| Answer
from Jesus:
A Course in Miracles does
indeed contain true ideas, as do many other religious and spiritual
teachings. Many people, especially in the New Age movement, have used
the course to develop a deeper understanding of the spiritual path and
of my true, inner teachings. On their fruits you shall know them, and
the Course in Miracles has helped many people.
You are correct that the course is not 100 % accurate, but I can tell
you that no spiritual teaching found in the material world is 100 %
accurate.
A spiritual teaching is always given through the consciousness of a
person in embodiment. It is therefore inevitable that the spiritual
teaching will be affected by the consciousness of the person acting
as a messenger. In some cases, as explained elsewhere,
the personal agenda of the messenger can color the spiritual teaching
or even distort the message. However, even if a person has no agenda,
the contents of the person's consciousness will affect the spiritual
teaching.
For example, when I speak through Kim I must use words and concepts
that are in his vocabulary and consciousness. It would be very difficult
for me to give a meaningful discourse through him about a topic that
he knows nothing about. In other words, the more the messenger understands
about a topic, the more profound and meaningful the spiritual teaching
that can be brought forth through that messenger. And the more the messenger
is free of any personal agenda, the more pure the spiritual teaching
that can be brought forth through that messenger.
The messenger who brought forth the Course in Miracles was not a spiritually
interested person. Her belief system was based on scientific materialism.
This was not necessarily a disadvantage because it made the Course more
appealing to people in that state of mind. Yet because the messenger
did not have an outer knowledge or a deep inner understanding of spiritual
concepts, there was a limit to what could be brought forth through her.
I am not saying this to in any way criticize the messenger, because
she truly deserves credit for bringing forth the Course and for being
willing to set aside her skepticism and still bring forth this material.
I am simply stating an obvious fact.
The purpose of any spiritual teaching is to bring about a transformation
of consciousness. If the messenger for the Course in Miracles had fully
embraced this transformation in consciousness, the Course would have
been more profound and more pure. Therefore, it is important that students
of the Course realize the need to go beyond the Course.
What I am saying here is that some of the ideas in the Course are not
entirely accurate or complete. There are some missing pieces that can
cause confusion amongst inexperienced students. Furthermore, it is important
to realize that the Course is not complete in and of itself. It is but
one example of progressive revelation, and students of the Course can
benefit from studying other sources.
As one example of an inaccurate idea, the Course states that the material
world is not real. It was not created by God because God is beyond time
and space. Thus, according to the Course, the world is a product of
perception, of the ego’s belief in separation from God. While
there is truth in the idea that the world is greatly influenced by people’s
perception, it is not correct to say that the world was created exclusively
by the ego’s perception. Planet Earth was created by seven spiritual
beings, whom the Bible call Elohim. They created a perfect planet, and
their basic matrix has not been fundamentally altered. However, after
human beings fell into a lower state of consciousness, people did, through
the creative powers of the mind, create an imperfect overlay that has
to a large degree covered the original matrix of Elohim.
This overlay is ultimately unreal because it is not in accordance with
the laws of God and therefore not sustainable. However, for the time
being it is real in the sense that it is created from misqualified energy.
This energy would not simply disappear even if all people suddenly attained
Christ consciousness. The present imperfect conditions were created
over time through a misqualification of energy, and it will take time
and effort to change the vibration of the energy back to its original
purity.
In other words, while it is essential that people escape the sense of
separation that springs from the ego, this will not make the physical
world disappear. And it will not, in itself, return the Earth to its
original state of purity. The material world was created by God as an
extension of his Being. It is meant to become an extension of his kingdom,
but this can happen only when the individualizations of God - such as
human beings - become fully conscious of their intended role as co-creators
with God. In other words, the purpose of spiritual growth is not to
make the world disappear but to elevate the world (by raising its vibration)
to become a worthy mansion in my Father’s house.
Concerning the second part of your question, the true purpose of a spiritual
teaching is to help you establish contact with your inner teacher, your
Christ self. Once you establish that contact, you should allow your
Christ self to direct you to other spiritual teachings that will help
you move on. As long as you follow your inner directions, you will make
maximum progress. It is only when you allow yourself to become attached
to a particular outer teaching that your progress slows down or even
comes to a halt.
You describe how you first became interested in the Course and then
lost interest. The essential question here is whether your initial interest
came from within or was the result of an outer influence and whether
you lost interest as a result of an inner direction or outer influence?
As I said, always strive to follow your inner impulses.
Let me also say that it is quite difficult to put a firm number on the
purity or truthfulness of a spiritual teaching. It will very much depend
on the criteria you use for evaluating the teaching. Nevertheless, an
inexperienced student would do better by studying a teaching that is
highly accurate and pure. The reason being that the student has not
yet developed the discernment to tell the difference between a true
idea and an idea that is distorted or erroneous. Therefore, the more
pure the teaching the better for the student.
However, as the student matures and begins to develop inner attunement,
the question of the purity of a spiritual teaching becomes less important.
The student has now developed a certain inner discernment and can therefore
study a teaching and divide the word of truth, thereby taking the true,
useful ideas while ignoring all inaccurate ideas.
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© 2003 by Kim Michaels |
