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One of the great gifts one can offer another in this form of life is whatever helps to save time. DU is a great gift indeed. Thankyou Gary.

Hey guys, Having attended a couple of workshops of Ken's, I'm inspired by reading about his gig in Atlanta. It brings it all back. And if you want to go from the sublime to the well, not as sublime, I'm happy to give you the details of the workshops I'm doing in New York in October. I'm teaming up with Jon Mundy, so his experience will offset my immaturity. Jon's been speaking in public for 42 years, and I've been speaking in public for about 42 minutes. Hmmm, this should be interesting. I do promise to share my experiences and not compromise on the teachings, and also, as Arten and Pursah might say, "Have fun!" Here are the details: Oct. 11 and Oct. 12, Rock Tavern, NY and New York City, 2 separate 1 day workshops on my Course related book, "The Disappearance of the Universe" both featuring Jon Mundy and myself. Sat. Oct. 11, Unitarian Church in Rock Tavern, near Newburgh, NY, 10am-6pm with a lunchbreak, $50 in advance, $60 at the door. Sun. Oct 12, same price and hours, NIP (National Institute for Psychotherapies) 330 W 58th St. at Columbus Circle in Manhatten. For more info or to register, please call Jon at 845-496-9089. BULLETIN!: For those of you in New England, it has just been confirmed there will also be a workshop on "The Disappearance of the Universe" Sat. Sept. 6, with yours truly flying solo for my very first workshop. Make history near Boston at Vicki Poppe's house (there's a delicious lunch included with this one) 140 Adams St. in Quincy, MA. Vicki has the biggest Course group in the Boston area, and wanted to host my first workshop. It will be from 10am to 5pm, $50 in advance or at the door. For more info or to register please call Vicki at 617-472-1443. I hope to meet you!

Hi Everyone, I am a new member and would like to say "Hi" to everyone! I have not gone through all the postings yet, but have really enjoyed what I have seen:-) I found that the book has been a revelationary experience for me and lead me to begin taking the course. I am particulary interested in what the course tells us about healing and teaching. So in that regard, when trying to explain to others, what the course involves I find myself getting bogged down in my own rhetoric. Until I came across a summary of the course at another site, which I find to be very lucid and helpful. So I have taken the liberty of uploading this summary to the files section in a folder named "ACIM Notes". My intention is to make this available to others who may want a short concise summary of what the course is about. As for Gary's book, I refer people to the publisher's website where there a posting of an interview with Gary. If the moderator wishes to remove the file or give me heck for posting it - that is OK with me:-) I would also like to say Hi to several friends who I see are already here:-) Blessings to all, Nels

There has been such great topics and I read them all and comments....love it, wish it could be more spontaneous like the ACIM Chat Room but then....as being an observer just thanks to all. GP -Rob

Dear Gary, Thank you for writing this book! I have been studying/teaching ACIM since the early 80's. I wonder if your teachers aren't working with us as well because I have been blown away by the examples they use and the way they say things. We speak the same "language" and have used so many of the same examples that it is uncanny. I read about this book in Jon Mundy's newsletter and I just knew I had to read it. I generally shy away from books about the Course because I felt, "I have the Course.... what else do I need?" I am much more focused now and determined to get this thing right after the loving direction of Arten and Pursah. Thank You and Arten and Pursah! Suzanne Bruder Germantown, TN

This is from Ken Wapnick's Workbook lesson commentaries Volume VI. Tape (2) It is actually the prayer in the lesson 243, and it talks about our oneness with each other. (W-243.2.) "Father, today I leave creation free to be itself." Ken: In other words I accept the oneness in all of us. I accept the fact that we all share the same interest and need and purpose. "I honor all its parts, in which I am included. Ken: I honor all the parts of the Sonship. I don't attack anyone. I don't elevate any one, into a special love idol. I see everyone as being an equal part of the same unity. Including myself. "We are one because each part contains Your memory," Ken: We all share the same right mind. We all share the same Holy Spirit. "and truth must shine in all of us as one." Ken: If it doesn't shine in all of us, it's not the truth. So everything that people have taught is the truth through out history, and have killed in the name of that truth, is a lie, because it doesn't include everyone. Whether you are talking about a religious system, an economic system, or a political system, a social system, it always excludes. My way is right. My teacher is right. My spiritual path is right. And yours is wrong. That automatically means, it is not the truth. It maybe my path and it works for me, but it's no more true than anyone else's. So don't make that mistake with the Course either. Don't use the Course as a weapon against other people...... ~ Martha :-)

FYI: As far as I know, no one is moderated on this list. However, it is not my group. I didn't start it and I don't have any control over it. I cannot edit, delete or affect what is on the board. It was started by a guy named Nelson, but he is a different Nels than someone of a similar name who has posted there recently. The founders e-mail address is YoungNel97@... As Patrick said in his announcement that he sent out to readers of my book: I personally do not believe in controlling what anyone else has to say and have never done so, not even on my old board where I would have had the power to do so. I don't know what happened to a couple of the posts here, but I imagine it's possible that Yahoo had a technical screw up, which has happened before. If you'd like to ask the founder any questions, please feel free. Love and peace, Gary.

Suzanne wrote: >In addition to our ACIM groups we have a bookstudy group and guess what book we are starting next week :) Thank You AND Arten and Pursah! Suzanne Bruder Germantown, TN Thank you, Suzanne, and welcome! I'm really happy you've found the book to be helpful, and on behalf of myself, as well as Arten and Pursah, I appreciate your kind words. I'm also honored that you and your bookstudy group would use "The Disappearance of the Universe" at your meetings. I hope you'll let us know how it goes. Love and peace, Gary.

Dear Gary, Thank you for writing this book! I have been studying/teaching ACIM since the early 80's. I wonder if your teachers aren't working with us as well because I have been blown away by the examples they use and the way they say things. We speak the same "language" and have used so many of the same examples that it is uncanny. I have generally shied away from books about the Course because I felt, "I have the Course.... what else do I need?" But I saw this mentioned in Jon Mundy's newsletter and I felt compelled to read it. I am much more focused now and determined to get this thing right after the loving direction of Arten and Pursah. In addition to our ACIM groups we have a bookstudy group and guess what book we are starting next week :) Thank You AND Arten and Pursah! Suzanne Bruder Germantown, TN

One of my favorite sections from the Workbook. So I thought I would share this. Again.... This is taken from Ken Wapnick's tape series on the Lessons of the Workbook. Volume VI, tape (1.) 1. What Is Forgiveness? (W-pII.1.) "Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven." Ken: This is probably one of the most central ways in which the Course departs from every other spiritual system, many of which would emphasize our forgiveness of each other. But in the Course, Jesus is making it clear, that we forgive our brothers for what they have not done. In other words, since there is no world, and every one is simply a figure in the dream there is no one who could truly do anything. And the ultimate meaning of this, is that we forgive ourselves for what we have not done. We just believe that we have separated from God and destroyed His kingdom. In truth, nothing happened. So as I have said many many times, that there is no way that you could understand or practice this Course, without first understanding its underlining metaphysics. And so to understand the meaning of forgiveness, means - that you must understand that there is literally nothing to forgive. On the practical level of our daily experience, what forgiveness means - is, that what has not occurred, is that you have not taken away the peace of God. So - forgetting for the moment, that this is an illusion and we are not even here, even on the level of my experience of being here, and being involved with you, my difficulties all stem from the thought, that I am accusing you of having done something, or failed to do something, which took my peace away. So I forgive you for what you have not done. Because the only one who could take the peace of God away from me, was myself. "What is sin, except a false idea about God's Son?" Ken: Sin is not a fact. It is simply a mistaken thought. Basically it comes from the mistake in believing what the ego told us is the truth, and the Holy Spirit has lied. And the false idea about God's Son, is that God's Son is not this glorious Self of Christ, created by God, but that self rather is a separated being, that we give a name too. "Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go." Ken: As we will see in just a minute, this is the key theme of what forgiveness is. That it looks on the ego, and realizes that there is nothing to forgive. So that you cannot forgive without first looking at what is false. You don't have to deal with what is true. You look at what is false. You look at it. All of your false perceptions. All of your grievances. All of your investments in specialness. And realize that they are not what you thought. That you do not know your own best interests. What you thought would make you happy, which would always come at someone else's expense, was simply not true. But you won't know it is not true, until you first look at it. And the purpose of a relationship with Jesus, as I have repeatedly said - is to be in his loving presence - which allows you to share his vision and use his eyes, so that you could realize again, in the end that there is nothing to forgive. "What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God." Ken: So what forgiveness does - is undo the false and what remains, is the truth that is always present in our minds. Now, paragraph 2 and 3, talk about what the opposite is. What an unforgiving thought does. And basically what he is talking about here, is, the unforgiving thoughts I hold towards you. And how this is a defense against the ultimate unforgiving thought that I hold towards myself for having destroyed Heaven. (to be continued) ..........

Lesson 246, "To love my Father, is to love His Son" This is from Ken Wapnick's Workbook lesson commentaries Volume VI. Tape (2) (W-246.1.&2) "Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my heart. Let me not try to hurt God's Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self." Ken: To truly mean that I love God, and that I want to return to Him, how could I then harbor grievances against someone else? Which means, that when I harbor grievances against someone else, I am really saying that I don't love God. And that is what you clearly have to see. If you are clear, that the only way that you could love God, is to see no separation in His Son. Then that means when you see separation in the Son, in terms of indulging your specialness at someone else's expense, or justifying your anger, it automatically means I don't want to remember God. And that is what honesty means. You must look at that thought and then understand "of course I don't want to remember God." If I remember God I cease to exist. Therefore the only I could continue to exist is to keep God away. And the way I keep God away is to attack His Son. Ergo... I am always finding fault with people. And in that prayer of that lesson, in the beginning, we read: "I will accept the way You choose for me to come to You, my Father." Ken: This goes back to that lovely prayer that ends lesson 189, and this theme comes up over and over again: "Father, I do not know the way to you but you have called and I will follow." And so we don't go our way back to God. We choose His way. And what is His way? His way is to forgive His Son. And His Son is everyone that I look upon or think about past, present, or in the future. My way is to do all kinds of insane things. I pray more. My life is full of devotions. I suffer. I sacrifice. I read holy books. That is our way. It is not God's way. God's way is that we look upon God's Son as one, without attack. (the end) Peace Martha

This is taken from Ken Wapnick's tape series on the Lessons of the Workbook. Volume VI, tape (1.) 1. What Is Forgiveness? part 3. Paragraph 4. (W-pII.1.4&5.) "Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still," Ken: And we will see, by the way in the lessons to come, how often Jesus talks about our being still. We have seen it other times and we will see it here too. And actually all of this is really coming from that famous beginning of Psalm 46. "Be still and know that I am God." And that line is referred to very often through out the Course. To be still, means that I silence the raucous shrieking of the ego. "Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still, and quietly does nothing." Ken: It is the ego that tries to do. Doing was not something that was God's creation, or the Holy Spirit's correction. Doing, is what the ego did. I destroyed God - which is heavy doing. And then I have to do like crazy to protect myself from being destroyed back. So - forgiveness doesn't do anything. Jesus doesn't do anything. The Holy Spirit doesn't do anything. The right mind doesn't do anything. All of these - merely look. And they look at falsity and realize this is nothing but an idle dream, that has had no effect. "It offends no aspect of reality, nor seeks to twist it to appearances it likes." Ken: This - obviously is unlike what unforgiveness does. "It merely looks, and waits, and judges not." Ken: That is probably a line that I quote more frequently than any other. That is what forgiveness does. It merely looks at the ego thought system. It waits patiently for us to change our minds. And above all it doesn't judge. It doesn't judge the ego's of others. It doesn't judge the ego of myself. It simply looks at it and says: "isn't that a silly thought." Isn't this a silly behavior that comes from a silly thought. It is not evil. It is not sinful. It is not wicked. It is simply silly. Because it will " He who would not forgive must judge, for he must justify his failure to forgive." Ken: So - I have not forgiven myself in my mind. Which is my guilt. And I project that out, and now I protect that lack of forgiveness in myself by not letting anyone off the hook. So, I see the sin in you, and then rather than undo them in myself, I try to undo them in you - by punishing you for it. Which means - I keep you as the sinner. And I am not really doing anything. But deep down, I am reinforcing the sin in myself. So the judgment in this case would be a synonym, with an unforgiving thought. That is why we have such a tremendous need to judge and criticize and find fault. ''But he who would forgive himself must learn to welcome truth exactly as it is." Ken: All that we have to do, is accept forgiveness that is already held for us in our right minds by the Holy Spirit. Right near the end of the workbook is a wonderful line: "we are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth." And the way we give welcome to the truth, is to finally turn our backs on the untruth. To say, the illusion is not what I want, what I want is the truth. "Do nothing, then, and let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him Who is your Guide, your Savior and Protector, strong in hope, and certain of your ultimate success." Ken: This is like the section in chapter 18: "I need do nothing." This doesn't mean that behaviorally that you don't do anything. He is making it very clear. You let the Holy Spirit guide you in terms of what you do. And it is not that He specifically tells you what you should do, even though that maybe your experience. It's His love would automatically reflect itself through you and your body would simply do what the content of that love is saying. "He has forgiven you already, for such is His function, given Him by God." Ken: In other words, the Atonement Principle is already present in us. "Now must you share His function, and forgive whom He has saved, whose sinlessness He sees, and whom He honors as the Son of God." Ken: So, just as we have been forgiven, by the Holy Spirit for what we have not done, we are asked to share that with others. To share that others,

Hi Suzanne: I don't know what happened to that last message, because it had an attachment with it. I hope it is not something that I was doing wrong. But I am interested in your groups. Are you the leader? And how long have you been teaching? Personally, I just did most of my studying alone. Although, I think I bought every tape and book that was ever put out about the Course. Right now, as you can probably tell I am studying along with Ken's tapes. He is a fast talker, even though he tends to be on the quiet side, and I find that in order to get what he is saying, I often need to go over it several times. Or, write it down. ~ Martha :-)

Hiya. I just got back to Maine from a big cook-out and fireworks in Massachusetts and I've read some but not all of the postings and wanted to say thanks to everyone. This is fun. First, for Suzanne, I wanted to mention that if you click on "Edit Your Membership" you can try unchecking the box that says something like, "receive e-mails." That should stop all the messages from going to your e-mail address (hopefully). Click instead on "no e-mails". Also, I haven't read everything yet, but I wanted to comment briefly on Ken and my book. My understanding is that because of Ken's unique position, it's a policy of his to not endorse other books. For that reason he does not publicly express an opinion on "Disappearance". I will say that he's always been very nice to me, and his generousity in allowing me to use hundreds of quotations from the Course in the book is obvious. I've met Ken twice, both times while attending workshops in Roscoe, NY when the Foundation for A Course in Miracles was still there, and which I write briefly about in the book. I found him to be a genius in public and quite humorous in private. I've also exchanged several letters with him to make sure I was properly crediting the Course, and he was kind enough to personally go over my manuscript before the Foundation gave me permission to use the quotes. When it comes to Ken, suffice to say that I love him and I sincerely believe Arten and Pursah's statement that he will be known in the future as the Course's greatest teacher. Indeed, there are many of us who know that already. Love and peace, Gary.

I just wanted to thank you, Ossie, for taking the time out from the workshop in Atlanta to share your experiences. I laughed at your explanation as to why you lost my book at the airport. And I loved hearing about the different discussions and some of the points that Ken made. I'm very grateful to Billy for being enthusiastic about "Disappearance" and I was very humbled that someone would ask Ken about it. It's true that the book is getting a lot of attention. There was another good review this week-end. If you want you can go to http://www.ofspirit.com/magazine.htm to see it. These kinds of things help tremendously to spread the word. Being the slacker that I am, it will be a challenge for me to keep up with everything. But then I'm sure it's all part of the Holy Spirit's plan for forgiveness! Love and peace, Gary.

This is taken from Ken Wapnick's tape series on the Lessons of the Workbook. Volume VI, tape (1.) 1. What Is Forgiveness? part 2. Paragraph 2 "An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true. The mind is closed, and will not be released." Ken: When we hold a grievance against someone, we are absolutely, positively, certain sure that we are correct. And we will not doubt it. So that we could say, that what Jesus' whole point in this Course, is for us, to at least begin to doubt the accuracy, or the truth of the way we are perceiving, ourselves, each other, God, and himself as well. That important line which I quoted earlier, (at other times) from chapter 24, is: "To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold." He doesn' t say you have to dismiss every value that you hold. He simply says the little willingness of questioning every value is enough. We just have to doubt the fact that we are correct. And of course, once that occurs - as the paragraph continues, the mind is closed. The mind is closed because I am not even aware that I have a mind. Which means the thought of sin, guilt and fear of being separated from God, are seemingly forever barred from my awareness. And its the unforgiving thought towards someone outside of me, that allows that to happen. As we will see in the next sentence. "The thought" (the unforgiving thought that I am holding against you,) "protects projection, tightening its chains, so that distortions are more veiled and more obscure; less easily accessible to doubt, and further kept from reason. What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its wanted goal?" Ken: I have spoken very often of the ego's two tiered strategy, or the double shield of oblivion. That second shield which consists of our experiences in the world and the body, which ulitamately end up with our special relationships. And the grievances we hold against others, has one specific goal. And that goal is to protect the thought system in the mind, so that we never get to examine it, and make another choice. So that is what he means - the unforgiving thought protects projection. The unforgiveness aimed at you, is a projection against the ultimate thought of unforgiveness of your self. To say it another way - my anger at you, protects the guilt that the anger is a projection of. The problem is the guilt that is in my mind which I don't want to look at. So what I do, is deny its reality in my mind. Project it out and now I see it in you. And I am so absolutely positive that my perceptions of you and my understanding of this situation is correct. And so that tightens the chains, so that my mind now is further imprisoned, so that I can never access it. And the distortions are more veiled and more obscured, and I become more and more convinced that the distorted way I am perceiving the world and everything in it, is correct. And all that does, is, again, it drives me further and further from reason, which is the Holy Spirits Thought system. And so once that happens - there is no reason. Nothing that could come between me and my anger at you. And the underlining goal which is to perpetuate the thought system of the ego. That is what that fourth sentence means. "What can come between a fixed projection (which means, that I am so adament that I am right - the way that I am seeing you.) Nothing can come between that, and the real underlining source. The aim that is the ego's chosen goal. And then we will see in paragraph three, what that goal is. "An unforgiving thought does many things. In frantic action it pursues its goal, twisting and overturning what it sees as interfering with its chosen path." Ken: As we will see when we look at paragraph four the contrast, is, that forgiveness does nothing. The unforgiveness (the thought system of the ego) is what does everything. And it is frantic because it always has to preserve its own individuality. So the image that your getting here, is of this kind of frantic, frenetic be

garyrrenard wrote: " . . . . As Arten said on P.171, "You have to learn how to turn the tables on the ego. The *only* way to forgive what is within is to forgive what *seems* to be without." Of course any good student of the Course "knows" this, but how often do we remember to do it when the crap hits the fan? . . . ." Hi Gary, I represent the part of your mind that knows A & P are ego inventions you concocted because you suspected (rightly) that nobody would pay any attention to what YOU thought ACIM means. I am here to remind you that it was a cheap, unworthy and dishonest trick. HONK!

Before the Course being a part of my life, (which would be 1980) I was telling someone about this amazing psychic that I had been to. She told me things that almost knocked my socks off with there accuracy. And I happened to mention this to someone else. And this person in turn told me there was another psychic that I should go and see. Being curious I made an appointment with this psychic. She lived in a high rise building on the waterfront in our city. She was elderly (at least by my standards then) and very polite as I asked her how much she charged for these sessions. She thought that I might have been aware, that she never charges. She simply felt it was a gift that was given to her by God, and felt that if she ever charged she would lose the gift. And she never advertises but simply accepts people who come to her, feeling that she is there to offer whatever comes up. For awhile then, we talked about the birds that visit her on her balcony. She seemed very normal to me, but then all of a sudden she began speaking harshly to someone who was not even there, or who should not be there. She kept saying: "Go away. You don't belong here. Please... just leave." I watched in amusement, and then finally she turned to me, and said: "There is a man here, that wont go away." After a few more rounds of her telling him to leave, she said: "He wont go." Then finally she seemed to concede to his wishes, and told me. "You don't know him, but he wants you to give a message to his wife. He says that they lived two houses up from where you are living. He had just completely remodeled the outside of his house, and then unexpectedly he had a heart attack and passed over. That was about four months ago." "Do you know who this person?" she asked me. "Well I knew there was a house being remodeled two doors up from me, but I didn't know and don't know the people. Although I had heard that the husband had died unexpectedly." "Yes...yes," she said excitedly. "He is so excited and he wonders if you will help him?" "How?" I asked. "Before he passed, neither he nor his wife, believed in life after death. They felt that once you died, that was it. Nothing more. But now he sees his wife weeping for him, and even though he has been desperately trying to reach her, he can't get through to her. But he wants you to tell her something. For you to tell his wife, that life doesn't finish with death. That he is still with her, even though she can't see him. Would you tell her this?" "I would be most embarrassed to go up to his wife and tell her this, as I have already said, because we don't even know one another." "But you are not to tell her right away" the psychic went on to tell me, "you are to wait, and when the time is right, you will know that this is the right time." After that, the session was over. It was interesting but I really never took it very seriously. I simply came home and told my husband about it. He quickly told me: "just forget about it. It is none of your business." I agreed, and had no intention of every mentioning it. But then about three months later, I was in front our house, taking groceries out of the trunk of my car, when I noticed this woman from two doors up, walking towards me. I could never recall talking to her before, but suddenly I heard a distinct inner voice telling me. "Now is the time." As she came right up to me, I relayed the message that I had received at the psychic's, from her husband. And she was so relieved and kept thanking me, as she cried and cried, telling me, over and over again: "I just knew it. I have been feeling his presence with me, and you just confirmed what I was already feeling." But that is not really the end of the story. From then on, I began hearing this inner voice. Nothing startling. Just little messages. Like, take this route today, and then finding that on the other route, there had been an accident ... things like that. This went on for a few months, when I read somewhere about a book called "A Course in Miracles," and the voice in my head said: "this is where you will find all the answe

Hey guys, Having attended a couple of workshops of Ken's, I'm inspired by reading about his gig in Atlanta. It brings it all back. And if you want to go from the sublime to the well, not as sublime, I'm happy to give you the details of the workshops I'm doing in New York in October. I'm teaming up with Jon Mundy, so his experience will offset my immaturity. Jon's been speaking in public for 42 years, and I've been speaking in public for about 42 minutes. Hmmm, this should be interesting. I do promise to share my experiences and not compromise on the teachings, and also, as Arten and Pursah might say, "Have fun!" Here are the details: Oct. 11 and Oct. 12, Rock Tavern, NY and New York City, 2 separate 1 day workshops on my Course related book, "The Disappearance of the Universe" both featuring Jon Mundy and myself. Sat. Oct. 11, Unitarian Church in Rock Tavern, near Newburgh, NY, 10am-6pm with a lunchbreak, $50 in advance, $60 at the door. Sun. Oct 12, same price and hours, NIP (National Institute for Psychotherapies) 330 W 58th St. at Columbus Circle in Manhatten. For more info or to register, please call Jon at 845-496-9089. BULLETIN!: For those of you in New England, it has just been confirmed there will also be a workshop on "The Disappearance of the Universe" Sat. Sept. 6, with yours truly flying solo for my very first workshop. Make history near Boston at Vicki Poppe's house (there's a delicious lunch included with this one) 140 Adams St. in Quincy, MA. Vicki has the biggest Course group in the Boston area, and wanted to host my first workshop. It will be from 10am to 5pm, $50 in advance or at the door. For more info or to register please call Vicki at 617-472-1443. I hope to meet you!