Amy’s Blog – Page 31 – A Course in Miracles with Amy Torres

Lesson 4 – These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see.

Posted on January 4, 2022

Arrange your body for optimal breathing. Lengthen up so your lungs and heart are free to function. Settle your butt into what you’re sitting on, and if you’re in a chair, meet the ground solidly with the soles of your feet, spreading them like peanut butter on a piece of warm bread. You are plugging yourself into a spiritual socket and tapping into the God-current.

Become aware of your thoughts. Let them roll by and notice what they are without becoming involved in them. Just for a minute or two.

Now — use Lesson 4: These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room, from this window, in this place.

Breathe … allow the meaningless to separate from the meaningful. The Course in Miracles mind training reveals to you, sooner or later, that underneath good thoughts (shadows) and bad thoughts (blockages) is Real Thought.

Some of us are very attuned to our bodies and feel every twitch and flutter. Some of us prefer to disregard bodily gurgles and pains and pressures. In order to become spiritually embodied, which may sound oxymoronic, but is actually crucial to recognizing you are not the body, breathing and muscle relaxation is key. Breathing and relaxing muscles unlock psychological barriers. All humans develop brilliant creative adjustments (defense mechanisms) beginning in early childhood and continue to accrue some more throughout adulthood when jarring and traumatic events occur.

Lesson 4 offers a shift in perception regarding thoughts. We learn that thoughts are internal objects. This can be a powerful, and perhaps disorienting, insight. Jesus tells us, “This is a major exercise…” Even though it is major, that doesn’t mean it has to be deadly serious. In my experience, a playful attitude is the easiest way to navigate our way through A Course in Miracles.

For those of you who are longterm ACIM practitioners: This morning I asked Jesus what a veteran Course in Miracles student, who has done the Workbook more than once, is to make of the following statements in Lesson 4: “When the lesson says it is ‘a first attempt’ and it is ‘…the beginning of training your mind’ and ‘You are too inexperienced…’ and ‘…these exercises are the first of their kind…’

The reply came, “Those statements do not dismiss the work you’ve done before. That past work has, seemingly, led to this moment.* Do not interpret anything I say as criticism or chastisement, but instead, become present to your current experience as if you are a patch of blue sky emerging from clouds.”

* Read Coming Apart at the Seems

Lesson 3 – I do not understand anything I see.

Posted on January 3, 2022

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

I do not understand anything I see. I look around the room, as Lesson 3 instructs, at objects nearer and then farther away, and I marinate in the thought Jesus has offered me:

I do not understand anything I see.

The impulse to label objects with words abates. I go from, “I do not understand that hand, that bookcase, that tree” to “I do not understand …” Something like a telescopic zoom-out occurs where the entire world becomes a completed jigsaw puzzle. Then, arriving back in the body, my brain is seen as a object floating in a head.

How relieving to see without understanding. I am without responsibilities, worries and cares. I am experiencing without filters … breath is breath. Sight is sight. The mind is quiet.

As a person whose life has been devoted to understanding myself and others, it’s amusing to allow the possibility that I’ve never understood anything from a Higher Perspective.

How has this exercise from Lesson 3 been for you? Email me: [email protected]

Lesson 2 – I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me.

Posted on January 2, 2022

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

I swivel on my bottom, as if sitting on a bar stool, to practice glancing around at objects with the insight that I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me.

The effect is similar to dancing the Sufi turn — the eyes de-focus and objects blend in a soft, slow blur of shape, texture and color. It is very pleasant. The brain is relieved of all interpretation.

The eyes grow sleepy and roll back into the brain, lids half-closed, as I continue to survey the surroundings, near and then farther out. Again, it is very pleasant. My breath deepens and becomes fuller. My hips, pelvis and bottom sink, with a reassuring weightiness, into the chair. The soles of my bare feet are grounded and my toes explore and enjoy the soft carpeting to an uncharacteristic degree. Who needs drugs when meditative endorphins are so easily accessible? Wink.

As you do Lesson 2, what is your experience? Share it with me: [email protected]

Lesson 1 – Nothing I see means anything.

Posted on January 1, 2022

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

Read this lesson with a sponge-like mind. Let the mind be open and receptive. You do not need to know how. Just allow. Keep breathing throughout the lesson. The lessons can feel scary but your feelings are not Fact.

In Chapter 6 of A Course in Miracles we are told, “You cannot be anywhere God did not put you, and God created you as part of Him. That is both where you are and what you are. It is completely unalterable. It is total inclusion. You cannot change it now or ever. It is forever true. It is not a belief, but a Fact.” (T-6.II.6:2-8)

Let us align with Fact. How? Choose Jesus as your guide and teacher. Then breathe in the lesson. Breathe out fear. Breathe in Love. Breathe out fear. You do not need anything other than a tiny willingness.

Make sure to read the Introduction to the workbook lessons. The Introduction offers priceless wisdom and orientation. Our minds are being trained. This means we are being un-brain-washed from the ego thought system. This undoing cleans the lens of the mind so that we perceive truly rather than falsely. Joining with the Holy Spirit affords us this beautiful new view.

As the mind is trained, transfer of training (which results in true perception) expands your heart, lets your breath come easily and fully, and shifts your relationship to everyone and everything everywhere. This is good.

EPILOGUE to Workbook for Students

Posted on December 31, 2021

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

This course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. His certainty is yours. You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.

You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway of the sun laid down before it rises, after it has set, and in the half-lit hours in between. Indeed, your pathway is more certain still. For it can not be possible to change the course of those whom God has called to Him. Therefore obey your will, and follow Him Whom you accepted as your voice, to speak of what you really want and really need. His is the Voice for God and also yours. And thus He speaks of freedom and of truth.

No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead. He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word. His is the Word that God has given you. His is the Word you chose to be your own.

And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real. Nor will He give you pleasures that will pass away, for He gives only the eternal and the good. Let Him prepare you further. He has earned your trust by speaking daily to you of your Father and your brother and your Self. He will continue. Now you walk with Him, as certain as is He of where you go; as sure as He of how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the goal, and of your safe arrival in the end.

The end is certain, and the means as well. To this we say “Amen.” You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make. And He will speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach. And so we walk with Him from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction. Joy attends our way. For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome us.

We trust our ways to Him and say “Amen.” In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him. In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do. He loves God’s Son as we would love him. And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. You do not walk alone. God’s angels hover near and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless.

Lesson 365 – This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

Posted on December 31, 2021

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Aummmmmm …

LESSON 365

This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.

And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.

Let’s practice together! Click here for more information and to sign-up for Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 364 – This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

Posted on December 30, 2021

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

My heart flutters like a small bird in my chest … hope, anticipation, release! First, a feeling of being held tenderly in my Father’s Hand. Then … as I settle and feel safe … His Hand opens and … I am released without being let go … God’s Extension is total freedom and complete unity simultaneously.

LESSON 364

This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.

Let’s practice together! Click here for more information and to sign-up for Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 363 – This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

Posted on December 29, 2021

in Today's ACIM Lesson

by Amy Torres

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

My heart eases reading these words and entering the Stillness by doing nothing. In my willingness to follow and to receive, comes a shift from noticing a heartbeat within my own chest to being One with the Cosmic Heart.