ACFIP Newsletter
Issue
38 - Sept 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:
* What Am I? Michael
Dawson
* Gun. Byron Katie
* No
More Big Sighs:The End of the
Search for Security. Jan Frazier
* Let Everything End. Adyashanti
* Nisargadatta
Maharaj's World. from "I Am That"
* Quotes from Jac O'Keeffe, from "Born
to be Free"
* 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
___________________________________________________________________________
What Am I?
Salvation can be seen as nothing more than the
escape from concepts.
A Course in Miracles T-31.V.14-3
Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 per cent of everything you think, and of
everything you do, is for yourself Ñ and there isn't
one. Wei Wu Wei, (Terence
Gray)
In our dreams last night we enacted certain
roles, had experiences and were certain of who we were. On
waking we see that nothing of the dream was real including
ourselves. But did we awake this morning?
Dreams show you that
you have the power to make a world
as you would have it be, and that because you want it you
see it. And while you see it you do not doubt that it is
real. Yet here is a world, clearly within your mind, that
seems to be outside. You do not respond to it as though you
made it, nor do you realise that the emotions the dream
produces must come from you. It is the figures in the dream
and what they do that seem to make the dream. You do not
realise that you are making them act out for you.... You
seem to waken, and the dream is gone. Yet what you fail to
recognise is that what caused the dream has not gone with
it. Your wish to make another world that is not real remains
with you.
A Course in MiraclesT-18.II.5.
What keeps the dream going is that the world
of separation, specialness and uniqueness can only operate in
a dream state. If we want to be separate we must dream for
separation cannot occur in Heaven, a state of perfect oneness.
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
As we grow older many of us realise that much
of the world of separation is painful and is no longer
attractive. However, if some parts of the dream still seem
attractive the dream will continue so we can fulfil these
desires. We have forgotten that it is the absence of desire which brings happiness, our
natural state.
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.
T-18.II.5.
We have rejected the perfect oneness of
Heaven believing we can create something better. We want to be
God and not God's Son. We know better than God and want to
prove it and, given enough time and lives, we hope to achieve
our goal.
But who is this "I" that thinks it can
improve on God's creation? This question is rarely asked as it
seems obvious who we are equating
ourselves with (mind, body and emotions). When we seek to go
deeper and enquire who we are we cannot find any real, eternal
"I". Just thoughts, feelings and physical
sensations but nobody who has them. What is found is awareness but nobody who is
aware.
The self you made is not the Son of God.
Therefore, this self does not exist at all. And
anything it seems to do and think means nothing. It is
neither bad nor good. It is unreal, and nothing more than
that. It does not battle with the Son of God. It does not
hurt him, nor attack his peace. It has not changed creation,
nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate.
What power can this self you made possess, when it would
contradict the Will of God?
W-pI.93.5.
The "I"or me is as much a part of the dream as
the rest of the dream. We are simply a thought in our heads.
To find out who we really are we
have to let go all that we have thought ourselves to be.
Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all
thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you
have learned about the world; all images you hold about
yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either
true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges
worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto
nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever
learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this
course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.
W-pI.189.7.
We have great resistance to letting go our self image. It's who we have taken
ourselves to be. As Byron Katie has asked
"Who would you be without your story?"
One day, I discovered
I didn't need a personal history, so, like drinking, I
dropped it.
Carlos Castaneda in Tales of Power
Our life story may be positive or negative. It
does not matter as it creates our identity
which we cherish and are loath to release. It seems
like suicide to let our image and history go
The world can teach no images of you unless
you want to learn them. There will come a time when images
have all gone by, and you will see you know not what you
are. It is to this unsealed and open mind that truth
returns, unhindered and unbound. Where concepts of the self
have been laid by is truth revealed exactly as it is. When
every concept has been raised to doubt and question, and
been recognized as made on no assumptions that would stand
the light, then is the truth left free to enter in its
sanctuary, clean and free of guilt. There is no statement
that the world is more afraid to hear than this:
I do not know the thing I am, and therefore
do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon
the world or on myself. Yet in this learning is salvation
born. And What you are will tell
you of Itself.
T-31.V.17.
The word What in the
last sentence above is capitalised to indicate Spirit. When we
have at last emptied ourselves of who we thought we were a
space is created for the Holy Spirit to tell us who we really
are - the Christ - which is eternal, formless and perfect.
This is a return to wholeness and Oneness and the death of
separation. In losing our false self we become the Self. We
are simultaneously nothing and everything. It is like a
character on a cinema screen realising she is just an image
made by light as is everything on
the screen. Although things appear separate it is all an
illusion. The one light illumines all the images on the
screen. She realises her true reality is the lightbulb in the
projector (God).
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.
ÑNisargadatta
Maharaj
The Holy Spirit, ever practical in His
wisdom, accepts your dreams and uses them as means for
waking. You would have used them to remain asleep. I said
before that the first change, before dreams disappear, is
that your dreams of fear are changed to happy dreams.
T-18.II.6.
The ego greatly fears its end and so the Course
mentions we gradually awake from nightmares, to happy dreams
of forgiveness until we are ready for the full awakening - the
Real World. This does not mean the death of the body, but the
realisation we are not the body, mind or emotions. We become
aware that we are awareness. Our natural state of peace and
quiet joy returns to our awareness. Our body is now used as a
loving tool of communication as we extend God's love and
wisdom into the world.
God whose love is every where canÕt come to visit
unless you arenÕt there.
Angelus Silesius
Gun
Byron Katie
A man sticks a pistol into my stomach, pulls the
trigger back, and says, "I'm going to kill you." I am shocked
that he is taking his thoughts so seriously. To someone
identified as an I, the thought of
killing causes guilt that leads to a life of suffering, so I
ask him, as kindly as I can, not to do it. I don't tell him
that it's his suffering I'm thinking of. He says that he has
to do it, and I understand; I remember believing that I had to
do things in my old life. I thank him for doing the best he
can, and I notice that I'm fascinated. Is this how she dies?
Is this how the story ends? And as joy continues to fill me, I
find it miraculous that the story is still going on. You can
never know the ending, even as it ends. I am very moved at the
sight of sky, clouds, and moonlit trees. I love that I don't
miss one moment, one breath, of this amazing life. I wait and
wait. And in the end, he doesn't pull the trigger. He doesn't
do that to himself.
A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in
Harmony with the Way Things Are (Paperback)
By (author) Byron Katie, With Stephen
Mitchell
No More Big Sighs: The End of the Search for
Security.
Jan Frazier
Sometimes a person will seek to awaken because of
a hunger for an all-encompassing solution to lifeÕs
difficulties. A kind of global
guarantee of okayness. Freedom can be seen as a
source of security.
What is security? In ordinary life, itÕs
establishing circumstances expected to provide stability and
safety. A reliable set-up of some
kind, a stable sort of container for life to move along in.
The desire for security often comes of having not had it, or
being afraid of losing it. Something to do with physical
circumstances, financial well-being,
health. Knowing you will have ready access to what you
need. That you wonÕt have to reinvent the wheel, or
maybe do without, every time a need arises. When the
rain is falling, there will be a roof to get under. When
there are meds to buy, there will be money, or a health plan,
so you can get them. A reliable car
in the driveway, or proximity to good public transportation.
Somebody to look out for you when you need
help or love.
When you wake up, you stop having big sighs of
despair and big sighs of relief.
Sometimes when some of this hasnÕt come together
very well, a person will turn to the spiritual life as an
alternative source of security and well-being.
A
set of beliefs enabling faith, a way to believe that all will
be well, that the universe is benign, that a divine goodness
is overseeing all. ThereÕs a wish for life to be
understandable. Life is seen as a series of lessons, or
the playing out of karma or destiny, something with a larger
meaning. A frame of reference to
make the hard times tolerable or at least comprehensible.
Something. Anything.
When a person awakens, no assurance of security
comes with the revelation of the truth. What happens is
that youÕve stopped needing any sort of promise that all will
be well. It stops
mattering. You stop looking for meaning. It stops
being important to be able to count on something,
somebody. Yourself even.
When you wake up, you stop caring very much about
what happens to you. Not because you donÕt cherish your
life. No, itÕs that you no longer feel quite real to
yourself, at least not in the way you used to. Why would
you need to keep yourself in a certain kind of condition when
you have nothing to lose? You have let go completely of
needing to keep your sense of self intact.
You cannot be threatened. YouÕre okay with whatever
happens.
How can you feel afraid of something unknown,
something in the future, if only this moment feels real to
you?
What you come to see is that there never was any
security. Ever. Only the
impression of it. That is the truth, and one of
the things about awakeness is that it is entirely comfortable
with changeable reality. ItÕs no longer uncomfortable in
the presence of even an ugly or painful truth. The truth
is, even when you thought you had attained some kind of
security, in your life before, you hadnÕt really.
Secretly, you knew this. (We do know this.) ItÕs
just that Ñ well, back then, when security was something you
valued, you sort of held your breath, day to day, year after
year, hoping the flimsy edifice would remain roughly
stable. During the intervals when it did hold (by luck
mostly), you told yourself (because you wanted to believe it)
that now you had things pretty much together, and maybe this
time it would be for keeps.
The problem is, you always deeply knew that
someday something would go wrong. For instance, you
always knew death would come. (The trend is
observable.) The fact that we can manage to forget death
is coming, most of the moments we live, is the ultimate
indicator of the thinness of the appearance of safety.
So when somebody wants to find their way to a
reliable, solid piece of ground to stand on, and they think
waking up will provide that, I want to look them in the eye
and gently say Ñ well, no, it doesnÕt work like that.
You donÕt wake up so you can finally feel
safe. You wake up because you want to stop needing
safety and predictability. You wake up because you want
to know what itÕs like to live in the present instead of in
the future.
For what can security possibly mean, if there is
never any such thing as tomorrow? as
continuance? as predictability?
If this moment, this exact one right here, really is the
only one thatÕs ever real (this is one of the pieces of truth
that smacks you right in the face, when you wake up), then how
can the question of providing for the future even be taken
very seriously? And if you donÕt have any built-in
resistance mechanism, whatever any moment holds
is just what it is Ñ neither okay nor not-okay.
Just real.
Oh, of course you will keep paying the rent and
registering your car and putting gas in it and trying to save
a little money. The practical stuff will keep happening,
as it should. But you will stop being in the least
invested in any of it holding up as it might have
previously. You wonÕt assume anything will continue, let
alone improve.
When you are awake, none of the little successes
gives you a warm fuzzy feeling anymore. Nor does some
upheaval in your life turn your stomach to water or interfere
with your sleep. You pretty much stop having big sighs
of despair and big sighs of relief. You no longer
identify with how things are going in your life. None of
it affects your sense of self worth, well-being,
security. The ever-changing circumstances are a
practical matter, thatÕs all. You respond as you need
to, and you move on.
So if you appear to have the circumstances that
amount to somebodyÕs idea of security, you donÕt feel any
different inside from how youÕd feel the day after some or all
of it fell completely apart.
Because it isnÕt about you. It just
isnÕt. And you know what? It never was. You just
thought it was.
Let Everything End.
Adyashanti
There is a great momentum of suffering and
confusion that every spiritual seeker encounters. It is the
momentum of ignorance which
manifests as the experience of conflict and confusion and
which causes suffering. In order to discover the perspective
of Liberation, which alone transcends this entire movement of
ignorance and suffering, one needs to let everything end.
"Letting everything end" means to stand in the moment
completely naked of attachment to any and all ideas, concepts,
hopes, preferences, and experiences. Simply put, it means to
stop strategizing, controlling, manipulating, and running away
from yourself--and to simply be.
Finally you must let everything end and be still.
In letting everything end, all seeking and
striving stops. All effort to be someone
or to find some extraordinary state of being ceases.
This ceasing is essential. It is true spiritual maturity. By
ceasing to follow the mind's tendency to always want 'more',
'different', or 'better', one encounters the opportunity to be
still. In being still, a perspective is revealed which is free
from all ignorance and bondage to suffering. From that
perspective, eternal Self is realized. The eternal Self, the
Seer, is recognized to be one's true nature, one's very own
Self.
This is an invitation to let all seeking end, all
striving end, all efforting end, all past identity end, all
hopes end, and to discover That which has no beginning or end.
This is an invitation to discover eternal, unborn, undying
Truth of Being. The Truth of your Being,
your own Self. Let the entire movement of becoming
end, and discover That which has
always been present at the core of your Being.
Nisargadatta Maharaj's World.
from "I Am That"
¥When I met my Guru, he told me: ÔYou are not what you take yourself to
be. Find out what you are. Watch the sense ÔI amÕ, find your real self. I obeyed him,
because I trusted him. I did as he told me. All my spare time
I would spend looking at myself in silence. And what a
difference it made, and how soon! It took only three years to
realise my true nature. My Guru died soon after I met him, but
it made no difference. I remembered what he told me and
persevered. p.301
¥If you imagine yourself as separate from the
world, the world will appear as separate from you and you will
experience desire and fear. I do not see the world as separate
from me and so there is nothing for me to desire, or fear. p.123
¥The only difference between us is that I am
aware of my natural state, while you are bemused. Just
like gold made into ornaments has no advantage over gold dust,
except when the mind makes it so, so are we are in being - we
differ only in appearance. We discover it by being
earnest, by searching, enquiring, questioning daily and
hourly, by giving oneÕs life to this discovery.
¥.......I see no
difference between you and me. My life is a succession
of events, just like yours. Only I am detached and see
the passing show as a passing show, while you stick to things
and move along with them.Ó
¥Yes, I appear to hear and see and talk and act,
but to me it just happens, as to you digestion or perspiration
happens. The body-mind machine looks after it, but
leaves me out of it. Just as you do not need to worry
about growing hair, so I need not worry about words and
actions. They just happen and leave me unconcerned, for
in my world nothing ever goes wrong.
¥Pleasure and pain lost their sway over me. I was
free from desire and fear. I found myself full, needing
nothing. p.30
¥To me it is Ôa bodyÕ, not Ômy bodyÕ, Ôa mindÕ. not Ômy mindÕ. The
mind looks after the body all right, I need not interfere. p.31
¥Whatever is done, is done on the stage. Joy and
sorrow, life and death, they all are real to the man in
bondage; to me they are all in the show, as unreal as the show
itself. p.179
¥To me nothing ever happens. There is something
changeless, motionless, immovable, rock-like, unassailable; a solid mass of pure
being-consciousness-bliss. I am never out of it. Nothing can
take me out of it, no torture, no
calamity. p.191
¥All is attended to in minutest details and yet
there is a sense of unreality about it all. So is the case
with me. All happens as it needs,
yet nothing happens. I do what seems to be necessary, but at
the same time I know that nothing is necessary, that life
itself is only a make-belief. p.191
¥There was discovery and it was sudden. Just as
at birth you discover the world suddenly, as suddenly I
discovered my real being. p.191f
¥I am neither conscious nor unconscious. I am
beyond the mind and its various states and conditions....A person is a set pattern of
desires and thoughts and resulting actions; there is no
pattern in my case. There is nothing I desire or fear - how
can there be a pattern. p.222
¥I see as you see, hear as you hear, taste as you
taste, eat as you eat. I also feel thirst and hunger and
expect my food on time. When starved or sick, my body and mind
go weak. All this I perceive quite clearly, but somehow I am
not in it. I feel myself as if floating over it, aloof and
detached.....as if the body and the
mind and all that happens to them were somewhere far out on
the horizon. I am like a cinema screen - clear and empty - the
pictures pass over it and disappear, leaving it as clear and
empty as before. In no way is the screen
affected by the pictures, nor are the pictures
affected by the screen. p.267
¥Having realised that I am one with, and yet
beyond the world, I became free from all desire and fear. I
did not reason out that I should be free - I found myself free
- unexpectedly, without the least effort. This freedom from
desire and fear remained with me since then. Another thing I
noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed
follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also
found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall
in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the
mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but
not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of
life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And
above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating
in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and
beautiful, significant and auspicious. p.269
¥Q.But when you look at yourself, what do you
see? NM. It depends how I look. When I look through the mind,
I see numberless people. When I look beyond the mind, I see
the witness. Beyond the witness there is the infinite
intensity of emptiness and silence. p.355
¥Once my Guru told me: ÔYou are the Supreme
RealityÕ, I ceased having visions and trances and became very
quiet and simple. I found myself desiring and knowing less and
less, until I could say in utter astonishment: ÔI know
nothing, I want nothing.Õ p.391
¥There was never any journey. I am, as I always
was. p.392
¥I look, but I do not see in the sense of
creating images clothed with judgements. I do not describe nor
evaluate. I look, I see you, but
neither attitude nor opinion cloud my vision. And when I turn
my eyes away, my mind does not allow memory to linger; it is
at once free and fresh for the next impression. p.445
¥All three states (waking, dreaming and dreamless
sleep) are sleep to me. My waking state is beyond them. As I
look at you, you all seem asleep, dreaming up words of your
own. I am aware, for I imagine nothing. It is not samadhi
(peaceful trance state), which is but a kind of sleep. It is
just a state of mind unaffected by the mind, free from past
and future....To be a person is to
be asleep. p.453
¥In my world the seeds of suffering, desire and
fear are not sown and suffering does not grow. p.485
¥It (ÔI amÕ) enables me to become a person when
required. Love creates its own necessities, even of becoming a
person. p.488
¥Q. Surely you feel at least compassion when you
see a man steeped in sin? NM. Yes, I feel I am that man and
his sins are mine.
¥They (self-realised people) may laugh and cry
according to circumstances, but inwardly they are cool and
clear, watching detachedly their own spontaneous reactions.
Appearances are misleading and more so in the case of a
self-realised people. p.529
Quotes from Jac O'Keeffe,
from "Born to be Free"
Chap 4 - Spirituality
There are many who find it difficult to receive.
These will work hard with their spiritual efforts before
rewards are gleaned. If you can allow yourself to have it all
(yes to have it all), unconditionally and without cost, then
the inner lightness, peace, and calm can be enjoyed as your
heart allows, not as your conditioned mind monitors. Take a
moment to check within to find out if you are resistant to
receiving it all unconditionally.
Having a discipline gives you a framework that
enables you to follow guidelines to bring changes to your
lifestyle. It gently introduces new habits that allow you to
integrate practises in your day. Adopting changes to your life
is easier using discipline. There is a belief that discipline
runs close to sacrifice, but this is misinformed: they are not
connected. Discipline is a gentle practice. It is self‑designed so as you can gently nudge yourself
towards change.
If you understand and know that seeking spiritual
knowledge means paying attention to yourself
from the inside, then no outside environment is more conducive
than another. It can be useful and a support, but it will
never stop you from or encourage you towards progress. Because
no matter the daily demands in your life right now, spiritual
principles always apply, the truth remains the truth.
Chap 5 - Natural State
All searching is driven by thought; even the
attaining of enlightenment does not exist beyond a concept.
Whatever you do to find your Self will take your attention
from it.
The idea of looking for something, be it a
feeling or a state, can only arise when there is
dissatisfaction and rejection of what is present. Consider
that the desire to be other than you are, to feel differently
about yourself or your life, is only a thought distracting you
from what is in perfect order, silent and peaceful at a deeper
level within you.
Develop the habit of retaining your awareness as
the observer of your life. This will yield an enormous
freedom, but you will not be able to retain your awareness
there permanently, for there is more to be uncovered.
So who sees the observer? Bring your attention to
that which is the ultimate seer. Be there. If you can
experience it or if you can talk about it as a phenomenon,
then your mind is playing tricks on you. Reject all ideas,
images, and experiences. Go to what is seeing the most subtle movement within you.
It has been said that silence is the language of
the Self and words are the language of the intellect. Silence
is beyond words, beyond mind and communication. Silence in its
purest absolute form is Self. It is not that that which is the
Absolute is silent, there is
nothing to be anything. So that
which is, the Absolute, is pure silence. You are That. Hence, Absolute Silence without
absence or presence of any kind is your natural state. Abiding
in your Self is your natural state. This is the state in which
you always are. All that has happened is that your attention
has rested elsewhere for quite some time.
Chap 6 - Deep Sleep
In sinking into that which is prior and beyond
all thoughts, all states of mind, all experiences, resting in
the beingness that sees but cannot be seen, it is revealed
that beyond the shadow of a doubt mind itself does not exist.
Mind is only a concept.
Chap 7 - Therapy
Every path is a legitimate path offering what can
be fantastic experiences and a wonderful sense of liberation
that lasts for a while. Only the ego can reap these benefits.
If you are open, therapeutic work helps refine the ego, making
you more pliable and open to shifts in perspective and helping
you move outside rigid beliefs. To this end, it serves a
wonderful purpose. Engage in that to which you are naturally
drawn. Proceed towards what makes sense to you and, in time,
the attractions towards therapy will fall away of their own
accord.
To take up the idea that there is something you
need to do and a destination for you to arrive at will serve
to create a seeker within you. It establishes a belief system
that you must do something to be something or someone that you
are not already. All of this is thought. It is nothing more
solid than conditioned thinking playing out. As long as the
idea that you have something to gain holds credibility for
you, then you will seek. Seeking is valid, but it cannot lead
you to the treasure Of your
deepest yearning. All searches are ultimately for the Self,
for the home within. While there are many levels of seeking,
they all culminate at a point where the activity of searching
is recognised as the outcome of a habitual thought and thus
seeking ends.
One discovers that what you are looking for is
precisely where you are looking from.
As you abide in the Self and identification with thoughts is
lessening, your experience will be that whatever needs to be
refined within you will be automatically realigned. This
happens by itself without effort by you or interference from
you. In this way consciousness takes care of itself.
Abiding in the Self is not the reward for working
through a process. There is nothing to work through. In fact,
no amount of energetic, emotional or mental processing will
result in realising the Self. Equally, no amount of spiritual
practice will directly result in self‑realisation. These are
simply thoughts arising in consciousness. Consciousness is not
concerned with working things out; it does not seek
resolution. Nothing needs resolution. All unfolds as it
unfolds.
If you do not limit yourself to being an
individual, a whole package of stories will disappear with
that limitation. As you recognise your capacity to observe
without identification, an automatic inner tidying up of
erroneous beliefs begins to take place. If there is an inner
recognition of this taking place for you, then fear and
anxiety vanishes. Everything settles by itself into a perfect
emptiness. No turbulence remains and it cannot feature until
you pick up your next thought.
Chap 9 - Effortless
The mind loves distraction. It continually seeks
to be involved in doing something. It can be obsessed with
ideas of what to do and what not to do, and what to do after
this ... and then what ... and then what... Thoughts of what
to do are seductive. Doing something is easier than not doing.
Pushing yourself to do hard work, to practice, to make
deadlines, is easier than sitting still. Mind loves activity.
The doer that is ego wants to act according to its rules of
conduct. Doing what you think you should do, what you think
will make you or others happy, or what you think is expected
of you must be dropped. These compulsions arise from a desire
to control, and appear to prevent other things from happening.
Observe this fear and let it all happen.
___________________________________________________________________________
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
Germany 2014 Dates
Bonn
28th-29th June,
2014
10.00am to 6.000pm
Inner Peace - Our Natural State
- A
Course in Miracles workshop -
It (inner peace) is
given you the instant you would have it. ACIM
T-15.IV.9.
The purpose of this world is not to find a
permanent peace and happiness.
It cannot be found here.
You do not really want the world you see, for
it has disappointed you since time
began. T-13.VII.3.
Instead, if we see the world as a classroom
of forgiveness we will discover the uncaused happiness that
lies within - our natural state. To forgive is to look at
everything in our minds and in the world without
judgement.
Forgiveness offers everything I
want. Lesson 122
While we search to fulfill our desires in the
expectation of happiness we block the awareness of the
constant, uncaused happiness within.
You will first dream of peace, and then
awaken to it. .....
Love waits on welcome, not on time, and the real world (inner
peace) is but your welcome of what always
was. T-13.VII.9.
Peace is the absence of desire; forgiveness
reveals our natural state.
This workshop explores, with the aid of
exercises, how we block this happiness and peace and how it
can be revealed.
No knowledge of A Course in
Miracles is required.
An
Evening Introductory Talk - Fri 27th June 2014
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
Freiburg 2014
July 4 6pm
to 9pm
July 5 10.00am to 6.00pm
July 6 10.00am to 5.00pm
Inner Peace - Our Natural State
- A
Course in Miracles workshop -
It (inner peace) is given you the instant you
would have it. ACIM
T-15.IV.9.
The purpose of this world is not to find a
permanent peace and happiness.
It cannot be found here.
You do not really want the world you see,
for it has disappointed you since time began. T-13.VII.3.
Instead, if we see the world as a classroom
of forgiveness we will discover the uncaused happiness that
lies within - our natural state. To forgive is to look at
everything in our minds and in the world without
judgement.
Forgiveness offers everything I want. Lesson
122
While we search to fulfil our desires in the
expectation of happiness we block the awareness of the
constant, uncaused happiness within.
You will first dream of peace, and then
awaken to it. .....
Love waits on welcome, not on time, and the real world
(inner peace) is but your welcome of what always was. T-13.VII.9.
Peace is the absence of desire; forgiveness
reveals our natural state.
This workshop explores, with the aid of
exercises, how we block this happiness and peace and how it
can be revealed.
No knowledge of A Course in Miracles is
required.
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
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
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
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