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I am just starting the course, in that I've done 50 of the workbook lessons and then the first review. I currently live in an area where there aren't any study groups. At times, I get a little lost and overwhelmed studying alone. Have you all attended study groups? I am in AA and love this pamphlet a friend gave me "The 12 Step Program and A Course in Miracles" which shows all the overlaps, but still ACIM is pretty intense in how it changes your thinking. I wondered if anyone else felt any difficulties/challenges/confusion early in your study?
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Unsu...
Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Mon, July 25, 2005 - 8:45 AM"I wondered if anyone else felt any difficulties/challenges/confusion early in your study?"
Not really, because when I first started getting familiar with the Course, it was more like "hey, somebody wrote a book about what I've been thinking about for years."
The one issue that I did come up against initially was the principle of everything being either love or fear, and nothing else. I initially didn't believe it could be that simple. I kept insisting that life was more complicated than that. So I started testing it out. 15 years later, I've never found an exception to that rule.
If I hear of any ACIM study groups in your area, I'll pass the info along. In the meantime, you can always view this group as your "cyber study group." Hope that helps. -
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My advice
Mon, July 25, 2005 - 10:32 AMMy spiritual ventures have always been more solitary, so no, I've never studied with a group either. Internet is nice because we don't have to figure out when where and how to get everyone's schedules synchronized for an hour or two.
My greatest difficulty was/is remaining receptive. We all just have rough patches, and it's important not to create a story from that because the mind loves to place labels and definitions on who the ego self is, to further bog us down. Keep in focus that you're a limitless being with an endless supply of creative potential. Try just noticing when there's difficulty, and keep a sense of humor about it. Sit back and watch and see where it goes. The ego hates to be laughed at. Stop trying to grasp so much with your mind. And if you just don't understand a lesson, ask the Universe to clarify for you through example.
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Tue, July 26, 2005 - 6:42 AMI definitely had that experience too, the feeling that the course was written for me and described ways I'd already thought about a lot of things. I've felt it's like christianity [with a little "c"] for a buddhist sensibility. It's like mind training. It allows me to follow Christ without being a fundamentalist. I love all of that.
The difficulties come in with feeling that it's a path I want to share with others but can't, which is weird because I never much worried about that before (and it's not completely even true)... And I guess the feeling that I fear my mind is ultimately untrainable. I know there is "nothing to fear" and yet at times I am still human (very much so) and experience fears. Then instead of just gently returning to the course (or God forbid, praying to have the conditions that caused the fear removed), I feel guilty or sort of mildly ashamed (which is old, old behavior).
Thanks though, I do feel grateful this space is here. -
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Wed, July 27, 2005 - 6:36 AMP.S. I just found some people who've had a study group in the past and are willing to restart one!
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Fri, July 29, 2005 - 6:44 PM"I've felt it's like christianity [with a little "c"] for a buddhist sensibility"
How cool - that's exactly the way I describe it to my friends that ask me what it is.
It wasn't difficult for me to get started (I think I was way too enthusiastic<g>), and I made a whole lot of progress through the first 120 pages or so of the text and a number of the lessons (not that many really), but I have come up against a MAJOR block in my progress, mainly in that when I have a chance to read, I can't bring myself to read any more of the Course at the moment. I have a few theories as to why, but I hope to get beyond that in the future. Quite honestly, when I get home and relax I'd rather do ANYTHING but read or deal with the Course. It's nice to have a community to bring these thoughts to, and I'm fortunate to have several churces I periodically attend that offer informal classes twice a week. -
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sat, July 30, 2005 - 11:02 AMThis resistance is called "the ego" in ACIM.
We always resist anything that undermines who we think we are.
WE love Anybody or anthing that supports our self image and
we ignore what does neither.
That's the essence of one of the courses core tools:
Always ask yourself "what is this for?" We either use our circumstances
to raise the level of drama or we let the "HS" our the higher Consciousnes
within to use our life circumstances to move us toward more life, love and joy.
Yes its true that ACIM can be seen as either a re-languaging of either
Mahayana Buddhism or Advaita Vedanta... this was a debate between Jack Luckett and Bill Thetford back in the 70's. Jack thought it resembled Buddhism; Bill, Hinduism. I and many other Buddhists I know got our start with ACIM. -
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sat, July 30, 2005 - 11:09 AMOh, BTW anybody notice how some course students use the course to support their drama? -
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sat, July 30, 2005 - 5:05 PMNo kidding - I'm discovereing just how powerful the ego is and why it can take so many years to overcome it. That was definitely something I came to conclusion of recently...especially how social dynamics contribute to reinforcing the ego's hold.
I haven't been studying long enough to notice others' use of the Course to support their drama - it's gone a long way to *disarm* my own dramas, quite honestly. But I'm curious how dramas could be supported by the Course, when they're supposed to be dispelled by it? Used the correct way, that is...what are your theories on this? I'd defintely like to know so as to help me recognize that if it's something I'm doing in my own life...
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sat, September 10, 2005 - 11:24 AMWhile we all will learn everything the Course has to teach us, remember that the Voice clearly states that the TIME YOU TAKE IT IS YOUR OWN. So you can relax and read when you feel you can. (Though sometimes reading while unfocussed and re-reading that same part again later might be useful.) No guilt. At some point the Course will ask you to forgive yourself everything. The Atonement. -
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Unsu...
Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sun, September 11, 2005 - 8:37 AMSometimes we refer to it as a "Curse in Miracles" due to it's relentless truth.
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Unsu...
Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sun, July 31, 2005 - 4:24 PMOn the subject of ego...
I read something interested in another book that seems to follow the ACIM principles. I always keep it in mind:
"Don't attempt to do something about your striving ego. Don't fight it, subdue it, control it or destroy it. That would just make the ego real. You must remember that your ego is not real."
This is from "Your Sacred Self" by Dr. Wayne Dyer. He is also a follower of ACIM, and mentions it often in his books.
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Tue, August 2, 2005 - 12:49 PMI mis read your post at first but I think it's just as good:
"your scared self" <g>
yup-- that's the key point. the ego doesn't exist.
its just the habit of forgetting who we are.
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Thu, August 18, 2005 - 8:21 PMJane,
Just keep reading. Pay no attention to any frustration or confusion you feel, its just your ego. I read every night for the first a 6 months until it just suddenly made sense. Now it is like reading any other book, very easy and flowing and it makes sense nowa. I too was in AA, clean and sober now for 15 years, and the solution for me to the very complicated disease of addiction of any kind, is the Course. Dont worry about the change in your thinking being intense, it actually happens very gently. Have you checked the www.miraclecenter.org site, they have lots of lists of study groups, maybe there is one in your area. Feel free to contact me anytime.
love and peace,
Maude -
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sun, August 21, 2005 - 6:58 AMHi Maude,
thank you, a few friends just started a local group, which is great...
It has been an exercise in ignoring the ego's resistance (frustration and confusion) and just returning to the reading.
Jane
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sat, August 20, 2005 - 6:26 AMHi Jane,
I found recovery a far greater challenge to the core of egotism than the Course.
But, relatively speaking, the Course is persistent and wears down the obstacles to love.
I disagree frankly with taking the Course like a course of antibiotics... I think not faith but understanding sets one free. Faith is like the vehicle there. Likewise in recovery the connection and support of a fellow member is so empowering and inspiring because it is clear that one can really practice the steps, even the worst scumbag can, yknow.
I like the AA parable of the guy who leaves the fellowship, runs over a kid, loses his health, and is about to go to jail. He returns to the fellowship and people say: "So wonderful to see you back again!"
That's the spiritual love common to the Course and Recovery, and I find that the really inspiring aspect of both.
Warm rgds,
Paul Bard. -
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Re: Getting Accustomed to the Course
Sun, August 21, 2005 - 6:57 AM"Love and tolerance, that is our code."
I agree, it's amazing. For me, it's that unconditional love that refines our spirits and characters in AA.
Hope you're having a great weekend.
Jane
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