Michael Dawson
PO Box 125, Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island,
Queensland 4183,
Australia

Email: mdawson@acfip.org 
Web site: http://www.acfip.org

___________________________________________________________________________

CONTENTS:
*  Self Worth and Sinlessness
*  The Placebo Effect
*  Workshops
*  Books and Audio Materials for Sale
*  Links
*  Inspirational Quotations


If you wish to read previous issues please go to http://www.acfip.org/newsletterarchive.html.

If your email address ends 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.
You can find them at http://www.acfip.org/sum.html and http://www.acfip.org/art4.html

Regards
Michael Dawson
http://www.acfip.org


___________________________________________________________________________




Self-worth and Sinlessness

Many of us have been told, early in our lives, to make something of ourselves. We may be encouraged to perform well at school, academically or in the area of sports. Parents and friends are proud of us when we do well, especially if we excel in our studies and pursuits.

As we grow older this process continues. Now it moves to the area of our workplace. We are often encouraged to be ambitious and do well, and rise in our jobs. There is an implication in all of this that we are not perfect to start with. Otherwise, why should we try to improve what is already perfect?

This world evaluates us by how we look, how we perform, what our bodies and personalities can achieve. But what if our true reality is not the body or the personality? What if our true reality is actually perfect? What if the world has focused entirely on the wrong area and forgotten the spiritual reality of our existence?

If we are made in the image of God, and God is a perfect, eternal, formless spirit, then we too must share in those same attributes. A creator can only create like itself. Can we improve on what God has created?

Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought - you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself. Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you. Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. Creation is eternal and unalterable. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 93

If we are eternally perfect there is no need to seek improvement. To do that is simply arrogance of the ego, which always thinks it knows better.

Escape today the chains you place upon your mind when you perceive salvation here. For what you value you make part of you as you perceive yourself. All things you seek to make your value greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth from you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your Self. 
A Course in Miracles  Lesson 128

This statement is so very different from what we've heard from the world. The Course asks us not to improve ourselves, otherwise it will get in the way of discovering who we really are. Attempts to make ourselves better will actually increase the delay before we truly realise who we are. So if we are perfect there is no need to seek improvement. The only thing we could seek to improve is our ego.

Every ego can be modified and people are very interested in improving their egos. One only has to walk through our bookshops, focusing on the New-Age section and self development, and there will be a host of them offering to improve your ego - to make it more powerful, less fearful, more efficient, to be loved more, to succeed, to achieve power - the titles go on and on. Meanwhile the acceptance of our spiritual reality is waiting to be welcomed. While we seek to 'improve' our egos it must wait, until we see the falsity of our approach.

As children grow up they need to learn how to fit into this world, their egos have to be developed otherwise they would simply be autistic, and live in their own self-created world. At the beginning of our lives, it is normal and natural for the ego to develop so children can fit into society, leave home, go to work, make a living, etc. For those who have found they are unable to do this, a case can certainly be made for the need to develop the ego. If you find you have a great fear just trying to leave your house in the morning, then it is obvious that you need help to strengthen your ability to function in daily life. However, if you can go about your daily life in a reasonably competent way, then the ego is sufficient.

In time we may come to tire of the material values of this world. We may start start to challenge the value of ambition, trying to get to the top of our jobs, and we might start to explore spiritual values. But further traps await us here. We may wish to look good in the eyes of others, by doing 'good works', becoming teachers, healers, write books, start centres, etc. There is nothing wrong with these things in themselves; rather, we need to look at the motive behind why we want to do these things. Do we see these activities as our particular paths of forgiveness, and therefore not special in any way, or has our ego become more subtle in its desire for recognition and praise. Have we simply moved from having a materialistic ego to a ‘spiritual’ ego?

Your worth is not established by teaching or learning. Your worth is established by God. As long as you dispute this everything you do will be fearful, particularly any situation that lends itself to the belief in superiority and inferiority.
A Course in Miracles T-4.I.7.

The Course does not ask us to perform good works, to go out and heal or teach or help the poor, unless we are guided by the Holy Spirit that these are to be our classrooms of forgiveness. The Course gives no guidance on behaviour. Instead, it asks us why we are doing it. Purpose is everything. Our only purpose is to wake up from the dream of separation from God. The earth is our classroom of forgiveness, nothing more.

The course continues:

........  Again, nothing you do or think or wish or make is necessary to establish your worth. This point is not debatable except in delusions. Your ego is never at stake because God did not create it. Your spirit is never at stake because He did.
A Course in Miracles T-4.I.7.

In the Text of the Course there is a section entitled “I Need do Nothing.” In this powerful section we are told to lay the importance of our ego aside, and thus create a space in our mind that the Holy Spirit can enter. Here He would guide us and quickly wake us up to our spiritual reality. Doing nothing is not to be inactive and lazy but to do things with Spirit as our guide and not the ego.

The work that we are guided to do may indeed be looked upon by the world as those of good works, but we see them simply as classrooms of forgiveness. The Course reminds us:

You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is folly to believe. In this one thought is everyone set free. In this one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality. You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is folly to believe. In this one thought is everyone set free. In this one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 194

The implication of this passage is that the ego does not exist. This is the thought form that most of us have identified with all of our lives and and this is the thought that is asking to improve itself. The ego exists in a dream world, and so we can be deluded into trying to improve our dream. But the Course reminds us that we can leave the dream, as we are already perfect. There is nothing we have to do to improve ourselves because we are still as God created us.

Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Over and over this must be repeated, until it is accepted. It is true. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Nothing can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 93

So our true identity, and the identity of all living things, cannot be changed or attacked. No one can take our peace away and nor can the world give us peace. We are already perfection, waiting to be revealed and accepted, when we are ready to allow it. While we seek to improve ourselves, to improve our image in other's eyes, we delay the time of this acceptance.

Only the ego can be improved, not what God created. So powerful is this illusion of separation from God, so powerful our belief in the ego and our desire to remain separate, that we must allow help from outside our deluded thought system, from outside the illusion we believe we are in.

Jesus states in the Course that if we believe we are a body we are insane. Thus we all live in an insane asylum that we are not normally aware of. We ask other people in the asylum, who are as insane as we are, what we should do to become more happy. There are many there to tell us.

What we sorely need is help from outside the asylum, from one who is sane and who could come in and point us in a quite a different direction. In the Course we have Jesus or the Holy Spirit as our guide waiting until the end of time to wake us up from the dream so we may remember that we are still as God created us.

If you are willing to renounce the role of guardian of your thought system and open it to me, I will correct it very gently and lead you back to God.
A Course in Miracles T4.I.4:7

We have readily available help to wake up from the dream of separation and restore our spiritual reality back into our awareness. Just think of the time this would now save us as we give up our own deluded efforts to find peace.

What a relief to finally stop worrying about what other people think of us. It's not that we do not listen to what they say as their feedback can be helpful to us. But now we are no longer trying to make something of ourselves. Now we are allowing ourselves to be guided to the realisation of who we really are, what God has created.

Deep within you is everything that is perfect,
ready to radiate through you and out into the world.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 41


___________________________________________________________________________




The Placebo Effect
from “Love, Medicine and Miracles” by Bernie S Siegul MD.

Mr. Wright, a client of psychologist Bruno Klopfer in 1957, had far-advanced lymphosarcoma (cancer). All known treatments had become ineffective. Tumors the size of oranges littered his neck, armpits, groin, chest, and abdomen. His spleen and liver were enormously enlarged. The thoracic lymph duct was swollen closed, and one to two quarts of milky liquid had to be drained from his chest each day. He had to have oxygen to breathe, and his only medicine now was a sedative to help him on his way.
   
Despite his state, Mr. Wright still had hope. He’d heard of a new drug called Krebiozen, which was to be evaluated at the clinic where he lay. He didn’t qualify for the program, because the experimenters wanted subjects with a life expectancy of at least three and preferably six months. Wright begged so hard, however, that Klopfer decided to give him one injection on Friday, thinking he would be dead by Monday and the Krebiozen could be given to someone else. Klopfer was in for a surprise:

“I had left him febrile, gasping for air, completely bedridden. Now, here he was, walking around the ward, chatting happily with the nurses, and spreading his message of good cheer to any who would listen. Immediately I hastened to see the others. No change, or change for the worse was noted. Only in Mr.Wright was there brilliant improvement. The tumor masses had melted like snowballs on a hot stove, and in only these few days, they were half their original size! This is, of course, far more rapid regression than most radio-sensitive tumors could display under heavy X-ray given every day. And we already knew his tumors were no longer sensitive to irradiation. Also, he had had no other treatment outside of the single useless “shot.”
   
This phenomenon demanded an explanation, but not only that, it almost insisted that we open our minds to learn, rather than try to explain. So, the injections were given three times weekly as planned, much to the joy of the patient. . . . Within 10 days he was able to be discharged from his “deathbed,” practically all signs of his disease having vanished in this short time. Incredible as it sounds, this “terminal” patient gasping his last breath through an oxygen mask was now not only breathing normally, and fully active, he took off in his own plane and flew at 12.000 feet with no discomfort.”

Within  months, conflicting reports began to appear in the news, all of the testing clinics reporting no results. . . This disturbed Mr. Wright considerably... He was logical and scientific in his thinking, and he began to lose faith in his last hope.... After two months of practically perfect health, he relapsed to his original state and became very gloomy and miserable.
But Klopfer saw an opportunity to explore what was really going on - to find out, as he put it, how quacks achieve some of their well documented cures. (Remember all healing is scientific.) He told Wright that Krebiozen really was as promising as it had seemed, but that the early shipments had deteriorated rapidly in the bottles. He told of a new super refined, double-strength product due to arrive tomorrow.
“The news came as a great revelation to him, and Mr. Wright, ill as he was, became his optimistic self again, eager to start over. By delaying a couple of days before the “shipment” arrived, his anticipation of salvation had reached a tremendous pitch. When I announced that the new series of injections were about to begin, he was almost ecstatic and his faith was very strong.
   
With much fanfare, and putting on quite an act . . . I administered the first injection of the doubly potent, fresh preparation - consisting of fresh water and nothing more. The results of this experiment were quite unbelievable to us at the time, although we must have had some suspicion of the remotely possible outcome to have even attempted it at all.
   
Recovery from the second near-terminal state was even more dramatic than the first. Tumor masses melted, chest fluid vanished, he became ambulatory, and even went back to flying again. At this time he was certainly the picture of health. The water injections were continued, since they worked such wonders. He then remained symptom-free for over two months. At this time the final AMA announcement appeared in the press - “Nationwide tests show Krebiozen to be a worthless drug in treatment of cancer.”
   
Within a few days of this report Mr. Wright was readmitted to the hospital in extremis; his faith was now gone, his last hope vanished, and he succumbed in less than two days.
___________________________________________________________________________

The acceptance of sickness as a decision of the mind, for a purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient decides that this is so, and he recovers. If he decides against recovery, he will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that it is. Special agents (e.g. pills, surgery, therapy) seem to be ministering to him, yet they but give form to his own choice. He chooses them in order to bring tangible form to his desires. And it is this they do, and nothing else. They are not actually needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, "I have no use for this." There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.
A Course in Miracles M-5.II.2.   
___________________________________________________________________________

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.
___________________________________________________________________________


Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in Miracles
in Australia and Germany
2009 and 2010

For up to date information on my workshops go to http://www.acfip.org/fws.html

Australia 2009 Dates



Clare, SA - Sat 10 and Sun 11, October 2009
and December 12th and 13th
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)

HEALING OURSELVES and OTHERS
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles
The October workshop is now full and will be repeated on December 12th and 13th


Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
A Course in Miracles


Using the spiritual path of A Course in Miracles we will explore what true healing is - the return to our awareness of our spiritual identity. Identification with our body as our home is the origin of all our physical and psychological suffering.

The basis of this workshop is that the cause of all disease lies in the mind and not the body. Disease is a shadow on the body, of the guilt in our minds.

During the workshop we will focus on undoing the blocks we have built to the presence of God's love and joy within us through the understanding and practising of forgiveness.Only this love heals.

We will investigate what the Course means by healing ourselves and others and contrast the differences between the healed and the unhealed healer. Practical exercises will be used to help understand the ego and to practice forgiveness and turning within for guidance.

An overview of the Course's metaphysical, psychological and spiritual teachings especially in regard to healing of the mind, body and relationships will be covered.
No previous knowledge of the book A Course in Miracles is required.

VENUE:
Clare
SA 5453
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)

TIME:
Sat - 9.30 TO 5.30
Su - 9.30 TO 4.30

BOOKINGS:
Edeltraud  Ennich
PO Box 614
Clare, SA 5453
Tel: 08 8842 3114


COST
Deposit: $60 to cover basic costs ($30 non-refundable)
plus a donation for the workshop.
Lunches provided.

Cheques or postal monies made out to Edeltraud  Ennich




Hillier, SA - Sat 17 and Sun 18, October 2009
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide, close to Gawler)


A FULL HEART AND AN EMPTY MIND
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles

Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my heart.
Let me not try to hurt God's Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 246

There is no path to truth, it must come to you. Truth can come to you only when your mind and heart are simple,
clear, and there is love in your heart; not if your heart is filled with the things of the mind.
J Krishnamurti

The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God.

To let this memory return to our awareness we need to question everything we think is true, to realise we know nothing about how to awaken to peace and joy, and learn to extend kindness and goodwill to others. Insight of the mind must be balanced with compassion of the heart.

This workshop will explore how we can awaken to our spiritual reality through the healing power of insight, kindness, awareness and forgiveness.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.

VENUE:
"Riverdell"
Clifford Road
Hillier
South Australia
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide)

TIME:
Sat and Sun - 9.30 TO 5.00

COST:
Booking Fee - $30 (non refundable)
Workshop - By Donation
Some accommodation on site - $40
Bring food to share for lunch both days

For Details Contact:
Pamela St Claire
(08) 8322 0444
email: pstclaire@chariot.net.au

People should send their Booking Fee to:

Pamela St Claire
36 The Causeway
O'Halloran Hill  SA 5158
and include a cheque made payable to P. St Claire


___________________________________________________________________________



Germany 2010 Dates

For up to date information on my workshops go to http://www.acfip.org/fws.html


Bonn

June 5/6 2010
9.30am to 5.30pm

HEALING OURSELVES and OTHERS
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles


Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
A Course in Miracles

Using the spiritual path of A Course in Miracles we will explore what true healing is - the return to our awareness of our spiritual identity. Identification with our body as our home is the origin of all our physical and psychological suffering.

The basis of this workshop is that the cause of all disease lies in the mind and not the body. Disease is a shadow on the body, of the guilt in our minds.

During the workshop we will focus on undoing the blocks we have built to the presence of God's love and joy within us through the understanding and practising of forgiveness.Only this love heals.

We will investigate what the Course means by healing ourselves and others and contrast the differences between the healed and the unhealed healer. Practical exercises will be used to help understand the ego and to practice forgiveness and turning within for guidance.

An overview of the Course's metaphysical, psychological and spiritual teachings especially in regard to healing will be covered.
No previous knowledge of the book A Course in Miracles is required.


An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri June 4
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
June 12/13 2010


HEALING OURSELVES and OTHERS
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles


Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly.
A Course in Miracles

Using the spiritual path of A Course in Miracles we will explore what true healing is - the return to our awareness of our spiritual identity. Identification with our body as our home is the origin of all our physical and psychological suffering.

The basis of this workshop is that the cause of all disease lies in the mind and not the body. Disease is a shadow on the body, of the guilt in our minds.

During the workshop we will focus on undoing the blocks we have built to the presence of God's love and joy within us through the understanding and practising of forgiveness.Only this love heals.

We will investigate what the Course means by healing ourselves and others and contrast the differences between the healed and the unhealed healer. Practical exercises will be used to help understand the ego and to practice forgiveness and turning within for guidance.

An overview of the Course's metaphysical, psychological and spiritual teachings especially in regard to healing will be covered.
No previous knowledge of the book A Course in Miracles is required.


An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri June 11


Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
Tel/Fax : 0761-73930
www.Sophia-Institut.de



Biography
Michael discovered A Course in Miracles whilst visiting the Findhorn Foundation in 1982. He subsequently became a member of the Foundation for about six years and involved himself with healing and teaching. In 1994 he published Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness which serves as an introduction to the Course. His second book, The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness (Findhorn Press) uses exercises, stories and case histories to guide the reader to inner peace through forgiveness. Michael now lives in Australia and gives workshops on the Course world-wide.

___________________________________________________________________________



BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson


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, Polish and Romanian.

For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html

Audio Tapes 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.

Two New CDs
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

For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/audio.html

___________________________________________________________________________


CONTACTS

Foundation for A Course In Miracles
41397 Buecking Drive, Temecula, CA 92590
Tel: 909 296 6261 Fax: 909296 9117

Books, videos, CDs and audio tapes by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick are available from their web site http://www.facim.org

Question and Answer Service:
Their electronic outreach section has a question and answer service http://www.facimoutreach.org/ 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.

Their publications can also be ordered in Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Foundation for Inner Peace - the publishers of A Course in Miracles
http://www.acim.org/

ACIM study groups:
Go to The Miracle Distribution Center http://www.miraclecenter.org/ for the largest and most frequently updated list of A Course in Miracles study groups available anywhere.

Miracles Studies Australia  http://www.miracle-studies.net.au  lists study groups for Australia and new Zealand

A Course In Miracles Pen Pals:
The Miracle Network http://www.miracles.org.uk hosts a A Course in Miracles pen pals group:
To  join this e-mail discussion group,  send your e-mail address to e.pals@miracles.org.uk. 
They will send you  updated lists of other e.pals and  inform them of your e-mail address.

A Course In Miracles Chat Groups:
The aim of this board is to provide a place for people to chat about ACIM.
Any related discussions are more than welcome and I believe helpful! - moderated by Glyn Milhench
http://glynbo.proboards84.com/index.cgi?board=acim

Belief.net ACIM discussion:
This Belief.net web-based discussion is hosted by Joe Jesseph.
http://community.beliefnet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=151

___________________________________________________________________________


INSPIRATIONAL QUOTATIONS

About three or four 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

 
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


Gamble everything for love,
if you're a true human being.

If not, leave
this gathering.

Half-heartedness doesn't reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep

stopping for long periods
at mean spirited roadhouses.


Rumi


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