As we've said several times throughout this website, it is our purpose to share with you our experiences, with the hope that somewhere along the way, we perhaps can help you. It also helps us tremendously to engage in the process of sharing, so thank you for indulging!
Ah, the workbook lessons.... Oh, how the ego loves to resist them so! And if the ego isn't resisting them, it's interpreting the lessons as intellectual feats requiring mastery. Rather than the gentle, sweet time of communion with J and God which the lessons provide, they instead are so easily seen by the ego as yet another check-list item for one's daily agenda, right alongside "pick up dry cleaning" and "work out". I perceived the lessons as a burden initially, as well. I started and stopped them several times, only to begin again, RESOLVING to keep going with that same sense of resolve as one feels at New Year's that says somewhere not so far back in the mind a snotty little, "Yea, right!...".
For me, I was unable to feel into the lessons as an experience until I got to know J a bit on a personal level. That happened as a result of a personal crisis, after a relationship I was heavily invested in, for a number of reasons, developed some problems. It was a devastating time for me, and as always is the case, wherever there is a problem, a miracle is right there to be found. I found J as my Comforter, and if it had not been for this "crisis", shaking me out of my state of worldly complacency, I perhaps would not have found TRUE Comfort. Over the duration of several months, J directed me to read sections of the text, which never failed to be precisely what I needed to read at the given moment. I found his "personality" there - and yet the "personality" of J never, ever involves the fear-based "thinking" and judgment of ego! Not one trace. I was able to really feel into his love in his words and found the beauty and inherent logic and consistency of the Course to be truly Divine.
So, to then return to the lessons was a delight! It was no longer a check-list item to my day but instead was a time of communion with J which I deeply looked forward to. I could feel him reading the lessons with me and sitting quietly with me as I practiced. It was often the case that he engaged in dialog with me about the lesson, asking me questions which coached me even deeper into exploration. As goofy as it sounds, I usually did the lessons in my bedroom, always alone, door closed, where I could easily talk out loud to J. Sometimes our conversations go on for quite some time. I believe it is very helpful to ask anyone with whom you live to respect your closed door and refrain from interrupting you unless the house is on fire! It's important for that really deep "going within" to know you will not be interrupted. (Click here to read Evelyn Underhill's description of retreat, going within, and the need, as described by J, to "shut the door"!)
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Here is a link which takes you to a very handy index for all of the ACIM Workbook lessons: http://acim.home.att.net/workbook_contents.html I use this as a convenient source to access lessons for review when I am away from my book. However, for my time alone with J, I find that sitting down quietly, with the book, and reading the lesson in full is best. As obvious and trivial as it may sound, I'll tell you that at least for me, an organized approach, which included a book mark and a small check mark on each lesson as it was completed, worked well. While this may sound suspiciously close to the lessons being a daily "check-list item", please note the distinction that in actuality the experience of the communion was merely accompanied by orderliness! : ) |
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"To you who seem to find this course to be too difficult to learn, let me repeat that to achieve a goal you must proceed in its direction, not away from it. And every road that leads the other way will not advance the purpose to be found. If this be difficult to understand, then is this course impossible to learn. But only then. For otherwise, it is a simple teaching in the obvious." ACIM, Text, page 654 It is not our goal to tell you with any authority how to approach the lessons, for only you and your inner Guide can determine what is optimized for you. Nor would we attempt to interpret or explain the lessons, as they are clear and perfectly unambigous and require no interpretation from anyone who seemingly remains in the dream! They stand alone, complete and perfect. While I said it is not my goal to tell you how to do the lessons, for that will be left up to your Guide to direct you, I nevertheless am responding to MY inner Guide as I tell you that sources which claim to supplement the workbook lessons and "explain" them are not only unnecessary but are a HINDRANCE to the process. Please speak carefully with your inner Guide before making use of any such "study aids", and listen honestly for His reply. The lessons are about an experience -- not about the ego's version of "understanding". Something far beyond the words is transpiring during the process of the workbook lessons. J is leading us to an experience beyond words. The introduction of MORE words to better "understand" defies the purpose. While Guidance for you may differ, J said in the Course about the lessons: "Like the text for which this workbook was written, the ideas used for the exercises are very simple, very clear and totally unambiguous. We are not concerned with intellectual feats nor logical toys. We are dealing only in the very obvious, which has been overlooked in the clouds of complexity in which you think you think." ACIM Workbook, Lesson 39 |
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"..It's like Christmas without the chintzy stuff.." -Donald Fagen, "Morph the Cat" |
All photography by Amy Barrington unless noted otherwise. |
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