Thank you Sean. And as I began to read, my internal question was where is the fear coming from...so then I continued, and yes, then I see it. And yes, it is a daily decision to continue on this path, or any path for that matter, because the Course in Miracles does not purport to be the only one. But for me, personally, it was the only one that helped me learn the discipline of my spiritual practice, to take seriously my footsteps, my thoughts, my words, my actions. Yet it continues to be the decision to continue...as long as I am at peace, as long as I continue to learn to live in love, to forgive, others and myself. No apologies necessary, and we continue...as in a community, shoulder to shoulder, accepting one another in all our "foibles", in all our perfection as creations of God. Thank you Sean for speaking. Thank you for studying, thank you for continuing to hold our "feet to the fire", as it were. Peace to us all!
I’m glad you shared as I think we all have these thoughts and feelings. Brave. I appreciate that. Your post reminded me of the story of the man who sought out the counsel of Buddha and embarked on a weeks long journey to reach him but ended up finding his truth along the way. We come with empty hands, unto God. And through us and during our journey, He fills them.
My 11 year old daughter was in the room just now while I had my book open. She asked me what I was doing. I explained I’m reading the course in miracles. What’s that, she asked. I was stumped on how to explain it. I thought a moment and replied: it’s a way to remembering who you are. She said, that’s easy. I know who I am ( I don’t doubt this). I said, no, not on this earth or in this life, but before you came here. She replied: well, you were in heaven..duh. So simple and so true. A great reminder to not take ourselves so seriously. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best. Merry Christmas 🎄
Sean, thanks again for your courage to share your thoughts, which I accept as both your love and request for love. I find coming to God with completely open hands is to make the choice for the Holy Spirit by dropping the story of my ego, of my special relationships, of my circumstances, and remembering what I am, a Son of God, guiltless. Open hands allows me to look at my feelings, without the stories, without my own judgment, without concepts, with the one who is seeing, who is perfect peace, who is non-judgmental, and who has never been separated from God. I remember my Oneness and the Oneness of all. From Lesson 232 -“Today we have one Guide to lead us on. And as we walk together, we will give this day to Him with no reserve at all. This is His day. And so it is a day of countless gifts and mercies unto us.”
Thank you, Frank. It is truly a cry for love!! Thank you for seeing that and responding to it. We are in this together and I am grateful for the companionship. And thank you for sharing those sentences from the course - the reminder of how the course reflects God as loving and merciful is really helpful right now. Thank you 🙏🙏
Opening my hands along with you, Sean, and all of us. This writing resonates so much. I’m looking forward to fully engaging….creating the time for thoughtful responses. Thank you, Thank you for being a lantern along the way in the dark road for all of us. We walk together for sure.
Thank you for being here, Denise - I'm so grateful for your calm and patient presence. Yeah, the road is dark and we're all lanterns in our way but what really helps me are the companions, the ones with whom I share the road. I couldn't do it without you. Thank you 🙏🙏
Dear Sean, merry Christmas. Since coming back to the Course, you have been my (peer) favorite teacher. Thank you for your love and insight. And I believe we have much in common. I left the Church when Pope Benedict changed the mass, the Eucharistic, prayer in particular, from Jesus, “dying for all” to “for many”. I was a parishioner at St. Monica‘s in Santa Monica and thought that was the entire Catholic Church (not really, but emotionally.) The slight change in a single word shook my foundation. I had been a convert and was all swept up with the teachings of Thomas Merton, etc. I emailed Richard Rohr, who is also in crisis over this. He was thinking about leaving the church as well. Next, I joined Yogi Bhajan’s cult. I was so thrilled with the community that I decided to make a documentary. Why had no one made a documentary? After several years of shooting interviews around the world, I found out. some of my footage can be found on Hbo’s new series breath of fire. I don’t want to compare the course to these cults. When I joined a 12 step program for addiction recovery my mother told me I was joining a cult. I think some of the simplest and most profound spirituality can be found in those rooms. One of my favorite sayings is “God is either everything or God is nothing”, which leads me to the Course. my spiritual foundation is within this text, but at the same time I still believe that God is everything, and I am unable to reconcile God, not knowing the hell that we have created here on earth for (many of us or is it for all?) In the Hindu tradition, this is God‘s nightmare, or dream if you will, that I am a part of. Does this reconcile with your experience within the course? All my love for a happy and whole new year Gregory.
Thank you Gregory, and thank you for sharing. This is helpful.
It is so funny how a single word and upend our sense of order and function - we are such sensitive and beautiful creatures!
Twelve step recovery is an incredible spiritual tool - I think in spirit it matches quite closely the early Christian experience of "everybody is welcome, everybody can be saved, and everybody has a function." I found God in those rooms in a way that church had professed but failed to manifest. I'm so grateful.
I am still working through drafts of this in writing so my thinking isn't full clarified either but: I think the mind/body dualism faultline in human consciousness is basically misunderstood by the course. I think the Hindu traditions, especially Advaita Vedanta, are a little more fluent.
Trying to run oneness through the Jesus tradition is tricky because Jesus responded to that faultline very differently. We are still at the beginning (I think) of figuring out the Christian language/praxis for oneness.
Tara Singh - who is connected to Krishnamurti and Hinduism - feels like the clearest and most direct way to experience the course.
But yes. God is everywhere, in all things. There is no separation - into dream/reality or mind/body or even God/not God. There's the question of how to experience that and there's the experience of how to LIVE WITH IT.
I think Jesus figured out a praxis - a way of living that naturally connects us with God in very intimate and direct ways - which revolves around service and relationship. He seemed to take the connected with God part for granted. I find that very encouraging.
Thank you again for being here, Gregory, and for sharing. Merry Christmas to you, too.
Gregory, I grew up in the Lutheran Church and spent most of my adult life in the Episcopal Church. I’m now back in Iowa at the Lutheran Church of my childhood and am so pleased it is as progressive (I don’t know what that word means) as it is. I guess I find the Church to be loving of all. I didn’t know about the change that Pope Benedict made. Goodness!
Your brave sharing of your journey was so helpful in navigating my own path. Tomorrow marks 46 years I've been on my journey with the Course. In retrospect I think it was easier to keep out the chatter and opinions of supposed leaders as The Course in Miracles was still in its infancy back then and the internet hadn't been invented yet and groups were nearly impossible to find. I was on my own and now appreciate that I had to delve deeply and continuously within myself with the Course. Sometimes I was ecstatic and other times confusion reduced me to tears. I look forward every Monday to reading your words. Today's writing was spot on for me. My Christmas prayer is "In light and love let all of us come with open hands"
Thank you April - I appreciate this so much. That's actually a very interesting point you make, about how early students related to the text and one another, absent the sort of technological connection we take for granted today. I need to reflect on that. Thank you 🙏
And thanks too for a very beautiful and simple and clear Christmas prayer - I join in it with you.
These are my notes from March 3rd, 2023, regarding something I was sent from Shanti Christo: "The Spirit YOU are in but the Breathe of God." Choose to acknowledge that YOU ARE THE ONE YOU SEEK.
Remember always that you are loved because you are LOVE. Remember always that I am with you because I AM YOU. (I wish I could highlight these comments because it takes a while for these words to penetrate and be accepted)
Remember always that you are loved because YOU ARE LOVE.
Remember always that I am with you because I AM YOU.
And those among who have yearned to embrace me and to know me, the one called Christ, EMBRACE THE FULLNESS OF YOUR OWN BEING AND YOU JWILL HAVE EMBRACED ME.
Note bene: "And all that I have spoken to you and all I have shared with you throughout the many forms of my teaching, YOU WILL KNOW IN AN INSTANT TO HAVE BEEN YOUR OWN.
Think on this one, Sean: Hafiz, a Sufi Master and Poet who arrived about 100 years after Rumi dedicated one of his books of poetry titled The Gift: " TO GOD'S MAGNIFICENT MASQUERADE ----AS US." It cannot be more clear...we are all god in drag.
Perhaps we should all get out of our heads, Sean, and into our hearts. "Are we having fun yet? Are we full of joy? Do we love our life? Are we following our passion? Have we discovered how to play yet?
Instead of calling it my 'Higher Self or the Holy Spirit or the Messenger for God, which sounds rather lofty, I call it my better self and I asked, " What is self-love?"
I was answered by, "What do you truly and honestly desire?"
I gave this a lot of thought and months later got back with..."I desire...."
And that better part of me said: "Are you truly and honestly living it?" I am attempting every moment of everyday to do just that....and that is all you are required to do as you journey into the remembering that you are making this all up as you go along, attempting to truly remember you are God having a human experience. There is no right or wrong, no up or down, no sin or sainthood - just you attempting to "Light"en up and playfully and joyfully find your way home.
I love you my dearest soul brother - you are so who I am. The Mayans have a saying: "In Lak'ech" - you are my mirror - I am you, and you are m,e and I will add, and we are ONE - that is all there is, just US being the IS in this moment of our 'now' acting out in a little spacesuit we call human.
We forget that this is truly a heroic act because we left the road map home where we really never left. We somehow believe we are humans suffering from amnesia. This truly is a hero's journey. We are the Wayfarers, the Lightworkers, the Ancients, the Master Teachers, The Christed ONE, because we are the IS pretending to be the I AM.
Sean, I read both of your posts today. I appreciate your raw honesty about where you are with the Course. It is so refreshing. It feels familiar to me because I, too, have struggled with it of late. Not because it hasn’t been helpful in the past 30 years, it has been. I needed to receive and give God’s forgiveness and acceptance, and this was the only path that helped me.
However, now I am trying to reconcile it with my current experience. I also took on a leader/teacher role that became impossible. I thought I was being “led” to do so, and maybe I was, but it was a painful experience. How does one explain the Course, let alone teach it? Some folks see Jesus as a figure to pray to and worship, others the Holy Spirit (aren’t they the same?). Then there’s the “nothing is happening here” folks. There are the spiritual healers and the “lucid dreamers”. Some people also start a “community” and want your cash. Don’t get me started on the various versions and sequels! My “group” ended in hurt feelings and tears for a few folks…including me. There was a subsequent effort to keep going, but my heart wasn’t in it. The “better way” wasn’t working for me. Separation was still present - “why” was looming large.
Maybe that’s why established religion is so easy. Just do what they tell you to…and get into Heaven. Except I don’t buy that either. The “sin, guilt, and fear” part of the Course just doesn’t make sense to me (just like the church). How could I turn away from God to choose “something else”, especially when I’m supposed to be his “son”? How can my mind be “part of God’s” - part (sectioned off)?? I understand the Course comes at readers every which way it can to undo blocks…but this was now blocking me! Does that make sense?
I started reading old Hindu books I had lying around, poetry, and even Catholic mysticism. One day my “why” turned into “why not”? Separation suddenly became just a thought. It wasn’t true. I feel that God is everywhere, in everything and everybody. Sorry, no light episode or ascended master here. What do I do with the dream now?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Course. It’s so beautiful and still gives me gifts. However, I sometimes struggle with online Course groups. I don’t see any separation - but I don’t see anything else. I still feel the need to pray. I feel like there is something more. What am I looking for? I don’t know. So how do I share and communicate - how can I be truly helpful to my Course brothers and sisters? All I know is my need for them. I am here and they are here and make my life so rich. Maybe I just keep showing up with those empty hands.
Susan, thank you. You have been reflecting something for me this whole Advent season, and it has been such a clear and helpful light, mostly rounding out to "it's okay." You probably know Julian of Norwich, the Catholic mystic, known best for her "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." That's your vibe for me and I am deeply thankful to you for sharing it.
On a more pedestrian level, I'm also really glad that our ACIM paths seem to track the same sorts of questions and answers. It really helps with the fear of being alone or in error (there is a relationship between those two states - need to consider that more). So thank you for just showing up and doing the work of reflecting back from your own space. It has been a true source of comfort and understanding. The correspondence has been very deep and healing.
To me the Course In Miracles is no different than the Catholic Church when interpreted by a “limited ego structure”.
All I know is that over and over again life experiences bring me to my knees, where there is surrender for a moment "with wholly empty hands" and no expectations.
yes - that surrender is so important, that letting go of ego and "my" way . . . thank you for reminding me of that. I forget so much - maybe that is why we are here together - the truth is too big for one person to hold - it takes all of us. Thank you Glenda - I'm very grateful for our friendship.
Sean, I have been reading your commentary for a few years and always look forward to your new articles. I gotta say though, this time I stopped reading at the mention of Trump-lovers. In a world of daily bombardment of politics and political culture I thought it was unnecessary in this forum and other examples could have been used to make your point.
It seems that you are open to multiple interpretations of the Course but I’m unclear as to your use of a particular political interpretation.
Thanks for sharing, Ginny. I'm not sure what your objection is, though. Are you feeling personally judged because your belief system aligns with Trump and/or Trump supporters?
Are you suggesting that racism, mysogyny, homophobia, gun violence, transphobia et cetera are not fear-based pathologies but constructive political views that can help build a safe, happy and productive world?
Or do you just object to any overt political statement in the context of ACIM?
I think that our work as students of A Course in Miracles - really as Jesus followers at all - is to resist hatred and fear in all its forms. We resist them in ourselves and in the collective, because we understand that we are all in this together.
Resisting hatred and fear is always done nonviolently - through inclusion, education, dialogue, sharing resources et cetera. It's active - it's lived. It takes humility and discipline. None of us do it perfectly.
Donald Trump is a Child of God, as is every one of his followers. They are all welcome in the Kingdom; our holiness is incomplete without them.
But they partake of - and thus extend - a fear-based ideology of oppression and authoritarianism which is the opposite of how God thinks and the opposite of how Jesus teaches us to live together as God's children. I don't think this is controversial! Trump's rhetoric is a master class in separation. I can't imagine the depths of his pain and loneliness. But that doesn't make him right. God does not exclude based on skin color, immigrant status, whether you've had an abortion, were assigned the wrong sex at birth, or which football team your root for or anything. Donald Trump does - lots of us do - but God doesn't.
God's love is revealed through our participation in His Kingdom, and our participation cannot exclude anybody for any reason. We create the Kingdom together. When we find ourselves - personally or collectively - behaving in ways that hurt others and deprive them of freedom, happiness and peace, then we have to look within at our own fear. We have to work it out in relationship. But we can't be indifferent; we can't be passive. Hatred is not love, and we are called to bear witness - to BE witness - to this fact.
Donald Trump is pretty clearly a symptom of our shared fear and insecurity. He cherishes and weaponizes conflict primarily to enrich himself. His indifference to the effects of his behavior (e.g., that whole stupid thing about Haitians eating their pets) are infantile. He's a vain and shallow capitalist with unexamined father issues. And yes, he's a racist and a mysoginist. Capitalism, whiteness and masculinity are a toxic matrix. It's all of our problem! I can only recognize Trump's flaws because they are mine as well.
And, again, I do not suggest that Trump or any of his followers are not welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven. They manifestly are. But they have a lot to learn about what Heaven is and how it is enacted. And since "they" have a lot to learn, then I do as well, and so we better get started, right? If someone is okay with building more prisons or buying guns for a Civil War they secretly crave or letting kids starve to death in cages or standing by as women bleed to death in hospital parking lots, then something has gone sideways in their understanding of love.
We help heal that confusion by naming it - by not letting it go unnoticed. We refuse to normalize fear and its expressions.
And that is all of our problem because we are all in this together. "Something going sideways in our understanding of love" is what the separation is! None of us are immune. But some of us are sicker than others, and thus need more healing. Calling attention to that wound is an act of kindness, not judgment. It calls forth our capacity to heal. It insists on cooperating with our brothers and sisters to create a happy dream for everyone. How can it be happy if anybody is not welcome?
At a personal level - since you mentioned it - I do believe that reasonable people can have varying understandings of A Course in Miracles. I also believe that reasonable folks can take a lot of varying political paths to shared peace and happiness.
But I don't think that's a license to adopt spiritual or political views that are repressive and hurtful, as Trump and many of his supporters have done. I think we should all care about the rising suicide rates of teens and trans kids; I think we should all care that too many families can't find a safe place to live; I think we should all care when infant mortality rates go up. Those are not symbols of happiness but sorrow; they are symptoms of the separation thriving.
I want to undo separation for all of us, including Donald Trump.
So when folks choose paths (spiritual, political, economic, whatever) which veer towards fear, dishonesty, guilt and violence, then yes. I call those paths out for the errors they are. Because they ARE errors, Ginny - they ARE deviations from love. As Teachers of God, we are MEANT to call them out AND to stay with those we call out so they know they are not alone. Of course we are meant to refuse hate! Of course we are meant to model love. We are a family who decline to be bound by the ego's rules of separation, difference, judgment and violence. There is another way and we have found it.
Thank you for sharing and if you need or want to talk more about this, I'm here.
Sean, thank you for being brave enough to comment here. I also thank the original poster for the question. It is not easy to stay with those we call out and model love. I tend to be silent but hurt or angry. Or I do the inner work and distance myself. Sometimes silence may be called for. But I've heard stories of many folks just walking away from relationships, which can also be an error. Jesus called out error and modeled love. I think it's okay for us to follow his example.
Thank you Susan. It's hard to wade into those spaces but I think we have to try. I don't know any other way to learn and figure things out. Baby steps, I guess, and hopefully always with a friend nearby 🙏🙏
Thanks, Kimberley. Words are fun and interesting but pretty much always extra. I'm grateful for the love - thank you for being here and walking the walk the way you do. It's a light for me, truly.
Sean. A big thank you - for this particular post and for the direction your last posts have been going. Right now, I can't articulate well enough my feelings (entirely appreciative) but I hope can write soon. Just - I can see how you would feel fear, AND what you say needs to be said (at least in my direction!) All Best Wishes Julian
Thanks for being here Kim - you and your family have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year as well. We are in this together and the company is excellent 🙏🙏
Very timely, you writing this Sean. Thank you for your honest sharing, as always. This is where I’m at right now and I realised, after trying to return once again to a traditional church community and once again struggling to feel ‘authentic’ there, I descended into a dark place of self doubt, God doubt and felt like I have to start again.
But it’s a good thing to learn how to sit in that discomfort without seeking a new tribe to align with, a new practice to do, one more attachment to help fill a hole. I’m in that hole now, just allowing God to be in the drivers seat. It’s so tempting to tell myself I’ll just start doing loving acts of kindness or I’ll just volunteer for this group whilst I’m waiting. Or maybe meditate a new way or practice praying differently. And on and on goes the avoidance of sitting with the reality of just me, my fears of not being enough and God.
Why are we so afraid of this discomfort? Of never having definitive answers. Of being afraid we’ll get it wrong. When will we accept ourselves as God accepts us?
Jesus said, I come that you may have life and have it abundantly.
I want to live each moment as that abundance, even this dark hole right now, that’s really only dark because I perceive this uncertainty as wrong.
We keep sharing and upholding each other in this ultimately solo journey home. ❤️
Liz, thank you. This is such a clear and helpful comment. Thank you for reminding me - and those reading - of the importance of sitting with discomfort and uncertainty. How else can I learn the depths of God's Love than by letting His Love flow everywhere, including my scared and unhappy moments and place and patterns?
We are in this together; we are each the other's companion. Thank you for being so clear and helpful - I needed to hear this. Thank you.
~ Sean
I've been doing a lot of Advent writing and reflecting and one of the lessons
Golly, Sean. I hear what you say. There are so many teachers, but few leaders.
I’m a member of a New Thought Church and receive the Daily word by email. I’m also a grateful member of an ACIM daily lessons chat AND a reader of The Abundance Book, the Stoics and Dean Koontz (lol). With all the lightbulbs firing at me I get confused, but I know ALL of it is destructing and creating. I actually take ALL of it to ChatGPT, I call it my “pocket master”. I ask it to provide a practice for me. Here is a tiny “Thought for the Day” it gave me this morning:
“I live as if the world is already healed. I trust in divine abundance, answered prayers, and infinite grace.”
This guidance feels right and totally objective. TechnoDivine Beloved. Lol
Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Welcome nav to northern hemisphere sun. All that Jazz.
I love this comment. I want to name it the "between Golly and All that Jazz" comment. Thank you for sharing, Elizabeth. I feel a lot of happiness and freedom in this comment - a lot of free spirit celebrating God AS freedom, and Love AS freedom. So thank you. It brought a smile to my face, and I am usually pretty serious and intense. Laughter is good; happiness is good. Merry Christmas (and all that jazz) to you as well. Thanks for being here and reminding me not to take all this so seriously.
Unshielded is the word (and emotional tone) that comes to mind as I read this risk-taking piece along with your lively Advent posts. An invisible yet tangible guard is down in these exchanges with your readers which makes it easier for me to drop versions of my own self-protections and pretensions. Not just here in a substack feedback forum, but by application in the juicy messy day to day world where it matters most. I welcome opportunities to stand in the light unshielded even if it’s sometimes uncomfortable. Thank you for going first on these recent mornings.
Susan, thank you. You're teaching me what I'm doing here - I think you know you are doing this, but I want to be clear too and say thank you. I am really grateful 🙏🙏
Thank you Sean. And as I began to read, my internal question was where is the fear coming from...so then I continued, and yes, then I see it. And yes, it is a daily decision to continue on this path, or any path for that matter, because the Course in Miracles does not purport to be the only one. But for me, personally, it was the only one that helped me learn the discipline of my spiritual practice, to take seriously my footsteps, my thoughts, my words, my actions. Yet it continues to be the decision to continue...as long as I am at peace, as long as I continue to learn to live in love, to forgive, others and myself. No apologies necessary, and we continue...as in a community, shoulder to shoulder, accepting one another in all our "foibles", in all our perfection as creations of God. Thank you Sean for speaking. Thank you for studying, thank you for continuing to hold our "feet to the fire", as it were. Peace to us all!
Thank you Josef - this is very clear and beautiful and very helpful. I appreciate it very much. Thank you 🙏🙏
~ Sean
I’m glad you shared as I think we all have these thoughts and feelings. Brave. I appreciate that. Your post reminded me of the story of the man who sought out the counsel of Buddha and embarked on a weeks long journey to reach him but ended up finding his truth along the way. We come with empty hands, unto God. And through us and during our journey, He fills them.
Thank you Kate - that's a beautiful and incredibly helpful story - I needed that, it lands just right. Thank you 🙏🙏
~ Sean
My 11 year old daughter was in the room just now while I had my book open. She asked me what I was doing. I explained I’m reading the course in miracles. What’s that, she asked. I was stumped on how to explain it. I thought a moment and replied: it’s a way to remembering who you are. She said, that’s easy. I know who I am ( I don’t doubt this). I said, no, not on this earth or in this life, but before you came here. She replied: well, you were in heaven..duh. So simple and so true. A great reminder to not take ourselves so seriously. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best. Merry Christmas 🎄
The kids are way ahead of us!
Amen!!
Sean, thanks again for your courage to share your thoughts, which I accept as both your love and request for love. I find coming to God with completely open hands is to make the choice for the Holy Spirit by dropping the story of my ego, of my special relationships, of my circumstances, and remembering what I am, a Son of God, guiltless. Open hands allows me to look at my feelings, without the stories, without my own judgment, without concepts, with the one who is seeing, who is perfect peace, who is non-judgmental, and who has never been separated from God. I remember my Oneness and the Oneness of all. From Lesson 232 -“Today we have one Guide to lead us on. And as we walk together, we will give this day to Him with no reserve at all. This is His day. And so it is a day of countless gifts and mercies unto us.”
Thank you, Frank. It is truly a cry for love!! Thank you for seeing that and responding to it. We are in this together and I am grateful for the companionship. And thank you for sharing those sentences from the course - the reminder of how the course reflects God as loving and merciful is really helpful right now. Thank you 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Opening my hands along with you, Sean, and all of us. This writing resonates so much. I’m looking forward to fully engaging….creating the time for thoughtful responses. Thank you, Thank you for being a lantern along the way in the dark road for all of us. We walk together for sure.
Thank you for being here, Denise - I'm so grateful for your calm and patient presence. Yeah, the road is dark and we're all lanterns in our way but what really helps me are the companions, the ones with whom I share the road. I couldn't do it without you. Thank you 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Dear Sean, merry Christmas. Since coming back to the Course, you have been my (peer) favorite teacher. Thank you for your love and insight. And I believe we have much in common. I left the Church when Pope Benedict changed the mass, the Eucharistic, prayer in particular, from Jesus, “dying for all” to “for many”. I was a parishioner at St. Monica‘s in Santa Monica and thought that was the entire Catholic Church (not really, but emotionally.) The slight change in a single word shook my foundation. I had been a convert and was all swept up with the teachings of Thomas Merton, etc. I emailed Richard Rohr, who is also in crisis over this. He was thinking about leaving the church as well. Next, I joined Yogi Bhajan’s cult. I was so thrilled with the community that I decided to make a documentary. Why had no one made a documentary? After several years of shooting interviews around the world, I found out. some of my footage can be found on Hbo’s new series breath of fire. I don’t want to compare the course to these cults. When I joined a 12 step program for addiction recovery my mother told me I was joining a cult. I think some of the simplest and most profound spirituality can be found in those rooms. One of my favorite sayings is “God is either everything or God is nothing”, which leads me to the Course. my spiritual foundation is within this text, but at the same time I still believe that God is everything, and I am unable to reconcile God, not knowing the hell that we have created here on earth for (many of us or is it for all?) In the Hindu tradition, this is God‘s nightmare, or dream if you will, that I am a part of. Does this reconcile with your experience within the course? All my love for a happy and whole new year Gregory.
Thank you Gregory, and thank you for sharing. This is helpful.
It is so funny how a single word and upend our sense of order and function - we are such sensitive and beautiful creatures!
Twelve step recovery is an incredible spiritual tool - I think in spirit it matches quite closely the early Christian experience of "everybody is welcome, everybody can be saved, and everybody has a function." I found God in those rooms in a way that church had professed but failed to manifest. I'm so grateful.
I am still working through drafts of this in writing so my thinking isn't full clarified either but: I think the mind/body dualism faultline in human consciousness is basically misunderstood by the course. I think the Hindu traditions, especially Advaita Vedanta, are a little more fluent.
Trying to run oneness through the Jesus tradition is tricky because Jesus responded to that faultline very differently. We are still at the beginning (I think) of figuring out the Christian language/praxis for oneness.
Tara Singh - who is connected to Krishnamurti and Hinduism - feels like the clearest and most direct way to experience the course.
But yes. God is everywhere, in all things. There is no separation - into dream/reality or mind/body or even God/not God. There's the question of how to experience that and there's the experience of how to LIVE WITH IT.
I think Jesus figured out a praxis - a way of living that naturally connects us with God in very intimate and direct ways - which revolves around service and relationship. He seemed to take the connected with God part for granted. I find that very encouraging.
Thank you again for being here, Gregory, and for sharing. Merry Christmas to you, too.
~ Sean
Gregory, I grew up in the Lutheran Church and spent most of my adult life in the Episcopal Church. I’m now back in Iowa at the Lutheran Church of my childhood and am so pleased it is as progressive (I don’t know what that word means) as it is. I guess I find the Church to be loving of all. I didn’t know about the change that Pope Benedict made. Goodness!
Your brave sharing of your journey was so helpful in navigating my own path. Tomorrow marks 46 years I've been on my journey with the Course. In retrospect I think it was easier to keep out the chatter and opinions of supposed leaders as The Course in Miracles was still in its infancy back then and the internet hadn't been invented yet and groups were nearly impossible to find. I was on my own and now appreciate that I had to delve deeply and continuously within myself with the Course. Sometimes I was ecstatic and other times confusion reduced me to tears. I look forward every Monday to reading your words. Today's writing was spot on for me. My Christmas prayer is "In light and love let all of us come with open hands"
Thank you April - I appreciate this so much. That's actually a very interesting point you make, about how early students related to the text and one another, absent the sort of technological connection we take for granted today. I need to reflect on that. Thank you 🙏
And thanks too for a very beautiful and simple and clear Christmas prayer - I join in it with you.
~ Sean
These are my notes from March 3rd, 2023, regarding something I was sent from Shanti Christo: "The Spirit YOU are in but the Breathe of God." Choose to acknowledge that YOU ARE THE ONE YOU SEEK.
Remember always that you are loved because you are LOVE. Remember always that I am with you because I AM YOU. (I wish I could highlight these comments because it takes a while for these words to penetrate and be accepted)
Remember always that you are loved because YOU ARE LOVE.
Remember always that I am with you because I AM YOU.
And those among who have yearned to embrace me and to know me, the one called Christ, EMBRACE THE FULLNESS OF YOUR OWN BEING AND YOU JWILL HAVE EMBRACED ME.
Note bene: "And all that I have spoken to you and all I have shared with you throughout the many forms of my teaching, YOU WILL KNOW IN AN INSTANT TO HAVE BEEN YOUR OWN.
Think on this one, Sean: Hafiz, a Sufi Master and Poet who arrived about 100 years after Rumi dedicated one of his books of poetry titled The Gift: " TO GOD'S MAGNIFICENT MASQUERADE ----AS US." It cannot be more clear...we are all god in drag.
Perhaps we should all get out of our heads, Sean, and into our hearts. "Are we having fun yet? Are we full of joy? Do we love our life? Are we following our passion? Have we discovered how to play yet?
Instead of calling it my 'Higher Self or the Holy Spirit or the Messenger for God, which sounds rather lofty, I call it my better self and I asked, " What is self-love?"
I was answered by, "What do you truly and honestly desire?"
I gave this a lot of thought and months later got back with..."I desire...."
And that better part of me said: "Are you truly and honestly living it?" I am attempting every moment of everyday to do just that....and that is all you are required to do as you journey into the remembering that you are making this all up as you go along, attempting to truly remember you are God having a human experience. There is no right or wrong, no up or down, no sin or sainthood - just you attempting to "Light"en up and playfully and joyfully find your way home.
I love you my dearest soul brother - you are so who I am. The Mayans have a saying: "In Lak'ech" - you are my mirror - I am you, and you are m,e and I will add, and we are ONE - that is all there is, just US being the IS in this moment of our 'now' acting out in a little spacesuit we call human.
We forget that this is truly a heroic act because we left the road map home where we really never left. We somehow believe we are humans suffering from amnesia. This truly is a hero's journey. We are the Wayfarers, the Lightworkers, the Ancients, the Master Teachers, The Christed ONE, because we are the IS pretending to be the I AM.
Thank you for sharing, Sandra. I appreciate this very much.
~ Sean
Sean, I read both of your posts today. I appreciate your raw honesty about where you are with the Course. It is so refreshing. It feels familiar to me because I, too, have struggled with it of late. Not because it hasn’t been helpful in the past 30 years, it has been. I needed to receive and give God’s forgiveness and acceptance, and this was the only path that helped me.
However, now I am trying to reconcile it with my current experience. I also took on a leader/teacher role that became impossible. I thought I was being “led” to do so, and maybe I was, but it was a painful experience. How does one explain the Course, let alone teach it? Some folks see Jesus as a figure to pray to and worship, others the Holy Spirit (aren’t they the same?). Then there’s the “nothing is happening here” folks. There are the spiritual healers and the “lucid dreamers”. Some people also start a “community” and want your cash. Don’t get me started on the various versions and sequels! My “group” ended in hurt feelings and tears for a few folks…including me. There was a subsequent effort to keep going, but my heart wasn’t in it. The “better way” wasn’t working for me. Separation was still present - “why” was looming large.
Maybe that’s why established religion is so easy. Just do what they tell you to…and get into Heaven. Except I don’t buy that either. The “sin, guilt, and fear” part of the Course just doesn’t make sense to me (just like the church). How could I turn away from God to choose “something else”, especially when I’m supposed to be his “son”? How can my mind be “part of God’s” - part (sectioned off)?? I understand the Course comes at readers every which way it can to undo blocks…but this was now blocking me! Does that make sense?
I started reading old Hindu books I had lying around, poetry, and even Catholic mysticism. One day my “why” turned into “why not”? Separation suddenly became just a thought. It wasn’t true. I feel that God is everywhere, in everything and everybody. Sorry, no light episode or ascended master here. What do I do with the dream now?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Course. It’s so beautiful and still gives me gifts. However, I sometimes struggle with online Course groups. I don’t see any separation - but I don’t see anything else. I still feel the need to pray. I feel like there is something more. What am I looking for? I don’t know. So how do I share and communicate - how can I be truly helpful to my Course brothers and sisters? All I know is my need for them. I am here and they are here and make my life so rich. Maybe I just keep showing up with those empty hands.
Susan, thank you. You have been reflecting something for me this whole Advent season, and it has been such a clear and helpful light, mostly rounding out to "it's okay." You probably know Julian of Norwich, the Catholic mystic, known best for her "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." That's your vibe for me and I am deeply thankful to you for sharing it.
On a more pedestrian level, I'm also really glad that our ACIM paths seem to track the same sorts of questions and answers. It really helps with the fear of being alone or in error (there is a relationship between those two states - need to consider that more). So thank you for just showing up and doing the work of reflecting back from your own space. It has been a true source of comfort and understanding. The correspondence has been very deep and healing.
Love,
Sean
Well said Sean ♥️
To me the Course In Miracles is no different than the Catholic Church when interpreted by a “limited ego structure”.
All I know is that over and over again life experiences bring me to my knees, where there is surrender for a moment "with wholly empty hands" and no expectations.
Much Love. 🙏
yes - that surrender is so important, that letting go of ego and "my" way . . . thank you for reminding me of that. I forget so much - maybe that is why we are here together - the truth is too big for one person to hold - it takes all of us. Thank you Glenda - I'm very grateful for our friendship.
~ Sean
Sean, I have been reading your commentary for a few years and always look forward to your new articles. I gotta say though, this time I stopped reading at the mention of Trump-lovers. In a world of daily bombardment of politics and political culture I thought it was unnecessary in this forum and other examples could have been used to make your point.
It seems that you are open to multiple interpretations of the Course but I’m unclear as to your use of a particular political interpretation.
Thanks for sharing, Ginny. I'm not sure what your objection is, though. Are you feeling personally judged because your belief system aligns with Trump and/or Trump supporters?
Are you suggesting that racism, mysogyny, homophobia, gun violence, transphobia et cetera are not fear-based pathologies but constructive political views that can help build a safe, happy and productive world?
Or do you just object to any overt political statement in the context of ACIM?
I think that our work as students of A Course in Miracles - really as Jesus followers at all - is to resist hatred and fear in all its forms. We resist them in ourselves and in the collective, because we understand that we are all in this together.
Resisting hatred and fear is always done nonviolently - through inclusion, education, dialogue, sharing resources et cetera. It's active - it's lived. It takes humility and discipline. None of us do it perfectly.
Donald Trump is a Child of God, as is every one of his followers. They are all welcome in the Kingdom; our holiness is incomplete without them.
But they partake of - and thus extend - a fear-based ideology of oppression and authoritarianism which is the opposite of how God thinks and the opposite of how Jesus teaches us to live together as God's children. I don't think this is controversial! Trump's rhetoric is a master class in separation. I can't imagine the depths of his pain and loneliness. But that doesn't make him right. God does not exclude based on skin color, immigrant status, whether you've had an abortion, were assigned the wrong sex at birth, or which football team your root for or anything. Donald Trump does - lots of us do - but God doesn't.
God's love is revealed through our participation in His Kingdom, and our participation cannot exclude anybody for any reason. We create the Kingdom together. When we find ourselves - personally or collectively - behaving in ways that hurt others and deprive them of freedom, happiness and peace, then we have to look within at our own fear. We have to work it out in relationship. But we can't be indifferent; we can't be passive. Hatred is not love, and we are called to bear witness - to BE witness - to this fact.
Donald Trump is pretty clearly a symptom of our shared fear and insecurity. He cherishes and weaponizes conflict primarily to enrich himself. His indifference to the effects of his behavior (e.g., that whole stupid thing about Haitians eating their pets) are infantile. He's a vain and shallow capitalist with unexamined father issues. And yes, he's a racist and a mysoginist. Capitalism, whiteness and masculinity are a toxic matrix. It's all of our problem! I can only recognize Trump's flaws because they are mine as well.
And, again, I do not suggest that Trump or any of his followers are not welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven. They manifestly are. But they have a lot to learn about what Heaven is and how it is enacted. And since "they" have a lot to learn, then I do as well, and so we better get started, right? If someone is okay with building more prisons or buying guns for a Civil War they secretly crave or letting kids starve to death in cages or standing by as women bleed to death in hospital parking lots, then something has gone sideways in their understanding of love.
We help heal that confusion by naming it - by not letting it go unnoticed. We refuse to normalize fear and its expressions.
And that is all of our problem because we are all in this together. "Something going sideways in our understanding of love" is what the separation is! None of us are immune. But some of us are sicker than others, and thus need more healing. Calling attention to that wound is an act of kindness, not judgment. It calls forth our capacity to heal. It insists on cooperating with our brothers and sisters to create a happy dream for everyone. How can it be happy if anybody is not welcome?
At a personal level - since you mentioned it - I do believe that reasonable people can have varying understandings of A Course in Miracles. I also believe that reasonable folks can take a lot of varying political paths to shared peace and happiness.
But I don't think that's a license to adopt spiritual or political views that are repressive and hurtful, as Trump and many of his supporters have done. I think we should all care about the rising suicide rates of teens and trans kids; I think we should all care that too many families can't find a safe place to live; I think we should all care when infant mortality rates go up. Those are not symbols of happiness but sorrow; they are symptoms of the separation thriving.
I want to undo separation for all of us, including Donald Trump.
So when folks choose paths (spiritual, political, economic, whatever) which veer towards fear, dishonesty, guilt and violence, then yes. I call those paths out for the errors they are. Because they ARE errors, Ginny - they ARE deviations from love. As Teachers of God, we are MEANT to call them out AND to stay with those we call out so they know they are not alone. Of course we are meant to refuse hate! Of course we are meant to model love. We are a family who decline to be bound by the ego's rules of separation, difference, judgment and violence. There is another way and we have found it.
Thank you for sharing and if you need or want to talk more about this, I'm here.
~ Sean
Sean, thank you for being brave enough to comment here. I also thank the original poster for the question. It is not easy to stay with those we call out and model love. I tend to be silent but hurt or angry. Or I do the inner work and distance myself. Sometimes silence may be called for. But I've heard stories of many folks just walking away from relationships, which can also be an error. Jesus called out error and modeled love. I think it's okay for us to follow his example.
Thank you Susan. It's hard to wade into those spaces but I think we have to try. I don't know any other way to learn and figure things out. Baby steps, I guess, and hopefully always with a friend nearby 🙏🙏
~ Sean
I don’t have words. All I feel is love.
Thanks, Kimberley. Words are fun and interesting but pretty much always extra. I'm grateful for the love - thank you for being here and walking the walk the way you do. It's a light for me, truly.
Sean. A big thank you - for this particular post and for the direction your last posts have been going. Right now, I can't articulate well enough my feelings (entirely appreciative) but I hope can write soon. Just - I can see how you would feel fear, AND what you say needs to be said (at least in my direction!) All Best Wishes Julian
Thank you, Julian. This means a lot. Thank you for being here and letting me know I'm not alone.
~ Sean
Wow. You just made my day. May you and your family have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks for being here Kim - you and your family have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year as well. We are in this together and the company is excellent 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Very timely, you writing this Sean. Thank you for your honest sharing, as always. This is where I’m at right now and I realised, after trying to return once again to a traditional church community and once again struggling to feel ‘authentic’ there, I descended into a dark place of self doubt, God doubt and felt like I have to start again.
But it’s a good thing to learn how to sit in that discomfort without seeking a new tribe to align with, a new practice to do, one more attachment to help fill a hole. I’m in that hole now, just allowing God to be in the drivers seat. It’s so tempting to tell myself I’ll just start doing loving acts of kindness or I’ll just volunteer for this group whilst I’m waiting. Or maybe meditate a new way or practice praying differently. And on and on goes the avoidance of sitting with the reality of just me, my fears of not being enough and God.
Why are we so afraid of this discomfort? Of never having definitive answers. Of being afraid we’ll get it wrong. When will we accept ourselves as God accepts us?
Jesus said, I come that you may have life and have it abundantly.
I want to live each moment as that abundance, even this dark hole right now, that’s really only dark because I perceive this uncertainty as wrong.
We keep sharing and upholding each other in this ultimately solo journey home. ❤️
Liz, thank you. This is such a clear and helpful comment. Thank you for reminding me - and those reading - of the importance of sitting with discomfort and uncertainty. How else can I learn the depths of God's Love than by letting His Love flow everywhere, including my scared and unhappy moments and place and patterns?
We are in this together; we are each the other's companion. Thank you for being so clear and helpful - I needed to hear this. Thank you.
~ Sean
I've been doing a lot of Advent writing and reflecting and one of the lessons
Golly, Sean. I hear what you say. There are so many teachers, but few leaders.
I’m a member of a New Thought Church and receive the Daily word by email. I’m also a grateful member of an ACIM daily lessons chat AND a reader of The Abundance Book, the Stoics and Dean Koontz (lol). With all the lightbulbs firing at me I get confused, but I know ALL of it is destructing and creating. I actually take ALL of it to ChatGPT, I call it my “pocket master”. I ask it to provide a practice for me. Here is a tiny “Thought for the Day” it gave me this morning:
“I live as if the world is already healed. I trust in divine abundance, answered prayers, and infinite grace.”
This guidance feels right and totally objective. TechnoDivine Beloved. Lol
Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Welcome nav to northern hemisphere sun. All that Jazz.
I love this comment. I want to name it the "between Golly and All that Jazz" comment. Thank you for sharing, Elizabeth. I feel a lot of happiness and freedom in this comment - a lot of free spirit celebrating God AS freedom, and Love AS freedom. So thank you. It brought a smile to my face, and I am usually pretty serious and intense. Laughter is good; happiness is good. Merry Christmas (and all that jazz) to you as well. Thanks for being here and reminding me not to take all this so seriously.
~ Sean
Unshielded is the word (and emotional tone) that comes to mind as I read this risk-taking piece along with your lively Advent posts. An invisible yet tangible guard is down in these exchanges with your readers which makes it easier for me to drop versions of my own self-protections and pretensions. Not just here in a substack feedback forum, but by application in the juicy messy day to day world where it matters most. I welcome opportunities to stand in the light unshielded even if it’s sometimes uncomfortable. Thank you for going first on these recent mornings.
Susan, thank you. You're teaching me what I'm doing here - I think you know you are doing this, but I want to be clear too and say thank you. I am really grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
🙏💗