People are thoughts in the mind, they are not really people. People do not have their own private minds and private thoughts. And they cannot seem to exist outside of the One Mind. A Course in Miracles states that at no single instant does the body exist at all, it is always remembered or anticipated. It is the fiction of identity as a person that has to be forgiven, and that’s it. You can see as many thoughts as you want. You can watch those thoughts come by, come and go in your awareness. The ones that seem to be dead, the ones that seem to be living..there’s no difference. It’s artificial, birth and death. And responsibility, there’s only one that ACIM teaches us, and that’s to accept the Atonement.
Personality-Self
Sexual Repression & Promiscuity
The Spirit will unwind our mind from all the sexual repression and denial that has gone on, and it will use symbols in a highly individualized way depending on each person’s patterns. For example, one who has been very sexually promiscuous in the past may very well be Guided to be celibate for a time. On the other hand, one who has repressed their sexuality may be Guided to start having more sexual experiences which undo old ideas about what sexuality means. In either case…
Transcending a Personal Sense of Self
What am I identified with, right here, right now in this present moment? Could it be that there is an identification that has its own thoughts and its own feelings that isn’t me, yet I believe it is? Can I be that insane? No. It is only that I am believing in something that is that insane.
The Impossibility of Private Thoughts
David Hoffmeister offers a teaching session with participants in Waiwera, New Zealand at a retreat. This gathering exposed the underpinnings of private thoughts and the need to realize their falsity for healing to be experienced.
Becoming Passersby
Empty the mind of concepts. The mind is the classroom. Spirit will use many different backdrops for mind training. The goal is to be able to watch the world without having investment in it, to become a passer-by.
Being of True Service
The sense of service can be a helpful step as a backdrop for watching the mind. Everything is thought, and really, the service is learning how to forgive and release attack thoughts. “I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.” (W-23) Service cannot be judged in terms of form. True service is an alignment in purpose.
What Is A Course in Miracles
What is “A Course in Miracles” (ACIM)? ACIM is a spiritual tool that comes from Jesus Christ. The Course is a practical pathway of forgiveness and love that uses the teachings of psychology, education, and Christianity. ACIM contains a Text that teaches the principles, a Workbook for practical application, and a Manual for Teachers, that we may become conduits for miracles. We need to remove our ego mask that covers our Christ Self.
No People Thoughts
Have so much fun—like a child playing with sand—that you forget to have people thoughts. Pay no attention to the criteria of the world. Trust that Spirit orchestrates everything, and give joy away. Stop seeking more and rest in contentment. You are not a person; you are an idea in the mind of God.
Applying the Workbook Lessons
All the world’s a stage, an act, in which you play your part. But it is just a movie, not real. You give it all the meaning it has for you. You can apply these lessons to the symbols of the world and undo your ego beliefs: “I am never upset for the reason I think.” (ACIM, W-5) “I am upset because I see something that’s not there.” (ACIM, W-6) “I see only the past.” (ACIM, W-7) “My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.” (ACIM, W-8) You are trying to maintain a false identity and compete with God. But God loves you so much he has given you an owner’s manual for your mind with a curriculum, a step-by-step training program that will heal your mind.
Trust and Unlearning the World
David Hoffmeister shares about how he was guided to start traveling around 1991 and how that was a big lesson in trust. There are many sections in A Course in Miracles (ACIM) which state that if we trust, everything we seem to need will be taken care of. This world is layer upon layer of much ado about nothing and it all has to be unlearned. ACIM is a course in unlearning. You have to empty your mind. While you still believe there is time and space to move through, you will be guided gently, easily, and gracefully.