In this video recording (of a class facilitated by Bruce Rawles as part of the School For A Course In Miracles (SFACIM) curriculum hosted by Lyn Corona and Tim Wise) we started with ACIM’s 6th Workbook Lesson. The first 50 workbook lessons immediately jump into the deep end of the mind’s proverbial pool to expose the absurdity and insanity of the thought system of separation. These lessons begin directly to reverse the ego’s reversal of cause and effect; dismantling the very foundation of the ego’s practice of blaming everyone and everything for the apparent suffering we’ve accepted by believing our own misinterpretations of the intrinsically neutral data the world feeds back to us faithfully. Simultaneously, as the gentle but powerful dream demolition of this identity thief’s propaganda machine proceeds, the sanity of Holy Spirit’s authoritative yet completely undemanding suggestions to forgive one and all (including our own decision-making mind) shines forth as the obvious path to restoring joy and innocence to our thoughts, our natural inheritance.
Lesson 6: I am upset because I see something that is not there.
1. The exercises with this idea are very similar to the preceding ones. ²Again, it is necessary to name both the form of upset (anger, fear, worry, depression and so on) and the perceived source very specifically for any application of the idea. ³For example:
⁴I am angry at _________ because I see something that is not there.
⁵I am worried about _________ because I see something that is not there.2. Today’s idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you, and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose. ²However, the three or four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the search.
3. Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:
²There are no small upsets. ³They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.
⁴And:
⁵I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. ⁶For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.
Prior to the main readings for the session, we reviewed the 2 vital interconnected, mutually inclusive emphases in The Manual for Teachers that Ken Wapnick points out in Journey Through the Manual (for Teachers) of A Course In Miracles (JTTM):
- Shared Interests: “… shared interests is at the core of A Course In Miracles’ concept of forgiveness, and is also the basis of the important topic that Jesus discusses at great length in the text: the distinction between form and content. … This idea of shared interests–not seeing someone else’s interests as apart from one’s own–is at the heart of the message of A Course in Miracles.” – JTTW, p.3
- Asking the Holy Spirit for help: “… Asking the Holy Spirit for help (is) the key to practicing A Course in Miracles. By asking help of our inner (Kindness) Teacher, we become aware of our wrong-minded thought system and the hateful, cruel, and separating ways in which we manifest it. In what the Course refers to as our right mind, the Holy Spirit gently corrects our misperceptions.” – JTTW, p.3
When we see “others” as our Self we’re automatically allowing Holy Spirit’s forgiving counsel into our mind to heal the separation, and vice versa. Both are required to complete ACIM’s infinitely rewarding curriculum.
We then read the Introduction (ACIM, M-in) to the Manual For Teachers and Who Are God’s Teachers? (ACIM, M-1)
Here are the first 3 paragraphs of the Introduction (ACIM, M-in):
“1. The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world. ²The reversal is characteristic. ³It seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself. ⁴Further, the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity, in which one engages only a relatively small proportion of one’s time. ⁵The course, on the other hand, emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same. ⁶It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant process; it goes on every moment of the day, and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.
2. To teach is to demonstrate. ²There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. ³From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. ⁴The question is not whether you will teach, for in that there is no choice. ⁵The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you want to learn. ⁶You cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself, and this you learn through teaching. ⁷Teaching is but a call to witnesses to attest to what you believe. ⁸It is a method of conversion. ⁹This is not done by words alone. ¹⁰Any situation must be to you a chance to teach others what you are, and what they are to you. ¹¹No more than that, but also never less.
3. The curriculum you set up is therefore determined exclusively by what you think you are, and what you believe the relationship of others is to you. ²In the formal teaching situation, these questions may be totally unrelated to what you think you are teaching. ³Yet it is impossible not to use the content of any situation on behalf of what you really teach, and therefore really learn. ⁴To this the verbal content of your teaching is quite irrelevant. ⁵It may coincide with it, or it may not. ⁶It is the teaching underlying what you say that teaches you. ⁷Teaching but reinforces what you believe about yourself. ⁸Its fundamental purpose is to diminish self-doubt. ⁹This does not mean that the self you are trying to protect is real. ¹⁰But it does mean that the self you think is real is what you teach.”
Since ACIM is a purely non-dual course, we are only teaching ourselves, since the ideas we have about the “others” we assume are outside us are really only in our mind, but ultimately our real Identity does include all “minds” as one Mind; this dispels the myth that we need to teach others and brings the focus back to where the correction can and must occur – in MY mind, not anyone else’s!
We also are reminded that we are ALL teaching and learning ALL the time, either teaching and learning the insanity of ego’s divisive, peace-sabotaging and sadomasochistic thought system of separation and differences … or we’re teaching and learning the insanity of Holy Spirit’s healing, peace-restoring, forgiving thought system of sameness.
Then we read the first 3 paragraphs of Who Are God’s Teachers? (ACIM, M-1):
“1. A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. ²His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else’s. ³Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure. ⁴A light has entered the darkness. ⁵It may be a single light, but that is enough. ⁶He has entered an agreement with God even if he does not yet believe in Him. ⁷He has become a bringer of salvation. ⁸He has become a teacher of God.
2. They come from all over the world. ²They come from all religions and from no religion. ³They are the ones who have answered. ⁴The Call is universal. ⁵It goes on all the time everywhere. ⁶It calls for teachers to speak for It and redeem the world. ⁷Many hear It, but few will answer. ⁸Yet it is all a matter of time. ⁹Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can be a long, long way off. ¹⁰It is because of this that the plan of the teachers was established. ¹¹Their function is to save time. ¹²Each one begins as a single light, but with the Call at its center it is a light that cannot be limited. ¹³And each one saves a thousand years of time as the world judges it. ¹⁴To the Call Itself time has no meaning.
3. There is a course for every teacher of God. ²The form of the course varies greatly. ³So do the particular teaching aids involved. ⁴But the content of the course never changes. ⁵Its central theme is always, “God’s Son is guiltless, and in his innocence is his salvation.” ⁶It can be taught by actions or thoughts; in words or soundlessly; in any language or in no language; in any place or time or manner. ⁷It does not matter who the teacher was before he heard the Call. ⁸He has become a savior by his answering. ⁹He has seen someone else as himself. ¹⁰He has therefore found his own salvation and the salvation of the world. ¹¹In his rebirth is the world reborn.”
(This YouTube video recording was made on January 6, 2024.)