Welcome to my new Blog!
I am envisioning this Blog as a forum for me to share my writing and to connect with others who are interested in similar ideas. For a while now I have been working on a book on the topic of forgiveness. I have written eleven chapters and am working on a twelfth chapter. The writing process has slowed down tremendously for me in the past few months. I am hoping that posting in this Blog will inspire me to continue with my book.
I imagine that there will be a theme to this Blog. Most of what I read and write can be characterized as "spiritual." The main inspiration for my book is the teachings of A Course in Miracles. I have been a student of the Course for six years now. It is the most profound and transformative spiritual path that I have studied. It is so much a part of my life and my thought-system that I predict it will have an enormous presence in my writing here.
I realize that the Course is not for everyone. For the longest time I was vehemently opposed to it. I thought it was nothing more than new-age mambo-jumbo. That was before I actually started studying it, though. Several of my favorite spiritual teachers referenced the Course and claimed that it was influential in their spiritual development. However, I resisted even looking at the Course for the longest time.
One day I was meditating on the events leading up to Jesus's crucifixion and his utter defenselessness. It was a profound realization. His defenselessness was his strength. It was not a sign of weakness at all. I wondered how I might follow him and live my life with the same openness and forgiveness.
That day I did a search online for articles on Jesus's defenselessness and happened upon a website dedicated to the teachings of A Course in Miracles. The website (www.circleofa.org) was for an organization called The Circle of Atonement. The articles I read on the Course's teachings on defenselessness blew my mind and sparked an interest in the Course that I never had before.
It was through the articles, books and audio programs that I studied on the Circle's website that I finally started understanding the teachings of the Course. It was then through my personal Course teacher that I met through the Circle's online community that I deepened my study and practice of the ideas of the Course. This intense study and practice of the Course allowed me to appreciate its beauty, its depth, and its profound implications for all of my life.
I have learned that the best way for me to deepen my learning is to teach others. The Course reminds us over and over again that teaching is learning and giving is receiving. There are many ways that I can do this -- through my writing, through discussions with others, through my work with my clients in my private therapy practice (I am a clinical social worker), and, most importantly, through demonstration. The Manual for Teachers of the Course tells us that to teach is to demonstrate. It is my hope that this Blog will serve as another medium for me to teach and thus to learn -- to give and thus to receive.
I am a teacher/student of love. May this Blog serve you in whatever way will bring you closer to God and to the love that is your birthright.
Peace
Just wondering why you were so reluctant, initially, to study the Course?
ReplyDeleteSorry that I just now saw your question. I am still figuring out how Blogger works. My initial reluctance to studying the Course mainly had to do with its authorship. I was fine with it being a "channeled" book. I was also fine with Jesus. However, I was very skeptical of a channeled book written by Jesus. That just did not appeal to me and I thought it was an outrageous claim. However, now that I have studied the Course, I do personally believe that Jesus is the author. However, I also realize that believing this is not essential for someone to be a student of the Course and to benefit from its teachings. Accepting Jesus as the author has healed my relationship with him and has helped me to have a more personal relationship with him.
ReplyDelete