Journey Without Distance
Dear Friend:
This is a new occasional series on A Course in Miracles. Today I talk about speaking to the fear that is driving the world right now, and addressing it honestly; and the need to present an alternative.
The title of the series is based on this quote from the text:
“Can you be separated from your life and your being? The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always, and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described and it cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself.”
With love,
— efc
Journey Without Distance
Reader email:
I jotted down a few of my own thoughts when I was listening to Journey Without Distance - Ep 1 today. I'm sending them along in case it is interesting or thought-provoking for you:
We are all on some level messed up by dark Christianity. It's beliefs and assumptions are pervasive in the foundations of our society.
And so, even if a person wasn't raised specifically with that programming, they are experiencing it in the structure of our society. We can't escape it. The way I explain the language of the course to myself, is to recognize that the course is specifically using language that has deep meaning to us (whether we want it to or not), and it's changing the meaning of those words over time. It's sort of using them in a purposeful way. We can't connect to teachings from other cultures in the same way.
As some background though, I had heard you talk about the language of the course in the Miracle Hour podcasts back in 2016, and that helped me be prepared to approach this from a position of, "Okay I see the practical purpose with these lessons; I am not going to get hung up on the language." I think I trusted you already, so I was willing to check it out.
When I started practicing the lessons in the workbook, I immediately understood that these things it's teaching are things that I had been reading about and practicing over the years, but they never quite clicked in my life. The world is an illusion, what does THAT mean? The workbook brought these concepts to a very practical level. Understanding that bigger picture made it easy for me to put the language aside and give it a try. I was excited to see what was going to happen.
You mentioned that you feel called to teach this right now. I also understand what you said about how this isn't really something you teach. Both things are true. If you feel called to give it a try, I feel called to support that effort. You have a history of maintaining a posture of integrity with the things you are presenting. I appreciate that. I enjoyed hearing the way you talk about the course.
Perhaps all one can do is point people towards the teachings and then describe how it has impacted their own life and what it means to them.
I was excited by the connection you made between the need for the teachings of the course and the fear and survivalism that are pervasive in our culture. When you talked about that, I remembered that the timing of me finally starting the workbook lessons was related to the vaccine mandates in 2021.
My employer was requiring all employees get vaccinated. At first I was worked up about it, but then I realized: "Hey, 'they' are just trying to make everyone afraid. Everyone is either afraid of getting the vaccine or afraid of people who won't get it. I don't want to feed into that fear anymore. "
I was looking through a used copy of ACIM that I had picked up a few years prior. I was reviewing it to help me with some language for a religious exemption (that was thankfully approved) and somehow decided that was the right time to start working through the lessons.
Love to you and your beloved dog, love never ends.