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.
Grateful to you for bringing back through an ever so gentle and integrated approach "A Course of Miracle" which, just when you had started on its journey, had brought, miraculously, a complete new life situation to me. Not unlike yours, my background contained the heavy influence of religion. I was brought up with a Swedenborg minister father and the whole terminology of the Course was certainly a great challenge. I worked in a group with a Findhorn representative for a year. The most important question in my life and regarding myself at that time was: Good and Evil.
Carl R.Rogers gave a great relief as well as Jane Roberts books channeling the "Seth Material".
After my transition from Zürich/Switzerland where I had worked as musician to Denmarks west coast, where I was "being placed" into close vicinity of a "psychic center" by an Irish Healer called Bob Moore, I continued for a year or so with the Course and then simply lay it to rest, because I found it to be too mental. A decade later after a deep crisis, I took it up again, studying the textbook more closely and writing notes about a whole lot of its pages, which gave a much more complete context. - What you say in the recording about The Tree of Life, makes so much sense!
Now, as you take up the Course again and a very long term friend in Switzerland, which I just visited, takes it on for the first time, I am amazed but not surprised to be linked up again!
MIRACLES ARE NATURAL - as the Course states and when they do not happen, something has gone wrong. (No quote - freely from my memory)
And, after chasing volume three: Manual for Teachers, down from my bookshelf in a special closet, I read the first few sentences; - wow - the light shines through every word:
"The course ...emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same ...that teaching is a constant process, ...you cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself, and this you learn through teaching. Who are God's teachers? Who is qualified? ... somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's."
So fundamental and difficult to really understand!
Dear Francis, can you see, bless you, now you have set me up. Life is a circle and I will dance in its Now, light and complete. THANK YOU, Christiane Horn
Enjoyed the intro to this new series. I always come across the topic of ACIM in my musings online, but have never pursued it because of its religious connotations. Although I was raised with Christianity, I am not super appalled by its terminology, because I know how to replace it in my mind with my own. I appreciate your description of it, because honestly I knew nothing about it or its origins.
I look forward to the journey.
On another note, I wish you well in your time w/ Jonah. It can be difficult, but in the end…one can only be thankful for time spent with another beautiful creature. I myself am guiding my German Shepard through recovery from surgery. After 10yrs of chasing lawn mowers, the mower finally bit back. I am just super thankful that the Doc was able to save his leg.
What a pity we didn't connect when you were here because we, together, could have lifted the world. From the sad, deep voice of your podcast, your sadness and every word, I resonate and cry about each day. But I sense that your sweet puppy most likely needed you more than Koh Samui and spending some time with me, did.
The Journey Without Distance is something which I have been feeling too. How you speak about the state of the world is eloquent and true. I know a great number of individuals who have tightened their reality with a wall of fear; creating their own category of existence projected toward others, like myself, because I dedicate my life to nurturing and celebrating the divine blessings of each moment. Living in the Eternal Presence, which in the Buddha Dharma, manifests as You are your reality, and thus, you are your own Law and Authority. You create the universe. God, Dharma-Nature, is where our true essence and power originates, always. That doesn't mean avoiding the crises, the pain, the suffering. It means surviving while praying, affirming, giving and sharing all that represents Goodness and God's grace of genuine Health.
Astrologically, right now there is a 5-pointed star of 3 Yods and 5 quincunx angles: Yods-Neptune with South Node and Sun; South Node with Neptune and Uranus; and the Sun with Neptune and Pluto.
Neptune is very strong right now--you of course know that--Neptune is at the tip of the Kite. . . Of course, there is more. But to me this sacred geometrical planetary configuration reflects our human experience. . . Neptune is calling us to travel. You can make the chart but here is the astro.com chart for SF yesterday. The South Node is left out:
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.
Eric, Best Wishes Concerning Your Four Legged Companion & Furry Friend.
That quote is so stunning. Looking forward to the series.
Grateful to you for bringing back through an ever so gentle and integrated approach "A Course of Miracle" which, just when you had started on its journey, had brought, miraculously, a complete new life situation to me. Not unlike yours, my background contained the heavy influence of religion. I was brought up with a Swedenborg minister father and the whole terminology of the Course was certainly a great challenge. I worked in a group with a Findhorn representative for a year. The most important question in my life and regarding myself at that time was: Good and Evil.
Carl R.Rogers gave a great relief as well as Jane Roberts books channeling the "Seth Material".
After my transition from Zürich/Switzerland where I had worked as musician to Denmarks west coast, where I was "being placed" into close vicinity of a "psychic center" by an Irish Healer called Bob Moore, I continued for a year or so with the Course and then simply lay it to rest, because I found it to be too mental. A decade later after a deep crisis, I took it up again, studying the textbook more closely and writing notes about a whole lot of its pages, which gave a much more complete context. - What you say in the recording about The Tree of Life, makes so much sense!
Now, as you take up the Course again and a very long term friend in Switzerland, which I just visited, takes it on for the first time, I am amazed but not surprised to be linked up again!
MIRACLES ARE NATURAL - as the Course states and when they do not happen, something has gone wrong. (No quote - freely from my memory)
And, after chasing volume three: Manual for Teachers, down from my bookshelf in a special closet, I read the first few sentences; - wow - the light shines through every word:
"The course ...emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same ...that teaching is a constant process, ...you cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself, and this you learn through teaching. Who are God's teachers? Who is qualified? ... somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's."
So fundamental and difficult to really understand!
Dear Francis, can you see, bless you, now you have set me up. Life is a circle and I will dance in its Now, light and complete. THANK YOU, Christiane Horn
Enjoyed the intro to this new series. I always come across the topic of ACIM in my musings online, but have never pursued it because of its religious connotations. Although I was raised with Christianity, I am not super appalled by its terminology, because I know how to replace it in my mind with my own. I appreciate your description of it, because honestly I knew nothing about it or its origins.
I look forward to the journey.
On another note, I wish you well in your time w/ Jonah. It can be difficult, but in the end…one can only be thankful for time spent with another beautiful creature. I myself am guiding my German Shepard through recovery from surgery. After 10yrs of chasing lawn mowers, the mower finally bit back. I am just super thankful that the Doc was able to save his leg.
TTFN
Sorry to hear that you are caring for an aged companion animal.
I am in the same situation and find it the most difficult part of my journey.
Sending comfort to you and Jonah as he transitions.
To love is a wonderful thing
For You & JFK. Dear Eric, "You will discover how much you care" ~ RK.
Ahhh, that was so nice......thank you.
What a pity we didn't connect when you were here because we, together, could have lifted the world. From the sad, deep voice of your podcast, your sadness and every word, I resonate and cry about each day. But I sense that your sweet puppy most likely needed you more than Koh Samui and spending some time with me, did.
The Journey Without Distance is something which I have been feeling too. How you speak about the state of the world is eloquent and true. I know a great number of individuals who have tightened their reality with a wall of fear; creating their own category of existence projected toward others, like myself, because I dedicate my life to nurturing and celebrating the divine blessings of each moment. Living in the Eternal Presence, which in the Buddha Dharma, manifests as You are your reality, and thus, you are your own Law and Authority. You create the universe. God, Dharma-Nature, is where our true essence and power originates, always. That doesn't mean avoiding the crises, the pain, the suffering. It means surviving while praying, affirming, giving and sharing all that represents Goodness and God's grace of genuine Health.
Astrologically, right now there is a 5-pointed star of 3 Yods and 5 quincunx angles: Yods-Neptune with South Node and Sun; South Node with Neptune and Uranus; and the Sun with Neptune and Pluto.
Neptune is very strong right now--you of course know that--Neptune is at the tip of the Kite. . . Of course, there is more. But to me this sacred geometrical planetary configuration reflects our human experience. . . Neptune is calling us to travel. You can make the chart but here is the astro.com chart for SF yesterday. The South Node is left out:
https://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?lang=e;nhor=395;gm=a1;btyp=2;mth=gw;rs=0
Sending you a big hug and lots of Love and healthy blessings to you and your puppy, from the Bay of Peace, Koh Samui
Heart grateful to listen to your healing and am reflecting inner light back to you for your journey with your wonderful dog.
That's why I don't choose to have a dog. Probably cowardice on my part. I had one once.
This course sounds great. Looking fwd to more...
“...arrive without traveling...”
;)