ACFIP Newsletter 39

ACFIP Newsletter
Issue 39 - December 2013
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:

* Reality versus Thinking - Michael Dawson
* Inquire or Surrender - Roy Melvyn
* When a Life Situation Has You in Its Grip - Jan Frazier
* Adyashanti Interview - Guidance
* Workshops
* Books and Audio Materials for Sale
* Links
* Inspirational Quotations

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

New
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

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Reality Versus Thinking
Michael Dawson

You dwell not here, but in eternity.
You travel but in dreams, while safe at home.
A Course in Miracles T-13.VII.17:6-7

Thoughts (clouds) appear that are mistaken for reality.
Reality can only be now whilst thoughts are about the past or future.

Most people's minds are continually filled with thoughts of which over 90% are repetitive.
We live in a virtual reality and the natural state is obscured and forgotten.
Only when these thoughts are not taken seriously will they die from lack of attention and allow peace and joy to return to their awareness.

If you judge something you make it real.
You cannot forgive and judge.
If you don't judge you don't take it seriously.
Not taking your thoughts seriously undoes the ego by starving it to death.
Thus the Course asks us to smile gently at our ego thoughts, to look without judgement.
This is forgiveness.

Forgiveness ... is still, and quietly does nothing. .... It merely looks, and waits, and judges not. W-pII.1.4:1,3

A Course in Miracles introduces new concepts or beliefs to help undo the painful ones. But eventually even these must be let go.

Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God. L.189

As we learn to lose interest in thoughts and concepts that have no practical significance we make room for the truth to dawn in our awareness.

All that is asked of you is to make room for truth. You are not asked to make or do what lies beyond your understanding. All you are asked to do is let it in; only to stop your interference with what will happen of itself; simply to recognize again the presence of what you thought you gave away. T-21.II.7.

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Inquire or Surrender
Roy Melvyn
http://www.roymelvyn.com

Every being has a philosophy of his own, whether he knows it or not. He may not be able to articulate it, but it is evidently operative.
Most individuals never inquire into their beliefs To do so would be to put their beliefs at risk and their hold on sanity is so flimsy that any hypothetical dissolution of their beliefs provokes great fear. A smaller group come to meetings like these, hoping to exchange old beliefs for new ones.
We do not gather here to trade beliefs. We are here to discern if the ‘I’ can abnegate itself. If it can, let us discuss how and if it cannot, then there is no "how".

I can assure you that when you are impartial to likes and dislikes, desires and aversions, things take their own shape quite naturally. The desire to manipulate events is solid evidence of self-centricity.
When we construct an if-this, then-this notion of how realization occurs, we are structuring little more than a business transaction, an exchange. Whatever can be gained through exchange can be lost.

As humans, we seek to acquire power via acquisitions of material wealth, prestige, knowledge, etc. We seek the power that we believe goes hand in hand with enlightenment. We seek to acquire power because, deep down, we understand that our real power is miniscule.

All spiritual practices are for acquisition, performed by someone, an ego. As such, the result is egoic reinforcement.
The purpose of all practice is to discern the futility of practice. For some, it comes in a relatively short time; for others, a lifetime. Once you have discerned that the person is imaginary, what efforts, what practices can the imaginary person undertake that will result in enlightenment?

Herein lies the madness. Existence is right in front of us and we are practicing to become one with it.
The error is in viewpoint only.
Suppose I had an empty room into which I brought three chairs. Then I added three more and I counted 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Seeing my error, do I correct it by removing one chair? Of course not, because the error is not existential, but is merely a mental miscalculation.
In your case, the miscalculation is believing that there is something you must gain and effort must be made to gain it. This is like trying to kick in an open door.

The fact of the matter is existence is already here, consciousness is already here. Stop miscalculating that you are some thing in particular and the entire universe will be at your feet.

Q: I don't believe that I can ever realize because of my karma. Can you take away my karma?
R: No, I can't, but you can. You take it away by seeing through it.
The form may have karma, this is a subject for discussion at another time. But since you are not this body, how can the karma be yours? it can only be yours if you make the body yours. Refuse to do this and the presence or absence of karma becomes moot.
Q: I want to be at peace, yet I find myself surrounded by conflict. What must I do?
R: Isn't the demand for peace the seed of conflict? As such, the more we want peace, the greater is our conflict. This world is duality; the good and the less-than-good cycle. Why not accept What-Is? That is peace.
Q: You direct us to pursue the unknown but I cannot. I am so afraid of the unknown that I am paralyzed by it. How can I break out of this?
R: You can't be afraid of what you do not know. The unknown is not the culprit. What you are afraid of is the loss of the known. The known is your anchor; its loss leaves you adrift. This is your fear.
Q: To me, the end of my ego is the same as death.
R: The disappearance of the centre of reference is not death. The continuum of consciousness, in which all phenomena rise and set, is unmoved. What dies is the trance of egocentricity, replaced by the non-direct alertness that it obscured.
Q: Who am I?
R: You ask this question because you don't know who you really are. I applaud your acknowledgement.
What you appear to be, what you are conditioned to think you are but are not, is temporal.What you call your Self is some thought, emotion or sensation that you are temporarily identified with.
When you awaken in the morning, what wakes up? The sensing systems wake up. From there, "I-am-this", me, and "There is that", the world, arise.
We are constantly trying to be this or that, to achieve a particular state, to capture one kind of experience and avoid another. Sometimes we accept the unnecessary and reject the necessary. All too frequently, what we want causes us to reject what we need. What is needed is the discernment that thinking and becoming are both limited and can therefore never take us to the unlimited.
Simply be aware: “I am not the body, I am not the mind. I am simply pure awareness." As this awareness deepens, the mind's impact on you loses all force. And when the awareness is fully settled, psychological mind simply evaporates.
Q: What is my purpose in life?
R: "I am, and I know I am"; this needs no proof. Abide there and don't be distracted by questions such as "What is my purpose?". In such abidance, all questions are answered.
Q: It is very frustrating to me that you don't really provide us with any information. What you says strikes me as profound, but after I've left, I don't feel any closer to my goal.
R: The flaw in your viewpoint is that you are coming here for information. Information will only provide, at best, intellectual understanding. But that is insufficient; it is like emptying the ocean with a needle.
What is absent for you now will appear when what is present in you now is gone.
Q: I set aside three hours a day for meditation. Is that sufficient?
R: It is better to set aside the "I". Cessation of the ego occurs when the meditator turns his attention away from all other matters and focuses attention solely upon the attention itself . Constant abidance is the only so-called practice. All else is of a lesser degree.
Q: Why do you place so much emphasis on direct experience?
R: Experience is knowledge of some thing or some event gained through involvement with that thing or event. These experiences may be mental, sensory or somatic or any combination of these.
Experience is the memory of experiencing. When experiencing ends there is experience, the result. This is the goal of all seeking, results. You meditate for specific results, measured by specific experience.
Then, what is it that experiences? Consciousness experiences via its instrument of experiencing, the brain in the body. Consciousness is the Experiencing.
The brain creates a world based on the inbound sensory data. In a state of sensory deprivation, there is no world. Yet, you are and you know that you are. This is because the Knowing is not conditional on sensory data. It is self-luminous and antecedant to the world appearance.
I want you to pursue the direct experience of yourself.
Q: How can I return to my natural state?
R: The Absolute or Self is the transcendental and permanent principle of which the manifested human being is only a transient appearance emanating from the Conscious Life Energy which, itself is the objectification of Self. The Self is that by which all the states of being exist.
One's natural state is one of being, of presence and of consciousness. In this sense, you are in your natural state all the time. However, the overlaying of psychological structures onto it masks it.
Ask yourself if you are willing to forget, willing to discharge all beliefs, all opinions and every bit of seeming knowledge that you have acquired. Are you willing to return to nothing with a clean slate in hand? Imagine how much of your so called brain-space is taken up with memory and worldly knowledge.
When the ‘I don’t know’ state is accepted, all the energy which was directed outward or inward in its search for an answer is released and is available to Knowing.
Q: Is it possible to transcend the feeling of separation?
R: Imagine that you wanted to explore the ocean floor. You would have to find a suitable vehicle, provide it with all the power it would need to operate and then you would enter inside, introduce it into its new environment and the exploration could begin.
This is no different from the operation of the Conscious Life Energy which has selected what you call your body as its vehicle for the exploration of this manifested world.
It is the mistaken equating of the Self with a body and a mind that is responsible for all the difficulty.
Seeming separation is inherent in individuality as individuality sets one apart from another, creates distinctions. In this regard, one can't end feeling separate while clinging to one's individuality. It is like soaking a stone in water to soften it.
Q: Ramana Maharshi advised the inquiry "Who am I" as the best way to realize. Do you agree?
R: Who am I to agree or disagree with Ramana? (laughing)
We read into things what we want to read. What most of you lose sight of is that Ramana was quite clear that this inquiry was of the nature of a sustained scrutiny, not something that is done for an hour a day. Too, he also made it quite clear that it was only for the ripest of souls. However, since we all believe we are above normal, seeing oneself as one such ripe soul is not too far a leap.
He also said that for those not predisposed to inquiry, surrender was the only alternative. Are you ready to make a full commitment to either?

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When a Life Situation Has You in Its Grip - Jan Frazier

http://www.janfrazierteachings.com

If you look deeply at what’s behind the wish that something about your life (or the life of someone close to you) would straighten out, it’s likely to be this: you want to feel better. Feel at peace, unstressed, happy. There is a deep underlying assumption that feeling okay is inextricably tied to how things are going in your life and the lives of those you care for. So (the logic goes) unless or until the issues resolve, you’re doomed to be worried, preoccupied, focused on the problems. Meanwhile, a creepy little voice whispers that even if this one thing gets sorted out, there could always be another (which, of course, is true). In any case, we never know what’s ahead. So there is this ground-level dread that profound well-being will never be available to you (another crippling assumption), since life will inevitably keep pitching lousy balls.

It’s good to see that you do make these assumptions. Sometimes just seeing that they are running the show can be liberating. Oh! and yes, it’s necessary to realize your assumptions could be in error.

I’m here to tell you they are in error.

But what to do? For one thing, notice the assumptions when they are operating. Pay attention to the feeling in your body and heart, and to the energy of thought, when you are engaged in trying to figure out how to solve some problem. Something in you is saying, If I can just resolve this, then I’ll feel so much better. Rather than putting all of your attention on “solving the problem,” shift some of your awareness to the underlying motivator (the wish for relief), and to the realization that life will always be unsettled.

None of which is to say you shouldn’t try to improve things that need improving, in a way that’s realistic and not all tangled up in angst. But that is a practical matter. What we’re looking at here is how life’s imperfections affect you inside.

There are some practical things you can do, in a given moment of anxiety or fretful concern or obsessive thinking. Remember: all of life is experienced in a given moment. Your mind will keep trying to get you to believe that the overall situation is “real” right now. But that’s how the trouble starts. If you can settle yourself sufficiently to look at what’s actually happening right now, in your present and immediate moment, a lot of what’s causing your discomfort will be able to disperse.

One thing you can do, in a given moment, is check in with yourself to see whether resistance is in high gear. Ask yourself whether you are busily wishing things were otherwise. Very likely that is the case. But things at the moment are not otherwise. They are what they are, however much you might wish they were different. If you can allow yourself to sink into that truth, as if you were releasing all of your burden and tension into a cushy chair, probably a good part of the angst will melt away.

The other helpful thing you can do is ask yourself — what of the problem is right here and now, needing attention, available for useful action on my part? This is a potent wedge to drive into tightly-knotted anxiety. It applies whether it’s your own life situation or someone else’s. Just because the situation is ongoing doesn’t make it okay or justified or sane to obsess in an ongoing way. And just because you are able, this moment, to set it aside (in favor of focusing on the shower you’re taking, or the hammer you’re swinging, or the strawberries you’re picking) — just because you give yourself permission to let the thing go for now — doesn’t mean you somehow believe the issue no longer exists. When you are called upon to re-engage with it, because it’s immediate, or because you can profitably become engaged in the situation, then you will do that. Meanwhile, you are living your moments, and by that means you are gently teaching yourself that you are not your (or someone else’s) problems — that (yes indeed) it is possible to have an ongoing difficulty and yet be at peace.

If in this present moment there is some manifestation of the ongoing problem, then do what you can do, or (if there’s nothing to do) just sink into that cushy chair, or listen lovingly to one who needs to be heard. It’s natural that you will do this. Still, it doesn’t have to twist you up inside, even when you’re actively engaged with the difficulty.

See? You don’t feel better because the problem has been solved, or because you’re in denial about it. You feel better because you’re in the present, and because you’re not resisting whatever reality holds. You feel better because something in you (now that you’re present and unresisting) is able to remember itself, its more compelling truth.

You are not what happens in your life — either what goes wrong or what goes right. You are the awareness in which it all happens. Awareness, presence, is empty, alive, allowing. That is what you are.

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Adyashanti Interview - Guidance
http://www.adyashanti.org

Donoso: When we’ve glimpsed the infinite, there can be ways of doing things that don’t seem to work for us any more. For instance, making decisions by weighing positives and negatives. Finding our way through the unknown can feel sometimes like we’ve misplaced the “operation manual”. So when we find ourselves starting to be and to move in unknown areas, how do we begin to navigate?

Adyashanti: It’s a very pertinent question because we get just a little taste of the infinite and just a little taste is very atomic, very powerful. You may not know it for a few weeks, but you start to notice that just a little taste has really shaken up one’s whole worldview. What starts to fall away are the old ways from which we operated: operating from duality, operating from good or bad, right or wrong. The infinite, by its nature, will start to make operating from those perspectives seem irrelevant. You start to see even that they are destructive. Then of course the mind wants to know: well then what do I use to operate in the world? I still have to move through the world; decisions still have to be made; I still have to be able to operate. The interesting thing about starting to wake up is that when you wake up more and more to the infinite, you don’t necessarily have an obvious instinct of how to move. When you come out of your mother’s womb, there’s an obvious instinct. When the mother holds her baby, the child goes towards the breast for food. It’s just an obvious instinct. But when we wake up, the instinct isn’t really that obvious initially. It’s subtle and so it’s very easy to miss. And so it takes time to get used to operating from a whole different perspective. To make it more simple, when we really can let go of moving from right and wrong, you have a decision and your mind wants to know what the right decision is. Then you realize that isn’t a relevant question any more. A right decision according to whom? Because it’s all conditioned, one person’s right is another person’s wrong. So this just starts to become irrelevant and confusing. And if you’re not going to make decisions based on right and wrong or what I should or shouldn’t do, you realize you can never know. Shoulds and shouldn'ts don’t exist in the universe, they only exist in thought. Then how does one move? What you then start to get used to, very subtle at first, is almost like an inward leaning. There’s a inward leaning one way or the other, you just feel like the infinite is inclining towards one direction or towards the other direction. Then your mind wants to know: I feel it is going in that direction. Is that the right direction? Is that true? Is it all going to work out for me? The interesting thing about the way the infinite moves is it never answers those questions, does it? (Laughing)

Donoso: No, it doesn’t! (Laughing)

Adyashanti: It never says “Yes my son, this is the right way to move. I guarantee that everything will be ok. You’re on the right track!“ (Laughing). The interesting thing about the infinite is that it is, in a literal sense, the movement of silence. So when silence moves and you ask silence to justify why it is inclined in one direction, it can’t tell you because it’s not operating from words and dualistic points of view. When you’re sensitive, you feel this sort of inner inclination and it’s important to know that that inner inclination will not justify itself. An egoic point of view will always justify itself, that’s how you know its egoic. It’s a mental construction. With the infinite, all those are absent. It doesn’t justify itself, it doesn’t insist, you don’t have to listen, you don’t have to go that way. It’s like an invitation. And so more and more you actually get used to moving from this inclination and your mind stops asking it to justify itself. At first it’s shaky, because you haven’t done it, you don’t know how it will turn out. Over time you start to realize that when you’re moving in this subtle inclination, you’re actually moving in a direction that is quite magical, that has tremendous power, making things unfold within yourself and within the environment around you, that your mind could have never planned out in a hundred lifetimes. You find out that this is an amazing way to move that has an intelligence unfathomable to the conceptual mind. Over time you start to see the intelligence and there becomes this deep intimacy and this deep trust with this subtle inclination. But you have to be quiet enough and you have to let your mind not be seeking the “right answer” and the “should”. Those must be put on hold almost, so you can feel what’s underneath. And then it’s actually quite simple (Laughter), though maybe not easy at first.

from: Returning The Gift: Dialogues with Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, Timothy Wilson and Laura Waters Hinson

by Steven Donoso

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Forthcoming Workshops on A Course in Miracles
in Australia and Germany

For up to date information on my workshops go to http://www.acfip.org/fws.html

Germany 2014 Dates

Bonn

28th-29th June, 2014
10.00am to 6.000pm

Inner Peace - Our Natural State
- A Course in Miracles workshop -

It (inner peace) is given you the instant you would have it. ACIM T-15.IV.9.

The purpose of this world is not to find a permanent peace and happiness.
It cannot be found here.

You do not really want the world you see, for it has disappointed you since time began. T-13.VII.3.

Instead, if we see the world as a classroom of forgiveness we will discover the uncaused happiness that lies within - our natural state. To forgive is to look at everything in our minds and in the world without judgement.

Forgiveness offers everything I want. Lesson 122

While we search to fulfill our desires in the expectation of happiness we block the awareness of the constant, uncaused happiness within.

You will first dream of peace, and then awaken to it. ..... Love waits on welcome, not on time, and the real world (inner peace) is but your welcome of what always was. T-13.VII.9.

Peace is the absence of desire; forgiveness reveals our natural state.

This workshop explores, with the aid of exercises, how we block this happiness and peace and how it can be revealed.

No knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.

An Evening Introductory Talk - Fri 27th June 2014
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

Freiburg 2014

July 4 6pm to 9pm
July 5 10.00am to 6.00pm
July 6 10.00am to 5.00pm
Inner Peace - Our Natural State
- A Course in Miracles workshop -

It (inner peace) is given you the instant you would have it. ACIM T-15.IV.9.

The purpose of this world is not to find a permanent peace and happiness.
It cannot be found here.

You do not really want the world you see, for it has disappointed you since time began. T-13.VII.3.

Instead, if we see the world as a classroom of forgiveness we will discover the uncaused happiness that lies within - our natural state. To forgive is to look at everything in our minds and in the world without judgement.

Forgiveness offers everything I want. Lesson 122

While we search to fulfil our desires in the expectation of happiness we block the awareness of the constant, uncaused happiness within.

You will first dream of peace, and then awaken to it. ..... Love waits on welcome, not on time, and the real world (inner peace) is but your welcome of what always was. T-13.VII.9.

Peace is the absence of desire; forgiveness reveals our natural state.

This workshop explores, with the aid of exercises, how we block this happiness and peace and how it can be revealed.

No knowledge of A Course in Miracles is required.

Contact:
Margarete Sennekamp
Winterhaldenweg 4,
79856 Hinterzarten,
Tel./Fax: 07652-917530
email: M.Sennekamp@t-online.de
www.Sophia-Institut.de

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.

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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

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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.

Their publications can also be ordered in Australia at:
Adyar Bookshop
230 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Kenneth Wapnick ......……… Biographical information and excerpts from his writings

Kenneth Wapnick on YouTube

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 ...……....... 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 ………… 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

Purchase ACIM on line
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

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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

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Michael Dawson
PO Box 125
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North Stradbroke Island
Queensland 4183
Australia

EMAIL:       mdawson@acfip.org
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