at the “faith lifts” center's “where darkness · the light! where darkness was i look...

by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff �

ave faith in only this one thing, and itwill be sufficient: God wills you be inHeaven, and nothing can

keep you from it, orit from you. Yourwildest mispercep-tions, your weirdimaginings, yourblackest nightmaresall mean nothing.They will not prevailagainst the peaceGod wills for you.” (T268/T-13.XI.7)

In this day and age of concern overnuclear testing by third world countries,weather disasters attributed to globalwarming, and worldwidefinancial instability, itcertainly seems as if ourfaith is being tested. Thesethings are, as the abovepassage says, some of our“wildest misperceptions,weird imaginings andblackest nightmares.” Andyet, we are reminded nomatter how horrendousthey may be and how im-possible their solutionsmay seem, they will notprevail against the peaceGod wills for us.

That may be all well andgood, but those “figments of our imagina-tion” seem pretty real to us. We can’t verywell ignore them with a casual wave of thehand and say they simply don’t exist, andA Course in Miracles is not asking us to do

that. We are not asked to deny our prob-lems but to instead look past the surfacethat may currently have our attention andsee a deeper meaning, to see the truth.

It has been said before that the Courseis a non-dualistic system, meaning asmuch as we believe there are truth andillusion (love and fear), only one exists.And thank God the one the Course says isreal is truth. Acceptance of the truthmeans we have not left our home in God;we have not attacked our Father andmade a distorted image of ourselves; weare not simply a body forced to walk thisworld alone and frightened, hoping tocarve out a meager existence before the

uncaring god of time robs usof our only treasure, the lifeof our body. Truth tells usthat even though we maycurrently feel we are separatefrom each other and fromGod, every experience, nomatter how frightening ordisheartening, is an opportu-nity to lead us to God andthe peace and healing Hepromises us. We are simplyasked to have faith that Godcannot fail, to withdraw ourfaith in the mess we havemade and believe in, andoffer 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, noth-

ing else is real, and everything beside it is not

H

Beverly Hutchinson McNeff

“

Beverly is the co-founder and president of MDC, one of the longest running organizations based onA Course in Miracles. As a student, lecturer and author on the Course since 1977, her recordedweekly commentaries on Course principles have become a wonderful source of inspiration andstudy for many around the world. Receive a FREE recording by contacting MDC.

”Continued on 2

AMiracle Distribution Center Publication March / April 2012

“Faith Lifts”

We are simply askedto have faith thatGod cannot fail, towithdraw our faithin the mess we havemade and believe inand offer it to the

Holy Spirit whose jobit is to give us a

‘faith lift’.

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e recently had quite a rain-storm. At one point, I lookedout the window and saw

beautiful blue skies and the sunshining. But right next to this scenewere the blackest rain clouds I haveever seen. Light and darkness stoodside by side and eventually lightprevailed. The rain ended, and the sunemerged triumphant. I see this as ametaphor for life.

During those times of darkness inour lives, let us remember the light —the answer — that stands right besideit. Where will we dwell? Light or dark-ness — love or fear. The choice is oursto make. As A Course in Miracles remindsus, “Each day, each hour and minute,even every second, you are decidingbetween the crucifixion and the resur-rection; between the ego and the HolySpirit... The power of decision is all thatis yours... You are guilty or guiltless,bound or free, unhappy or happy.” (T275)

Can the decision be difficult to makewhen the choices are so clear? Actually,for many of us the answer is yes. Wehave dwelled in the valley of theshadow of death for so long that dark-ness seems strangely comfortable to us.But the light has come — another waystands right here. Even though we maystill feel in darkness, the light hasbegun to dawn on our minds, and thatdarkness will never have the same holdon us again.

Wby Beverly Hutchinson McNeff �

“Where darknesswas I look uponthe light.”

Continued on Page 11

“August 11•12

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2 THE HOLY ENCOUNTER

� Weekend of Miracles in Baltimore -Our nextWeekend of Miracleswill takeplace on April 13th and 14th, 2012 inBaltimore, Maryland. This locationshould be convenient for our friends inWashington, DC and the surroundingarea. These popular weekend seminarsare presented by Beverly HutchinsonMcNeff and offerattendees achance to godeeper into theCourse’s lifechanging princi-ples to trulyexperience miracles. As one attendeewrote, ”Beverly, you are an amazingteacher. You help the learning process foryour students by making the message ofthe Course so much clearer and easier tounderstand. When you read the Course, itwent right into my mind and heart! Itmade the greatest sense.” A Fridayevening lecture sets the stage for aday-long intensive experience ofA Course in Miracles. Watch our videoabout the weekends by visiting ourwebsite, then make your reservation tojoin us.

� Giving a truly meaningful GiftHere’s what many students of theCourse have done: given a tax-deductible donation to MDC insomeone’s honor or memory. If youwould like to give in such a way, sendyour donation and request, and we willsend him, her, or the family a personal-ized letter acknowledging your appreci-

ation and support. It’s a wonderfulhonor for that important someone ortheir family. And, what a blessing it willbe to those the Center serves, for yourdonation will go to support its freeservices! Gifts in memory of ... VincentJones, son of Muriel Jones, from MaggieBatts.

� If you’re on Facebook, be sure to“Like” us and get all the most up-to-date information about our Center andour work. Each day we post the dailylesson from A Course in Miracles. We alsopost announcements of events and newitems from our bookstore. Also be sureyou’re on our e-mailing list. We send amonthly online newsletter out to all oursubscribers. You can find our Facebookpage and our e-mail list on our homepage atwww.miraclecenter.org

� Annual Int’l Conference on A Coursein Miracles!We’re pleased to announcethe dates for our annual conference for2012 will be the weekend of August 11-12 in Irvine, California at the CrownePlaza Hotel. This year Beverly willwelcome presenters Jerry Jampolsky,Diane Cirincione, Jacob Glass, JeanineAustin, Robert Rosenthal, HenryGrayson and Paul McNeff. We hope youwill plan to attend and join hundreds ofCourse students from around the worldwho travel to be part of this inspira-tional event. The title of this year’sconference is “I will arise in glory.” Thisthought is taken from workbook lesson237 and reminds us what our true andvery important purpose is everyday!

� “Thank you for your prayers for Whitand me. I join every evening at 7:30pmhere in Georgia to be ‘at one’ in prayerwith everyone. Thank you and love fromus both.” This simple, lovely note fromPat and Whit Rusk is truly what the heartof the prayer ministry of the Center is allabout. The power of the Course comesfrom knowing we are never alone... thatGod is with us always. The prayerministry helps us to know that we havea worldwide family supporting us,joining with us every step of the way.We invite you to join with us in prayerand feel this inner-connectedness thatcan truly create miracles in your life.Everyday at 4:30pm (Pacific Time), joinwith all in our prayer ministry to remem-ber the power of love to transform ourlives and this world. If you have a prayerrequest, please send it to MDC. Don’tforget to request your free, full-colorbookmark which lists all the thoughts inthe prayer ministry for 2012. And don’tworry if you miss 4:30 (or whatever timethat may be in your part of the world),the time is only a point of focus, it’s thecontent or reason for the joining that ispowerful... 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)

What’s Happening

Receive Your Free ACIM Bookmark Our beautiful2012 bookmark

featuresall the thoughts for our

Prayer Ministry.

Use the envelopeenclosed in this issue torequest yours today!

3March / April 2012

Y

Miracle Musings...••

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• • • • • • • • • by Paul McNeff �

Of a Recovering Fundamentalist - GeorgeWashington...Course Student?

Paul McNeff is married to MDC’s founder and has been a student of the Course since 1986. He is a professional singer and conductor and holds amaster’s degree in vocal performance. In 1997, along with Beverly, he founded KidSingers, an inner city after-school children’s chorus. The program haswon many awards and been featured on Good Morning America. Learn more at:www.kidsingers.org

e have heard that it hath been said,Thou shalt love thy neighbor, andhate thine enemy. But I say unto you,

Love your enemies,bless them that curseyou, do good to themthat hate you, and prayfor them which despite-fully use you, andpersecute you.”(Matthew 4:43-44)

“The plan is not of you, nor need you beconcerned with anything except the partthat has been given you to learn. For He Whoknows the rest will see to it without yourhelp. But think not that He does not needyour part to help Him with the rest. For inyour part lies all of it, without which is nopart complete, nor is the whole completedwithout your part. The ark of peace is en-tered two by two, yet thebeginning of another worldgoes with them.”(T335/T-20.IV.6.1-5)

In anticipation of visit-ing Washington D.C.following MDC’sWeekendof Miracles conference thiscoming April 13 and 14 inBaltimore, Maryland, I amcurrently enjoyingbrushing up on myAmerican History byreading Washington, A Life. In thiscaptivating new book about GeorgeWashington, noted biographer RonChernow sheds new light upon ournation’s founding father, giving us a newlook into his mind and spirit.

Just for the fun of it, I’d like to pose arhetorical question. Was George Washing-ton, the Father of our country, a student ofA Course in Miracles? My fundamentalistChristian friends would say “No way!Everyone knows that George Washington,

along with most of our nation’s foundingfathers, were devout, evangelical Chris-tians.” Well, not quite so fast. They did referto themselves as Christians but not of theevangelical type. Historians have recordedthat Washington, Adams, Jefferson,Hamilton and most of the other “names” ofthe day held to the belief of the “commongood” — that one should treat his or herfellow human beings with love and re-spect, in the “christian” way. In the1796Treaty of Tripoli, the U.S. position, whichWashington endorsed, said, “... theGovernment of the United States ofAmerica is not, in any sense, founded onthe Christian religion.”

From this writer’s perspective, in thenascent days of our country, the conceptof being a Christian was more commonlyutilized in a verb sense — a loving actiontowards another. Unfortunately, the

connotation of the termChristian in our modernunderstanding has morphedinto a noun — an exclusivestatus, a ticket to heaven fora few who are born again bybelief in Jesus’ sacrifice onthe cross. The foundingfathers’ broader beliefs couldmore likely be found in thereligious philosophy ofDeism, a belief that reasonand observation of the natu-

ral world, without the need for organizedreligion, determines that the universe isthe product of an all-powerful creator.

I’m always interested in observing howCourse principles have played themselvesout throughout history. Back to thequestion: was Washington a Coursestudent? A Course in Miracles was literallynot published in our world (the “illusion” toCourse students) until 1976. Washingtonwas born in 1732 and died in 1799. Ofcourse, having lived hundreds of years

before the Course waspublished, we caneliminate him as anactual Course student. But asthe Course clearly teaches, the principlesof love, forgiveness and oneness are notlimited by linear time, and the experienceof them cannot be gained through anythought system per se, but only byapplying those principles in one’s life. Thisprocess can take place only in the now.Past and future do not qualify.

So with that as our criteria, I suppose wecould state that Washington truly was aCourse student, in content, if not in form.Without a doubt, he practiced many of theCourse principles. And as the Course sooften states, though we are not alwaysaware of it, we all have the potential tobecome “teachers of God.” Washingtonhad great respect for the element ofhuman dignity within every person heencountered. And without overtly know-ing it, I think he was devoted to the higherprinciple of the Course when it says“a universal theology is impossible, but auniversal experience is not only possiblebut necessary”.

One of the most admirable characteris-tics of Washington was how he respect-fully treated others, even his enemies.Under his command, after the ContinentalArmy won a military victory, Washingtonwould issue strict orders to treat theprisoners of war with honor, respect andcare. He was repulsed at the idea of unnec-essary torture, gloating over a victory orplundering a man’s property. In his mind,to participate in any type of vile actiontoward another was beneath one’shumanity. Therefore, he did not wanthimself or his troops to be associated withthose types of actions. The ennobling andfoundational ideals of our nation — “that

”

One of the mostadmirable

characteristics ofWashington washow he respectfullytreated others,

even his enemies.

“

Paul McNeff

Continued on Page 15

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Sacrificing Sacrifice••

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• • • • • • • • • by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff �

Lessons in Light ... Shifting our Perception of Lent

s lesson 323 in A Course in Miraclessays, “I gladly make the 'sacrifice’of fear.” If the idea of releasing

fear and sacrificeappeal to you,then perhaps wecan use the tradi-tional time of Lentas a way to do justthat. The Courseinvites us to lookwith a new vision,guided by the Holy Spirit, to view theideas of Christianity in a new light; notone that separates us from each other,but one that unites us in healing. There-fore, during this time that leads up toEaster, which is referred to as the Lentenseason, we will offer aseries entitled “Lessonsin Light”. Why even dealwith Lent, since theCourse does not speakabout it? Well, it may notsay the word but it doesaddress the concept thatis the focus of Lent, andan important one it is:sacrifice. So, as most inthe western world mightapproach this time fromthe perspective of sacrifice, perhaps wecan offer an alternative: light!

In the Course, light representsknowledge or truth and can be radiatedinto this world. Just as the light of thesun causes life to exist on this planet, sodoes the light we radiate allow others torealize their true life purpose andthereby allow us to know it as well. So,we symbolically allow our light to shineduring this time of Lent so the darknessand illusion of sacrifice may be shoneaway.

In the Christian tradition, Lent is atime of fasting and penitence thatbegins with Ash Wednesday andcontinues until Easter. It is a time of

sacrificing something we value, such asa certain type of food, a particularactivity, etc., so that we might be closerto God, become more holy, and so on. Inthis scenario, God’s love is seen assomething we must bargain for, as theCourse says, “giving to get” (T57), which isthe central belief of the ego’s thoughtsystem. “When you associate giving withsacrifice, you give only because youbelieve that you are somehow gettingsomething better, and can therefore dowithout the thing you give.” (T57)

Under the Holy Spirit’s guidancethere is no sacrifice, for there is nothingto pay or atone for. We are God’s perfectchildren — heirs to His kingdom. In Hispresence, all pain is healed and all

thought of loss is met withpeace. We are asked only tomake the “sacrifice” ofsacrifice (of suffering,sadness, anxiety, doubt,etc.) and to allow God’slove and light to comestreaming into ourawareness.

Therefore, let us use thistime of Lent as a symbolicway of releasing the idea ofsacrifice — a world of

suffering and pain — and to learn to livein the world while not being of theworld. The Course says that truth doesnot demand that we give up the world,for that would appear as sacrifice if westill value it, nor does it advocate wecherish the world. It invites us to walk apath that is between these two, one thatleads away from loss, sacrifice anddeprivation. To follow this path, we areasked to step back and let Him lead theway. We are asked to think of Him awhile each day, so that He may speak tous and tell us of His limitless love andgreat trust. (paraphrase Lesson 155)

This is our dedication as we beginthese Lessons in Light together, that we

may place into God’s hands the pain,fear, worry, suffering, sickness andburdens of life, so that we may awakento the resurrected child of God we trulyare. As the mythical bird, the Phoenix,arose out of the ashes, we too dust offthe years of sacrifice by affirming ourdesire to “step back and let Him lead theway.” (W291)

Lessons in LightThe following lessons will be

practiced and discussed at MDC’s studygroup from Wednesday, February 22through April 4. We invite you to join us.These need not be a substitute for yourregular workbook lesson from theCourse, but rather a supplement, if youso choose. The printed series is availableonline atwww.miraclecenter.org

1stWeek of Light -Ash Wednesday (February 22),Workbook Lesson 157:“Into His Presence would I enter now.”

This is our dedication, to enter intoGod’s presence and allow Him to leadthe way. This awareness and willingnessbecomes a blessing that touches every-one we meet, think of, or who thinks ofus. It becomes a vision that can trulytransform this world and assure us thatpeace and healing are possible, for it isGod’s will for us.

2ndWeek of Light -(February 29),Workbook Lesson 93:“Light and joy and peace abide in me.”

“Salvation requires the acceptance ofbut one thought; — you are as Godcreated you, not what you made ofyourself... Your sinlessness is guaranteedby God.” (W162) We have forgotten ourtrue identity and made a self which con-tradicts God’s opinion. It is time for us to

Beverly Hutchinson McNeff

A

”

“So, we symbolicallyallow our light toshine during thistime of Lent so thedarkness and illusionof sacrifice may be

shone away.

5March / April 2012

stop believing in a lie and join our willwith God’s Will. This is our resurrection,our salvation and the world’s.

3rdWeek of Light -(March 7),Workbook Lesson 46:“God is the Love in which I forgive.”

“God does not forgive because He hasnever condemned,” (W73) but throughHis love we find the strength to look atthe pains of our lives and only see thecalls for love. And as we recognize the“pains” for what they are, we recognizeour innocence and that of all ourbrothers.

4thWeek of Light -(March 14),Workbook Lesson 68“Love holds no grievances.”

“You who were created by Love likeItself can hold no grievances and knowyour Self.” (W115) Therefore if we are to

know God’s gifts and help for us, wemust be willing to “sacrifice” grievances.“Love holds no grievances. I wouldawake to my Self by laying all my griev-ances aside and wakening in Him.”(W114/115)

5thWeek of Light -(March 21),Workbook Lesson 34:“I could see peace instead of this.”

“Peace of mind is clearly an internalmatter. It must begin with your ownthoughts, and then extend outward. It isfrom your peace of mind that a peacefulperception of the world arises.” (W51) It isour choice to experience peace!

6thWeek of Light -(March 28),Workbook Lesson 47:“God is the strength in which I trust.”

Our own strength has failed us, butGod is our safety and strength in every

“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 weeklystudy group CDs mean ever so much to me. And, I thank you and Paul for all the many ways in which you are sending themessage 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 anongoing listener to MDC’s study group you become part of our worldwide spiritual family each week, with access to anonline listener message board so you can continue the conversation and develop a global family of support. Meetingsare lead by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff, Center founder and a 35-year student of the Course, and tackle real lifechallenges using the healing power of the Course. We look forward to welcoming you.

Receive aFREE

CD or mp3 of our meetingsor go online and listen to

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As an ongoing listener, you not only receive the weeklylessons, but you have access to an online listenermessage board so you can continue the conversationand develop a worldwide family of support.

When ordering monthly, each weekly meetingis only $6.50 on CD or $5.00 onmp3! We cancharge your credit card, or debit your check-ing account, automatically once a month.

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circumstance. “Use it [this thought] asyour answer to any disturbance. Remember that peace is your right, because you are giving your trust to thestrength 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. Theywill fail you. Put all your faith in the Loveof God within you; eternal, changelessand forever unfailing. This is the answerto whatever confronts you today.” (W79)

These lessons will be practiced and discussed as part of the Center’s weeklyWednesday night study group startingon February 22, 2012. These meetingsare recorded and available on CD ormp3 download. For information, callMDC at 1-800-359-2246.

�


e made a decision prior to marrying each other to do ourvery best to hold each other’s

hearts gently. Atthe same time,we also made acommitment todo our very bestto have nothoughts or actions thatwould be hurtful to the other person. Throughoutour lives together, these commitmentshave formed an amazing bond and foundation on which our relationship isbased. Diane came into the relationshipwith a gentle energy she has had all of herlife. I, Jerry, on the other hand, could bevery gentle with my patients, but outsideof the office, with the drop of a hat, couldlose that gentleness and become judgmental and attacking. I know, in thedeepest part of my heart, that Diane cameinto my life as a teacher of “gentleness”and as a soulmate demonstrating gentle-ness with the greatest consistency.

My father, in my mind as a child, was avery gentle person. But most of the fatherson the block where I lived were machoguys who would have thought gentlenesswas a sign of weakness, as I did. It was notuntil I was introduced to A Course in Miracles that I saw my father’s gentlenesswas his strength, and something I wantedto learn to demonstrate.

I like to find new ways of reminding myself of the importance of gentleness inmy life. I am what I would call an amateursculptor. I decided to make a sculpture ofDiane’s and my hands crossing each otherand holding the other’s heart. I titled it,“Holding Each Other’s Heart Gently.” It is located by our fireplace so I see it everyday, reminding me to hold Diane’s heartand 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 ofthis sculpture. As we learn from the Coursethat fear and gentleness do not go hand inhand, and decide to let go of fear, gentle-ness — being an integralpart of love — begins toflow as our natural inheritance.

We had a wonderful experience about sevenyears ago when we visitedthe Cecura Center for Attitudinal Healing inGuadalajara, Mexico. Theyhad a group there titled:“For Macho Men Who areNot Afraid to Cry.” It was anamazing group of machomen who wanted to applyAttitudinal Healing to theirlives. They began to become honest about theirfeelings and their fear of love. They beganto become less fearful and learned to hearwith love in their hearts. As a result, theybecame more loving and more gentle. Thegroup could just as well have been titled:“For Men Who are Not Afraid to Be Gentle.”

We like going back to the introductionof the Course and repeating the sentence,“Nothing real can be threatened. Nothingunreal exists. Herein lies the Peace of God.”

When we go beyond believing andknow that God is our Source, and we are

the effect of God’s Love,our fearful mind disap-pears and Love becomesour only reality. We stop believing that ouridentity is a body, and that all form we see

is but an illusion. Wherethere is only love, fear isnowhere to be found. Welive 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 theupcoming election in theUnited States, by and large,we do not see much gentle-ness, love or mutual respect.We see attack, attack andmore attack. We find it helpful to remember thatwhen we see people

attacking one another, or when we findourselves attacking another person, fear isin the air, and love and gentleness havedisappeared.

We do our best to remind ourselves thatthe world we see from our ego-fearfulminds is insane, and we believe the definition that insanity is a state of mind inwhich we are not experiencing ourselvesas Love, and we are not focusing on lovingothers or ourselves.

Just this morning, we heard that the

“

”

I know, in the deepest part of myheart, that Diane

came into my life asa teacher of

“gentleness” and asa soulmate demon-strating gentlenesswith the greatest

consistency.

Heal Your Mind, Heal Your World••

••

••

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• • • • • • • • • by Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane V. Cirincione, Ph.D. �

Jerry Jampolsky & Diane Cirincione

Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane Cirincione, Ph.D., international lecturers and bestselling authors, share their insights and experiences in applying theprinciples of A Course in Miracles in our world. Jerry and Diane’s books and other items are available at www.miraclecenter.org

W

Available from the CenterA Mini Course for LifeFind new choices for dealing with old challengesand get amazingly adaptable lessons for solvingproblems and for whatever life sends your way.

To Order 1-800-359-ACIM(2246) or at miraclecenter.org

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Holding Each Other’s Hearts Gently is the Road to Inner Peace

7March / April 2012

United States is worried about instabilityin the government of Somalia. It occurredto us that this was a reflection of the instability of our ego minds. With that,these thoughts came to mind... Is this notthe time to make our minds more stablewith the consistency of gentleness, loveand forgiveness in our lives? Is it not ourstate of mind that creates the world wesee? Does the world need changing as ourfearful minds tell us, or are those thethoughts and attitudes in our own mindsthat need to be changed? Is it possiblethat, as we see more value in love thanhate, more value in gentleness than attack,we will experience more inner peace, andthat the world we see will become morepeaceful? Is it not possible for each of us tosee the strength of being gentle to bothourselves and others, and to hold eachother’s hearts gently no matter what behavior we see? Is it not possible to healthe nightmare we are in by focusing onhelping others with our gentleness and establishing an energy that is safe for others to be around?

We want to close with this thought wewrote about gentleness...

GentlenessGentleness and KindnessWalk hand in hand

Gentleness and TendernessAre mirrors of each other

Gentleness and CompassionAre twin sisters to each other

Gentleness and Open-heartedness Make up the same piece of cloth

The heart of LoveThat Created usEnvelops us in

GentlenessKindnessTendernessCompassion

They are all parts of the Whole that we callLOVE, which Created us as Essence of Unconditional Love

It is a LOVE that isFormless, timelessAnd eternal and neverEnding

It is a Love whereFear can never be found.Our Creator’s LoveIs always soft, gentle and kind, and neverhurtful, hard or unkind.Gentleness always comesFrom the Strength of the Love from our Creator and is never a sign of weakness. �

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ou are the work of God, and His workis 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 openingmeditations I do at mylectures, we always goover gratitude and appreciation for all theblessings in our lives.We take time to think about and honor allthe good that we can often take forgranted, like fresh drinking water, a bed tosleep in, paved roads to travel on, peoplewho care about us, and such. During thatsection I instruct everyone to “call to mindat least three things youcan be grateful to yourself for — threethings you can honorabout you.” But I dosometimes wonder if anyone is really doing itor not.

It still seems to me somany spiritual types havegotten humility and self-loathing confused. By thesame token, they oftenthink that saying some-thing positive about themselves is bragging or arrogance. There is an actualsuperstitious guilt that rises up as if theywill be punished for having a bold self-confidence! This is INSANITY and a favorite game of the ego mind. It certainlyhas nothing to do with God and nothingto do with the Course. Jesus was quite self-affirming, you know: “I am the light ofthe world. I come that you may have lifeand have it more abundantly!” These areBIG statements of confidence, not of arrogance. He certainly did not go aroundtelling everyone that he was a mess and

had really let himself go and needed toget back to the gym soon.

I recently asked a group of nearly onethousand “spiritual” people to publicly acknowledge themselves in a positiveway... 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 workingon, or who they are trying to forgive today,in what way they are still wounded, whattragedy has most impacted their lives, orwhat their current challenge is -- therewouldn’t have been time or space enoughfor everyone to have their turn. It is one ofthe great delay tactics of the ego to haveus forever working on ourselves so wenever really get around to ENJOYING thefruits of our spiritual practice.

And I am sure every one ofthose folks has read and lovesMarianne Williamson’s famousquote from A Return to Lovethat begins “Our deepest fearis not that we are inade-quate... “ — they’ve probablye-mailed it to their friendsmany times, posted it onFacebook and even have itframed and hanging on thewall in the den. They just don’twant to live it or apply it personally to their own daily

lives because they don’t want to seemconceited. You see, nothing is cheaperthan talk and theory. It is only what we canLIVE and demonstrate that actually hasdiscernable results in our lives. Rememberthe Course tells us the motto of the GreatCampaign is “Listen, Learn and DO!” It’snot “listen, learn and forward it to othersby e-mail.”

Remember, “to teach is to demonstrate.”People are not really listening to our pontifications, they are watching what weDO, 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 weightyou’ve gained, how forgetful and over-whelmed you are, and you never take careof yourself or acknowledge yourself for thegood you’ve done, you teach your daughter to hate herself too no matterhow much you talk to her about self-esteem. You cannot give what you don’thave. You cannot teach what you are unable to demonstrate.

Not only that, but because the Universeis nothing more than a consciousness mirror reflecting our own thoughts back tous, what we withhold from ourselves willseem to be withheld from us by the wholeworld. Then the ego has us going out intothe world to try to get others to give uswhat we have denied ourselves. We wantOTHERS to praise and uplift us with theirwords, but remember this: NO ONE CANGIVE TO YOU WHAT YOU ARE UNWLLINGTO GIVE YOURSELF. And while it is true thatthe Course does bust our chops quite a bitabout the arrogance of our ego thinking, italso teaches us to AFFIRM AND SPEAK ofourselves with love and confidence:

“. . . devote several minutes to allowingyour mistaken thoughts about your attrib-utes to be corrected, and their opposites totake 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 notCourse principle (since the world we see isan illusion created by ego), the biblical creation mythology tells us God SPOKE theworld into being. He SAID “let there belight” and so on. In the same way, we arespeaking our world into being all the time.When we use our words to constantly

“

”

He certainly did notgo around telling

everyone that he wasa mess and had

really let himself goand needed to get

back to the gym soon.

Listen, Learn and DO••

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••

• • • • • • • • • by Jacob Glass �

Jacob Glass has been speaking on spirituality since 1987. He is the author of The Crabby Angels Chronicles and lectures weekly in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Palm Springs, CA.

Y

Jacob Glass

“

August 11•12

at theJOIN ME

CENTER'SCONFERENCE

9March / April 2012

disempower ourselves, it makes fulfillingour Function extremely difficult and delaysour progress. We are to use our words toSTRENGTHEN ourselves so that we CANfulfill our function without timidity or falsehumility. He has been extremely clear intelling us to think of ourselves as a wonderful work of God, wholly loving andLOVABLE. But He doesn’t instruct us toONLY think it, but also to SAY empowering,wonderful words out loud.

So, though I am not suggesting you goaround expounding to everyone just howamazing you are all day long in an obnox-ious manner, I am suggesting you begin toacknowledge DAILY in spoken words yourwonderful God-given attributes, talents,gifts and progress. As Marianne writes,“when we do this we unconsciously giveothers permission to do the same. To teachis to demonstrate”.

“I’m glad that you will continue to send THEHOLY ENCOUNTER in a printed edition. I am ableto concentrate much better reading from paperthan 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 2011. Of course, I will make a donationagain this year, as I agree with you that your work at MDC is needed now more thanever in this day and age.

As there seems to be a financial crisis in the world, I decided to double the amountof 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. Iam able to concentrate much better reading from paper than from a computerscreen. 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 thepeace of God.

We are so grateful for Aleid’s support and comments. We, too, feel there is nosubstitute for a paper copy of THE HOLY ENCOUNTER that you can hold in yourhands and refer to again and again. We have heard from many readers of howthey came across an old issue in a file or a stack of papers and it was just whatthey 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:1-800-359-ACIM(2246) or [email protected]

�

Available from the Center

How to Say YesWhen Your BodySays NoLee Jampolskyexamines how peoplebecome over-whelmed, andoften unableto cope duringa health challenge. Hediscusses theimportance of focusing on innerwork in addition to medical treatment, pointing outthat the mental diet we feed ourselves has profound effects on our physical well-being.

To Order1-800-359-ACIM(2246)

or atmiraclecenter.org

$1895

by Lee Jampolsky

Plus S&H.CA residents add sales tax


he last issue of THE HOLY ENCOUNTERincluded many quotes from myupcoming book (March 2012),

How to Say YesWhen Your BodySays No. In thisissue, I offerCourse students ameans to growfrom most healthchallenges byrecognizing ourfear-based thoughts.

The Three Primary Fears and ThreeTruths That Bring Freedom from Fear

The fears I am referring to are the psychological fears that trap us and limitus. 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

unknownYour inner critic, or ego,

milks these fears for allthey’re worth. My innercritic offered commentaryabout each of these, rang-ing from “I won’t be able tohandle the pain,” to “What ifI die?”

As you become aware ofthe commentary of yourinner critic, you will see thatmost fear, grief, loss, and anger cease tohave power when the commentary is notbeing unconsciously repeated. Further,you will become aware of what the realtruths are in place of the three primaryfears:• Most suffering is caused not by the

situation, but by resistance to what ishappening.

• Regardless of what change is occurring,

we can love more deeply than ever.• Since love is everlasting, death and the

unknown need not be feared.

Watching Your Mental DietIn the 2004 documentary film Super Size

Me, Morgan Spurlock willingly eats onlyhigh-fat fast food and limits his exercisefor thirty days in order to see the effects.As a result, his health and well-being deteriorate greatly. After watching themovie, nobody would argue with the waysdiet and exercise affect health.

When I saw the film, I began to think ofall the ways people put the mental equiva-lent of junk food into their minds, not justfor thirty days, but throughout most oftheir lives. I began to wonder what wouldhappen if, for thirty days, a person hadonly “high-fear” thoughts that led to worry,

anger, lack of forgiveness,and stress. What effectwould this thinking have onhis or her physical, emotional, and spiritualhealth? What if the personhad these fear thoughts formonth after month, yearafter year?

A large percentage ofpeople live on just such amental diet, and their intakeof high-fear thoughts exponentially increases during illness and otherchallenging 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 thatduring a challenge, it would automaticallyabandon fear-based thinking for only healing thoughts, but in fact, the oppositeis the case.

The good news is that it is possible tochange our mental diet. For me, making

this change was at least part of what savedmy life.

However, just employing a program ofpositive thinking never really worked in alasting way for me (or the patients Iworked with). I had to learn how to observe my thoughts and emotions,which is much different than trying tohave only positive thoughts.

Exercise: Observing Your Thoughtsand Feelings

With this exercise, you can practice experiencing the feelings and thoughtssurrounding any health challenge withoutbeing run by them, thus leading to peaceof mind, increased choices, and effectiveresponses.

If you were to go to a nutritionist, one ofthe first things that he or she would likelyask you to do is keep a journal of what youeat. This record is important for a couplereasons. First, our memories are rarely reliable. Second, the act of observing andjournaling is the beginning of positivechange and growth.

Begin keeping a journal of yourthoughts and emotions as if you were abird watcher chronicling the variousspecies you see. A few times a day, sit andwatch your thoughts and feelings, as youdid in the “Quieting the Inner Critic” exercise. Name each thought or emotionas it comes and goes. For example, youmay write, “I am thinking about my next doctor’s appointment, and I am feelinganxious.”

Try to not let yourself get involved ineach thought or feeling; simply observe it,and write it down. Then watch whatthought or feeling comes next. Don’t tryand catch or chase off any “bird”; just writedown a brief description and wait for thenext one. Name your thought or emotion,without grabbing hold of it, and wait forthe next.

T

”

“A large percentageof people live on justsuch a mental diet,and their intake ofhigh-fear thoughts

exponentially increases during illness and otherchallenging times.

Recognizing Spirit••

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••

••

••

•• • • • • • • • • by Dr. Lee Jampolsky, Ph.D. �

How to Say Yes When Your Body Says NoFinding the Silver Lining in Life’s Toughest Health Challenges

Lee Jampolsky

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 www.DrLeeJampolsky.com

March / April 2012 11

Keeping this journal helps you continueto develop a very important skill, one thatwill become central to your focus and pathto healing: the ability to watch your ownthoughts and feelings without being ruledby them in the moment, and ultimatelyturning to the Holy Spirit for guidance.

This skill, in turn, will begin to show youthe impermanence of your thoughts andfeelings (and even the impermanence ofyour body, which we will discuss later). Italso provides a foundation for pain management, if you need that in dealingwith your health challenge.

Exercise: Acknowledging ChoiceConsider whether or not the following

statement is true and applicable for rightnow, or if you believe something different:

I may have not consciously chosen myphysical situation, but I can choose how I respond, what I learn, how I am with otherpeople, and how I live each day.

If this statement is true, what does thismean? If you believe it is false, why is itfalse, and how does that belief affect yourlife?

Deciding what you believe in this regard is essential to finding freedom fromfear, essential in becoming able to say yesto Life.

If you decide that the statement aboveis in fact true, then write it down on a cardand refer to it often. You will be surprisedhow this one action — deciding that thestatement is true and then reading it often— can transform your experience.

Exercise: Extending Love and Kindness

The purpose of this exercise is to reducefear, suffering, and pain. The next time youare thinking about what is happening toyou, telling yourself stories of what mighthappen, worrying, and fighting pain, takea minute and stop — just stop. Consider ita short break, just a few moments. Thinkabout someone in your life who you careabout, or even a stranger, and extend loveto that person. Nothing more than this,but also nothing less than very focusedand complete giving.

You can also do this exercise at timesyou may feel very alone. The next time youare at the doctor’s office or even in a public place, look around you and extendkindness to whomever your eyes landupon. Imagine extending kindness is your

single function, your job of jobs. Or imagine that, in a strange way, alonenessor anxiety triggers in you an auto responseof kindness.

Extending kindness in this way is an extremely effective tool in reducing suffering as well, such as when you’re undergoing medical procedures thatworry you or are painful. As an example,some years ago I was in the hospital withlife-threatening pneumonia that was notresponding to treatment. Due to a highand prolonged fever, most of the time Icould not remember anything and waspretty delirious. But during some tests thatwere very uncomfortable for me, ratherthat focusing on the pain, I focused on

caring in a deep way for the people in theroom, primarily doctors and techniciansthat I did not even know. I don’t knowwhere the idea of doing this came from. Infact, it was not even an idea; it was almostan involuntary action. This may soundodd, 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 simpletruth: when we are extending love and kindness (or compassion) in the moment, itis difficult to suffer as we do when we areconsumed with our own situation and pain.

This exercise is simple enough to try onyour own, so let your experience speak foritself. �

“Where darkness...Continued from Page 1

This Easter season, may we againawaken to the resurrection by choosingfor love. We don’t make this choice be-cause we should, but because there isnothing else worthy of a child of God — itis the only choice possible if we hope toknow ourselves and the peace that we alltruly search for. As we reach out to those“dark” situations or relationships, let us realizethat we do not do so alone.The power of God’s love iswith us, and it will be triumphant over the stormsof our lives.

I hope we at Miracle Distribution Center (MDC)can be helpful to you onyour resurrecting journey,through our many services.During the Lenten season, Iwill be presenting our series called“Lessons in Light” (found on page 4 andalso online at www.miraclecenter.org).This just might give you an opportunity toview and embrace this season in a littledifferent way.

I hope our East Coast friends will join usthis year in Baltimore, Maryland, where Iwill be presenting a “Weekend of Miracles” workshop on April 13-14(details on the back of this issue). Theseweekends give us a chance to go moredeeply into the Course to understand

what it’s saying and the gift of healing(right NOW) it is offering us. New andlong-time students alike have been inspired by these workshops, and I inviteyou to visit our website to watch a briefvideo about the workshop and read howothers have been inspired and helped bythem. I hope you’ll join me.

Remember we are here for you, so go toour website often for updates and information on all of our free services, orgive us a call and request a catalog that

lists all our free services. Together, we will experiencethe light!

Where darkness was Ilook upon the light.

“Father, our eyes are opening at last. Your holyworld awaits us, as our sightis finally restored and we cansee. We thought we suffered.But we had forgot the Sonwhom You created. Now wesee that darkness is our own

imagining, and light is there for us to lookupon. Christ’s vision changes darkness intolight, for fear must disappear when love hascome. Let me forgive Your holy world today,that I may look upon its holiness and under-stand 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)

�

”

“During those timesof darkness in our

lives, let us remember the light

-- the answer -- that stands right

beside it.


“Faith Lifts”Continued from Page 1

there. Let Me make the one distinction foryou that you cannot make, but need tolearn. 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 thesimple truth. And you will love it because youwill understand it. (T272/T-14.11.3:3)

This is a beautiful and very comfortingpassage because it not only states thetruth, but asks very little of us except thatwe give our faith to the Holy Spirit whowill do the rest for us. Even though it asksvery little of us, the Course cautions usthat this is the hardest lesson “twistedminds” will ever learn. To put our faith inthe fact that only the truth is true, thatnothing else but this matters, and to giveour faith to the Holy Spirit to teach us thislesson, is a real “faith lift!” Part of what prevents us from giving our faith to theHoly Spirit is we cannot figure out how Hecould fix the problems we see all aroundus. But remember, theHoly Spirit does not workfrom our frame of refer-ence. He has a “higher” (amore complete) frame ofreference, that of God. Weare not asked to under-stand how the Holy Spiritcan solve the problems oflife, but to have faith that ifHe says it can be solved,then it will be solved.“There is no problem inany situation that faith willnot solve.” (T368/T-17.VII.2)

But real conviction in faith comes fromexperience and not from words. As weread in the Course, “We place faith in theexperience that comes from practice, notthe means we use. We wait for the experi-ence, and recognize that it is only hereconviction lies.” (W331/W-Part 1.V.12:2) So thefollowing are a few “faith lifts” from theCourse that might help in your practice towards your conviction in faith!

“Faith Lift” #1: “Forget what you haveseen, and raise your eyes in faith to whatyou now can see.” (T406/T-19.IV.10:5) Just

because you are a student of the Coursedoes not mean that you will not face challenges and limitations in your life, butyou will use these situations as teachingaids to learn what to avoid and what toseek. As we read in the Course, “Do not despair, then, because of limitations. It isyour function to escape from them, butnot to be without them. If you would beheard by those who suffer, you must speaktheir language.” (M64/M-26.4) This does notmean we are to suffer, but that throughour challenges and opportunities we willbe able to understand what others may beexperiencing and raise our eyes in faith toanother understanding of the “suffering.”

A while back, I read about a young manwho, after murdering his parents at homethe night before, opened fire on his class-mates in a public school. Reports such asthese are not new and can cause us to feelsick and discouraged by the trend oftoday’s youth. And yet if we “raise our eyesin faith” we can escape from the limita-tions of this situation and see a new perspective. An interview that followedthis incident was with the boys who tackled the youth who opened fire, killing

two students and woundingmany. These boys were askedwhy they risked their lives.Their response was that theydidn’t think of it as riskingtheir lives, but rather as helping their friends. Theysaid they really felt no fear fortheir own lives, they justknew they needed to help. Itwas because of their heroicmeasures that many studentswere saved. This situationshould give us all a sense ofhope and faith in our youth

and inspire us to lift our eyes from the images we have been bombarded with inthe press to a new image of our youth.

“Faith Lift” #2: “Put all your faith in theLove of God within you.... This is the answer to whatever confronts you today.”(W79/W-50.4:3) This thought from the work-book of the Course also reminds us if weput our faith in illusions they will fail us.Why should that surprise us? After all, weall know the story of the man who built hishouse on sand, and “El Nino” came andwashed it away, whereas the wise man

”

“We are not asked tounderstand how theHoly Spirit can solvethe problems of life,but to have faith

that if He says it canbe solved, then itwill be solved.

built his house on rock, a solid foundationthat 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 haveplaced our faith in nothing, in illusions —in a faulty foundation. “Faith makes thepower of belief, and where it is investeddetermines its rewards. For faith is alwaysgiven what is treasured, and what is treas-ured is returned to you.” (T261/T-13.IX.2:5)

We believe, with great “faith,” we are thisdistorted image of God’s child, deservingof pain, suffering and sacrifice. So whenthe “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 youheard, because you have preferred toplace still greater faith in the disaster youhave made.” (T334/T-16.III.8:4) And yet God istelling us of His love for us, that we deserve His love, and that His love is theanswer to whatever may confront us. Allwe need do is call upon that love in faithand withdraw our faith in our illusory images (of ourselves and the world).

For the past four seasons, the BBC hasbeen airing a miniseries entitled Merlin. It’s an interesting series about the myth ofthis wizard (best known in the mythologyof Camelot) who was created to keep thebelief in magic alive. Merlin rebelledagainst the queen of magic, who suppos-edly created him, but her powers weremuch stronger than his. The harder hetried to defeat her, the stronger she grew.Finally he discovered her weakness: simplywithdraw the investment in magic. Ifeveryone just ignored her and her magic,she would have no power, since magiconly had power as long as there was faithin it. And so it is with our egos and the illusions they weave. As we withdraw ourfaith from the illusions and build our faithon the love of God within us, the truthgrows stronger. Since there is nothing elsebut the truth, the rest simply disappears.“The way to correct distortions is to with-draw your faith in them and invest it onlyin what is true.” (T39/T-3.II.6)

“Faith Lift” #3: “Your capacity for allegiance to a thought system may bemisplaced, but it is still a form of faith andcan be redirected.” (T91/T-6.I.2:5) Thisthought should give us a great sense of

13March / April 2012

peace and accomplishment. We may have,for many years, put our faith in this worldand the things of this world, but all our efforts are not in vain. The practice in theallegiance we have given this world cannow benefit us if we are willing to givethat same allegiance to the Holy Spirit. Hisjob is to take all of our years of training inthe ways of the world and now redirectthem in such a way that they can now healus and the world. If it were left up to us todo the redirecting, we would have goodreason to be concerned, but it is not. Godhas given us a guide in the Holy Spirit whocan and will help us. “Step back in faithand let truth lead the way. You know notwhere you go. But One Who knows [theHoly Spirit] goes with you. Let Him leadyou with the rest.” (W292/W-155.10:3)

Our faith truly lies in the Holy Spirit’sability to transform our lives, not inwhether we can understand how it can beaccomplished. As we read in the Course,“...if escape from guilt was given to theHoly Spirit as His purpose, and by One toWhom nothing He wills can be impossible,the means for its attainment are morethan possible. They must be there, and youmust have them....For if you have themeans to let the Holy Spirit’s purpose beaccomplished, they can be used. Andthrough their use will you gain faith inthem.” (T472/T-22.II.5:6)

The fact that the Holy Spirit can redirectwhere we place our faith and thus transform our lives is certainly reinforcedwhen you think of the life of Oprah Winfrey. Here is a woman who is consid-ered one of the most powerful women inthe world because of her work in themedia and philanthropy. At the age of 58,her personal fortune is estimated at 2.7billion dollars. After a successful twenty-five-year run of her TV show, she now runsher own TV network. She established aschool in South Africa to give girls achance to break the cycle of poverty ofthis black female population. She estab-lished the “world’s largest piggy bank,”where people from all over the world havedonated their spare change to raise millions of dollars (matched by Winfrey) tosend disadvantaged kids to college. Andshe has gotten a country faced with an illiteracy crisis back to reading with herbook club. All this from a woman who was

�

born to unmarried parents in 1954, raisedby a grandmother on a Mississippi farmwith no indoor plumbing, and raped by acousin as a child. It’s apparent Winfrey’smission and message have been to let theHoly 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 theHoly Spirit can redirect our faith and circumstances in life into a transformativepower that can heal us and our world. “Onyour little faith, joined with His under-standing, He will build your part in theAtonement [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 fromour bottoms to our faces to make ourselves beautiful, but what will trulybring beauty to our lives is to lift our faith.This world may show us many reasons tobe faithless, but let us remember to lift oureyes in faith to the transformative solutionGod is holding out to us. As we read in A Course in Miracles, “As faithlessness willkeep your little kingdom barren and separate, so will faith help the Holy Spiritprepare the ground for the most holy garden that He would make of it.” (T401/T-19.I.15) Let us plant our faith in Godand watch the beauty it will create in ourlives and world.


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Share a Miracle••

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•• • • • • • • • • by Allison Rittle �

Lessons from Windex

This column shares the everyday “miracles” or, as A Course in Miracles says, the “shifts in our perception” that are constantlytaking place in our lives to remind us of our unity and love. We invite readers to share their “miracles” with us.

y favorite part of cleaning a bathroom is spraying the mirrorand wiping it clean. Last week, as

I was completingthis task for thethousandth time,it occurred to mewhy I like that jobso much. Let meexplain.

Like any normal person, Imake mistakes (gasp!). Although I do wishI could just one day “see the light” andstop drifting into illusion, I know everymistake I make (or anyone else who makesa mistake that I believe to affect me insome way) teaches me another very im-portant lesson. The lessons differ from one another, but one thing Ilearn every time is that nomatter how big the mistakeis — or how many peopleare hurt by that mistake — I can just pick myself up,dust myself off and start allover again. Clean slate.

The most importantthing I can do after I make amistake — for myself andothers — is to remember Iam trying to be a lovingperson even though myego took the wheel for amoment, and to forgive myself and moveon. I believe that is the most importantpart and the biggest lesson in the mistake,but I also find for me, it is the hardest part.

When you are traveling down thatdownward spiral and forgetting love at themoment, it is natural to be frustratedabout the mistake, frustrated with yourselffor making the mistake, frustrated withyourself for not moving on yet and well,

gosh — will you get over it already! Atsome point you have to jump off of theride and then afterwards, it is easy tolaugh at yourself and say “geez, my ego really took over today.” That’s why learning the “forgive and move on” lessonis so important. The faster you can do that,the less time is spent with your ego in control. And the less time spent with yourego in control, the happier you will be. Ifonly it was as easy as I make it sound inwriting.

Think of the word “forgiveness”. Pictureit in your head. What do you think of first?I used to associate forgiveness with forgiv-ing others. Forgiveness = people will dothings that hurt your ego, but to move oncompletely, you must forgive them fully. I always related forgiveness to others’

mistakes. Now I realize howfunny that is. Every time Ithought of forgiveness, I focused on the mistakesothers might make, not themistakes I inevitably willmake at some point (I amhuman after all!). I thought Ihad fully understood the forgiveness lesson and myego was quite proud of myself for doing so! But Inow realize my ego justwants to make me out asbetter than others. Only

other people make mistakes — I wouldnever sink so low as to make a mistake, myego wants me to believe.

How ironic that is! Forgiveness is allabout letting go and giving up a grudge.Yet I held tightly to the notion that mistakes that needed forgiving were forother people to make. I thought I knewwhat forgiveness was, but in truth, I had somuch to learn! Forgiving someone else

and forgiving yourself are exactly thesame thing. They both have to do with understanding you forgot love at that moment. When you forgive yourself for amistake, you realize you forgot love at thatmoment you made the mistake, and youcome to terms with it and move on. Whenyou forgive someone else for their mistake, you realize you forgot love at thatmoment, and so you thought what theother person did was “wrong.” When youthink someone else has made a mistake,you are making a mistake right at that moment when you believe what they didwas a mistake! Ha! What a concept. I amstill trying to grasp it!

A Course in Miracles lesson 121, “Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness,”helps me greatly. Whenever I need toremember about forgiveness, I love sayingto myself the meditation at the end of thelesson: “Forgiveness is the key to happiness.I will awaken from the dream that I am mortal, fallible, and full of sin, and know Iam the perfect Son of God.”

As I sprayed the spotted mirror andwiped it clean, I saw my reflection evenclearer than before. I realized that is theperfect metaphor for forgiving and mov-ing on. When something happens thatmakes my own mirror spotted, I need totake the Windex (i.e., a spray of love) and atowel and clean my slate as well as I can. Ineed to forgive myself fully for any “mistake,” and I need to forgive all theother children of God for their “mistakes.”Doing that frees me up so I can move onto the job I believe to be the most important in my life: filling up my cup withlove until it is brimming over so I can sharethat love with others.

M

Allison Rittle

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 isto be a loving and compassionate person. She loves spending time with her family, being with children, and serving others.

”

“That’s why learningthe ‘forgive and

move on’ lesson is soimportant. Thefaster you can do

that, the less time isspent with your ego

in control.

15March / April 2012

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 areLife, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”— seemed to have already been imbuedinto the very warp and woof of Washing-ton’s consciousness.

So where did Washington get his spiritual savvy? From the same place youand I get it: practice. Chernow documentshow Washington, though he made manymistakes, had a great capacity to learnfrom them and tried withgreat vigilance not to repeatthem. No doubt he was a follower of the “golden rule”and used it as a generaloverarching guide for his life.But it takes practice not toboast over our successes orto see the innocence in ourbrother. As the Course says,“But think not that He doesnot need your part [your willingness] tohelp Him with the rest. For in your part liesall of it, without which is no part complete,nor is the whole [the experience ofheaven] completed without your part.” Ourpart is to simply have the willingness to beused as an agent for healing and good.

Just as Washington learned from hischallenges, we too can learn from ours. Asa Course student for more than 25 yearsnow, one might expect that I’ve got thisthing down. Well, I’m here to tell you thatat the time of this writing, I haven’t as-cended yet. I do think, however, that I amnow much better at being aware of thevoice of the ego. As the Course says, “Theego always speaks first.” You may think thisis a little thing, but I can assure you that itis a giant step in our path to wholeness.We cannot allow the problem to be fixeduntil we are aware of it. Once we are fullyaware of it, then we have the choice, eitherto give it over to the Holy Spirit and allowthe healing to occur, or to project our egothoughts into the situation and continuechasing our tails round and round.

Since coming out of fundamentalism,my ego relentlessly encourages me to

believe that this judgmental Christianthought system is my enemy. As Washing-ton had the British Army as his enemies, Ihave my fundamentalist evangelicals. As achurch choral director by profession, whenI first became a student of A Course in Miracles, I thought I could never serve achurch that held to a repressive theology.Listening to the same tired old sermonsabout God’s wrath and retribution was abhorrent. The only way of escapethrough accepting Jesus’ gift of havingdied on the cross for my sins and accepting him as my personal savior wasno longer for me. Staying away from thesemainline churches worked for a while as I

carefully sought employ-ment in churches thatwere fairly “liberal” in theirtheology and therefore, tomy ego, did not qualify as“the enemy.”

About twelve years agothis all changed. Little did Iknow it, but a spiritualgraduate school was awaiting me just aroundthe corner. The church I

had been serving for six years hired a new,youthful pastor who, in their hope, wasgoing to infuse new life back into thechurch and save it from its declining membership. The only problem: he was adevout evangelical! The entire content ofhis sermons was pretty much limited tosharing Jesus with your brother and bringing your brother to Christ. As youmight expect, this was a very difficult situation for my ego, as it kept seeing thispastor outside the realm of the gentlerCourse message. Even though I knew theCourse taught about entering the ark “twoby two” and seeing the innocence in mybrother, to my ego that was definitely notthe way to go with this pastor. He neededto be saved from his wayward thinking. Doyou see how subtly the ego works? Iwanted to be right and make him wrong.We would talk about our differences —how if he could just bend a little on hisrigid theology, he might even attract morepeople to the church — but to no avail.The ego likes us to think we have to joinon the level of form, but so often that isnot the answer.

I must confess that seeing my pastor in

his innocence has been difficult for meand a real challenge to my spirituality. Butover the past twelve years, step by step, little by little, I have learned how to forgiveas I allow the Holy Spirit within me to seethe pastor through Christ’s eyes. It’s notjust a one-time event, however. It is a moment-by-moment consciousness ofholding him in truth. As the Course says, Imust be vigilant about my peace. And tothe extent that I allow healing and oneness to reign, then joy and peaceabound. We can once again work togetherin peace and creativity and in turn, mymusic is not stifled because of my judgments.

Through these types of challenges,through these difficult blocks, therein liesmy salvation. “This is the day when vainimaginings part like a curtain, to revealwhat lies beyond them. Now is what is really there made visible, while all theshadows which appeared to hide it merelysink away. Now is the balance righted, andthe scale of judgment left to Him Whojudges true. And in His judgment will aworld unfold in perfect innocence beforeyour eyes. Now will you see it with theeyes of Christ. Now is its transformationclear to you.” (W311/W-164.4) The miracle isthat at the time when I do become awareof my separatist ego thoughts and, in turn,allow the Holy Spirit to see through theeyes of Christ, then the barriers comedown, oneness and joy are restored, hallelujah!

As the Course teaches, it is but one ofmany paths to God. I’m not positive, but Ithink the Jesus of the Course probablycouldn’t care less whether George Washington was a Course student. Butwhether it is George Washington in 1776or Paul McNeff in 2012, I’m confident thatSpirit was/is there, by his/my side, encour-aging us to follow the light that is alreadywithin us. Love our enemies. Do good tothose who curse you. Bless that pastorwho follows the fundamentalist thought system — it’s only seen that way with myjudgmental ego thoughts, anyway. Enterthe ark “two by two,” for in that conscious-ness we will be at one with our brotherand be restored to our spiritual freedom. It is but our choice.

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“ Truth is true. Nothing else

matters, nothing elseis real, and

everything beside itis not there.

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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!

at the “faith lifts” center's “where darkness · the light! where darkness was i look...

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