The Connecticut School Shooting and ACIM

My heart clutched with horror and grief when I heard about the Connecticut school shooting. I ached for the parents who lost their children, but, unable to tolerate that level of pain, I immediately surged forth with rage at political and societal factors I believed caused this tragic incident. I had plans to attend a Christmas gathering the next day and many of the attendees were of a different political persuasion than me. I found myself attacking them in my head. I hope one of your kids gets killed. Then maybe you won’t be so smug in your beliefs.

Appalled, I saw in myself the murderous thought system that A Course in Miracles says abides in all of us. I was no different than the shooter or the people I blamed for their “wrong” beliefs. Rage, boiling from within me, led me to wish death on loved ones! My rage was not caused by what appeared to happen in Connecticut. My rage was not caused by other people’s political agendas. My rage is my own, and I am the one who has to take responsibility for it.

A Course in Miracles tells us to pray to see things differently, so I did. The first words I heard were, “Lorri, there is no world! There is no world! There is no world! (W-132.6:2) (The miracle) looks on devastation and reminds the mind that what it sees is false.” (W-p.II.13.1:3) This calmed me down. Emotions are an ego device, designed to make the world seem real. They work well, for how can the world not be real when it feels so intense? The ego voice argued with the Holy Spirit. But if I don’t feel for the parents, if I don’t take political action to stop escalating gun violence, aren’t I being callous and complacent?

The Holy Spirit reminded me that action in the world, if we are guided to take such action, must be taken from a standpoint of love, not rage. Rage is a cover for fear and fear always stems from the ego thought system. My desire to point out my friends’ political insanity was clearly not coming from love. Our task as students of A Course in Miracles is to choose love over fear consistently. We have to choose Truth over illusion and not waver, because the second we believe in the false world we perceive, we’re in hell. Forgiveness is not callously denying the pain a brother thinks he is experiencing—it’s a blessing of sanity on an insane world. “(Forgiveness) looks on them with quiet eyes, and merely says to them, ‘My brother, what you think is not the truth.’” (W-134.7:5)

A Course in Miracles says there is no cause for the Connecticut shooting, because it is a dream of death being projected from our sick minds. A dream is an illusion. ACIM says the entire world is in our minds. It’s not out there! The only way violence, disease, poverty and injustice are going to stop is by healing our minds, for the mind is the source of the belief in separation. We have invented a world of chaos, murder and suffering because we think we’re separate from God. We think we’re shameful and guilty, but because facing that shame is unbearable, we project it onto others. “Do not forget, however, to deny God will inevitably result in projection, and you will believe that others and not yourself have done this to you.” (T-10.V.2:1)

When we remember God, we know we are the holy Son of God who cannot suffer. I thought I had faced my belief in separation, but there were deeper levels I was still defended against. My rage at the shooting was evidence that I continued to believe I was a body, vulnerable and capable of being attacked. The random shootings in public places left me frightened and feeling bereft without God in this terrible, cruel world. As the Course says, “The world provides no safety. It is rooted in attack.” (W-153.1:2-3) Our only safety is in our relationship with God. Our only peace is in not returning attack for attack, but choosing to forgive. Then we will wake up from our nightmare and be restored to our oneness with each other and God.

As I forgave those who held different opinions, forgave myself, and forgave the entire Connecticut tragedy, the sense of separation lifted. As I continued to pray for guidance and healed perception, I was reminded that the body’s eyes see only the past. (Lesson 7) What appears to be happening in the world is over and done. Every single person that appeared to be killed or peripherally hurt in the Connecticut tragedy is an eternal, holy Child of God. If you want to give a true gift to them, pray in a manner such as: “I see the Christ in You. You are a holy Child of God. You cannot suffer. You are as God created You. You are safe at home in Heaven now.”

This is the Truth of their Being, and of your own. To join in suffering perpetuates the illusion, but to join in Truth is to make whole.

Merry Christ-mass! May the Christ Self be born in your awareness this season.

Love, Lorri

Physical Healing with A Course in Miracles

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/poeticenergynetworkstation/2012/12/06/breaking-free-with-psychotherapist-lorri-coburn

Here is an hour radio episode in which I discuss physical healing with A Course in Miracles. I read from the book Gorgeous for God, by Lisa Natoli, an ACIM teacher who has had a positive influence on my spiritual growth. Her website is www.teachersofgod.org.

We discuss how healing occurs when we release the concept of linear time and move into the NOW. In the present moment you are spirit and you cannot be sick. When you learn to identify with your true identity as spirit, you shift dimensions and move outside of time and space. Miracles happen and you know that you are healed.

Does the Holy Spirit Act in the World?

Question about ACIM: Hi Lorri, In Acim it is said that God did not create this world and God does not even know about this world and that Holy Spirit does not operate within this dream to help us improve it. How then can those miracles be explained which occur when \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"normal\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" religious people (not students of acim) pray for something and really unbelievable things occur as a result when God has answered their prayers. And in Bible it is also said that we must pray and ask if we want to get something. If God does not know about this world how are these then to explain? They could not come from our mind because we do could not even imagine beforehand what might happen.

Soile

Dear Soile,

Thanks for writing. You mention that in ACIM it says God does not know of this world and the Holy Spirit does not operate in the world. There are passages in ACIM that could be interpreted this way, but there are many passages that suggest that God does know of this world and the Holy Spirit does take action in the world.

There are different schools of thought about the interpretation of ACIM. The school of thought noted in your question could be called “pure non-duality.” It can be understood most simply by the idea “God is, and nothing else exists.” God is Oneness, and in Oneness there can be no other thing. For God to know of anything outside Itself, there would have to be two things. This would then be duality, rather than non-duality.

There is another school of thought called “qualified non-duality.” This idea suggests God is in everything, and everything is interconnected, therefore it is all One. It’s all one energy or substance, and we are one with each other. We just appear separate. This thought system believes that God is in form, while the pure non-duality system cites the passage, “God knows not form.” (T-30.III.4:5)

Duality is the idea that people are on earth and God is somewhere out there, separated from us. Duality is the condition of opposite states, such as light and dark, male and female, heaven and hell.

A Course in Miracles is written on all three levels, so whatever a person believes about God, he can find an answer in the Course. Often when we start studying the Course we believe we are individuals, separated from God, and we pray to God/Goddess for help. As we progress on our spiritual journey, we come to understand God is within us, and we are part of God. We no longer pray to someone out there, but we access God within. Further along in our understanding, many people grasp the concept that there is nothing but God, and we are It. This is an abstract concept that usually only comes when we have sufficiently cleared away ego blocks to its awareness. At this point we realize the ego, bodies, and the physical world do not, and have never, existed. The only prayer is one of joy and gratitude for eternal union with Love. We know we have no needs, for we are the Christ Self which is completely whole and home with God.

In the meantime, while we think we are separate individuals with separate bodies, A Course in Miracles suggests we pray to the Holy Spirit for our specific needs. Jesus, in writing the Course, knew that we do not believe we are whole. If we did, we’d have no need for help. The Course states, “His Voice (the Holy Spirit’s) will direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to know.” (T-1.I.4) “The Holy Spirit will answer every specific problem as long as you believe that problems are specific. His answer is both many and one, as long as you believe that the one is many.” (T-11.VIII.5:5-6) Note that this answers both in duality and non-duality. It says as long as we think we’re people who have needs, we’ll be answered specifically. But it also suggests that when we awaken, we’ll realize we have no needs, for the One is not separated into many parts.

The Holy Spirit’s specific answers are what give us miracles, whether someone is an ACIM student or of another religious persuasion. The Holy Spirit is really your Higher Self, your inner connection to God. When you tap into that, miracles happen. It does not matter what religious rules you follow. If you believe in God’s love and help, you will receive them. The important thing is to believe.

A Course in Miracles states that miracles remain at the level of perception, where they are needed. What that means is when we think we are separate from God, we need miracles to help us get home. However, there is no world outside of our mind, therefore in truth, there is no world for the Holy Spirit to help us with. That's why some teachings emphasize that the Holy Spirit does not take action in the world. When we know that we are the mind of God, outside of time and space, we need nothing. Perception and miracles happen in the world of form. Yet God is formless, changeless and eternal. This is pure non-duality, and this is outside of time and space.  

I hope this answers your question. Feel free to contact me again if you need clarification. Don’t worry if this is confusing. It took me years to grasp these concepts, and I still get confused at times.

Blessings,

Lorri

Watching a Loved One Die

I knew the day would come. But now that it’s here I’m still devastated.

My dad sat at the slot machine, bewildered, pointing to the row of four fruits, asking what they meant. He tried to touch the machine next to him, thinking it would make his machine work. He didn’t know which buttons to push, so he just pushed all of them. “I don’t know what to do,” he said, plaintively, his eyes beseeching me for answers.

I’ve been taking my dad to the casino for the past eight years, every week since he lost his driver’s license. Tears stream as I write this, knowing I won’t be taking him back.
He won $335, the most he’s ever won since I’ve been taking him. I guess that’s a fitting way to go out. But he didn’t even realize he’d won big—he was just confused.

My dad’s dementia has been a huge forgiveness issue for me. It’s made the lessons of A Course in Miracles all the more pertinent, as I witness his body slowly waste away. It’s a general lesson in the non-importance of the body. Our society tries to keep these bodies alive at all costs, completely missing the point that the body is not the home of Spirit. I’ve been taught the body is a sacred miracle. To that I respond, “Have you been to a nursing home lately?”

A Course in Miracles tells us that we are mind, not bodies. It “re-minds” us to “remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God. When you forget this, you will despair and you will attack. (T-9.VIII.5) This has been of great comfort to me as I watch my dad, my hero, reduced to pooping his pants several times a day, no longer able to complete a coherent sentence, and unable to formulate a four-letter Scrabble word. He used to regularly use all seven tiles.

I let the tears flow, but still remind myself I’m seeing an illusion. When I think we are these bodies, I am attacking my true Identity. It’s all in the mind and I am projecting a world of loss and separation in which it appears that my beloved father can struggle and die. I am grateful that the Course tells me that a loving God did not create this scenario. Instead, I’m dreaming it and can change my mind with the Holy Spirit’s help.

One of my favorite lessons from the Workbook is # 284: I Can Elect to Change All Thoughts that Hurt. It reads, “Loss is not loss when properly perceived. Pain is impossible. There is no grief with any cause at all. And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream. This is the truth.”

As I repeat this over and over, Truth dawns in my awareness. I can never lose my dad. Minds are joined, bodies are not. The form of my dad’s body (and mine) has never been real, but the reflection of love is what’s real behind the form. Indeed, love is the only thing that’s real. He and I will always be connected, for he and I are one.

I write more about how we can wake up from the nightmare of loss in Breaking Free: How Forgiveness and A Course in Miracles Can Set You Free. You can read previews or order it from my website or from Amazon. www.lorricoburn.com

May your losses be transformed into love. Blessings, Lorri Coburn

Toss Your Resolutions

You know you’re going to break them. You do it every year. So why not try your resolutions the Course in Miracles way? What’s that? The easy way. You forgive yourself for your flaws, and then your Higher Self breaks through and effortlessly takes care of the problem. When we are in the flow of divine love, change is easy, delightful and carefree.

Usually New Year’s resolutions involve putting your nose to the grindstone and giving something up. Most resolutions come from a withering sense of failure. Our determination to change only lasts awhile, until we are beset with recurring self-criticism. Permanent change doesn’t come from pumping ourselves up with affirmations and visualizations focused on obtaining things. Those can help move us along, but the only lasting change comes from loving ourselves. But how do we love ourselves when at our core there is massive self-hatred? Our self-hatred goes way deeper than we even realize. The self-loathing we are conscious of is only the tip of the iceberg. Affirmations are done consciously but they often don’t attend to the unconscious maliciousness that’s running the show. Affirmations to be healthier and wealthier may make us feel better for awhile, but then the subconscious snake springs forth to bite us. Many of us have worked for years on our financial prosperity, our health, and our relationships with minimal progress. That’s because we use positive energy to combat negative energy. In this world of duality, where there are always opposite sides to every condition, both sides have to eventually show up. We stay positive, positive, positive only to get frustrated and give up.

A Course in Miracles gets us around this trap, this never-ending cycle of positive and negative swings. The primary tool is to forgive ourselves for thinking we are small, separate selves, born to die, struggling every day to make our way in a difficult world. We are dreaming we’ve lost our connection to God, but we can wake up. We are the holy children of God and we don’t have to sacrifice and struggle. When we forget who we are, the One Self, we think we’re flawed, lacking, and alone. This makes us scared and we do all sorts of things to ward off our fears. We are afraid of not having enough money, so we make a resolution to put more money into our IRA. We are afraid of getting sick, so we resolve to cut out sugar. We are afraid our relationship will fail, so we resolve to stop saying mean things.

Then we break our resolutions and feel worse than before. The only thing we ever need to do is forgive ourselves for forgetting who we are. Then everything else falls in place. A Course in Miracles reminds us in Lesson 96, “Although you are one Self, you experience yourself as two; as both good and evil, loving and hating, mind and body. This sense of being split into opposites induces feelings of acute and constant conflict, and leads to frantic attempts to reconcile the contradictory aspects of this self-perception.” Hence, we affirm, visualize and make affirmations to change our circumstances in a desperate attempt to improve ourselves. But those things won’t bring lasting healing because attempts to change the body or the world are a denial of Truth. “Until you have accepted this (that you are Spirit only, not both Spirit and a body) you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot reach. If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.”

How do we forgive ourselves? Forgiveness is an attitude, so we can do it through anything that reminds us of our True Nature. We can say, “I forgive myself for identifying with my small self. Holy Spirit, help me to see my True Self. I choose love instead of fear.” Forgiveness does not attempt to change the outer world, but to change the mind that is dreaming it is a body in a fearful world. Then problems that appear to be outside of ourselves automatically clear up. When we ask the Holy Spirit to change our perceptions, the world will appear to change, because we have chosen love instead of fear.

This year be kind to yourself. Forgive those New Year’s resolutions before you make or break them. Your only task is to recognize your divinity, fully own it, and let the Holy Spirit take care of the details. This is the easy way. Plus it’s the only way that ultimately works.

There’s more information about finding your True Self in my book Breaking Free: How Forgiveness and A Course in Miracles Can Set You Free. It is available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon and at www.lorricoburn.com.

By Lorri Coburn, MSW