I had to take time off my regular schedule to read A Course in Miracles. Let me explain how I view my entries in this blog. I tend to be very influenced by what I read when it resonates with me and it comes out in my writing and in my conversation and I do not want to have anything out there that I do not feel that I gave from a place of the witness that I have in the Holy Ghost. I am really not very interested in what my personal opinions are but I do feel obligated to relate what the Holy Spirit is teaching me. I believe that this is necessary for my own progress and for my obligations and responsibilities to the universe, the Kingdom of God, my family (here, gone, and yet to come) and the human race. To do less would be to fall short of the purpose for which I was given life. That is just at the core of my belief. I now wish to share some of what I have learned even as I begin the Workbook and put it into practice.

I believe that what I will do here is a bullet list of my initial reactions of having read A Course In Miracles for the first time. I am currently on day 4 of the Workbook and have every intention of completing the 365 days required. It is interesting to go about my day to day business and tell myself I do not know the meaning of anything, but that is not far from what the Holy Ghost has taught me for these 57 years of existence in this sphere. I do my best to still my own inner voice and listen for that which knows so much more than I do.  I am finding that I am not so upset over my slip ups as I used to be and sad to say I have given in to some of the temptations of my guilt ridden mind that allow me to over indulge in sugar related substances which do little to rebuild the body and protect the teeth and bones, but even here I am grateful that these are my weaknesses at the moment and not the ones of immorality that haunted me in my youth. (Do not misunderstand, desire is still there I simply have trained my mind not to be overly concerned with those things as I had not done as yet in my youth.)

Lol, is that too much information? Well, I do not know how to do it any other way. This is my one format that I allow myself to be candid and real and where I have a witness that this is necessary if I am to accomplish the goal which I am not always sure of but I know the Holy Spirit is aware of. 🙂

To the book! Incredible! I underlined most of it, starred a lot of it and drove myself though it at a daunting pace because I wanted to know if there was enough truth there that I could give it credibility. It has proven, thus far, to be everything that I imagined and more. (On a side note I am reading a book at the request of one of my daughters and it is filled with fanciful thought and deep implications so having come right out of A Course In Miracles and doing the Workbook I am having a delightfully interesting time keeping truth from fantasy separate. Well, maybe not truly but I do think it is so very interesting that I am reading Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings at this particular time. My daughter told me that she would read A Course In Miracles if I would read Althalus. I had started it a few years ago but had put it aside when it seemed so full of just negative and immoral things. As a Mormon I had been council-led to stay clear of such things but you know, as a mom I am willing to travel in dark places-with the light of Christ-to preserve my children if at all possible. Yes, that is really how my mind works, silly as it may be.) I have to admit that my formal scripture reading went down a bit in the weeks that it took me to read this which has only been about two or three weeks. I did stop recording any of my shows on Blog Talk Radio the 20th of March to complete my reading and had discontinued the scripture programs on the 10th of March so as to focus on what was I absorbing from the reading. I did continue reading my scriptures daily though and I also went to the temple for a day to reflect on the teachings of the Spirit there.

This will be recorded in no particular order, it is just a portion of my reflection on A Course In Miracles at the first read,

• Ideas were expressed, only in greater detail, of things the Holy Ghost had been teaching me over the years.
• I sensed the same delight and warmth as I read this book as I do when I read any of the passages of the cannonized scripture where the Lord, Jesus Christ, himself is speaking.
• The drive to read it was as intense as had been my 3-4 months of reading the Near Death Experience testimonial web site that I was directed to. Actually, it was more so because that seemed like reading for fun and panning for “gold nuggets”. Here my drive was to find the flaw that would pull me away from what I felt very drawn to.
• I actually read it with my head phones on and doing the dive and immersion of Awakening Level One of my Holocynk meditation program, so I read it from brain states other than the typical beta. I also listened to the other meditations while reading it…Gamma Compassion, Alpha Focus, and Theta Creativity.
• I noticed a lot about the language. Things such as the rhythm and use of today’s way of saying here ye or this has been said before, but I will say it again.
• It appeared to be consistently in the male gender. This says more to me about the way God sees us as one than that it does about anything pertaining to Women’s Issues. And the way he made things universal even as speaking of very specific things such as family relationships was powerful and reminded me of the Lord’s teaching while he was on earth.
• I must say that I prayed regularly that I was not simply being drawn in to something that was just a glorified chant of the adversary.
• His use of Always and Never…which in psychology we have been taught to not use. But again if Christ does not have the authority to use those words, who would. I had to open my mind to give it the benefit of the doubt.
• Much later in the reading I began to notice the use of We that made me sometimes confused if it was indeed the Lord speaking or was it my senses picking up on the reality that He truly does not see himself different than any one of us.
• Even though I had been taught many of these things by life experiences and the witness of the Holy Ghost, like our non-existence and the holographic existence in which we live it, this still shook me to the core to read and feel the witness of the Holy Ghost and be told that I was correct. (It is hard to shake the inner belief that we are basically too stupid to know anything. It is probably just as hard to let go of the opposite point of view that says we know it all! That is where the ego lies within each of us and what we must learn to steer in the direction of God’s love if we would be fit to receive of His fullness.)
• I sense that this Workbook and Text are meant to give us a better insight to who and what we really might be. I think while in this life we will always have some part of the illusion but even that works into Heavenly Father’s Plan of Redeeming His Son.
• This I knew would happen too…that I would start to use the language of the books that I am reading. I have known it to be a part of my make up. I even say “Heaven to Betsy” from a series of novels I read as a young person. 🙂
• Love the concept of the only two emotions being LOVE and FEAR. It makes so much sense and lines up with my life experiences.
• I valued greatly the concept of ego brought to play again for me. It has been years since I studied the psychology of this. I noticed that the book tended to identify all that was illusionary or in canonized vernacular “wicked” as ego. This gives us the control of what we choose instead of seeing an outside entity ruling us. Both concepts may be helpful, depending on where the ego has taken us and I see no contradiction or confusion with his use of this imagery here or there.
• It confirms my understanding of the power of thoughts. I had been gaining an understanding that this may be all that we truly are. (See my latest in Gramma’s Guide Volume Three) http://www.amazon.com/~Existence~-Grammas-Guide-Christa-Ann-Godsdaughter-ebook/dp/B00IRJ4BPQ
• I have a WHAT??? list that has things that on the first read seemed to be saying something contrary to what I have felt to be truth in the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints that I will be reviewing for the next little bit to see if they are contradictory. What I have found in this process so far is that this is not the case but that I just needed to step back and consider what the meaning may be and listen with ears that remember who he was speaking to and what their questions and background was. I am really confident that this will continue or I would not be able to write up this review.
• Overall I have found the book to be fabulous and I do look forward to continuing my study of its disciplines.
• I would recommend it to all with the caution that you read it with a mind that is open to questioning everything that you have ever understood about life and what its meaning may be and that you allow the Holy Ghost to teach you. This will entail time and we will make plenty of mistakes along the way but it will lead you eventually to greater truth and understanding, I am sure, if you seek it with a pure heart.
• I could see how some of the points could be misinterpreted without the benefit of knowing the core gospel doctrine as taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. This is one of the reasons that I plan on using this book and The Book of Mormon, etc as I share my witness of the path that has been given to us through our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
• I did hear reflections of symbols that I know of in the church and I heard the distinct witness of what this work is and what it is not. Because of this I do not feel that it is meant to be conclusive in the meaning of all life, nor the destruction of all life as it has been shown to us up to this point. I believe it to be an opportunity to open our eyes, ears and hearts to be able to look at life a different way that will allow the purposes of God and our true purposes to be fulfilled. I do believe that it will bring me closer to heaven and I will continue to record my witness and understanding of that process as I have tried to do heretofore.

Till next time then,

Namaste