us the way. He fails in nothing. He the end we seek, and He the means by which we go to Him. (Lesson 302) March / April

12 Faith Lifts Continued from Page 1 there. Let Me make the one distinction for you that you cannot make, but need to learn. Your faith in another is deceiving you. Offer your faith to Me, and I will place it gently in the holy place where it belongs. You will find no deception there, but only the simple truth. And you will love it because you will understand it. (T272/T :3) This is a beautiful and very comforting passage because it not only states the truth, but asks very little of us except that we give our faith to the Holy Spirit who will do the rest for us. Even though it asks very little of us, the Course cautions us that this is the hardest lesson twisted minds will ever learn. To put our faith in the fact that only the truth is true, that nothing else but this matters, and to give our faith to the Holy Spirit to teach us this lesson, is a real faith lift! Part of what prevents us from giving our faith to the Holy Spirit is we cannot figure out how He could fix the problems we see all around us. But remember, the Holy Spirit does not work from our frame of reference. He has a higher (a more complete) frame of reference, that of God. We are not asked to understand how the Holy Spirit can solve the problems of life, but to have faith that if He says it can be solved, then it will be solved. There is no problem in any situation that faith will not solve. (T368/T-17.VII.2) But real conviction in faith comes from experience and not from words. As we read in the Course, We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not the means we use. We wait for the experience, and recognize that it is only here conviction lies. (W331/W-Part 1.V.12:2) So the following are a few faith lifts from the Course that might help in your practice towards your conviction in faith! Faith Lift #1: Forget what you have seen, and raise your eyes in faith to what you now can see. (T406/T-19.IV.10:5) Just We are not asked to understand how the Holy Spirit can solve the problems of life, but to have faith that if He says it can be solved, then it will be solved. because you are a student of the Course does not mean that you will not face challenges and limitations in your life, but you will use these situations as teaching aids to learn what to avoid and what to seek. As we read in the Course, Do not despair, then, because of limitations. It is your function to escape from them, but not to be without them. If you would be heard by those who suffer, you must speak their language. (M64/M-26.4) This does not mean we are to suffer, but that through our challenges and opportunities we will be able to understand what others may be experiencing and raise our eyes in faith to another understanding of the suffering. A while back, I read about a young man who, after murdering his parents at home the night before, opened fire on his classmates in a public school. Reports such as these are not new and can cause us to feel sick and discouraged by the trend of today s youth. And yet if we raise our eyes in faith we can escape from the limitations of this situation and see a new perspective. An interview that followed this incident was with the boys who tackled the youth who opened fire, killing two students and wounding many. These boys were asked why they risked their lives. Their response was that they didn t think of it as risking their lives, but rather as helping their friends. They said they really felt no fear for their own lives, they just knew they needed to help. It was because of their heroic measures that many students were saved. This situation should give us all a sense of hope and faith in our youth and inspire us to lift our eyes from the images we have been bombarded with in the press to a new image of our youth. Faith Lift #2: Put all your faith in the Love of God within you... This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. (W79/W-50.4:3) This thought from the workbook of the Course also reminds us if we put our faith in illusions they will fail us. Why should that surprise us? After all, we all know the story of the man who built his house on sand, and El Nino came and washed it away, whereas the wise man built his house on rock, a solid foundation that could not be washed away by the ravages of the world. So it is with our faith. It s not that we lack faith but that we have placed our faith in nothing, in illusions in a faulty foundation. Faith makes the power of belief, and where it is invested determines its rewards. For faith is always given what is treasured, and what is treasured is returned to you. (T261/T-13.IX.2:5) We believe, with great faith, we are this distorted image of God s child, deserving of pain, suffering and sacrifice. So when the storms of our lives come, this distorted image thinks it deserves the disasters. His Voice has spoken clearly, and yet you have so little faith in what you heard, because you have preferred to place still greater faith in the disaster you have made. (T334/T-16.III.8:4) And yet God is telling us of His love for us, that we deserve His love, and that His love is the answer to whatever may confront us. All we need do is call upon that love in faith and withdraw our faith in our illusory images (of ourselves and the world). For the past four seasons, the BBC has been airing a miniseries entitled Merlin. It s an interesting series about the myth of this wizard (best known in the mythology of Camelot) who was created to keep the belief in magic alive. Merlin rebelled against the queen of magic, who supposedly created him, but her powers were much stronger than his. The harder he tried to defeat her, the stronger she grew. Finally he discovered her weakness: simply withdraw the investment in magic. If everyone just ignored her and her magic, she would have no power, since magic only had power as long as there was faith in it. And so it is with our egos and the illusions they weave. As we withdraw our faith from the illusions and build our faith on the love of God within us, the truth grows stronger. Since there is nothing else but the truth, the rest simply disappears. The way to correct distortions is to withdraw your faith in them and invest it only in what is true. (T39/T-3.II.6) Faith Lift #3: Your capacity for allegiance to a thought system may be misplaced, but it is still a form of faith and can be redirected. (T91/T-6.I.2:5) This thought should give us a great sense of 12 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

13 peace and accomplishment. We may have, for many years, put our faith in this world and the things of this world, but all our efforts are not in vain. The practice in the allegiance we have given this world can now benefit us if we are willing to give that same allegiance to the Holy Spirit. His job is to take all of our years of training in the ways of the world and now redirect them in such a way that they can now heal us and the world. If it were left up to us to do the redirecting, we would have good reason to be concerned, but it is not. God has given us a guide in the Holy Spirit who can and will help us. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows [the Holy Spirit] goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest. (W292/W :3) Our faith truly lies in the Holy Spirit s ability to transform our lives, not in whether we can understand how it can be accomplished. As we read in the Course,...if escape from guilt was given to the Holy Spirit as His purpose, and by One to Whom nothing He wills can be impossible, the means for its attainment are more than possible. They must be there, and you must have them...for if you have the means to let the Holy Spirit s purpose be accomplished, they can be used. And through their use will you gain faith in them. (T472/T-22.II.5:6) The fact that the Holy Spirit can redirect where we place our faith and thus transform our lives is certainly reinforced when you think of the life of Oprah Winfrey. Here is a woman who is considered one of the most powerful women in the world because of her work in the media and philanthropy. At the age of 58, her personal fortune is estimated at 2.7 billion dollars. After a successful twentyfive-year run of her TV show, she now runs her own TV network. She established a school in South Africa to give girls a chance to break the cycle of poverty of this black female population. She established the world s largest piggy bank, where people from all over the world have donated their spare change to raise millions of dollars (matched by Winfrey) to send disadvantaged kids to college. And she has gotten a country faced with an illiteracy crisis back to reading with her book club. All this from a woman who was born to unmarried parents in 1954, raised by a grandmother on a Mississippi farm with no indoor plumbing, and raped by a cousin as a child. It s apparent Winfrey s mission and message have been to let the Holy Spirit use her and all she has accomplished to not only transform herself but the lives of others. Her story, and the story of so many others, can become a beacon of faith as to how the Holy Spirit can redirect our faith and circumstances in life into a transformative power that can heal us and our world. On your little faith, joined with His understanding, He will build your part in the Atonement [healing of the thought of separation] and make sure that you fulfill it easily. (T383/T-18.V.2:6) In our society we lift everything from our bottoms to our faces to make ourselves beautiful, but what will truly bring beauty to our lives is to lift our faith. This world may show us many reasons to be faithless, but let us remember to lift our eyes in faith to the transformative solution God is holding out to us. As we read in A Course in Miracles, As faithlessness will keep your little kingdom barren and separate, so will faith help the Holy Spirit prepare the ground for the most holy garden that He would make of it. (T401/T-19.I.15) Let us plant our faith in God and watch the beauty it will create in our lives and world. March / April

14 Share a Miracle This column shares the everyday miracles or, as A Course in Miracles says, the shifts in our perception that are constantly taking place in our lives to remind us of our unity and love. We invite readers to share their miracles with us. by Allison Rittle Lessons from Windex My favorite part of cleaning a bathroom is spraying the mirror and wiping it clean. Last week, as I was completing this task for the thousandth time, it occurred to me why I like that job so much. Let me explain. Like any normal person, I Allison Rittle make mistakes (gasp!). Although I do wish I could just one day see the light and stop drifting into illusion, I know every mistake I make (or anyone else who makes a mistake that I believe to affect me in some way) teaches me another very important lesson. The lessons differ from one another, but one thing I learn every time is that no matter how big the mistake is or how many people are hurt by that mistake I can just pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. Clean slate. The most important thing I can do after I make a mistake for myself and others is to remember I am trying to be a loving person even though my ego took the wheel for a moment, and to forgive myself and move on. I believe that is the most important part and the biggest lesson in the mistake, but I also find for me, it is the hardest part. When you are traveling down that downward spiral and forgetting love at the moment, it is natural to be frustrated about the mistake, frustrated with yourself for making the mistake, frustrated with yourself for not moving on yet and well, That s why learning the forgive and move on lesson is so important. The faster you can do that, the less time is spent with your ego in control. gosh will you get over it already! At some point you have to jump off of the ride and then afterwards, it is easy to laugh at yourself and say geez, my ego really took over today. That s why learning the forgive and move on lesson is so important. The faster you can do that, the less time is spent with your ego in control. And the less time spent with your ego in control, the happier you will be. If only it was as easy as I make it sound in writing. Think of the word forgiveness. Picture it in your head. What do you think of first? I used to associate forgiveness with forgiving others. Forgiveness = people will do things that hurt your ego, but to move on completely, you must forgive them fully. I always related forgiveness to others mistakes. Now I realize how funny that is. Every time I thought of forgiveness, I focused on the mistakes others might make, not the mistakes I inevitably will make at some point (I am human after all!). I thought I had fully understood the forgiveness lesson and my ego was quite proud of myself for doing so! But I now realize my ego just wants to make me out as better than others. Only other people make mistakes I would never sink so low as to make a mistake, my ego wants me to believe. How ironic that is! Forgiveness is all about letting go and giving up a grudge. Yet I held tightly to the notion that mistakes that needed forgiving were for other people to make. I thought I knew what forgiveness was, but in truth, I had so much to learn! Forgiving someone else and forgiving yourself are exactly the same thing. They both have to do with understanding you forgot love at that moment. When you forgive yourself for a mistake, you realize you forgot love at that moment you made the mistake, and you come to terms with it and move on. When you forgive someone else for their mistake, you realize you forgot love at that moment, and so you thought what the other person did was wrong. When you think someone else has made a mistake, you are making a mistake right at that moment when you believe what they did was a mistake! Ha! What a concept. I am still trying to grasp it! A Course in Miracles lesson 121, Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness, helps me greatly. Whenever I need to remember about forgiveness, I love saying to myself the meditation at the end of the lesson: Forgiveness is the key to happiness. I will awaken from the dream that I am mortal, fallible, and full of sin, and know I am the perfect Son of God. As I sprayed the spotted mirror and wiped it clean, I saw my reflection even clearer than before. I realized that is the perfect metaphor for forgiving and moving on. When something happens that makes my own mirror spotted, I need to take the Windex (i.e., a spray of love) and a towel and clean my slate as well as I can. I need to forgive myself fully for any mistake, and I need to forgive all the other children of God for their mistakes. Doing that frees me up so I can move on to the job I believe to be the most important in my life: filling up my cup with love until it is brimming over so I can share that love with others. Allie is a fifteen-year-old homeschooled girl who has studied A Course in Miracles with her mom for the past two years. Her most important goal in life is to be a loving and compassionate person. She loves spending time with her family, being with children, and serving others. 14 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

15 George Washington... Continued from Page 3 all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness seemed to have already been imbued into the very warp and woof of Washington s consciousness. So where did Washington get his spiritual savvy? From the same place you and I get it: practice. Chernow documents how Washington, though he made many mistakes, had a great capacity to learn from them and tried with great vigilance not to repeat them. No doubt he was a follower of the golden rule and used it as a general overarching guide for his life. But it takes practice not to boast over our successes or to see the innocence in our brother. As the Course says, But think not that He does not need your part [your willingness] to help Him with the rest. For in your part lies all of it, without which is no part complete, nor is the whole [the experience of heaven] completed without your part. Our part is to simply have the willingness to be used as an agent for healing and good. Just as Washington learned from his challenges, we too can learn from ours. As a Course student for more than 25 years now, one might expect that I ve got this thing down. Well, I m here to tell you that at the time of this writing, I haven t ascended yet. I do think, however, that I am now much better at being aware of the voice of the ego. As the Course says, The ego always speaks first. You may think this is a little thing, but I can assure you that it is a giant step in our path to wholeness. We cannot allow the problem to be fixed until we are aware of it. Once we are fully aware of it, then we have the choice, either to give it over to the Holy Spirit and allow the healing to occur, or to project our ego thoughts into the situation and continue chasing our tails round and round. Since coming out of fundamentalism, my ego relentlessly encourages me to March / April 2012 Truth is true. Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there. believe that this judgmental Christian thought system is my enemy. As Washington had the British Army as his enemies, I have my fundamentalist evangelicals. As a church choral director by profession, when I first became a student of A Course in Miracles, I thought I could never serve a church that held to a repressive theology. Listening to the same tired old sermons about God s wrath and retribution was abhorrent. The only way of escape through accepting Jesus gift of having died on the cross for my sins and accepting him as my personal savior was no longer for me. Staying away from these mainline churches worked for a while as I carefully sought employment in churches that were fairly liberal in their theology and therefore, to my ego, did not qualify as the enemy. About twelve years ago this all changed. Little did I know it, but a spiritual graduate school was awaiting me just around the corner. The church I had been serving for six years hired a new, youthful pastor who, in their hope, was going to infuse new life back into the church and save it from its declining membership. The only problem: he was a devout evangelical! The entire content of his sermons was pretty much limited to sharing Jesus with your brother and bringing your brother to Christ. As you might expect, this was a very difficult situation for my ego, as it kept seeing this pastor outside the realm of the gentler Course message. Even though I knew the Course taught about entering the ark two by two and seeing the innocence in my brother, to my ego that was definitely not the way to go with this pastor. He needed to be saved from his wayward thinking. Do you see how subtly the ego works? I wanted to be right and make him wrong. We would talk about our differences how if he could just bend a little on his rigid theology, he might even attract more people to the church but to no avail. The ego likes us to think we have to join on the level of form, but so often that is not the answer. I must confess that seeing my pastor in his innocence has been difficult for me and a real challenge to my spirituality. But over the past twelve years, step by step, little by little, I have learned how to forgive as I allow the Holy Spirit within me to see the pastor through Christ s eyes. It s not just a one-time event, however. It is a moment-by-moment consciousness of holding him in truth. As the Course says, I must be vigilant about my peace. And to the extent that I allow healing and oneness to reign, then joy and peace abound. We can once again work together in peace and creativity and in turn, my music is not stifled because of my judgments. Through these types of challenges, through these difficult blocks, therein lies my salvation. This is the day when vain imaginings part like a curtain, to reveal what lies beyond them. Now is what is really there made visible, while all the shadows which appeared to hide it merely sink away. Now is the balance righted, and the scale of judgment left to Him Who judges true. And in His judgment will a world unfold in perfect innocence before your eyes. Now will you see it with the eyes of Christ. Now is its transformation clear to you. (W311/W-164.4) The miracle is that at the time when I do become aware of my separatist ego thoughts and, in turn, allow the Holy Spirit to see through the eyes of Christ, then the barriers come down, oneness and joy are restored, hallelujah! As the Course teaches, it is but one of many paths to God. I m not positive, but I think the Jesus of the Course probably couldn t care less whether George Washington was a Course student. But whether it is George Washington in 1776 or Paul McNeff in 2012, I m confident that Spirit was/is there, by his/my side, encouraging us to follow the light that is already within us. Love our enemies. Do good to those who curse you. Bless that pastor who follows the fundamentalist thought system it s only seen that way with my judgmental ego thoughts, anyway. Enter the ark two by two, for in that consciousness we will be at one with our brother and be restored to our spiritual freedom. It is but our choice. 15

16 In this issue of The Holy Encounter... Beverly Hutchinson McNeff explains the benefits of Faith Lifts Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione recommend Holding Each Other s Hearts Jacob Glass instructs us to Listen, Learn and DO Lee Jampolsky on How to Say Yes When Your Body Says No Paul McNeff wonders, was George Washington a Course student? Announcing our Annual Conference in August and so much more! Miracle Distribution Center Founded E. La Palma Ave. Anaheim, CA ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Non Profit Org US Postage PAID Anaheim CA Permit No 143