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ACFIP Newsletter 
Issue 15 - December 2007

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:
*Does it take time to do A Course in Miracles?
*Peace of mind
*Poem: Surrender
*Workshops
*Books and Audio Materials for Sale
*Links
*Inspirational Quotations


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Welcome to the Fifteenth issue of the Australian Centre for Inner Peace Newsletter..

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 warning 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

Regards

Michael Dawson
http://www.acfip.org

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Does it take time to do A Course in Miracles?

Salvation is no more than a reminder this world is not your home. Its laws are not imposed on you, its values are not yours. And nothing that you think you see in it is really there at all. This is seen and understood as each one takes his part in its undoing, as he did in making it. He has the means for either, as he always did.
A Course in Miracles T-25.VI.6.

Undoing the world is a process, whereby we let go our attachments and fears in connection with the ego's world. Instead we start to see the world as a classroom where our teacher is the Holy Spirit or Jesus, where the activities of our day are lessons in which we can learn to change our perception and forgive. Process implies time, a journey we take. The Course tells us that we are still at home and thus our journey is without distance. On hearing words like this we can be tempted to believe we can jump in one go and realise immediately that we are the Christ. This has lead some Course students to think that we only have to say "I am the Christ" and they will instantly arrive at enlightenment. In theory that is possible and one day we will all make that step. However, this realisation comes at the end of the spiritual path and comes at the "cost" of our individuality, uniqueness, specialness and self image. Are we ready to say "I am not a woman/ man/ body/ parent/ child etc.?" Unless we are ready to release our illusion of separation our fear will always block this realisation.

It is pointless to ask the Holy Spirit for enlightenment now when he knows we could not survive the shock. The Holy Spirit would never give us anything that would increase our fear. Jesus is well aware of this when he says, "Fear not that you will be abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality. Time is kind, and if you use it on behalf of reality, it will keep gentle pace with you in your transition." T-16.VI.8.

It takes a time to go back home to God; a process is needed. However, we can make it as slow or fast as we choose. If we use the sun as an analogy for the the ever-present Christ in our mind, then obscuring clouds are like the ego thoughts - both good and bad - that block the awareness of our spiritual reality. Our task, with the help of the Holy Spirit, is to remove the clouds. To look, with acceptance, within our mind at all our murderous ego thoughts is a difficult and unpleasant task. Denial and projection seems a more comfortable alternative to the vigilance the Course asks for. If we could easily choose enlightenment Jesus would not have given us a workbook of mind training that takes at least a year to complete. And then tell us it's only a beginning!

We do not have to work at creating love, joy or truth because that is how we were created. That which is given to us by our Creator was not given in time and therefore cannot be learned. Learning implies time. God does not know of time - that is one of our miscreations so we could experience separation. Most of us are very invested in this space-time illusion and although we are beginning to tire of it, (otherwise we would not be interested in a spiritual path), it can be easy to mistake our readiness for enlightenment. Not wanting to put in the hard work involved we can be tempted, with the help of peer group pressure, to imagine we have made the jump and put on a false display of spiritual achievement. A permanent "plastic smile" can be one of the unfortunate outcomes of this illusion.

Nisargadatta Maharaj, an eastern teacher of non-duality, likened the process of growth and enlightenment to that of a fruit growing on a tree. It takes time for the fruit to ripen and when it is ready it suddenly drops to the ground, never to return. The fall of the fruit would be analogous to us being ready to let go of the ego and enter the real world. If a fruit is nearly ripe a sudden wind could dislodge it. Similarly, if a person was close to awaking from the dream of separation, an encounter with an advanced teacher of God may precipitate a sudden shift into the real world.

The Course has over a 100 references to the word step and uses the analogy of the ladder to indicate gradual progress. To climb the ladder back home does require work, effort and time even though the final state will be one without effort where we will be guided what to say, where to go and what to do. There will be no one left to make decisions, no doer of actions and our life will be one of spontaneous activity guided by an internal wisdom. To help us awaken to that state we need to put our foot on the the first rungs of the ladder back home, remembering to smile gently each time we fall off.

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Peace of mind.

Forget not that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of peace.
Given this state the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is attained. A Course in Miracles T-24.Intro

To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention.
Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides.
T-18.VII.7:7

Happiness is living in the space between two thoughts. Into that space the Holy Spirit is invited and guides all activities. In that space "I need do nothing". The past and future no longer exist. Memories, knowledge - once thought essential to judge and evaluate each moment - are released to let this higher power take charge of your life. Decisions are gone to be replaced by certain knowing. The ego warns that all will be chaos without its help but instead, all is peace. We are told to resign as our own teacher as we have been badly taught (T-12.V.8). How humbling, and to the ego, how insulting. "Is not all my past experience of great value?," it cries. "No", replies the Holy Spirit, for every moment is fresh and requires a unique response and only the Holy Spirit knows which one. And this response will benefit all for He can only give to all. "But how can the future be safe!" cries the ego. "Future is your concept," replies Spirit. "There is no time, only the present moment, and I can tell you exactly what you need to do to give you peace and joy. But reliance on memory-based thought must cease before I am made welcome and this includes your so called 'good thought' as well as your attacking thoughts".

As students of A Course In Miracles should we be working for world peace? Is it selfish of us to only concern ourselves with inner peace? The Course tells us that this entire universe is but a projection of a thought of separation onto the screen of space-time.

The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear. And what is fear except love's absence? Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. W-pII.3.2.

It is built into the very structure of this planet that discord and problems must exist here. The ego is a murderous thought system, kill or be killed, and so it must be mirrored here. Just to exist at all means we must kill something to eat - whether animal or vegetable. All ideas of achieving a utopia must therefore fail. If there is a world there must be an ego projecting it. When all separated beings finally decide to let the ego go (the Last Judgement) there will be peace, but there will not be a universe left to project. So our concern is not achieving peace in the world, not sending light to troubled areas, but learning to find inner peace through daily forgiveness. When the mind attains peace the memory of God will return and we will become a healing presence in the world. Some people will be drawn to our peace and they in turn will be encouraged by our example to choose forgiveness instead of attack. We will have no motive to change and influence others, for the mere presence of a teacher of God has the potential to heal others. By being at peace ourselves the greatest good can be accomplished.

The ego mind is constantly thinking, planning, scheming, defending and attacking. This is a very effective smokescreen for obliterating the thoughts of God. We cry out "Where is God?" whilst all the time making sure we do not leave Him a gap to enter. Can we give God a gap? Or do we believe God can't hit a moving target so let's live a life of constant thought and action and then we will be safe from Him.

I am willing to recognize that my thoughts do not mean anything, and to let them go. I choose to have them be replaced by what they were intended to replace. My thoughts are meaningless, but all creation lies in the thoughts I think with God.
W-p1.51.4:6

To find the peace of God we must reach the point when we see "The world I see holds nothing that I want". (Lesson 128) Whilst we still believe we know what's best for us we will continue to scheme and plan for the ultimate relationship, career, etc. Peace, and therefore the memory of God, will elude us whilst we pursue the idols of the world. A point must come when we willingly surrender to the fact that we don't know anything about how to be truly joyful and at last step aside and let the Holy Spirit lead the way.

Only be quiet. You will need no rule but this, to let your practicing today lift you above the thinking of the world, and free your vision from the body's eyes. Only be still and listen. W-p1.125.9

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SURRENDER


There is really nothing to say. Words are superfluous.
The only reason I use words is so you can detect the silence in the words.
Silence is truth. You cannot explain truth in words.
The words become meaningless, redundant.

The truth comes to you of its own free will
when you prepare yourself through deep surrender to your Self,
giving up all attachment, giving up your body, your mind,
and everything that's important to you, to the Self.
As long as you're holding on to anything, the Reality will evade you.
The Reality only comes when you give up yourself,
when you give up your ego,
when you give up your needs, your wants,
trying to make something happen, desires.
When you give up trying to become Self-realized.
When you just give up.

Then something wonderful happens.
You begin to expand.
Not your body, but the Consciousness which you are.
You become all pervading, Absolute Reality.
It happens by itself.

from Silence of the Heart
by
Robert Adams



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 related to the Course. Please see the Contacts section at the end of this newsletter.

___________________________________________________________________________



A Course in Miracles Workshops in Australia
by Michael Dawson



Brisbane

Sunday 17th Feb 2008 - 1 day workshop
9.30am to 4.45pm


Healing Ourselves and Others -

from the perspective of A Course in Miracles 

"Health is inner peace" ACIM


Using the spiritual path of the Course we will explore what true healing is.

All problems result from our desire to be separate. Forgiveness undoes judgement and returns us to wholeness.

In learning to heal others we will also learn to heal ourselves.


VENUE:
Relaxation Centre,
cnr Brookes and Wickham Streets,
Fortitude Valley
Brisbane 4006

BOOKINGS:
Relaxation Centre
07 3854 1986
(Please do not book through me)

Times: 9.30 a.m. to 4.45 p.m.
Cost: $55
Bring lunch to share

___________________________________________________________________________


Clare - April 5/6 2008
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)


The Key to Inner Peace.
Moving from a somebody to a nobody

A Course in Miracles workshop

You are not special.
If you think you are, and would defend your specialness against the truth of what you really are,
how can you know the truth?
A Course in Miracles

One day, I discovered I didn't need a personal history, so, like drinking, I dropped it.

Carlos Castaneda in Tales of Power

As we let go our beliefs, concepts, seeking, self importance and goals, peace and joy will return.
When we no longer defend our self created image (ego) awareness of our eternal spiritual reality awakens.
Exercises to help undo our ego and listen within will be given.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.

VENUE:
Clare
SA 5453
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)

DATE:
April 5/6 2008

TIME:
Sat 28 - 9.30 TO 5.30
Sun 29 - 9.30 TO 4.30

BOOKINGS:
Tel: 08 8842 3114
PO Box 614
Clare, SA 5453

Cost
Deposit: $60 to cover basic costs
plus a donation for the workshop.
Food provided.

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Hillier (Gawler) SA - April 12/13 2008
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide)



Awakening to Our Spiritual Reality.
A Course in Miracles workshop

You do not have to seek reality. 
It will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions. 
A Course in Miracles  T-8.IX.2:4-5


The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God. Identification with our bodies and personalities blinds us to our spiritual reality. The Course teaches us how to awaken from this dream of separation from God and to experience joy and peace. If our intention to awake is sincere and we have the humility to realise we know nothing and are willing to be taught by spirit we will meet the conditions of awakening.

Topics will include:
What is enlightenment?
Why we fear to awaken.
Traps on the spiritual path.
Pointers on the path
Not knowing-the need for humility
Sinlessness
Development of trust-the ladder home
Forgiveness
Undoing our blocks to guidance


Exercises will be used to help remove the obstacles to peace and open to the guidance within.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.


VENUE
"Riverdell"
Clifford Road
Hillier
South Australia
(40 minutes drive from the centre of Adelaide)

TIME:
Sat and Sun - 9.30 TO 5.00
April 12/13

COST
Booking Fee - $30 (non refundable)
Workshop Fee - By Donation at the workshop
Some accommodation on site - $40
Bring food to share for lunch both days

For Details Contact:
Pamela St Claire
(08) 8322 0444
email: pstclaire@chariot.net.au

People should send their Booking Fee to:

Pamela St Claire
36 The Causeway
O'Halloran Hill SA 5158
and include a cheque made payable to P. St Claire


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GERMANY 2008 WORKSHOPS


Bonn - weekend w/s Sat 14 June and Sun 15

Awakening to Our Spiritual Reality.
A Course in Miracles workshop


You do not have to seek reality.
It will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions.
A Course in Miracles T-8.IX.2:4-5



The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God. Identification with our bodies and personalities blinds us to our spiritual reality. The Course teaches us how to awaken from this dream of separation from God and to experience joy and peace. If our intention to awake is sincere and we have the humility to realise we know nothing and are willing to be taught by spirit we will meet the conditions of awakening.

Topics will include:
*What is enlightenment?
*Why we fear to awaken.
*Traps on the spiritual path.
*The need for a full heart and an empty mind.
*Not knowing.
*Obstacles to peace
*Development of trust
*Forgiveness and guidance

Exercises will be used to help remove the obstacles to peace.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.

Introductory talk on A Course in Miracles - evening Fri 13 June

Contact:
Albert-Schweitzer-Haus
Beethovenallee 16
Bonn 53173
tel: 0228 - 36 47 37
http://www.albert-schweitzer-haus-bonn.de


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FREIBURG - Weekend w/s Sat 7 and Sun 8 June 2008

Awakening to Our Spiritual Reality.
A Course in Miracles workshop
10am to 6pm


You do not have to seek reality.
It will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions.
A Course in Miracles T-8.IX.2:4-5



The deepest but forgotten truth about ourselves is that we are one with the love and mind of God. Identification with our bodies and personalities blinds us to our spiritual reality. The Course teaches us how to awaken from this dream of separation from God and to experience joy and peace. If our intention to awake is sincere and we have the humility to realise we know nothing and are willing to be taught by spirit we will meet the conditions of awakening.

Topics will include:
*What is enlightenment?
*Why we fear to awaken.
*Traps on the spiritual path.
*The need for a full heart and an empty mind.
*Not knowing.
*Obstacles to peace
*Development of trust
*Forgiveness and guidance

Exercises will be used to help remove the obstacles to peace.

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.


Introductory talk on A Course in Miracles - evening Fri 6 June at 8pm.

Location of workshop:
Center Margarete Sennekamp
Schauinslandstr. 39
79100 Freiburg-Günterstal
Tram 4, Klosterplatz

Contact:
Sophia-Institut
Margarete Sennekamp
Adalbert-Stifter-Str. 16
79102 Freiburg
Tel/Fax : 0761-73930
www.Sophia-Institut.de



Biography
Michael discovered A Course in Miracles whilst visiting the Findhorn Foundation in 1982. He subsequently became a member of the Foundation for about six years and involved himself with healing and teaching. In 1994 he published Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness which serves as an introduction to the Course. His second book, The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness (Findhorn Press) uses exercises, stories and case histories to guide the reader to inner peace through forgiveness. Michael now lives in Australia and gives workshops on the Course world-wide.


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BOOKS AND AUDIO MATERIALS FOR SALE - by Michael Dawson

Books:
Healing the Cause - A Path of Forgiveness. Findhorn Press. 1994
The Findhorn Book of Forgiveness. Findhorn Press. 2003

For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html

Audio Tapes and CDs
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)

For more details and how to purchase please visit: http://www.acfip.org/audio.html

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CONTACTS

Resources
Foundation for A Course In Miracles
41397 Buecking Drive, Temecula, CA 92590
Tel: 909 296 6261 Fax: 909296 9117

Books, videos, CDs and audio tapes by Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick are available from their web site http://www.facim.org

Question and Answer Service:
Their electronic outreach section has a question and answer service http://www.facimoutreach.org/ on the theory and practice of the Course. Their database of hundreds of questions and answers is searchable and you can ask your own questions.

Their publications can also be ordered in Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Foundation for Inner Peace - the publishers of A Course in Miracles
http://www.acim.org/

ACIM study groups.
Go to
The Miracle Distribution Center http://www.miraclecenter.org/ for the largest and most frequently updated list of A Course in Miracles study groups available anywhere.

Miracles Studies Australia  http://www.miracle-studies.net.au lists study groups for Australia and new Zealand

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.

A Course In Miracles Chat Groups
The aim of this board is to provide a place for people to chat about ACIM.
Any related discussions are more than welcome and I believe helpful! - moderated by Glyn Milhench
http://glynbo.proboards84.com/index.cgi?board=acim

Belief.net ACIM discussion
This Belief.net web-based discussion is hosted by Joe Jesseph.
http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/discussion_list.asp?boardID=34272

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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTATIONS

About three or four 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.


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

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      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


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In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,

but sometimes I do, and that
sign becomes this art.

- Rumi

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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

---------------------------------------------------------------

Yet searching is inevitable here. For this you came, and you will surely do the thing you came for. But the world can not dictate the goal for which you search, unless you give it power to do so. Otherwise, you still are free to choose a goal that lies beyond the world and every worldly thought, and one that comes to you from an idea relinquished yet remembered, old yet new; an echo of a heritage forgot, yet holding everything you really want.

A Course in Miracles Lesson 131

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There's one great delusion that lies at the core
of all of our suffering: the false belief in the reality
of the separation of life and in the subsequent
true existence of an individual ego.

All fervent attempts to control or to mortify this
illusory ego through penance, rituals and sacrifice,
however, will only serve to intensify the delusion
that this ego is actually very real and that it only
needs to be, somehow, subdued, conquered or
destroyed.
      
- Chuck Hillig


Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003