A Course in Miracles (ACIM) - 2

This posting is based on what I have learned from the "A Course in Miracles" seminar on the 23rd Dec 2007 in Singapore by Dr Aaron Lim. This seminar comprises a series of 6 lectures conducted one weekend every two months. This is third weekend lecture of the series. The notes here is covers only the Sunday session, as I could not attend on Saturday. The notes is written as in the first-person for easy reading, but it is not an ad-verbatim recording of what Dr Lim speaks during the seminar.
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Warning: This posting contains opinions that may be considered unacceptable by some people. If you are easily offended by unconventional views about religion and spiritualism, then DO NOT READ FURTHER THAN HERE. If you do, then do it at your own risk! If you do not agree with the views expressed below, it does not mean that you have not 'arrived', rather it just mean that you 'do not agree'. Meanwhile, try to be open. There are lots to discover about ourselves when we are open. Do feel free to leave comments. BELIEVING IS NOT NECESSARY!

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For those of you here for the first time, I would like to tell you that this is a 'free flowing' session. "A Course in Miracles" is not a religion and you don't have to believe, because it is your choice. And as you grow your beliefs will too change. Having 'no religion' is also a religion. The word 'religion' comes from the latin word 'religio' which means 'to unite'.

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However, contemplation is necessary. By that, you may like to think, "What if what he says is true? How would that make a change to my life?..."
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We must not try to change another person. They too have their own journey. We must honour their journey. Everyone's journey is different. It is better for us not to judge.

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I myself, as the eldest son, used to have this conditioned thinking that I must take care of all my younger brothers and sisters, as a result, they didn't grow. They got older, but not tougher. So, it was me who went out to borrow money for my father and my siblings. As a result, I was in debt for a long time. It wasn't pleasant to be in debt for a long time. That made me feel very angry, and I couldn't take it out on my parents, that in turn, made me even angrier. It took me a long time to realise that I shouldn't be taking care of them and that they will have to stand up on their own. By changing my thoughts, I changed my beliefs.

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Similarly, mothers are often their children worse spiritual enemy, because in the process of loving and protecting you, she made their children small.
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The Kingdom of Heaven and Hell are in me. Change my thoughts and I'm in a different Kingdom. Let me give you an example, when you smile, you smile for yourself. Many will smile back. But if you smile at others (and not for yourself) then you may get disappointed with some who doesn't smile back. Whereas, if you smile for yourself, it needn't matter. It also becomes a natural smile. So, you can see some people who are on a perpetual smile. They appear to be smiliing even when they are not.
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[Question: But isn't smiling for yourself egoistic?]
Yes, if what you mean by yourself is about your body. But if you smile for your inner self, then it is not ego.
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When we are born, we didn't have the concept of god. Believers bought the idea of god. So long as your belief is loving, all should be well. So we have more religions which ought to bring more love, more oneness...etc. But practically, this is not the case. This is due to ego and judgment.
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We all started our journey being the same - that is, 100% Love. Somewhere, we got lost. We got to identify ourselves with the body. But this body is just chemicals and is not us. It is like a car is not the same as its driver. A loving driver will keep his car well, whilst an unloving one will have it rusted and poorly maintained. So changing the car will not change anything, changing the driver does.
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It is also like changing handphones. I have just changed my handphone and just after a few days, I got to like it so much, I have forgotten about the old phone. And it is still the same person (me) using the phone and the phone set gave me the same functions. Similarly, changing bodies will not make the difference and the body itself cannot unite you with god. So, in most cultures, when people meet, there is some forwarding and closing up of the heads. This is intuitive of that only minds can be joined, bodies can't.

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We are all built in the image of god, but somewhere we got lost and started to have unloving thoughts. Unloving thoughts are due to fear.

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Our only journey is to return home - to 100% Love - to god, which is Love and Light. When that happens my Father and I are ONE.
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So ask ourselves, "Is this the purpose of my being? Is this the reason for my being or is this incidental to my being?" For instance, yesterday since I am in Singapore, I visited Orchard Road to enjoy the Christmas lightings, it was a pleasurable trip, but is this my reason for being? Our reason for being is to return home. We can't do that unless our "Father and I are one". That is the meaning of being "holy" (as in 'whole'), without separation between form and soul. Highly englightened beings does not separate themselves from all beings, including themselves and the animals, plants, rocks...etc. Mother Teresa said of the people she was serving that she didn't see sick people, but only Christ in distress.

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The Jews who tortured Jesus did not know what they were doing, as they are not aware of the repurcussions of their actions. So it is important to do everything lovingly, as loving actions will have loving results. Being aware means that we are no longer sleeping.

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[Question: In the book, we read about the mind, is this a physical mind or the (meta-physical) mind?]

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There is no such thing as the physical mind. The brain is physical and it can be studied, but it is difficult to research on the mind. It is like if I go into a car and if I see long strands of hair, I would think that the driver may be someone with long hair, then I see some sweet wrappers and infer that he or she also likes these sweets. Then with further clues, we get an indication of the driver, but it is difficult to know who the driver is.

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The soul expresses itself through the mind and it has no limits. While ego has its purpose, it has its limits. For instance, Singapore is a beautiful city that arises from planning, which comes from thoughts. But all these does not exist when you die. It has its limits.

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ACIM can be a dangerous course if after attending you think you are better than others. If you think so, then you are played into your ego. Some religions do that by making you think you are more chosen. It is easier to see such egoistic practice in religion, but in spirituality it is less obvious .

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How does love expresses itself?

It expresses itself as patience, kindness, compassion, empathy, understanding...etc

Love unexpressed is of no use.
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In the world of infinite possibilities, why do you want to give a meaning that hurts you? Or a meaning that feeds your ego. Joan of Arc saw the sword and she interpreted it as a sign to take up arms against England. Why did she interprete that? There are many other ways that she could have interpreted the sword. Why didn't she interprete something that serves her or is more loving? In the end, she got burned on a stake.

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Similarly, in one of the ACIM classes in Kuala Lumpur, as I told the audience that God doesn't need us to worship Him. Then, at that instance, there was loud thunder and lightning. Someone in the audience then exclaimed playfully that God must be angry! But should it be the case? Thunder and lightning can also be seen as applause! While the member of the audience was just saying it in jest, it showed that he is conditioned to think of lightning as punishment. So give a meaning to things such that is loving and that would serve you to be joyful.

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[Subsquently, there were several other claps of thunder and lightning as the rain stormed down outside the classroom, amid the moonsoon season in Singapore. We had a few chuckles about the subjects that Dr Aaron happened to speaking about when it thundered. ]

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Yesterday, I took a walk along the Kuan Yin Temple near here. Outside, I saw these lotus flower sellers. They were so coarse, spewing profanities...etc. The lotus flower symbolises a bud that grows from the muddy and turbid waters, and despite being attacked by insects in the water, came up blooming beautifully above the water. Yet, these sellers are oblivious of what they are selling, spewing profanities liberally. Then I thought, "Isn't this what is happening to many of us everyday? Selling things we don't really understand the deeper meaning about?"

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Buddha said that things arises when the conditions are there for it to arise. In the transition from one thought form to another thought form, often guilt arises. Loving someone does not always mean that you have to be with that person. We should not be doing things because we 'must' or we 'should', but we love to. Even if we depart from people, we should depart from them with love. Even divorce with love.

[This sound like an oxymoron, so during the break, I actually asked someone who is divorced if that is possible. She told me that it is.]

This is for anyone else but our own sake. Otherwise, we will suffer, because it is not our nature not to love.

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Your being on Earth is to be loving without judgment.

For instance, when I visit my sister, I join her in her (religious) incense paper burning rituals, even though I don't believe in what she is doing. I know she needs to burn those papers, because she believes in it, and if she doesn't do it, she will be immediately uncomfortable.

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In the world of illusion, our thoughts are real to us. If you want to learn about listening to people, watch "Larry King Live". He is attentive to every word the interviewees say. That means there is no other thoughts in his mind while he is listening to the interviewee.

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When I first met Japanese people, I thought that they are people that easily agree with everything, because they kept nodding their heads and saying "Hai, hai, hai...". Then later, I realised their nodding and "hais", did not mean agreement but acknowledgement. We don't have to agree with everyone, but still we can acknowledge what they say.

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Some people when accused of something, or verbally attacked, will become very defensive. Watch your emotions next time you are 'attacked'. Watch to see if you get very defensive and even angry. If you really know that you are not guilty, there is really nothing to defend and therefore nothing to be angry about.

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Defence is a form of attack, so the accusing party ends up feeling attacked too. Typically, a conversation like this goes on...

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A: "You said....."

B: "No, I didn't..." (Straight away, A feels attacked, since B denied and defended.)

B could have answered the following...

B: "Oh, really ah? I can't remember, but I should be more careful in future."

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There's no absolute reality in the physical world. Everything is based on another person's perception.

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Speak our words lovingly. For instance, you go to a wedding and you meet the bride, groom, guests, had a great meal and see lots of gala, but during the dinner, someone complimented you on your attire and you remember that more than anything else. After some time, that is all you remembered. This is because Love is all that is real.

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I went to Catholic schools when I was a kid. That was about 50 years ago. I remember one of the priest from France. He is a loving man, but I feel his love is limited to Catholics. In one of his sermons, he spoke about idol worship among the Buddists and that it was devil worship. Then I looked around and saw statues everywhere in the church and challenged him on the difference between the statue of Buddha and the statues in the church. He replied that the statues in the church are different because they represent saints.

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[Side track]

During the time of Moses, he asked his people to destroy the Golden Cow. This Golden Cow represents the Age of Taurus. It was a bygone age, when Buddha came and taught his followers that there is suffering in life. Then came the time of Jesus, which heralded the Age of Pisces. He taught people to be loving. Every 2000 years there will be an alignment. We are now in the Age of Aquarius. This is symbolised as a pitcher of water. Water is the symbol of purity and also represents the extreme emotions that we go through.

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Jesus was the one to announce the Age of Aquarius: "a man will meet you carrying an earthen pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he goes in" (Luke 22:10; Mark 14:13.)

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From then, I became more rebellious. One day I asked the priest if god is everywhere and he said "yes".

"So if god is everywhere, there is nowhere that god is not?"

The Priest: "Yes"

"Then why not in the Buddhist temple?"

"Must I come to mass to talk to god?"

"Why can't I talk to god at home, in my bedroom or any other places?"

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Amid all the confusion and anger, I went up to St Paul's Hill in Malacca to quarrel with god.

I asked god that if we are all his children, then why does he have favourite children like the Jews. Why aren't there prophets that are Chinese?

Then I shouted to god to ask him to talk to me.

Then over time, things become clearer. Answers appeared before me in one form or another.

So ask and you shall be given. It won't happen overnight, but gradually, if you ask, you will understand bit by bit.

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[Question: Who are the anti-Christ?]

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To understand this question, we first have to understand what is meant by 'Christ'. 'Christ' means 100% Love. Anti-Christs are persons with separated minds, some thoughts loving some unloving. Anti-Christs don't need to have horns, they are you who have separated minds.

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Before we go for a break, I would like to leave you with this statement to contemplate:

"To join is to separate."

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[Lunch Break Chat]

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There are some in the Thesophical Society in Singapore who are very cautious about spiritual books that are not authored by the Society's members. They even feel that such books can be dangerous. I feel that it is the same as churches that see any teaching outside the Bible as dangerous and anti-Christ, or at worst, viewed as words of the devil.

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I know of another spiritual organisation that does not admit disabled members, as they are seen as having bad karma in their past lives. I am not comfortable with that, as alleged past deeds are past and if what they claimed are true, then aren't these disabled people already paying for their past deeds? And if they are already paying for their karma, then why continue punishing them? Conversely, don't they think these disabled people need more help and love?

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Personally, I am also not comfortable with organisations that worship their guru. Some gurus, I suspect, started off well, but ended up enjoying the worship and let their ego take over.

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However, there is a KuanYin group I know of that doesn't have a master or leader. The person that shares and facilitates discussions told me not to give him any titles. He said that once we start to have masters or gurus in spiritual organisations, it immediately sets a glass ceiling on the members seeking their spiritual paths. Everyone has their own path. Everyone's path is unique and not therefore not relative to that of a guru.

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I join the activities for all the four organisations above. I think I have learned a lot from them. I also think that all spiritual organisations have human imperfections and it is up to us to choose what we are comfortable with, and leave the rest that we do not agree with. Like a buffet.

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[Course resumes]

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By joining an organisation, you tend to exclude others who did not join. So in Boddhi Fellowship, we don't have memberships or fees. It is only for legal reasons that we register as an organisation.

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[Q:Why does Kuan Yin have 3 birthdays?]

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The three birthdays are:

1. Day of Birth

2. Day of Passing - when you pass from this world, you enter another world.

3. Day of Realisation - that you are with God

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[Q: Why does Kuan Yin have many hands?]

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They represent hands of compassion. It also depends on what they hold in each hand. For instance, one of the hands holds a book, which represents knowledge. Some hands have eyes, which represents caring for infinite beings.

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[Q: There is much mentioned about impermance in the book, yet you mention that there is no beginning or end to the Universe. So is there such thing as 'impermanence'?]

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Here, 'impermanence' refers to the physical world, not at the soul level.

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God cannot be found because it is the aggregate of the sum, however god can be understood. Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God.

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[Q: Do you believe in ascension?]

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Yes. Ascension is pumping up the love. Easy?

If you want to be loved, practise being lovable. Introduce love into your business and you see miracles happen.

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[Q: What do the Buddhist mean by 'going into heavenly realm'?]

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A Heavenly realm is a realm one is comfortable with.

The Bible says, "The home of my Father has many mansions, I shall go there to prepare a place for you."

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There are 31 planes of existence. If you are of 100% love, you can exist in any level or the 31 planes. However, if you are of a very low realm, you will be comfortable with only one or two realms above your current realm. So whichever realm you are comfortable in, is the heavenly realm.

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It is like the analogy of a building with 31 storeys. The top floor is the expensive and posh revolving restaurant, whilst the ground floor houses the cheap food court. For some people, they are more comfortable at the food court level. To these people, the revolving restaurant at the tope floor is not only too expensive and hence beyond reach, but also uncomfortable with dinner table etiquette and formalities.

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[Q: Page 32, Para 5, Sentence 11: Time is essentially a device by which all compromise in this respect can be given up...]

We have created time to separate. Time itself is not real and hence anything derived from or dependent on time are not real. Hence all compromise in this respect can be given up.

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[Q: Page 454, IV The Fear to Look Within - Can you elaborate?]

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Sometimes, it can be fearful to look within. Let's take this example. My father was a bad tempered person and growing up with him, I have also become a bad-tempered person. But whenever someone says I am like my father, I will defend myself against such a statement.

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We need ABC - Awareness Before Change and later Admit Before Change.

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Alcoholism is not a drinking disease. It is a thinking disease. It is also called the Stinking Thinking Disease. You would not give that to your body if you love it.

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The Holy Spirit will never teach that you are sinful. Love will not teach you this.

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The other day in Malaysia, a little three year old boy asked me if I know what is 'sin'. I told him that sin does not exist and asked where he learned about the word. He told me that he learned from his sister who is nine years old. When I confronted his sister, she said she learned it from her religious teacher.

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Then she asked me if I know about 'hantu' (ghosts) and then she also asked about Satan. Again, I asked where she learned all these things and she said that her religious teacher taught her so. She said that they were asked to kneel closely next to one another to pray so that Satan has no place in between. Hearing such ridicule, I asked the nine year old girl if she believe in such a thing and to my surprise, she said that she doesn't feel that what her religious teacher said is true. However, she said that if she disagrees with everyone then she has to pray alone and then, that would be worse because then there will be two spaces next to her for Satan to occupy. [Laughter!]

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Isn't this ridiculous? A religious teacher using fear to teach his students. It was so ridiculous that even a nine year old does not believe, but yet it has created fear in her. So, don't buy what people tell you unless you are convince of it yourself. Don't care if they are your religious teacher or anyone. Use your own heart to tell.

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And if you have to teach anything, teach only Love.

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[Q: What is guilt?]

Guilt is when you are not aligned with what you truly are.

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I have a lady from a rough working class origin who attended ACIM. She dresses and behave in her unrefined ways when she started the class. But as she went on, she started changing her dressing to become more neat and her behaviour more refined, so much so that eventually, her husband became uncomfortable with her. And then her children also became uncomfortable with her. Finally, she succumbed to pressure from her family and went back to her old ways and more (to compensate).

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About cleansing our thoughts:

When John Baptist was baptising Christians with water, some of them asked if he was the Messiah. He replied that he was not, as the Messiah will baptise them with fire (that will clean their thoughts).

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As long as there is a concept of god outside yourself, wars will be fought. In Buddhism there is no concept of god as in the monotheistic religions. Hence there is no Buddhist wars. No wars has been fought in the name of Buddhism.

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Jesus said, "There will be a day when they will call me name, 'Lord, Lord, Lord' but I will tell them I know them not".

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That means there will be people who will use the name of Jesus or God to fight and start wars, and God has no part in them.

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About teaching ACIM:

There is a group of 'devout ACIM students'. (Smiles) I call them 'devout' because they are very earnest about ACIM. Anyway, they have asked me what it takes to teach ACIM and if they have sufficient knowledge to do so.

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I told them that as long as they think they (personally) are teaching it, then they are not suitable to facilitate the course.

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In ACIM, the holy spirit teaches. You are not the doer. The teacher has to turn himself to the holy spirit.

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End.

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It was raining heavily when the course ended, so Din gave me a lift home in his van. But before we set off, he was busy dishing out bottles of mineral water to everyone who passed the van. As the last bottle was given out, I told the others that Din is the man with the water pitcher, and we are going 'upstairs' (ascension). *grins*

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Next ACIM class will be on 23 and 24 Feb 2008.