How important it is to gently lay down my defenses

Sunday, 17 January 2010 By Leave a Comment

Hi All,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and revelations, it’s so nice to get an idea where we are at on this journey, what comes up and to have a forum to put it out there in the space of like minds and forgiving friends!  Interesting about the body symptoms as I have been confounded with a persistent wave of feeling incredibly fatigued and energy-less.  I’ve been questioning “What does this mean?” as if it were a problem and then wondered how would Holy Spirit view this?  I’ve given up trying to “figure it out” and just accepted I don’t know what this means but I can hand it over to HS with as much grace as I can muster and accept it as part of the path without my usual need to know.  It is a chance to be gentle with myself  (something relatively new, I’m starting to like it) and surrender my health and energy to HS which feels like a relief, something I wasn’t expecting to feel.  And realizing I am projecting a bit of unconscious guilt onto my body so forgiving, handing it over to be seen differently, will put light where my darkness is trying to hide in defense.  I’m beginning to see how important it is to gently lay down my defenses and be willing to be vulnerable despite the fear that what will be seen will be less than lovable.  By hiding I just confirm to myself that there is something there to hide so best to bite the bullet and put it out there in the Light of forgiveness, acceptance and a family of beautiful friends.
This is not an easy path(!) so I keep reminding myself of the times where I get a palpable sense that I am not alone and of a presence patiently waiting (wait, are you sure?) for a complete relinquishment and surrender to God, Love, Faith.  How hard can that be?  I guess my ego will let me know and (now…) I am saying gladly, show me what I am holding onto so I can let go of more illusion, hmm, I am so asking for it now, hold on for the inevitable backlash, it’s on the way and I’m ready for the wild ride!  The delusion of unworthiness feels so real at times.
After reading about Helen I feel so grateful for having our group, a haven of comfort when the comfort zone is being pushed, I know things are easier for me with our space of love and amazing acceptance when I forget to hold that space for myself, so grateful for all of you!
Okay, last thing, I heard this amazing song on the top 40 station, here it is in all it’s pop glory:
Wait, I’m wrong,
I should have done better than this,
Please, I’ll be strong,
I’m finding it hard to resist,
So show me what I’m looking for,
Save me, I’m lost,
Oh, Lord I’ve been waiting for You,
I’ll pay any cost,
Save me from being confused,
Show me what I’m looking for

…
Love and Light,

Jessica

Filed Under: Articles, Commentary, Jessica Bradshaw, Music, Online Media Tagged With: ,

A Course in Miracles and Forgiveness

Saturday, 16 January 2010 By Leave a Comment

ACIM T p 138
Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions.

DU p 109
The peace of God is the goal of the Course because it must be attained in order to regain the awareness of your reality in the Kingdom.

YIR p 139
It’s through your own choice for the Holy Spirit and His thought system instead of the ego’s that your mind is returned to peace. That has to happen first in order for you to go home. You can’t skip your forgiveness homework. Everybody wants to skip to the end and be enlightened now, but it doesn’t work that way. If peace is the condition of the Kingdom, then the mind must be at peace in order to fit in. And in order for the mind to be at peace, you have to forgive. It’s as simple as that.

DU p 147
Without its practical method of forgiveness, the Course would be nothing but a beautiful and useless book – fuel for debate and the games of the ego. Fortunately, as J says in the Introduction to the Clarification of Terms, p 77: This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness.

What is Forgiveness? ACIM W p 401
Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven.

Forgiveness is the key to happiness. ACIM Lesson 121 W p 214
Here is the answer to your search for peace. Here is the key to meaning in a world that seems to make no sense. Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever finding quietness and peace. Here are all questions answered; here the end of all uncertainty ensured at last.

Forgiveness offers everything I want. ACIM Lesson 122 W p 217
What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always? Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?

All this forgiveness offers and more. It sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. It soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rest upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace. All this forgiveness offers you, and more.

DU p 343
We came here to give people a spiritual message, a message that not everyone is ready for yet, and this is it: When you are ready to accept that the only thing that really matters in your illusory lifetime is the successful completion of your lessons of true forgiveness, then you will be truly wise indeed.

DU p 221
True forgiveness is the real purpose of life, but you’ve got to choose it in order to make it yours. Remember, practicing real forgiveness can’t help but lead you home.

YIR p 128
You can’t wake up from a dream as long as you’re stuck in it. Awareness of dreaming breaks the hold. And the more you forgive, the more you become aware that you’re just dreaming.

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. ACIM Lesson 62 W p 104
It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light. It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see. Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore, in your forgiveness lies your salvation.

God is the Love in which I forgive. ACIM Lesson 46 W p 73
God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself. Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness.

The words, Forgive(s), Forgiven, Forgiveness, Forgiving, and Forgivable show up in the Course a total of 842 times.

Forgive and let live.

Mike “Giddyup Mikey” Lemieux

Filed Under: Articles, Commentary, Gary Renard, Mike Lemieux, The Disappearance of the Universe, Your Immortal Reality Tagged With: , , , , ,

True Worthiness

Saturday, 16 January 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’m continuing to appreciate the peace attained through practicing advanced forgiveness as modeled in The Disappearance of the Universe. I know it’s working when I find no reaction from something that would definitely have upset me before. Forgive, realizing it never really happened, and so re-train the mind to eventually see everyone as innocent. It’s the gift that keeps giving, and as we’re all one, I’m giving it to myself.

Body symptoms have been up for me lately. The Course teaches that my body is a symptom (of separation)! When I asked for information, I had to be redirected to asking the ‘right’ question. “Do I want to let Holy Spirit be in charge of my life, including my health?” According to Arten & Pursah, and the Course; all illness, pain, and suffering begins in my mind due to the unconscious guilt from the mistaken belief it denied God. It is here that correction is to be applied, but an overview of my devious methods to create these effects was helpful. DU Chapter 10 ‘Healing the Sick’. (Forgive me ahead of time for indulging my conversations with mySelf. I won’t know if you don’t read it, only if you don’t forgive me :-) ) just joshing.

I just looked up indulgence in wikipedia: ‘the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution.’ On second thought, I’d rather not receive any indulgence, thank-you very much.

My ego has been feeling threatened by the shift in perceptual reality from bodies to Spirit. By handing over my health to Holy Spirit, He will take charge of it all, including inspiration as to what ‘magic’ (medicine, exercise, etc.) would be helpful after forgiving the situation I made up to hide my guilt in. But the big one, letting God’s Love back in, so I can begin to trust in Him for everything, brought up the old unworthiness delusion. I’m often lax in this area, as was obvious in that I wasn’t even aware this was the subject I needed to ask help with! When they say the guilt behind our suffering is unconscious, they mean it!

The ego feels unworthy because it thinks it should be punished for defying God. (silly-willy). It projects this belief on to the body and the world and situations, then screams ‘abandonment!’ whenever things don’t go its way. It’s really accessing this unconscious guilt around separation from God and trying to mete out its own punishment by investing in the temporal: bodies, special relationships, validation, money, or power. These are its gods, and if I root for them, I’m in for a big disappointment! When the idols crash, as the ego knows they must, it tries to convince me I did something wrong: ‘that’s why they got angry and withheld the goods!’ It infers punishment by God. ‘You musta done something wrong; now you’re gonna get it!’ Here cometh the God of Abraham! And so starts the vicious cycle of unworthiness all over again.
I interjected at this point. ‘So how do I see this correctly!? What if I realize the ego is meaningless?’

From the silence: “Once you sided with the ego during the first split, you were bound to a script that must be played all the way out. It is possible to save time, however. But not by letting the ego analyze itself. That only reinforces your belief in its reality.”

So, like getting the cliff notes to a bad play, I could come to the instructor with a forgiving attitude and tell him “Confessions of a Madman” should have closed after the first night. The cliff notes being the ability of Holy Spirit to collapse time if I do my homework, I could get a passing grade even if I did leave right after intermission. (Bill Thetford, co-scribe of the Course with Helen Shucman, actually toyed with a musical based on the Course, “Call Me Mad” instead of Madam. Helen would come in with her operatic voice in a duet with Bill and they had them rolling in the aisles, even if it was just s friends living room).

Out of the silence, again: “How to see this correctly? No one is unworthy of God’s Love. You are that love! Put Holy Spirit in charge; keep forgiving and joining in silence until your experience reveals this is true.”
So I guess it would be curtains for the ego and it’s dark play?

The ego’s investment in images of bodies and personalities are used by Holy Spirit as vehicles for his communicating to our right mind that we are neither. And all the world’s just a stage. But we have to ask, or hand in our 3-d glasses to Him at some point during the last act, for him to correct our vision. Then they get used for his purposes and the final draft of the script gets rewritten into a comedy! The lines are the same, but the actors have changed and now we all get to laugh at our tiny, mad idea of separation–like watching a Godzilla movie, originally mis-created to terrify my tiny, mad ego.

My ego perpetuates the B-Movie with thoughts of self- (and other-) judgment to hide it’s sinister game. They go right to me, since there’s no one else out there. Self-judgment (my favorite poison of choice) results in apathy and depression; rage and vengeance from judging others. Now I can see ‘therapist’ Bob Newhart’s advice (on his comedy clip on Mad TV) to just ‘stop it!’ as more than a quick fix. “We but do this to ourselves.” The choice has always been mine.

Opening up to receiving love in the world can help support ‘true worthiness’ at the level of effect, but joining with God in silence, and inviting His Love into my mind by loving Him as best I can, goes to cause. There, I can see that I must give the Love I want to remember I have it, and so begin to receive healing for those damned unconscious blocks to It’s awareness. All little needs are contained in this one. I am so grateful to Arten & Pursah in The Disappearance of the Universe for demonstrating how to ‘pray’ in silence by joining with God and forgetting the things we think we need by getting ‘lost’ in His Love (our one need, and our inheritance to be rediscovered). [DUp351]

A lot of mental wandering, I know, for something that Mother Theresa practiced without a second thought! Babies get it too, but for whatever reason, I need to be led by the hand in this area, a bit like a toddler! As I visualize taking J’s (or the Holy Spirit’s) hand, I am reminded to offer love at every opportunity, no matter how weakly at first, to make practice become habit. Thanks for helping me remember to ask for help. I have it on good authority it’ll come right back to you!
So, as the curtain falls, I most humbly take my leave (cancel actual Hamlet ending).

Actually, at my wits end, I offer my love to you. May it continue to strengthen as I ask His Wits to rule this unruly mind.
Yours, in true worthiness,

Jonathan

Filed Under: Articles, Commentary, Helen Schucman, Jonathan Joshua, The Disappearance of the Universe, William Thetford Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Confidence (genuine article or egoic con game)?

Monday, 11 January 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here’s a request for comments on a favorite blog (which we were former custodians of, domain-wise):

This Week’s Call for Content: Tell Us How to Increase Self-Confidence

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 – 15:15
3 Comments
Tags: Balance, confidence, self-esteem, self-trust
We hope all of you are starting off 2010 on a great note. This week on Intent, we want to hear what we can do to increase our self-confidence. In the spirit of a brand new year, how can we believe in our amazing potential, not get discouraged by our own insecurities and really feel the self-love that all of us deserve to feel? How can we hold our head high and feel strong–even on a first date, a Powerpoint presentation, a job interview, or a sticky confrontation with a friend?

… and here’s my two cents worth:

What a great topic, confidence! The more I ponder this, the more it seems that the crucial question (rarely asked!)  is which “self” we are looking for confidence from? The customary approach is to try to bolster the minuscule egoic “personal” self (with a lower case “s”) which is doomed from the get-go; a perennial exercise in frustration, because deep down we know that this delusional self can never be satisfied, no matter how magnificent the dream on the screen of our physical lives seems to be going. Meanwhile, eternally, patiently standing by, (with a kind serene inner Cheshire grin) our seemingly elusive (because we’re out of practice listening!) transpersonal Self (with the capital “S”) doesn’t need confidence (or any ‘thing’) from space time at all. My intent for this year is to phase in complete trust of that Transpersonal Self (a.k.a. Inner Guidance, Universal Inspiration, God Self, Whole-I Spirit, etc.), which is the true source of unshakable confidence. :-) I’m phasing out of the habit of settling for cheap substitutes! :-)

Filed Under: Articles, Online Media Tagged With:

The American Buddha Talk & Workshop in Ashland March 12, 13-14, 2010 with Stuart Mooney

Friday, 1 January 2010 By Leave a Comment

“The American Buddha” is the subject of a free introductory talk and weekend workshop by author and lecturer Stuart Mooney. He will be giving a free talk on Friday, March 12, 2010 from 7-9PM at the Guanajuato Room of the Ashland (Oregon) Public Library (410 Siskiyou Blvd.) and a 2-day weekend workshop in Ashland on Saturday and Sunday, March 13-14, 2010 from 10AM-4PM at the Best Western Windsor Inn.

American Buddha literally means Practical Awakening. American Buddha is about experiencing the consciousness of a Buddha or a Christ while living comfortably in the western world. It is about Grace, Miracles and Enlightenment. So we are all potentially “American Buddhas.” There are many aspects of the Awakened experience that will be made available for the first time during this workshop and you will receive an introduction to secret advanced “Spiritual Technologies.” Many wonderful miracle stories will be highlighted during the workshop and you will have an opportunity to directly experience higher states. We will try to answer as many of your questions as possible during the workshop. Here is a sample of the types of questions that we will cover.

Who am I and why do I suffer?

What is the ONLY reality?

Is Enlightenment a real thing?

What do the terms Enlightenment or Awakening really mean?

What is Grace and why is it so important to Enlightenment?

What are miracles and how is Grace related to miracles?

How does Oneness relate to the ability to create miracles?

How does physical manifestation really work?

How can I overcome my programming?

Here is Stuart’s YouTube video channel.

For registration information, contact us via email, or phone 541-973-3512. To register, please mail a check for $100 (for Saturday and Sunday) or $65 (for Saturday only)* to Elysian Publishing, POB 431, Ashland, Oregon 97520 and include your full name, email (very important since that’s how we’ll contact you primarily), phone number, address, and any other pertinent contact info or details.

* The Saturday only cost will be $75 at the door, so save $10 by pre-registering!

If you are traveling from out of the area and need lodging info please contact Ed Karlovich at 541-646-8332. A few rooms at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites – Ashland (adjacent to the Best Western Windsor Inn) are reserved and available at discounted rates for attendees of this seminar.

Here is a printable flyer and a 4 mini-posters version and both pdf and MSWord versions of  a Press Release about this event.

Ed Karlovich and Julie Matthews speak VERY highly of Stuart’s presentations; here’s commentary from Ed: “Stuart speaks of ‘Practical Awakening,’ meaning that he works with us where we are in the West, working people, with commitments and full lives. His approach combines advice that works for westerners now, with ancient techniques developed by the great sages of India.” For more details about the content of Stuart’s events, contact Ed Karlovich at 541-646-8332 (Editor’s note: Since I made the initial  post here, I’ve watched a bit of video of Stuart’s event in the Truckee, Calif. area, and now I’m quite impressed and enthused about his being here too! :-)

If you want to automatically receive ACIM-related event news, updates and other non-dualistic musings, you might also want to subscribe to our email bulletin.

For more information, visit Stuart Mooney’s American Buddha – Spiritual Therapy Center website.

About Stuart Mooney

Stuart Mooney is truly an “American Buddha.” For more than 35 years, he has lectured, all over the world, on the “Nature of Awakened Consciousness.” While he was living in South India, Stuart was used as a channel by the Siddha masters. He healed and transmitted Divine Grace or Shakti to thousands in the ancient temples there. He has been trained to transmit the Oneness Blessing under the guidance of the renowned Avatars, Amma and Bhagwan. Over the years, he has been authorized to teach more than 100 esoteric (privately held) meditation techniques. He has also been approved to teach meditation under the authority of the Shankaracharya of South India. This is a rare honor for a westerner. Finally, Stuart operates from an authentic state of Enlightenment and this has afforded him deep insight into the nature of the Awakened Consciousness. You will find him to be an insightful, compassionate and a very funny individual.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: , ,

JAFO revisited – The World Is Our Study Group

Friday, 3 July 2009 By Leave a Comment

Once again, I’m forgiving myself for what appears like not having the site quite as far along as I thought it would be by now! :-) However, I’m confident that it’s evolving according to a plan far superior to anything I could devise. Meanwhile, here’s an email (slightly modified) that I sent to one of our local ACIM/DU study groups recently:

The World Is Our Study Group:
Allowing the Personal to Guide Us Back To The Transpersonal

During last night’s ACIM/DU Study Group, I was observing the dialogue and appreciating how we all practiced, each in our “own” way, the shared intention of returning to source, to essence, to unity and wholeness. It was more than just about following a prescribed agenda; ostensibly we come together to read and talk about A Course In Miracles and related books and media (like the work of Gary Renard, Kenneth Wapnick, Brent Haskell and others). We can (and do) all do this “on our own.” I think I’m starting to catch on to what Gary’s teachers suggest as the true purpose of (any) relationship: forgiveness! I was noticing within myself, and as I “checked in” around the room, the recognition that as each “individual” shared their stories and experiences, the “others” slowly but surely added their strength, support and love to the person speaking; releasing attachment to personal agendas, trusting in the transpersonal (Holy Spirit), to validate the stories, but more importantly to acknowledge the true eternal being of what we ARE as one, expressing as “individuals.” Perhaps this is why we all seemed to resonate with the idea of silent meditation and savoring the serenity of the closing meditation that was offered again.

We’re writing this together! It appears that I’m sitting in my office at my computer, yet when I allow the truth to settle in, I realize that all of you are here within me. I can (and do!) vividly imagine each of your smiling faces as I go around the room last night and I also include those who haven’t attended for a while, or even those who are on the email list but haven’t yet made it to a single “meeting.” After all, aren’t meetings in our mind? :-) This seems like such a perfect opportunity to demolish the illusion of specialness and separation. I just went through the list of folks on this email list, and if everyone showed up there would be 42 of us! (The meaning of life for Douglas Adams fans! :-) The point is, we can make the best use of our seeming time together by extending that feeling of oneness throughout each day. As we “tune in” to “each other” with what might be called telepathy, we can directly access the transformative power of infinite support that is our combined wisdom, levity, and peace. I do this as often as I can remember by mentally reviewing the “smiles around the room” and remembering that, as the Michael Hedges song lyrics go, “I carry your heart … I carry it in my heart”…

I encourage the idea of “tuning in” and asking for the support of “each other” and gradually extending it to total inclusiveness. Sure, it seems easier, at first, to practice this with those that SEEM to be more “kindred souls” at the moment. Yet it also seems that taking the feeling of support and applying it to whoever and whatever is in our mind at the moment is what the Christ/Holy Spirit/pure non-dualistic thought system is all about!

Best of all, our mutual support is available 24/7 throughout space and time. When I think about having friends like all of you to share eternity with, it not only helps me to laugh gently at the folly of our bodies and their little petty dramas, but to emphasize the invigorating freedom and joyousness of our one spirit! We can use the “base metal” of our special relationships (including our particular study group and extended to include ALL) for the alchemy of seeing the gold, the Cheshire cat smiles that remain after the form no longer holds us captive. Why not bring the darkness (phantom egoic menace) of specialness (e.g. thoughts like I can only be peaceful with my “special friends”) to the light? Our attachments and aversions (the things we think we need; including ANY agendas :-) can be lovingly placed on the altar of forgiveness which becomes an alchemical crucible for sustaining comfort and support!

In one of the first metaphysical books that inspired me in the early 1970s (Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East by Baird Spalding), there is a recitation by Jesus called “The Light.” In it, there are 6 “keywords” that apply wonderfully to the feeling that I experience when I engage in this quantum support/forgiveness practice: life, love, strength, purity, beauty and perfection. These qualities are evident in this thought system which goes way beyond a theoretical understanding. When I “imagine” the unity that we all share, I feel the reality of our oneness that cannot be threatened by anything space or time can throw at it! :-)

Here are the words of “The Light” (from Volume 3, page 45):

THE LIGHT

As I stand alone in Your Great Silence, God my Father, in the midst of me there blazes a pure light and it fills every atom of my whole being with its great radiance. Life, Love, Strength, Purity, Beauty, Perfection, stand forth in all dominion within me. As I gaze into the very heart of this light, I see another light – liquid, soft, golden white and radiantly luminous – absorbing, mothering, and giving forth the caressing fire of the Greater Light.

Now I know that I am God and one with God’s whole Universe. I whisper to God my Father and I am undisturbed.

STILL IN THE SILENCE

Yet in this complete silence there exists God’s Greatest Activity. Again, I am undisturbed and complete silence is all about me. Now the radiance of this light spreads to God’s vast universe and everywhere I know there is God’s conscious Life. Again I say fearlessly, I am God; I am silent and unafraid.

I lift the Christ high within me and sing God’s praise. In the tones of my music inspiration hums. Louder and louder within me the Great Mother sings of new life. Louder and clearer with each new day, inspiration is lifting my conscious thought until it is attuned to God’s rhythm. Again I lift the Christ high and give close ear that I may hear the glad music. My keynote is harmony and the theme of my song is God and God seal my song as Truth.

BEHOLD I AM BORN ANEW – A CHRIST IS HERE

I am free with the great light of Your Spirit, God my Father. Your seal is placed upon my forehead. I accept.

I hold your light high, God my Father. Again I accept.

Filed Under: Articles, Books, Brent Haskell, Contributors, Foundation for Inner Peace, Gary Renard, Kenneth Wapnick Tagged With: ,

You’re invited to an ACIM skype chat/meeting on your computer! Starts Monday, 14June2010, 7PM PDT

Thursday, 12 June 2008 By Leave a Comment

Hi all:

(Update: 24June2010: We actually haven’t started yet, but if this sounds interesting, email me your skype name and I’ll add you to the list for when we get started… soon! :-)

A handful of our local (Rogue Valley, Oregon around the Ashland/Medford area) ACIM enthusiasts from the Wed. evening ACIM/DU group have been having way too much fun (at the ‘post meetings’ on Wed. evenings we call our ‘after parties’) to not extend it, so we thought it would be fun to have an informal Skype chat on a regular (or semi-regular) basis and just see where it leads… Skype (if you haven’t already used it) is a free application you can download and install on your computer with just a few clicks that allows free teleconferencing with video and audio (if just between two computers) and audio (if teleconferencing between 3 or more computers.) I’ve used it for several years and find it’s much better than the phone in many cases and best of all, free! (You call also use it for computer to phone and phone to computer calls for a reasonable rate, which is how skype is able to subsidize the free service. I’ve talked with friends and family in Europe, Australia, Canada and all over the US.

Here’s Jonathan‘s comments on the idea (from our recent meeting talking about this fun idea):

“Our Course study group is morphing into an experiential group as we share and offer insights into the practice of forgiveness, and how it continues to clear up our murky perspective on the world and our lives. We’re guided to extend the love and celebration, and so invite you to do the same! All students feeling called to the Course or connected works by Ken Wapnick, Gary Renard, and others are welcome. With close to 20 years of the Course combined between us, we realize that this is not an easy path, and even if it doesn’t feel so loving and celebratory at times, we aspire to offer a safe space with whatever transpires as a gift toward healing our minds with the love of the Holy Spirit.”

Anyway, we thought we’d give it a go and start an informal chat session this coming Monday (June 14, 2010) at 7PM PDT (for an hour or two) and just see how it goes. It could be a lot of fun! The intention is to share the same sort of inspiration, heart-to-heart connections and support for our mutual (eternal) interest as we do with all of our other (wonderful!) local study groups, just without the gasoline and logistics for carpooling, driving, parking, etc.

At some point, we could record the sessions and put them online (It’s quite easy to upload audio, and I think it might be fun to share with folks via the web. I sure enjoy a wide variety of online media from other ACIM students, ranging from Gary Renard & Gene Bogart’s podcasts, to videos from Nouk Sanchez & Tomas Vieira and  Ken Wapnick, to Regina Dawn Akers‘ audio recordings, Philip Urso’s “Crash Course In Miracles” podcasts and much more; all of these have been inspirations to share our common interest in undoing the ego and it’s sneaky made up unconscious guilt in a fun and enjoyable way. There’s lots of audio and video and other resource links on ACIMblog already, BTW, if you haven’t checked them out…

If you are interested, there’s really only a couple of steps, and the first one you only need to do once.

1) Visit http://www.skype.com with your web browser (e.g. Firefox) and follow the (relatively simple) instructions to install it. (You don’t need a video camera to use skype, but it is very fun for 1-to-1 chats. We’re going to just use audio for now.)

2) Email me your skype address, with “ACIM skype chat” in the subject heading.

This way I can add you to my skype ACIM list (different from the Wed. study group email list); since there’s no geographic boundary (aside from perhaps 7PM possibly not being a convenient time for someone in London perhaps :-) , there’s no reason we can’t invite ACIM-minded friends from around the planet. Please forward to anyone you think might be interested… The current limit is 25 (including the one who initiates the skype conference call) but we’ll deal with that when we get to that point. :-)

Then I’ll make a list of all the folks who want to get a ‘skype call’ Mon. evening at 7PM, and we’ll chat about ACIM with whoever show up! :-)

Since we’re not limited to just the Rogue Valley (although the off-planet connections are problematic for a while), this little invite is for any ‘serious’ student of ACIM. This page is where I’ll also post announcements for folks that just want to spontaneously attend any of the future sessions…

If you’re not interested in the ongoing idea, after trying it out, just let me know and I’ll remove you from the skype-chat list. If you’re busy or not interested in a particular session, just ignore the call (if you have skype running on your computer)
when it comes in (just like a regular phone call in that sense). Pretty easy, huh! :-)

Hope to see and/or skype with you soon!

Eternal smilezenhugs! :-)

ACIMblog star image

Filed Under: Articles, Audio, Commentary, Jonathan Joshua, Online Media
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