In this YouTube video, Susan Dugan and Bruce Rawles read and commented briefly on the Christmas, holiday, and New Year’s references in A Course in Miracles as reflected in the Introduction to the Final Lessons in ACIM’s Workbook. Here are the first three paragraphs:
“1. Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. ²We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them. ³Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. ⁴To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth. ⁵For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain.
2. His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. ²It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed. ³In the dream of time it seems to be far off. ⁴And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. ⁵Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us. ⁶And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not.
3. And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. ²Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. ³It is the goal that God has given us. ⁴It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. ⁵For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. ⁶And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete.”
A related New Year’s message – applicable throughout the year, reminding us to generalize across and beyond space and time! – is:
“This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ. ²I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. ³Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. ⁴Say, then, to your brother:
⁵I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself.
⁶I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself.
⁷In the name of my freedom I choose your release, because I recognize that we will be released together.⁸So will the year begin in joy and freedom. ⁹There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. ¹⁰Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. ¹¹Make this year different by making it all the same. ¹²And let all your relationships be made holy for you. ¹³This is our will. ¹⁴Amen.”
We feel disconnected from Spirit and each other when we look “outside” ourselves for intimacy, meaning, relevance, purpose, and joy. The Course reminds us that what we’re searching for is always in our mind and requires awareness of the lack within our (separate) selves. The fulfillment of our heart’s desire for unchanging peace requires that I suspend my condemning thoughts, defenses, and secret (or not-so-secret) desire to be separate. As the Course reminds us, we’re merely dreaming of exile (with a visual pun below reminding us not to take our overactive imaginations too seriously!)
“You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awakening to reality.” (ACIM, T-10.I.2:1)
To truly live the Course, we must continuously reset our purpose – from reinforcing the insane belief in separation and the suffering implicit in that faulty assumption – to the willingness to consider that we’ve been (happily) wrong about everything. We all just want to “go home” (in our minds) to a state that has never changed or been compromised by our bitter dreams of exile, compromise, and seemingly endless war over limited love, resources, and essentials. We have an Inner Kindness Teacher (a.k.a. Holy Spirit or ACIM’s Jesus) which is essential to our undoing our belief in separation, healing our faulty perception that – without this built-in correctional help – will glom onto hallucinations instead of reality:
“The little insane wish to get rid of Him Whom you invited in and push Him out must produce conflict. As you look upon the world, this little wish, uprooted and floating aimlessly, can land and settle briefly upon anything, for it has no purpose now.” (ACIM, T-19.IV-A.7:1-2)
This infinitely benign Inner Teacher that we all have access to in our mind 24/7/365 is referred to in numerous ways in the Course including Appointed Friend, bridge, Universal Giver. Regardless of the name or label, what is always helpful is the purely non-ego presence in our minds.
dreaming of eggs aisle“My purpose as a Course student is only to re-commit every moment (every day, this year) … again … to changing the purpose of my life and catch myself when I’m straying from that.” – Susan Dugan
Since we indulge in toxic ego thinking so frequently, we must be profoundly gentle and patient with ourselves as we observe (ultimately without any self-condemnation) our insane addiction to ego thinking and its incessant blame-shifting tactic of projecting (unconscious, unfounded guilt) onto everyone and everything. Our exile is self-imposed masochism often disguised as sadism which every ego tries to deny.
We concluded with the “Final Lesson” which provides ongoing help every moment to deepen our trust in the Holy Spirit:
Lessons 361 to 365
This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.1. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. ²If I need a thought, that will He also give. ³And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. ⁴He is in charge by my request. ⁵And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.
The direction we seek isn’t about navigating our projected spatial-temporal dream world but rather navigating through and beyond both the material world and the ego thought system that projected it to the decision-making point in our mind where we will – eventually – happily choose against our dream of exile altogether.
(This video was recorded on December 31, 2024.)
Here is a related video “New Year’s Resolution According to ‘A Course in Miracles’ ” by Ken Wapnick:
If you have questions or comments about this video, previous videos in this ACIM-related video series, or other Course-related topics, please email them to us via the ACIMblog.com contact form. Susan and Bruce will review and try to respond to questions and suggestions for future conversations. We look forward to extending the conversation with you!
If you are interested in Susan’s excellent weekly Tuesday evening classes based on Kenneth Wapnick’s teachings, you can contact her here.
Here are some prior ACIM-related conversations with Susan Dugan and Bruce Rawles.
If you have enjoyed these conversations check out the latest releases from FACIM and support the work of Susan (ForaysInForgiveness.com) and Bruce (via donation links at the bottom of the sidebars on their respective websites) if you feel so inspired. THANKS!
