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WORKIN’ the WORKBOOK ~ a 365-day ACIM with Amy online class ~ How many times have you promised yourself to do A Course in Miracles Workbook? Now’s your chance. Dear ACIM Student, Are you ready for a year of miracles? Sign up for Workin’ the Workbook now and get one month free! Helen, Bill, and Ken did the workbook practice together more than once. Human support can be truly helpful as you open to spiritual experiences and encounter resistance and fear along the way. So let’s practice together! Workin’ the Workbook is an online class that you can take from home. Join me in this experiential approach to the 365 lessons in A Course in Miracles Workbook for Students. “WtW has been a real blessing and your teachings are much more than I could have ever imagined. You are very clear in explaining the Course — there’s no room for misinterpretation. Your real life examples of your experiences of going through the Course also help me tremendously. By the way, I love your website. It’s done simply and tastefully and it is extremely easy to navigate. (I’m a designer, so I’m a stickler for this sort of thing!)” –N. Silva, NY This class helps you experience: Learning to forgive — the key to happiness Healing your special relationships Accepting your God-given inheritance of love, peace and joy Developing a relationship with your Internal Teacher (the Holy Spirit) Undoing sin, guilt and fear Using time in the only way it will truly benefit you Awakening to your life purpose “Joining Workin’ the Workbook with Amy is the best thing I did for myself in 2013!” – Jack Hrabak, IL SIGN UP NOW for WORKIN’ the WORKBOOK This month only get 12 months for the price of 11. Only $37 per month. PayPal, the world’s most loved way to pay. “Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may appear to be quite startling.”* That’s why Amy created the Workin’ the Workbook online class for you. It includes: EVERY DAY for 365 days a video from Amy with insights and guidance on experiencing that day’s lesson How-to Worksheets to help you actually do the exercises 12 webinars with Amy to inspire you each month A thriving Facebook community for this group where you, other students and Amy share and connect And BONUS material! * ACIM Workbook-Intro “Your videos are way better than doing the lessons alone. I love the online class and knowing I can access the info anytime 24/7.” – Julie, MA “Your Workin’ the Workbook videos take the difficulty out of the lessons in a way that is truly helpful! I do the videos on my phone, iPad, computer, and Kindle. And the WtW Facebook support group is the best use of Facebook in its history.” – Morgan, NY Through this online class, the ACIM Workbook practice guides you to: Remove obstacles to Love, Peace and Joy Make forgiveness a tool in your daily life Develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit (your Internal Teacher) Purify your mind Learn to pray effectively Transform your relationships Recognize your individualized curriculum Process spiritual experiences Experience spiritual awakening “I wanted to let you know that I am loving the Workin’ the Workbook program. It’s my third time through and I am benefitting more than ever because of your classes.” – Jenn, FL In 1998, the Workbook of A Course in Miracles changed my life forever. After finishing all 365 lessons in 365 days, I literally felt reborn. An iceberg of sin, guilt and fear fell away and I was more fearless and free than I had ever been! Every year since then my state of mind has been excellent (and the circumstances of my life have consistently improved as well). Now I feel inspired by the Holy Spirit to support you in your Workbook practice. So many students of the Course tell me that they would like to begin the Workbook but need some encouragement, or want to complete the Workbook but are stuck somewhere along the way. “Amy, I am just loving your online WtW class. When you make connections with the text it illuminates my understanding of the workbook lessons. Your warm, natural presence is calming and inspiring. Your availability to answer email questions personally, and your interaction with us in the WtW Facebook group shows how much you care about each of your students. I can truly say that the Course is coming alive inside me. I see positive changes in my relationships and my faith is growing in leaps and bounds. And it’s so fun that your cats Gatita and Smudges have cameo appearances. Thank you!” –Harper Wood, NY Believe it or not, doing the Workbook practice can be a lot of fun! Yes, there are painful problems and patterns to undo, but there is also the tremendous relief of unburdening yourself, and then the gift of uncovering Who You Really Are. In Workin’ the Workbook, I do the lessons alongside you, clarifying their meaning and helping you experience the exercises on a deep level. My background as a psychotherapist and yoga instructor makes me uniquely qualified to understand the process of ego-undoing on spiritual, psychological, emotional and physical levels. Let Workin’ the Workbook give you the structure, support, and inspiration to sustain your spiritual practice through all 365 lessons. Give yourself the gift of a spiritual awakening. How much is a miracle worth to you? Sign up now for only $37 per month. This month only get 12 months for the price of 11. PayPal, the world’s most loved way to pay. For mobile devices & iPads click here to Buy Now. This 12-month online class is $37 a month – just a bit more than a dollar a day. It works like this: you will be automatically billed every month for 12 months from the time you sign up. There will be an online lesson every day. Plus monthly webinars, worksheets, and other bonus material. And don’t worry, on a month-by-month basis, you can cancel at any time. Click here to SIGN UP NOW. Lesson 77 states that you are entitled to miracles. Lesson 33 tells us, “There is another way of looking at the world.” Lesson 97 promises that the Holy Spirit “will offer all His strength to every little effort that you make.” And Lesson 152 says that the power of decision is your own. “The Thought of God protects you, cares for you, makes soft your resting place and smooth your way, lighting your mind with happiness and love. … Deny not Heaven. It is yours today but for the asking.” (Lesson 165) It’s your decision. Are you ready for a life filled with miracles and love? SIGN UP for Workin’ the Workbook now. Experience the inspiration and clarity that Workin’ the Workbook brings to your spiritual life. Let’s practice together! Namaste~ Amy Amy Torres is an experientially-focused ACIM teacher who teaches in New York, Florida, Cleveland, Seattle and Toronto.  She writes the popular Ask Amy column in Miracles magazine and has her own blog and e-newsletter, The Unlearning Classroom. * No one is turned away due to lack of funds. If you have a situation you need help with, or any questions or comments, email me at [email protected]. www.amytorresacim.com [email protected]

I Want the Peace of God: Commentary on ACIM Review Lesson 205

I have updated and added to this blogpost which was originally written two years ago and is still potent today (you can read Lesson 205 at the bottom of this post).  I mention this because the “current events” mentioned below are now dated–but just fill in the blank. Remember, in addition to whoever you think is innocent, you must also include the “guilty”–this is the only way to correct errors in the mind and regain Peace and Innocence.  This is the only way to go Home.

It does not mean you are condoning bad behavior or cruelty.  As Jesus says in Chapter 6 of A Course in Miracles, “… you might remember that I was persecuted as the world judges, and did not share this evaluation for myself. … If you react as if you are persecuted, you are teaching persecution.  This is not a lesson a Son of God should want to teach if he is to realize his own salvation.”  In this same chapter, there is a section called, “The Message of the Crucifixion” which is simply, “Teach only love, for that is what you are.”  In section V. of that same chapter, we learn “The Lessons of the Holy Spirit,” which include three components.  The second one is “To have peace, teach peace to learn it.”

While I abide where I am not at home, my purpose is the peace of God.  How comforting to have a clear purpose and live in service of God’s Will.  How relaxing to have only one choice: to choose the peace of God in every situation, with every person.  My function and my life is to embrace the Christ … Christ meaning communion with my brothers … which surely leads to Union with  God.  Freedom is creating as God intended.  Christ is the co-creation we are and which we continue extending, joyfully, effortlessly, inevitably.

Dare I feel this inexplicably, predictably happy and expansive when the world is suffering?  Yes!  It is the only way to feel in order to lead by example:  All Is Well.  Dreams are not Reality.  We are not suffering bodies.  We are not suffering minds.  We are Free and Whole and Complete, Together as One.  Not-enslaved, not-partial, not-incomplete.  Not lonely, not afraid, not asleep.  We are Awake in the Stillness of Eternal Being.  That is the Truth.

Does this mean that my heart never aches?  Eventually, yes.  But for now my heart does ache, and I embrace the Truth simultaneously.  Right now, on a personal level, my heart aches for Amy Winehouse who died yesterday after a long struggle with drugs, alcohol, rehab and self-destructive impulses.  And on a global level, my heart aches for Norway and the unthinkable grief of so many after the bombing in Oslo and the massacre at the youth camp nearby.  My heart aches for the victims, the families and friends, the workers and volunteers dealing with the aftermath, and the attack suspect, Anders Behring Breivik.  Add Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman to the local list, and the Syrian civil war to the global list.

This list will never end, because the ego miscreated the world to constantly distract us from the real problem: that we are afraid of our Father, a Loving God whose very presence, if we become aware of It, will awaken us instantly to the fact that we are not bodies, we are free, for we are still as God created us.  We are Spirit.  We are formless Unity.  We are Loving Light.  To the ego this is death.  To our True Self, this is the end of our case of mistaken identity.  This is Life.

I allow that sadness to move through me and be released.  I send each and every one of them the Peace of God, with Jesus as my teacher, and feel emotional weather move through me as the conviction of my spiritual life reinforces that removing blocks to the awareness of Love’s Presence inevitably reveals Love.

LESSON 205

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(185)   I want the peace of God.

The peace of God is everything I want.  The peace of God is my one goal, the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide where I am not at home.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Indifference vs Detachment

I feel moved to reprint this essay published by Wahiduddin in Bowl of Saki because it complements A Course in Miracles so well.  Many times I’ve had Course students tell me they are afraid of their Inner Light because it seems boring to them.  Others fool themselves into thinking they are spiritually advanced because they have visual experiences of Light, but they have an indifference toward other people and are unaware of their insensitivity.  And then there is the type of person who is superior to all spiritual teachings because s/he knows better–his indifference is a psychological defense which, in the end, puts one over on only himself!   Here is Hazrat Inayat Khan’s spiritual wisdom–I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

“He who arrives at the state of indifference without experiencing interest in life is incomplete and apt to be tempted by interest at any moment; but he who arrives at the state of indifference by going through interest really attains the blessed state.”   ~Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

It is the interest of God which has been the cause of all creation and which keeps the whole universe in harmony; nevertheless one should not be completely immersed in phenomena, but should realize oneself as being independent of interests. … He who arrives at the state of indifference without experiencing interest in life is incomplete, and apt to be tempted by interest at any moment; but he who arrives at the state of indifference by going through interest, really attains the blessed state. Perfection is reached not through interest alone, nor through indifference alone, but through the right experience and understanding of both.

We also see many examples in this world of how interest often limits man’s power, and how indifference makes it greater. But at the same time indifference should not be practiced unless it springs naturally from the heart. There is a saying in the Hindi language, ‘Interest makes kings, but indifference makes emperors.’ … There comes a day in the life of a person, sooner or later, the day when he no longer thinks about himself, how he eats, how he is clothed, how he lives, how anybody treats him, if anybody loves him or hates him. Every thought that concerns himself leaves him. That day comes, and it is a blessed day when it comes to a man. That day his soul begins to live… Indifference is attained by developing interest, and by developing discrimination in one’s interest. Instead of going backward one should go forward in one’s interest. Then one will find that a spring will rise naturally in one’s heart, when the heart has touched the zenith in the path of interest. Then the fountain of interest will break up gradually, and when this happens, one should follow this trend, so that in the end one may know what interest means, and what indifference means.

Our likes and infatuations have a certain limit; when their time has expired the period of indifference commences. When the water of indifference is drunk, then there is no more wish for anything in the world. The nature of the water one drinks in this world is that one’s thirst is quenched for a certain time and then comes again. When the water of divine knowledge is drunk, then thirst never comes again. … Indifference, however, must be reached after interest has taken its course; before that moment it is a fault. A person without an interest in life becomes exclusive, he becomes disagreeable. Indifference must come after all experience – interest must end in indifference. Man must not take the endless path of interest: the taste of everything in the world becomes flat. Man must realize that all he seeks in the objects he runs after, that all beauty and strength, are in himself, and he must be content to feel them all in himself. … Vairagya means satisfaction, the feeling that no desire is to be satisfied any more, that nothing on earth is desired. This is a great moment, and then comes that which is the kingdom of God.

Vairagi means a person who has become indifferent; and yet indifference is not the word for it. It describes a person who has lost the value in his eyes of all that attracts the human being. It is no more attractive to him; it no more enslaves him. He may still be interested in all things of this life, but is not bound to them. … No affair of this world, no relation, no friendship, no wealth, no rank, position or comfort, nothing holds him. And yet that does not mean that he in any way lacks what is called love or kindness, for if ever he lives in this world it is only out of love. He is not interested in the world and it is only love that keeps him here, the love which does not express itself any more in the way of attachment, but only in the way of kindness, forgiveness, generosity, service, consideration, sympathy, helpfulness, in any way that it can; never expecting a return from the world, but ever doing all that it can, pitying the conditions, knowing the limitations of life and its continual changeability.

*********

~Bowl of Saki, February 11, by Hazrat Inayat Khan compiled by Wahiduddin–many thanks Wahiduddin for sharing Murshid’s illuminated teachings with us every day.