A Course In Miracles: A conversation with Myra Fidelman

In this YouTube video conversation, long-time student of A Course In Miracles and Course facilitator, Myra Fidelman, shares a bit of her ACIM history and Dr. Kenneth Wapnick’s influence (FACIM) on her journey.

Myra says she calls “Healing The Unhealed Mind” her “Wapnick Whopper” which she has read multiple times. (I can also recommend repeated readings, listenings, and viewings of all of Ken Wapnick’s brilliant instruction in the pure non-dual curriculum of ACIM. For a more extensive list of Ken Wapnick/FACIM resources, please see this post about Jeff Seibert and FACIM.)

Myra described a phase of over a decade studying the Course as “a period of unsettling” (ACIM, M-4.I-A.7:1) at the end of which she realized that the Course was addressing her mind; in particular the decision maker.

She reminded that ACIM’s Jesus (our Appointed Friend; our Inner Kindness Teacher) is always – and only! – addressing the decision-making part of our mind which chooses between ego and Holy Spirit; a.k.a. the wrong mind and the right mind. The Course gradually corrects our “auto-pilot” which is initially set to ego, but with consistent forgiveness practice is restored to the Holy Spirit, our right mind. We also talked about a variation of Ken’s metaphysical chart; the graphic below is a variation of the one shown in the video, inspired by Ken’s chart, as are these variations.

Some quintessential Course quotes that Myra and Bruce explained and/or expanded upon:

“…How did the impossible occur?…” (ACIM, C-in.4:3)

“Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.” (ACIM, T-in.2:2-4)

“There is nothing to fear.” (ACIM, W-48)

Ken emphasizes looking at the wrong mind (ego) with the right mind (Holy Spirit) without condemnation:

“No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way they are protected. ²There is no need to shrink from illusions, for they cannot be dangerous. ³We are ready to look more closely at the ego’s thought system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not want it, you must be ready. ⁴Let us be very calm in doing this, for we are merely looking honestly for truth. ⁵The “dynamics” of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to see beyond it, since you have made it real. ⁶We will undo this error quietly together, and then look beyond it to truth.” (ACIM, T-11.V.1:1-6)

Another profoundly helpful section in the text that helps us loosen our death grip on ego’s thought system of sin, guilt and fear:

“Sin versus Error” (ACIM, T-19.II)

We also talked about how forgiveness doesn’t reinforce errors, it simply corrects them:

“Any mistake can be corrected, if truth be left to judge it.” (ACIM, T-19.II.6:7)

“Whatever suffers is not part of me.” (ACIM, W-248)

Level confusion is healed by forgiveness because Holy Spirit guides us to look at our foolish choice (cause) for wanting to believe in separate interests rather than trying to change the effect (our apparent imprisonment in the world of space, time and form).

We also touched on ACIM’s in-depth emphasis on relationships, and how from the Course’s perspective, we only really have two relationships: our real relationship with Holy Spirit (a.k.a. the Course’s Jesus or any purely ego-free presence in our mind) … and our false relationship with ego based on the dualistic belief that we committed the impossible crime of separating from our Creator and also from each other so that we could have a silly, seemingly separate self – the pathetic “consolation prize” within our divisive dreaming.

“The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself.” (ACIM, T-27.VIII.10:1)

Myra reminded us how the Course behooves us to not underestimate the power of our choice (for either ego’s insanity or Holy Spirit’s sanity) in each moment.

We talked about how “projection makes perception” (which appears in two places in ACIM). Forgiveness is the process whereby we recall (retract or undo) our projections by changing our mind; from seeing guilt to seeing holiness. The intermediate step is noticing – often for quite a while! – how much we do NOT want to forgive; how much we want to see our own guilt projected onto everyone and everything, slowly bringing this back from unconscious mindlessness to gracious awareness where we can forgive ourselves (and “others”) for what they (and we) did NOT do in (eternal) Truth.

With practice, we become “happy learners” a favorite Myra topic and a section in the text of ACIM.

Myra reminded that looking (with Holy Spirit at ego without condemnation) is an important (crucial) Course topic, also emphasized by Ken Wapnick; it occurs 924 times in ACIM! Resistance is another vitally important topic. Our (ego) resistance to Truth can make the Course seem difficult, but Truth is simple.

Myra’s sage advice (in excellent alignment with Wapnick’s teachings):

All the darkness has to come up so we (Holy Spirit and our decision-making mind) can look at it (ego) together, and learning after many ego mistakes (that make ego “real”):

Don’t fix the ego.
Don’t change the ego.
Don’t fight with the ego.
Don’t love the ego.
Don’t listen to the ego.

We only want to look at the ego (without blame or condemnation, which means looking at it with Holy Spirit – with forgiveness).

We need our Inner Kindness Teacher’s calm, peaceful, dispassionate objectivity to look at the insane absurdity of everyone “else’s” ego which is really my (projected) ego, and I need to bring my hopeless, depressing, discouraging (ego) interpretations to Holy Spirit for correction.

Myra related the wonderful metaphors of theaters and puppet shows used by Ken Wapnick; we aren’t the figures on the movie screen (or the puppets); rather we are the screenwriters and puppeteers. We’re not at the mercy of the performance when we realize we’re always the theatrical managers of our minds.

She also shared her enthusiasm (which we both share) for the helpful metaphors in ACIM of vertical (above the battleground) thinking rather than horizontal within our projected dreams where all illusions are equivalent – illusion A = illusion B = illusion C … – in their meaninglessness when separation, differences and polarized battles are given assumptions. When we realize we’re just swapping out one special illusion for another, we can see the wisdom of stopping this futile search.

“A thousand homes he makes, yet none contents his restless mind.” (ACIM, W-182.3:3)

Myra’s closing suggestion is to Identify with Love:

“Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.” (ACIM, W-pII.5.5:6-8)

This video recording was recorded on Monday, February 17, 2025.

You can reach Myra via her Facebook page which has new excellent (recommended) Course quotes daily: