Make this year different … by making it all the same
Here is a video from Ken Wapnick (New Year’s message) that is a timeless reminder that we can see all seemingly different aspects of the dream we’ve projected as the same forgivable illusion. It was just over a year ago that he appeared (in form) to leave us, yet his message lives on, undimmed by the shifting of illusion. Thank you, Ken!
Christmas as the End of Sacrifice – a conversation with Susan Dugan
Susan Dugan and Bruce Rawles converse about “Christmas as the End of Sacrifice” from the last section (11) from Chapter 15 in the text of A Course In Miracles; lots of substantial material in this section for us to ponder and apply, and appropriate any time of year!
New ACIMblog Podcast Series
Details will be forthcoming … soon! :-)
Gary Renard and Gene Bogart podcast #53
There’s a new Podcast with Gary Renard and Gene Bogart – Episode 53 now available.
Recovering Bliss-ninny calendar – new for 2015
Calling all Recovering Bliss-Ninnys! Here is a new (2015) calendar for students of A Course In Miracles (ACIM) that want reminders of the thought system we’re here to undo, featuring a few of the more challenging quotes from ACIM with recent photographs by Bruce Rawles, editor of ACIMblog.com. Kenneth Wapnick said: “A bliss-ninny doesn’t want to look at guilt or what the world is really like. A person will say, oh, the Course is changing my life, it’s going to change the world without really looking at the guilt the Course is trying to undo. A bliss-ninny does not have a proper understanding or respect for the ego in terms of how ugly it can be and how attracted to it we are. If you don’t look at guilt, everything you do with this Course is going to be guided by that decision and you will totally misunderstand what the Course is saying.” While most students of ACIM probably aren’t in the ‘clinically pathological bliss-ninny’ category (grin) we all have our favorite idols of specialness in the world that we think will make us happy. So, even if you only have a few residual ‘special projects’ to repair this surreal holodeck with the intent of turning the dream into your bliss factory, you might find the quotes on the calendar helpful. If you stand back far enough, you can always just look at the photos when the resistance is high to letting the meaning of the quotes sink in directly, letting them work subliminally. :-)
All the quotes from the Recovering Bliss-ninny calendar are in the November 2014 ACIMblog bulletin.
FACIM offers streaming classes starting January 2015
The Foundation for A Course In Miracles (FACIM) will begin offering their academy classes via streaming video, starting January! This will greatly expand access who may not find it convenient to attend the sessions in person in Temecula, California. Kudos to FACIM for adding this additional online venue for these superb programs!
Journey Through the Text available now
Hooray! The long-awaited “Journey Through the Text of A Course In Miracles” (JTTT) by Kenneth Wapnick is now available through the FACIM.org website. I’ve been reading excerpts posted on FaceBook by fellow students that already have copies and have just started reading it!
The Altar – An Article by Dave Van Dyke
How willing are we to proceed to “the end of our insistence that reality must be a certain way”? Another helpful article by contributor, Dave Van Dyke.
Susan Dugan workshops
For anyone in the Denver, Colorado or Portland, Oregon areas, ACIM teacher Susan Dugan is giving a workshop in 2015 entitled “The Parent-Child Relationship: Transcending Guilt, Blame, and Need ” on Feb. 21 and March 28, respectively; here are details on her Classes/Events page. She also has an ongoing class on Tuesday evenings at Rocky Mountain Miracle Center (RMMC) in Denver; all highly recommended, as are her blog, and books, Forgiveness Offers Everything I Want, and Extraordinary Ordinary Forgiveness.
Well, isn’t that special! Specialness – 12Radio conversation with CA Brooks
CA Brooks and Bruce Rawles had another conversation on her excellent weekly 12Radio show about ACIM, this one on Specialness. In this conversation, we talk about special love, special hate, and how we make everything special! This ubiquitous ego tactic is designed to keep us mindlessly fixated on specific idols of all kinds. We refer to quotes such as “Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind” from Lesson 161 of the ACIM WorkBook, and how specifics … and specialness are intentional diversions from restoring our minds to this peaceful state which is our true nature. Specialness is an important theme in A Course In Miracles; here are numerous articles about it on the Foundation for A Course In Miracles website.
Virtual ACIM conference … still available online!
Please join me and Amy Torres, Dr. Bob Rosenthal, Britney Shawley, Carrie Triffet, Cheryl Ford, Corrine Zupko, Craig Villarrubia, Danielle Boonstra, David Fishman, David Hoffmeister, Earl “Raj” Purdy, Gabrielle Bernstein, Joe Wolfe, John Mark Stroud, Jon Mundy, Kandace Jones, Kenneth Bok, Lisa Natoli, Lorri Coburn, Maria Felipe, Maureen Muldoon, Myron Jones, Nouk Sanchez, Susan Dugan, and Tony Ponticello for the first MiracleShare.org 2014 Virtual Conference. It was held on October 17-19, 2014, but it will be available for a full year after those dates, so you haven’t ‘missed it’ if you still want to watch and hear the entire 3 days … until Oct. 2015! Here is a list of speakers, details about the virtual conference, and a link to register for the event. The theme of this first virtual conference is “Healing the Mind through ACIM.” My presentation was: “Lowering our shields of oblivion: Following our Inner Kindness Teacher beyond the imagined need for defenses back to the Peace of Perfect Oneness we never left.” Here are some quotes from the speakers, in a slide show format. I hope you can join us; the material is always applicable! This was a wonderful opportunity for the global ACIM community to share insights, support and humor. I had the pleasure of watching all the presentations/interviews and listening to all the Q&A sessions, and enjoyed them all; I plan to re-watch and re-listen to them all again soon. :-)
Holiday Peace Applicable Throughout the year … in film and song
If you haven’t heard it, check out the song Christmas in the Trenches – written and performed by John McCutcheon and a related film, Joyeux Noel, both about declaring a cease fire when we realize that we share the same true interests, as symbolized by this historical lull in world war insanity. Happy holidays and beyond, all!
Inner Peace column edited by ACIMblog contributor Sally McKirgan
Here is the initial article about Inner Peace in 2008 which initiated the Inner Peace column in the Ashland (Oregon) Daily Tidings. This series has enjoyed contributions by numerous ACIM students in the Oregon’s Rogue Valley area and beyond.
Upcoming Interviews / Webcasts / Videos / Meetings / Conferences / Presentations/ Classes / Resources
- CA Brooks interview about special love and special hate relationships (see details above)
- The Altar – An Article by Dave Van Dyke (see details above)
- Recovering Bliss-Ninny calendar for 2015 (see details above)
ACIM Resources, Events, Musings – your suggestions and contributions invited!
Please contact us to share what YOU would like to see here, any suggestions for improvements, etc. If you have anything ACIM-related that you’d like to share, please send (or send a link) for consideration. This site is (among other things) a venue for conversations, so I eagerly encourage and await more contributions from kindred students of our Shared Teacher of forgiveness and kindness. It’s fun to share our universal interests online; visit ACIMblog pages on FaceBook FaceBook (my personal FB page, which is considerably ACIM-related), Twitter and YouTube. If you aren’t already receiving this automatically in your email, you can subscribe here for free and get daily updates (of any posts made the prior day) via the “post updates by email” Subscribe button on every page. Eternal smilezenhugs to all! :-) 