Is the World an Illusion?
By Mari Perron, First Receiver of A Course of Love
The illusion, as spoken of in both A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love, isn’t about physics. It’s not about science. We see an illusion when we don’t see the truth. Illusion is not a reality—it is all that reality is not. Our illusions prevent us from being true.
This topic has arisen again because Gary Renard in his new book describes ACOL as an “imitation” of ACIM, “a dualistic distraction,” and quotes the entirety of a critical review written by Dr. Robert Rosenthal, Co-President of the Foundation for Inner Peace, publisher of ACIM. Their central argument is that ACOL elevates the illusory world into something new and desirable, whereas in their view anything physical – all form – is necessarily illusory.
As I contemplated what I heard and read of Gary Renard’s new book, a phrase from ACOL came into my mind: “Do you feel beautiful and prized and worthy?” (C:26.6) Isn’t not feeling beautiful and prized and worthy what makes up the illusion?
The illusion is about thinking we’re separate and unloved in a fearful world. This is what we were taught, and once these false ideas were learned, they led directly to ideas of who we are and “should” be. Feeling alone, we tried very hard to be who we were expected to be, and yet could never succeed at being. We grew fearful and developed an ego to defend and protect us from a world in which we could never be good enough.
Few of us feel inherently beautiful and prized and worthy as who we are. A loop developed that we could not find release from, the loop of the ego’s thought system. No matter how harsh the inner voice of the ego, we couldn’t break free. This is the situation in which we find ourselves as we begin ACIM.
As we begin ACOL, on page 5, Jesus says that ACIM was successful in “threatening” the ego, and that this enormous accomplishment has opened an important new possibility:
The world as a state of being, as a whole, has entered a time, brought on largely by A Course in Miracles, in which readiness for miracle-mindedness is upon it. A Course in Miracles opened a door by threatening the ego. All those who, with egos weakened, walked this world with the hope of leaving ego behind, with miracle-minded intent, have awakened human beings to a new identity. They have ushered in a time of ending our identity crisis. Not since Jesus walked the earth has such a time been upon humankind.
Both Courses came to lead us beyond illusion to the truth. Yet somewhere along the way, the illusion began to be spoken of as if it were more true than the truth! The falling away, or disappearance of the universe — all form and physicality that we see “as real” — has been deemed the illusion. It is not. Its replacement has been deemed the end of duality. It is not.
Unity is the end of duality. It is not about rejection but inclusion. Not about ceasing to care about the world but redeeming the world by seeing truth rather than falsity.
The body, our form — about which we have held inaccurate beliefs and feelings — is not all of who we are; yet as we live in these forms for a while with love, compassion, and trust in God’s creation of us, we begin to express truth in our lives. All that comes from love is revealed. All the wisdom of the ages arrives through these vehicles of form to return all of us to the reality of our true Selves—now.
We need not live in “hell on earth,” in the ego’s false reality. We are the creators, along with God, of our reality. When we let go the hell of the ego’s thought system, we can embrace unity and bring the truth of Heaven to Earth.
These Courses were not created within illusion. They were created in the reality of truth, to reveal truth. Truth is perfectly capable of entering the world, as Jesus once did, and of calling us, as Jesus did in life, as well as at the end of ACIM and throughout ACOL, to accept who we are and what we, in Christ, are capable of: restoring or re-creating the world. Creating the new.
Both Courses describe two entirely different “worlds.” On the one hand, we are asked to let the world fade into the nothingness from which it came. The world of nothingness is the one “we” – the ego – made. It is the “mad illusion,” the unforgiven projection. Thus, “there is no (egoic) world!”
Yet we are also asked to be saviors of the world by forgiving — abandoning — the illusion. ACIM’s Manual for Teachers describes the quality of open-mindedness of true teachers of God:
They have let go all things that would prevent forgiveness. They have in truth abandoned the world, and let it be restored to them in newness and in joy so glorious they could never have conceived of such a change. Nothing is now as it was formerly. Nothing but sparkles now which seemed so dull and lifeless before. (M-4.X.2)
To distinguish between these two “worlds” is to separate the false from the true. The illusory “world” is an egoic projection; God’s real — restored — “world” is a creative extension of God, a reflection of unity. As Jesus says in both Courses, we are an idea of God, and ideas leave not their source.
The way the “world” is spoken of in two ways is similar to the way the “mind” is spoken of. Our minds are associated with our brains, intellects and ego, as well as with the mind we share with God. In context the meanings of these statements in both Courses are clear. Out of context, they can be distorted. Our illusions are within us. We project them “out there.” When we quit seeing with the ego’s eyes, we cease to see illusion and begin to see the truth.
Gary mentions that I made a public statement that I do not believe in the illusion. I did. What is illusion that I should believe in it? Again, however, context would be helpful. I spoke these words at the Miracles in the Mountains conference in 2012:
“I don’t believe that the world is an illusion. I believe that the egoic world is an illusion. And I believe that as we leave the ego’s world behind we will re-enter our sacred world, and we can care for our sacred world and our sacred Earth. . . . We are part of Creation’s unfolding love.”
It was one of the bravest things I ever did and I feel proud for daring to say it — then and now. Don’t take my word for it. I invite you to go to the source. There is an audio recording of my talk at the Miracles in the Mountains conference made by Larry Seyer at Audible Spirit which can be downloaded for $15 at https://audiblespirit.com/mitm-mari-perron-mp3-audio
To comment on this post please view it online at https://acourseoflove.org/the-embrace-35-is-the-world-an-illusion/
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Love Unlimited
By Paula Hardin
Have you ever felt a shift
Deep inside
A new awareness perhaps
A new lens through which to view life
And you are now
Who you were
In fact you are not sure who
You are now
Like a boneless eagle
Who is meant to soar
You flop about
Vulnerable
The bones you counted on
Are gone
Or absorbed
Or buried
Somewhere
What supported you before
Where is it?
You can’t go back
That doesn’t fit anymore
Too tight
But . . .
Paula Payne Hardin appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show when her first book, “What Are You Doing With the Rest of Your Life? Choices in Midlife” appeared in 1992. She is also the author of “Love After Love: Stages of Loving” (1996). Hardin directed Midlife Consulting Services and the David K. Hardin Generativity Trust in Chicago. She has trekked around the world from the Himalayas to Zimbabwe. Now an Elder, she enjoys kayaking, cats, writing, and her extended family.
55 Comments
Joel on December 6, 2017 at 9:55 am
Gary Renard’s ego is alive and (well). The first warriors to the wall become the bloodiest. In a world of change, only the changeless is Real.
Keep up the good work Mari.
Mari on December 11, 2017 at 8:23 am
Thank you for the encouragement, Joel
John McKenna on December 15, 2017 at 6:36 pm
Hi Mari, sorry you are taking some flak from the unenlightened. ACOL does a good job cleaning up some of the flaws in ACIM (which I do love dearly). ACOL helps us actually LIVE in the suggested happy dream of ACIM. In ACOL it’s OK to be alive, have a body, make money, experience the pleasure of living, and actually BE in the world, and have a self and a SELF, both in alignment. No one in their right mind would ever criticize this beautiful practical work of alignment. Thank you Mari for being true. And thank you for your words which will in time purify the inherent judgmental, impractical tenets of ACIM that lead some people to a somewhat fanatical adherence to flaws in the Course In Miracles. I am sure Helen appreciates what you are saying, unlike Renard and other imbalanced pundits who speak from a lopsided perspective. Hang in there we LOVE you.
Ben Andriessen on December 6, 2017 at 12:45 pm
Wonderful article, Mari. I like to remind myself that all true relationship are based on love….we all are beautiful, prized and worthy.
Mari on December 11, 2017 at 8:23 am
Yes, Ben! We are!
Tina on December 6, 2017 at 12:54 pm
Gary Renard is stuck in his own illusion. Blessings to him, but clearly this is someone who isn’t even practicing the Course of Miracles?!? To judge another’s teachings of Love? He should probably judge his own authenticity. It’s disheartening to see any teacher of spiritual principles publicly judge another’s work. Mari, don’t let this discourage you. The truth is clear….
Mari Perron on December 11, 2017 at 9:41 am
Thank you, Tina. It doesn’t discourage me. In fact, it has brought in so many encouragements and so many inspiring comments from people who really understand the way of unity and relationship, that it Has been a blessing.
David on December 6, 2017 at 1:07 pm
You go, girl! 😉
The “world” is an “illusion” because of the unconscious dissociation and denial of what is our True Self and True Nature as consciousness/mind/love, itself (both with and within Consciousness/Mind/Love, Itself) and through what is our identification with and as the body-mind — and particularly the gender identification associated with it — in which we experience our “selves” (ego) as separate and divided both internally and externally.
Hence, the dualistic conception/projection/perception/experience that arises out of it, along with what is the self-perpetrating, self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing feedback loop that is its nature. Never realizing that we are essentially cybernetic (self-referring/self-organizing), holistic, holy beings within a Cybernetic, Holistic, Cybernetic, Holy Being –and what is our true nature, and the nature of our relationship, both with it, in it, and as “it.”
Because of this false identification, we “make” and therefore experience the “shadow” world that we are unconsciously mis-creating and what is its effect and consequence– the “illusion” and delusion of separation — forgetting that the Creator is and is in the Creation and that Cause and Effect are One — and that we are, both in Truth and in Fact, one with the Oneness — a microcosm of the macrocosm.
Consequently, as ACIM says, “We do it butt to our selves” (Gary Renard included) . . . and unconsciously continuously reinforce for and with each other because of it, along with what are its associated effects and consequences.
Mari on December 11, 2017 at 8:29 am
I love the expression, “one with Oneness.” Thank you, David.
Lodewijk Langeweg on December 6, 2017 at 3:16 pm
It looks like what in ACIM has been called “the real world” has not been fully understood by some of us. Yet God in His infinitely great Love for all of us is willing to experience that also even as those who have not understood it yet.
The only illusion ultimately is that anyone is separate from God. In the real world God is so one with everyone that He is experiencing being everyone. That eventually everyone may enjoy what God enjoys.
Lodewijk Langeweg on December 6, 2017 at 4:04 pm
God is even willing to experience the illusion of being separate from Himself. To awaken to Himself in each and every one of us. Entirely to our benefit. The inheritance He left us is Himself.
As noted in ACIM, as far as no longer experiencing our oneness with God goes, in that sense the separation did happen. But as in truth there is no separation, it is still God Who is willing to experience being separate from Himself as those of us in whom He has not come to His Life and Self yet.
Since God is Life, for as long as He is not enjoying being Himself in us He is experiencing being dead, and worse than death is experiencing being a member of a race of the most feared predators in that so very real seeming but illusory egoic world. Experiencing that is the crucifixion in hell to God. Yet that also we would have and enjoy the Knowledge of God -the Knowledge God has of Himself and of How things really are, which is that God’s love is infinitely great courageous pure altruistic Charity, and that this is true about us as well, as He is our true Being- God was willing to experience all suffering stemming from the painful illusion of being but human, separate from Himself.
It is indeed God Who is reading this now in His human appearance. This is the real world.
Mari on December 11, 2017 at 8:32 am
So good to hear from you, Lodewijk. I love your beautiful comment regarding God awakening in each and every one of us.
Peter van Prooijen on December 24, 2017 at 4:25 am
Bedankt.
Jaren gelezen schreef u op een atheisten forum en wat u schreef toen was erg helpvol voor mij. En wat u nu schrijf is wederom erg helpvol voor mij.
Nogmaals bedankt.
Peter van prooijen
Dorothy Rumble on December 6, 2017 at 3:48 pm
I would like to say that it seems to me that it is the physical body that is the transitory illusion. I am not concerned that no-one will agree with me, it is my understanding with the feelings that see through this physical body. Everything
that seems to be life in this world, when it is burnt, leaves a residue Carbon 12. The number of Carbon 12 is 666. The book of Revelation gives the number of what the Church calls the Devil as 666. The new International version of the Bible
calls it the number of the beast and says it is man’s number not ‘a’ man’s number and tells those with wisdom to calculate it. So all the separate physical bodies could be the origin of what we see as evil. If separateness, spawning selfishness, and looking only for one’s own interest, is one end of the spectrum then altruism and caring for the good of the whole is the other end. We live in a world of dualities good and evil being one set. Jesus said give up thy life if though wouldst live. but it is hard to give up the things of the world if we believe, contrary to what is staring us in the face, that this world is the only reality, even when we can see that it is temporary. The opposite of evil is its spelling backwards -live, but from a higher Self not our little self. Being humble is not being subservient it is giving up the little temporary ego and allowing the Higher to manifest. As the hippies used to say “Let go. Let God”
Mari on December 11, 2017 at 8:34 am
Hi Dorothy! I’ll add, as the hippies used to say, “Just keep it real.”
Jim Carruth on December 6, 2017 at 4:23 pm
This has been bothering me for a long time, but I have held my tongue because I have been a long-time Gary Renard fan, and because I am hesitant to repeat Gary’s mistake of blatantly judging others.
I thought it was odd that when Gary and Cindy showed up to the 2012 Miracles in the Mountains – A Conference with the Scribes, he opened with a highly judgemental and inflammatory dig at the other guests. Those guests included David Schock, Mari Perron, Regina Dawn Akers, Sylvain du Boullay, Phoebe Lauren, and guest of honor Brent Haskell. Gary wasn’t even the headliner, and he opens with a huge put-down of the other guest that clearly lacks class. These opinions would have been better if he simply kept them to himself.
From the introduction to his talk at The Miracles in the Mountains Conference in 2012:
“I think that the reason that I’m here is to talk about A Course in Miracles, and clarify what it means, what it is, because this conference has been mostly about the scribes who came after the Course came. And what most of them have done is change the Course into something that it is not. and, you know, that’s cool, I’m not arguing with that, but my teachers in my book whose names are Arten and Pursah did something a little bit different, they didn’t change the Course at all. They stuck with it. And given that my books came about after the other books presented here, I think that was a statement on their part that there’s no reason to do the Course unless you want to do the real Course. And they stuck with it, so I have to, because that’s what they did for me.”
Contrast this to what Gary writes in the introduction of The Lifetmes When Jesus and Buddha Knew Each Other:
“All spiritual paths lead to God in the end, and it’s never the intention of this author to put down or invalidate anyone else’s spiritual path or approach. At the same time, it’s the uncompromising nature of A Course in Miracles that is one of its most important features. Without that, it would be like everything else and would not have been needed in the first place. Therefore, I refuse to compromise on its message, and I sincerely believe that J and Buddha would have it no other way.”
Some Key Points:
• How is publicly invalidating the work of six authors NOT putting down anyone else’s spiritual path or approach?
• Where in ACIM does it mention two ascended masters named Arten and Pursah, and how is this, as he says, “sticking to the Course?”
• In Gary’s book Disappearance of the Universe (D.U.), Arten gives him the advice “Don’t be Judgey,” yet he publicly judges other Course teachers as freely and unabashedly as any bible-thumping fundamentalist. What’s that all about?
• On page 16 of D.U., Arten goes into a whole page of put-downs of new agers and their beliefs. How is this NOT putting down anyone else’s spiritual path or approach?
• Gary takes it upon himself to judge the other Miracles in the Mountains presenter’s books, but it’s clear he hasn’t actually read any of them. How is this mendacity and judgement on his part NOT compromising the message of ACIM he is trying to promote?
Conclusion:
Gary knoweth not what he does, and is clearly threatened by Mari’s book when there is no need to be. I love Gary for starting me on the path to ACIM, and have written to tell him so. I have supported him in the past by buying his books, CDs, and attending his public appearances. But his claims of sticking to the Course, while putting other authors down who he feels do not stick to the Course smacks of the worst kind of judgement and hypocrisy.
WHO IS HE TO JUDGE?
Sorry Gary, but you need to watch what you say about others in public if we’re going to buy into your line of how you stick to the Course, while others veer from it. Your words may sound like it, but your actions clearly don’t. People who once respected you are laughing behind your back. Is this what you want? If not, for God’s sake, please treat other authors with respect and stop putting them down. You say you don’t, but it’s clear that you do. Wake up, Buddy – you’re going down a dark road here. I hope you can sense the love with which I say this. You’re a success story who has brought many to ACIM. Don’t blow it now by getting a superiority complex, and alienating all your fans. Your hypocrisy can only bring shame to ACIM, and that’s the real tragedy here. Please stop being the bad example, and try practicing what you preach. I will try to do the same, but I thought you needed a wake up call here. From a friend who doesn’t like what he’s seeing.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 11:21 am
Hi Jim, I thoroughly understand your internal debate about whether to respond to Gary or not. I felt the same way. It’s been an interesting road forward on this. I needed the encouragement of my publisher to write the article you’re responding to. Such things are sensitive. As I was thinking about this sensitivity, acceptance and denial came to mind. The idea goes like this: “You are asked to accept or receive the truth of who you are and the revelations that will show you how to live as who you are within the world—and you are asked to refuse to accept who you are not and the ways of life that allowed you to live within the world as a false self.” (Day2.2) At one time or another, one of these two instructions proves more difficult: acceptance or denial. But really, this situation can show how they work as one. Generally this is inner work done without expression. Yet there are times that to “be who we are” we do feel called to question what another is saying. It’s happening in politics, in communities, and in our homes. We deny untruth and accept (and sometimes speak) truth at the same time. Thank you for relating your experience and expressing the truth of how you felt.
Ron Devine on December 6, 2017 at 6:17 pm
Lets consider this world to be our own personal dream. The first ambiguity is that if this world is truly a dream then Jesus, angels and all ascended master teachers who enter this dream are also part of the dream and not real. I believe this world is real and physical in nature. We see, feel and observe it’s reality to our bodies. I know that our true reality is that of spirit, temporarily using a body. We experience love, joy, anguish and pain. That this world is composed of atoms, that are energy in nature, does not change the experience here. Our bodies are bound to this world and we chose to experience this and we lost our memory of our true spiritual nature in doing so. Part of the illusion is not seeing beyond that which we see with our eyes; seeing the whole. Understanding our physical limitations does not make them into illusions. We are more than the bodies we have. This does not make them an irrelevant part of us. Our true selves can use this vehicle to express truth, just as I can also drive a car for convenience. I can, for a short time, make it an extension of myself, not forgetting I am the driver. The car is neutral but a deer or other animal my falsely see it as a mad, large and dangerous creature. The animal does not see the large picture, but an illusion and that is acceptable. Some animals quickly learn what a car is. I often see dogs enjoying a car ride. They saw more of the truth. The car ride was fun and life here on earth can also be fun, even for a short time.
Another ambiguity is seeing this time here as holographic and that we are play acting a script, already written for us and experienced in linear time. This concept of time takes away any free will we have in changing our destiny. This completely contradicts our spiritual nature, since we are God’s children and we do have free will. Our spiritual mind still interacts with the human mind and body, even if dimmed here. “A Course in Miracles” makes it clear that we have to live the teachings, but we do have the choice of WHEN we learn and live these lessons. The “when” has never been fixed and is not outside of our free will.
I live in this world by choice and knew it’s nature before coming here. I can evolve in consciousness to realize the true nature of this world and also my own true nature. However, like Jesus, I will still be able to live in this world. Yet Jesus reminds us that we don’t have to sacrifice our life or endure any kind of suffering. God demands no sacrifice of us.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 11:34 am
One of the things I appreciate most about ACOL is that when we return to the heart, and look on the world as and with love, it is very hard to see illusion, very hard to ignore physical needs, to turn a blind eye, to be uncaring, to fail to see beauty, or to not feel one with creation. I enjoyed reading your unique way of expressing and the examples you use–especially of a dog’s change of experience from fear to joy.
Ken Hoover on December 6, 2017 at 8:24 pm
Very well said, Mari, and thank you again. I was one of those many who, moved by your fearlessness, congratulated you at the end of your talk at MITM. I gave you a good hug, and told you I also believed in a real world. And I do yet; and trust that I am daily moving closer in awareness, as all must move.
What is the real world? – God. What is the unreal world? – God. There is nothing outside of God, and nothing outside of Self. Separation remains forever within Unity, error within Love, judgement within forgiveness, ego within Son. The house of illusion is held within the house of Truth.
Of course form is illusion; hell-dream or happy-dream, no debate. Form is also the expression and extension, the embodiment and leading edge, of Love. It is how Love grows. There is no need to disparage form and thus impoverish ourselves. I commend you, Mari, for living Love in form wholeheartedly. Would that more of us seek for Love’s experience – in form! – rather than pursuing a dry and futile rectitude of theory.
Or, as Gary (in an earlier incarnation) once recorded his Master saying, “The Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.” (Logion 113, Pursah’s rendition)
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 11:38 am
Thanks, Ken. I love hearing from people who were at MITM, and of course remember you. When you and I wish for a greater experience of love in form, when we invite union and relationship, life expands and expresses with great inclusiveness. As you say, What is the real world? God. What is the unreal world? God!
Marc Yasskin on December 6, 2017 at 10:25 pm
One could say all is illusion here in this 3-D reality because truly it is a deepening mystery and miracle un-answerable and beyond description yet within the Embrace of Love all portals open and every moment is The Moment to be wholeheartedly present and open to the Presence of Love – The radiance which is everywhere all the time. Remembering seems the key. And embracing that remembering.
Surrender to remember to remember to surrender. This holy moment ~ the entrance and the exit.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 11:41 am
Remembering and surrendering. Yes, Marc! Both come with such deep feeling, don’t they? They pull us in to nothing less than a new reality, the reality of union and relationship rather than separation. I am so grateful for and to all those creating the new in this way.
Marc Yasskin on December 20, 2017 at 10:38 pm
Yes Mari ~ this deep FEELING that comes from the Embrace of a new reality ~ which is of course something that is ever-present being Remembered through Compassion ~which I believe informs us at the deepest level ~ bringing us into union as you say.
Like Indra’s net each of our hearts connecting like the jewels they really are forming these infinitely exquisite connections.
Jacques Tétrault on December 6, 2017 at 11:08 pm
Thank you Mari for expressing your felt Knowledge.
The intellect, or the ego mind can be very deceptive and often is. I realized that only the Heart truly Knows. Arguing can sometimes help to clear the mind, but only to those who have not definitely set their belief in one specific direction. For example that the material world is an illusion rather than recognizing that the ego’s perceptions and conclusions is the illusion.
Revelations within are in the end the only resource for discovering the truth. They are first felt and then experienced. Not through the mind but though the whole Self. Many uneducated persons as the world defines it have directly discovered the truth of love’s power.
We can recognize the truth when it is deeply felt and not only imagined and then mentally organized and knitted. The ‘intelligent’ ones are often mislead by their ego based mind.
The truth is neither in ACIM or ACOL or any other scripture. It is within in the Self. Written or oral revelations only indicate the Way to it. There are many paths and many of them can lead us to our discovery of the only truth which, in my experience, is the first hand discovery and experiencing of true love as the universal reality that unites everything.
In reading a book, it’s important to feel without prejudices the true intent the author which quite immediately can give us a hint as to the purpose or the purposes of the work. I did not, nor do I at any moment, mistrust the author of ACIM TWOM and ACOL. I can now directly trust the internal revelations that follow.
Jesus and I/we are linked by the same love. I don’t know Gary Renard, but I know Jesus’ Presence. I clearly felt it though ACIM TWOM and ACOL. And I don’t doubt that Jesus keeps on speaking. Let’s listen with our Heart!
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 11:46 am
Very nicely said, Jacques. It is so true. No one can “tell us.” No one can change our minds for us. The truth is, as you say, an inner experience, a first-hand discovery, the very one we’re invited, in ACOL, to let our hearts embrace and be embraced by. Thank you for sharing.
mark brooks on December 7, 2017 at 6:35 am
Great Clarification Mari. I wondered when ‘someone’ would address this topic. Sticking to your guns, or not arguing truth in the courtroom of illusion is very profound. Cheers!
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 11:47 am
Thanks, Mark. I’m glad I came to be that “someone!”
Susan Dorn on December 7, 2017 at 6:52 am
Thank you for this thread. I have studied under Michael Mirdad, at Unity of Sedona. Michael is a well known Spiritual Leader, who knows Gary has been unhappy once before allowing his ego to run the show.. Here is the article Well said. https://www.michaelmirdad.com/a-course-in-miracles/ In this article Michael is addressing what had happen once before. Article is titled ” A Course in Mega fools.by Michael Mirdad. January 2011.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Thanks, Susan. I appreciated Michael’s comment that the humanness of their “teachers”-especially when they fail to apply the most fundamental Course principles. . . encourages these same students to seek out their own ways of discovering and living . This discovery is integral to ACOL, and to each following their own heart and inner guidance.
Jim Carruth on December 7, 2017 at 6:58 am
Bob Rosenthal’s review of A Course of Love, and Gary’s inclusion of it in his book, represent the actions of two people who have a vested interest in A Course in Miracles. Gary makes his living from traveling and giving talks on ACIM, and Bob serves on the board of the Foundation for Inner Peace, the publishers of ACIM. He is also the author of a book that draws from ACIM.
Of course they’re not going to endorse a book that represents a threat to their interests. Of course they’re going to put it down. Why? Because they’re afraid of it. And what does ACIM say about fear? That whenever you’re fearful, you’re ALWAYS in the ego.
The last line of Rosenthal’s review reads, “I only wish the author and publisher had not felt the need to promote their book on the back of ACIM.” And yours or Gary’s books don’t? Really, Bob? Really, Gary? Tell Mari what not to do, while you’re busy doing it yourself? Hypocrisy and mendacity of the worst kind.
Susan Dorn on December 7, 2017 at 12:30 pm
I absolutely agree. I find it amazing that these teachers of the course have been sparring with each other for awhile publicly. I attempted to listen to Gary at a workshop years ago. He appeared mixed up mentally and confused so I left. I had the pleasure of Meeting Mari at Unity of Sedona during the service and her workshop. A little over a year ago. I enjoyed her presentations very much.I look forward to seeing her again. Mari thank you for speaking your truth. I am grateful to you in doing so..I hope our paths cross again in the near future.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 12:09 pm
Susan and Jim, I often wondered, after receiving ACOL, if, were it to have been received by someone other than myself, I would have read it. I LOVED ACIM and held it in a category all its own. Some still hold it in that singular category, and the thing is, it can be held there in love, just an acceptance and even a rightful loyalty to a life-transforming work, held with a feeling of needing nothing more. I have met ACIM readers who feel this way. And I can relate. There is no tension and no fight. We can speak like those who join together in inter-faith dialogues. Maybe what we’ve begun here will grow into more acceptance and less defensiveness.
Annie Thwaites on December 7, 2017 at 2:02 pm
Beautiful article Mari. Thank you.
In A Course in Miracles Foundation for Inner Peace in the Workbook Section on Salvation page 407 we are reminded, “Earth is being born again in new perspective.”
May the Love that we Are and recognition of our Oneness lead the way, and may the Earth be seen truly, through Love’s vision.
Mari Perron on December 8, 2017 at 6:27 am
Thank you, Annie. Yes, there are so many beautiful ways Jesus speaks of the world in ACIM. I hadn’t remembered the one you quote. It reminds of how ACOL speaks of birthing “the new.” This is from Day 23: Christ-consciousness is alive within you. All that is required is that you carry it with awareness, honor, willingness. From this will the new be birthed.
Akilah t'Zuberi on December 8, 2017 at 9:23 am
It is often of no avail to remind “ACIM” students of the first sentence in the Epilogue of the Course: “This course is a beginning, not an end.” All the Course was able to do was evict the ego from the premises. It would have been a daunting task, and overwhelming for many of us (given that many spent years with “ACIM” before we finally got it) to take on restoration and renovations, which is what “ACOL” does, so to speak. Taking up carpet and restoring the wood to its natural luster; updating the electrical system, rewiring, installing new fuses. And last, but not least, changing the locks on the doors and contracting a reliable security service. This is an inadequate metaphor for what healing the separation entails, keeping in mind that metaphors, words, all language is designed for the separation, not Union, whose language we all know is silence. But it sheds some light on how we sometimes confuse the goal of these two Courses: “ACOL” is the blueprint or new design, again metaphorically speaking, for the renovation and restoration of the dwelling; what it was before the ego trashed it! And the possibilities of a design whose designer abides in the “present moment.” The ego, illusions and the distractions indicative of the separation have been long laid aside. But for “ACIM” students, beginners or self-committed “lifers,” their daily transactions have not ceased to involve an awareness of the ego’s presence. They simply have no experience in restoring an heirloom, mahogany chest of drawers. They cannot suggest a matte or low sheen varnish, Spar or Epifanes.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Akilah, I love your metaphors! There is another line in ACIM’s Clarification of Terms that says “This course remains within the ego framework where it is needed.” That is my “go to” phrase for the reason for the coming of ACOL and it’s wonderful beginning, speaking of ACIM students who walked the world with ego’s threatened and in so doing, made room for a course that would take us beyond the ego. A new contractor! Great to hear from you, my friend.
Dwight on December 9, 2017 at 11:19 pm
I love you Mari. When truth is spoken, truth is heard. Unfortunately not by everyone in that moment. They say that “There are people who hear you speak a thousand words and still not understand you. And there are others who will understand without you speaking a word. Fortunately, the ‘word ‘gets expressed into the field of unlimited possibilities. Thank you for being a messenger of the TRUTH! Dwight
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 12:23 pm
Thank you, Dwight. I love you too!
James Kelly on December 13, 2017 at 1:31 am
For me my own experience brought an answer to the question “Is form part of illusion?”
20 years ago, caught in the loop of the ego thought system, I came across ACIM. I picked up the idea that the world was an illusion from reading Kenneth Wapnick who became my greatest teacher of ACIM. The idea that my fearful world was actually an illusion, both comforted me and threatened my ego, and for this I am very grateful.
Years later my ego was still very much alive and very very uncomfortable walking around in a world of illusion – it wanted the world of fear to be real!
The disappearance of my ego came as I was reading ACOL. I had resisting reading it for years. Finally I was in an open loving place at the start of this year (2017), I was ready to take my next step.
It was an emotional, tender, heart opening step. I finally realised that the creation of this world was a loving choice, a perfect choice as part of creation. At that moment there was no longer a hiding place for my ego because the world was no longer an illusion or fearful.
With ACIM my ego was “shaken, not stirred.” With ACOL my ego was stirred from its uncomfortable hiding place in a world of illusion. This shift occurred by “making” the illusion real, the ultimate “sin” for many ACIM teachers. I sense that Kenneth is laughing with me as I write these words. What a paradox – the letting go of my ego (sin) happening by realising the loving reality of form!
I think I understand that for Mari and perhaps many others reading ACIM, the idea of the world being an illusion was not a necessary or helpful step in the process of threatening the ego. It was for me, and yet my frightened ego was still able to hide within that metaphysical idea. Now it has gently disappeared with the idea that the world of form is a perfect expression of love and in fact always was.
ACIM and ACOL both ask us to move beyond their words to an experience of knowing. So I move from quoting Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, to Rumi:
“Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there…”
Mari your brave words are indeed brave in ACIM circles and yet as natural as breathing to many more who will be attracted to ACOL. I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet with you (and others), not as a pupil and you in the role of a teacher, but as creators of the new. For others, maybe Gary Renard, ACIM is perhaps all that is needed, I at least like to think that this was true for my last and dearest teacher, the late Kenneth Wapnick.
Mari on December 13, 2017 at 12:38 pm
James, you have used my favorite Rumi quote! Beyond that, thank you for sharing a first for me: the illusion as a necessary or helpful step in the process of threatening the ego. I am very surprised and pleased to hear of this. And so here we are, out in the field beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing. This is a lovely, gentle sharing for all of us creators of the new.
James Kelly on December 22, 2017 at 5:35 am
It never occured to me, that the illusion is a helpful step in the process of threatening the ego, until I started writing the comment. I love when that happens – creating the new together!
Jeffrey Gilbert on December 15, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Love it! I’m reminded of the “creation of the new” and can feel the loop is just repeating predetermined definitions we have collectively agreed upon (example for me is boring business models, not caring for self or others, not able to see the sparkle in the flower or child). I’m more convinced each day that God or Life (in Conversations with God and the Bible for that matter it says they are the same thing!) is everywhere! The less I worry about “illusion” or not the more I can live. I used to worry about becoming too engaged in illusion, kinda became a monk “observing all thoughts,” but something is growing in me, maybe seeing the neutrality of everything which in turn allows everything to be molded by consciousness. Reminds me of the Lego Movie when “The Special” is brought into the Creator Space and it is all a blank white screen. And then out of his thoughts comes a double deck couch.
Sure, to know death (and in turn the body) is not real is helpful in being able to have a wider view, but neglecting or rejecting the physical on the one hand perpetuates solidity and on the other hand distances an expressive state into a static state. I just keep feeling illusion is non expressive and Reality is creative. And so it will be NOW and forever. As well as ACOL…
Conversations With God has helped me see how Reality can influence all facets of life (education, politics, sex). Pamela Kribbe (jeshua.net) has helped me accept “the dark” and not reject the physical as illusion separate from her. Her channelings from the earth are very beautiful. I’ve been going up to Washington to hang with Judith Coates (oakbridge.org) where for me hearing Jeshua talk about his life takes away the intensity of feeling a need to dissociate. About A Course in Miracles he said through Judith that he helped author it to give to a person that is mind focused and to ultimately frustrate the mind so they will put it down and say it is impossible and it is then the heart can have precedence. Or as ACOL says, ACIM was written for the mind and ACOL for the heart. I know this was my experience having gone through Bible college and havibg had revelations of our perfection. ACIM brought a clarity to certain doctrines such as the cross, the last judgement, hell, etc., which helped validate the love of God. And the Workbook was helpful (though sometimes every 10 minutes say “I am not a body I am free I’m still as God created me” kept me from being present). But as I felt the heart of unity I was able to allow Oneness the Be the Source which causes the experience. And that freed me from seeking to be one to just being one. Which is where I feel A Course of Love comes in. It was amazing reading ACOL and seeing my experience wasn’t unusual but as it says “when you seek where are you while you seek” and how the time of the holy spirit was an us relating to an other god but the time of Christ is where we just are. And then hints at the time of Mary in the 40 days as the next wave where we will not even have to do but just be. “Mother Mary said to me some simple words of wisdom… Let it be”
What I enjoyed about ACOL is it did not feel like it was rejecting but if anything accepting and ascending. Hence it speaks of holding the time of Christ and the time of Mary simultaneously. Reminds me of the parable about letting the wheat and the tares to grow together. And this loving embrace is what in ACOL firstly helped me feel known and then gently offered a path for the tares (unbeneficial thought) to simply drop with the overwhelming Reality of love. I used to think it was one or the other. Truth or falsity, reality or illusion, and I was pretty dogmatic mostly out of fear that I’d miss the Truth, but as I experience “Christ is all and in all” the experience of reigning in life that the apostle Paul spoke of becomes a living Reality. “The abundance of grace and the gift of (awareness of) righteousness causes you to Reign in life in Christ Jesus (which is now being revealed that we are)
So yeah thanks Mari for being bold and cheers to what comes next.
Mari on December 18, 2017 at 1:45 pm
Jeff, I just love this line: I just keep feeling illusion is non expressive and Reality is creative. How beautifully said. How True. Thank you for all that you shared about your life changes. I fully loved the words from “Let it Be” too! You rock, my friend.
Martin Pettet on December 16, 2017 at 5:15 am
What you don’t seem to understand about non-duality is that it is not just the world that is an illusion, but also the separated self, the sense of ‘I’ that appears to be experiencing it. in truth this ‘I’ does not exist. At death it will cease entirely. All belief in ‘afterlife’ (and incidentally also ascended masters and other such entities!) is merely an attempt to retain duality in other forms, and is just as illusory as anything in this world.
ACOL simply substitutes one ego, or separated self, for another, albeit a refined and ‘loving’ one. You want to have your cake and eat it too, to use earthly phraseology. And you can’t be in a separated universe and experience Truth because Truth is One. Everything else is illusion, including yourself, myself, Gary Renard, ascended masters, and even Jesus Himself. Yes, even Jesus is a symbol. Ken Wapnick said that, though he didn’t really understand non-duality and fell into his own logical trap in his formulation of it. Go instead to someone like Ramana Maharshi for the clearest exposition.
“Of all the thoughts that arise in he mind, the ‘I’ thought is the first. It is only after the rise of this that the other thoughts rise. It is after the appearance of the first personal pronoun that the second and third personal pronouns appear; without the first personal pronoun there will not be the second and third.”
Mari on December 18, 2017 at 1:47 pm
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on non-duality, Martin.
Jana Wilcox on December 20, 2017 at 2:46 pm
I love your comment made at the end because that has been my experience. I have been a student of ACIM for about 10 years and most recently a new friend recommended ACOL which has been so so lovely to me. I’m only on Chapter 27 but I cherish and have drank in everyone word. It’s so very lovely to feel understood and to read what I experienced and learned. I had 2 spiritual experiences one might consider a near death experience a week after I had my 2nd son. My question every day since then was how do I bring this heaven down to earth on the daily? We don’t have to die to experience this oneness and pure love. I just love ACOL because I’m finally reading in words something I have experienced directly and for that I am so very thankful. I myself have had a hard time articulating what I know. So to to read each word from ACOL feels like a warm hug from my dearest friend. So thank you – keep shining your light. The embrace chapter was so fantastic. I read it multiple times because to have been in that embrace was heaven and I find it stays with me more and more when I’m in service to love and see my brother as myself yes in unity. So actually, it was the very thing…feeling loved and beautiful and worthy in that moment that was healing and what returned me to my wholeness knowing we were one and the same. ACIM did help me to dismantle my fear and ego and only 27 chapters into ACOL it is helping me to live my life and what I experienced with an open heart without fear of retribution. I think of ACOL as a continuation on my journey. My heartfelt thanks for your courage to live and speak your truth. All my love, Jana
Mari Perron on December 22, 2017 at 6:53 am
Jana, I am so touched by this heartfelt sharing. I can “feel” your heart in it, and can understand how ACOL answered the yearning in your heart–because it did so for me. These are the feelings that make us “sisters” to one another, one family, one heart. Unity!
Judith Coates, channel for Jeshua, The Personal Christ. on December 27, 2017 at 4:18 pm
When the Light grows brighter, the darkness is seen for one brief moment. Keep shining, Mari. Your Light is much needed and appreciated. So happy to have met you many years ago.
Mari Perron on December 28, 2017 at 8:32 am
Judith, it is so nice to hear from you. I’m glad we connected all those years ago too! I love your simple, two-word expression of “keep shining!” I’ve been talking of “rising” lately, and I may like “shining” even better. Yes, let’s bring in the light!
Rosa on December 28, 2017 at 7:29 am
Love is formless, and yet it is eternally identified in form.
THE ONLY THING THAT’S GOING TO DISAPPEAR IS YOUR INTERPRETATION
OF CREATION.
There is talk of the disappearance of the Universe. It has presented itself
in the context of the teachings of A Course in Miracles. Let me just set
one thing straight. The only thing that is EVER going to disappear are sin,
sickness, and death–the mortality of the Universe–the potential for
deterioration of the Universe and anything in it. The capacity of any part
of the Universe to be so at odds with itself that it can become attached to
being self-destructive, which is what sin is, THAT is the only thing that
can disappear. Look forward to the disappearance of those. And let that
be enough said about that.
God treasures your attention. But you withhold your attention from Him
when you look at each other, or you look at any thing, and you give it a
different definition and choose to honor that definition. So you’ve
withdrawn your attention from God and you’ve given it to the definition
that you prefer to apply to that aspect of God, we’ll say. This application
of a definition to the Presence of God is the meaning of the word
“projection.” It’s that simple. You don’t have to get into deep
psychological explanations.
Now, it’s very important to understand that the lady that you’ve described
as beautiful, or the lady that you’ve described as elderly, or the
gentleman that you’ve described as fat, IS NOT a projection. What you’ve
CALLED THEM IS A PROJECTION, but what you’re seeing is not.
The world is not a projection of your ego. And the world and Universe will
not disappear when you stop projecting your private, personal definitions
upon them. What will happen when you stop applying your definition to
these things is that in the absence of the noise, the static of your thinking
processes, what everything is will have an opportunity to register with
you, because you won’t be making noise that you distract yourself from
Reality with.
~Raj/JESUS
Conducted by the Northwest Foundation for ACIM
I join with Judith Coates: Keep shining, Mari!
We love your Great Rays!
Love, Rosa
Sebastian Blaksley on December 28, 2017 at 8:32 am
Dear Rosa,
Thanks for your commitment with the Truth.
While reading your note, a great wind of light came to me remembering the following:… “The Truth will Set You Free…Free of all that is not part of Wisdom”. This is the truth that came to me …”The end of the universe is nothing other than the end of Ingnorance and the happy recognition of wisdom. The wisdom of the Heart. The wisdom that is Perfect Love”.
With Love,
Sebastian Blaksley
Managing Director
Fundación Un Curso de Amor
http://www.fundacionuncursodeamor.org
Mari Perron on December 28, 2017 at 8:39 am
Dear Rosa,
Is all you shared here from Raj/Jesus? I have not read Raz/Jesus, and I’m thrilled to hear this description of Reality. The last paragraph is stellar. Thank you so much for sharing it and for your encouragement! Let us ALL keep shining!
Rosa on December 28, 2017 at 8:59 am
Yes, all I shared here is from Raj/Jesus.
Receive All my Love!
Rosa
Rosa on December 28, 2017 at 9:14 am
Jeshua ben Joseph through Judith Coates did this remark:”And when I speak of the world, it is not the same as holy Mother Earth. The world has to do with worldly activities and the consciousness of the world, not the Earth. There is a distinction there.”
Jeshua
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