The Course of Miracles

From my book, Your Emotional Boat, about The Course of Miracles:

Quote

The Course of Miracles
I wasn’t long at Unity Church when I decided to attend one of their
evening classes. The first one I chose was Carmen Cameron’s A Course
in Miracles class. At first I didn’t understand what they were talking
about, but everyone was having a great time, and the discussions
were interesting and I was learning a lot about a different way of
looking at life. That was when I learned that the book A Course in
Miracles, was supposed to be channeled by Jesus. At first the idea of
it being channeled by Jesus was a bit of a put off . I mean, I thought
it meant that I was supposed to believe in ghosts! Here I was just
beginning to accept Jesus as a valid person who lived many years
ago, and now I was supposed to accept channeling too. But then I
was able to redefine channeling as being in touch with that inner
guidance system. And I began to ask myself questions about how
the original Bible was written. How is inspired by God any different
from channeled by Jesus? Couldn’t a person just say, inspired by Jesus?
Or even instead of Jesus, couldn’t I just say inspired by the universal
thought system, or consciousness? And both the universal thought
system and consciousness consist of the thoughts of all of us. One
thought lead to another. How much I had limited my thinking in the
past by sticking to my archaic definitions and limitations. And all the
time I thought I was open-minded! I got past my initial doubts, and
began to attend the Miracles class. The teacher, Carmen Cameron, is
amazing. She lives the Course In Miracles. She has been instrumental
in helping to uncover the unedited version of the Course as channeled
to Helen Schuckmann. I have learned much from Carmen, as have
many others who attend her classes. She’s open, she’s love, she’s real -
and I don’t know of a higher praise to give anyone than to say they are
real. Being real is to be in touch with who you are and to see God in
everyone. You, dear reader, will have to read The Course for yourself!!
But the bottom line of what I learned by attending Carmen’s Miracles
class is:
The opposite of Love is Fear
God is Love
Therefore, the opposite of God is Fear
The Course is an experience, a change in your perceptions of who
you are. It is where you learn that every choice you make is either
for Love and coming together, or for Fear and separation. When you
fear something, you shut God and Love out. By shutting God/Love
out, you open yourself to whatever you fear, and allow the fear to
occur. So, whenever you feel fear, STOP. Go inside and focus on God,
and give the fear to God so that He can allow love to come into the
situation. Choose God and Love instead of fear.
I remember when I was dating there was someone that I really cared
about but I was completely controlled by fear of the relationship not
working. When we broke up I told him, “You made all of my fears
come true.” Little did I know that “I” was the one who had made all
of my fears come true by allowing my fears to control the situation,
and me. I had assigned him that role in my movie.
I’m not saying that I was to blame, but I am saying that he came into
my life to teach me that particular lesson. Some of the people who
cause us the most grief have a valuable lesson and message to give
us. The children’s book The Little Soul and the Sun by Neale Donald
Walsch is about a little Soul in heaven who wants to come to earth
and experience what “forgiveness” is. Another little Soul agrees to
help him by doing something on earth so that the first little Soul gets
to be forgiving.
…the Little Soul asked. “What can I do for you?
You are such an angel to be willing to do this for
me!” “Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!” God
interrupted. “Everyone is! Always remember: I have
sent you nothing but angels.”
So, when you are faced with your most difficult person, remember
that that person is an angel who agreed to help you experience and
learn a particular lesson. Another way of looking at that is to say
that they mirror back to you the fears that you have, so that you can
change them.
The Course also helped me in redefining my understanding of Jesus.
As I said, I had so many issues with Jesus that I converted to Judaism
so that I didn’t have to deal with him. But by studying Judaism I
learned to appreciate the perspective from which Jesus was coming.
Jesus was Jewish, and so am I. So I’m not just meeting Jesus again,
I’ve been going nose to nose - or rather, heart to heart - with him
my entire life. I still do not believe that he died “for” our sins. But
I do believe that he has pointed us toward “the Truth.” I believe he
demonstrated for us what we are - a spiritual part of God- and he
demonstrated a way for us to live our lives in connection with that
spiritual part. I believe he taught that what he could do, we could
do. I believe that Jesus was, is, the Son of God, but in the sense that
all of us are children of God. I repeatedly use the name “God,” but
remember, looking at your definition of God is also important. Is he
that man in heaven who walks on clouds, or is he a loving energy
that lives inside of us all, or is God the name for the Light force that
created and powers all of Life?
These are questions that each of us must learn to answer in their
own way. The answers are personal, and are not reasons to judge
others, fight others, condemn others, torture others, and even kill
others. To develop and create our definition of the word “God” is
our own personal journey that we each must travel and discover for
ourselves.
Also at Unity I was introduced to Native American Spirituality
through White Bison and the Firestarters groups. White Bison
was started by Don Coyhis as an alternative approach for Native
Americans to be able to work the Twelve Steps. Not only was the
Firestarter Group a wonderful experience, but also it peaked my
interest into reading and researching Native American Spirituality.
As a child, I also wanted to be an Indian. Not just any Indian, but an
Indian Medicine Man – or Woman, as the case may be. Therefore,
my next spiritual step was in connecting to the Native American
spirituality group. I began reading Native American spirituality
books. I was excited by the ideas expressed by Michael Garrett in
Walking on the Wind are:
“Native peoples view all things as having spiritual
energy and importance. All things are connected, all
things have life, and all things are worthy of respect
and reverence. Spiritual “being” essentially requires
only that individuals seek their place in the universe;
everything else will follow in good time. Because
everything was created with a specific purpose to
fulfill, no one should have the power to interfere with
or impose upon others which path is best to follow…
A person’s Medicine is his or her power, and it can be
used for creative purposes or destructive purposes -
either contributing to or taking away from the Greater
Circle of Life. Being in harmony means being “in step
with the universe”; being in disharmony means being
“out of step with the universe.” Pgs. 56-57.
This was a message I intuitively felt and wanted to follow. It also
echoes the other spiritual teachings I was studying.

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If the mods feel that this should not be on the forum - and want to delete it - I will not be offended.
I had just had a couple of messages and questions - so I decided to make a post.

I am not even a religious person Tongue