Dear Miracle Workers,
A friend was in pain. She’d been through cancer and then hip surgery and now painful, red, swollen and itching hives covered her. As an A Course In Miracles student, she wondered, "What darkness am I harboring that I keep manifesting all of this pain?" Her question isn’t unique. Somehow we’ve come to believe that an “unhealed” body is the sign of an unhealed mind. The truth is something else.
Bodies are "a learning device for the mind...and not lessons in themselves." (T2.VII.6:3) The idea that our painful bodily circumstances show how far we have to go in our healing journey, really makes no sense. If you are “here” – or at least think you are – you are, by definition, “unhealed.” If you are here, it is your job to be “here” AND unhealed and to work on healing. As a result, you will display “unhealed” thoughts, behavior, and bodies. If there were no reason for you to do so, you wouldn’t be here.
Rather than signifying an unhealed mind, they point instead to a mind seeking a way to speed up the curriculum. They are witness to a determination to find a unity of everlasting peace. It makes no sense to ask, what does this say about me? You are a perfect child of God, Love itself embodied. Ask instead, “What is this trying to tell me?” The message is always intensely personal.
Some months earlier my friend had declared, “I’m not going to repeat these life lessons anymore. I’m going to get it now!” meaning in this “lifetime.” Seen in that light, those angry, red welts – that’s the universe coming to help a strong and determined soul meet her goals. Instead of symbolizing how far off the path she’s fallen, they show she is moving forward with determination. You go, girl!
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #268, Jan. 7 2021)
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A Course in Miracles tells us that even our preferred dreams are obstacles to our ultimate goal which is to awaken from all illusions. "The dreams you think you like would hold you back as much as those in which the fear is seen." (FIP.T.29.IV.2:1) It is clear then that we must recognize this so we can experience our reality which is peace, joy, and love. My talk will focus on coming to terms with this form of escapism so we can be in the mental space which allows for the miracle to occur thus reinforcing our belief and experience of our Truth or Infinite Reality. 22 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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The message of the Course is very consistent on this issue. The world we experience is an internal mental construct of our own making. There is no one actually out there but ourselves. "... you will begin to learn and understand ... when you met someone else, you had thought that he was someone else. And every holy encounter in which you enter fully will teach you this is not so." (OrEd.Tx.8.22) Actually there is no “out there” at all. It is all a dream, or better yet, an hallucination our mind is having. "What if you recognized this world is an hallucination? What if you really understood you made it up?" (OrEd.Tx.20.73) Let’s treat the question asked here as literal and not rhetorical. What would our experience of life be IF we understood that we made the world up? I believe then we would walk the world as Miracle Workers like Jesus did, and this is exactly what ACIM is calling us to do.
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This is a famous phrase used by the British television comedy sketch group Monty Python in the 1970s. It was used to introduce something that was possibly bizarre, and had no relation to the previous segment. ACIM sometimes speaks of possible “future” states that seem quite bizarre and have no relation to the current world and its science as we know it. Look at this phrase from ACIM, "[The Real World] is not lit with artificial light, and night comes not upon it. There is no day that brightens and grows dim." (OrEd.Tx.12.59) This is not talking about Heaven or Reality, but the healed world, the last step before Heaven. Yet how could this be? Perhaps this teaching from A Course of Love gives us a clue, "This is a harmony and cooperation that might one day extend to the sun and a demonstration that the sun need not rise – or perhaps need not set – and the earth would still be safely spinning in its orbit." (D:6.12) I call on everyone to let go of what seems scientific and possible, and to prepare for something completely different – something truly miraculous.
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Recent events in our world suggest that we must attack, because we have been attacked. We must erect barriers, fences, barbed wired and call in the armed forces in a show of overwhelming force. Of course, some of this is required and necessary, but what we cannot overlook is how the recent happenings in the dream projection reveal the diabolical work of the ego. The ego relishes the drama and the intense emotions of fear, guilt, and blame that we now can see. The Holy Spirit gently reminds us to choose Again. Any form of an attack thought is a call for love. As miracle workers we are called to bring the light and forgiveness to all calls for love. My talk we expand upon these ideas that touch on all aspects of our perceptional lives gently reminding us to go within and forgive. 26 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
Dear Miracle Workers,
In 2002 Catch Me If You Can, a film by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, was released. The movie was based on a real life con artist who was expert at outsmarting law enforcement. The ego is much like our protagonist in this movie. The ego seeks to constantly play the con game with us through a multitude of deceptions. These deceptions seem so real! We experience an argument in one of our relationships. We turn on the news and our sacred democratic institutions seem to be under assault. We experience people dying due to a once in a century pandemic. The ego/con is serving up the drama of deception. How do we know?
A Course in Miracles tells us "I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace." (OrEd.Tx.5.96) We can tell when we are upset, sad, anxious or any of the myriad ways of not being at peace. Jesus challenges us to out the con of this thought system by observing our reactions to all external stimuli! This is simple but not easy for most of us. We know on some level this is a con that we are perpetuating on ourselves, "The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself." (OrEd.Tx.27.86) This is an amazing insight, but it's difficult to understand when we are in the middle of the ego con. What to do then?
Well, we ask for help in exposing the ego's cons. We ask Jesus for the miracle with great desire or as much desire as possible. As we do this more and more, we begin to see the cons faster and heal them more quickly. A Course in Miracles reminds us what Jesus would have us do, "He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while." (OrEd.Tx.27.85) Join with Jesus by laughing at the con with him and you will experience the miracle and the love of God.
(originally published in Miracles Weekly #269, Jan. 14, 2021)
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This past week we were challenged by the image of sisters, brothers, and others, storming the USA Capital building in Washington, DC. Armed force had to be used to turn back the people. Violence erupted and some people appear to have died. One woman was apparently shot and killed inside the Capital building itself. Surely we all want to be a healing influence in this situation. The Song of Prayer says, "You first forgive, then pray, and you are healed." (So.3.IV.4.1) Forgiveness is always the first step - but I see that many have formed strong, special hate relationships that they are very invested in. People will challenge their special love relationships much easier than the special hate ones. I know we all want to be part of this healing, then it is time to do the unthinkable, forgive the unforgivable, and then start trusting the world. "The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up." (OrEd.Mn.4.3)
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Many people appear to be looking for ways to escape from the challenges of life - as if life itself was a problem. Life is a gift, an enormous treasure, and a big work responsibility. There is a quote usually attributed to Abraham Lincoln, although he probably never said it, "Folks are about as happy as they have made their minds up to be." How true. Let's make up our minds to be happy this new year. What I know is we will never be happy if we are not fulfilling our function given us by Holy Spirit, and Holy Spirit doesn't give us the function of escaping physical life since physical life isn't a problem. Holy Spirit has big plans for us. He wants us to be leaders. "Let us together follow in this way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way but find it not." (WkBk.SpTp361.2) This is not escape. This is work responsibility accepted.
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I realize that there are many distortions associated with the celebration of Christmas which have been introduced over the past 2000 years. The holiday has been commercialized by becoming a secular and capitalist holiday. Another valid critique is how the true message of Jesus' teaching was lost by many folks who couldn't understand it and became afraid. His life and teachings became mythological and less spiritually authentic. My Christmas' message will be about how we can apply the essence of Jesus' teachings from A Course in Miracles and experience the Holy Instant. The Holy Instant provides us with the true meaning of Christmas which is being in a state of peace with all of our brothers and sisters. Please join me and my fellow brothers and sisters at this Sunday's gathering and experience the true meaning of Christmas.
While every ACIM student will probably agree that the Course is all about healing, there are vast differences on whether the Miracles student believes that we COULD – or even SHOULD – expect this healing to manifest physically in our bodies, or in the bodies of others. Various teachers have dug proverbial trenches into the ground about this discussion with dogmatic proclamations. Where a student stands on this issue has defined many things about them: favorite Course authors, favorite ACIM organizations, and even which Course edition they study.
While I definitely have my own opinions about this (you all probably know what they are) I recognize that our community is broad, and we ALL are ACIM students regardless. There is a place for all ACIM students, and all approaches, in the "big tent" that is the Community Miracles Center. The seven, long term, ACIM students who make up the CMC Board of Directors do not all agree on this – yet we all agree in our love of the Course and in our dedication to the Community Miracles Center.
I am the coach of the CMC Healing Team and we DO celebrate and acknowledge when healing manifests in physical form. "WooHoo!" However all healing is worth celebrating and the psychological healing from fear to peace is always worth achieving, and always worth celebrating as well. In this holiday season of 2020 let us put our theological differences aside and acknowledge that we are all Miracles students and with cooperation we can accomplish so much more. "My own injunction, 'Do this in remembrance of me' is the request for cooperation from miracle workers." (OrEd.Tx.3.10)
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #266, Dec. 16 2020)
Rev. Tony Ponticello
Rev. Peter Graham
Deb Canja
Rev. Joanie Schaeffer-Goss
Rev. Paula Carpe
Rev. Kim Wilson
