teaching96e6cf8c

Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 5: The Calm Being of God's Kingdom

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 17:45:17 GMT

Classnotes 10/13/26

Tuesday Text Class 10/13/26

Ch 4: The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 5: The Calm Being of God’s Kingdom

The Kingdom of God is you. This is the whole message of the Atonement. The totality transcends the sum of its parts. Ideas do not leave their source. You are always in the Kingdom of God where you belong. Everything else does not exist. You are the kingdom.

Here is your declaration of independence. The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen. This is a good prayer to use in moments of temptation. This prayer is very helpful when fully understood. Christmas is a state of mind. The Christ wills from the spirit not the ego. The Christ mind is yours. He talks about the creations of our spirit, a kingdom created by spirit. Your ego and your spirit can’t co-create but your spirit and your creator, God will always be co-creating. Your creations that you create along the lines of love and expansion. The creations of your spirit are as safe as you are.

The levels of the mind in ACIM are:

-The Superconscious

-The Conscious

-The Unconscious

The ego in its normal upside down way takes impulses from the superconscious and perceives them as if they arise from the unconscious. The ego judges what is to be accepted and the impulses of the superconscious are unacceptable to it because they point to the nonexistence of the ego. So the ego feels threatened and it censors and reinterprets data from the superconscious. What you do not perceive you still know deep down, as Freud points out. It can retain an active life outside of your awareness like your creations in Heaven.

Repression both conceals baser instincts and loftier ones from the ego’s awareness because they are both threatening to the ego. In the face of threat, the ego is concerned with saving itself, so it sees them as the same. The threat of the lofty is actually much greater to the ego because the pull of God pales human appetites and drives. The Ego tries to keep itself from being swept away. Which it would if faced with knowledge . The upper level of the unconscious contains the call of God and the body. The basic conflict between love and fear is unconscious. The ego can’t tolerate either so it blocks both. Society depends on restraining fear. Salvation depends on stopping the blocks to the awareness of love's presence.

You need the help of Jesus because you have suppressed your own internal guide and so you need guidance. His role is to separate the true from the false in your unconscious so truth can break through the barriers the ego has built and shine through your mind. If we stand on our united strength the ego won’t prevail. The ego looks at the spirit as the enemy. The ego cropped up during the separation and it continues by believing in the separation. So the ego reduces the spirit impulses to the unconscious and has to reward you for doing so. In its weakness all it can offer is a sense of its own temporary existence which begins with its own beginning and ends at its own ending (i.e. death like so many myths). It tells you this ego life/body life is your existence. So the ego offers a sense of temporary existence. Spirit offers knowledge , an unshakable being. He uses the word revelation. No one who experiences the revelation of this can ever fully believe in the ego again. The ego is meager compared to the kingdom. You know this when you experience it/remember it.

If you identify with your ego, you can’t believe God loves you because you don’t love what you’ve made. The ego does not love you. Egos are concerned with self protection, not love. Egos were made out of denial of God, they have no allegiance to you either. You can’t know the true relationship that exists between God and his kids because of the hatred you have for the self that you have made. The self you made exiled you from the kingdom. You hate the self you created. You protect your own idea about yourself in the will to separate which conflicts with the love you feel for what you have made.

No human love is without this ambivalence because the ego can’t experience love without ambivalence, the concept is beyond its grasp. Love is your inheritance. It will enter into any mind which truly wants it but it must want it truly. Where’s your treasure? You have to want it without ambivalence. This kind of wanting is totally without the ego’s desire to get.

When you experience the all encompassing love of the kingdom, once you remember the ego can never recover. That you believe in darkness and hiding is why God can’t enter. The gifts of the kingdom are yours but you need to ask . This is not like the when the ego sets conditions, it’s the condition of what you are. You are as free as God and will always be. You can only be bound by honor and that is voluntary.

When Jesus gives an exercise in the Course you should take that directive literally.

Prayer: God in the name of our brother Jesus, help us to keep in our minds your love for us and ours for you. Amen.

God always answers this request. Feel free to make it as many times as you like. Remember, no other gods before me. No idol can ever fill your bucket . There are no Gods except our Creator in Heaven. You think that there are other gods still. It never occurred to you before to give you every thought which opposes knowledge. You keep a thousand scraps of meanness which keep God from entering. Light can’t penetrate the walls you make to block it. Light will not destroy what you have made. No one can see through a wall but Jesus can step around it and reach you on the other side. Watch your mind for scraps of meanness or you won’t be able to ask Jesus to help you clean up the mess. We ask for help, we have powerful free will. He will love you and honor you and respect what you have made if it's true.

He answers any clear call. He must be invited in. If you are trying to make yourself over in terms of ego, you aren’t being true to yourself. But Jesus waits in love and patience until you are ready. You always choose the time. He knows that one day you will call for his help and on that day he will be there. He’s happy to help but he needs to be invited in. Watch your mind carefully. What are you really asking for? Be honest. There is no hiding from Jesus and the Holy Spirit, at a certain point you will be relieved that this is the case.

Watch your mind. Not hiding- this is the first step towards allowing God to enter. Jesus prepares you for this Course. How long are you going to deny him his kingdom? Remember this is what you really want. In your unconscious, deeply repressed by ego is the key to your release. God has given you everything. The ego does not exist. This makes the ego fearful. To the ego to have and to be are different. But they are identical to the spirit. The spirit knows you have and are everything. Distinction is meaningful only in terms of getting which implies lack. Having the kingdom of God and being the kingdom of God are the same thing.

If you are sane, the calm being of God’s kingdom is on the conscious level. But it’s banished from the part of the mind which the ego rules. The ego is desperate because it knows it can’t prevail. How much vigilance you have been willing to use to protect the ego. How little vigilance you have used to protect your higher mind. Who but the crazy would believe in what isn’t true and protect this belief at the cost of truth.

Sunday Pep Talk: How does a Teacher of God Help To Accomplish Healing? Is Healing Certain?

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:49:52 GMT

Class notes: 10/11/26

Class Notes 10/11/26

Sunday Pep Talk

The Role of the Teacher of God in Healing. Is Healing Certain?

The Role of a Teacher of God in Healing

If you need to heal your own mind in order to be healed then what does a Teacher of God (TOG) do? You can’t change someone's mind for them. We are all powerful agents of free will. If someone is already willing to change their mind, we can only celebrate with them because they are now TOGs themselves. TOGs have a more specific job for those who do not understand what healing is. These folks don’t understand that sickness is a choice they have made. Patients believe that sickness has chosen them, they are not open minded about this. They obey the commands of the body. They have no clue what a crazy concept this is. If they doubted it a bit, they could be healed. But they know nothing, to them the separation is very real.

TOGS represent another choice that they had forgotten. Just being in the presence of a TOG is a reminder. His thoughts ask for the right to question what the patient thinks is true. TOGs are God’s messengers and symbols of redemption. They ask the patient to forgive the world and to see the Son of God in themselves. To recognize their authorship. They stand for the alternative to ego action. We are powerful agents of free will. With the word of God on their mind, TOGs come with a blessing. Not to heal the sick but to remind them that they have the power to heal themselves. It is not their hands that heal. It is not their voice that speaks the word of God. This is a reference to being a channel. They give what has been given them. This is not a selfish gift, we must extend it. They remind their brothers that their is no death. Behold Son of God (SOG) what life can offer you. Why would you choose sickness? Look towards the solution. Real solutions can not be found on the same level as the error.

Advanced TOGs are not concerned with the details of what ails you or causes your dis-ease. All sickness has the same purpose so it’s really not different on a spiritual level. They look for God’s voice in their brother who thinks he is ill. He looks at the God in them, that chip off the old block and sees past their illness. Illusions have no effect, they are all equally illusionary in nature. You did not create yourself. You are always as God created you, perfect. Illusions can have no effect. The truth that the TOG sees beyond the veil, reaches out to the part in their brother’s mind that still remembers and holds the truth. They do not focus on the level of illness and reinforce the error. The truth breaks up the illusion of sickness. Not by the will of another. Only you can heal your own mind. Only you can choose again. You will be healed by your own union with God. It is the function of TOGs to work for this union, this oneness. Your true will is not separate from mine or God’s. In Heaven we all live in harmony- we have to remember that so we can duplicate it here.

Is Healing Certain?

Healing is assured. All illusions will come to truth and sickness is illusionary. Truth demonstrates that the illusions have no value. We see the correction, the perfection behind them. We have accepted the atonement for ourselves and we accept it for the patient as well. We see them in I am that territory.

What if someone has chosen sickness as a way of life and believes healing is death? If this is true, a sudden healing may bring depression. They are being robbed of their way of life, it can bring intense loss. Healing sometimes must wait for the protection of the patient.

If healing is a threat it will stand aside. The instant it is welcomed, it is there. If healing has been given, it will be received. The storehouse of treasures in Heaven, the giver and receiver both get gifts in terms of spiritual giving. Time does not matter in regards to the gifts of God. Not one gift to God is lost, but they can increase. Like a ripple. No TOG should feel disappointed if he has offered a healing and it didn’t seem to land. He is not here to judge when his gift will be accepted. It has landed, it will be received when it is seen as a blessing and not a curse.

We are here to judge the outcome of our gifts. We are just here to give them. Once we’ve done that, the outcome is assured. You can not truly give if you are worried about the result. That’s a limitation on giving and neither the giver nor the receiver have the gift. Let go of the result. Trust is an essential part of giving. Trust makes sharing possible. Trust guarantees the giver only gains. So we are back to that foundation of trust that everything else rests on. If you give a gist and then stay with it to see how it is being used, that's not a gift that is imprisonment.

Letting go of all worries about the gift makes it truly given. Trust makes true giving possible. Healing is the change of mind that the Holy Spirit in the patient’s mind is seeking for him. The Holy Spirit in the patient’s own mind heals him. No gift of God is lost, ineffective or wasted. God’s treasure house is always abundant. If one gift was missing it wouldn’t be full. The fullness is guaranteed by God. You can’t be worried about what will become of your gifts. They are given by God to God and everyone receives everything.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 4: The Ego's Need to Confirm Itself

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:41:33 GMT

Classnotes 10/6/26

Class notes 9/6/26

Ch 4 The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 4: The Ego’s Need to Confirm Itself

We are charitable from a place of abundance. This is obvious, to give anything implies that you could do without it. Even if you associate giving with sacrifice, still you give because you think that you are getting something better so you can do without whatever it is you give. The law of the ego is giving to get. The ego evaluates itself in relation to other egos so it is preoccupied with the scarcity principle which gave rise to it.

This is the meaning of Freud's pleasure principle. We are giving from a place of ego. Freud was the most accurate ego psychologist ever, although he would not have described himself as such. His ego is a thing in need, weak and deprived. The ‘reality principle’ of the ego that we bow to external reality isn’t real at all. The ego sees other egos because it cannot establish the reality of itself. It sees other ego’s as real to convince itself that it is real.

Self esteem in terms of the ego means that the ego has deluded itself into accepting its reality that it has made and is temporarily less predatory. This self esteem made by ego is vulnerable to stress, meaning a condition has cropped up which threatens the ego’s delusions about reality. This produces ego inflation or deflation which leads to attack or withdrawal. The ego lives by comparisons. Equality is beyond its grasp and true charity is impossible.

The ego does not give out of abundance because it was made to substitute for it. The concept of getting and grasping came from the ego. All appetites are getting mechanisms representing the ego’s need to confirm or authenticate itself. This is true for bodily appetites and the so-called higher ego needs as well. This is a reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which places esteem needs like status and appreciation and self actualization- reaching the ego’s potential at the top of the list of needs.

The body is the home of the ego, bodily appetites are not physical in origin, the ego is trying to satisfy itself via the body. The idea that it is possible to satisfy the ego via the body is a choice of ego which is really confused about what is possible. Nothing satisfies the ego, this accounts for its erratic nature.

The ego believes it is completely on its own, that’s where it started. This is a fearful state so it turns to other egos in a feeble attempt at identification or attack in a weak show of strength. That you can be alone is the premise of the ego, its foundation. The ego is a belief in a unilateral unconnected mind completely alone. The ego is constantly trying to get the spirit’s acknowledgement and really establish its existence. It won’t work. The spirit which comes from knowledge is unaware of the ego. It doesn’t attack the ego, it just can’t conceive of it. The ego is equally unaware of the spirit. It does perceive itself as rejected by something greater than itself. Self esteem in ego terms must be a delusion.

There is a lot of ego action in mythology. In ACIM magic and ego action are synonyms. Myths are usually related to the ego’s origins and magic, the power the ego thinks it has. Every myth system has a creation story and associates this with its perception of magic or the ego’s abilities. The battle for survival is the ego’s struggle to preserve itself and its origin story. The beginning starts with birth because the ego sees itself as a body. The religiously ego oriented believe in a soul before birth and after death. Some actually believe they will be punished for having an ego life- even though in reality your spirit does not even know your ego life.

Salvation does not apply to your soul. Your soul is in no danger and does not need to be salvaged. Salvation is simply right mindedness which is not the one mindedness of spirit but it must be accomplished before one mindedness can be restored. If you are right minded you will take the right steps. Right perception is totally without attack, so wrong mindedness is automatically obliterated. The ego can not survive without judgement and is laid aside automatically when we are right minded. Only then do we move in the right direction.

The direction of the mind is automatic because they are dictated by the thought system it follows. Every thought system has internal consistency and this provides the basis of continuity of behavior. Reliable behavior does not mean valid behavior. Reliable behavior is meaningful perception to ego thinking. Valid behavior is contradictory because valid is an end and behavior is a means. These can’t be combined logically because where the end has been attained, the means for its attainment are no longer meaningful.

A hypothesis is tested and it's true or false. If it is true it becomes a fact after that no one questions it. Every idea the ego thinks is a fact is questionable because facts are knowledge and the ego is the realm of perception. Don’t confuse knowledge and perception. It’s the foundation of spirit or ego.

The ego can be clever but not creative. Creating comes from God and our abilities to create like him. Inventiveness is wasted even in ingenious forms. Don’t worry about inventiveness. Invention is specific. It’s difficult to understand the creativity of God’s creations. To inspire: true creativity is sparked by God, that little chip off the old block within.

October Newsletter

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 16:58:33 GMT

How to make a blessing bag for our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters

Miracles have landed! Last week Naomi delivered 65 snack packs, cans of soup, and bottles of water to Tent City Helpers of Martin Country. We also brought them several packages of underwear.

How to make a blessing bag for the homeless. This has become a signature project of The MC. We have made many improvements since we started making these bags at my kitchen table in early 2025. The earliest bags contained beef jerky and trail mix. Not only is beef jerky expensive in a cost per calorie sense but we also quickly learned that nearly all of our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters have dental problems, except perhaps for the newly homeless. Things like vienna sausages and small peanut butters are better choices. We have since learned that food is by far the most pressing concern for this group of people.

To create your own miracle, start with a gallon sized slider bag. We use the slider style bags with the thought that these types of bags are more helpful after the food is gone than the zip lock styles and easier to reuse for something else. I am just a Course in Miracles teacher not a nutritionist but I am under the impression that protein is the basic nutrient that is needed the most in these bags so we add:

-a can of vienna sausages

-a tin of sardines

-a small 1.5 oz. peanut butter

-a foil tuna packet

The earliest bags had those little boxes of tuna crackers. By our third rodeo with this project we learned that if you buy the tuna foil packet and put in your own spoon and shorty sleeve of crackers the recipient of the bag gets a lot more food. Next we add:

A plastic spoon
An individually wrapped wet wipe
3 instant coffee packets
A fruit cup packed in juice
A squeezable apple sauce

Because lack of dental care is a real issue for the homeless please avoid adding things with too much sugar. Next we add:

-a chewy granola bar (avoid the hard ones)

-a cereal bar

-a package of cheese crackers

-a package of peanut butter crackers

-a shorty sleeve of Ritz

-a shorty sleeve of saltines

This fills up the slider bags. Then we put our snack packs into a grocery bag with:

-a can of ready to eat soup, stew, or pasta with a pop off lid. Avoid items that need can openers.

-a juice

-a bottle of water

-a note of encouragement

It is very endearing to learn that after the food in these bags are gone people frequently keep the note of encouragement to reread later. Our different scribes put different notes into these bags but we avoid using words like Jesus and God because they can be easily misunderstood. A sample note might say, “I hope this makes your day better. Have hope!” We use inexpensive paper cut outs that we buy in bulk for these notes. We have started to add a tiny plastic Jesus to our bags at The MC because it gives people hope and has oddly become our most beloved give away. This is for sure an optional item.

What do you do with a blessing bag after it is made? Many of us keep two of these bags in the back seat of our cars behind the driver seat. If we see someone begging on the corner, we hand the whole bag out the car window. Many more of these bags go to our commUNITY partners who get out there and feed the homeless. Before making bags for a charity in your neck of the woods you should get in touch with them to see what their needs and guidelines are.

Miracles are ordinary acts of love. Making a blessing bag is a simple and inexpensive way of performing a miracle. We make bags like this every month at The MC. There is a huge need for bags like this on Florida’s Treasure Coast. I would suggest starting small by making a dozen at your kitchen table and enlisting a friend to help.

Bring a miracle into the world today even if it means simply smiling at a stranger. I hope to see you at The MC soon.

Love and Rowdy Blessings,

Jess

Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 3: The Making of the Ego

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 17:36:04 GMT

Classnotes 9/29/26

Tuesday Text Class

Ch 4: The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S3: The Making of the Ego

The best question that you can ask is how the mind created the ego. There is no point in giving a historical answer. History as we know it would not exist if the same errors were not being repeated in the now.

Abstract: Relating to general ideas rather than an actual person or object. So abstraction is where we leave out of the equation one or more properties of a complex object to attend to others. This concept applies to knowledge. Knowledge is impersonal so examples are irrelevant. Perception however is specific. Perceptual Distortions are not abstractions, they are merely confusion. Perceptual distortion is seeing yourself or others incorrectly.

We make an ego for ourselves and it’s unstable so it can vary greatly and we make one for everyone we perceive which also varies. The interaction of egos changes both because it is not made by the unalterable. This happens whether the interaction takes place in the mind as when it involves physical presence. Thoughts are things and minds are connected. The ego is an idea not a reality based thought, i.e. a thought you think with God.

Jesus gives us an example of how the mind could have created the ego. He is talking about Helen Schuchman the scribe of ACIM and how she can swing from revelation level experience to total ego action. So she has real knowledge at times and yet throws it away like it never occurred. This is willful. She has made this. So if we can make an ego like this now, why are you surprised that this could happen in the past. Psychology rests on the continuation of behavior. More of the same plus more of the same gets you just that, more of the same. You can be surprised if you are unfamiliar with the concept but you shouldn’t be shocked when you see the same thing cropping up repeatedly.

Good teaching devices like ACIM in the hands of a good teacher have the goal of rendering themselves unnecessary. Those who are in, “I am that,” territory do not need props. So in the above example, Helen’s state of mind, this polarity is how the mind can work but it doesn’t have to work that way. A good TOG shares his ideas which he believes. Otherwise you can’t profess them, you have to make the ideas your own first. So we see the transitory nature of this person’s state of mind swinging between spirit and ego and the feelings of peace and frenzy occurring at the same time. When she is ego dominant she doesn’t know her spirits the ego intrudes. The ego is not her natural state and it is not because of lack of knowledge that she gets there. Why are you surprised that the ego was created in the dim past when it’s obvious that it is happening now.

The subject of your real creations is a bit unknowable beyond the pages of the Course subject. We protect our egos. The question is not how you respond to your ego but what you think you are. Belief is of the ego. Knowledge is of spirit. If your origin is open to belief at all, you are looking at yourself from the viewpoint of ego. Belief does apply to Jesus, you believe in his teachings and in his Course. When you go beyond the point of needing a teacher or this Course then you will simply know God. To think that there is a way beside God’s or that you can usurp His power is the loftiest idea that the ego can cook up. It contains a hint that the ego isn’t the self.

It seems painful to uproot the ego’s thought system. Real self preservation and the undoing of further harm comes from ripping out the ego action. FROG: F ull R eliance O n G od- When you find yourself in ego action get back on track. You don’t perceive your own best interest. You are likely to pick something destructive. Harmlessness and helpfulness must go together. The outcome is as certain as God.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 2: The Devoted Teacher

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:59:58 GMT

Classnotes 9/22/26

Class notes 9/22/26 Tuesday Text Class

Chapter 4: The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

Section 2: The Devoted Teacher

The actual root of all evil, meaning ego is the authority problem . There are many different human symptoms like greed or illness problems that have to do with the condition of being human, but they all have the same cause. Money is a reflection of the human condition and is a good example because it represents the kind of thinking that it stems from. The thought of buying or selling is alien to the spirit. The spirit’s demands are always met and the supply is always abundant.

A symptom is an indication of something else like a disease or a problem. So every problem the ego makes involves a contradiction in terms. This is because the mind is split between ego and spirit. And everything that the ego makes is incomplete and contradictory. For example, a speechless professor. It literally means a nonprofessing professor or a speechless speaker. Intolerable positions like this are the result of the authority problem - where an inconceivable premise, I can create myself, leads to inconceivable ideas like a speechless professor.

The word profess is used in the bible but the context is different. Here to profess is to identify with an idea and then to offer the idea to others to be their own. By giving the idea to others, you don’t have less of it, it goes stronger. The TOG clarifies his own ideas and strengthens them by teaching them. Teacher/student, therapist/patient are all alike in the learning process. They are in the same order of learning and lessons lack conviction unless you share them. Sales people need to believe in their product, a teacher needs to believe in the ideas he teaches. He also needs to believe in his students.

You couldn’t be afraid to teach unless you thought that it meant loss and separation. You stand guard over your own ideas because you want to protect your thought system the way that it is and learning means change. Change is fearful to the separated because they always see it as a change towards further separation because the separation was the first experience of change. Your fear of teaching is an example of your own intense separation anxiety . Here Jesus refers to your fear of separation from God and the kingdom. You have handled your separation anxiety with the usual series of mixed defenses and a defense of error combined with an attack on truth which is characteristic of ego thinking.

You insist that if you allow no change to your ego, your spirit will find peace. This profound confusion is possible if you think that the same thought system can lay on two foundations (ego and spirit). Nothing can reach the spirit from the ego. And nothing from the spirit can strengthen the ego or reduce conflicts with it. The ego is a contradiction. Your self and God’s self are in opposition. They are opposed in origin, will, and outcome. These two selves are irreconcilable because the spirit can not perceive and the ego can’t know. They aren’t in communication and won’t be. But the ego can learn because its maker can be misguided but can’t make the totally lifeless out of the life given. The spirit doesn’t need to be taught but the ego does. The real reason why learning or teaching is seen as frightening is because true learning leads to the relinquishment of the ego to the light of the spirit. The ego fears this change. Fear is the natural response of the ego at the thought of being uprooted. Teaching and learning are your greatest strengths now because you must change your mind and help other people change theirs.

You have dreamed of a separated ego and you believe in the world that rests on this. The illusion is very real to you. You can’t undo it by not changing. Ignoring the problem, denying the problem, refusing to change, none of these things fix the separation. You have to let Jesus correct you gently and lead you home. The real goal of the teacher, therapist or parent is that one day you will no longer be needed. You can’t be worried that you will lose your child or student if you succeed. It is impossible to tell this to the ego because it goes against all of its laws. The ego’s laws are set up to preserve itself once you have made it. It is not natural for you to follow the ego’s laws unless you believe them. The ego can’t make this choice because of the nature of it’s origin but you can because of your origin.

The goal of a good teacher is to put themselves out of business as opposed to the goals of the ego oriented teacher. Who sees the interaction with students as a means of ego preservation. This is true whether you are afraid to teach or out to dominate. They are both symptoms of separation anxiety . All separation anxiety is a symptom of the continued will to remain separated. You have not learned this so it needs to be repeated.

If you are exalted it blows up your ego. If you are disapproved of you will be depressed. The ego says you can’t win. This is all part of the remaining will to remain separated. Your worth is not established by your teaching, it is established by God. As long as you dispute your authorship everything you do will be fearful, especially one which lends itself to the superiority/inferiority error. Teachers must be patient and repeat their lessons until they are learned. Jesus is willing to do this and won’t put learning limits on you.

Nothing you think or do or will or make is needed to establish your worth. This point is only debatable in delusion your ego is never at stake because God did not create it. Your spirit is never at stake because he did. Any confusion about this is delusional and devotion is not possible while it lasts. If you will be a devoted teacher and not an egocentric one, you will not be afraid. The teaching situation is fearful if used as an ego trip. If you become afraid it is because you are using it this way. The devoted teacher sees things as they are, not as he wishes them to be. He does not see teaching as dangerous because he doesn’t exploit it.

The ego tries to exploit all situations into praise of itself to overcome its doubts. It will be doubtful forever or as long as you believe in it. You made it, so you can’t trust it, you know it’s not real. The sane solution is not to try to change reality which is unchanged and beyond the ego’s grasp but within easy reach of spirit.

You can’t be at peace unless you are fulfilling your function. God gave you a lofty job which you aren’t doing. You know it and you are afraid. But you are choosing fear instead of the task at hand. When you awaken you won’t believe this because it’s incredible. It’s incredible now. Fulfilling your function from God is inevitable. This is fearful to the ego but joyous to the spirit. God is inevitable, you can’t avoid him and he can’t avoid you. The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you because that’s all it builds. Don’t try to make this starving house of ego stand. Its weakness is your strength. Only God can make a home worthy of his creations. You are choosing to leave your place in the kingdom empty. God’s home stands forever and is ready for you when you are. Be sure of this, God creates the eternal just as the ego makes the perishable.

Of your ego you can do nothing to save yourself or others, of your spirit you can do everything for the salvation of both. Humility is for the ego not the spirit. The spirit recognizes its radiance and happily shines it everywhere. The meek, gentle and patient are secure that God is the author shall inherit the earth. Their egos are humble so they have better perception. The kingdom of Heaven is the right of the spirit whose beauty and dignity are beyond doubt and perception. God’s creations are worthy of him and only him. Don’t serve an idol, nothing but love is a worthy gift of a creation of God himself.

Jesus can offer a substitute for your ego but not your spirit. He is a bridge. He understands the ego trip. Let’s learn this lesson together and be free. The goal is to heal the mind. You need not have duress because Jesus has overcome the world and you can too by following his advice. This is why you should be happy.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 1: The Last Foolish Journey

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:28:37 GMT

Classnotes 9/15/26

Class Notes 9/15/26

Tuesday Text Class

Ch 4: The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 1: The Last Foolish Journey

“Go the extra mile,” is a saying that comes from the Gospels. If a soldier asks you to carry his heavy pack for a mile, go two miles. This does not suggest that you set him back on his journey or judge his journey. Devotion to a brother can’t set you back either. It leads to mutual progress. Genuine devotion leads to inspiration . The true meaning of inspiration is action. To be fatigued/tired is to be disspirited or discouraged and gloomy. To be inspired is to be in the spirit . To be egocentric is to make yourself dispirited. To be self centered in the right sense is to be inspired or in the spirit. The truly inspired are enlightened and can’t abide to live in darkness.

Do not attempt to break God’s copyright. This statement can be read two ways. The first way alludes to copyright problems surrounding ACIM. The main point is only God can create you. You can’t recreate yourself as you wish to be. Your authorship, what you create doesn’t mean recreating yourself, but creating like him. From a place of love and expansion.

Embarrassment is a form of fear and a dangerous one because it reflects egocentricity. Things that are true are not embarrassing. Embarrassment is always an expression of egocentricity. You can’t be embarrassed by your own words unless you believe that you are responsible for them. You are free to choose the author of your thoughts. Are these the thoughts you think with God or ego thoughts? You choose to speak from your spirit or ego. Be still and know that God is your creator and where you belong. We are bringing the kingdom. These are inspired words because they come from a place of knowledge. If you choose to speak with ego you are denying knowledge rather than affirming it. You are disspiriting, hiding your light.

The disspirited those lead by the ego have no choice except to be narcissistic. To be self obsessed is to place your faith in the unworthy. Your real worth is your creation by God. Your spirit acknowledges this. Jesus can only be your guide as you associate your mind with your spirit. If you are wrapped up in self creation you are not ready for his Course. Attacking misidentification errors isn’t Jesus’ job or ours. We are not here to point out others' mistakes. Destroying the devil or ego action is meaningless. In Don Quixote he sees himself as unworthy because he identifies as his ego and sees its weakness. Rather than fixing the misperception he inflates his ego.

Ego trips won’t get you anywhere. The ego is hungry and foolish. The spirit won’t go on ego trips because it won’t depart its foundation in God. The journey to the cross should be the last foolish journey for any mind. The journey to the cross seems to end in death. Don’t dwell on the end of your body. Dismiss it as accomplished, it’s all been done and it’s all been written. Do as Jesus did and rise above the world of form. Accept that your ego has made its last foolish journey and join Jesus in resurrection and rebirth.

We needlessly waste time with repetition compulsion . We repeat past traumatic events unconsciously literally or in a dream. We reenact the separation, loss of power, the ego’s foolish attempts to make it right and finally the body dies. This repetition can be endless unless they are given up by active creation. We create with God instead. We strive to pass ACIM as our only goal.

Sunday Pep Talk: Manuel For Teachers #4 continued: Defenselessness, Generosity, Patience and Faithfulness

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 14:37:56 GMT

Class notes: 9/13/26

Class notes 9/13/26

Sunday Pep Talk

What are the Characteristics of God’s Teachers? MFT #4 continued, Defenselessness, Generocity, Patience, and Faithfulness

Defenselessness :

God’s teachers have learned how to be simple. Meaning not complicated or elaborate. As teachers of God (TOGs) we work to eliminate what is not working toward the goal from our lives. We eliminate the superfluous. They are not trying to make themselves into anything so they don’t need to defend dreams about themselves. Their joy comes from knowing who created them and what their natural inheritance as a Son of God (SOG) is. Nothing that God created needs defense and nothing else exists. Advanced TOGs understand that defenses are foolish. Nothing real can be threatened. Defenses guard the illusion, Jesus on the cross is an extreme demonstration of this. The more bizarre and ugly the dream, the fiercer and more powerful its defenses seem. Yet when a TOG looks past the defenses he finds that nothing was there. All bark no bite. Slowly at the beginning the TOG starts to see things as they are and to look past the illusion. But he learns faster as his trust increases. Here we are going back to the foundation of trust that everything else rests on. It is not dangerous when defenses are laid down. It is safe. It is peaceful. It is Joy. It is God.

Generocity:

The word generosity has special meaning to the TOG. This is not the usual definition of the word. In fact the meaning in ACIM must be learned carefully. Like all other attributes of TOGs this lays on a foundation of trust. Without trust you can’t be generous in the true sense. To the world generosity means giving away like giving up. To the TOG it means giving away in order to keep. This has been emphasized in the text and the workbook but it’s more alien to the thinking of the world than the other ideas in this Course. The strangeness is obvious, it’s the opposite of the world's way of thinking. The word means the exact opposite to TOGs and to the world. This is a real reversal of the world’s way of thinking and it may take a minute to wrap your mind around.

The TOG is generous out of self interest. This is not self interest in terms of the world’s goals. The TOG does not want anything that he can’t give away because it would be valueless to him. The toys of the world are valueless. What could he want? He would only lose by striving for these things. He knows that he wouldn’t gain. So he does not seek for anything that he couldn’t keep. Meaning he doesn’t seek for things of the illusion. He seeks the gifts of God and these are not selfish gifts. So he is not attached to the things of the world no matter what he has. Give up your investment in worldly things. Invest in the things of the kingdom and what is meaningful beyond the veil. This he gives with true generosity so he can keep it for himself.

Patience:

If you are certain of the outcome, waiting without anxiety is no problem. Patience is natural to a TOG. He sees a certain outcome, maybe he doesn’t know the time, but the end is not in doubt. The time will be as right as the answer. The time, you pick the time, if you look for it you will find it. There are different valid paths for different children of God. ACIM is one such path. It is not for everyone. But if it’s for you, you will come boomeranging back to it. Everything that happens now and in the future, if the end is certain then you can afford patience. The past held no mistakes, nothing except the mistakes that Jesus can use for his own purposes. For the benefit of the world and the person who it seems to be happening to.

The TOG is willing to reconsider all of his past behaviors if they did harm to anyone. Meaning we will uproot the behavior or thought and move forward. Pick up your cross and follow me, uproot error and follow Jesus’ advice. Again the foundation is trust. Patience is natural for those who trust. The ultimate interpretation is that we are all sinless, holy, and innocent. If you trust this, no outcome yet to come can cause you fear. TOGs trust the plan.

Faithfulness:

Your faith in God, the Course, and the plan. Jesus is a measure of your advancement. Do you apply the workbook to some aspects of your life and not others? What are you holding back? Your advancement is limited by your trust. You need a foundation that is firmly established. The TOG has faith that the word of God will set all things right. Not some things but everything will be reconciled. Faithfulness starts by bringing this to some things, keeping it limited for a time. To give up all problems to one answer is to reverse the world’s thinking entirely. That alone believing in the one answer is faith. Nothing else deserves a name. Yet each degree you get towards that goal is worth achieving. Readiness is not mastery. We practice.

True faithfulness does not deviate or get off track. It is wholly consistent and honest. It is unswerving because it rests on the foundation of trust. Where love is all encompassing there is no room for fear. Since it is fearless, it is gentle, there is no attack. It is certain so it is joyous. It is fearless so it is gentle. It is confident so it is tolerant. It is naturally defenseless and joy is the condition because arms have been laid down. So faithfulness combines with the other attributes of TOGs. It implies acceptance of the word of God and His definition of his son. Faithfulness is always directed towards God and the oneness of His children. It looks towards God and the altars He created until he finds what he was looking for. Having found what he was looking for he waits in quiet certainty of the outcome. This is the vision and the oneness that we are faithful to.

Wednesday Workbook: What is the World? What is Sin?

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 21:12:55 GMT

Class Notes 9/9/26

Class notes 9/9/26

Wednesday Workbook

What is the World? What is Sin? #246-252

What is the World?

It is an illusion or a dream. The world arises from mistaken ideas. It is born of the error that you can create yourself. This foundation has not left its source, you. We created this world with our ego action. As long as we cherish ego action, the devil inside is you being possessed by your own ego action, you are e dging G od o ut. The world will remain. It is the power behind our ego thoughts that make the world. When the thought of the separation is changed into true forgiveness the world will be seen in a different light. This world can be a step away from Heaven. This leads to truth, knowledge, the “I am that” territory of the Holy Trinity. From there, the world disappears and all errors vanish. The source, our ego is gone and its effects are gone as well.

The world was made when we started to battle God over our creation. It symbolizes fear, the authority problem. Fear is the absence of love. We made a place where God couldn’t enter and we could be separate from Him. This is the birth of perception, because knowledge couldn’t create such insanity. Our bodies' eyes deceive and our bodies' ears hear things which aren’t true. Now mistakes become possible, because certainty and knowledge have left the building.

The invention of the illusion has been born instead. Seek and you will find, now we find what the ego was looking for. We have made it real while we believe in it. You believe in what you’ve made or created. Thoughts are things. So we believe in the illusion that we have created.

Physical sight was made to lead away from the truth but it can be redirected. Like a race car driver we look in the direction that we want to go in. Sounds become the call of God, the kingdom is in every car honk. All perception has a new purpose by the one God appointed the savior of the world. We march along the lines of the Atonement and Jesus’ plans. Follow his light, he is a star until a brighter light appears and you remember God. Hear his voice alone in all that speaks. Let him give you back the keys to the kingdom that you thought you threw away, peace and certainty of purpose. You can’t toss out your gifts from God, they have been kept safe for you. The kingdom is your inheritance. Jesus is the only savior we need as Course students.

We won’t rest until everyone is onboard with the atonement that changed perception. When forgiveness is complete all will pass the Course or their curriculum of the big Om. Let’s not attempt to change our function. Who did God create you to be? We created the world and we must save it. When we see this world through the eyes of Christ , holy vision is the goal of ACIM, what was made to die will be restored to timelessness. Remember fear is love’s absence.

What is sin?

We have already defined a sin as an absence of love in this class. Sin, the idea of acting without enough love, is crazy. By this path madness lies and our minds look to let illusions take the place of truth. And being crazy it sees illusions where truth should be and where it really is. Only love is real. Sin gives the body eyes, sinlessness only sees perfection the sinless do not grasp . To sense with the body, using its eyes and ears and depending on this is not knowledge. The truth is filled with knowledge and nothing else. There is no perceiving when you know.

The separation, the thought that we could create ourselves is what we made when we tried to deceive ourselves about what we are. We made our bodies in this move, the body is the home of the ego. Its purpose is to strive and grasp. There is hope. You can use your body and time within the context of the illusion differently. We are still striving but now the goal has shifted. The only goal is God, we let other branches wither. (read Matthew 7)

What we seek now and remember, seek and you will find, knock and the door shall be opened open for you, is chosen by the goal we have chosen instead of the ego. Our goal is to pitch it in the direction of the Holy Trinity and the Atonement. You can aim for truth or lies but in these bodies we are always aiming for something. We use our sense to seek love and God.

All sins are illusionary in nature. Only love is real. They stand for imagined things and come from thoughts which aren’t true. They are ‘proof’ that the unreal is real. Sin ‘proves’ God’s son is evil, that death is the end and what God has given can be taken away. God has lost his son that he adores. Now corruption is part of God, God has been defiled. God’s will has been defeated by death, hate and war.

Nightmares are scary. This craziness that you have created in your miscreating terrifies you. But it’s a silly game. A SOG may pretend he has become a body and a victim with a life that ends in death. But the whole time that you are having this nightmare, your true creator this all encompassing love shines on you and loves you with an all pervasive love that nothing can change.

How long are you going to play with sin? These are sharp edged toys, aren't you ready to drop them? When will you be ready to come home today? There is no sin. The mistakes of the past are trivial. Creation is unchanged. Then Jesus says, “When, when, when?” because you are missing there. There is a spot waiting for you in the kingdom.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 11: The Unshakable Foundation

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 22:14:13 GMT

Classnotes 9/8/26

We must voluntarily get rid of the authority problem . This is critical for your sanity, you are insane on this point. This is a fact and not a judgement. It is as much of a fact as God is, is a fact. A fact is a starting point, if you did not realize that your creation is of God, all of your thinking is upside down. You did not create yourself and another SOG (Son of God) can not create your reality.

Thought systems begin with starting points. It begins with making or creating. Both are acts of will. Making is doing. Creating is active willing to create along the lines of your creator. Making and creating are the same because they have the same power at their foundations. They are different in what lays on that same foundation. Both are the fundamental basis of belief that you live your life by. It is a mistake to believe that a thought system (making) which is based on lies is weak. Nothing made by a child of God lacks power. You have to realize this, because otherwise you will not understand why you have so much trouble with this Course. You need this Course to escape the prison away from Heaven that you have made for yourself. We have depriciated the importance of thought. You can’t solve the authority problem by not validating the power of your mind. The power of your will can hurt you if you misuse it, because you know its strength and you also know that you can not weaken it, any more than you can weaken God.

The Devil is scary because he is thought of as very powerful and active. He is perceived as a force doing battle with God, for the possession of souls. He devices by lies and builds kingdoms of his own where everything is the opposite of God. Despite this, he attracts rather than repels us. Sons of God are perceived as willing to sell their souls in return for gifts they know are of no real worth. This makes no sense. This is a picture of a man who acts in a way that he knows is self destructive but he doesn’t want to fix the problem. So he sees the cause as beyond his control.

We have discussed the fall or the separation before. Understand that this is not symbolic. It is an order of reality, or a system of thought which is real in time but not eternity. All beliefs are real to the believer. See Genesis 2:16, the fruit of only one tree was forbidden in the symbolic garden. But God could not have forbidden it, or it could not have been eaten. God knows his kids, he would not have put them in a position where their own destruction was possible. The tree which was forbidden was correctly named the tree of knowledge. But God created knowledge and gave it freely to his creations. The symbolism here is open to many interpretations but any interpretation which perceives either God or His creations as if they were capable of destroying their own purpose is wrong. The authority problem, God is the author. Eating the tree of knowledge is a symbol of taking into ourselves the ability of self creation. This is the only sense in which God and his Son are not cocreators.

The belief that they are cocreators is implied in the self concept, I can create myself is made acceptable by its weakness and explained by the tendency of the self to make an image of itself (make itself into something- reinvent self). The fear aspect is blamed on a Father Figure - nobody means the physical Father by this term. It refers to an image of a Father in relation to an image of the self. Fear of God is because of fear of a projected Father figure.

Images are perceived not known. Knowledge can’t deceive but perception can (perception vs. knowledge). You can perceive yourself as self creating, but you can not do more than believe it. You can’t make it true. You are as God created you. When you can finally see this correctly you’ll be glad that you can’t make yourself over. Until then the belief that you can is the foundation of the ego’s thought system. You use all of your defenses to attack ideas which would bring it to light. You believe in what you’ve created. You still believe that you are an image of your own creation. You are split from your own spirit on this point and there is no resolution because you believe the one thing which is actually inconceivable. You did not and you can not create yourself. That is why you can not create and are afraid to make or produce. Eventually we all create along the lines of our creator and then we are happy.

You are a powerful Son of God capable of creating along the lines of your creator. Do not underestimate the power of your mind. The mind (yours) that made the belief in the separation very real and very fearful. This is the belief in the Devil. It is powerful, active, destructive and clearly in opposition to God, because it literally denies his Fatherhood, that He created you. Never underestimate the power of this denial. Look at your life and see what the Devil has made. What have you made by trying to create yourself? This will dissolve in light of the truth because the foundation is a lie. Your creation by God can’t be shaken because light is in it, that chip off the old block. Your starting point is truth, I am holy, sinless, innocent, and you return to the beginning, Heaven. Much has been perceived since then (the separation) but nothing else has happened. The separation is ultimately illusionary. Your spirit is in peace even though your mind is in conflict.

You haven’t yet gone back far enough, that is why you are afraid. Of the uprooting. As you approach the beginning, you are afraid of the destruction of your thought system and it’s like the fear of death. There is no death, but there is belief in death. You have made it real by your belief. This allows yourself to become undone. You start to undo or unwrap the self that you have made. Read Matthew 7:16, John 15:5-9. The ego will wither away. Be glad. The light will shine from the true foundation and what you have made of your own thought systems will be corrected. You can’t make yourself. Be happy. It can’t be any other way.

If you are afraid of being saved you are willing to die. Life/death, light/dark, knowledge, perception: these things are irreconcilable. The oneness of knowledge is conflict free. Your kingdom is not of this world. Only in this world is an authority problem meaningful. The world is not left by death, but by truth. Truth can be known by everyone and Heaven awaits all in the end.

Sunday Pep Talk: Manuel For Teachers #4 continued: Honesty, Tolerance, Gentleness, and Joy

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 17:35:36 GMT

Class notes: 9/6/26

Honesty: All of the other traits of Teacher’s of God (TOGs) we will be discussing rest on trust. Trust in God, in Jesus and the plan, everything else stands on this foundation. Once you have achieved that, meaning that you’ve gone through all six stages of trust, then all of the other traits follow. Only the trusting can afford honesty because only they see its value. I am as God created me, perfect, sinless, and holy. I am all in for my role in the atonement. There is nothing that I want to make myself into. God is the author of me. Then Jesus goes on to talk about honesty. Honesty means consistency, in agreement with the holy trinity. When we look at honesty in terms of being consistent with the vibe of the holy trinity, this involves more than just what you say.

- Nothing you say contradicts what you say or do.

-No thought opposes any other thought.

-You never act in a way that contradicts your word.

-You never talk out of two sides of your mouth, nothing that you say lacks agreement with any other.

Such are the truly honest. Jesus sets the bar very high here. You would be saint like if you could accomplish this. At no level are they in conflict with themselves. So it is impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone else or anything else. This seems nearly impossible to do in a body. Jesus sets the bar really high here.

At no level are they in conflict with themselves. So it’s impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone or anything else. This seems nearly impossible to do in a body. Jesus sets the bar really high here.

The peace of mind of advanced TOGs is because of perfect honesty. When we are in the “I am that” territory, there is no wish to deceive. We don’t want to be anything other than what God created us to be or the job he created us to do. The wish to mislead causes war. You are never misleading when you are following the plan . If you are at one with yourself in that, “I am that” territory, you can’t even think of conflict. Conflict is the result of hiding the truth from yourself and that is dishonest. There is no challenge to a TOG. Challenge implies doubt and the bedrock of trust makes doubt impossible to a TOG. Trust is the foundation of all of the other traits of TOGs. TOG’s can only succeed in their part of the plan and what else are they doing? What else matters? Remember- you will be happy when this happens. They are sure of their choice.

Tolerance: TOGs do not judge. We are not here to judge. To judge is to assume a position that you do not have. Judgement and self deception go hand in hand. Judgement implies that a brother has deceived you. That means that you have been deceived about yourself. This projection connotation, judgement is a grim sword that you stab yourself with. Judgement implies a lack of trust and trust is the bedrock of the TOG’s thought system. If you lose the bedrock, the whole house collapses. There is no judgement in Heaven. Without judgement all things are equally acceptable. Without judgement we are all brothers because no one stands apart. Everyone is a part of the one human family.

Gentleness: Harm is impossible for TOGs. They can’t harm and they can’t be harmed. Harm is the outcome of judgement. An act that follows a thought, a verdict of guilt on a SOG and on yourself. When you condemn your brother you condemn yourself. It is the end of peace and learning when you judge. God’s curriculum has been replaced by madness. TOGs must learn early into their training that harmfulness obliterates your function from your awareness. Harm makes you confused, fearful, angry, and suspicious. It makes the Holy Spirit’s lessons impossible to learn. TOGs can be heard by those who have realized that harm accomplishes nothing. No gain can come from it.

So TOGs are completely gentle. They need the strength of gentleness because from this strength the function of salvation becomes easy. To those who would harm, the function of salvation is impossible. If harm has no meaning to you, to function for the atonement is a natural outcome. Who would choose Hell when you see a pathway to Heaven that ACIM points out? Weakness comes from harm, gentleness leads to unfailing all encompassing and limitless strength. There is no choice here. The strength of TOGs rests on their gentleness because they understand their ego thoughts do not come from SOGs or God. SO TOGs join their thoughts with the source of Love, God. Our will, which has always been his is freed. We free ourselves. ACIm points the way.

JOY: So these things build Joy. Joy is an attribute of the kingdom and it rests on gentleness. Gentleness means that fear is impossible and nothing can disturb joy. The open (not grasping) hands of gentleness are always filled. The gentle have no pain, they can’t suffer of course they are joyous. They know that they are safe and loved. Joy comes from gentleness. Grief comes from attack. TOGs trust him and they know his teacher (Jesus) goes with them. So they know that they walk with the Holy Spirit and Jesus, so no harm can come to them. They hold his gifts and follow his way because they follow the call of God. Joy is our thanks to God. He wants us to be happy. Bliss is an attribute of the Kingdom and Jesus thanks us as well. He needs us as much as we need him. It is joyous to follow the purpose of salvation. We are happy when we are on the right path.

Wednesday Workbook: What is Salvation?

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 19:40:35 GMT

Class Notes 9/2/26

Salvation is a promise that God has made to you that you will find your way to Him. This promise will be kept, all of God’s kids will make it home in the end. God’s promise guarantees that time will have an end. We made time during the separation, timelessness belongs to God alone. All thoughts which have been born in time (i.e. thoughts of the ego) will end as well. God’s word (promise) is given to every mind which thinks that it has separate thoughts. Thoughts of conflict become thoughts of peace.

The thought of peace was given to God’s son the moment his mind had thought of war. There wasn’t a need for this thought before because peace was given without the opposite and merely was. So the thought which has the power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind which still was one, but failed to recognize its oneness. Now it did not know itself and thought its own identity was lost. The authority problem, God is the author. We forget who we are and where we’ve come from.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 10: Judgement and The Authority Problem

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 19:24:45 GMT

Classnotes 9/1/26

August Miracle Project: Granola bars waiting for delivery to the Grace Packs Food Pantry.

We have already discussed the last judgement, although not with enough detail. After the last judgement there isn’t judgement any more. There is no judgement in Heaven. This is symbolic only in that we are all better off without judgement. The bible says, “Judge not, that ye not be judged,” This means, if you judge the reality of others at all, you will be unable to avoid judging your own reality. The choice to judge not to know is the cause of loss of peace. Peace is the natural heritage of God’s son. You are refusing your inheritance of peace of God by judging.

Judgement is the process on which perception rests, not knowledge. Perception involves selectivity, so evaluation is the prerequisite. Judgement always involves rejection. It is not the ability to see only the positive in yourself and others. But what has been perceived and rejected or judged and found wanting remains in the unconscious because it has been perceived. The things we have judged against become sharp objects. When I have condemned my brother to hell, I condemn myself as well. See only the good and the light in all beings, it is the only real part. It is an illusion that when you judge it has no effect.

You are a powerful creative being. You do not see the other as sinless if you have judged against their actions. It doesn’t matter in the end whether you have judged rightly or wrongly, either way you are placing your belief in the unreal. Only God is real. Judgement implies that reality is yours to choose from. You have no idea the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgement. If you look at what the Course has said earlier about what you and your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way is without meaning. The meaning is lost on you because you are judging them. All uncertainty comes from the false belief that you are under coercion from judgement. Other people can’t make you over, you are as God created you. You don’t need the judgements of others to organize your life or yourself. When you look on knowledge all judgement is suspended. This process lets recognition of the SOG within take the place of perception.

You have made it dangerous by internalizing it. All of this judgement is disheartening and exhausting. The strain of constantly judging is intolerable. Why do we cherish something that is so debilitating? There is a good reason for this, depending on your definition of good. If you wish to be the author of reality, which is impossible, then you will insist on holding on to judgement. You will use it with fear that one day it will be used against you. To whatever extent it is used against you, is only because of your belief in it as a weapon of defense of your own authority. You are not the author of yourself.

The issue of authority is the issue of authorship. If you have an authority problem it is always because you believe that you are the author of yourself. You resent your own projection of this delusion onto others. Then you perceive this situation as two people fighting for your authorship. This is the fundamental error of all those who believe they have usurped the power of God. This belief terrifies them, but it dosen’t bother God at all. He is eager to undo it, not to punish his kids, but only because he knows it makes them unhappy.

The author/creator of SOG’s is God. But they choose to remain anonymous, i.e. withheld authorship or an unacknowledged name. By the thinking of the Course, Christ is all of our last names. We chose to separate from our author, God. Since then the word authority has become a fearful symbol. Authority has been used for cruelty because being uncertain of their own author, people believe that their creation was anonymous. They forgot God and forgot where they came from. So then they considered that they created themselves. The dispute over authorship has gone so far, some SOGs have considered that they were never created at all. People have forgotten their inheritance, they have forgotten who they are.

True authorship is necessary for existence and you didn’t create yourself. Castration anxiety comes from Freud, the male infant fears he will be castrated by a Father figure for desiring his Mother. In the Course, castration anxiety comes from denial of God’s authorship. We fear God will punish us. Peace is your inheritance from God. All fear comes from denial of authorship.

Everyone feels imprisoned in some way. If this is the result of free will then you must regard your will as not free. Free will leads to freedom. Judgement imprisons.

November at The MC

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 19:51:49 GMT

Class Schedule and Miracle Project

November at The MC

I place the future in the Hands of God.

Sunday Pep Talk

11/1: MFT #13: What is the real meaning of sacrifice?

11/8: MFT #14: How will the world end?

MFT #15: Is each one to be judged in the end?

11/15: MFT #16: How should the TOG spend his day?

11/22: MFT #17: How do TOGs deal with their students' ego thoughts?

11/29: MFT #18: How is correction made?

MFT #19: What is Justice?

Tuesday Text Class

11/3: Ch 4: The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 8: The Rewards of God

11/10: S 9: Asking and Following

11/17: S 10: Complete and Direct Communication

11/24: S 11: Being Truly Helpful

Wednesday Workbook

11/4: #302-308 What is the Second Coming? (review)

11/11: #309-315 What is the Last Judgement?

11/18: #316-322 What is Creation?

11/25: #323-329 What is Creation? (review)

Friday Happy Hour

11/6

11/13

11/20

11/27

Miracle Project

Grace Packs- details to follow. Anna drops off.

September at The MC

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 19:21:46 GMT

Class Schedule and Miracle Project

September at The MC

Only Love is Real

Sunday Pep Talks

9/6: Manual For Teachers (MFT) #4 continued, Honesty, Tolerance, Gentleness, and Joy

9/13: MFT #4 continued, Defenselessness, Generosity, Patience, Faithfulness

9/20: The MC Day of Atonement. Atonement in ACIM.

9/27: MFT #4 continued, Openmindedness, MFT #5 The Perceived Purpose of Sickness, The Shift in Perception

Tuesday Text Class

9/8: Ch 3: Sane Perception S 11: The Unshakable Foundation

9/15: Ch. 4 The Ego’s Struggles to Preserve Itself , S. 1: The Last Foolish Journey

9/22: Ch 4, S: 2: The Devoted Teacher

9/29: Ch 4, S: 3: The Making of the Ego

Wednesday Workbook

9/9: #246-252 What is the World?

9/16: #253-259 What is Sin?

9/23: #260-266 What is the Body?

9/30: #267-273 What is the Christ?

Friday Happy Hour

9/4

9/11: A Prayer for 9/11

9/18:

9/25

Miracle Project

Tent City Helpers of Martin County through 9/25. 65 snack packs, cans and bottles of water. Naomi drops off.

October at The MC

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 19:16:11 GMT

Class Schedule and Miracle Project

October at The MC

Course meets World

Sunday Pep Talks

10/4: MFT #5 continued, The Function of the TOG, #6 Is Healing Certain?

10/11: MFT #7 Should Healing Be Repeated? #8 How Can the Perception of Order of Difficulties Be Avoided?

10/18: MFT #9 Are Changes Required in the Life Situation of God’s Teachers? #10 How is Judgement Relinquished

10/25: MFT #11 How is Peace Possible in this World? #12 How many TOGs are needed to save the world?

Tuesday Text Class

10/6: Ch 4: The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 4: The Ego’s Need to Confirm Itself

10/13: S 5: The Calm Being of God’s Kingdom

10/20: S 6: This Need Not Be

10/27: S 7: The Real Question

Wednesday Workbook

10/7: #274-280 What is the Christ? (review)

10/14: #281-287 What is the Holy Spirit?

10/21: #288-294 What is the Real World?

10/28: #295-301 What is the Second Coming?

Friday Happy Hour

10/2

10/9

10/16

10/23

10/30: Halloween: The Shadow Side, What is Death?

Miracle Project

Angels of Hope Outreach Ministries 9/30-10/25 Jahi drops off

Sunday Pep Talk: Manuel For Teachers #4, Intro and Trust

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 15:18:10 GMT

Class notes: 8/30/26

Mara and Jess

Advanced TOGs (Teachers of God) have the characteristics that we are going to be discussing in the next few Pep Talks. A Holy Relationship is the goal of any teaching/learning situation. God gives special gifts to His teachers but the specialness is temporary. They have a special role in the Atonement.

Trust: In God we trust. The ability to fulfill our functions rests on the foundation of trust. See Matthew 7:24 The house was built on rock or sand. Perception is healing because cause and effect are never separated. TOGs trust the world because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. The world's laws can sound something like this, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” The world is governed by God. A power within you but not of you. The power of God protects you in an unsafe world. With this power TOGs look on a forgiven world.

Holy Shift : There is an experience and we go through a shift. That’s why you are able to have this experience. First a shift, then change comes in stages:

Period of Undoing
Period of Sorting Out
Period of Relinquishment
Period of Settling Down
Period of Achievement

Period of Undoing:

It is usually experienced as being painful, it looks like things are being taken away. Initially it is rarely understood that their lack of value is being recognized. Lack of value can’t be perceived unless you are in a position to see it from a different light. You can’t make a shift internally (yet), so The Plan sometimes calls for changes to external circumstances. What seem to be internal circumstances. These changes are always helpful. When the TOG learns this, they go on to the second stage.

Period of Sorting Out: This is always somewhat difficult. Because now that the TOG has learned that changes are always helpful, He must decide all things whether they increase helpfulness or hamper it. This is the apocalypse- this self evaluation and sorting out. He will find that many if not most of the things he valued before merely slow him down in his ability to transfer the knowledge that He has learned to new situations as they crop up.

We have valued what is valueless. We don’t generalize this lesson because of fear and loss. We feel sadness about the time and resources that we have wasted in the past. So we sort through one at a time. Some TOGs experience fear here. They worry that they are losing themselves in ACIM.

The value of the world is how helpful it is. By this definition there are blessings to be had in the most challenging of life’s relationships. All things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful.

Period of Relinquishment: If this is looked at as giving up the desirable, you will experience enormous conflict here. Most TOGs feel some duress here. But there is no point in sorting out the valuable from the invaluable unless you take this next step. This third step rarely begins until you have finished the second one. So there is a period of overlap where TOGs feel called upon to sacrifice their own best interests on behalf of the truth. This is an impossible demand. You learn only as you give up the valueless. Where you anticipate grief, you find relief instead. Where you thought you’d find sacrifice, you find a gift from God instead.

Period of Settling Down: The TOG rests in peace for a while and consolidates learning. Now he begins to see the transfer value of what he has learned. The potential is huge. The TOG sees his whole way out of the illusion. Give up what you don’t want, keep what you do. How simple is the obvious and how easy to do! The TOG needs this period of rest. He has not come as far as he thinks. But when he is ready to go on, he goes with mighty companions beside him. He rests and gathers them before going on. He will not go on from here alone.

Period of Unsettling: Now the TOG understands, he did not know what was valuable and what was valueless. All that He has learned so far is that He did not want the valueless and that he wanted the valuable. His own sorting out did not teach him the difference. The idea of sacrifice made it impossible to judge. He thought He learned willingness, but now He sees that He didn’t realize what that was for. So now He must obtain a state which may feel impossible for a long time. He must lay all judgement aside and ask what he really wants in any circumstance. If each step were not heavily reinforced, this would be very hard to do.

Period of Achievement: Last learning is solidified. What was shadows before become solid gains that can be counted on in emergencies and times of peace. Tranquility is the result. It is the outcome of study, consistency of thought. From here full transfer follows. Earth is a step away from Heaven. Who would ‘go’ anywhere when He was complete. You are there. What would want more than this?

September Newsletter

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:53:24 GMT

Miracles are ordinary acts of Love

photo: Mara loading up granola bars for delivery. Check out her ACIM bumper sticker!

“Mara Schulze from The Miracle Center stopped by our Grace Packs pantry today to deliver 1400 granola bars for our kiddos!!

Also, we want to thank Director Jess Marsh, Mara Schulze, and all the members of The Miracle Center for this amazing donation. We are so blessed to have a caring partner like The Miracle Center supporting our mission to fight food insecurity within our local community. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.” Pat Agricola- Grace Packs Pantry Coordinator.

48 of the 50 Miracle principles describe a miracle as an ordinary act of love. We need to change our idea of what a miracle is. By equating a miracle with walking over water or a dramatic shift in perception, it puts the idea of a miracle beyond what we can easily do. Collecting granola bars for needy children: this is a miracle and one fairly easily managed! Last month we did a breakfast drive for Grace Packs which feeds over 750 St. Lucie school children every week. Miracles are acts of cooperation, and we would never be able to distribute this food without the efforts of Grace Packs and their amazing volunteers.

This month we are doing a collection for Tent City Helpers of Martin County. We are making snack packs for them and collecting cans with pop up tops to go with that. Remember our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters do not necessarily have can openers so all canned goods must be ready to eat and have pop up tops for this collection.

Our entire class archive is online as is a blog of class notes that gets updated weekly. Our class archive is open sourced, so comments are disabled but please email or call me with any questions that you have about this work.

It’s becoming a frequently asked question at The MC: What are your political views here? We have no political views, left or right, and we love them all and all are welcomed. The Course is not inherently political, and I would like to acknowledge the difference between The MC and Course teachers elsewhere who have a political ax to grind.

Here’s another thing I hear a lot, “I have a copy of that book at home, I didn’t understand it.” That’s why The MC is here to be your guide through the woods of the Course. Having a teacher with (temporarily) more Course information than you can really illuminate the work.

I hope to see you at The MC soon. If you are reaching our messaging from beyond Florida’s Treasure Coast, I’d like to encourage you to bring miracles in small ways to your own neck of the woods.

Love and Rowdy Blessings,

Jess

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 9: The Fear of Teaching

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:38:24 GMT

Classnotes 8/25/26

What is any interpersonal relationship for?

As teachers we don’t misperceive because of factors like number of students, the condition of the classroom, or the hour of the class. The difference between students and TOGs (teachers of God) is not lasting. Since we are in time, we have temporary differences, theoretically as the teacher I have more experience and ability with the Course, but we are meeting in order to get rid of the differences. As TOGs our goal is to give the students more of what is temporarily ours. We take the miracle principles into account. The TOG or miracle worker gives more to those who have less bringing them closer to equality. At the same time TOGs gain. In spiritual giving everyone gets ahead.

The confusion is because teachers and students do not gain the same things because they don’t need the same things. If they did, their temporary roles would not be mutually beneficial. Freedom from fear can be achieved by both if you don’t compare their needs or positions in regard to higher and lower. They are equals- there are no levels. Children learn from parents. Parents learn too, at a different order. Ultimately there is no difference in order, this involves only knowledge.

Their relationship would not exist at all if it was on different levels. Teacher and student are the same. The authority problem- children have it if they believe their image is made by authority. This is an act of will on your part because you are influenced by the authority. You are electing to misperceive the authority and give him power. A TOG with an authority problem is a student who refuses to teach others. He wants to keep himself in a position where he can be misused and misperceived. This makes him resent teaching because of what He insists it has done to him. Jesus talks about leaving the desert twice (in this section). Release everyone involved by refusing to honor error and make it real.

The TOG and student are not imprisoned by learning unless they see it as an attack. If you do this you will be imprisoned whether you teach or learn or refuse to engage at all. The role of TOG is leading yourself and others out of the desert. Do not underestimate this role, this is the role to which Jesus gladly devoted his own life. He has repeatedly asked us to follow him. This means that to be effective we must interpret the teaching as He does. He tries to teach us entirely without fear. If you do not listen, you make the obvious error of perceiving teaching as a threat.

Teaching produces learning, the purpose of all learning is to abolish fear, this is so that knowledge can happen. The role of teacher is not the role of God. This confusion is too often made by parents, teachers, therapists and clergy. It is a real misunderstanding of God and His miracles. If a TOG believes teaching is fearful he is paralyzed. He can’t really teach.

If you decide you can function in some roles but not others, you are attempting to make a compromise which won’t work. If you think you are coping with your fear of teaching by functioning in related roles , but not as a teacher of students, you are deceiving yourself.

You can function in any of the roles you have taken to fill, or you can’t be effective in any of them, This is an all or none choice. There are no levels, you are capable or you are not. Do or do not do, there is no try. You are completely miracle minded or not.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 8: The Essential Goal of Therapy

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:31:47 GMT

Tuesday Text Class 8/18/26

Class notes 8/18/26: Tuesday Text Class: Ch. 3 Sane Perception S.8 The Essential Goal of Therapy

The essential goal of therapy is the same as that of knowledge. You can’t survive independently if you are willing to see yourself through the eyes of others. The purpose of the resurrection was to demonstrate that no amount of misperception has any influence at all on a SOG (Son of God). All of God’s children are fully worthy of complete courtesy. Consistent courtesy even in small things is a very healing habit. We will be talking about our parents and their opinions about us in class today. Bill felt very misperceived by his parents. We will be talking about the equal worth of all people and recognizing the other as your brother.

The dominance submission problem: One person feels dominant or above another and the other person feels subordinate or submissive. This is often related to perceiving between helping and being helped. This misperception comes from the failure to recognize the equal worth of both people. Make no confusion on this point. There will be no strain if this confusion is not introduced. If someone tries to help us, we may feel like this puts us in a subordinate position. Recognizing your brother means acknowledging the equal worth of all people.

Prerequisites for Therapy/Miracle Working

Recognition rather than denial of thought
Equality of all involved including Jesus
No one is therapist/patient or student/teacher
Above all- everyone must give up everything that isn’t true. Therapy implies something has gone wrong. Those who are ill are negative.

Therapy is the same as other types of miracle working. All of the principles for miracles apply; there are no separate rules. Therapy must come from miracle mindedness to heal. The teacher or therapist has the role of being a better perceiver. It does not follow that he is better at knowing. Temporarily a teacher or therapist can help to straighten out twisted perception. This is the only role that Jesus would play. Therapy should place people in the right frame of mind to help one another. It’s a process of true courtesy. All of God’s children are worthy of complete courtesy even in small things. This is a healing habit to acquire.

All forms of mental illness are forms of viciousness. Afraid people are likely to be vicious. If we are willing to forgive other people their misperceptions of us, they would not affect us at all. Why should anyone give a misperception power? How could they do this to me?? The answer is, they didn’t. The purpose of the resurrection is to demonstrate that no amount of misperception can influence a SOG. This exonerates misperceivers, they have not hurt anyone. Are you willing to demonstrate that your parents haven’t hurt you? Unless you are, you have not forgiven them.

The goal of therapy is the same as knowledge. You can’t see yourself through the eyes of others or you see yourself in different lights. You are not an image, if you side with one you are making an idol. An idol is a substitute for what God has made. There is no justification for perpetuating any image of yourself. You are not an image. What is true about you is wholly benign. You can’t know this if you see yourself as vulnerable enough to be hurt. This is an arrogant, narcissistic point of view. It endows the perceiver with the strength to make you over and acknowledges their misperception. Lack of real courtesy can appear to be humility but it’s simple spite. It involves a low estimate of one's worth, you feel unworthy this leads to self abasement.

Sunday Pep Talk: What are the Levels of Teaching?

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:14:48 GMT

Class notes: 8/23/26 Manuel for Teachers #3

Blessing bags in the former waxing room waiting for delivery. We try to fill this space up and donate it once a month.

Sunday Pep Talk 8/23/26 MFT #3 What are the Levels of Teaching?

“Those who are to meet will meet because together they have the potential for a holy relationship. They are ready for each other.”

Teachers of God (TOGs) have no set teaching level. Each teaching learning situation involves a different relationship in the beginning. The ultimate goal is the same to make the relationship a Holy Relationship where both can see the Son of God (SOG) as sinless. TOGs can learn from everyone and can teach anyone. However, it is not practical to meet everyone nor can everyone find you. So the plan includes specific contacts for each TOG. There are no accidents in salvation.

The simplest level of teaching is from “chance”encounters. These can become holy encounters when you lose sight of separate interests for a moment. The moment is enough it has become a holy instant.

Levels of Teaching - none of these meetings are by accident

#1) very casual encounters

#2) more sustained relationship

#3) relationships once they are formed are life long

“ Yet all who meet will someday meet again, for it is the destiny of all relationships to become holy.”

Here Jesus says, “the Universal Course” so he is talking about all of the pathways not just ACIM. The levels of teaching are a concept as meaningless as time, i.e. it exists in the illusion and is a learning device. The illusion of time allows for the illusions of the levels of teaching.

“In time the TOG seems to begin to change his mind about the world with a single decision, and then learns more and more about the direction as he teaches it.”

The illusion of time and the illusion of the levels of teaching seem to be different. These levels can not exist. Any level of the teaching learning situation is a part of God’s plan for the atonement. His plan can have no levels. God does not take steps. Salvation is always ready and always there. When are you going to get there? We all make that choice in the end. TOGs work at different levels but the result is always the same. We become better perceivers. Each teaching/learning situation is maximal. Each person learns the most from the other as he can at that time. Only in this sense can we talk about the levels of teaching.

Level two is a more sustained relationship. It’s fairly intense and then you seem to separate. As with the first level, these meetings are not accidental (fate), nor is what appears to be the end the actual end. Each has learned as much as He could at the time.

Level three, once formed these relationships are life long. Each person is given a chosen learning partner who presents him with unlimited opportunities to learn. Very few relationships are like this because those involved have reached a stage in which the teaching learning balance is actually perfect. They don’t normally recognize that this is true. They can be hostile to each other, perhaps for life. Yet when they decide to learn the lesson, the perfect lesson is before them and can be learned.

If they decide to learn that lesson, they become the saviors of the teachers who falter and may even seem to fail. No TOG can fail to find the help he needs.

Wednesday Workbook: Intro part 2 and What is Forgiveness?

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:37:47 GMT

Class Notes 8/12/26

Because Fenway adds to every blog post!

Now we move beyond words to direct experience with God. Words are now guides that we don’t depend on. The lessons are introductions in which we leave the world and enter peace. Now we reach the goal of the Course and find the end that the practicing was geared towards. So the formal exercise is just a jumping off point here.

We wait in expectation of God, our Father. He takes the last step and he keeps his promises. We’ve come far along the road and now we wait for Him. Use prayer to wait for God. We spend time in the morning and night, as long as it makes you happy and makes hourly remembrances. In addition to this we call upon God in the interim if we have need for Him and forget our goal.

Now we use the central thought of the day to introduce times of rest and calm. We say simple words of welcome and expect God to reveal himself as He has promised. He answers the calls of all of his kids. So we come with his word on our minds and hearts and wait for him to take the last step.

He did not leave us in our craziness. He needs our invitation in. Remember this will make us happy. We say words of welcome and we wait. We wait in silence unafraid of God’s coming. We have found the way of finding the guide that He sent. God did not leave us here hanging out to dry.

When the Father and the son have one will we can’t fail, ancient promises are kept. We can fail in nothing. We go on with certainty and confidence. We found the way He chose for us and we chose to follow it. His choice, your choice department.

He has called to you with love unending since time began (i.e. the separation). Now the need for practicing is almost done. We need only call on God and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, feel his love, instead of judging be still at let all things be healed. We will accept God’s plan in the end and we receive it the way that it started.

Practice: special theme of relevance followed by wordless deep experience. Review the theme each day until there is a new one. Read it slowly, marinate on it. Then you go into your holy and blessed instant.

Special Theme #1: What is Forgiveness?

Miraculous Forgiveness: What you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. We do not pardon sins and make them real. Only love is real. In this view, your sins are forgiven. What takes the place of this falsehood is the will of God. United will brings peace. An unforgiving mind has made a judgement which is not true. The mind is closed and won’t be released.

The thought: judgement proceeds projection. Projection tightens the chains that bind you, then distortions become more veiled. What can come between a fixed projection and the aim it has chosen for it’s goal? He who would not forgive must judge.

“Forgiveness is still and quietly does nothing. It offends no aspect of reality, nor seeks to twist it to appearances it likes. It merely looks and waits, and judges not.” There is a reason that this quotes is on the wall in the hang out space of the MC. Forgiveness is the key to passing ACIM.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 7: Beyond Perception

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 20:47:51 GMT

Tuesday Text Class 8/11/26

Neo chilling in the New England briefcase.

The abilities that you have are shadows of your true strength. The spirit’s true functions are knowing, loving, and creating. Perceiving is inherently judgemental and came after the separation. We’ve been in doubt since then. Resurrection is the return of knowledge, which Jesus accomplished by uniting his will with God’s. Since the separation make and create get confused. You make something out of a lack or need. Something is made for a purpose. You make something to fulfill a perceived lack. Which is why you make anything. When you make something you are implying that you believe in the separation.

Knowing does not lead to doing. A miracle is associated with perception and not with knowing. Prayer is the medium of miracles and the natural form of communication between God and his kids. Prayer affirms knowledge, not perception. Unless perception enters into it prayer calls on revelation. Prayer as revelation on the ladder of prayer. Revelation is the highest rung on the ladder. The confusion between your own creation and what you make is huge because it has become impossible to know anything. Knowledge is always stable and you are not. When your behavior is unstable you are disagreeing with God’s idea of creation. You can do this, but you wouldn’t if you were in your right mind.

The fundamental question; Who am I? This bothers you the most but you aren’t qualified to answer the question. This question implies who you are is up to you. Correct all false thinking in which you think you are your own creation. Prayer is the medium of miracles because God created you. You are a miracle. Perceptions are open to error. It’s needlessly complicated because you want to see yourself as separated and unseparated at the same time.

Sunday Pep Talk: Manual for Teachers part #1

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 19:32:34 GMT

Class notes: 8/9/26 MFT intro, #1 Who are God's Teachers?, #2 Who are their students?

Miracles loaded and waiting for delivery!

To teach is to learn. Teaching goes on all of the time including when we are sleeping. The thinking of the world is reversed and the reversal is characteristic in the context of the illusion. To teach is to demonstrate. There are two thought systems: God’s and the Ego’s & you demonstrate that you think one or the other is true all of the time. You learn from your demonstration and so do others.

Everyone teaches, you have no choice in this, choose what you teach on the basis of what you’d like to learn. When you teach you affirm what you know. Teaching is not done by words alone. We teach others who we are and what they are to us. Think about that and try for loving kindness. What we teach is determined by what you think you are, what you believe the relationship of others is to you. In a classroom these questions may be unrelated to what you think you are teaching, yet any situation can be used to benefit what we really want to teach and learn. The words can be irrelevant. It is the teaching underlying what you say that teaches you. Teaching reinforces what you think about yourself. The fundamental purpose is to diminish self doubt. The self you think is real you are trying to protect.

World’s curriculum : everyone here follows it until they change their mind. It teaches you to reinforce the ego, it’s the purpose of the world. It teaches hopelessness, death, and despair. God’s curriculum: teaches joy and hope.

Who are God’s teachers? A TOG (teacher of God) is anyone who chooses to be one. You make a choice that your interests are not separate from anyone else's. Once that is done the path is made and the direction is clear.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 6: The Divided Mind

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:21:35 GMT

Tuesday Text Class 8/4/26

Joy is an attribute of the Kingdom

Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 6: The Divided Mind

Class notes 8/4/26

Most of the abilities you now possess are shadows of your real strengths. Your spirit knows, loves and creates. These are its unequivocal functions. Unequivocal: no doubt, unambiguous. Our present function is equivocal or open to question. This happens because we are no longer certain how to use our strengths. So we are as of yet incapable of knowledge because we are uncertain. Certainty knows, you don’t have to question. We are incapable of true love because we still perceive lovelessly. How does it land when Jesus says that you are incapable of true knowledge or love? You can’t create surely because perception deceives and illusions are not sure.

Only the levels of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are capable of unity. Spirit has no levels and all conflict arises with the idea of levels. Perception did not exist before the separation introduced degrees, aspects, and intervals. War arises when some regard others as on a different level. All interpersonal conflicts arise from this fallacy. The levels introduced by the separation are disastrous. They have to conflict. One level is meaningless to the other.

Freud realized this. Freud’s picture of the psyche includes:

-The Superego- morally right and perfect

-The Ego- The reality principle

-The ID- the pleasure principle

They have different goals. Freud saw these goals as forever irreconcilable. They are conflict prone by definition. They want different things and follow different principles.

The ACIM picture of the psyche includes:

- The superconscious - revelation level- direct experience with God

- The conscious level - gets impulses from the unconscious and superconscious. This is the level of perception but not knowledge. To perceive is not to know.

- The unconscious - properly only consists of the miracle ability and should be under Jesus’ direction

Edgar Cayce’s readings teach that the highest level of the mind is the superconscious. All knowing at one with God, the level of spirit. Here Cayce is more correct than Freud. Consciousness was the first split you introduced to yourself. You became a preceiver rather than a creator.Consciousness is the domain of the ego. Jung was right when He insisted that the ego was not the self and the self should be regarded as an achievement. He did not recognize that the achievement was God’s.

The ego is a self made attempt to perceive yourself as you wished, rather than as you are. This is an example of the creator/created confusion. You did not create yourself. The ego can ask questions but not perceive wholly valid answers because those are of knowledge and can’t be perceived.The mind is confused only one mindedness is without question. A separated or divided mind is uncertain by definition. It has to be in conflict, it is out of accord with itself. Conflicts within your mind come from the same place as conflicts between people. One part of the psyche perceives the other on a different level and does not understand it. This makes the parts strangers to each other. This is the essence of the fear prone condition. When you are in this place, an attack is always possible. You have every reason to feel anxious about how you perceive yourself. This is why you can’t escape fear until you know that you did not create yourself and can not create yourself. You can never make this misperception valid and when you can at last perceive clearly you’ll be glad that you can’t .

Your creation is beyond your own error and how you see the data. That is why eventually you will choose to heal the separation. Do not confuse right mindedness with the knowing mind because it is applicable only to perception. You can be right minded or wrong minded and this is not subject to degrees so it is not knowledge. Right mindedness is a correction for wrong mindedness and applies to a state of mind which induces right perception. It is miraculous because it heals misperception and healing is a miracle in how you view yourself. Only the sick need healing. Your spirit does not need healing but your mind does.

Freud gave an upside down account of how divisions of the mind rose from the bottom up. He said the ego developed from the id and the superego came from the ego. This is impossible; the unconscious can’t generate consciousness. You can’t create something you don’t know., so the ego did not arise from the unconscious. A lower order perception can’t generate a higher order one because it doesn’t understand it. But a higher order one can produce a lower order one by misperceiving it.

Perception is a misuse of will because it involves uncertainty. The mind is active and has will power. When it willed the separation, it willed to perceive it. Until the mind chose this it willed only to know. After the separation it had to will ambiguously and the only way out of that is clear perception. The ego is as frail as Freud perceived it. If you attempt to endow the ego with the power of the spirit, as some later theorists did, it is confused thinking. Freud know a bad thing when He saw it, but He failed to realize that a bad thing can’t exist. It’s not necessary to get out of something that doesn’t exist. The thing to do with a desert is to leave the desert.

The mind returns to it’s proper function when it wills to know, this puts the mind in the spirit’s service where perception is meaningless. The superconscious is the level of the mind that wants to do this. Freud is particularly wrong here because his super ego is a big step away from Jesus’ superconscious. Freud was right when he said the parts of the psyche are not things or entirely separated, i.e. they used to be one. The mind divided itself when it willed to make levels and the ability to see them, but it couldn’t entirely separate from spirit, which derives the ability to create. Even in miscreating, you are affirming your source, you can’t stop creating because the spirit God created is eternal.

The ability to perceive made the body possible because you must perceive something with something. Perception involves a translation or exchange which knowledge doesn’t need. You then perceived your body as yourself, you interpreted it that way, this is a distortion of creation. If we see ourselves as a body, it is a case of mistaken identity. The superconscious could not reconcile the loss of power because it is incapable of darkness. That is why it became almost inaccessible to the mind and entirely inaccessible to the body. It was perceived as a threat because light does drive out the dark by establishing the fact that it isn’t there. The truth will always destroy error. This is not active destruction, knowing does not do anything. It can be perceived as an attacker but it can’t attack.

What you see as it’s attack is your recognition that it can always be re-membered. You can go back, reattached. The Christ self can’t be destroyed.

Sunday Pep Talk: Choose Once Again

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:30:18 GMT

Class notes: Chapter 31, Section 9, 8/2/26

Neo and Mica. Mica is ACIM spelled backwards. Now that I have blog sharing pictures of my fur babies is irresistible.

Temptation has one lesson, that we are a body, weak and bound by what it orders. Christ has come again and He is asking, “Choose once again if you would take your place among the saviors of the world or remain in hell and hold your brothers there.” What you choose is what you think is real. By never giving weakness power to direct your actions, it has no power. Bring your weakness to Christ and He gives you strength instead.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 5: Perception vs. Knowledge

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:34:19 GMT

Tuesday Text Class 7/28/26

photo: Miracles waiting to be delivered

An important subject. True perception is the basis of knowledge. First we get our perceptions straight and then we know . If you know then you are certain. If you are uncertain, then you don’t know. You do not ask questions when you know. Knowledge is power because it is certain. When you are certain it is strength.

Perception is temporary. It is an attribute of the time/space belief and subject to love and fear. Misperceptions produce fear, true perception induces love. Neither produces certainty because perceptions vary, it’s their nature. True perception is the basis of knowledge. Knowing affirms the truth.

All of your problems come from the fact that you do not recognize or know yourself, your brother or God. Recognize means know again, remember implies that you knew before. Not saw before, perception means different interpretations. The miracle is a way of perceiving but not knowing. It is the right answer, but you don’t ask when you know . Questioning delusions is the first step in correcting them. The miracle or right answer corrects them. Perceptions change, they are dependent on time. They are subject to transitory or changing states, so they are variable .

How you perceive at any given time determines what you do and action occurs in time. Knowledge is timeless because certainty doesn’t question. The questioning mind - perceives itself in time and looks for future answers. The unquestioning mind is closed because it believes the future and current states will be the same so this produces an unchanged state or stasis. This counteracts an underlying fear that the future will be worse than the present. This fear limits your ability to question at all.

Visions are a natural perception of the spiritual eye, but they are still corrections. The spiritual eye is symbolic and not a device for knowing. It is a means of right perception which makes it a miracle but not a revelation. A vision of God is a miracle not a revelation. The fact that perception remains at all removes it from the realm of knowledge. That is why these visions do not last.

Insight is not an attribute of knowledge. It refers to lofty perception. Lofty is meaningless in this context. Insight is not the way to knowledge but the prerequisite for it. Knowledge is of God, it has nothing to do with your perceptions at all. Knowledge is a gift from God to you , it is only that. An ancient proverb ‘know thyself’, be certain. Certainty is of God. If you love someone and perceive him as he is, then it is possible for you to know him. Then you stop asking questions about him. While you ask questions about God, you are implying that you don’t know him. Certainty does not require action. When you say that you are acting on the basis of sure knowledge- you are confusing perception and knowledge. Knowledge brings mental strength for creative thinking but not for right doing. *Perception, miracles, and doing are all closely related.

Knowledge is the result of revelation and induces only thought. Perception involves the body, even in the most spiritual form. Knowledge comes from the altar within. It is timeless and certain. To perceive the truth is not the same as knowing it. That’s why you have a hard time living this Course. The tentative perception of some of you is too uncertain for knowledge because knowledge is sure. The perception of others is so varied they swing from real knowledge to cognitive disorganization, difficulties organizing thoughts and focusing attention.

If you attack another’s error, you hurt yourself. You don’t recognize him when you attack. An attack is always made on a stranger. He is your brother, that is all you need to know. That’s a fact and not a perception.

The prayer for the miracle. Use it anytime something unloving crosses your mind.

Right perception is necessary before you can communicate clearly with God. “Thou shall Love,” is Jesus’ only commandment. Knowledge comes before and after time. It is the first and the last. If you do not recognize you brother you do not recognize God.

Sunday Pep Talk: For They Have Come

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:39:28 GMT

Class notes: Chapter 26, Section 10, 7/26/26

Besties #2

This is a favorite section of Helen Schuchman. Today we stand on Holy Ground at The MC. We have already seen miracles spring up at The MC, so Heaven is leaning down to join with us and make this place more like Heaven. Let it be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. They have come to gather their own. Now there is no distance between the Earth and Heaven. The MC is a step away from Heaven, this is a living temple. They have come to dwell in the temple offered to them. It’s theirs and ours. Around us angels hover lovingly. As miracle workers our footprints lighten up the world.

Tuesday Text: Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 4: Innocent Perception

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:17:08 GMT

Tuesday Text Class 7/21/26

photo: Neo and Fenway besties

Innocent Perception is true perception. This section is really important but short.

Certain things are not matters of degrees. There are fundamental concepts which can’t be understood as opposites. Light and Dark, Everything and Nothing, can’t really co-exist at the same time. They are all true or all false.

It is really important to understand that your behavior will be erratic until you make a firm commitment to one side. But you can't make a firm commitment to darkness or nothing. Everybody who has lived has experienced some light and some of “everything”. No one can deceive the truth totally even if you deceive yourself much of the time. This is why those who live in darkness and nothingness don’t find lasting peace.

Innocence is not partial. It is not a real defense until it is total. When it is partial it has the erratic nature of the other two edged defenses. The partially innocent can be quite stupid at times. Genuine innocence is universal. When it is applied universally, it becomes wisdom. Innocent/true perception means that you never misperceive and that you always see truly. You never see what does not exist in reality. This is a place where Jesus sets the bar for correct behavior very high. If you lack confidence in what someone will do, then you are saying that He isn’t in his right mind. This isn’t a miraculous point of view. It also denies the power of the miracle. This is the incorrect use of denial.

The miracle perceives everything as it is in Heaven. If nothing but the truth exists, and what is not true can not exist, right-minded seeing can not see anything but perfection. Only what God creates and what you create with the same will have any real existence. This is all that the truly innocent see. They do not suffer the same delusions as the separated ones. Withdraw your faith in the illusions and invest only in what is true. To whatever extent you side with misperception of yourself or others you are validating a basic misperception. You can’t validate the invalid. Give up all attempts to do so, they can only be frantic, frustrating, frenzied, and mentally deranged.

Validate only the true in everything that you perceive. It will make it true for you. Truth overcomes all error if you perceive truly, you cancel out misperceptions in yourself and others. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Focus on the good/God/Love/spark. True perception is a step away from Holy Vision.

Purify - The process of making something clean and free from impurities. When Jesus can be perceived, we will be like him, for we see him as he is. Everybody has the hope of being purified as he is pure. Innocent perception is one step away from Holy Vision. Our only hope is to see things as they are. Go forth and see the light of God in every living thing that you encounter today.

Sunday Pep Talk: What it says

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:05:03 GMT

ACIM a 30,000 foot overview

Only Love is Real

The material from today's pep talk is taken from The short section in the front of the blue FIP copy of the book.

A summation of the entirety of the work of ACIM, in a form so short that you could put it on a sticky note:

Nothing real can be threatened,

Nothing unreal exists, that’s the peace of God

Major themes of the work include the real vs the unreal and knowledge vs. perception.

Knowledge Perception

truth interpretation not facts

Eternal beginnings and endings

Unchangable change, unstable

Applies to all of God’s creatures selective

The law of God/Love world of time

Two distinct thought systems come from these two points of view which are completely opposite.

From Knowledge: No thoughts exist apart from God. God and his creations share one will.

From Perception: We have separate wills in conflict with each other and God. Illusions need constant defense because they are not real.

When you are in the world of perception you are caught in a dream. You can’t escape without help because you believe in what you’ve made. God has provided the answer, The Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit : His voice mediates between the worlds. He knows the truth and sees the illusion without believing in it. The Holy Spirit wants to help us escape the dream world. He teaches us how to unlearn our mistakes. You must unlearn what you have learned!

Forgiveness : is the Holy Spirit’s great learning aid. The Course has it’s own meaning of forgiveness and the reversal of thought. The Course defines the world in it’s own way.

Projection makes perception: The world we see reflects our own point of reference. We look inside, decide the world we want to perceive and project it- making it true as we see it . If we use projection to justify our own mistakes, we see a world of evil. We must forgive everything not because we are good or charitable but because what we are seeing is not there. We see our perceptual errors and look past them or forgive. At the same time we forgive ourselves and our distorted self concepts, we see the shelf that God created.

Sin is a lack of love. Love is all there is. This is a mistake to be corrected, not punished. The scarcity principle governs the illusion and leads to our sense of lack or incompletion. We seek in others what we see as lacking in ourselves. We love in order to get something. This is an error- love is incapable of asking for anything. Only minds join. Only at the level of the Christ mind is true union possible. “What God has joined, no man can put asunder". The little I seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions and external love. The self that God created is complete, safe, loved and loving. It seeks to share rather than get, extend rather than project.

Special Relationships are selfish, destructive and egocentric. If you give your relationships to the Holy Spirit, they can become some of the holiest things on Earth. The world uses special relationships as a weapon of exclusion and separateness. The Holy Spirit transforms them into lessons in forgiveness. We forgive ourselves by forgiving the other. Let each relationship become an invitation to the Holy Spirit and the remembrance of God.

Perception is of the body’s eyes. The body appears self motivated and independent but it responds to the intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to attack in any form, the body becomes prey to sickness, age and decay. If the mind accepts the Holy Spirit’s purpose for it, the body becomes a way of communicating with others, invulnerable while needed and then gently laid aside. The body is neutral as is everything in the world of perception. It can be used for the goals of the ego or Holy Spirit, whatever the mind wants. The vision of Christ is the opposite of seeing with the body’s eyes. It sees strength not weakness, love not fear, unity rather than separation. The voice of God, the Holy Spirit is in each of us. It seems distant and hard to hear because of the ego which speaks for the little separated self much louder. It’s actually reversed the Holy Sprit speaks with clarity and appeal. Even if you identify as a body you can hear the message of hope and release. We would all joyfully accept the vision of Christ in exchange for the miserable picture we’ve painted of ourselves.

Christ Vision is the Holy Spirit’s gift. It corrects all errors in perception and reflects the thought system that comes from God. Defenses are laid down because with no attack, there is no need for them. Our brother's needs become our own. We need each other to go home. Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven but here it’s a necessary correction. To be forgiven, forgive all. This is Heaven’s Law- to give and to receive are one in truth. Heaven is our natural state. Forgiveness is the means by which we remember. Remember God, this implies that you knew Him before.

Class Notes: Chapter 3 Section 3

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:51:51 GMT

Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 3: Atonement without sacrifice

photo: Grandma Rita 99 years young!

The crucifixion didn’t establish the Atonement, the resurrection did.

Many sincere Christians misunderstand this. It causes fear. No one free of the scarcity principle would make this mistake. If seen from an upside down point of view it seems like God allowed one of his sons to suffer because he was good. Many devoted ministers preach this daily. This is really an unfortunate interpretation, it’s projection of would be followers and has led to a real fear of God. It is neither by chance or coincidence that this antireligious concept has entered many religions. A real Christian should ask himself: How could this be? When God’s own words have stated otherwise.

The best defense is not to attack another’s position, but to defend the truth.

You really have to jump through hoops to attempt to explain a loving God sending his own Son up for slaughter. This is a really tragic perspective that punishment can be redemptive or this hurts me more than it hurts you. It can be painful in small applications and tragic in larger ones along the lines of mass persecution. Then the persecution is justified in God, which makes absolutely no sense.

No mistake is harder to give up than another, but some errors hang on because of the escape value. We feel justified in our attacks. It is so essential that all thinking like this, of a punishing God is uprooted. The lesson of the Atonement is about rising above the world of suffering. Its message gets lost if it’s tainted. “Vengance is mine sayeth the Lord,” has to do with karma. You assign your past evil deeds to God. God did not create the evil conscious from the past, he does not maintain it. He does not believe in karmic retribution at all. His mind does not work that way. He does not hold misdeeds against a person himself. Why would he hold your sins against Jesus? Uproot this toxic thinking. A punishing God is impossible and pure projection. This is responsible for a host of other errors, including the belief that God rejected man from the garden of Eden or that Jesus himself is misdirecting you. Humans can be very inventive about twisting symbols around.

God is not a symbol, he is a fact. He exists only in light. The world’s attempts to cloak God in darkness make God inaccessible to the unwilling, ambiguous, and partially willing. The atonement is nothing but truth and sheds only blessings. Innocence is the perfect lesson, you are released from all errors if you believe this. This generalization is always true. Except the generalization first- applicable to all single instances.

Nothing can prevail against the SOG (Son of God) who gives his spirit to God’s hands. Your mind awakens from sleep and remembers God. Separation disappears and level confusion vanishes. The SOG is part of the Holy Trinity, the Trinity is one, one mind and will. This single purpose establishes the reign of the peace of God. This vision can be perceived by the innocent, their hearts are pure. They defend true perception without defending against it. They lack the desire to attack and see truly.

A good teacher never terrorizes students. To terrorize is to attack. If you reject what the teacher offers, you have learning failure. Sacrificing others is a violation of God’s will, you should be merciful even as your Father in Heaven is merciful. It’s hard for many Christians to realize that this applies to themselves, to be merciful.

There is no need for sacrifice, it’s a misperception. The body is neutral, only the mind knows anything. An innocent mind can’t project, it lays down its arms. It can be yourself that you attack.

If you seek illusions, you only join with yourself. You seek the peace of God, so does everyone who seems to seek illusions. You join with their own true intent. You have been uncertain in your purpose, not sure what you wanted or where to look for it or where to go to for help. You have received help. By sharing it you keep it in truth.

If you really want the peace of God you’ll find it. It is God’s eternal gift. No gift from God can be unshared, this sets God’s gifts apart from worldly gifts. If you request a gift from God, no one loses, everyone gains. God gives to unite. To take away is meaningless to God, it should become meaningless to you. Value only the eternal. Today we seek to unite what the ‘brotherhood of hate would severe’.

Every mind that God created wants to unite in truth. This helps us reach the peace of God, this united will.

August Newsletter

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:59:43 GMT

Miracles are ordinary acts of Love

photo: Jess and volunteers from Angels of Hope

Last week I dropped off 65 blessing bags of food for our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters to our commUNITY partner, Angels of Hope in Fort Pierce. We also brought them new and like new men’s t-shirts and a new pair of shoes. Mary Jo asked us for black men’s sneakers sized 10 ½ . It felt like an important request, one for a specific person so we made sure to fulfill that miracle request. The publisher of the Course, CIMS in Omaha sent us 30 copies of the Course for the homeless population. They sent all pocket-sized editions which are ideal for people living out of tents and backpacks.

Yesterday we had our first tourist take a class at The MC. We hope to see this more in the future. Melissa is visiting Jensen Beach from Dayton, Ohio. We hope that she continues to keep up with our classes from a distance. We hear this a lot, that The Course is difficult to understand on your own. We are here to help! If you are finding our classes online please drop us an email and ask us any questions about the Course that come to mind. There was a time when I took Course classes online too. I never felt like I could reach out to my online teachers, even though I had a ton of questions. I don’t want our students to feel that way. We are here to help. Feel free to call us during office hours or send an e-mail.

Back to school is around the corner, we are hosting a breakfast drive for Grace Packs through 8/25. Please bring in cereal or granola bars, any brand for collection. Grace Packs serves children at 37 area St Lucie schools. Love provides!

There are no strangers in God’s creation. If you attack someone else's error, you will hurt yourself. What we put our focus on expands, see the good and the light in all people and focus on that. Perception varies, knowledge is of God. Go out and be the light that you wish to see in the world.

Have you missed one of our past classes? Our class archive is now online. Let me know if you have questions about the gaps in the material due to early technical difficulties. Please help to spread the word about our mission. Remember there are no big or small miracles, they are all ordinary acts of love. Spreading kindness is a miracle.

Love and Rowdy Blessings,

Jess

Class Notes: Wednesday Workbook #183-189

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:57:54 GMT

Wednesday Workbook #183-189

Workbook #183: I will be still a moment and go home.

An Ancient home, a place that calls to us to return. Some SOGs (Sons of God) play games to distract them from sadness. Others deny that they are sad. Some others say that this world is real and Heaven is an illusion. If you are being honest with yourself you understand these words, this call to home. No one in this world is at home. We are all on this endless search. You make a thousand homes for yourself here, yet none quite do. You build in vain, only your Father's house is where you will find Heaven. What you have created is hell.

Maybe you think you are looking for your childhood home, or your body when you were younger. But there is a child of God in you who seeks Heaven and knows that this world is not her place. This child of God and innocence are eternal. Where this COG (child of God) goes is holy ground. We bring the reflection of Heaven to Earth so that Heaven and Earth are one. Earth can reflect Heaven, be one step away from it. We bring that reflection down to the ground.

This COG wants to go home to Heaven badly. She asks you to let her rest for awhile. Heaven is her home and your body too (temporarily). Let her rest for a moment. This COG needs your protection. She is far from home. Her patience has no limits.

*Chist Reborn: is about your rebirth. Your awakening to your true nature.

* defenselessness

You can not lose your original innocence. The call of God can't denied but it certainly can be delayed. Why wait for Heaven? "Toys of the battle we have made," We exchange this for Heaven.

Workbook #185: I want the peace of God

What are we manifesting for? If you mean these words it is everything. If you mean these words, then you are healed. You can't be invested in the illusion anymore. If you want the peace of God it will be given to you. Ask and you will receive, if you really mean it.

Exercise: two minds with one intent become the will of God.

Minds can join in truth. In the illusion we are each the hero of our own dream and have competing goals. We lose and gain in shifting patterns. No one wins in the dream, we are asleep to our true nature. To want the peace of God is to renounce the dream or at least your investment in it. You can't mean these words and have goals within the context of the illusion at the same time. Go beyond the illusion, another ego goal will get you nowhere. All illusions contain misery and despair.

Peace is obtained by joining with other minds who want peace. If you really want it, you will be given the means . We want the peace of God, this is not a trifiling ask, we are not asking for another dream. To really means these words is to acknowledge that illusions don't work. They all end in nothing.

What dreams of the illusion do you still cherish?

What are you really asking for in your heart?

Observe the dreams that you still cherish. Would you trade this for the peace of God? You get what you ask for, you get your heart's desire. If you seek for illusions, you can only join with yourself. If you seek the peace of God, so does everyone else, even those who still seem to be seeking illusions. You join with a larger intent. You have been uncertain in your purpose. Not sure what you really wanted or where to look for it or where to go for help. You have received help. By sharing it, you keep it in truth.

If you really want the peace of God, you'll find it. It is God's eternal gift. No gift from God can be unshared, this is what sets God's gifts apart from worldly gifts. If you request a gift from God, no one loses, everyone gains. God gives to unite. To take away is meaningless to God, it should become meaningless to you. Value only the eternal. Today we seek to unite what the "brotherhood of hate would severe". Every mind that God created wants to unite. This helps us to reach the peace of God, this united will.

Class Notes: Chapter 3 Section 2

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:35:49 GMT

Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 2: Special Principles for Miracles Workers

photo: Sabrina and Mary Jo from Angels of Hope

Special Principles for miracle workers

1. The Miracle abolishes the need for lower order concerns. The normal rules of space and time do not apply.

The miracle eliminates the need for lower order concerns. These material and physical things naturally drop off. It is an illogical pattern, meaning it doesn't follow what came before it. It is an out of pattern time interval and the normal rules of space and time do not apply. Time and Space are of the illusion. Jesus is outside of the illusion and the concepts do not apply to him. When we perform miracles, Jesus arranges time and space to adjust to it.

2. A Clear distinction between created and made is essential.

All healing rests on correction of level perception (physical vs. spiritual). As we give up our investment in the physical things naturally slough off.

3. Never confuse right-mindedness with wrong mindedness.

The only response to miscreation is a desire to heal. If you respond in another way it's miscreation.

4. The miracle is always a denial of error and affirmation of the truth.

Only right mindedness creates in a way that has a real effect. What has no effect has no real existence. Because it is empty it leads to projection.

5. The level adjustment of the miracle induces the right perception for healing.

The level adjustment power of the miracle induces the right perception for healing. Forgiveness is an empty gesture unless it entails correction. We see the SOG (Son of God) in them. Without this it is just judgement (they need forgiveness), and not healing to us. By forgiving, we are forgiven.

6. Miraculous Forgiveness involves only correction.

We are not focusing on the error. We are not being called upon to judge or evaluate the error. The outcome of their misthought does not matter, we are simply asking God to heal them. Pray for your so called enemies.

7. The Biblical injunctions: Be of One Mind and Do this in remembrance of me.

Be of One mind- We are the one Son of God collectively. This refers to revelation readiness. Uprooting fear and performing miracles also lead to revelation readiness.

Do this in remembrance of me- is a request for cooperation with miracle working. Remember the miracle principle, Miracles are acts of cooperation. Always ask Jesus if you should perform this particular miracle. This phrase also recalls the past. Instead of the Eucharist (a weird cannibalistic gesture) we perform miracles in remembrance of Jesus.

*Time is under Jesus' direction, timelessness belongs to God alone.

Wednesday Workbook #176-182

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:12:52 GMT

Workbook #176-182

Workbook 181:

-perception vs. knowledge

-Now in ACIM

When you attack someone, you are saying he is limited by your perception. Perception has focus. Change the focus and what you see changes as well. If you see your brother's sins, you magnify your own. Do not seek long range goals. Do not seek fantasies. The eyes of Christ are our own. We are practicing for Holy Vision.

Workbook 182: I call upon God's name and my own.

Christ is our last name. It comes from our Father and is shared by all of our siblings. This is true even if the world doesn't recognize it yet. God's name can't be said without response. You call the angels down to shelter you. Repeat God's name and all of the world responds. A star is mentioned here, a star is the sign of ACIM. Repeat the name of God and little names lose their meaning. Idols lose their meaning, God replaces them. You call upon your own Christ self. An invitation to God will never be turned down. And when you are calling for an idol you are really calling for God. His kids are one with him, this is an all encompassing idea.

Tuesday Text Class Notes, Chapter 3 Section 1

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:44:49 GMT

Chapter 3: Sane Perception, Section 1: The need to study

photo: Tom and Anna

*The next step in this Course is direct approach to God. Are you prepared?

-confusing awe and fear

-assigned study periods

-revelation

All learning involves attention and study. This is a mind training course. Make the obvious assignment, plan your study periods. You have problems? Consider that ACIM will solve some of them. If you believe that this is true you will apply yourself to the task at hand. Maybe you don't think ACIM will solve your problems. Or maybe you do and then don't take them time to search for answers. You realize that you are being prepared for something, but are you prepared?

Mental retardation is a term used in this section that was more popular when the Course was published. Today we use different words like intellectual disability. Mental retardation can be used for truth or error like all defenses. It is maladaptive when used for attack. Jesus refers to this as, "pseudo-retardation" syndrome". You can use this defense as you read this Course. This attacks both you and Jesus. It leaves you weak and him ineffective. This perception leads to fear. You don't realize your mind or Jesus' and what is willed there. This leads to behavior will conflict. You don't know your true will.

Awe is appropriate only to God. It is not appropriate to Jesus because of our inherent equality. Jesus has clarified his role in the atonement without over or under stating it. He is in charge of the entirety of it, we each have a role to play which he will dictate to us.

The next part of this Course rests on your study of the previous part. Without this you will become fearful when the unexpected does occur to make constructive use of it. But if you study the earlier part you will see the obvious implications. You are being prepared for revelation experience with God. If you aren't ready you are too likely to confuse awesome with fearful. You can learn and pass this Course. So far we have been only been talking about God indirectly. The next step is direct approach to God Himself. Don't start this step without careful preparation. You need to uproot fear.

July Newsletter

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:17:01 GMT

Miracles have landed in Jensen Beach!

photo: Jess and MacKenna from Tent City Helpers

More often than not a miracle is an ordinary act of love. That’s why we prioritize service at The MC. We perform miracles by giving back to the community in the small ways that we can. There are no big or small miracles; they are ordinary acts of love. Today I gave out one of our blessing bags to a temporarily homeless sister that I encountered on my way into a store. On my way out of the store she was reading our note of encouragement and waving at me. It’s these small moments that are miraculous.

Our next miracle project is our third collection for Angels of Hope Outreach ministries in Ft Pierce. David and Mary Jo are amazing! They go out into the woods and provide services to those frequently overlooked. Their mission is inspired by their time previously being homeless themselves. It is one thing to hear about a tent city and another thing to encounter one. The last time we did a collection for them I went out into the woods with David and met some of the people that they serve. Going into the woods with David was my first miracle field work and I was deeply moved by the experience. I listened to their stories. I was surprised to encounter third world conditions a few miles away from the country clubs. It was a lesson in getting out there and doing what we can without being upset by the vastness of the problem.

It is a blessing to have Naomi with us. She has a lot of Course knowledge and has been aiding and abetting all of our miracle projects. I would be lost without her, especially with Anna up North for the summer.

Last week we delivered 65 snack packs, cans of food and bottles of water to Tent City Helpers of Martin County. This is the amount that they distribute in a week! We also brought them two cases of nutritional drinks and new underwear. MacKenna is taking over as Director of Tent City Helpers. She is graduating from Indian River State College this summer. She is so passionate about the cause that she serves and it’s really inspirational to see young people being miraculous and giving back to the community. I would like to thank the past director of Tent City Helpers, Gail who I was lucky enough to meet during our first drop off. She is moving to Tennessee and off to another chapter in her life but she gave a lot back during the time period she was here. When we met she was talking about giving from a place of abundance, she really seemed naturally in touch with things. I love getting to know some of our commUNITY partners. They are so dedicated to giving back and being a light in this community.

We are living the Course by doing these monthly projects. It’s an example of extension. It is an example of cooperation. It’s an example of holy love as opposed to special love. We would like to welcome Blu Yoga to the Island Shoppes. They really add to our wellness vibe at The MC. I met Jen and she is lovely. Their first location didn’t work out but sometimes life’s disappointments contain silver linings. As we say in the Course, THE plan is in more appropriate hands.

In text class we were saying that the true meaning of the apocalypse is productive division where you look at everything that you have created and uproot your mistakes and miscreations. This really takes the idea of Swedish death cleaning to the next level. Take some time this month to evaluate what you have created and what is working for you and what belongs in the rubbish heap. Let me know what you come up with.

Have you checked out our class archive online yet? I am so pleased with this work. It is like our own personal youtube page. Check out our classes in their entirety, you’ll find the link underneath any of the class pages on our website. It’s not really a blog, the class notes are now on the blog of our website. I’ll continue to add two or three a week. I would suggest watching the class first and reinforcing it by reading the notes afterwards.

I feel so blessed to be at The MC sharing miracles with you!

Wednesday Workbook #169-175

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:57:53 GMT

Class Notes Wednesday Workbook #165-175

photo: Naomi

Workbook 169: By Grace I live. By Grace I am released.

Grace: Ease of movement, pleasant, God’s grace, helpful, loving, benevolent

How do we ‘prepare a table’ for grace?

Grace is past learning and the goal of the Course. Minds lighted by the gift of grace.

Open our mind to the call of God. Speed up time by listening to God and opening your mind to his voice. When you unite with your source you are in your natural state of grace.

Disappearing into God is not about loss of identity but about becoming our true selves. Hasten, there’s an old fashion word. We are speeding up the process. Forgiveness learned and taught leads to a time of timelessness in which we are released to revelation and eternity.

Get to work! Our part has been cast but we need to get ‘er done. All of the rest depends on your part. Accept the role assigned to you and you become a little closer to God. Grace comes before Heaven.

The Face of Christ : One who went to revelation and brought back the reflection of Heaven to Earth.

The holy instant (now) is our return. We carry grace back to ourselves, this is heavenly giving. Revelation closely follows grace and is assured.

What is the experience that comes from Grace?

Workbook 170: There is no cruelty in God and none in me

You do not attack in self defense. You attack with intention to hurt. You think hurting another brings you freedom. You are trying to defend against fear via attack and it’s a crazy idea. Attack creates fear and makes it grow. By attacking you keep your fear.

*Today’s lesson can save you more time and needless misery than you can possibly imagine. What we resist persists. We make it real by defending against it. When you lay down your arms then you see past it.

By attacking we create an enemy within. This inner enemy deprives you of peace. Self defense incorrectly assumes that (A) ideas leave their source (B) attributes of love are projected onto fear. So you think that fear brings you safety and escape. Now love contains fear and it is the enemy. This is completely upside down thinking. Look at fear dispassionately. The final obstacle to peace is the fear of God. This puts fear upon the throne. *Leave the fear of God here. Be sure that this is the right choice. Making this choice will restore vision to you. Holy vision is the goal of the work ACIM.

So practice seeing through the eyes of Christ. Our voice belongs to God and echoes his. Our heart will be at peace when we have chosen love over idols. When this happens the attributes God gave to you in your creation will finally be restored to you. The call of God has been heard and answered. Fear has made way for love.

Review 5

Now we devote more time & effort to The Course. We are preparing for another level of understanding. Go on from here with more faith and more certainty about the path ahead. In the past our path has wavered and our commitment as well. Now we speed up with a firmer purpose and goal. Love waits for us at the journey’s end. A love with no opposite- all encompassing love. This review shortens time to open up a path of light in us. Jesus takes the journey with us. He forgets no one. Heaven is incomplete without you. Heaven and Jesus are waiting for you.

This review is your gift to God. You are his voice, his hands through which he saves the world. Take your brother’s hand, we do not walk alone. Your extension of love comes from God. Go to sleep with the thought of God. Experience of the practice brings faith beyond words. Uncertainty and pain have no meaning.

Vocab-hands We lead each other home.

Chapter 2 section 13: The Real Meaning of the Last Judgement

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:45:08 GMT

Class Notes Tuesday Text Class: Ch. 2 Right Defense and Release from Fear, S. 13 The Real Meaning of the Last Judgement

photo: Jess and Fenway

Chapter 2 Section 13 The real meaning of the last judgement

The final judgement/The last judgement

-It is a healing. A process of right evaluation.

-A procedure undertaken by the Sonship with Jesus’ help.

-It is a doorway to life

Vocab

-celestial speed up

-The true meaning of the Apocalypse

-judgement/justice

The separation occurred over millions of years and the last judgement will take at least that long. The length of the final judgement depends on the effectiveness of the celestial speed up. A miracle shortens time but does not eliminate it. If a bunch of folks become miracle minded quickly, lots of time can be saved. To be a member of the celestial speed up, you have to eliminate fear sooner than would normally be the case. You must emerge from the basic conflict to be part of the solution of bringing peace of mind to others.

People think that the last judgement is up to God. It’s actually a procedure done by the Sonship with the help of Jesus. It is a final healing, not a doling out of punishment. Let go of your ideas about the rapture. Punishment is totally against right mindedness. The purpose of the final judgement is to restore right mindedness to you.

The first step towards freedom is sorting out the false from the true. This is division in a constructive sense. The true meaning of the apocalypse is this productive division. We will look on all that we have made our creations and miscreations, we will keep only the good. Pick up your cross and follow me, should be translated into uproot your errors and follow Jesus following his advice. We will disown our miscreations, and then they will be gone because we no longer believe in them, so they disappear.

The last judgement is associated with fear because folks associate last with death. This fear is then falsely projected onto God. This is upside down perception in reality the last judgement is the doorway to life. If you are living in fear, then you aren’t really alive. You can not make the final judgement on yourself because you didn’t create yourself. But you should apply the idea of judgement to everything that you have ever made in time. Keep only what is good. This is what your right mindedness controls. The purpose of time is to give you the time to make this judgement. When you retain only the loveable no fear remains. This is your part in the atonement.

See The Manual for Teachers #14 How will the world end and #15 Is each one to be judged in the end for more information on this subject.

Mailing Address

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:57:27 GMT

Our physical address vs. our mailing address

I am not sure if this is the best place to put this information, but a note about our address. 4368 NE Ocean Blvd is our groovy location on the Island across the street from the beach on A1A in the same shopping plaza as Rock House Live and Breeza. We do not get mail at this address. Our mailing address is:

1601-N Main Street #3159

SMB #94945

Jacksonville, FL 32206

This is a virtual mailbox that scans the mail to email (eventually). We do not receive mail at our physical address.

In case you were wondering we are registered as ACIM The MC under the Sunshine State Business listings.

Thank you for your interest in our small yet funky charity!

** As of 8/7/26 We have a new local PO Box. Our mailing address is:

PO Box 6152

Jensen Beach, FL 34957

We will keep the old address active in Jacksonville for a few months while we transition to using our new address.

June Newsletter

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 18:45:15 GMT

The miracles we have shared and class notes will now be online

Summer is here! The MC has already been open for six months. This is the first of what I hope will become a monthly newsletter. Just last week we became a 501 C 3 Public charity.

Let’s celebrate the miracles that we have shared in the time that the MC has been opened. We have made over 300 blessing bags of food for our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters on Florida’s Treasure Coast. We have also donated cases of food with pop top cans, new socks, leggings, jeans and underware, and basic hygiene supplies. This work would not be possible without the distribution efforts of our commUNITY partners, Angels of Hope Ministries in Ft. Pierce and Tent City Helpers of Martin County. We also offered words of hope to the people served by Angels of Hope by donating 2 cases of Course books and bibles. The case of Course books for our temporarily homeless brothers and sisters was a generous donation by the publisher of the Course, CIMS in Omaha. It is a beautiful example of the miracle principle, miracles are acts of cooperation. We donated over 300 cans of Chef Boyardee products to Grace Packs which serves 37 area St. Lucie schools. They help to fill the food gap for Florida school children who rely on school breakfast and lunch programs throughout the week.

We have a new member of the MC family. Please welcome Naomi to our board of directors. She shares our vision for a community center for The Course and we are blessed to have her onboard.

Our class archive had a slow roll out because of numerous technical difficulties. We have partnered with Ponopto which is made for long duration content like our classes. Moving forward we will have consistent Course classes online. We are here to be gate openers not gatekeepers of the Course, there is no charge, no pay to pray formula to access this class archive.

Our social media has been in the works for a few months. This work is produced by Wake and Make Media of Stuart and we are blessed to be working with the very talented Corey and Raheem. Let’s connect:

Instagram: themctreasurecoast https://www.instagram.com/themctreasurecoast/

YouTube: The MC-A Course in Miracles (@TheMC_ACourseinMiracles) https://www.youtube.com/@TheMC_ACourseinMiracles/shorts

Facebook: ACIM The Miracle Center https://www.facebook.com/people/ACIM-The-Miracle-Center/61586017108686/

Tik Tok: The MC Treasure Coast @themc.treasure.co https://www.tiktok.com/@themc.treasure.co

It's not really a blog. Our class notes will be under the blog page of our website moving forward and our newsletters as well. I plan to get this project up in the next week.

Remember 48 of the 50 miracle principles describe a miracle as an ordinary act of love. Although we are small and emerging I am so deeply grateful for the miracles we have shared thus far. Please help to spread the word about our mission.

Love and Rowdy Blessings,

Jess