One of the most sobering and refreshing quotes from A Course in Miracles is surely Jesus’ assertion in (T-7.VII.3:1) that “you do not need God’s blessing, for that you have forever. But you do need yours.” Not only does this mean that God isn’t concerned with time and space at all; it also means that we do not need to work hard in this world to atone for our supposed sinfulness. But we do need to honestly look at what we have conditioned ourselves to think!
Studying A Course in Miracles, we are taught to look at just how unforgiving and condemning our minds are most of the time, consciously and unconsciously. Since, according to ACIM, the outer is merely a reflection (or projection) of the inner, it must follow that we silently condemn ourselves all the time. Indeed, even though consciously we make think of ourselves are loving, mindful and helpful, deep down in the unconscious underwater iceberg of our mind, we believe we are unworthy of God’s love because we rejected His Oneness Love. Having been born from the idea of separation, all we do in time and space comes down to further separation and condemnation.
Sooner or later we realize that nothing here works; nothing lasts. Often we cover up this disappointment by inflating our ego, attributing all kinds of ‘positive’ characteristics to it. This merely strengthens our identification with the separated ego. Decades later we still do not experience lasting inner peace; we might conclude that A Course in Miracles doesn’t work.
Therefore, when Jesus talks about forgiveness as the ‘royal road to peace’, this requires honest and unconditional forgiveness of ourselves. This requires the willingness to accept, at least in part, that we are not an ego. We are pure spirit. God is a loving Father Who will gladly welcome the prodigal Son back in the ‘Oneness joined as One’, which is our true Home for all eternity. Salvation is reminding ourselves that this dualistic world of time and space is not our Home. (T-25.VI.6:1)
When trying to muster the willingness to be “vigilant only for God and His Kingdom” (T-6.V), your clever ego will devise all sorts of strategies to sabotage this. You might, for example, feel guilty over failing to maintain the spiritual vigilance that you know will bring you Home. The key is to turn on the ‘observant decision maker’ in your mind, above the ego’s battleground, and gently smile at it all, knowing you are already safe anyway. All we need do is stop condemning and stop interfering with the Holy Spirit’s quiet voice of intuition. I always like to emphasize that the process of taking Jesus’ hand comes down to four words: “Letting go, letting come”.
Also see my seven “guidelines for living in an illusory world” in “Miracles or Murder: a guide to concepts of A Course in Miracles”. This guidebook is published in March 2016 by Outskirts Press and is now available at Amazon.com:
“Miracles or murder” has been endorsed by Gary Renard and Cindy Lora-Renard: “Jan-Willem’s book is a wonderful summary and recap of the key concepts in A Course in Miracles, furthering one’s understanding and meaning behind this non-dualistic teaching. All the essential elements are brought together with the author pointing out a key theme in the Course, which is the understanding and practice of true Forgiveness. We highly recommend this book as a helpful complement to the teachings of the Course.”
This blog aims at further clarifying the message of this guidebook. It is hoped this will help to speed up your spiritual journey Home.
A Course in Miracles describes this way to lasting inner peace, theoretically through its textbook, and practially through its workbook and manual for teachers. However, to many first-time readers, the concepts seem too complex, abstract or incomprehensible, and they choose to pass on it altogether. This guidebook aims at clarifying some concepts that we are all familiar with, but which have a different meaning in A Course in Miracles.
Miracles or Murder 