ACFIP Newsletter
Issue 50 September 2016
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
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
eBooks and MP3s
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
______________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
A Course in Miracles Material
* Asking for Help -
part 2 of 2 - Michael Dawson
Non Dual
Teachings
* Enza Vita
- Waking Up From The Story Of Our Life
* AdyashantiÕs First
Awakening - the end of striving
* The Human
Condition by Jan Frazier
* The ÒI
AmÓ Approach to Awakening - Nisargadatta Maharaj
Other
* Workshops
* Books and Audio
Materials for Sale
* Links
* Inspirational
Quotations
A Course in Miracles Material
Chapter 6 - Asking for Help - Part 2 of 2
Reprinted from Healing the Cause by
Michael Dawson
To pray to God to heal others implies that there is a
God who is unaware of the suffering of His children and
through our petition we can win a special favour from Him.
Thus we create a God who can be persuaded to heal some people
whilst forgetting or neglecting the suffering of others. The
Course teaches that God loves all his children equally and
created the Holy Spirit to bring us all back to Him. Everyone
has equal access to the healing power of the Holy Spirit if we
would only invite His help. He is aware of everyone and does
not need our petitions.
We might think that it would help to send light to
another or to some trouble spot on the planet. However, this
would only reinforce the reality of the egoÕs world of form.
If we see darkness in the world it is because we see darkness
in our own mind, and this is where the light is needed. As the
Course states, ". . . Seek not to change the world, but choose
to change your mind about the world." (T415: T-21.Intro.1:7)
The Psychotherapy pamphlet does state that we need not
be physically present to help others and that "they will be
sent in whatever form is most helpful; a name, a thought, a
picture, an idea, or perhaps a feeling of reaching out to
someone somewhere." (P17; P-3.I.3:8) It is the Holy Spirit who
ÔsendsÕ people to us to join with and not we who direct His
healing ministry.
From here our prayers move to asking how to forgive
ourselves so we may know that all has already been given to us
by God. Finally, our prayer returns to what it once was before
the separation seemed to happen Ñ a song of love and thanks
between God and His creation.
All Our Prayers Are Answered
The Course tells us that all our prayers are answered
but how they are answered depends on whom we pray to in the
first place Ñ the ego or the Holy Spirit. (See M 51; M-21.2,3)
If we pray to the ego for things of the egoÕs world, we may or
may not receive them depending upon our ability to manifest on
a psychic level, but we will always receive the experience of
the egoÕs world which is sin, guilt and fear. For example, we
may manifest the money we think we need and temporarily feel
happy, but we continue to fear that it may not be enough for
our future needs, or we may lose it or have it stolen, or we
feel guilty about where the money came from. In this way our
prayers to the ego maintain and reinforce its presence in our
mind.
Some years ago I watched a short story on television
called ÔThe MonkeyÕs PawÕ which illustrated that we do not
know our own best interests. One day a traveller knocked on
the door of an elderly couple and asked them for help. In
return for their kindness he gave them a gift of a monkeyÕs
paw telling them it could bestow on them three wishes. For
their first wish they asked for a large sum of money. It was
not long after they had made their wish that they heard
another knock on their door. On opening the door they found a
representative from an insurance company who told them that
their son had been killed at his place of work. There had been
a dreadful accident and he had got caught in a machine. He
then handed the couple a cheque which was the firmÕs
compensation for their sonÕs death. When they opened it they
found it was for the exact sum they had prayed for. Overcome
by the horror of what had happened, the couple made a second
wish and asked for their son to be returned to them. Soon
there was another knock on the door. What they saw when they
opened the door made them recoil in terror. Their son had
returned but his body was horribly mangled by the accident.
The parents slammed the door closed and, taking the monkeyÕs
paw for the last time, wished their son to be dead again.
If we direct our prayers towards the Holy Spirit, we
shall receive his gifts of peace, joy and forgiveness. True
prayer is not concerned with the world of form (effect) but
with attaining peace in our mind (cause). If you find yourself
at the end of a long queue waiting to buy a ticket for a bus
you know will be leaving shortly, you have a choice of to whom
to pray. You may ask the Holy Spirit to delay the bus or make
the queue move faster, or you could ask the Holy Spirit to
show you how to be at peace in this situation.
The first prayer is to the ego, for you are asking for
change at the level of form. In the case of the second prayer,
if it is genuinely meant, the Holy Spirit has been invited
into your mind and will bring His gift of peace, which will
not depend on whether you eventually catch the bus or not. It
may not be for your highest good to catch that bus; you cannot
know this but the Holy Spirit does.
In our desire to form a special relationship with the
Holy Spirit, it is easy to fall into the trap that He does
things in our lives. Figure 6.27 uses the analogy of a
lighthouse to illustrate how the Holy Spirit acts in our
lives.
One shipÕs captain feels so sure in his own knowledge
of the correct course to take that he does not check to see if
there is a lighthouse in the vicinity. His ship takes a
dangerous course and finally runs aground and sinks. The other
captain is open to receiving help and actively looks for the
lighthouse and then navigates with its assistance. He changes
course and proceeds safely with his journey. In both examples
the lighthouse did not do anything. It did not push one ship
onto the rocks because the captain would not listen to it, nor
force the other ship onto a safe course to reward the
captainÕs faith.
The quotation in Figure 6.2 tells us that the presence
of the Holy SpiritÕs love and light in our mind is a reminder
of another way of being. Whether we follow that way or not has
no effect on the Holy Spirit Ñ He just continues to shine. The
Holy Spirit does not order, command or demand anything of us.
Nor does He overcome the obstacles on our path. He simply
reminds us that there is another way of being. If we forgive,
the obstacles will no longer be there. The form of the problem
may still be there Ñ for example our car may still not start Ñ
but now we will be at peace with it. The problem never was the
faulty car but the hidden guilt that was triggered in us when
it failed to start. The Workbook states it this way: "I am
never upset for the reason I think." (Lesson 5) In every
situation the Holy Spirit reminds us that there is always
another way of looking at a problem that will bring us peace.
"Choose again" the Course counsels us and have "a little
willingness" to invite the Holy Spirit to help us.
From our perspective it may often feel as if the Holy
Spirit comes and goes in our lives. One moment we feel His
presence, only to feel deserted by Him in the next. The truth
is that we are the ones who decide to come close and then move
away.
The Holy Spirit will, of Himself, fill every mind
that so makes room for Him . . . If you cannot hear the
Voice for God, it is because you do not choose to listen.
That you do listen to the voice of your ego is demonstrated
by your attitudes, your feelings and your behaviour.
(T278; T-14.XI.13:6; T57; T-4.IV.1:1-2)
To feel the presence of the Holy Spirit is terrifying
to our ego for it will dissolve in the Holy SpiritÕs presence.
We feel we can only take so much love and light and then we
need to return to the secure darkness of our ego. However, the
light of the Holy Spirit continues to shine unaffected in our
mind, awaiting with infinite patience our next call for His
help. (See Figure 6.3.)
Summary
The Song of Prayer pamphlet uses the
analogy of a ladder to illustrate our progression in the use
of prayer. At the bottom of the ladder are prayers to entreat.
Unaware we have already been given everything by God, our
inherent sense of sin and guilt tells us we have something
lacking in us (the scarcity principle). No longer aware of
GodÕs love for us, we translate this lack into material needs.
We pray to God to give us the things we think we need Ñ for
example, money, healing for our bodies, etc. We believe these
things can bring us peace, forgetting that the very form of
this prayer reinforces our feeling that we are lacking certain
things and that the answer to our needs lies outside our mind.
We notice that some people are very good at manifesting
parking places, money or self-healing and think they have the
secret of prayer. We forget the enormous power of our mind and
that some people have learned to do this. We are tempted to
think that the Holy Spirit brings these gifts, not realising
"the Holy Spirit is not concerned with form, being aware only
of meaning". (T151;T-9.I.10:4) But these psychic powers do not
bring peace. We are continually tempted to pray for specific
things and thus restrict the answer within the limits we have
set up.
All our prayers are answered depending on whom we pray
to. Ego-based prayers for things of this world are answered by
experiences of the egoÕs world Ñ some form of guilt and fear.
We may actually get the form of what we pray for but in so
doing we maintain our focus on externals, reinforce the world
of separation and thus maintain our feelings of guilt and our
belief in the ego. The Course reminds us that ". . . the only
meaningful prayer is for forgiveness, because those who have
been forgiven have everything". (T40; T-3.V.6:3)
The Holy Spirit is not interested in getting rid of our
problems (ego prayers) but in showing us what to do to be at
peace with the challenges in our lives. As we let Him teach us
to forgive, we will undo the guilt we carry which blocks us
from knowing that we have everything already. At the top of
the ladder of prayer we realise we have no needs and prayer
turns back into the original form it had before the separation
seemed to happen. This form is a song of thanks to and from
our Creator, sung without thoughts, desires or needs.
ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑ
Non Dual Teachings
This part of the
newsletter offers input from non-dual teachers. What is
non-duality? The word Ônon-dualÕ means not two. On the first
page of the ACIM text there is two line summary of a Course in
Miracles. It begins with the line ÒNothing real can be
threatened.Ó
This refers to what God
created Ð eternal, formless, spirit. Eternal means never born
and therefore cannot change or die. The Course uses the
expression Ôthe ChristÕ to denote this. Behind all the seeming
multiplicity of the universe there is actually only one
essential reality. Just as all the images on the cinema screen
seem different, the light that creates them is one.
There is nothing
outside you. That is what you must ultimately learn, for it
is the realization that the Kingdom of Heaven is restored to
you. For God created only this, and He did not depart from
it nor leave it separate from Himself. The Kingdom of Heaven
is the dwelling place of the Son of God, who left not his
Father and dwells not apart from Him. Heaven is not a place
nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect
Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else;
nothing outside this Oneness, and nothing else within.
T-18.VI.1.
The second line of the
summary states ÓNothing unreal exists.Ó This refers to
everything that is born and therefore dies - the egoÕs world.
Thus everything in the universe including ourselves is not
real according to the Course. It is like a great dream. Only
perfect oneness is real.
There are two forms of
non-duality Ð pure and impure. In the impure form God is aware
that the universe is a dream and experiences itself through it
- God's Leela or play as they say in the East. In the pure
form of non-duality God is unaware of the universe. The Course
is an example of pure non-dual teachings. A metaphor for this
is a cinema projector where the lamp in the projector
represents God. When the ego's film of separation is run past
the light it is projected onto the screen of time and space.
The light of God makes this possible, but the lamp is unaware
of what is on the screen and would continue to shine when the
film is taken away. To continue with this metaphor the light
extending from the lamp is who we are, the Christ. ( See
chart http://acfip.org/lightbulb.html)
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.
_________________________________________________
Waking Up From The Story Of Our Life - Enza
Vita (from her Facebook page)
If we truly knew that
there is nothing we can do to become enlightened, what would
we do?
Some teachers tell us to
Òbe in the NOWÕ or to ÒsurrenderÓ but what does this truly
mean?
ÒJust leap into the
unknownÓ some others say. More good advice because that IS the
process, but where exactly do we leap from?
Enlightenment is
awakening from the dream of being the separate person within
awareness, to being awareness itself and so the surrender that
is often spoken about is the letting go of ideas and concepts
that we take as real. But because we donÕt know what our
existence will be like without those things, usually there is
a great deal of fear involved in this letting go.
All I can tell you is
that, the surrender of the self, doesnÕt lead to oblivion but
to the Light we already are, radiating so brilliantly that all
the ideas we have of ourselves are burned out from our
sight.
If we have full trust
that we are already That and our mind is calm and peaceful, we
just focus our attention inward, take a deep breath and just
let it all be.
If our mind is restless
and full of thoughts, we try asking ourselves Òwho am I?Ó.
This question will lead us to the witness position and at this
point we hold the view of awareness taking itself as an object
until awareness turns back on itself.
At first this may last
only a few minutes or seconds but if we keep going back to
that space over and over again, eventually this becomes our
default position.
By familiarizing
ourselves with this understanding again and again, it
eventually transforms into direct experience but we donÕt stop
here because even experience is not very stable in the worlds
of time and space. We can become confused again by getting
caught up in our thoughts and emotions once more and so we
need to keep going with our practice until our experience
transforms into a deep realization that can never be
lost.
What is the difference
between experience and realization?
The experience is when
you experience being awareness.
Realization is when you
experience nothing else.
Enza Vita has published
an excellent book on awakening entitled
---------------------------------------------------------------
AdyashantiÕs First Awakening - the end of
striving.
From:
Conscious TV -Adyashanti
Ð Awakening
Interview with Renate
McNay
http://conscious.tv/text/78.htm
Adya: (I was) very, very driven. And that
capacity had really served me in life, not only in athletics
but growing up as a child I had learning disabilities Ð
dyslexia Ð and I learned if I just decided I was going to
learn something and just put all my willpower behind it, I
could do it. So it was something that really worked for
me and so I just transferred that willpower into my spiritual
seeking.
É. So, anyway, one day I
had this real intensity and I sit down to meditate and I just
have this feeling of Òthis is it. I'm really going to
somehow do it.Ó And I sat down and it was like all my
will just focussed, within a couple of minutes, I focussed
like IÕd never focussed and right at that moment I had an
insight, which was, ÒI canÕt do this.Ó It wasnÕt a great
insight, it was like complete defeat, just utter, devastating
defeat. Like Ònot only can I not do this, this will
never happen, this isÉ IÕm defeated.Ó And as soon as I
had that sense, ÒI'm defeated, I can not do
this.Ó This immense sort of opening happened.
Renate: So when you said, ÒI cannot do that
anymoreÓ meaning the meditationÉ
Adya: The whole thing.
Renate: ...the whole thing, the search...
Adya: The spiritual search, the enlightenment,
the whole project. I just met like this wall that IÕd
been pushing and pushing and pushing on and I was defeated by
it Ðintellectually, emotionally, physically even Ð
energetically, I was just completely defeated.
Renate: SoÉ?
Adya: And as soon as I was defeated, in the next
instantÉ it started out as an energetic thing, I guess they
would call it nowadays a Kundalini experience and I felt this
immense rush of energy and started breathing quite heavily and
my heart started to beat; boom, boom, boom.
Renate: Were you on your own?
Adya: IÕm just sitting there meditating in my
little meditation hut in my parentsÕ backyard. And
having been an athlete, I knew what my maximum heart rate felt
like, I knew what a heart rate of around two hundred felt like
and my heart was beating way faster than that and there was so
much energy, the heart was beating, it felt like my heart was
going to explode, I was breathing hard and yet, I'm sitting
there meditating, you know. I canÕt move and I just had
a thought Òthis is gonna kill meÓ and the next thought I had Ð
when I knew it was gonna kill me Ð the next thought I had was
Òif thatÕs what it takes, letÕs get it over with.Ó And
it wasnÕt like a courageous thought, it wasnÕt like a
masculine, fearless, Òokay IÕll do it,Ó it was just a very
simple Òokay, IÕll die. IÕll die right here, right now,
IÕll let my heart explode. I won't move off this
cushion, I won't go anywhere.Ó And I really thought I
was gonna die, one hundred per cent. As soon as I
thought Ôokay, IÕll die nowÓ all of a sudden, I was instantly
in a different Ð I donÕt even know what to call it Ð instant
different dimension. I wasnÕt aware of my body anymore,
absolute darkness, total infinity of black and I wasnÕt even
there anymore. It was just this infinite, open, sort of
black space and after a while, what I could feel was there was
like these insights coming, almost being downloaded through
the top of my head into my body, like a computer program was
being downloaded.
From:
Conscious TV -Adyashanti
Ð Awakening
Interview with Renate
McNay
read the full interview
at:
http://conscious.tv/text/78.htm
ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑ
The Human Condition by Jan Frazer
from Freedom of Being
Of human nature, two
things can be said:
1.(1) We are free.
2.(2) We do not realize
it.
Free: able to be in the
presence of anything, any condition, and to be unchanged by
it. Purely content, at ease. Like an open window, the breeze
blowing in and back out again. All of it (everything that
happens) comes and goes, even the close-up things, and inside,
the stillness does not waver. Free means living as pure
awarenessÑawareness that's only secondarily a person.
What We Don't
Know
We are free, and we
don't know it. It feels the furthest thing from possible, that
it could be so. We'd swear we're at the mercy of what goes
wrong, what goes right.
And yet (here is the
truth), freedom is right here. So far away, it seems, but
right here. Even as you could spend your whole life chasing it
down, you have the scent of it on you all the while.
The perfection is right
alongside the mess, intimate with the misaligned mini-disaster
that life appears to be. Close as the breath that's moving in
you right now.
Sometimes you get a
whiff of it on the wind. A scrap of a melody playing in the
distance, beyond what you're otherwise paying attention to
(some useless thing or other).
You could be done with
suffering. The thing with no longing, that does not know fear,
moves as you move. It asks no act of forgiveness or
understanding, nor healing or mastery. It's just here: real as
rock, air, dirt. It doesn't await you later. It's not outside
you, or in spite of you. You are it. It's so close
you cannot see it. You look through its eyes at the world
around you.
You could let go of
what's hobbled you all your life. Something could shift. Let
yourself know that it could be otherwise. You think you need
to limit yourself with ideas of how-itÕs been,
what-seems-likely. You don't.
Your essential nature
will wait forever for you to noticeÑ you that insist on
averting your eyes; you, so full of misplaced longing,
managing to invent difficulty, drowning in perpetually unmet
desire for something you think will take away the pain. Some
flimsy thing.
When this thing seizes
you in its teeth and takes you over, when you
become that, and all the rest of what seemed real is
obliterated, then you will look at who-you-were and feel a
terrible poignancy. Such pointless aching.
See how a mother lion
carries her young. How she grasps the skin at the back of its
neck with her glistening teeth that slaughter, how she holds
it and will not let go? This is how it is. This is what
attends you.
Once you see, you're
shocked to discover it was here all along. That all the while
you looked for it, you'd been pushing it to the side so you
could look behind it to see if you could find it.
Somebody who tells the
truth about this doesn't do it expecting that now it will
become perfectly obvious that you already have what you're
looking for. (We'd all wish for it to work that way.)
No, when someone tells
the truth, it's so you'll stop looking elsewhere than the
sound of your pulse in your ears, the crash of a dish hitting
the floor.
And for goodness sake,
don't expect to find it in the grave.
The news that it's as
close as the taste of the inside of your own mouth is supposed
to be encouraging. Stop expecting to find it out there.
Elsewhere, later. It is the looker.
It is the looking.
Do you think these are
just words chasing their own tails?
Discovering the truth
about yourself is like cutting yourself for the first time,
encountering that sticky red, and realizing it was there all
the time. Put your tongue to it. Taste it.
To one longing to know
the delicious freedom, it seems this state must be on the
other side of the world, lifetimes away. People talk
themselves into the idea that it's remote, can never be gotten
to, because they know how seldom it's realized, put on and
worn, like a garment. It must be hard to find, or else more
would.
Being told this reality
is in plain sight can be perfectly maddening. To want the
luxury of it, to be told it's possibleÑto hear it's underneath
your skinÑyet you cannot touch it.
But there it is.
Why would one who knows
lie about this? Would a story about great distance be
consoling?
Hearing of the exquisite
proximity doesn't mean you automatically get to feel it in
your fingers. Just because it doesn't happen on your schedule
of wanting doesn't mean it isn't here.
It is, you see, a matter
of perspective. The fact doesn't change. It's
the looking that changes. Once you see, you realize
truth always was just on the other side of a tissue-paper
wall, dying for a rupture, a flame.
All the Same
Another thing that can
be said about human nature is that we're all alike. (What
mental static that starts up.)
We're the same as one
another, on the level of each of our ÒselvesÓ: the
conditioned, egoic one, as well as the self that's awake,
free, condition-less.
As formless essence,
each person (indeed, all of existence) is pure,
undifferentiated being. Awakened presence doesn't
experience identity or imperfection.
Not everyone
encountering this idea will believe it to be true. Many will
dismiss it as wishful thinking. Even spiritual seekers
(supposed to Òknow betterÓ) may find it hard to believe they
already are what they seek.
Still, the notion that
causeless joy is universally innate is doubtlessly pleasing.
What's not so welcome is the idea that we're also essentially
indistinct on the level of our familiar selves.
How the ego (convinced
of its uniqueness and value) balks at this proposition. Yet we
are universally susceptible to conditioning. We believe
we are what the mind says we are. We're all
subject to our given circumstances, prone to identify with our
thoughts, protective of our (quirkily unique) egoic selves.
We also share a
constitutional ignorance of our essential freedom.
For a seeker of the
truth, what's worthier of attention than a person's
distinguishing features (vastly more) is our existential sameness.
Which is to say, the human condition.
No matter the apparent
differences, all (alas) are in the same boat. The sooner you
shift attention from the particulars (as if they were the
problem) and onto the overwhelming impression that your
thoughts are reliable indicators of reality, the sooner
something significant can change.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The ÒI AmÓ Approach to Awakening
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
from ÒI Am That"
¥ The sense of ÔI amÕ is
your own. You cannot part with it, but you can impart it to
anything, as in saying: I am young, I am rich etc. But such
self-identifications are patently false and the cause of
bondage. p.65 (Page numbers refer to first edition)
¥ I trusted my
Guru..........He told me to concentrate on ÒI AmÓ - I did. He
told me that I am beyond all perceivables and conceivables - I
believed. I gave him my heart and soul, my entire attention
and the whole of my spare time (I had to work to keep my
family alive). As a result of faith and earnest application, I
realised my self within three years. p. 52
¥ My guru ordered me to
attend to the sense ÔI AmÕ and to give attention to nothing
else. I just obeyed, I did not follow any particular course of
breathing or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever
happened, I would turn my attention from it and remain with
the sense ÔI AmÕ....Keep empty, keep available, resist not
what comes uninvited. In the end you reach a state of
non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, of inner ease and
freedom, indescribable, yet wonderfully real. p.375
¥ Refuse all thoughts
except one: the thought ÒI AmÓ. The mind will rebel in the
beginning but with patience and perseverance it will yield and
keep quiet. Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen
spontaneously and quite naturally, without any interference on
your part.
¥ Just keep in mind the
feeling ÒI AmÓ; merge in it, until your mind and feelings
become one. By repeated attempts, you will stumble on the
right balance of attention and affection and your mind will be
firmly established in the thought-feeling ÒI AmÓ. Whatever you
think, say or do, this sense of immutable and affectionate
being remains as the ever- present background of the mind. p.
48
¥ The sense ÔI AmÕ is
the manifestation of a deeper cause, which you may call Self,
God, Reality or by any other name. The ÔI AmÕ is in the world;
but its the key which can open the door out of the world.
¥....(do not) bother
about anything you want, or think, or do and just stay put in
the thought and feeling ÒI AmÓ focussing ÒI AmÓ firmly in your
mind. All kinds of experience may come to you - remain unmoved
in the knowledge that all perceivable is transient, and only
the ÒI AmÓ endures.
¥The idea - ÒI Am the
witness onlyÓ will purify the body and the mind and open the
eye of wisdom.
¥ Give up all questions
except one ÒWho am I?Ó p.70
¥ Be aware of that state
which is only, simply being, without being this or that or the
other.
¥Your own changelessness
is so obvious that you do not notice it. p.199
¥Even the sense ÒI amÓ
is composed of the pure light and the sense of being. The ÔIÕ
is there even without the ÔamÕ. So is the pure light there
whether you say ÕIÕ or not. Become aware of that pure light
and you will never lose it. The beingness in being, the
awareness in consciousness, the interest in every experience -
that is not describable, yet perfectly accessible, for there
is nothing else. p.201
¥First we must know
ourselves as witnesses only, dimensionless and timeless
centres of observation, and then realise that immense ocean of
pure awareness which is both mind and matter and beyond both.
p.205
¥I did not condition my
mind by thinking: ÔI am God, I am wonderful, I am beyondÕ. I
simply followed his instruction which was to focus the mind on
pure being ÕI amÕ. and stay in it. I used to sit for hours
together, with, nothing but the ÔI amÕ in my mind and soon
peace and joy and a deep all - embracing love became my normal
state. In it all disappeared - myself, my Guru, the life I
lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and
unfathomable silence. p.239
¥By being with yourself,
the ÔI amÕ; by watching yourself in your daily life with alert
interest, with the intention to understand rather than judge,
in full acceptance of whatever may emerge, because it is
there, you encourage the deep to come to the surface and
enrich your life and consciousness with its captive energies.
p.278
¥In the very beginning I
was giving some attention and time to the sense ÔI amÕ, but
only in the beginning. p.398
¥Q.Can it happen that
the mind is clear and quiet and yet no reflection [of reality]
appears? NM. There is destiny to consider. The unconscious is
in the grip of destiny: it is destiny, in fact. One may have
to wait. But however heavy may be the hand of destiny, it can
be lifted by patience and self-control. Integrity and purity
remove the obstacles and the vision of reality appears in the
mind. p.399
¥Step back from action
to consciousness, leave action to the body and the mind; it is
their domain. Remain as pure witness, till even witnessing
dissolves in the Supreme..... It is like washing printed
cloth. First the design fades, then the background and in the
end the cloth is white. The personality gives place to the
witness, then the witness goes and pure awareness remains.
p.401
¥As long as there is
consciousness, its witness is also there. The two appear and
disappear together. p.423
¥Keep the ÔI amÕ in
focus of awareness, remember that you are, watch yourself
ceaselessly and the unconscious will flow into the conscious
without any special effort on your part. Wrong desires and
fears, false ideas, social inhibitions are blocking and
preventing its free interplay with the conscious. Once free to
mingle, the two become one and the one becomes all. The person
merges into the witness, the witness into awareness, awareness
into pure being, yet identity is not lost. It is transfigured,
and becomes the real Self, the eternal friend and guide. You
cannot approach it in worship. No external activity can reach
the inner self; worship and prayer remain on the surface only;
to go deeper meditation is essential, the striving to go
beyond the states of sleep, dream and waking. In the beginning
the attempts are irregular, then they recur more often, become
regular, then continuous and intense, until all obstacles are
conquered. p.447
¥ÕI amÕ is a tiny seed
which will grow into a mighty tree - quite naturally, without
a trace of effort. p.510
______________________________________________________
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.
___________________________________________________
Other
Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in
Miracles
For up to date information on my workshops go
to http://www.acfip.org/fws.html
Germany 2017 Dates
Bonn - Sat
10 and Sun 11 June - 2017
10am to 6pm
Healing Ourselves and Others
from the perspective of A Course in
Miracles
Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result
of relinquishing all attempts to use the body
lovelessly.
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. T-9.V.8:1-8
A Course in Miracles
Using the spiritual path
of A Course in Miracles and its supplement - Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice - we will explore what true
healing is: the return to our awareness of our spiritual
identity.
The cause of illness
lies in the mind and not the body. By returning our awareness
to the mind and forgiving the thought forms of judgement,
attack and condemnation of ourselves and others we can return
to a state of inner peace. The body will then return to a
state of health.
To heal others, whether
as a friend or as a psychotherapist, we need to learn to step
aside and be guided in what to say and do . We need to
remember ÒThe Holy Spirit is the only Therapist.Ó
Practical
exercises will be used to help understand the ego and its
mechanisms of denial and projection. We will practise
forgiveness and turning within for guidance.
Topics also included:
Healing ourselves
¥ Reasons for Sickness
¥ Special Hate and Love
relationships
¥ The Process of Illness
¥ How is Healing
Accomplished
¥ Forgiveness
¥ Resistance to healing
Healing others
(teachings for everyone who desires to relieve suffering in
others)
¥ The A Course in
Miracles approach to healing others
¥ The differences
between the healed and unhealed healer
¥ Purpose of
Psychotherapy
¥ The Process of
Psychotherapy
¥ Role of the
Psychotherapist
An overview of the
Course's metaphysical, psychological and spiritual teachings
especially in regard to healing of the mind, body and
relationships will be covered.
No previous knowledge of
the book A Course in Miracles is required.
An Evening
Introductory Talk - Fri 9th June 2017
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 2017 June
Fri 16,[6pm to 9pm] Sat 17 [10am to 6pm] and Sun
18 [10am to 5pm]
Healing Ourselves and Others
from the perspective of A Course in
Miracles
Health Is Inner Peace....Health is the result
of relinquishing all attempts to use the body
lovelessly.
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. T-9.V.8:1-8
A Course in Miracles
Using the spiritual path
of A Course in Miracles and its supplement - Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice - we will explore what true
healing is: the return to our awareness of our spiritual
identity.
The cause of illness
lies in the mind and not the body. By returning our awareness
to the mind and forgiving the thought forms of judgement,
attack and condemnation of ourselves and others we can return
to a state of inner peace. The body will then return to a
state of health.
To heal others, whether
as a friend or as a psychotherapist, we need to learn to step
aside and be guided in what to say and do . We need to
remember ÒThe Holy Spirit is the only Therapist.Ó
Practical
exercises will be used to help understand the ego and its
mechanisms of denial and projection. We will practise
forgiveness and turning within for guidance.
Topics also included:
Healing ourselves
¥ Reasons for Sickness
¥ Special Hate and Love
relationships
¥ The Process of Illness
¥ How is Healing
Accomplished
¥ Forgiveness
¥ Resistance to healing
Healing others
(teachings for everyone who desires to relieve suffering in
others)
¥ The A Course in
Miracles approach to healing others
¥ The differences
between the healed and unhealed healer
¥ Purpose of
Psychotherapy
¥ The Process of
Psychotherapy
¥ Role of the
Psychotherapist
An overview of the
Course's metaphysical, psychological and spiritual teachings
especially in regard to healing of the mind, body and
relationships will be covered.
No previous knowledge of
the book A Course in Miracles is required.
Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
______________________________________________________
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. His body died in December 2013.
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