Michael Dawson
PO Box 125, Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island,
Queensland 4183,
Australia

Email: mdawson@acfip.org     
Web site: http://www.acfip.org


CONTENTS:
•Article - How Can I Hear my Inner Guidance?
•Healing Section - Empowerment
•Story - Forgiving Jesus
•Workshops
•Books and Audio Materials for Sale
•Links
•Inspirational Quotations


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Welcome to the NINTH 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 summary of help. You can find it at http://www.acfip.org/sum.html

Regards

Michael Dawson
http://www.acfip.org

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ARTICLE


How Can I Hear my Inner Guidance?


What is the Holy Spirit ?

This article is a continuation of the theme started in the last newsletter. In A Course in Miracles inner guidance is referred to as the communication to us from the Holy Spirit. Kenneth Wapnick's Glossary Index for A Course in Miracles gives the following definition of the Holy Spirit ;

the Third Person of the Trinity Who is metaphorically described in the
Course as God's Answer to the separation; the Communication Link between
God and His separated Sons, bridging the gap between the Mind of Christ
and our split mind; the memory of God and His Son we took with us into
our dream; the One Who sees our illusions (perception), leading us
through them to the truth (knowledge); the Voice for God Who speaks for
Him and for our real Self, reminding us of the Identity we forgot; also
referred to as Bridge, Comforter, Guide, Mediator, Teacher, and Translator.

The Course is written on different levels. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is described as a comforting friend Who seems almost human. In other places He is described in a much more abstract way. 

(The Holy Spirit) is the Call to return with which God blessed the minds of His separated Sons.......(He) is God's Answer to the separation; the means by which the Atonement heals........The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the same time. When the ego was made, God placed in the mind the call to joy
T-5.II.2.

The principle of the Atonement is that nothing has happened. We are still at home in Heaven dreaming of the separation (T-10.I.2:1). The function of the Holy Spirit is to awaken us from this dream, not to make the dream a better place by solving our practical problems here.


What the Holy Spirit does not do.

The Holy Spirit is not concerned with form, being aware only of meaning. T-9.I.10:4
Bringing illusion to truth, or the ego to God, is the Holy Spirit’s only function. T-14.IX.1:4

In the bible, and mentioned in the Course, is the story of the prodigal son. Leaving his father's home (Heaven) in search of something more (this world) he eventually ends up disheartened in a pigsty. It would be tempting for him to pray to the Holy Spirit to improve his lot. He might ask for things to make the pigsty more comfortable and entertaining. If the Holy Spirit would grant such wishes, which is impossible, then it would only delay the joyous homecoming of the son to the father. This is an example of trying to bring truth into the illusion and fix it up. The Course states that the only meaningful prayer is to learn forgiveness (T-3.V.6:3) for then we will discover we have been given everything and to ask for things only reinforces our sense of lack.

You whose mind is darkened by doubt and guilt, remember this: God gave the Holy Spirit to you, and gave Him the mission to remove all doubt and every trace of guilt His dear Son had laid upon himself. 
T-13.XI.5:1

The above passage emphasises a loving God with no wish to pass judgement on His one Son who has simply fallen asleep and is experiencing nightmares. The Holy Spirit's only task is to gently steer the prodigal son back home.

The Holy Spirit makes no distinction among dreams. He merely shines them away. T-6.V.4:4

No sacrifice required

The Holy Spirit will direct you only so as to avoid pain. T-7.X.3:1

There is no sacrifice involved in following the Holy Spirit 's guidance
except the sacrifice of our illusions. Our ego will counsel us that things will only get worse if we follow His guidance and we best rely on our experience in life to make decisions.

(The Holy Spirit) will take nothing from you as long as you have any need of it. T-13.VII.12:5

We particularly fear that we might have to give up our relationship, job or way of life. The Course points out that this is rarely asked. Instead we are counselled to change our perceptions of our world instead.


What is required of us?

The Holy Spirit asks of you but this: bring to Him every secret you have locked away from Him. Open every door to Him, and bid Him enter the darkness and lighten it away. At your request He enters gladly. He brings the light to the darkness if you make the darkness open to him. T-14.VIII.6:1-4

Our job is to be willing to look at everything in our minds without judgement. To bring all our dark thoughts into awareness so the Holy Spirit can shine them away. We cannot heal them, only the Holy Spirit. If we keep them hidden healing becomes impossible.
It is not easy or comfortable to face the darkness in us as our ego will rush in to judge what we find. Jesus asks us to learn to smile gently at what we find. They are only nightmares, not sins. If we could damage the Christ in us then that would be a sin. However, our Christ nature is eternal, perfect and unchanging and thus it's impossible to be changed in any way.

Do not leave any spot of pain hidden from the light (of the Holy Spirit), and search your mind carefully for any thoughts you may fear to uncover. T-13.III.7:5

(The Holy Spirit) cannot shine away what you keep hidden, for you have not offered it to Him and He cannot take it from you. T-12.II.9:8


How do I know it's the Holy Spirit talking to me?

The Voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because it is incapable of arrogance. T-5.II.7:1

It is helpful to imagine the Holy Spirit as a light house in our mind ready to wrap its guiding light around any problem and show us how to be peaceful. Light houses do not do anything - they simply shine. It is up to us to avail ourselves of their help. Light houses do not command a ship to change course to safer waters nor punish those ship's captains who ignore them.

It is the ego that commands and insists we follow its advice and warns us of fearful consequences if we fail to obey it.

It does not demand, because it does not seek control. T-5.II.7:2

The ego always seeks to win at another's expense. Kill or be killed is its motto. The Holy Spirit wants a win-win situation where everyone benefits from His counsel. The Holy Spirit will never demand we follow its advice whilst the ego always will.

It does not overcome, because it does not attack. T-5.II.7:3

The ego believes we must fight to get what we want and thus reinforces our own feeling of inadequacy. The Holy Spirit does not attack because truth needs no defence, only illusions. The stronger the illusion the greater the ego defence.

It merely reminds . It is compelling only because of what it reminds you of.   T-5.II.7:4-5

This is the true power of the Holy Spirit - the power to remind us of who we really are, the Christ. Once this memory starts to return we will laugh at the idea that attack can bring us what we want. The ego relies on argument and persuasion to get its way.

It brings to your mind the other way, remaining quiet even in the midst of the turmoil you may make. 
T-5.II.7:6

No matter how upset we become the Holy Spirit stands as a silent reminder of another way of being.

The Voice for God is always quiet, because it speaks of peace.  T-5.II.7:7

In contrast the ego is loud and insistent. If we listen to it it will drown out the Holy Spirit's voice.

Guidance can come in many ways - a quiet knowing, a hunch, an inner voice (rare), a dream, a book, through a conversation etc.

When we first start turning within to hear the Holy Spirit 's guidance it can be difficult to hear it. The ego will dress up as the Holy Spirit and give us what we want to hear. We cannot be sure at the time if it is really the Holy Spirit and not the ego. We need a lot of practice to recognise the true voice and thus we need to be patient and gentle with ourselves otherwise the ego will return by the back door and judge you for being a poor Course student. It is only the ego that applies pressure to do things correctly.

The goal of the Course is inner peace. We need therefore to ask for guidance that will bring us peace. We will know later by observation if our decision takes us towards or away from peace. Of course, some guidance may initially lead to more challenge in our life, for example, if we feel guided to leave our relationships.

There is no point in asking the Holy Spirit to talk louder. Instead, become aware of the ego's voice of judgement and attack which are saying I would rather be right than happy. (T-29.VII.1:9) Justifying our anger blocks hearing the Holy Spirit as His guidance would counsel us thus;

"You never hate your brother for his sins, but only for your own" T-31.III.1:5

Our wanting to be right is our statement we rather listen to the ego than the Holy Spirit. As the ego's voice becomes quieter through forgiveness we can start to hear the Holy Spirit's voice clearer. 


Some common traps in seeking guidance.

At the beginning we will fool ourselves many times by getting the answers our egos want us to hear. When Helen Schucman asked for specifics e.g. the dates of death of her friends she was always wrong in the answers she received.

It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Sons. 
T-5.II.3:9-11

When we ask for guidance it is difficult to be open to any answer. Instead we are tempted to offer the Holy Spirit our choice of answers from which He can choose. However, if the correct answer is not within these choices no accurate guidance can be forthcoming.

St. John of the Cross (16th century) was quite familiar it seems with peoples illusions around guidance:

“And I am appalled at what happens in these days – namely,
when some soul with a penny’s worth of meditation experience, if
it be conscious of certain locutions [voices] of this kind in some
states of recollection, at once christens them all as coming from
God.... This happens very commonly, and many persons are
greatly deceived by it, thinking that they have attained to a high
degree of prayer and are receiving communications from God.
Wherefore, they either write this down or cause it to be written,
and it turns out to be nothing, and to have the substance of no
virtue, and it serves only to encourage them in vanity.”

We are tempted to want to receive guidance that upholds our specialness, earthly wishes and individuality.

We need to beware of feeling enthusiasm when we think we have received guidance. Most likely we are just hearing what we wanted to hear. True guidance comes without a big fan fare - it's a quiet knowing what we must do.

Beware of signs. I may feel "guided" to go to India and seek a wise teacher feeling that would solve all my problems. In fact, I feel quite excited by the prospect. I then see a photo of India and take it as confirmation of my guidance. The ego will seek out these signs to reinforce its guidance to us.

Striving to be more spiritual is another block to hearing. The ego is back in charge. But we do not know the way to God, He does. Our job is to practise daily forgiveness, the awakening will then happen by itself.


Being Practical

To ask the Holy Spirit to decide for you is simply to accept your true inheritance. Does this mean that you cannot say anything without consulting Him? No, indeed! That would hardly be practical, and it is the practical with which this course is most concerned. M-29.5

It is another trap to think we can't make any decisions without first asking the Holy Spirit.

If you have made it a habit to ask for help when and where you can, you can be confident that wisdom will be given you when you need it. M-29.5:8

The Course assures us that if we need plans they will be given to us at the right time. Thus there is no need to worry about the future. Jesus tells us we have been badly taught and need to resign as our own teacher (T-12.V.8:3). He also knows we find this personally insulting to be told we know nothing of true value and this will delay our progress until humility starts to dawn in our minds.

If our days are dedicated to peace, kindness and forgiveness we open the door to being quietly led by the Holy Spirit through all of life's challenges. We are asked to have "a little willingness" to leave behind our desire to control all that happens in our lives, to stop holding the hand of the ego and instead pick up the hand of the Holy Spirit or Jesus.

If you are willing to renounce the role of guardian of your thought system and open it to me, I will correct it very gently and lead you back to God. T4.I.4:7

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HEALING SECTION

Empowerment

The following story demonstrates the fear and resistance we experience as we walk along the spiritual path, and the help that is always there for us.
It was David's first visit to the Findhorn Foundation and he had enrolled for the Experience Week programme. This programme introduces the Foundation to newcomers and includes an afternoon of group games and exercises. In one of the exercises the group splits into pairs who take turns to slowly unfold their partner who lies tightly curled up on the floor. It can be a very moving experience to allow someone to gently and lovingly unfold you from a protected and defensive posture. In David's case, he felt a sensation in his pelvic area as if some energy that had been long locked away was being released. When this force reached his stomach, he decided to stop the process and the energy remained locked there.
Two weeks after this event David came to talk to me. He told me he had felt stuck ever since that exercise. He said it was like being constipated and he knew he had blocked something in himself at that moment. It reminded him of a deeper feeling that he carried, where he felt blocked and inhibited in his life in general. David was about 18 years old with a sensitive and caring nature. As he talked, I sensed that some part of him was holding back from living his life fully. He was ambivalent about being here on the planet and living purposefully. We moved into a healing session and, as we worked with relaxation, he spontaneously returned to the tight, curled-up foetal position he had adopted in the exercise two weeks before. He told me he had regressed to his birth. As he re-experienced the moment of birth, he recognised an intense resistance to coming here. He had decided there and then that he would resist this world and what it stood for.

David had not seen that he had fallen into the trap of "making the error real" and that he was listening to the voice of his ego. He was willing to abandon the purpose of his new life and the lessons he had elected to learn in defiance of what he perceived as a hard and cruel world. David was afraid of opening to this experience and decided to try and protect his sensitive nature by psychologically closing himself down. I could readily understand his experience, for I empathised with much of what he said.

The Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice pamphlet points out that the therapist draws the clients who are needed to heal the therapist, for both will be working with the same issues albeit in different forms (see the section in the pamphlet on "The Ideal Patient-Therapist Relationship").
David then said a presence had appeared which counselled him to change his mind and do what he had come to do. He was told that just as he had blocked himself at his birth, so too had he repeated this experience two weeks ago in the unfolding exercise. Now David was ready to let go and trust God's will for him. As he relaxed his tight control, he immediately began to experience the blocked energy moving upwards through his body. He experienced feeling very much looser in his body, especially in his legs. At this point be began to cry. After the session, we went for a walk together. We were both aware of a change in him. He felt more alive, energised and unguarded. p.84 - 86

The acceptance of sickness as a decision of the mind, for a purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient decides that this is so, and he recovers. If he decides against recovery, he will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that it is. Special agents (for example pills, doctors, remedies) seem to be ministering to him, yet they but give form to his desires. And it is this they do, and nothing else. They are not actually needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say,'I have no use for this.' There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.
A Course in Miracles Ml7; M-5.II.2


[reprinted from “Healing the Cause” Michael Dawson - Findhorn Press. ]
See http://www.acfip.org/books_tapes.html

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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.

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The Voice of Jesus
by Linda Chubbuck
(used by permission of Linda Chubbuck  www.lindachubbuck.com)

The Voice of Jesus has been published in
The Holy Encounter and Miracle Worker magazines.

A few weeks ago, my 10-year old son and I were chatting about A Course in Miracles. I told him how it came (without mentioning a source) and read him the introduction. He was enchanted.

The next day, he asked another question about it. I answered.
The following day, I noticed him flipping through the Course himself. Strange, I thought. "August, what is it about the Course that especially interests you?" I asked.

He replied, with a sense of wonder, "It's the Voice! It's gentle, but commanding.... like Aslan!"

I felt a shiver of awe pass through me. He is currently devouring each of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, by CS. Lewis. And Aslan, the Lion, is known to be Lewis's metaphor for Christ. August had recognized the Voice of Jesus in the Course as familiar to him, and as loving and powerful.

My childhood experience of Jesus was the opposite. By the time I was a young woman, I wanted no part of Jesus. His very name made me feel nauseated and repelled. It conjured up images from childhood sermons of suffering, bloody thorns on his head, and my own guilty part in the crucifixion.

Too wilful to come to Jesus out of obedience and fear, I instead rejected, by my early 20's, the whole business - God, along with his scolding, judgmental Son, and all the rules which would almost certainly condemn me to hell. If I didn't believe in them, they couldn't hurt me, could they?

By my mid-30's, my defiance caught up with me. Though living an apparently successful life, I was coming apart at the seams inside. In great humility, I came to know God through the simple medium of prayer. My journey had begun.

My resentment of Jesus, however, continued. Eventually, I found myself offering Jesus himself a simple prayer - "Sorry, Jesus, that I can't stand you. I know it's not your fault, all the things people have done in your name. But I just get along better without you. Thanks for understanding." I continued on my way.

Living in the Bible Belt, I was reminded regularly of His presence. "Jesus" bumper stickers.... "How crude! Just the sort of people to try and cram Him down your throat, no doubt!" "Jesus Died for Your Sins" road signs - I could hardly bear to look at them, they irritated me so.

A few years after my re-connection to God, I was given a gift of A Course in Miracles. Intrigued, I opened it, and tried. But as soon as I understood that Jesus was a part of it, I closed it again. No way. Sorry, but my stomach turned again. The book sat on my shelf.

I began, however, to read authors who wrote of the Course - Jerry Jampolsky, and later, Marianne Williamson. They wisely, I thought, omitted any annoying mention of Jesus. So I could take it. I savoured their books.

Then in November of 1993, in an emotional crisis, I was led to a staunch and very compassionate Baptist woman, to whom I poured out my fears of the church, Jesus, and hell. She listened lovingly, and offered to pray with me. She asked if I wanted to invite Jesus into my life. Terrified and in tears, I agreed. We prayed together, and I did so.

I drove home in a panic. What had I done? This Man, this symbol of fear and judgment and hell and suffering - I had invited Him into my life? Did I have to stop all sin instantly? Would I go to hell? What did I have to believe now? I was sobbing.

I came to my computer, weeping, and wrote out all the questions... poured them out. As the questions ended, a Voice at my left shoulder, with the power to be heard over all my fears, spoke: "There are answers."

1t was so loving, so powerful. I knew it was Jesus speaking, and I understood that He meant the answers would unfold ahead of me, and that I need not be afraid. I was comforted.

An hour later, I picked up the Course, and this time, did not set it down. I devoured the Text, then began the lessons over the next few weeks. I hungered for it, and cried and wept as I took in His words, His love. Here were the answers I had asked for.

Looking back, I know that I was pulled by His power, over the wall of my distrust, into His arms. For quite some time, I preferred to pray to the Holy Spirit, while acknowledging Jesus' place in the whole system. The more abstract form of God seemed "safer" somehow. But recently, I have realized that true intimacy is linked to forgiveness - and forgiveness is Jesus' realm.

The Voice that I heard at times, but preferred to call the Holy Spirit, or my angels, I now address as "Jesus." That Voice is, as my son put it, always "gentle, but commanding." Never scolding, shaming, or condemning - but always very, very intimate and tender and personal.

Last week, I told my son a bit about my former repulsion for Jesus, and asked how he (raised outside the church) thought of Jesus, when he thought of Him.

He replied, not surprisingly I guess, "Like Aslan."

I still find myself carrying shame and embarrassment as I use the name of Jesus. Or my cynical ego voice will berate me that I am losing my sanity, listening to "voices!" But the consistency, and the compelling quality of His Voice reassure me.

If Jesus can speak through different humans, and still be lovingly recognized by a child... that is the Voice I want to hear forever.
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2006 Workshops

AUSTRALIA


BRISBANE - 1 day - Sunday 23 July
9.30a.m. to 5.00p.m.

THE PATH HOME
- from the perspective of A Course in Miracles

Our spiritual home awaits us but we seem to be lost. What is "the path home" and what do we need to do? The Course explains our blocks and illusions to receiving God's love. Exercises will be used to help identify these obstacles so we can go beyond them.

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 5.00 p.m.
Cost: $55
Bring lunch to share

FEE: $55
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North Stradbroke Island, Queensland -  September 2006
Weekend workshop


RELATIONSHIPS AS PATH OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
- from the perspective of A Course in Miracles

with Michael Dawson


Learning to understand ourselves
by seeing how we relate to others.

"When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself.
As you think of him you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him
you will find yourself or lose yourself." from "A Course in Miracles"


A relationship based on truth and awareness is one of the most powerful tools for healing and growth. How we relate in the instant we pass someone in the street, how we relate to our friends, an employer, family members or our partners all provides us with mirrors reflecting our own beliefs about ourselves and the world.

In our lives we create barriers to the presence of God's peace and love within us. We pursue substitutes of power, money, sex, possessions, status and so on, which can never satisfy the yearning within for deeper fulfilment and spiritual growth.

In this workshop, using the mirror of relationships, we will look at what needs to be healed in ourselves and how, by changing our relationships based on dependency to ones based on honesty and forgiveness, we can discover a path that will return us to the awareness of love's presence within us. A gentle and safe space is created enabling participants to trust and go deep.

This workshop is not specifically for partners. It is designed for anyone who wishes to improve how they relate to others in any type of relationship.

An introduction to the Course’s metaphysical, psychological and spiritual teachings especially regarding relationships will be covered.

Dates:
September, Sat 16 and Sun 17

Times;
Saturday 9.30am to 1pm
Afternoon free to explore and relax
Saturday evenning. 7.30 pm to 9.30pm

Sunday 9.30 am to 12.30 pm
2 pm to 4.00 pm

at Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island, QLD

COST
By donation


BOOKINGS
The workshop will be limited to 10 participants.

Places on the workshop must be reserved beforehand. To reserve your place please send half your donation as a non-refundable deposit, making cheques payable to 'Michael Dawson' to:


VENUE
"Carolina"
25, Midjimberry Road
Point Lookout
North Stradbroke Island
Queensland 4183
Australia

For directions and ferry details please go to:
http://www.acfip.org/directions.html

If you require accommodation and tourist information please go to:
http://www.acfip.org/straddieinfo.html


Morning and afternoon refreshments will be provided.
For lunch - a number of cafes are within 5 minutes walk of the venue, and overlook the ocean.

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Clare - Sat 28 and Sun 29, October 2006
(2hrs drive north of Adelaide)

A PATH TO INNER PEACE
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles

"The peace of God is everything I want. The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide where I am not at home."
Lesson 205. A Course in Miracles

Using material from A Course in Miracles and experiential exercises we will explore how we can, with the help of spirit, remove the obstacles to our peace and joy within.

At our creation we were given peace. We have not lost it but simply covered it over with something we thought was better. Our desire to be separate, special and individual blinds us to our inner spiritual reality. Identification with our body and personality prevents the remembering of who we really are - eternal spirit.

Using the practice of forgiveness we can start to undo the blocks we have erected to the joy and peace within. Forgiveness is the path of awareness, acceptance and asking for help.

We will practise watching our minds without judgement, or as the Course puts it ... (forgiveness) "merely looks, and waits and judges not."

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required


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

DATE:
Sat 28 and Sun 29, October 2006

TIME:
Sat 25 - 9.30 TO 5.30
Sun 26 - 9.30 TO 4.30


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


Cost
Deposit: $60
plus a donation

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NEW ZEALAND

A one day workshop on A Course in Miracles
near Wellington, New Zealand

Sat 2 Dec 2006

Cost: Donation
Places on the workshop must be reserved beforehand.


Workshop Contact:
Krissy Dussler
15 Haumia Street
Paekakariki
New Zealand
Tel: 04 2927 228 2004
Email: krissyreadings@paradise.net.nz

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GERMANY 2006 WORKSHOPS


RAVENSBURG - Saturday 24 June 2006


Opening to the Light
-from the perspective of A Course in Miracles

Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still, and quietly does nothing.
... It merely looks, and waits, and judges not.
A Course in Miracles W-pII.1.4.

A one day workshop - 23 June 2006


The light, love and joy of God are ever present and wait only our acceptance. We need not earn them as they were freely given at our creation. Nor is sacrifice or suffering required. So why do we rarely experience the light? This workshop will look, firstly, at why we are afraid of the light and the illusions we fear to let go. Our illusions and unforgiveness stand as barriers between us and the light and the guidance that would lead us home.

The second part of the workshop will focus on overcoming our fear through forgiveness - the path of awareness, acceptance and asking for help.

Exercises will be used to help identify our illusions and fear of sacrifice so they can be healed through forgiveness. We will practise watching our minds without judgement or as the Course puts it ... " (forgiveness) merely looks, and waits and judges not."

Location of workshop:

ULEN Centre
Felz - 88212
Ravensburg
Germany


CONTACT

ULEN Centre
Felz - 88212
Ravensburg
Germany
Tel: 49 [0]751-26985 (Sybil)
Fax: 49 [0]751-3527933
Email: uelen@t-online.de

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FREIBURG - 1/2 July 2006

The Path Home
from the perspective of A Course in Miracles

Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. "I need do nothing" is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.
from A Course in Miracles T-18.VII.6:6-8

There is a common belief that the path home to God must involve strenuous effort and sacrifice. Just as we strive for material goals we believe we must strive for our spiritual goals too. We decide the best path home and do not realise our very striving may be blocking our awakening.

Jesus tells us in A Course in Miracles that we need do nothing.
This workshop will explore what it means to "do nothing". What stops us standing aside and allowing the help in? What is the part we must play so that our lives can be directed gracefully? How can we use our relationships to take us home?

We will use material from the Course from the chapters on 'I Need Do Nothing', holy relationships, receiving guidance and the 'Development of Trust'. Exercises will be used to help identify our individual obstacles to guidance so they can be healed through forgiveness. This allows the Holy Spirit to enter our mind and guide our path home to joy, peace and love

No previous knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required but attendance at the Friday night (date) introductory talk would be helpful for people new to the Course.


Introductory talk on A Course in Miracles - evening Fri 30 June

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
<http://www.Sophia-Institut.de>www.Sophia-Institut.de

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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
http://miraclesalliance.no-ip.org/acim_chat_groups.htm

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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

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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