Category Archives: Awakening

A great deal of energy in the ACIM community goes into being right, which generally means proving others wrong. Or at least persuading them not to ask certain questions certain ways. It is painful, whatever side one takes. Of course, I have contributed to this demoralizing situation. How else would I know it? The damageContinue reading “In Cambridge, A Breeze”

Imagine that I bake you an apple pie. You tell a friend about it. You might describe the sight and smell of the pie on the table before you. Perhaps you describe the sound of steam hissing from the crust. You might even attempt to describe the taste as you eat it. These descriptions areContinue reading “Description vs. Injunction”

The universe appears to us as a big, complex, beautiful and terrifying thing and, in a nontrivial way, we are as much a part of that universe as anything else. Black holes, falling stars, dark matter, homo sapiens, maple leaves and house flies. We are made of the same material obeying the same laws. It’sContinue reading “The Universe We Are”

The other day I mentioned on a not-uncommon tension in Christianity: God is unknowable and ineffable and yet also, somehow, knowable (as loving, just, generous, et cetera). Does this tension adhere to A Course in Miracles as well? I think it doesn’t, at least not in such an obvious way. With respect to God andContinue reading “Given the Sea, Swim”

For a long time I wanted to be right about A Course in Miracles. Eventually, this desire was superseded by the recognition that what actually mattered was helpfulness. If studying Gary Renard was helpful to someone, what did it matter if I thought he was peddling lies? A focus on helpfulness is sustainable because inContinue reading “Helpful Spiritual Junctures”

Life does not require rehearsal: it executes itself perfectly continuously, never pausing to reconsider, never begging a do-over. This does not mean that our response will always be one of pleasure or amusement or enjoyment; it might be the opposite. But our response is just more of life happening: whatever label we assign it, it’sContinue reading “Life Requires No Rehearsal”