ACIM Log

[NXS]

ACIM is an abbreviation for "A Course in Miracles". I enrolled with a study group yesterday which is due to continue for the next 2 years.

 

I heard about this book several years ago but just never got around to buying it or looking into it further. However several months ago I just got the urge to go ahead and buy it to see what it's all about. Basically it is supposed to be a book that was channelled by Jesus through Helen Schucman in 1965. Whether this is true or not is not really debatable as we can only take her word or at least her belief that this was the case. Helen died since but the book has sold millions of copies worldwide and has study groups on every continent.

 

Anyway I decided to join this study group for two reasons - 1. I'm tired of living the way I've been living for the past number of years and my life seems to be a constant re-cycling of the same thing over and over. 2. I'm tired of meeting vacuous women and hoping to find one with more depth for a LTR.

 

There was some interesting points at the first meeting (yesterday) about relationships. The facilitator said that the reason relationships fail is because of "specialness" i.e. we all trade specialness with our SO, and as the feeling of specialness fades the relationship falls apart. He said that special relationships are all about the ego.

 

There are 13 steps in the course, the first one being forgiveness and that we have to develope the practise of forgiveness every day in order to start clearing our mind of all the junk from the past. This of course includes forgiving ourselves.

 

I'm hoping to stick this out for the 2 years and will update this log as it goes along.

 

Has anyone else read this book?

 

Btw there was a couple of women with potential at the meeting.

[NXS]

I’ve started to notice my thoughts a lot more over the past couple of days, really tried listening to them and it’s been very informative. It feels like the main character in “Revolver”, a great movie, where his negative thoughts are spiralling around and around keeping him stuck in old patterns. At first the more he becomes aware of his thoughts from the ego the more the ego screams at him to keep itself alive. Towards the end of the movie he just starts laughing at the insanity of these ego-thoughts and starts to overcome them. I feel like I'm at the very early stages of this process.

 

 

One of the things that was mentioned at the meeting was one woman who just wants to get out of this ****hole, and to be honest I feel the same way. This was seen to be judgemental and perhaps it is but she said exactly how I’ve been feeling for a long time. I just want to “go home”, and have the faith to believe that there is a home to go to. That’s something I’ve never really lost, despite my complete rejection of religion and dogma, is the belief that there is a God and an afterlife filled with unconditional love. A place where we meet up with all the people who’ve gone before us and perhaps laugh at the insanity of this world and how idiotic we behaved. So that’s why I’ve decided at this point in my life to “escape” from this world and head on the journey home. Btw don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning to do something stupid, I’m just speaking metaphorically here. So I’m a bit intrigued as to how this will pan out over the next couple of years and what my life may look like.

[thatone]

ok i'll be your cynic, i'm good at that in this forum .

 

how much does the course cost? if nothing, what are they selling?

 

i don't fully grasp the "specialness" concept but i assume it to mean that people get bored with each other and go find new people to fill an excitement gap. if that's the case, ironic that such a notion comes right before 'forgiveness'. forgive yourself (meaning that if you keep doing what you're doing it's ok! you can do whatever you wand and forgive yourself) or forgive others (meaning that you can stop doing that and do the opposite, and randomly accept whatever other people do to or for or against you). no matter which way you go the salesman can claim another success, which is the cornerstone of the self help industry. don't offer results, offer acceptance, that covers the entire market and that's enough to get their wallets out.

[NXS]

ok i'll be your cynic, i'm good at that in this forum .

 

how much does the course cost? if nothing, what are they selling?

 

It costs €10 per class including tea/coffee/hotel venue so I'd say the guy is making very little money, plus he lives about 4hrs away so also has his travel costs. I haven't bought anything except the book and I bought that in a regular booksellers months ago, I can't remember the exact cost but it was around €50.

 

You’ve raised some interesting questions here and I’ll answer them as best I can bearing in mind that I haven’t read the whole book, anyway here it goes:

i don't fully grasp the "specialness" concept but i assume it to mean that people get bored with each other and go find new people to fill an excitement gap. if that's the case, ironic that such a notion comes right before 'forgiveness'.

 

“Specialness” means that we set up comparisons between people i.e. that some people are more special than others, like a hierarchy of specialness. In relationships it would be like people who say things like “you complete me” etc.. We set other people up like this all the time, especially in relationships and feed our ego’s need to be special, more important than everyone else. Once we set ourselves or others up the ego is constantly looking at ways to maintain this specialness.

 

forgive yourself (meaning that if you keep doing what you're doing it's ok! you can do whatever you wand and forgive yourself)

 

Forgiving yourself releases you from the sin-guilt-fear cycle which is an ego trap i.e. you keep looking back at your pasts “sins”, then start feeling guilty about them which leads to fear of the future. Whatever you’re doing is not really relevant, it’s just the world of form which is a projection of the mind.

 

Forgiveness also removes the blockages of true love which is our natural state. When we attack people, regardless of what form it takes, we are crying out for love. We fear loving people because the ego knows it’s the feeling of separation that keeps it alive.

 

or forgive others (meaning that you can stop doing that and do the opposite, and randomly accept whatever other people do to or for or against you).

 

It’s not about becoming a doormat either, if people are attacking you then you have the right to defend yourself if it’s required or walk away if the situation allows. It may not be possible to forgive people in that moment but forgiveness can be exercised at a later date.

 

no matter which way you go the salesman can claim another success, which is the cornerstone of the self help industry. don't offer results, offer acceptance, that covers the entire market and that's enough to get their wallets out.

 

I think you’re over emphasising money here, the primary concern for people engaging in any spiritual/self-development programme should not be how much they may be screwed out of but where are they being led to and are their minds being misdirected.

[NXS]

I have this out of the library. How are you doing with it?

 

 

The book is really incredible, one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It's very very deep, sometimes I have to read and re-read sentences and paragraphs over and over to try and grasp what's being said. Other times a point will just jump out of the page and smack me between the eyes. I’m only on page 100 so far (eek!, 568 pages to go) and will probably have to re-read this book a few more times to see what I missed first time around.

 

The teacher said to go ahead and start the workbook (at the back of the book) and read the book at the same time as the text forms the basis for the workbook. It’s one lesson per day for a year and each lesson builds on the previous ones, so I just started this week and am on lesson 5 today. What I like about this is that there’s a defined course and structure to get me where I want to go. I’m looking forward to getting to the stage of hearing the Holy Spirit and letting go of the ego chatter …..any day now.

 

 

Anyway that’s where I’m at so far, just enjoying the journey and each little step along the way. I haven’t turned into any kind of saint or martyr, haven’t given up on my dark sense of humour or general grumpiness, I just want to go home.