I hope y’all will take this in the Spirit (!) it’s intended. As a review of material as weighty as A COURSE in Miracles … I studied it thoroughly for 5 years, spending 1-4 days on each of the 365 lessons. I marked up my book each time I read it with a different color and wrote copious notes in margins, etc. I prayed and meditated over each and every lesson until it became a part of me. I spent many many hours every single day with the text part of the COURSE. I was thrilled that I could understand it as much as I did and I attribute that to having studied Joel Goldsmith’s teaching ever since I was first able to read. So for me, listening to Joel and Herb is a kind of reinforcement, as ACIM would be. I used to listen to ACIM on cassette tapes and then MDs… But my point in this diatribe is that since it’s a Course, I don’t know if just listening will serve you well enough.

Christ is merely another
name for the creation,
for Christ is the Son of God.
The Second Coming of Christ
means nothing more than the
end of the ego’s rule and the
healing of the mind. I was
created like you in the first,
and I have called you to join
with me in the second.
ACIM

~ Gary Renard
The Disappearance of
The Universe

…In any state apart from
Heaven life is illusion. At
best it seems like life;
at worst, like death. Yet
both are judgments on
what is not life, equal in
their inaccuracy and lack
of meaning. Life not in
Heaven is impossible,
and what is not in Heaven
is not anywhere.
ACIM

~ GARY RENARD
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF
THE UNIVERSE

…Preoccupations with problems
set up to be incapable of solution
are favorite ego devices for impeding
learning progress. In all these
diversionary tactics, however, the
one question that is never asked
by those who pursue them is, “What
for?”This is the question that you
must learn to ask in connection with
everything. What is the purpose?
Whatever it is, it will direct your
efforts automatically.

GARY: The purpose should be forgiveness

~ Gary Renard
The Disappearance of the Universe

STAY ALERT …
DON’T TOLERATE MIND-WANDERING
□■□■□■□■□■□■

“… why don’t you do what the Course suggests in the Manual? As soon as it’s possible, spend some quiet time with God. Then remembering Who you are, bring your peace with you. After that, be determined to stay alert. You know the ego is going to try to upset you and make you think you’re a body. That’s why the Course counsels you about being vigilant and not being so tolerant of mind wandering. All you’ve got to do is focus and use a little more discipline. The funny thing is, you can do it. I think you know from experience that you can do it. In fact, you do it a lot. That’s why your ego feels threatened. The ego is ingenious, and as you’ve seen for yourself, it will come up with remarkable ways to trick you. All you have to do is be a little more ready to respond ahead of time. Once you’re in that state of mind you’ll have it made. You can handle the news, and you can handle anything else that comes up.” ACIM
~Gary Renard
The Disappearance of the Universe

RHETORICAL
QUESTION
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
Can you find light
by analyzing
darkness, as the
psychotherapist does,
or like the theologian,
by acknowledging
darkness in yourself
and looking for a
distant light to
remove it, while
emphasizing the
distance?

ACIM

The mind was like a programmer that told me, through my brain and body, what to experience and how to respond. I had been controlled like a robot, told what to do, and programmed to think it was really me making these decisions on this level. Just as a human being could build a computer, program it, and tell it what to do —or could direct a virtual reality figure to do things within an environment that didn’t truly exist —the programmer mind was directing me to move within and experience a world that didn’t truly exist in order to convince me I was a body. That body was sometimes getting what it wanted, but usually missing out on something, whether physical or psychological. This sense of lack was symbolic of being separate from God. The specific reasons for my problems were shown to me as external to myself, operating in a universe that was never really there, in order to serve as a scapegoat for my hidden unconscious guilt over that very same separation. I realized that even though this unconscious mind that was calling the shots seemed to be outside of me, it really wasn’t. The mind issuing the directives of the ego thought system was within me, not without, which also meant that the universe was in my mind, not without. I had to turn the tables on it; Heaven was also here and was, in fact, all that really existed. There was no place else —but I had made an illusion that seemed to replace Heaven and then tucked that illusion in between myself and God in an effort to escape an imaginary punishment that I now secretly and erroneously believed I deserved. Like everybody else, I would find a way to punish myself for this imagined guilt. Yet all the while, God was merely waiting to welcome me home —as soon as I was healed by the Holy Spirit and ready to return to reality. We would then celebrate for all of eternity. Until now, I hadn’t had a clue about all this. Being aware of these things made me begin to appreciate the magnitude of my mind. I knew that all the decisions for illusion had been made unconsciously, and then the corresponding symbols of those decisions were acted out in the false universe. The decision to be separate and guilty came first, and then the universe had instantly put up its smokescreen. This all seemed so real to each individual observing from his or her particular point of view in the dream that it would take training to forgive what they thought were authentic happenings and think with the Holy Spirit instead.
~Gary Renard
The Disappearance of the Universe