ACFIP
Newsletter
December
2017
Issue
55
Quarterly
Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Inner Peace
Michael Dawson
PO Box 125, Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island,
Queensland 4183,
Australia
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with .au I put your address on my Australian list for advance
notice of workshops I am giving in Australia. If you do not
want to be on this list please let me know. If you reside in
Australia and want to be on this list, but you address does
not end in .au, please email me and I will include it.
If you are new to the
Course you might find my summaries of help.
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Price of all three eBooks has been reduced
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Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
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Inspired by A Course in Miracles
This is the eBook version
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Regards
Michael Dawson
______________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
A Course in Miracles Material
* A Summary of A
Course in Miracles (2017) by Michael
Dawson.
* Q. How does one
tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and the ego? -
Kenneth Wapnick
* Excepts from: ÒJesus: My
Autobiography.Ó
Non Dual Teachings
*The Secret
Room Where Peace Lives - Jan Frazier
*Everything Comes Back to
Nothing - Adyashanti
Other
* Workshops
* Books and Audio
Materials for Sale
* Links
* Inspirational Quotations
A
Course in Miracles Material
A Summary of A Course in
Miracles (2017) by Michael Dawson.
The Course is summarised
on the first page of the text, using just three lines. The
first line states, ÒNothing real can be threatenedÓ. We know
our bodies, personalities, concepts and beliefs can be easily
threatened. In fact, any anything that can change, anything
that is in time, will always change. Nothing our senses can
perceive is without change. There is nothing in the whole
universe that is protected from change. Our sun is middle-aged
and in about 5 billion years will burn out. At that time there
will be no life on this planet. What God created must be like
itself - formless and outside of time or eternal. Eternal does
not mean a very long period of time, it actually means no
time. What we really are cannot be changed. We must be like
our Creator, formless and eternal and impossible to be
described. The aim of the Course is for us to discover our
spiritual reality: this deep sense of peace that passes
understanding, this quiet joy that never leaves us.
The second line of the
summary states "Nothing unreal exists". This means that
nothing in time, nothing that can change, is real in the
absolute sense. It is more like a dream. The Course states
that when we wake up from our dreams in the morning we just
enter another dream. If we wish to play this painful game of
separation, which most of us are addicted to, then it can only
be played in a dream.
You seem to waken, and
the dream is gone. Yet what you fail to recognize is that
what caused the dream has not gone with it. Your wish to
make another world that is not real remains with you. And
what you seem to waken to is but another form of this same
world you see in dreams. All your time is spent in dreaming.
Your sleeping and your waking dreams have different forms,
and that is all. Their content is the same. They are your
protest against reality, and your fixed and insane idea that
you can change it.
A Course in Miracles T-18.II.5.
You dwell not
here, but in eternity.
You travel but in dreams, while safe at home
Text-13.VII.17:6-7
Many will ask ÒWhy we would choose to be separate?Ó. The
Course replies ÒWhy are you still choosing it now?Ó. We think
itÕs better than union, than oneness. Now we can play at being
God and pursue happiness according to our plans. When we
finally realise that we, as separate beings, can never succeed
we are ready to turn to forgiveness and go home.
You are at home in God,
dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awaking to
reality Text-10.I.2:1
Forgiveness awakens us
from the dream. The forgiveness of the Course is not the
forgiveness normally talked about in our world which the
Course states is Òforgiveness to destroyÓ. The worldÕs usual
version of forgiveness is based on the misperception that the
problem lies in the world and not in our minds. The only true
forgiveness is for ourselves. The simplest definition of
forgiveness is to look at our minds and at the world without
judgement. We are asked us to smile at our ego thoughts. When
we believe in right and wrong, good and bad we are caught in
judgement.
Òfor there is nothing either
good or bad, but thinking makes it
soÓ.
Shakespeare: Hamlet
For example, if we see an
adult attacking or even torturing a child, and we fall into
the trap of right and wrong and good and bad then we close our
hearts. Our response will be from our minds and it will never
be appropriate. Without judgement the response comes from the
heart which has its own wisdom and we know what to say and
what to do in any situation. The answer will come from inner
guidance and will be a win-win solution for everyone.
The Holy Spirit is
said to have only two judgements. It sees people either
extending love or sees people asking for love. In this example
both the adult and child are asking for love. Of course, this
is no easy lesson as most of us do not have the perception of
the Holy Spirit. However, we can start our practice of
forgiveness in all the many difficult incidents that arise in
the day when we lose our peace. We can start to see each day
as a daily classroom of forgiveness.
What we need to learn over
time is that the problem is never in the world but in our own
minds. The metaphysics of A
Course in Miracles teaches
us that when we chose to leave union and play this painful
game of separation we carried with us great guilt and terror
over what we seem to have done. In truth we have not done
anything, but fall asleep in Heaven and dream all this. The
Spirit within us, has never been damaged, never been altered.
The seeming act of
separation has been deeply denied and buried in our
subconscious. The pain and the guilt of this seeming
separation is too much for us to carry. To escape from this
pain we have projected it out onto the universe. Now the
problems are seen outside of us and not within our minds where
they truly reside. We think we have escaped this guilt with
our clever plan but each day we are reminded of it. Every
circumstance or person that upsets us is just triggering this
hidden guilt of separation. We do not wish to see this so we
say that circumstances or people are to blame.
It is impossible to
forgive another, for it is only your sins you see in him.
You want to see them there, and not in you. That is why
forgiveness of another is an illusion ... Only in someone
else can you forgive yourself, for you have called him
guilty of your sins, and in him must your innocence now be
found. Who but the sinful need to be forgiven? And do not
ever think you can see sin in anyone except yourself.
The Song of Prayer Supplement to A Course in
Miracles S-2.I.4:2-4,
S-2.I.4:6-8
As we blame others we only
make our guilt worse, for it is a dishonest act and our guilt
level only increases. The Course states that all anger is an
attempt to make another person feel guilty, for in this way we
hope to change their behaviour to get what we want. If our
angry outburst does not work then we are likely to become even
more angry in the hope that we get the desired effect on the
other. The greater the illusion we are trying to protect in
our minds the greater our defence. Any time we experience
anger it is a red flag in bringing attention to something
unhealed, unforgiven within our minds. There are no
exceptions, there is no righteous anger. Our egos hate to hear
such a statement.
The world is but a mirror
to what is unhealed and unforgiven in our minds. As we start
to slowly learn this lesson we realise that our brothers and
sisters are our saviours. They perfectly reflect what needs to
be forgiven in our minds. When our forgiveness lessons are
complete we will only have compassion for the suffering in the
world. It will be a heart wisdom that responds in all
situations. When we finally wake up we realise that separation
is an illusion and all that we look upon it really ourselves.
Why would we want to attack others? - it would be like
stamping on our own feet.
When I look within and
see that I am nothing, that is wisdom.
When I look without and see that I am everything, that is
love.
And between these two, my life turns.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Three stages of
Forgiveness.
In one short passage the
Course divides forgiveness into three stages.
You are not trapped in
the world you see, because its cause can be changed. This
change requires, first, that the cause be identified and
then [second] let go, so that [third] it can be replaced.
The first two steps in this process require your
cooperation. The final one does not.
Workbook-p1.23.5:1-4
I've discussed the first
stage above where we come to realise that what upsets us in
the world is just a mirror of what upsets us in our minds
otherwise we would respond with compassion. We complete that
first step when we become grateful to events and people for
showing us our unhealed thoughts in our minds. The form in our
mind may be different. For example, we may get upset at angry
people but in our case we rarely display anger. But on closer
investigation we discover a quiet, brooding anger within us
which manifests in shutting us off from people we dislike. Our
anger, our aggression is passive. This is what we feel guilty
about and project onto others.
Now we have a chance
to heal the cause. This moves us onto the second stage of
forgiveness where we have to decide if we are ready to let
these thoughts go. It is easy to become attached to our
painful thoughts, to turn them into our identity and make them
into a story about ourselves. We are asked to forgive and let
go the victim that we have found the within us. However, we
may now find we are deeply attached to that victim and resist
letting go as we know this will cause a major change in our
lives. Perhaps our friends are also victims and others
rescuers. We could lose these people if we let our
victim role go. Perhaps also we have been using our
sense of victim to say to the world Òdon't expect much of me
for I have been abusedÓ. That excuse can no longer be used
once we forgive the victim in ourselves. As Byron Katie said
ÒWho would you be without your story?Ó.
When you are ready to let
your pain go you have completed the second stage of
forgiveness. The third stage is automatic and divine, the
guilt and pain are simply lifted from us as we no longer want
them. Spirit cannot take what we still want, no matter how
painful it is. We can plead with Spirit to take our pains but
It knows if we secretly still think it benefits us in some
way.
Forgiveness É is
still, and quietly does nothing. É. It merely looks, and
waits, and judges not.
Workbook-pII.1.4:1,3
As we walk this path of
forgiveness we uncover and release painful thoughts and guilt
in our mind. It's like removing clouds obscuring the sun. We
will start to experience light, love and peace as our true
nature begins to shine through and this encourages us on our
path home.
The path becomes quite
different as one goes along. Nor could all the magnificence,
the grandeur of the scene and the enormous opening vistas
that rise to meet one as the journey continues, be foretold
from the outset. Yet even these, whose splendor reaches
indescribable heights as one proceeds, fall short indeed of
all that wait when the pathway ceases and time ends with it.
Manual for Teachers. M19.2.
18/9/17
Michael Dawson
www.acfip.org
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Q.43) How does one tell the difference
between the Holy Spirit and the ego? - Kenneth
Wapnick
http://www.facimoutreach.org/index.htm
We begin with a statement from the Course. It
comes in "The Test of Truth" in Chapter 14 of the
text, and is the answer to this question, given in the
context of discerning between the "dark lessons" of
the ego and the "bright lessons" of the Holy Spirit:
You have one test, as sure as God, by which
to recognize if what you learned is true. [1 ]
If you are wholly free of fear of any kind, and [2]
if all those who meet or even think of you share in
your perfect peace, then you can be sure that you
have learned God's lesson, and not your own (T-14.XI.5:1-2).
In other words, Jesus is providing his students
with two criteria with which to evaluate whether they
have chosen the ego or himself as their teacher. The
first deals only with individual students, whether or
not they are at peace. The second involves other
people, those who live and work with us, not to
mention everyone else. We all would have to
admit that it is relatively simple to delude ourselves
into thinking we have chosen the Holy Spirit, when in
truth we have chosen our own specialness. But it is
more difficult to fool other people, especially those
who know us well and who see us regularly over periods
of time. Incidentally, students of A
Course in Miracles sometimes
wonder if that second criterion would have to exclude
Jesus, since obviously the biblical figure (who, by
the way, should never be taken
for the historical Jesus -- see question 52 ) was
crucified by angry people who quite clearly did not
"share in [his] perfect peace." However, one should
understand this situation to mean that people may
experience your perfect peace, but may be so
threatened by it that they try to attack it and you.
But they could not be doing so had they not first
experienced this peace as authentic, and then become
threatened by it.
This test of truth is applicable to students
over the long run because, again, it is difficult to
fool others and even oneself over a period of time.
However, in any given instant when one wishes to know
which teacher has been consulted, it is almost
impossible to know for certain. As all students of A
Course in Miracles already
know, and as we have already commented, the ego can
quite deceptively pose like the Holy Spirit. Given the
tremendous investment all people in this world have in
maintaining their specialness, it should come as no
surprise that this would be so. In this very important
passage, Jesus cautions his students about
underestimating the power their specialness has to
mask the Holy Spirit's Voice. It is from one of the
major sections in the text that deals specifically
with the treacherous nature of specialness:
You are not special. If you think you are,
and would defend your specialness against the truth
of what you really are, how can you know the truth?
What answer that the Holy Spirit gives can reach
you, when it is your specialness to which you
listen, and which asks and answers. Its tiny answer,
soundless in the melody that pours from God to you
eternally in loving praise of what you are, is all
you listen to. And that vast song of honor and of
love for what you are seems silent and unheard
before its "mightiness. " You strain your ears
to hear its soundless voice, and yet the Call of God
Himself is soundless to you.
You can defend your specialness, but never
will you hear the Voice for God beside it (T-24.II.4:1-5:1,
italics ours).
Therefore, our response to this question is to
state, that because of students' over-identification
with their egos, it is really the wrong question to
ask. Rather, the focus should be on eliminating the interference to
hearing the Holy Spirit's Voice, which would then
simply allow the Voice for God to be Itself. Thus, the
question should be: "Why don't I practice the
forgiveness lessons the Holy Spirit asks me to do so
that I can better hear His Voice?" With this new
question, the focus is now shifted to eliminating the
problem so that the Answer can be given us. As
Jesus exhorts his students:
Your task is not to seek for love [or hear
the Holy Spirit's Voice], but merely to seek and
find all of the barriers within yourself that you
have built against it. It is not necessary to seek
for what is true, but it is necessary to seek for
what is false (T-I6.IV.6:1-2).
And returning to "The Test of Truth," we find
Jesus making the same point to his students who
despair over being able to actually hear the Holy
Spirit, given the strength of their investment in
their ego's "dark lessons":
Do not be concerned about how you can learn
a lesson so completely different from everything
that you have taught yourself. How would you know?
Your part is very simple. You need only
recognize that everything you learned you do not
want. Ask to be taught, and do not use your
experiences to confirm what you have learned. When
your peace is threatened or disturbed in any way,
say to yourself:
I do not know what anything, including this,
means.
And so I do not know how to respond to it.
And I will
not use my own past learning as the light to
guide me
now.
By this refusal to attempt to teach yourself
what you do not know, the Guide Whom God has given
you will speak to you. He will take His rightful
place in your awareness the instant you abandon it,
and offer it to Him (T-14.XI.6).
The primary focus of Jesus' Course is always
on removing the interferences to the awareness of
love's presence (T-in.1:7), and not on the love
itself. And so, once again, the students' focus will
remain on asking Jesus' help to set aside their ego
thought system, rather than on asking him directly
for help or guidance with things in the world.
Finally, we cite one important passage in the text
that underscores this major emphasis:
The task of the miracle worker ... becomes
to deny the denial of truth (T-12.II.1:5).
The "denial of truth" is of course the ego
thought system, which denies the truth of God. Our
responsibility is to ask the Holy Spirit's help to
"deny" the validity of what the ego teaches, hereby
affirming His truth of the Atonement.
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Excepts from:
ÒJesus:
My Autobiography.Ó
Channeled
by Tina L Spalding
Available
from Amazon or TinaÕs website:
https://channelingjesus.com/books/
Over 150
channellings available free at:
On A Course
in Miracles
There is an aspect of
you that knows you are not at home. It is that feeling all
of you have that there has been a terrible mistake, that
you were put in the wrong family, that you are not
understood, that you are alone. This is the fear that I
have come to help undo, for you unknowingly create it
yourself. You do it by perpetuating these ideas of
separation, and it is through the practice of forgiveness
Ñ not in the sense that you believe in the sin but in the
sense that you understand that the sin is not at all real
Ñ that you have created the sin in your own mind to bring
yourself peace. Allowing yourself to attack another brings
you some sense of relief from your inner conflicts.
That
is the underlying principle of this book. It is a
complicated principle when you have never heard it before.
But the book I penned called A Course
in Miracles covers
this information. It is written in a language and in a way
that is very powerful. It is written in a language and a
way that will change your internal structures in a gentle
and deliberate systematic way. So when you read it, it is
hard to understand if you come at it from your ordinarily
trained Western mind. It requires some discipline, and it
requires some faith in the sense that you might not
understand what it is talking about or understand what it
is doing to the mind. You think that if only someone had
written it more clearly Ñ if only someone had written it
in a different language Ñ that it would be easier for you
to comprehend. The truth is, it is written that way for a
purpose! It is written in that way to undo the teaching
and the conditioning of the Judeo-Christian principles of
the world in which you find yourself. It is explained too,
in other texts, and these I shall refer to at a later
point.
However,
I am clarifying it here; I am clarifying it now. If you
wish to begin to truly access peace, if you wish to begin
to truly transform the thoughts and processes of your mind
and come to a deep and profound understanding of that
which is the truth, A
Course in Miracles is the book
that you will wish to read in concert with this book I am
penning through this channel at this time. For if you
understand my true life story, in combination with this
book, you will have a complete understanding of what has
transpired, what is transpiring, and how to achieve levels
of communication with Spirit and levels of peace that are
beyond your comprehension at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
On miracles
ÒThese miracles are
not as miraculous as you think they are when you begin to
comprehend that everything you see is playing out in your
mind as a dream, for you know that in the dream state, in
your normal sleeping experience, you can change things
instantaneously as soon as you realize that you are
dreaming.
You do not comprehend
that this idea of lucid dreaming can also apply to your
life as you live it now. That is all I was doing: I was
expressing my ability to lucidly dream in what you
consider reality.Ó
---------------------------------------------------------------
On the
crucifixion
ÒI went to this
experience with mixed emotions; there is no doubt about
that. But I went voluntarily into the death experience
because I was aware of this agreement I had
made to do this work. It is hard for you to comprehend
this, we understand from this side, because you are
attached to the body and you are fearful of pain, but you
must understand that I was able, in that time and place,
to remove my consciousness from my body so that the
suffering was in fact quite limited. The observers of the
event from the outside did not experience what I
experienced. I was able to lift my consciousness out of my
body very early in the process and was gone far sooner
than people think.Ó
ÒBecause of many years
of practice, I could at that time just shift my
consciousness and remove it from the physical body. So the
body that was hanging on the cross was not me. The
consciousness that was me had already gone into the
nonphysical and was communing and communicating with my
higher guides, my higher self, and the beings who were in
charge of my ministry Ó
ÒI was told that this
death experience, undone through the idea of resurrection,
would be the most powerful aspect of my teaching. That was
the truth. I was not contained within my body, and I did
not raise up a dead body. That is not what happened. The
body was merely dematerialized, and I materialized a new
one.Ó
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Non Dual
Teachings
This part of the
newsletter offers input from non-dual teachers. What is
non-duality? The word Ônon-dualÕ means not two. On the first
page of the ACIM text there is two line summary of a Course in
Miracles. It begins with the line ÒNothing real
can be threatened.Ó
This refers to what God
created Ð eternal, formless, spirit. Eternal means never born
and therefore cannot change or die. The Course uses the
expression Ôthe ChristÕ to denote this. Behind all the seeming
multiplicity of the universe there is actually only one
essential reality. Just as all the images on the cinema screen
seem different, the light that creates them is one.
There is nothing outside you. That is what you must
ultimately learn, for it is the realization that the Kingdom
of Heaven is restored to you. For God created only this, and
He did not depart from it nor leave it separate from
Himself. The Kingdom of Heaven is the dwelling place of the
Son of God, who left not his Father and dwells not apart
from Him. 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.
The second line of the
summary states ÓNothing unreal exists.Ó This
refers to everything that is born and therefore dies - the
egoÕs world. Thus everything in the universe including
ourselves is not real according to the Course. It is like a
great dream. Only perfect oneness is real.
There are two forms of
non-duality Ð pure and impure. In the impure form God is aware
that the universe is a dream and experiences itself through it
- God's Leela or play as they say in the East. In the pure
form of non-duality God is unaware of the universe. The Course
is an example of pure non-dual teachings. A metaphor for this
is a cinema projector where the lamp in the projector
represents God. When the ego's film of separation is run past
the light it is projected onto the screen of time and space.
The light of God makes this possible, but the lamp is unaware
of what is on the screen and would continue to shine when the
film is taken away. To continue with this metaphor the light
extending from the lamp is who we are, the Christ. ( See
chart http://acfip.org/lightbulb.html)
You dwell not here, but in eternity.
You travel but in dreams, while safe at home.
T-13.VII.17:6-7.
You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but
perfectly capable of awaking to reality.
T-10.I.2:1.
_________________________________________________
The Secret Room Where
Peace Lives - Jan Frazier
Posted on October 17,
2017
Might it be possible
to fully accept what-is, however far it departs from the
thing I expected, or wished would be?
How naturally a person
tends to equate accepting something with liking it. ItÕs
easier to see this in the negation: If I dislike the thing
thatÕs occurred, of course I reject it. ItÕs natural to
rebel against any idea of accepting it.
As if acceptance werenÕt
possible without approval.
The inability to tease
the two apart is the heart of untold needless pain. Even to
recognize how tightly yoked they tend to be (accept, like)
is the beginning of a revelation. The recognition of an
alternate possibility opens the door a crack Ñ the door
thatÕs been closed on the restful room where peace lives,
like soothing warm water patiently awaiting our arrival. In
that hidden room, where resistance no longer operates, all
is felt to be profoundly well (no matter the particulars of
momentary life).
If the possibility has
never dawned that acceptance can quite naturally occur even
in the presence of an unwelcome or startling development,
then in the face of something challenging, resistance will
seal the door tightly shut. Resistance will be a constant
(and exhausting) companion, causing the inevitable inner
turmoil. Because life will continue serving up one meal
after another of something unpalatable, maybe something even
sickening. And we will keep blaming life itself for the
upset interior of our dear selves.
Nobody wants to know
that itÕs not actually life causing the ceaseless inner
disturbance. To see the role I play in holding peace away Ñ
to let my body register my complicity in my own suffering Ñ
asks a certain courage. To inquire into the apparently
inevitable gesture of holding at armÕs length anything
unwelcome, as if there were no other option! Might it be
possible to fully accept what-is, however far it departs
from the thing I expected, or wished would be? To simply
allow that question into the body is what subtly turns the
knob on the door. ItÕs the dawning of awareness of the
existence of the room (so surprising a space!) where peace
has been waiting. ItÕs a place whose existence had never
been imagined, during all the preoccupied hours and years of
blaming life for one episode after another of acute
suffering.
When the door has swung
all the way open (through whatever miraculous means), when
acceptance has blessedly become the norm, with no more
enforced barrier between awareness and life, peace has
become the default.
At some point the
observation may be made that the question of
approve-vs.-disapprove no longer is automatically posed to
self. How to account for the disappearance of this life-long
assessor? Is it because the primacy of reality has at last
won out? Is it because acceptance occurs naturally and
immediately, not waiting for the long-familiar sizing-up to
occur first?
The conspicuous absence
of the like/dislike assessor certainly is not because
youÕve lost the ability to discern, or to care, or even to
prefer. If you go looking inside yourself for the presence
of such things, you will surely be able to find them: little
pockets of tender gratitude, of concern, or rejoicing, in
the face of one thing or another life has delivered. You do
still care. You might well even proceed to take some kind of
action in a certain direction. ItÕs just that whatever you
do in response to a thing, or whatever you might pursue
toward some end, is fueled by love, not (as before) by anger
or fear or ferocious desire. And there is none of the
familiar attachment to how-things-go. The yoking of the
ÒrightÓ outer circumstances with inner well-being has simply
dissolved in the warm water of non-resistance. You finally
see that your inner reality is not dependent on outer
conditions.
YouÕre the same inside,
no matter what comes along.
______________________________________________________
Everything Comes Back
to Nothing - Adyashanti
Inexplicably it comes.
When you least expect it. For a reason you can never know.
One moment you are striving, figuring, imagining, and then,
in the blink of an eye, it all disappears. The struggle
disappears. The striving disappears. The person disappears.
The world disappears. Everything disappears, and the person
is like a pinpoint of light, just receding until it
disappears. And thereÕs nobody there to witness it. The
person is gone. Only, only awareness remains. Nothing else.
No one to be aware. Nothing to be aware of. Only that
remains itself. Then itÕs understood, finally and simply.
Then everythingÑall the
struggle, all the striving, all the thinking, all the
figuring, all the surrendering, all the letting go, all the
grabbing hold of, all the praying, all the begging, all the
cursing, tooÑwas just a distraction. And only then is it
seen that the person was, is, and ever will be no more than
a thought. With a single thought, the person seems to
reemerge. With more thoughts, the world seems to reemerge
right out of nothing. But now you know.
The incarnation is
nothing more than a thought. A thousand incarnations are but
a thousand thoughts. And this amazing miracle of a mirage we
call the world reappears as it was before, but now you know.
ThatÕs why you usually have a good laugh, because you
realize that all your struggles were made up. You conjured
them up out of nothingÑwith a thought that was linked to
another thought, that was then believed, that linked to
another thought that was then believed. But never could it
have been true, not for a second could it have actually
existed. Not ever could you have actually suffered for a
reason that was trueÑonly through an imagination, good, bad,
indifferent. The intricacies of spiritual philosophy and
theologies are just a thought within Emptiness.
And so at times we talk,
and I pretend to take your struggles seriously, just as I
pretended to take my own seriously. You may pretend to take
your own struggles seriously from time to time, and although
we pretend, we really shouldnÕt forget that we are
pretending, that we are making up the content of our
experience; we are making up the little dramas of our lives.
We are making up whether we need to hold on or surrender or
figure it out or pray to God or be purified or have karma
cleansedÑitÕs all a thought. We just collude in this
ridiculous charade of an illusion pretending that itÕs real,
only to reveal that itÕs not. There is no karma. There is
nothing really to purify. ThereÕs no problem. There is only
what you create and believe to be so. And if you like it
that way, have at it!
But we cannot continue
this absolute farce indefinitely. We cannot continue to
pretend this game we play, indefinitely. ItÕs impossible.
Everything comes back to nothing.
And then itÕs a bit
harder to hold a straight face consistently for the rest of
your life.
___________________________________________________
PLEASE NOTE: The Australian Centre for Inner Peace is
not a counselling or psychotherapy centre;
therefore we do not offer telephone or email service or
counselling, therapy, or crisis intervention for personal
problems.
Please see the Contacts section at the end of this
newsletter.
___________________________________________________
Other
Forthcoming Workshops on A
Course in Miracles
Germany 2018 Dates
Bonn -
Sat 9 and Sun 10 June - 2018
10am to 6pm
I need do
nothing - moving from doing to being.
To
do nothing is to rest, and make a place
within you where the activity of the body
ceases to demand attention.
Into this place the Holy
Spirit comes, and there abides.
A Course in
Miracles. T-18.VII.7
Our modern age is characterised by busyness,
doing and speed, leaving little room to be
guided This busyness often extends into our
spiritual life as well.
The Course reminds us that the memory of God,
our spiritual reality, returns to the quiet mind
and not one filled with busyness - whether
material or so-called Òspiritual.Ó As we learn
to give up ego-based action, slow down and do
nothing our actions will spontaneously come from
a source of wisdom only found in the quiet
mind.
Save time for me by only this one
preparation, and practice doing nothing
else. "I need do nothing" is a statement
of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty.
Believe it for just one instant, and you will
accomplish more than is given to a century of
contemplation, or of struggle against
temptation.
A Course in Miracles. T-18.VII.6
This workshop explores the following:
Effort versus relaxation
Need to surrender
Being not doing
I need do nothing
Forgiveness
End of seeking
Journey from a somebody to a nobody.
Planning and decisions
Not knowing
What keeps us from the now?
Fear of the unknown
Attaining a quiet mind
Exercises will be given to help us leave the
control of the ego and move into a state of
beingness and receptivity.
No knowledge of A Course in Miracles is
required.
An Evening
Introductory Talk - Fri 8th June 2017
7.30pm to 9.30pm
Contact:
Albert-Schweitzer-Haus
Beethovenallee 16
Bonn 53173
tel: 0228 - 36 47 37
http://www.albert-schweitzer-haus-bonn.de
Freiburg 2018 June
Fri
15,[6pm tp 9pm] Sat 16 [10am to 6pm] and Sun
17 [10am to 5pm]
I need do nothing - moving
from doing to being.
To do
nothing is to rest, and make a place within you
where the activity of the body ceases to demand
attention.
Into this place the Holy Spirit comes,
and there abides.
A Course in Miracles.
T-18.VII.7
Our modern age is characterised by busyness,
doing and speed, leaving little room to be guided This
busyness often extends into our spiritual life as
well.
The Course reminds us that
the memory of God, our spiritual reality, returns to
the quiet mind and not one filled with busyness -
whether material or so-called Òspiritual.Ó As we learn
to give up ego-based action, slow down and do nothing
our actions will spontaneously come from a source of
wisdom only found in the quiet mind.
Save time for me
by only this one preparation, and practice doing
nothing else. "I need do nothing" is a
statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty.
Believe it for just one instant, and you will
accomplish more than is given to a century of
contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.
A Course in Miracles.
T-18.VII.6
This workshop explores the
following:
Effort versus relaxation
Need to surrender
Being not doing
I need do nothing
Forgiveness
End of seeking
Journey from a somebody to a
nobody.
Planning and decisions
Not knowing
What keeps us from the now?
Fear of the unknown
Attaining a quiet mind
Exercises will be given to
help us leave the control of the ego and move into a
state of beingness and receptivity.
No knowledge of A Course in
Miracles is required.
Workshop dates Germany 2019
Bonn: 14 - 16 June
Freiburg: 21-23 June
______________________________________________________
BOOKS AND
AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson
New teaching and healing
materials - eBooks and downloadable MP3s:
Ebooks:
Price of all three eBooks has been reduced
by half to AU$4.99
Inspired by A Course in
Miracles.
This is the eBook version
of the paper back.
New book in eBook format
Inspired by A Course in
Miracles
This is the eBook version
of the paper back.
The eBook versions can be
read on Kindle, iPad, Microsoft eReader, Nook, PDF readers
(Mac and PC) and most eBook readers.
Downloadable
Mp3s:
This MP3 contains the
identical four exercises as the CD
This MP3 contains the
identical four exercises as the CD
This MP3 contains the
identical three exercises as the CD
Paperback
Books:
Healing the
Cause - A Path of Forgiveness. Findhorn Press
1994
Also available in German,
Romanian, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese.
The Findhorn
Book of Forgiveness. Findhorn Press. 2003
Also available in German,
French, Polish and Romanian.
MP3s (see
above) and CDs:
Healing the
Cause:
Since 1986 I have been
conducting healing workshops in the UK and abroad, and have
continually experimented to find healing and forgiveness
exercises that are effective. I have found that a
particular exercise can be effective for one person but not
another. Accordingly, I was led to develop a series of
exercises. Over the years workshop participants asked if these
exercises could be put onto audio cassettes and CDs so they
could repeat them. This has resulted in the Healing the Cause
- Exercise series - Tapes 1 to 4 (2 exercises on each tape)
and CD1 and 2 (4 exercises on each CD)
CD - 3 Healing Exercises
in English with German translation. 10 Euro
Content:
Ex1. Forgiving
Ourselves.
Ex2. Changing Perception
and Finding peace.
Ex3. Changing Perception
of another - exercise for two people.
These exercises are
similar to existing exercises already available on CDs but are
translated into German.
Workshops:
1. Three
Steps of Forgiveness.
This workshop concentrates
on the process of forgiveness from the perspective of A Course
in Miracles. Includes 3 healing exercises.
Recorded at the
Annual Miracle Network Conference in London, November 2001. 1
hour 12 mins. One CD
2. Finding
and Eliminating the Blocks to Receiving Guidance.
This talk investigates
what stops us hearing the guidance that is ever present in our
lives. Recorded at the Annual Miracle Network Conference in
London, October 20001 hour. One CD
______________________________________________________
CONTACTS and
COURSE INFORMATION
A Web search engine
dedicated to finding discussion and definitions of terms and
concepts found in
A Course in Miracles as
well as Web sites, articles and other writings related to the
Course.
Their electronic outreach
section has a question and answer service on the theory and
practice of the Course. Their database of 1,400 questions and
answers is searchable. They no longer take new questions as
they feel all possible questions have now been put.
Foundation for
Inner Peace..........................Publishers
of A Course in Miracles and responsible for the translation
programme. On-line mail order.
Foundation For
A Course In Miracles................FACIM is
the official teaching organisation of the Foundation for Inner
Peace and the copyright-holder of_A Course in Miracles and all
related materials. Publishes the quarterly Lighthouse newsletter. They
have extensive on-line mail order for their books, CDs and
DVDs.
The Foundation was started
by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick and has moved to Temecula in
California. Kenneth is my teacher of A Course in Miracles. His
body died in December 2013.
Their publications can
also be ordered in Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Kenneth Wapnick ......ÉÉÉ
Biographical information and excerpts from his writings
by Kenneth and Gloria
Wapnick
A Course in Miracles Study
groups
Search for A Course in
Miracles Study Groups Around the World.
The Foundation for Inner
peace also has a study group search engine.
A Course In Miracles Pen
Pals:
They will send you
updated lists of other e.pals and inform them of your
e-mail address.
This Belief.net web-based discussion
is hosted by Joe Jesseph.
_________________________
INSPIRATIONAL
QUOTATIONS
About three times a week I
send a short quotation from some spiritual teacher or poet to
people who have requested some uplifting thoughts. I have
included some below. If you wish I can add your name to the
email list.
How long, O Son of God,
will you maintain the game of sin? Shall we not put away these
sharp-edged children's toys? How soon will you be ready to
come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin. Creation is
unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven back? How
long, O holy Son of God, how long?
A Course in Miracles
Lesson 250
Do understand that you are
destined for enlightenment.
Co-operate with your
destiny, don't go against it, don't thwart it.
Allow it to fulfil itself.
All you have to do is to
give attention to the obstacles created by the foolish mind.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
I Am That
When you listen to
the voice in your head, that
is to say, do not
judge. You'll soon realize: there
is the voice, and here I
am listening to it, watching
it. This I am
realization, this sense of your own
presence, is not a
thought. It arises from beyond
the mind.
Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now
One is more likely to
awaken through surrender than through seeking to waken. The
effort to awaken is the effort of ego, whereas to surrender is
to give up all efforts and to place oneself in the hands of a
vast force that is more powerful than any realization of non
duality.
When one finally gives up
one's futile attempts to make reality conform to one's own
wishes, and allows it to unfold on its own terms, all the
energy that was tied up in foolish attempts to manipulate the
universe is freed up.
Mariana Caplan
Halfway Up the Mountain -
The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment
________________________
Michael Dawson
PO Box 125
Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island
Queensland 4183
Australia