ACFIP Newsletter
Issue 36 - March 2013
Quarterly Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Inner Peace
Michael Dawson
PO Box 125, Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island,
Queensland 4183,
Australia
Email: mdawson@acfip.org
Web site: http://www.acfip.org
___________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
* How is Healing Accomplished?
* The Difference Between Thought and Life - Jan Frazier
* Pain, Pleasure and Desire - Nisargadatta Maharaj
* 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
New
1. Healing the Cause -A Path of Forgiveness.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
2. A Course in Miracles - Explanations of Major Themes
New book in eBook format
3. Forgiveness - A Path to Inner Peace.
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 of my Healing the Cause self-help CDs now
available.
See below for details.
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Regards
Michael Dawson
How is Healing Accomplished?
The Course in Miracles teaches that the only true healing is of the
mind. To try to heal anything else is magic. Magic is defined as
treating the effects and not the cause. For example, let's say that
every time Mary goes to visit her parents, she develops a headache.
To alleviate the pain she takes aspirin, which is a magical remedy.
The Course does not object to this.
All material means that you accept as remedies for bodily ills (e.g.
aspirin) are restatements of magic principles. This is the first
step in believing that the body makes its own illness. It is a
second misstep to attempt to heal it through non-creative agents
(without forgiveness). It does not follow, however, that the use of
such agents for corrective purposes is evil. Sometimes the illness
has a sufficiently strong hold over the mind to render a person
temporarily inaccessible to the Atonement (correction of errors). In
this case it may be wise to utilize a compromise approach to mind
and body, in which something from the outside (e.g. aspirin,
surgery) is temporarily given healing belief. This is because the
last thing that can help the non-right-minded, or the sick, is an
increase in fear. They are already in a fear-weakened state. If they
are prematurely exposed to a miracle, they may be precipitated into
panic. This is likely to occur when upside-down perception has
induced the belief that miracles are frightening.
A Course in Miracles T-2.IV.4. (my comments in brackets)
But this approach is not getting to the cause of the problem. All
sickness is some form of unforgiveness in the mind. Only forgiveness
heals. Somewhere in our minds we know exactly why we are sick and
what we must forgive. There is a strong resistance to this concept
as our egos teach us that the cause of our disease is outside
ourselves, in the world.
Healing must occur in exact proportion to which the valuelessness of
sickness is recognized. One need but say, "There is no gain at all
to me in this" and he is healed. But to say this, one first must
recognize certain facts. First, it is obvious that decisions are of
the mind, not of the body. If sickness is but a faulty
problem-solving approach, it is a decision. And if it is a decision,
it is the mind and not the body that makes it. The resistance to
recognizing this is enormous, because the existence of the world as
you perceive it depends on the body being the decision maker.
A Course in Miracles M-5.II.1.
Imagine that on a piece of paper is written the cause of Mary's
headache as well as the solution. But Mary is sitting in a darkened
room and cannot read the paper she is holding. A healer enters the
room with a torch (the Holy Spirit) and approaches Mary. She shines
the torch on the paper. Mary may have a strong resistance to read
the paper believing the problem lies not with her but with her
parents' attitude towards her.
The healer, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, helps Mary to see that
there is nothing to fear, and that there is no need to feel guilty.
Mary reads that it is the bossy attitude of her parents that upsets
her. It goes on to say that her parents' attitude mirrors the bossy
way she treats her children. Mary needs to change the way she thinks
about her children. She needs to forgive herself for feeling
superior to her children. The nonjudgemental presence of the healer
can help Mary change her mind about her children.
If Mary is successful in achieving this shift of perception, or
miracle, then the next time she meets her parents she will not be
upset about their attitude. She will, instead, feel compassion for
their behaviour.
The healer did not heal Mary. It's our own thoughts that make us
sick, and we can change our minds about our thoughts.
A therapist does not heal; he lets healing be. He can point to
darkness but he cannot bring light of himself, for light is not of
him. Yet, being for him, it must also be for his patient. The Holy
Spirit is the only Therapist. He makes healing clear in any
situation in which He is the Guide. You can only let Him fulfil His
function. He needs no help for this. He will tell you exactly what
to do to help anyone He sends to you for help, and will speak to him
through you if you do not interfere.
A Course in Miracles T-9.V.8:1-8
The following is the first part of Chapter 5 from my book The
Findhorn Book of Forgiveness
Chapter Five (part)
Helping Others to Forgive
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 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.
A Course in Miracles T-2.V.18:2-6
WORKING WITH OTHERS
This chapter has been included to enable me to share with other
people - especially those involved with counselling and therapy -
some of the ideas and techniques I have found helpful in trying to
facilitate others to forgive themselves. This chapter is limited to
an overview of this subject as space does not permit a fuller
treatment. However, the case histories I have included to help
illustrate the techniques used may be of value to all readers as
they all contribute to the theme of forgiveness. I assume that
anyone drawn to trying these approaches will already have received
training in psychotherapy.
A healing technique is of secondary importance compared with the
presence of the therapist. By ÔpresenceÕ I am referring to the state
of mind of therapists whilst working with a client. For healing to
occur therapists needs to be guided from within, and this can only
happen if they are at peace around the client. A wonderful healing
technique used at the wrong moment is useless. Knowing when to speak
or remain silent, or when to use a different approach or method,
must be guided from a place that is higher than reason and logic.
Thus therapeutic skill needs to be combined with inner listening.
The following account of a therapy session conducted by Dr. Kenneth
Wapnick illustrates this point.
One of my first therapy experiences after I began working with the
Course
afforded me with a powerful example of the relationship
between healing and forgiveness. I had seen Sister Annette for about
two months. She was fifty years old and had been in religious life
almost thirty years. She was also one of the angriest people 1 had
ever worked with, filled with a silent hatred toward those in
authority that would have destroyed mountains. Over the first few
sessions, Sister Annette was able to begin questioning some of her
attitudes toward her Order and her desire for revenge. She no longer
seemed quite as committed to the retaliative steps she had
contemplated. Or so I thought. Then one day Annette walked into the
office with her face coldly exhibiting the Òwrath of God!Õ Her
convent co-ordinator had done something she judged as being beyond
forgiveness, and Sister Annette was hell bent on war, absolutely
closed to any suggestions she do otherwise.
That same morning I had come down with a very bad cold and felt
miserable. Not all my prayers and meditation were able to shift
this, and I sat before Annette feeling utterly helpless and
discouraged. I knew that if she left me as she had come in, she
would be making an irrevocable mistake she would regret the rest of
her life. Yet nothing I said could budge her, and my growing
frustration only made my cold worse. The more frustrated I became,
the more real I made AnnetteÕs angry symptoms and, correspondingly,
my own as well. Obviously, I was projecting my unforgiveness of
myself onto Annette, seeing in her
stubborn clinging to her anger the mirror of my stubborn clinging to
my cold, not to mention my own failure as a therapist. Separation
through our symptoms became reinforced, and healing through joining
retreated still further behind clouds of guilt and anger.
What added to my difficulty was the belief that Annette had been
sent to me from God, and as she was in serious trouble it was my
responsibility to help her. And I was obviously failing. About
midway through the session, my desperation led me finally to
remember that I was not the Therapist, and that I certainly could
not be more concerned for Annette than Jesus was. Even as I was
talking and listening to her, in another part of my mind I began to
pray for help, asking Jesus to provide the words that would heal her
anger and fear, and restore to her awareness the love that was her
true identity.
The response was immediate, and I suddenly became available to the
help that was there Ñ for me. A warm surge of energy rose up from my
chest, through my lungs, nose and throat, and I could feel my cold
being healed and my head clearing up. At the same time I began to
speak. 1 donÕt recall what I said, and doubt if it were anything too
different from what I had said previously. Only now I was different.
I no longer saw Annette as separate from me, a patient in trouble
whom I, as therapist, had to help. She now was my sister, and by
joining with her I was joining with Jesus. I had become the patient
as well, and together we received healing from the forgiving love of
God. By the end of the session, her softened face reflected the
shift from anger and fear to forgiveness and love, as my well-being
reflected the same shift in myself. I had learned my lesson that
day, to be relearned many times thereafter.
Forgiveness and Jesus by Dr. Kenneth Wapnick. Published by
Foundation For A Course In Miracles © 1983 See Appendix for book
description.
Without the help of an inner guide ( Holy Spirit ) it is impossible
to work out what is best for the client. Fortunately we all have
access to this wisdom once we can relax and are willing to be helped
from that source. The therapist needs to be peaceful to access this
inner wisdom.
If therapists find the presence of their clients disturbing, then
their first duty is to restore their own peace of mind before
attempting to help their clients. To achieve this they need to admit
honestly that they have lost their peace, that the client is not
responsible for this and that they could do with some help to see
the situation differently. If their intention is sincere they can
rest assured the inner help will come.
When clients are in the presence of therapists who are at peace they
are given a message that they are not being judged, that they are
not being seen as a sinner. This provides an opportunity for clients
to change their minds and release the burden of self-imposed guilt.
In the above account of a counselling session, Dr. Kenneth Wapnick
describes the turning point in the session:
Even as I was talking and listening to her, in another part of my
mind I began to pray for help, asking Jesus to provide the words
that would heal her anger and fear, and restore to her awareness the
love that was her true identity.
No longer knowing how to help he turned within for guidance and
received the help for himself and his client.
Below is a summary (please see book) of some of the techniques I use
when helping others to forgive and heal themselves. I think of these
healing approaches as keys on a piano. I need to know these keys
well but try to allow a higher part of myself to know when to play
them. Therapeutic training enabled me to practise a particular key
well (for example, guided visualisation). However, it is through
happily surrendering to a wisdom beyond my personality that allows
the appropriate key to be ÒpressedÓ at the right moment. To be able
to think to yourself in a healing session, ÒI have not got a clue
what to do nextÓ, and then be quiet and wait to be ÒtoldÓ what to do
is an act of wisdom.
_________________________________________________________________________
The Difference Between Thought and Life - Jan Frazier
from: http://www.janfrazierteachings.com/blog/?cat=5
Life is not an idea of life. Life is what you are directly
encountering, inside and out, right now. Direct experience is
life. Everything else (yes, everything) is thought, or the
by-product of thought, which is what emotion is. If you
suddenly became unable to remember any of your stories, and if you
brought all of your attention to the immediate scene, without
resisting any of it or making up a new story, you would be actually
living. Your mind would be mostly quiet. You would feel
(which is spontaneous, real, and very different from mind-caused
emotion).
Thought is at a remove from life. It will never be
otherwise. It doesnÕt matter if itÕs a ÒtrueÓ thought or a
ÒgoodÓ thought.
If life is what is actually occurring, now, then any thought about
life Ñ any interpretive label or memory or anticipation Ñ is not
life. Seeing the difference between the two is a wide-open
door to being conscious. To really living. Right
now: which is all weÕve ever got, or ever will have.
Notwithstanding the grand sweep the mind is capable of, looking
before and after, interpreting whatÕs presently occurring.
Take away all of that, and youÕre left with now. With life.
All the life youÕve ever lived occurred in a now. The rest of
it is dry cardboard in the mind. Only you keep trying to
invest it with reality. The mind thinks up a thought, and the
ego invests it with reality. ThatÕs what we do. But
thereÕs nothing that says it has to be that way. The mind
could think up a thought and you could just leave well enough alone,
declining to take that next step.
Thought is at a remove from life. Period. It will never
be otherwise. It doesnÕt matter if itÕs a ÒtrueÓ thought or a
ÒgoodÓ thought. (The ego doesnÕt like that.) The only
useful thing to do in relation to a presently-occurring thought is
to see what it is: a thing produced by the mind. Not to
step into it and live within it, as if a play could become life
itself. When the play is being lived in, life is being
missed. You have two options. Smell the air, the armpit,
the baking cookies; taste the mouth coupling with your own, the
aftertaste of your lunch; or have the second-rate taste and smell of
memory. Live inside an interpretation. At a remove.
If you are thinking, then part of the present-moment reality being
experienced is that your mind is whirring. When you can look
at an episode of thinking that way Ñ as phenomenon Ñ instead of
slipping into its content as if the envisioned scene were reality,
then it becomes possible not to be imprisoned by the thought.
Which is to say, it becomes possible not to suffer because of the
thought. It becomes possible to be alive in the moment, to
experience whatÕs around you, what your body is feeling like, what
youÕre doing outwardly, what youÕre encountering.
Living life, moment by succulent moment, does not allow room for
suffering. For suffering to happen, thinking has to be entered
into and mistaken for reality.
Oh, you say, not every moment is succulent. Many moments are
sucky. DoesnÕt make any difference. ItÕs all life, and
itÕs all youÕve got. (Which makes this moment succulent, it
being the only one youÕve got.)
ThereÕs no need to try to stop yourself from thinking. (You
canÕt.) WhatÕs liberating is to recognize thought for what it
is. Which is an experience thatÕs radically different from
living within the content of the thought, as if it were reality.
Thinking happens. (This could become a new bumper
sticker.) It will probably always happen Ñ on its own, as it
were. The option is NOT think versus decline to think.
The option is, see that thought is occurring OR enter into it as
though it were real life. Learn to see thinking as a
phenomenon, just that. To stay outside of it and just let it
do its thing, without your getting into the ring with it. You
donÕt have to humor every thought. This is about learning to
not mistake the contents of your head for the motion of the grocery
cart under your hands. The thought about grocery shopping (or
whatever else is in your head while the thing is rolling along) is
at a remove from the actual rolling of the cart and the grasping of
the box and the can and head of lettuce, and the face of the person
who is looking at the other kind of lettuce, beside you, and the
color of her dress. Dress and lettuce and can and box do not
contain angst. The accompanying mental narrative is the
breeding pool for misery.
The mind says, oh, but buying groceries is benign. No, it
doesnÕt matter if itÕs the news of a dear oneÕs death or physical
pain or shopping for food. Be there with it, whatever it is,
utterly with it, now and now and now, resisting nothing, and while
the heart may break or the body may hurt, there will not be
suffering. The sensation is aliveness, hereness. It is
the sensation of being real, of knowing that you (and the world)
be. Groceries are. Death is. Pain is. The
difference between suffering and clean pain is the difference
between an arm tensing for a needle and one that is soft.
When you are ready for this to penetrate, the relief will be
profound. Oh, and after a while, the mind wonÕt run so
constantly, because it will have more and more trouble getting your
attention. Life will be too constantly absorbing to tempt your
attention away, draining it off to some anemic thought or other.
Until youÕre ready to fully take this in, there wonÕt be a lot of
relief. ItÕs just a matter of time till youÕve had enough.
_________________________________________________________________________
Pain, Pleasure and Desire - Nisargadatta Maharaj
from: "I Am That"
¥The obstacles to the clear perception of oneÕs true being are
desire for pleasure and fear of pain. Its the pleasure-pain
motivation that stands in the way......Giving up desire after desire
is a lengthy process with the end never in sight. Leave alone your
desires and fears, give your entire attention to the subject, to him
who is behind the experience of desire and fear. Ask: who desires?
Let each desire bring you back to yourself. p.144
¥.....pleasures lose their tang and pains their barb when the Self
is known. Both are seen as they are-conditional responses, mere
reactions, plain attractions and repulsions, based on memories or
preconceptions. Usually pleasure and pain are experienced when
expected. p.145
¥Pain and pleasure go always together. Freedom from one means
freedom from both. If you do not care for pleasure, you will not be
afraid of pain. p.145
¥When you realise that you are beyond both pain and pleasure, aloof
and unassailable, then the pursuit of happiness ceases and the
resultant sorrow too. For pain aims at pleasure and pleasure ends in
pain, relentlessly. p.147
¥Happiness depends on something or other and can be lost; freedom
from everything depends on nothing and cannot be lost. Freedom from
sorrow has no cause and, therefore, cannot be destroyed. Realise
that freedom. p.147
¥Go to the source of both pain and pleasure, of desire and fear.
Observe, investigate, try to understand. p.121
¥Pain and pleasure happen, but pain is the price of pleasure,
pleasure is the reward of pain...To know that pain and pleasure are
one is peace. p.165
¥You imagine that without cause there can be no happiness. To me
dependence on anything for happiness is utter misery. Pleasure and
pain have causes, while my state is my own, totally uncaused,
independent, unassailable. p.179
¥But when the discriminative mind comes into being and creates
distinctions, pleasure and pain arise. p.181
¥In one [person] you desire and fear, in the other [witness] you are
unaffected by pleasure and pain and are not ruffled by events. You
let them come and go. p.189
¥Sex is an acquired habit. Go beyond. As long as your focus is on
the body, you will remain in the clutches of food and sex, fear and
death. Find yourself and be free. p.217
¥You are always seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, always after
happiness and peace. DonÕt you see that it is your very search for
happiness that makes you feel miserable? Try the other way:
indifferent to pain and pleasure, neither asking, nor refusing, give
all your attention to the level on which ÔI amÕ is timelessly
present. Soon you will realise that peace and happiness are in your
very nature and it is only seeking them through some particular
channels, that disturbs. p.240
¥ - desires fulfilled breed more desires. Keeping away from all
desires and contentment in what comes by itself is a very fruitful
state - a precondition to the state of fulness...freedom from
desires is bliss. p.249
¥When you know that you lack nothing, that all there is, is you and
yours, desire ceases. p.259
¥Whatever may be the situation, if it is acceptable, it is pleasant.
If it is not acceptable, it is painful. p.277
¥As the acceptance of pain is the denial of the self, and the self
stands in the way of true happiness, the wholehearted acceptance of
pain releases the springs of happiness. p.278
¥DonÕt anticipate and donÕt regret, and there will be no pain. It is
memory and imagination that cause suffering. p.279
¥A manÕs desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the
lusting for an everlasting personal bliss. p.299
¥You must unlearn everything. God is the end of all desire and
knowledge....All desires must be given up, because by desiring you
take the shape of your desires. When no desires remain, you revert
to your natural state. p.336
¥Q. How am I to practise desirelessness? NM. No need to practice. No
need of any acts of renunciation. Just turn your mind away, that is
all. Desire is merely the fixation of the mind on an idea. Get it
out of its groove by denying it attention. p.338
¥Whatever you think about with desire or fear appears before you as
real. p.344
¥To understand suffering, you must go beyond pain and pleasure.
p.383
¥Cease from looking for happiness and reality in a dream and you
will wake up. You need not know all the ÔwhyÕ and ÔhowÕ, there is no
end to questions. Abandon all desires, keep your mind silent and you
shall discover. p.453
¥It is desire that causes repetition. There is no recurrence where
desire is not. p.454
¥Desire is of the past, fear is of the future. p.454
¥Each pleasure is wrapped in pain. p.455
¥The right state and use of the body and the mind are intensely
pleasant. It is the search for pleasure that is wrong. Do not try to
make yourself happy, rather question your very search for happiness.
It is because you are not happy that you want to be happy. Find out
why you are unhappy. p.468
¥....pleasure is a distraction and a nuisance, for it merely
increases the false conviction that one needs to have and to do
things to be happy when in reality it is just the opposite.p.486f
¥Do not be afraid of freedom from desire and fear. It enables you to
live a life so different from all you know, so much more intense and
interesting, that, truly, by losing all you gain all. p.505
¥When the centre of selfishness is no longer, all desires for
pleasure and fear of pain cease; there is pure intensity,
inexhaustible energy, the ecstasy of giving from a perennial source.
p.511
¥Desirelessness is the highest bliss. p.49
___________________________________________________________________________
Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in Miracles
in Australia and Germany
For up to date information on my workshops go to
http://www.acfip.org/fws.html
Brisbane
Relaxation Centre
BRISBANE - 1 day - Sunday 10 March, 2013
9.30a.m. to 4.30p.m.
Being, not Doing:
A Path to Peace
Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get
further and further away from it. Huang-po
When we put aside our restless pursuits, whether material or
spiritual, we create a space where peace can return.
This workshop will explore experientially how we can awaken to our
spiritual reality through simply being, awareness and forgiveness.
Michael Dawson lived and taught at the Findhorn Foundation in
Scotland for many years and has presented A Course in Miracles in
many countries.
Cut off for registration Fri 8th morning.
Fee: Donation
VENUE:
Relaxation Centre,
15 South Pine Road
Alderley
Brisbane 4051
BOOKINGS:
Relaxation Centre
07 3856 3733
(Please do not book through me)
The Brisbane Relaxation Centre has informed me that many people are
increasingly booking at the last moment.
I check the number of participants on Friday morning before the
workshop.
If numbers are small I cancel the workshop so those the are booked
can be informed and make other plans for their weekend.
If you wish to attend the workshop please book by the Thursday
before.
___________________________________________________________________________
Germany 2013 Dates
Bonn
June 15 and 16, 2013
10.00am to 6.000pm
Relationships: A Fast Path to Spiritual Awakening.
A Course in Miracles workshop
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.
from A Course in Miracles T-8.III.4.
Our relationships can become our daily classroom of forgiveness.
"Relationships" does not just refer to our partners but everyone we
meet. How we react to our family, colleagues, strangers, animals,
people in the media mirrors what is contained in our minds. Daily we
walk around in a hall of mirrors and when we lose our peace we are
being shown something unhealed, unforgiven in our minds.
The Course seeks to take our difficult relationships and change
their direction towards the goal of holy relationships in which we
practice honesty and forgiveness.
As we learn to look at ourselves and others without judgement
(forgiveness) we gradually remove the obstacles to the love and
peace within us. Judgement is gradually replaced by compassion, and
instead of separation, true acceptance, friendship and genuine
intimacy become possible.
The workshop will contain exercises to help understand and heal
painful dynamics found in ego-based relationships, allowing our
natural state of peace and joy to be uncovered.
An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri 14th June 2013
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 22 and 23, 2013
10.00am to 6.000pm
Relationships: A Fast Path to Spiritual Awakening.
A Course in Miracles workshop
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.
from A Course in Miracles T-8.III.4.
Our relationships can become our daily classroom of forgiveness.
"Relationships" does not just refer to our partners but everyone we
meet. How we react to our family, colleagues, strangers, animals,
people in the media mirrors what is contained in our minds. Daily we
walk around in a hall of mirrors and when we lose our peace we are
being shown something unhealed, unforgiven in our minds.
The Course seeks to take our difficult relationships and change
their direction towards the goal of holy relationships in which we
practice honesty and forgiveness.
As we learn to look at ourselves and others without judgement
(forgiveness) we gradually remove the obstacles to the love and
peace within us. Judgement is gradually replaced by compassion, and
instead of separation, true acceptance, friendship and genuine
intimacy become possible.
The workshop will contain exercises to help understand and heal
painful dynamics found in ego-based relationships, allowing our
natural state of peace and joy to be uncovered.
An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri 21 June 2013
8pm - 9.45pm
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
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.
______________________________________________________________
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.
___________________________________________________________________________
BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson
New teaching and healing materials - eBooks and downloadable MP3s:
Ebooks:
1. Healing the Cause -A Path of Forgiveness.
Inspired by A Course in Miracles.
This is the eBook version of the paper back.
2. A Course in Miracles - Explanations of Major Themes
New book in eBook format
3. Forgiveness - A Path to Inner Peace.
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.
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
Downloadable Mp3s:
1. Healing the Cause: Self-Help Exercises 1
This MP3 contains the identical four exercises as the CD
2. Healing the Cause: Self-Help Exercises 2
This MP3 contains the identical four exercises as the CD
3. Healing the Cause: 3 Self-Help Exercises in English with German
translation
This MP3 contains the identical three exercises as the CD
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
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.
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html
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
For more details and how to purchase please visit:
http://www.acfip.org/audio.html
___________________________________________________________________________
CONTACTS and COURSE INFORMATION
Search Engine for ACIM Sites, Definitions and Articles by Joe
Jesseph.
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.
Question and Answer Service from the Foundation for A Course in
Miracles.
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.
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
Kenneth Wapnick on YouTube
Glossary of ACIM terms from FACIM
"The Most Commonly asked Questions about A Course in Miracles"
by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick
Index of Links to Miracle Studies Resources ...ÉÉ....... A rich
resource of materials on A Course in Miracles by an ex-staff member
of the Foundation For A Course In Miracle. Joe also has a blog and
has recently published A Primer of Psychology According to A
Course in Miracles.
miraclestudies.net ÉÉÉÉ A Course in Miracles Resource Web Site
for ACIM Students
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.
Miracles Studies Australia
http://www.miracle-studies.net.au lists study groups for
Australia and new Zealand
Purchase ACIM on line
ACIM Historical Recordings & Video
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.
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 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
EMAIL: mdawson@acfip.org
WEBSITE: http://www.acfip.org