A Course In Miracles study group

To contact David Markham:

585-637-0040

davidgmarkham@gmail.com

A Course In Miracles commentary #21 - Choose love

A Course In Miracles is very threatening to the ego because it says that the ego is not real, does not exist. Our individual identity is an illusion and as we become aware of this statement our fear arises.

In workbook lesson 240 it says "Fear is not justified in any form." and the ego mind immediately says, "yes, it is. It is justified continually in our live. You have millions of things to fear."

The first principle of our Unitarian Universalist faith is that covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. We recognize that the Essential Self is the work of God and an extension of God's love, and how can that creation of God be harmed? As children of God and extensions of God's love we have nothing to fear and it is not justified in any form. We can choose choose love or fear, and we cannot serve two masters.

Our Universalist faith promotes the idea that we are all sons and daughters of God and we will all be with Him at the end of time. The ego mind has projected onto our anthropomorphic creation of God, a God of judgement, of damnation, but Univesalists have seen though the lies of the ego and rejected its fear mongering ideas and instead have participated in the Miracle of recognizing and acknowledging God's love which, in the end, is the only thing that is real.

The take away today is to several times today, when you are worried, anxious, feeling negative in any way, ask yourself, "Do I want to choose love or fear?" It's up to you to decide whether you will side with the ego-mind, or with your essential self.

A Course In Miracles commentary #20 - The release from fear.

As a Psychotherapist I am aware that Anxiety Disorders are the largest form of psychiatric disorder in the United States today. As a nation we are a fearful people. We rush to alter our anxiety with alcohol, street drugs, sex, gambling, overeating, religion, and prescription drugs which are advertised on TV constantly on the evening news broadcasts.

What does Unitarian Universalism have to offer people who live in fear especially those who have chosen to medicate it away? With our six sources and no God like figure we espouse as a religion, we have nothing magical to offer to assuage people's fears. What we do offer is covenantal relationship organized around 7 principles.

What A Course In Miracles offers is what it calls, a "miracle", which is a shift in perception that recognizes that we are one with the Love of God and not the separate body which the ego mind has taught us we are. It says in the Course, "The miracle is the means, the Atonement is the principle, and healing is the result."

The "acceptance of one another and encouragement to the spiritual growth in our congregations", the third principle, points to this activity of healing as a release from fear that the Course describes. The correct implementation of this principle is to recognize the Spirit of God in each other and not the bodies. The principle of the Atonement is the recognition that the separation never occurred. The separation is a figment of the imagination of our ego minds. Our UU faith acknowledges the interdependent web of all existence, but does not acknowledge that this "existence" is not real, but a miscreation which we, unfortunately, continue to believe. The Course teaches that the only thing real is the Love of God which we have never actually left even though we think we have and sometimes in our egotistical defensiveness continue to insist on.

The take away today is the willingness to acknowledge that we are something more than our bodies. We are all part of the Love of God. What happens to my brothers and sisters, my fellow human beings, happens to me, and what happens to me happens to them. My willingness, with the help of the Holy Spirit , to shift my attention to the Spirit of God, brings a release from fear and great peace. This shift of attention occurs when I practice forgiveness. Will I forgive myself today for believing and miscreating all the things I thought were real and am discovering are nonsense? If I forgive myself I will find it easier to forgive others. Forgiveness is the key to releasing fear and it brings about great healing.

A Course In Miracles Study Group in Brockport beginning September 14, 2011

A Course In Miracles study group will start in Brockport on Wednesday, September 14th, from 7 - 8:30 PM at 58 Market Street in downtown Brockport, NY.

The group will meet the second and fourth Wednesdays.

David Markham is the host.

For more information call David at 585-637-0040 or send him an email at davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

What is the ultimate trust?

In A Course In Miracles I am reading the section in the Manual For Teachers entitled "What are the characteristics of God's teachers?" The first characteristic described is trust which seems to mean trusting in the Will of God and the Course describes 6 steps the student goes through in developing this trust.

Life's big teacher of trust is grief, because until you have lost things which you thought were important to you, you have not had to "sort out" what you really value. We come to a point in our lives sooner or later when we realize that "stuff" and money and power and "special relationships", all the things the world has taught us are important, are really not important. This awareness is a huge step in our spiritual growth. Jesus tells the rich young man to give up everything he has and "come follow me." The rich young man is not ready and he turned away. Most people in our society are not ready and turn away as well.

Once we have come to the awareness of the impermanence of this world and have accepted it as "natural" we experience some peace of mind, but we once again come to face our judgementalness and realize that we do not know what we want and finally we realize that we only want what God wants for us. As St. Paul says, "If God is with you, who can be against you?" Perhaps St. Paul got this wrong because it seems to me it should be "If you are with God, what can can harm you? There is nothing no longer to fear and you have realized that you are love."

When we die, if we die consciously, we surrender our mortal existence for the purely spiritual realm. The corporeal shell is given up or taken from us depending on our choice. Surrendering takes great trust. Trust in the love of God. Some people get there before they die, others when they die, and others never do.

Unitarian Universalists covenant to affirm and promote the "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part". This doesn't quite get to the level of Trust which the Course talks about but it does point to a willingness to surrender to something bigger than ourselves which is a step in the right direction.

Take away today - What really matters to you? How would you respond to Jesus' invitation to give up everything and come follow Him? What do you grieve for and what do you think of your grieving? Do you understand what is happening at a spiritual level or are you protesting what is happening on the earth plane, an illusion that we have only made up?

There are no levels to miracles

One of the mysteries of life is never knowing how my thoughts, feelings, and behavior affect another person. There seems to be no accounting for it. It can be a fleeting thing such as "I read that article on your blog", or " I saw you in the mall the other day, but you didn't see me."

Sometimes we have what ACIM calls a "sustained relationship" which is a relationship which is more intentional and deliberate, and then we separate. This happens to me all the time at work, and in community organizations, and with "friends" with whom we engage in intentional activities.

The third level of relationships are "lifelong". These lifelong relationships continue even if they are not honored. We can divorce, disown, and otherwise cut people off, but they are like ghosts that haunt our lives because even if there is no contact, there is unfinished business.

A Course In Miracles teaches that there is no levels in teaching relationships.

It is written in the Manual For Teachers in the section entitled "What are the levels of teaching?":

      “The teachers of God have no set teaching level. Each teaching-learning situation involves a different relationship at the beginning, although the ultimate goal is always the same; to make of the relationship a holy relationship, in which both can look upon the Son of God as sinless. There is no one from whom a Teacher of God cannot learn, so there is no one whom he cannot teach.”

Unitarian Universalists recognize this "truth" when we covenant to affirm and promote the "acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations." I drop the "...in our congregations" because the Course teaches that the Atonement is the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth everywhere. Why limit it to just people in our congregations?

As has been mentioned earlier, Teachers of God teach constantly by being who they are. As Stephen Gaskin has said, ultimately the only thing we have to offer another human being is our own state of being.

Take good care of yourself today. Spend as much time as you can in your "happy place". When you are experiencing "good vibes" within yourself, they ripple out to the rest of the Universe and we all are one step closer to the At-one-ment. As Jesus said, the Kingdom is within you. When people experience you experiencing the Kingdom within you a Miracle occurs.

Dominus vobiscum.

Unitarian Universalist congregations are Holy ground.

The third principle of Unitarian Universalism is the covenant to affirm and promote "Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregation."

It says in A Course In Miracles in the Manual for Teachers :

“When pupil and teacher come together, a teaching-learning situation begins. For the teacher is not really the one who does the teaching. God’s Teacher speaks to any two who join for learning purposes. The relationship is holy because of that purpose, and God has promised to send His spirit into any holy relationship."

Jesus says in the New Testament where two or more are gathered in my name there I will be. I think ACIM clarifies what Jesus meant when he said this. When two or more come together to help each other learn more about the spiritual level of life, God (the Spirit of Life) is there to not just assist but to work through the relationship for the benefit of the two participants and the world.

People "go to church" for various reasons and the clarity of purpose is important to the experience. When I asked a member of my congregation why people should come to church I kiddingly said that, having been raised a Roman Catholic, I was taught as a child, if I didn't go to church on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation it was a mortal sin and I would go to hell. I said, "Of course I don't believe this any more so why go to church?" She never missed a beat and said simply and plainly, "Because someone there might need you."

Yes, and it responding to their need I help myself as well as them and the world is moved one step closer to the At-one-ment.

Pax vobiscum.

Are you one of God's teachers?

I strongly suspect you are or you wouldn't be reading this blog.

A Course In Miracles says that "A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this: somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's."

The seventh principle of Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

The Course would say that it is this recognition of the interdependent web which leads to the salvation of the world. This salvation is based on forgiveness, and when we forgive one another we save time and move the world closer to At-one-ment.

There is a course for every teacher of God. There are many roads to Rome and many ways to skin the cat as they say but ACIM says that while the forms are different and teaching aids are different the content is always the same which is "God's Son is guiltless, and in his innocence is his salvation."

We teach all the time. A person demonstrates what he believes by the way he thinks and acts. As a teacher of God, a person becomes very aware of this and chooses what he thinks and is conscious of how he acts and in so doing redeems himself and the world.

Unitarian Universalists are a light unto the world and while a small, dim one, they join with other teachers of God to save time and in doing so hasten the awareness of the kingdom of God for all the people of the world.

Thank you for your witness and work.

Go in peace.

What do you teach?

It says in A Course In Miracles that you teach what you learn and you learn what you teach. So what do you teach?

It also says in the course that teaching is to demonstrate and we demonstrate what we believe by how we live, what we think, how we manage our emotions, and how we behave.

Pretty simple ideas, right?

But choosing what we want to teach can be a miracle if, in our choosing, we shift our perception from the ego based mind of separation to the spiritual realm of love.

I have known since I was a child that I was called and put on this earth to serve others. This idea was reinforced by my mother's insistence as the oldest of 5 that I take an older brother's responsibility for my younger siblings. Part of this insistence on her part was dysfunctional because she turned me into a surrogate husband emotionally, but it also served me well as it reinforced innate talents and abilities to care for others.

Deep down what makes you tick? Once you understand this, you will become aware of what you teach yourself and others continually.

As Unitarian Universalists we covenant to affirm and promote our 7 principles and in doing so we say to ourselves and to the world that these are the 7 ideas that we value and we are choosing these 7 things to teach ourselves and others.

I can take those 7 principles and daily examine my conscience and ask myself, "How have you demonstrated these values in the last week to yourself and to others, and how do you intend to demonstrate them in the coming week?"

If you are demonstrating these values in an ongoing way you should experience increasing degrees of peace, and if you are not demonstrating these values well you will experience increasing degrees of anxiety.

Dominus vobiscum

A Course in Miracles Commentary #19, Are you ready to take the curriculum of life?

A Course in Miracles Commentary #18, Where does your treasure lie?

A Course In Miracles commentary #17 - Denial

A Course In Miracles Commentary #16 - Kindness

A Course In Miracles Commentary #15 -Universalism

A Course In Miracles Commentary #14 - Sin is the lack of love

A Course In Miracles Commentary #13 - Escape from darkness; be honest with yourself

A Course In Miracles Commentary #12 - acting in faith not for results

A Course In Miracles, Commentary #11, Origninal blessing or original sin?

"You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave. The Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as you would have them do unto you." T-1.III.6

If, deep down inside you, you are full of shame, and believe that you are defective and inadequate, then you will perceived your brothers and sisters as also fundamentally flawed. Your behavior is based on this fundamental belief about yourself and others. Is it any wonder that we treat ourselves and others so badly?

Unitarian Universalists covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This is radically different than most of the world's religions who teach that human beings are basically sinful and even born with "original sin".

If UUs truly believe that they have inherent worth and dignity and behaved in the world based on this belief they would have a transformative affect on themselves, their relationships, and the world. The problem is that most UUs plus most people in the world don't believe this fundamental idea of what Rev. Matthew Fox calls the "original blessing" not the "original sin."

ACIM and the UU first principle are very congruent. The belief in the inherent worth and dignity of myself and yourself is basic stuff but often not practiced.

What are the three best things about yourself and how do you extent that to others so that "miracles" occur?

Share these recognitions in the comments.

May the Peace of God be with you.

A Course In Miracles, Commentary #10,Gratitude

A Course In Miracles, Commentary #9, Time is The Present

"The miracle minimizes the need for time. 2 In the longitudinal or horizontal plane the recognition of the equality of the members of the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time. 3 However, the miracle entails a sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception. 4 This introduces an interval from which the giver and receiver both emerge farther along in time than they would otherwise have been. 5 The miracle thus has the unique property of abolishing time to the extent that it renders the interval of time it spans unnecessary. 6 There is no relationship between the time a miracle takes and the time it covers. 7 The miracle substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands of years. 8 It does so by the underlying recognition of perfect equality of giver and receiver on which the miracle rests. 9 The miracle shortens time by collapsing it, thus eliminating certain intervals within it. 10 It does this, however, within the larger temporal sequence." T-1.II.1-10

Time is an interesting social construction. We take it for granted as "reality" but it is something which our egos have made up and which our egos use to enslave us.

When a miracles occurs, there is a shift in perception and time stands still. We are in the now. The course calls this the holy instant and our awareness shifts outside of time. When we come back to our ego constructed time based reality we ask quizzically, "Where did the time go?" "The time just flew by, oh my god." This often happens when we are engrossed in something, enthralled as they say, or what the psychologists call the "flow state".

When we recognize this "flow state" outside of time, we become aware that time is vertical not horizontal as the course says in verse 3. This accounts for the occasionally "deja vu" experiences which we all have had.

The seventh principle of Unitarian Universalism is the "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." There is a recognition in Unitarian Universalism that we are not separate bodies but joined in spirit and that time can be perceived vertically not just horizontally.

Today I will try to be aware of those occasions when I am in a flow state and "time stands still". I will acknowledge that there is part of me that is not bound by the time line which the ego has created for me to enslave me to its will. I will attempt to "rise above it", time, and "go with the flow". "Easy does it" as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, one day at a time. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet arrived, that's why today we should enjoy the gift of the spirit which we call, The Present, and what a present it is.