Treasure Troves: 12 Core ACIM Themes from David “dov” Fishman

“Jesus knew his Reality was outside the world of bodies.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“Each one must learn to teach that all forms of rejection are meaningless. The separation is the notion of rejection.” (T-6.I.18:3-4)

“God’s Sons are equal in will, all being the Will of their Father. This is the only lesson I came to teach.” (T-8.IV.6:8-9)

God’s Will is perfect equality.

“The ego looks straight at the Father and does not see Him, for it has denied His Son.” (T-11.V.16:9)

“Nothing conflicts with oneness.” (T-26.III.1:4)

“The truth is simple; it is one, without an opposite.” (T-26.III.1:8)

“The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught.” (W-158.2:8-9)

“An open mind sees the body as a symbol. Don’t confuse symbol with Source.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“Remember, then, that neither sign nor symbol should be confused with source, for they must stand for something other than themselves.” (T-19.IV-C.11:2)

“The body is the symbol of the ego, as the ego is the symbol of the separation.” (T-15.IX.2:3)

“ILLUSION: Something that is believed to be real but it is not; the ultimate illusion is the separation from God, upon which rest all the manifestations of the separated world which may be understood as distortions in perception.” ~ Ken Wapnick

Rupert Spira:

The 2 ego directives in all of us are:

1. resistance
2. seeking

God’s Will Is His Directive – Perfect Happiness: “Lesson 101: God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.” (W-101)

Happiness also is Our Will: “Lesson 102: I share God’s Will for happiness for me.” (W-102)

Ego’s mantra: “Seek but do not find” remains this world’s stern decree, and no one who pursues the world’s goals can do otherwise. (M-13.5:8)

“You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations.” (T-2.VI.4:6)

“Happy dreams come true, not because they are dreams, but only because they are happy. And so they must be loving. Their message is, ‘Thy Will be done,’ and not, ‘I want it otherwise.’ ” (T-18.V.4:1-3)

The resistance to healing is:
Who would I be without my ego? My anger? My special loves? MY special hates? My body? – Ken Wapnick
Who would I be without “MY?”    Who would I be without MY story – Byron Katie

“The only thing that is lost when you lose the ego is the need to be a victim.” – Ken Wapnick

“You can’t forgive what didn’t happen until you look at what did happen.” –  Ken Wapnick

“You make what you defend against, and by your own defense against it is it real and inescapable. Lay down your arms, and only then do you perceive it false” (W-170.2:6-7)

“When anything seems to you to be a source of fear, when any situation strikes you with terror and makes your body tremble and the cold sweat of fear comes over it, remember it is always for one reason; the ego has perceived it as a symbol of fear, a sign of sin and death. Remember, then, that neither sign nor symbol should be confused with source, for they must stand for something other than themselves.” (T-19.IV-C.11:1-2)

“You bring His happiness to all you look upon; His peace to everyone who looks on you and sees His message in your happy face.” (W-100.6:5)

“Salvation can be seen as nothing more than the escape from concepts.” (T-31.V.14:3)

“I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace.
I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace.
I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.
I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me.” (T-5.VII.6:7-11)

“The way to get to the right mind is to look at the wrong mind without judgment.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“What you made can always be changed because, when you do not think like God, you are not really thinking at all.” (T-5.V.6:12)

“Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties, but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time? Yet that is what time is for; to learn just that and nothing more.” (T-15.I.1:1-2)

“You look at it AS LONG AS IT TAKES YOU to smile. That could be an instant that could be a year. You look at it until you can smile. And a real smile, not a stupid smile, a smile that comes from inside. Stupid smiles Jesus doesn’t like. [He likes the] smile that is the correction for taking it seriously. And taking it seriously means not only is this real but it has had a real effect on me. THAT is the gentle laughter that the Course is talking about.” – Ken Wapnick

“Our habitual response should be: What can I learn from this? What happens over time is that our reaction time becomes shorter and shorter in terms of how long it takes us to correct  our perceptions about what we believed was upsetting us.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“Do not forget today that there can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought. Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal.” (W-198.9:5-6)

“Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness. Yet that is the content underneath the form. It is this sameness which makes learning sure, because the lesson is so simple that it cannot be rejected in the end.” (W-193.4:1-3)

“I will forgive, and this will disappear.” (W-193.13:3)

“What is your brother for? You do not know, because your function is obscure to you. Do not ascribe a role to him that you imagine would bring happiness to you. And do not try to hurt him when he fails to take the part that you assigned to him, in what you dream your life was meant to be.” (T-29.IV.6:1-4)

“A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct.” (T-1.VI.2:1)

“To look upon the ego without judgment, and with gentle laughter is forgiveness.” ~ Ken Wapnick
“If you take anything in this world seriously, ego is doing its magic.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“A Course in Miracles does not teach the truth, but the undoing of the illusory barriers to truth; a process that allows the memory of God to dawn upon our sleeping minds, awakening us at last from the ego’s nightmare world of guilt and fear.” ~ Kenneth Wapnick

Wisdom of Equality ❤ Without Equality, Peace is impossible ❤

“You who are not at war must look for brothers and recognize all whom you see as brothers, because only equals are at peace. Because God’s equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete.” (T-7.III.3:2-3)

Inequality = specialness = sacrifice: the one idea behind all pain & suffering.

“Never forget you give but to yourself. Who understands what giving means must laugh at the idea of sacrifice. Nor can he fail to recognize the many forms which sacrifice may take. He laughs as well at pain and loss, at sickness and at grief, at poverty, starvation and at death. He recognizes sacrifice remains the one idea that stands behind them all, and in his gentle laughter are they healed.” (W-187.6:1-5)

“Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to me.” (T-1.II.3:5-6)

“I need devoted teachers who share my aim of healing the mind. Spirit is far beyond the need of your protection or mine.” (T-4.I.13:7-8)

Our lessons are our Blessings! Turn your lessons into Blessings. Be Grateful for your triggers. They Reveal Our Mistaken beLIEfs ~ Dov

“There is only one special relationship and that is with my ego. There is only one holy relationship and that is with Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  And I project either onto all the people in my life. It’s not my relationship with you that has to be healed; they’re just a classroom  in which I learn where the real healing of the relationship  has to be, which was my mistaken decision for the ego.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“Now you are being shown you can escape. All that is needed is you look upon the problem as it is, and not the way that you have set it up.” (T-27.VII.2:1-2)

“Discomfort is aroused only to bring the need for correction into awareness.” (T-2.V.7:8)

“What he does not realize and needs to learn is that this ‘self,’ which can attack and be attacked as well, is a concept he made up.” (P-1.3:3)

He made it by choosing SPECIALness!

“If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy.” (W-12.5:3)

“We should be grateful for all the situations that make us feel uncomfortable because without them we would not know there is something unhealed within.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“As long as we keep repeating the story, it won’t/can’t go away.” ~ Zulma Gonzalez

“Heaven is not a place nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing outside this Oneness, and nothing else within.” (T-18.VI.1:5-6)

IT’S YOUR WILL! HAPPINESS IS YOUR INHERITANCE. YOU ARE YOUR FATHER’S WILL. “God, being Love, is also happiness.” (W-103) GOD IS. HAPPINESS IS. WE ARE ONE. Wink With Gratitude! It’s a Nod to God.

“You are not used to miracle-minded thinking, but you can be trained to think that way.¹⁰All miracle workers need that kind of training.” (T-2.VII.1:9-10)

“If you deny the body, you’re denying the only textbook Jesus can use to teach us his lessons. It’s like saying to a teacher- Here’s the school, but there is no classroom, no textbook, and no students – Teach! The classroom is our life. The students are the decision-making minds. And the curriculum is our life experiences.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“When you are anxious, realize that anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and know this need not be. You can be as vigilant against the ego’s dictates as for them.” (T-4.IV.4:1-2)

“Never underestimate the power of denial.” ~ Helen Schucman via Ken Wapnick

“Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.”(W-189.7:1-5)

“You are one Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the truth about yourself.” (W-95.12:3)

“I am here only to be truly helpful.
I am here to represent Him Who sent me.
I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.
I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me.
I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal.” (T-2.V-A.18:2-6)
(Text, Page 28 in recent English print editions of the Course, sometimes called the Prayer for Salvation.)

“The world you see must be denied, for sight of it is costing you a different kind of vision. You cannot see both worlds, for each of them involves a different kind of seeing, and depends on what you cherish.” (T-13.VII.2:1-2)

“What makes you ‘sick’ is identifying with your body.
What will make you “well” is identifying with your right mind.
And this has nothing to do with the state of the body.” ~ Kenneth Wapnick.

Our defenses: [The ego is a] “maladaptive solution to a non-existent problem” ~ Ken Wapnick (Ken wanted to be remembered for this superb phrase.)

❤  the separation/illusion, never happened 🙂

“In gentle laughter does the Holy Spirit perceive the cause, and looks not to effects. How else could He correct your error, who have overlooked the cause entirely? He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while. You judge effects, but He has judged their cause. And by His judgment are effects removed. Perhaps you come in tears. But hear Him say, ‘My brother, holy Son of God, behold your idle dream, in which this could occur.’ And you will leave the holy instant with your laughter and your brother’s joined with His.” (T-27.VIII.9:1-8)

PSYCHOTHERAPY – INTRODUCTION:

“Psychotherapy is the only form of therapy there is. Since only the mind can be sick, only the mind can be healed. Only the mind is in need of healing.” (P-in.1:1-3)

“I can forgive you only by realizing I am the one who put you in my dream, and it is my dream. That is the key to forgiveness, and to the important definition in A Course in Miracles that you forgive your brother for what he has not done to you.” ~ Kenneth Wapnick

“There is no statement that the world is more afraid to hear than this:

I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself.

Yet in this learning is salvation born. And What you are will tell you of Itself.” (T-31.V.17:6-9)

“There is only one problem – the mind’s belief we are separated from God and on our own. … Looking at the problem ‘as it is’ means looking within at our faulty decision-making, so it can be corrected.” ~ Kenneth Wapnick

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR US. WE ARE ALL PERFECTLY CARED FOR ~ HOLY SPIRIT

“A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans that it receives through listening to wisdom that is not its own.” (W-135.11:1-2)

We live within a Sea of Synchronicity, within an Ocean Of Love. ~ Dov

“This course will be believed entirely or not at all.For it is wholly true or wholly false, and cannot be but partially believed.And you will either escape from misery entirely or not at all.Reason will tell you that there is no middle ground where you can pause uncertainly, waiting to choose between the joy of Heaven and the misery of hell.Until you choose Heaven, you are in hell and misery.” (T-22.II.7:4-8)

“It is impossible to see your brother as sinless and yet to look upon him as a body.Is this not perfectly consistent with the goal of holiness?” (T-20.VII.4:1-2)

Trust is the first of the ten Characteristics of God’s Teachers:

All Happens for the Good, Always:

“All things work together for good. There are no exceptions except in the ego’s judgment.” (T-4.V.1:1-2)

“When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they are given another chance at salvation.” (T-8.III.4:1-6)

“Do you not see that all your misery comes from the strange belief that you are powerless?” (T-21.VII.1:1)

“Discomfort is aroused only to bring the need for correction into awareness.” (T-2.V.7:8)

“Spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Your reality is only spirit.
Therefore you are in a state of grace forever.” (T-1.III.5:4-6)

Stepping Stones to Awakening provides for Awakening to Our True Identity.
Stepping Stones to Awakening is the 12 Core Themes of A Course In Miracles.

1. My Only Purpose is to AWAKEN from the dream of forgetfulness. Let me remember, Awakening is the only purpose all my brothers and sisters everywhere are here for.

As I see their Holy Purpose, I see my own. My Holiness sees only God’s Purpose and Plan for Salvation as my own. There is no other. “Purpose is meaning.” (W-25.1:1)

“Salvation is your happiest accomplishment. It is also the only one that has any meaning, because it is the only one that has any real use to you at all.” (W-44.8:2-3)

Our Shared Purpose is to Awaken and Know Our True Self. My sole responsibility in this world is to “… accept the Atonement.” (T-2.V.5:1). Only our Purpose remains Constant. Only this is Consistent. “Only a purpose unifies, and those who share a purpose have a mind as one.” (T-23.IV.7:4)

“True happiness in this world comes from letting go of guilt, the problem that caused us to flee our minds, as we believed we fled from Heaven. Guilt’s undoing, then, is the source of joy, because it undoes all suffering and pain, and returns us to the home we never left.”~ Kenneth Wapnick on Lesson 66: My happiness and my function are one. (W-66)

“God established His relationship with you to make you happy, and nothing you do that does not share His purpose can be real. The purpose God ascribed to anything is its only function. Because of His reason for creating His relationship with you, the function of relationships became forever ‘to make happy.’And nothing else.“ (T-17.IV.1:1-4)

“The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself. This means you recognize that mind is the only creative level, and that its errors are healed by the Atonement.Once you accept this, your mind can only heal.”(T-2.V.5:1-3)

“The sole responsibility of God’s teacher is to accept the Atonement for himself.” (M-18.4:5)

“Purpose is meaning.” (W-25.1:1)

“Only a purpose unifies, and those who share a purpose have a mind as one.” (T-23.IV.7:4)

“Nothing survives its purpose.” (T-29.VI.3:1)

“The self you made is not the Son of God. Therefore, this self does not exist at all. And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. It is neither bad nor good. It is unreal, and nothing more than that.” (W-93.5:1-5)

2. I am Cause. 

“I am not the victim of the world I see.” (W-31)

“I have invented the world I see.” (W-32)

“This is a course in cause and not effect.” (T-21.VII.7:8)

“The Responsibility for Sight” (T-21.II):

“This is the only thing that you need do for vision, happiness, release from pain and the complete escape from sin, all to be given you.Say only this, but mean it with no reservations, for here the power of salvation lies:

I am responsible for what I see.
I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve.
And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked.

Deceive yourself no longer that you are helpless in the face of what is done to you.Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all effects of your mistakes will disappear.” (T-21.II.2:1-7)

“No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants.And no one dies without his own consent. Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose.Here is your world, complete in all details.Here is its whole reality for you.And it is only here salvation is.” (W-152.1:3-8)

“Let all things be exactly as they are.” (W-268)

HIS GRACE SUFFICES. ~ “Your grace is given me. I claim it now.” (W-168) GRATEFUL FOR GRACE NOW.  Gratitude Shared Is Contagious.

“Real choice is no illusion. But the world has none to offer. All its roads but lead to disappointment, nothingness and death. There is no choice in its alternatives. Seek not escape from problems here. The world was made that problems could not be escaped.” (T-31.IV.2:1-6)

“Be not deceived by all the different names its roads are given. They have but one end. And each is but the means to gain that end, for it is here that all its roads will lead, however differently they seem to start; however differently they seem to go. Their end is certain, for there is no choice among them. All of them will lead to death. (T-31.IV.2:7-11)

“Love is the way I walk in gratitude.” (W-195)

“Forgive us our illusions, Father, and help us to accept our true relationship with You, in which there are no illusions, and where none can ever enter.” (T-16.VII.12:1) (Here is a related video of Dr. William “Bill” Thetford providing insights about the “back story” of the response that Helen Schucman had when she brought these words forth: William Thetford – the Course’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.)

If it wasn’t for the upsets, stresses, worries, and concerns that trigger us, we would accept this world of blame, guilt, and shame, as all there is – a victim of an uncaring world. Death appears to be our final reward. “And no one asks if a benign Creator could will this.” (M-27.1:7)

“The world believes in idols. No one comes unless he worshipped them, and still attempts to seek for one that yet might offer him a gift reality does not contain. Each worshipper of idols harbors hope his special deities will give him more than other men possess. It must be more. It does not really matter more of what; more beauty, more intelligence, more wealth, or even more affliction and more pain. But more of something is an idol for. And when one fails another takes its place, with hope of finding more of something else. Be not deceived by forms the “something” takes. An idol is a means for getting more. And it is this that is against God’s Will.“ (T-29.VIII.8:4-13)

3. Nothing in this world will satisfy the Eternal Son of God and nothing can hurt the SON unless He chooses to “believe it can.”

“The world I see holds nothing that I want.” (W-128)

“I loose the world from all I thought it was.” (W-132)

“There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach.” (W-132.6:2-3)

“I will not value what is valueless, for what is valuable belongs to me.” (W-133.14:3)

“I am not a body. I am free. (W-199) … and …
For I am still as God created me.” (W-rVI.in.3:3-5) repeated in review lessons 201-220.

“My salvation comes from me.” (W-70)

“I could see peace instead of this.” (W-34)

Ego will use every trick in the book to avoid facing its own irrelevance. 😎

“Anger is never justified.” (T-30.VI.1:1)

“All anger is nothing more than an attempt to make someone feel guilty, and this attempt is the only basis the ego accepts for special relationships.” (T-15.VII.10:3)

“Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated.” (T-26.X.4:1)

“You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury.” (W-21.2:5)

This is a course for the mentally ill. We are All paranoid & schizophrenic. ~ Ken Wapnick

4. “I do not know what anything is for.”(W-25)

“I do not perceive my own best interests.” (W-24)

If I do know, then I am invested, and it is this that makes me a slave to the dream.

“You make what you defend against, and by your own defense against it is it real and inescapable. Lay down your arms, and only then do you perceive it false.” (W-170.2:6-7)

“Illusions are investments. They will last as long as you value them. Values are relative, but they are powerful because they are mental judgments. The only way to dispel illusions is to withdraw all investment from them, and they will have no life for you because you will have put them out of your mind. While you include them in it, you are giving life to them. Except there is nothing there to receive your gift.” (T-7.VII.4:1-6)

It is my reaction to what I see, my interpretation of what I see that hurts me. If I do not know what anything is for, if not invested in being right, I can accept it and let it go, without making a judgment on it or myself, for making the judgment. Only the ego mind is invested here. “Whenever you are not wholly joyous, it is because you have reacted with a lack of love to one of God’s creations.” (T-5.VII.5:1)

Whenever I am not wholly Joyous, I must have reacted without love to one of God’s Creations. Ask of everything in this world, what is it for? For you do not know:

“Preoccupations with problems set up to be incapable of solution are favorite ego devices for impeding learning progress.In all these diversionary tactics, however, the one question that is never asked by those who pursue them is, ‘What for?’This is the question that you must learn to ask in connection with everything.What is the purpose?Whatever it is, it will direct your efforts automatically.When you make a decision of purpose, then, you have made a decision about your future effort; a decision that will remain in effect unless you change your mind.” (T-4.V.6:6-11)

This is NOT your Home.  “I am under no laws but God’s.” (W-76)

“I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself.” (T-31.V.17:7)

ACCEPTANCE: Spirit Accepts, ego resists. What I resist, persists. Acceptance is Forgiveness.

“This is not a course in the positive. This is a course in recognizing your belief in the negative and undoing it.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“When Virtue is a Vice and Vice a Virtue: Two Purposes for Everything”– Kenneth Wapnick

“To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold.” (T-24.in.2:1)

“It is this that makes the holy instant so easy and so natural. You make it difficult, because you insist there must be more that you need do. You find it difficult to accept the idea that you need give so little, to receive so much. And it is very hard for you to realize it is not personally insulting that your contribution and the Holy Spirit’s are so extremely disproportionate. You are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth and makes it what it is. Yet we have emphasized that you need understand nothing. Salvation is easy just because it asks nothing you cannot give right now.” (T-18.IV.7:1-7)

5. Do I want to be right or Happy? Choose one; you can’t have both.

I can choose to HEAL. “To heal is to make happy.” (T-5.in.1:1) … “Healing is but another name for God.” (W-356)

“God established His relationship with you to make you happy, and nothing you do that does not share His purpose can be real.” (T-17.IV.1:1)

“I have spoken of different symptoms, and at that level there is almost endless variation. There is, however, only one cause for all of them: the authority problem. This is ‘the root of all evil.’ ” (T-3.VI.7:1-3)

“The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.’ Do not dwell upon it, but dismiss it as accomplished. If you can accept it as your own last useless journey, you are also free to join my resurrection. Until you do so your life is indeed wasted. It merely re-enacts the separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts of the ego at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death.” (T-4.in.3:1-5)

6. It’s ALL in the mind. IYSIYGI …If You Spot It You Got It, NO exceptions. It takes one to know one.

“Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless.” (T-21.in.1:1-9) … Within & without are the same.

What I “…think apart from God…” (T-5.V.7:4) is a reminder of the guilt of separation. When I see my Brother as different or having different interests, it tells me which teacher in my mind I am listening to. Awareness of this allows me to change my teacher and mind. In this perception: “My brother is my savior.” (W-288.1:7)

Our only relationship is with God.

“Ideas leave not their source.” –  an idea repeated in the Course seven times.

“There is no order of difficulty in miracles.” ACIM Principle #1, repeated in the Course nine times.

7. The Correction of Error

“The alertness of the ego to the errors of other egos is not the kind of vigilance the Holy Spirit would have you maintain.” (T-9.III.1:1) … “When you correct a brother, you are telling him that he is wrong.” (T-9.III.2:4)

The cosmic joke is that we are always speaking about our self. Nobody needs fixing! I have no need to do anything. “Like all lessons it [sacrifice] is an illusion, for in reality there is nothing to learn.” (M-13.1:4)

“Atonement heals with certainty, and cures all sickness.The mind which understands that sickness can be nothing but a dream is not deceived by forms the dream may take.Sickness where guilt is absent cannot come, for it is but another form of guilt.Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not a cure.It takes away the guilt that makes the sickness possible.And that is cure indeed.For sickness now is gone, with nothing left to which it can return.” (W-140.4:1-7)

“If this were the real world, God would be cruel. For no Father could subject His children to this as the price of salvation and be loving.” (T-13.in.3:1-2)

“If God is real, there is no pain. If pain is real, there is no God.” (W-190.3:3-4)

8.“Only my condemnation injures me. Only my own forgiveness sets me free.” (W-198.9:3-4)

“Do not forget today that there can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought. Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal.” (W-198.9:5-6)

“You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgment.When you recognize what you are and what your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way is without meaning.” (T-3.VI.3:1-2)

“In gentle laughter does the Holy Spirit perceive the cause, and looks not to effects.How else could He correct your error, who have overlooked the cause entirely?He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while. You judge effects, but He has judged their cause.And by His judgment are effects removed.Perhaps you come in tears.But hear Him say, ‘My brother, holy Son of God, behold your idle dream, in which this could occur.’And you will leave the holy instant with your laughter and your brother’s joined with His.” (T-27.VIII.9:1-8)

“You can be brainwashed, not Mind-washed.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.” ~ Lao Tzu

“Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.” (W-72)

“Jesus is asking us to set aside our judgments and grievances, for these are the ego’s ‘raucous shrieks’ that prevent us from hearing the gentle Voice reflecting God’s plan for salvation: the Atonement.” ~ Kenneth Wapnick

9. Let me rest in God. All that I do is under His Guidance.

“What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?Perhaps you have misunderstood His plan, for He would never offer pain to you.But your defenses did not let you see His loving blessing shine in every step you ever took.While you made plans for death, He led you gently to eternal life.” (W-135.18:1-4)

Spirit Accepts Always, Knowing All is Perfect. The ego analyzes everything, seeing something is broken or missing. The ego thought system is a problem-solving machine; a prison. Peace/Shalom says: nothing is missing, nothing is broken.

All things work together for the good. There are no exceptions except in the ego’s judgment ~ Text 4.5.1

“All things work together for good. There are no exceptions except in the ego’s judgment.” (T-4.V.1:1-2)

“The ego is a maladaptive solution to a non-existent problem.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“The problem is not that you are sitting in a sandbox and some bully is kicking sand in your face, the problem is you think there is a sandbox and there is no sandbox.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“Either the Father and the Son are murderers, or neither is.” (T-23.IV.3:6)

Either we are both wrong or both right. The Course is constantly reminding us that projection makes perception.

“Truth is everyone in this world is mistaken.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“Would I not rather join the thinking of the universe than to obscure all that is really mine with my pitiful and meaningless ‘private’ thoughts?” (W-52.5:7)

“Love is the way I walk in gratitude.” (W-195)

“All things are lessons God would have me learn.” (W-193)

“It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion.” (M-4.I-A.4:5-6)

“Who, then, is the therapist, and who is the patient? In the end, everyone is both. He who needs healing must heal. Physician, heal thyself. Who else is there to heal? And who else is in need of healing? Each patient who comes to a therapist offers him a chance to heal himself. He is therefore his therapist. And every therapist must learn to heal from each patient who comes to him. ¹⁰He thus becomes his patient. God does not know of separation. What He knows is only that He has one Son. His knowledge is reflected in the ideal patient-therapist relationship. God comes to him who calls, and in Him he recognizes Himself.” (P-2.VII.1:1-14)

“Only God’s plan for salvation will work.” (W-71)

FearLESSness:

“Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend.” (W-60.3:4-5)

“We do not search for love because it’s absent. It’s absent because we search for it.” ~ Rupert Spira

“It is not that an illusion is unreal. It simply is not what we think it is.” ~ Rupert Spira

“There is nothing my holiness cannot do.” (W-38)

“My holiness is unlimited in its power to heal, because it is unlimited in its power to save. What is there to be saved from except illusions? And what are all illusions except false ideas about myself? My holiness undoes them all by asserting the truth about me. In the presence of my holiness, which I share with God Himself, all idols vanish.” (W-58.3:2-6)

10. Ask the Holy Spirit for help.

“Peace abides in every mind that quietly accepts the plan God set for its Atonement, relinquishing its own. You know not of salvation, for you do not understand it. Make no decisions about what it is or where it lies, but ask the Holy Spirit everything, and leave all decisions to His gentle counsel.” (T-14.III.12:4-6)

“This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.” (W-361-365)

“The tiny tick of time in which the first mistake was made, and all of them within that one mistake, held also the Correction for that one, and all of them that came within the first. And in that tiny instant time was gone, for that was all it ever was. What God gave answer to is answered and is gone.” (T-26.V.3:5-7)

“The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught.” (W-158.2:8-9)

11. “Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” (W-121) (This is also the title of an excellent book by Susan Dugan.)

No one is excluded from our Circle of Forgiveness, Our Circle of Innocence, or we are leaving ourself out. If we are not WHOLLY JOYOUS, we are withholding Love from one of God’s Creations, and that is always us. “… let him offer you the light you see in him, and let your ‘enemy’ and friend unite in blessing you with what you gave. Now are you one with them, and they with you. Now have you been forgiven by yourself.” (W-121.13:1-3)

“To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts you gave in the past, and those that were given you. All the rest must be forgotten.” (T-17.III.1:1-2)

“Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear.” (T-17.II.1:1-4)

The Miracle is bringing the projection back inside; an “outside picture of an inward condition (T-21.in.1:5).

“When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin in any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he did, for that is self-deception. Ask instead, “Would I accuse myself of doing this?” (W-134.9:2-3)

“When you are tempted to accuse anyone of sin, it is saying I believe I am happier attacking someone than having the peace of God.” ~ Ken Wapnick; May 19, 2013

“How can you who are so holy suffer? All your past except its beauty is gone, and nothing is left but a blessing. I have saved all your kindnesses and every loving thought you ever had. I have purified them of the errors that hid their light, and kept them for you in their own perfect radiance.” (T-5.IV.8:1-4)

“To look upon the ego without judgment, and with gentle laughter is forgiveness.” ~ Ken Wapnick

The number one question to ask yourself every day:
“What beLIEf am I ‘right’ about? I don’t want to be ‘right’ about it anymore.” ~ Dov

12. The Law of Love, The Law of Mind, The Law of God.

“Suffer, and you decided sin was your goal. Be happy, and you gave the power of decision to Him Who must decide for God for you. This is the little gift you offer to the Holy Spirit, and even this He gives to you to give yourself.” (T-21.II.3:5-7)

What We Give, We Give To Our Self. Love Knows Only Itself & Gives to Itself by Extending without Limit. ONLY the LOVE IS REAL!

“All that I give is given to myself.” (W-126)

“Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me.” (W-344)

“IF YOU ARE KIND TO ALL, THAT’S A COURSE IN MIRACLES; you don’t need the fancy shmancy metaphysics.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“No one is sent by accident to anyone. Relationships are always purposeful. Whatever their purpose may have been before the Holy Spirit entered them, they are always His potential temple;…” (P-3.III.6:2-4)

“There is a light in you the world can not perceive. And with its eyes you will not see this light, for you are blinded by the world. Yet you have eyes to see it. It is there for you to look upon. It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from your sight. This light is a reflection of the thought we practice now. To feel the Love of God within you is to see the world anew, shining in innocence, alive with hope, and blessed with perfect charity and love.” (W-189.1:1-7)

TO KNOW YOUR PERFECT GOD SELF, SEE THE PERFECT GOD SELF IN ALL YOU MEET.

If this is not possible right now, stay open… I need only step back … and invite The Holy Spirit to Lead and show me His Vision. His Voice calls gently and speaks to me of my Sameness, Sees my Oneness with my Brother and Love of God. Our True Identity is Constant and Eternal. This is Truth; We Are ONE. The Truth Frees The Son. LOVE THE TRUTH.

“Above all else I want to see.” (W-27)

“A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.” (C-in.2:5-7)

“Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.” (W-189.7:3-5)

“God gives me only happiness.
He has given my function to me.
Therefore my function must be happiness.” (W-66.5:2-4)

“Release the world! Your real creations wait for this release to give you fatherhood, not of illusions, but as God in truth. God shares His Fatherhood with you who are His Son, for He makes no distinctions in what is Himself and what is still Himself. What He creates is not apart from Him, and nowhere does the Father end, the Son begin as something separate from Him.” (W-132.12:1-4)

“There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven life is illusion.” (T-23.II.19:1-3)

“We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.” (W-pII.14.5:1-5)

“You think your brother is unfair to you because you think that one must be unfair to make the other innocent. And in this game do you perceive one purpose for your whole relationship. And this you seek to add unto the purpose given it. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to let the Presence of your holy Guests be known to you. And to this purpose nothing can be added, for the world is purposeless except for this. To add or take away from this one goal is but to take away all purpose from the world and from yourself. And each unfairness that the world appears to lay upon you, you have laid on it by rendering it purposeless, without the function that the Holy Spirit sees. And simple justice has been thus denied to every living thing upon the earth.” (T-26.X.5:1-8)

“The world is fair because the Holy Spirit has brought injustice to the light within, and there has all unfairness been resolved and been replaced with justice and with love. If you perceive injustice anywhere, you need but say:

By this do I deny the Presence of the Father and the Son.
And I would rather know of Them than see injustice, which Their Presence shines away.” (T-26.X.6:4-7)

The Simple Themes above are taken from the three books of A Course in Miracles, starting in 2004.

The Course offers us concepts and symbols to use as Stepping Stones to lead us to the Experience of Oneness, beyond the scope of its curriculum.

12 Stepping Stones of ACIM by David Fishman & Linda Card. We give Thanks and Appreciation also to Andy LeCompte for his Contributions to the 12 Stepping Stones.

The Last Unanswered Question: “… do I want to see what I denied because it is the truth?” (T-21.VII.5:14) This question will unravel my own self-denial.

Willingness is Transcendence, of “separation, conflict, differences, special ways of seeing.”

“I choose the joy of God instead of pain.” (W-190)

I am SO GRATEFUL … I CAN CHOOSE AGAIN … TRUTH IS CHOICELESS

I need not say or do anything, except not to interfere. “I need do nothing except not to interfere.” (T-16.I.3:12)

Let me step back and let Him lead the Way. “I will step back and let Him lead the way.” (W-155)

True Empathy (T-16.I)

Mentoring for ACIM Students offered by David Fishman: David simply points the way past blockages perceived within, removing meaning now, saving years of seeking later. Seeing the escape portals now saves lifetimes later, looking beyond the prison of our past judgments, beliefs, and meanings we give to the meaningless, removing our defenses against the truth.

The Last Unanswered Question: “… do I want to see what I denied because it is the truth?” (T-21.VII.5:14)

“If you take anything in this world seriously then ego is doing its magic.” ~ Ken Wapnick

“We wallpaper our minds with our thoughts.” ~ Jacob Glass

“It’s not whether you win or lose. It’s how you play the game.” ~ Dov

… links from Dov’s signature:

N A M A S T E  M A H A L O  S H A L O M  A L O H A

Open Minds for ACIM & NTI group on Facebook / Please JOYnUS and share your Blessings

One Mind Foundation (ACIM Ministry)
ACIM Gather for A Course In Miracles, on Paltalk.com 24/7 Our Home to develop trust & listen

Our ACIM Gather Radio station on 24/7 playing your favorite teachers like Ken Wapnick … and all the Guest Teachers who come to develop Trust <TUNE-IN for 24/7 ACIM Internet RADIO> (Here are some related ACIMblog posts that refer to ACIMgather)

JOYnUS at our Gather Community Sharing board at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OpenMindsTrust/   and
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACIMGATHER
Always here for You!
Love
Dov