Dear Miracle Worker,
The other day I used Super Glue to fix something – and it didn’t go well. The pieces were small, the glue is runny, and I was in a hurry. Too soon I realized a piece I glued first was preventing others from lining up. Worse, my fingers were stuck together.
Getting Super Glue on your fingers is usually no big deal. But this was next level. My thumb and forefinger were stuck together in a permanent a-ok sign. I tried pulling them apart, but that was going to hurt – a lot! I googled it. Soap and warm water? Nope. Margarine or olive oil? Nope. And then I saw it! My big, sharp kitchen knife. You know when you use a knife to cut through the clear tape on a package? That was my idea.
Carefully I pulled my fingers apart and then really, really gently started sawing between them with the big knife – half expecting to cut off my finger tip. But I didn’t!! It worked!! My fingers were free!
What does that have to do with the Course? A friend said you can go to the Course with any problem, open it to any page and find something right on point. And right after the glue episode I noticed how many times we are told to go slowly in our practice. "The world trains for reliance on one's judgment as the criterion for maturity and strength. Our curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of salvation." (OrEd.Mn.9.2)
My big hurry didn’t fix what was broken. My rush to start gluing was a rush to judgment without pausing for guidance. And my glued fingers were like the mess that results. Who knew there could be so much wisdom in Super Glue?
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #342, June 21 2022)
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The idea that a powerful psychosis can capture the minds of a mass of society is called “mass formation,” or sometimes (inaccurately) “mass formation psychosis.” When allowed to proceed, mass formation causes people to do crazy, destructive, and violent things that are obviously not in their own interests. This has gone on repeatedly in our world with Nazi Germany always being a prime example of the dire consequences that can happen if mass formation is not effectively stopped. While learning about this I (Rev. Tony) obviously saw that this is the condition that almost all are under in regards to the physical world and it being inhabited by seemingly separate people. It is a mass formation of a colossal scale. "This is an insane world, and do not underestimate the actual extent of its insanity. There is no area of your perception that it has not touched." (OrEd.Tx.13.50) It causes us to do crazy things, destructive things, and violent things which are not in our best interests – like sickness, death, and war for example. Let’s explore mass formation and how we can apply this theory – and more importantly – it’s solution to the world illusion. 32 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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Dear Miracle Worker,
ACIM is so easy that there are times I simply refuse to do it. Refusing Spirit’s guidance is so ignorant and so insane that shame and guilt keeps me from returning. I have to admit that I still want “my way” in the dream. That’s what causes my insane decision for more insanity. But Spirit is never completely shut out. I’m still receiving guidance! It’s just quieter. That means I didn’t really choose insanity.
“Let Him be judge of what you are, for He has certainty in which there is no doubt …. Let Him be judge as well of everything that seems to happen to you in this world. … Let Him evaluate each thought that comes to mind, remove the elements of dreams, and give them back to you as clean ideas that do not contradict the Will of God.” (OrEd.WkBk.151.8.10.13)
Wait. What?! You mean that’s all I have to do? Just be willing? Just be willing to see things differently? Just be willing to hear the guidance? Just be willing to hear the Voice for God? What the heck! I forgot! I completely forgot! I’ve been rolling around in my ego garbage thinking there was more to do in order to return to God! There’s a part in the Course that says we’re apt to be personally insulted that we are not asked to do more. Hilarious when you really think about it! To do more is to interfere!
The Course says how to do it, “And we lift our hearts in true humility.” (OrEd.WkBk.152.10) Another part of the Course says to forget everything including this Course and come empty handed unto God. Easy! We can all do this. Let’s not let our mesmerizing stories stop or delay us. No shame and no guilt need stay with us anymore.
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #341, June 14 2022)
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The summer travel and vacation season is upon us and people are out and about. After our usual travel cycle being derailed in 2021, and outright taken away in 2020, by the Covid pandemic people seem to have gotten the message that they have permission to move about country (and even the world) again. "Your brothers are everywhere. You do not have to seek far for salvation." (OrEd.Tx.9.38) ACIM has been described as salvation through relationship and I think this is an accurate description of our spiritual practice. And nothing says relationship like mingling with diverse groups of people. Let’s not let this milestone slip by without some acknowledgement. As we finally emerge totally from “shelter-in-place” mitigation strategies let’s embrace the reclaimed ability to encounter our many sisters, brothers, and others in all their diversity with its increased ability to heal us. 29 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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In a couple of days I will glide through my birthday. As many know, I do not focus or broadcast “my years” anymore. However, I still love to celebrate my birthday. I feel I have tremendous amount to celebrate this year. "Why are you not rejoicing? You are free of pain and sickness, misery and loss, and all effects of hatred and attack." (OrEd.Tx.29.2) I went through a severe case of Covid in January. I was told I was not expected to live, yet I rejected the doctor’s prognosis and his proposed best chance treatment and went home refusing to allow myself to be checked into the hospital. I managed my own health treatment through alternative means and was getting better in a matter of just a few days. Also, I am currently celebrating a greater and greater return to the normalcy of our society. Record numbers of people are getting out, going to the movies, traveling, going to big rock concerts … WooHoo!! Plus, I am also using this as a “special day” for re-examining my life, my goals, and what shall be the focus of my upcoming energy and work. Join me as I reveal upcoming miraculous plans and projects for myself and for the CMC. 31 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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Dear Miracle Worker,
Next Tuesday, June 7, I will have a birthday! WooHoo!! I will be … an eternal, infinite Holy Child of God! I will be manifesting the greatest body symbol of my timeless self that I can!
I stopped counting my years sometime ago. It just seemed counterproductive. I try not to even think about them. If I find my mind focusing on them I note it and gently move on to other thoughts. I get a little annoyed each time I have to fill out a form that asks for my birth year. I wish they wouldn’t do that. I had to do another one this morning. I don’t raise objections, and since I can’t proceed without doing it, I look at this as an “outrageous" request and simply put the year down. "Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something ‘outrageous,' do it because it does not matter." (OrEd.Tx.11.27) Okay. It doesn’t matter so I just enter the year and click “continue.”
I like to think that I am not aging but “youthing!”
ACIM teaches us that we don’t leave this world by dying. This is a prominent world belief and even ACIM students participate in the recitation of it. We leave this world by embracing the truth. "The world is not left by death but by truth" (OrEd.Tx.3.80) The truth is I am an infinite, eternal God being. I will leave the illusion manifestation by an embracing of that true idea, not by going through an aging and “death” experience. I assume that one goes through a dying experience to emerge into a very similar reality where not much is different. Perhaps the form is different but the content remains the same. Why bother? I can’t think of a good reason.
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #339, May 31 2022)
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Another school shooting – 19 elementary school children and 2 teachers bodies were killed. Plus the shooter's body was killed as well. The mind reels at the sadness and the horror of it all. The ACIM Practitioner struggles with the right Holy Spirit guided perception to claim. This is not a time for spiritual platitudes and correct “Course speak.” If God can weep then so can we. "God weeps at the 'sacrifice' of His Children, who believe they are lost to Him." (OrEd.Tx.5.93) What we can do is not descend into helplessness and disempowerment. We can help, and we can heal. We can be empowered because as ACIM teaches us, "There is nothing my holiness cannot do because the power of God lies in it." (OrEd.WkBk.37.7) 27 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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Most of us are probably comfortable with the religious terms that are contained in ACIM. Terms like: God the Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus, atonement, salvation are used ubiquitously all throughout ACIM. However there are many who do not resonate with these terms, and in fact are turned off by them. How do we reach them with ACIM’s healing message? Rev. Tony was recently charged with the task of writing a short inspirational treatise on “miracles” that would communicate to the non-religious, the secular. "They come from all over the world. They come from all religions and from no religion." (OrEd.Mn.1.2) How do we introduce our important healing technology to the non-religious? 22 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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Dear Miracle Worker,
We all come to A Course in Miracles with our own motives. Some of us seek it because our lives have fallen apart. Others are seekers who realize that this world does not quite feel right, and they search for another path. The ambitious ones follow the path of the mystics and seek to wake from the dream of the ego. Whatever our path may have been to the Course, we come to it with a fundamental equality.
"There is no order of difficulty in miracles because all of God's Sons are of equal value, and their equality is their oneness." (OrEd.Tx.10.68)
The gifts of God come to us all equally. We are all entitled to these gifts: peace, love, eternity, and a sense of permanence that satisfies us beyond anything in this world. At our deepest level we desire this state of mind at all times. The ego ensures that we have an endless prescription of promises to distract us. Often, our greatest challenge is to remain focused on the light. Jesus tells us that he decided to listen to only one Voice. The Voice of the Holy Spirit. This takes great discipline, honesty, and courage. The ego will always counsel against the Holy Spirit with fear. We must persist; we must trust.
When we are unsure of our path forward, recall that the gifts of God are but a simple choice we can make. In fact, in time, we have made it. As Workbook Lesson 110 says “I am as God created me.” You are the eternal love of God worthy of a deep peace and joy which encompasses all creation. Pray for these gifts in every encounter with your fellow beings of creation. Here you will find your true peace.
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #337, May 17 2022)
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Probably everyone in the USA is now aware that the federal right for women to have an abortion seems to be in serious jeopardy. As one would expect, this has triggered many passionate discussions on both sides of the issue. I choose to see this as a miracle in the making. Can we Miracle Healers offer the world a different perception? Can we show that it is possible to have a discussion without demonizing those with a different point of view? "Whenever anyone can listen fairly to both sides of any issue, he will make the right decision. ... Conflict can seem to be interpersonal, but it must be intrapersonal first." (OrEd.Tx.7.12) When we can heal the conflict within ourselves (intrapersonal) then we become the force for healing it in the world. Can we listen fairly to the other side of the discussion? 26 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
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Dear Miracle Worker,
Sometimes it’s just fun to watch the world go from one crisis to the next. Where should we invest our fear today? Not too long ago it was the Covid19 pandemic. Then we had the Ukraine Russia war. Then we had the censorship, free speech debate with the Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter. Now we have leaked documents from the U.S. Supreme Court indicating it is very possible the landmark ruling, Roe v. Wade, that legalized abortion by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 may be overturned.
I have always been neutral about abortion. I recognized it as a complex issue with strong sentiments on both sides, which can both easily be backed up by strong arguments founded in philosophical and religious thought. I saw early on that there was no winning this argument by anyone. "Ideational preoccupations with problems set up to be incapable of solution are also favorite ego devices for impeding the strong-willed from making real learning progress." (OrEdTx.4.77) In other words, there was no cheese down the abortion argument tunnel for me. Plus being a man, abortion was not truly my issue. Many woman have said that men should not be making decisions about the bodies of women. (Unlike our newest Supreme Court Justice I can define both “men” and “women,” but then I DO have a degree in biology from Cornell University! LOL)
In short – how much separation do we want to see in the world? How much separation do we want there to be in the world? The answer to those questions are the same. While our society argues and battles this question, do we find ourselves making one opinion not just wrong but “bad”? If so, then we are playing the separation game to its best. Let’s be a voice for oneness instead.
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #336, May 10 2022)
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Dear Miracle Worker,
Feeling a connection to Absolute Divine Power today. Was it the sunny warm day, the deep blue sky and the perfect temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit? Probably not really – but those wonderful conditions did give me a little push in that direction. That’s because I know those worldly conditions came from me, from us, our holy minds connected to each other and connected to the one Divine Mind of the Universe.
What will this power do to transform the world? To truly know I need you to join with me. I can only do so much by myself alone. Wait – I’m not myself alone ever. Still I know it will all be so much more powerful and transformative if you connect with me. "The world would be completely changed should any two agree these words [I want the peace of God] express the only thing they want." (OrEd.WkBk.185.2) Surely there are those among you who will join with me on this.
I have felt less fear in the world these past few weeks. I gave a talk recently named, “And Then the Fear Lessened.” You could watch the video by clicking on the the linked title. I would be so honored.
Anytime the fear lessens the healing and peace increases. That’s because the peace and healing are always there but the fear obscures them. Remove the obscuring interference and what the interference was blocking is automatically revealed.
So why wouldn’t you want to join me with that? I’m not that scary – am I? I guess I am to some people. I continually call people to embrace their power and to turn aways from the sickness, war, and death that appear to be in the world. To many that’s a scary thing, but not to you – right?!?!
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #335, May 3 2022)
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Why do we practice A Course in Miracles? I am not referring to just why do we read the Text and try to understand it? That would be the question why do we study it? Nor am I speaking about why do we do the Workbook lessons. I want to engage us in a discussion of why do we actually practice living as it asks us to live. Why are we miracle practitioners? The dictionary defines "practitioner" as: "a person actively engaged in an art, discipline, or profession, especially medicine." Why do we devote ourselves to healing, both ourselves and others? Why do we choose to forgive? Why do we choose to live as eternal, infinite beings in a world that seems temporary and finite? "I am a Son of God. And can I be another thing as well? Did God create the mortal and corruptible? What use has God's beloved Son for what must die?" (OrEd.WkBk.294.1) Leave behind the false temporal identity and embrace the Divine Self we all are. 21 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE
Dear Miracle Workers,
Robert Rosenthal, MD, affectionately called “Dr. Bob” by many in the A Course in Miracles community, made his transition from bodily life on March 20, 2022. He was a long time Board of Directors member for the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP), the first publishers of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). He had served as Co-President of the FIP along with Tamara Morgan since 2016 when Judy Skutch-Whitson stepped down from that position.
He was the author of three A Course in Miracles based books: Never Mind to Ever Mind (2019), Loving One to One Love (2020), and the recently published From Fear to Eternity (2022). Probably his most popular book was the earlier, From Plagues to Miracles (2012) which, while not directly about ACIM, works with many ACIM principles.
Dr. Bob was born on September 1, 1955 in Boston MA. I am told that at the age of 5 years old he already knew that he wanted to be a doctor. While attending Yale University as an undergraduate majoring in English literature, his roommate was Jon Cohen, Judy Skutch-Whitson’s son and Tamara Morgan’s (formerly Cohen’s) brother. Robert quickly became good friends of Judy’s family and spent a considerable amount of time at Judy’s apartment talking about metaphysical materials, especially the Seth material. This was in Judy’s pre-Course days when she and husband Bob were running the Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, which would later become the FIP.
Robert was close to the Skutch family when they first got involved with A Course in Miracles and he considered Dr. William Thetford (one of the two *Course* “scribes”) a friend and a mentor. Dr. Bob once told me that he learned ACIM first and foremost from William Thetford. Dr. Bob had been a student of ACIM since before the books were first published in 1976. After graduating Yale in 1977, Robert went on to Hahnemann Medical College (now named Drexel University College of Medicine) to continue to pursue his goal of becoming a medical doctor. Dr. Thetford was a consistent guiding force for young Robert and encouraged Dr. Bob to continue in medical school at a time when Robert was having some doubts. Was being a medical doctor truly consistent with the ACIM teaching? Dr. Bob did continue on and eventually received his MD degree from Hahnemann.
In 1991, during a stint of time while living in California, Dr. Bob met his second wife Emmanuelle and they married in 1993. They eventually moved back to the East Coast where Dr. Bob set up his psychiatry practice. While being a full medical doctor, Dr. Bob was not content just being a prescriber and monitor of psychiatric medications (the way many modern psychiatrists are) and he always was involved with psychological counseling with his patients as well. With wife Emmanuelle, Dr. Bob has two young adult children, daughter Sophia now 27 and son Avery now 24.
Many in the A Course in Miracles community felt an energetic shift in the FIP when Dr. Bob and Tamara became Co-Presidents. A previous FIP energy that had sometimes felt “above the fray” by many members of the ACIM community shifted. Both Dr. Bob and Tamara reached out to the greater community in ways that had not happened before – or perhaps had not happened in decades. Dr. Bob and Tamara were a co-presenter team at the Community Miracles Center’s (CMC’s) 2018 San Francisco ACIM Conference “Love Makes No Exceptions.” Dr. Bob was a presenter for the CMC’s 2019 Boston ACIM Conference “The Power to Heal.” He again was a presenter for the CMC’s 2021 virtual ACIM Conference “Unblock Unlock and Rock!”
In 2017 when Robert Perry and the Circle of Atonement published a new version of A Course in Miracles named The Complete and Annotated Edition, Dr. Bob thoroughly reviewed it on Amazon and noted many good points about the book. This review was later fully published by the CMC in its publication Miracles Monthly, May 2017 issue (Vol.31,No.3) and is currently on the CMC web site. (Click here to read the review: Amazing Scholarship - For Experienced, Committed Students.) The fact that a prominent FIP person would acknowledge and say good things about another ACIM edition might have seemed “impossible” just a few years before.
I was also honored that Dr. Bob chose to comment on my presentation at the 2016 Las Vegas, Conference “Change Your Mind, Change the World” at which I did an unexpected strip to my “skivvies.” He had watched the YouTube video. While some had chosen to attack me for that presentation (we lost Supporting Members and Board Members) Dr. Bob’s feedback was gratefully very positive. From his article which appeared in Miracles Monthly Aug. 2017 (Vol.31, No.6) “A Psychiatrist’s Thoughts on the 2016 Finale” he shared this, “As for what you shared, there is such stigma about mental illness and the meds used to treat it that I am always delighted when someone steps bravely forward and ‘outs’ his or her bouts with it. So on that count, I applaud you.” Thank you Dr. Bob. (Click here to read the full article: A Psychiatrist's Thoughts on the 2016 Finale)
After Dr. Bob assumed the FIP Co-Presidency he did a continuing series of discussions and on-line webinar events under the banner of “Let’s Discuss A Course in Miracles” that were available through the FIP. Prior to these, the FIP had not engaged in such ACIM community outreach, teaching, and sharing. These are currently available through the FIP web site and serve as a lasting testament to Dr. Bob’s important contribution to the ACIM community discussion.
I only had one extended alone time with Dr. Bob, and that was in July 2017, when I met with him for a drink and discussion at a San Francisco airport hotel that he was checked into before a morning flight. He was on his way to Utah to participate in an event organized by ACIM teacher David Hoffmeister. I was bringing him flyers and other publicity to share with attendees in order to promote the upcoming San Francisco Conference. He was: friendly, open, familiar, loving, warm – and an all round “good guy.” I am grateful for this time. We shared drinks and laughs. It was lovely.
So … the best to Dr. Bob on this new leg of his soul journey. While here on earth he brought much to and participated fully in the ACIM community. He helped bring the Foundation for Inner Peace into the new millennia. He was a loving husband for wife Emmanuelle (pictured with him above), a caring father for children Sophia and Avery, and an inspiring business partner for FIP Co-President Tamara Morgan. Dr. Bob – “Good job. Well done!”
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #334, Apr. 26 2022)
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Rev. Tony Ponticello
Rev. Peter Graham
Deb Canja
Rev. Joanie Schaeffer-Goss
Rev. Paula Carpe
Rev. Kim Wilson
