ACIM 5. IV. Teaching and Healing, P 5, 6. Teaching is done in many ways, above all by example.
ACIM Chapter 5. IV. Teaching and Healing, P 5, 6
IV. Teaching and Healing, P 5
5 Teaching is done in many ways, above all by example. Teaching should be healing, because it is the sharing of ideas and the recognition that to share ideas is to strengthen them. I cannot forget my need to teach what I have learned, which arose in me because I learned it. I call upon you to teach what you have learned, because by so doing you can depend on it. Make it dependable in my name because my name is the Name of God’s Son. What I learned I give you freely, and the Mind that was in me rejoices as you choose to hear it.
As Jesus says, he taught in many ways. He taught with words and by performing miracles, and by living what he knew to be the truth. And now he is teaching through the written word. He is sharing ideas and thus strengthening them. He tells us that teaching what we learn is important and that sharing makes it dependable.
We All Have a Path
He had a specific path, as do each of us. To know our path, we only need to want to know it and it will reveal itself to us. We know this even when we don’t know it consciously. I went to school to become a teacher, but when I got close to graduating, I dropped out. I decided I didn’t want to be a teacher. But I think that desire to be a teacher was the desire to be a teacher of God, and I just didn’t know how to express it.
Later in life, I often lamented that I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, and I thought I was the only one who had no purpose because everyone else seemed perfectly happy doing what he or she was doing. I think that longing for purpose was the subconscious desire to be on my path as a teacher of God. I just didn’t yet know it.
After I found a Course in Miracles, my desire for purpose grew, and I often thought that I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. But I still didn’t realize how it could happen because I was so involved in raising children and making a living. I didn’t give the Course or the idea of being a teacher of God my full attention. It wasn’t yet time. But once in a while, I got an opportunity, seemingly out of the blue, to allow Spirit to work through me. I never forgot those times and how they made me feel.
My Plan Begins to Show Itself
Then, it was time for that submerged desire to reveal itself. It seemed to happen all at once as I “decided” it was time to get serious with my study of the Course and then “decided” to take courses and become a minister. I don’t believe we decide things like this, we just follow our script pretending that it was our (ego) idea.
As you can see, the seed of desire took years to grow. It happened without my conscious effort but sometimes required patience as we wait for circumstances to align. Now I am a minister, a writer, a teacher of God. I have a purpose, and I make a difference. All the things I longed for and could not imagine in form did take form.
How I lived my life before this transformation made me seem the unlikeliest of people to be a teacher of God. But all that is required of us is the desire to be God’s messenger and the willingness to follow guidance. And looking back on my life, I see that the ego self doesn’t even make these decisions at all. I cannot find a moment when the little me chose the path. It was more like I just felt the promptings and acted on them or read the script and played it out.
Surrendering to Life
However it works, the more I surrender to Life and let It live me, the more peaceful and happy I am. If it had been part of my life’s plan to teach through simply living a good and kind life, then that would have been fine because, as Jesus says, teaching is done ABOVE ALL by example. For some reason, I am not privy to, and although I would have been a lot more comfortable being in the background rather than in the spotlight like this, I was given this path to follow, and so I do. Probably I got this job of speaking out because I felt so unworthy and my teaching included learning that I am worthy because that is how I was created. I marvel at the intricate and perfect plan of Atonement that Jesus has provided for our Awakening.
6 IV. Teaching and Healing, P 6
6 The Holy Spirit atones in all of us by undoing, and thus lifts the burden you have placed in your mind. By following Him you are led back to God where you belong, and how can you find the way except by taking your brother with you? My part in the Atonement is not complete until you join it and give it away. As you teach so shall you learn. I will never leave you or forsake you, because to forsake you would be to forsake myself and God Who created me. You forsake yourself and God if you forsake any of your brothers. You must learn to see them as they are, and understand they belong to God as you do. How could you treat your brother better than by rendering unto God the things that are God’s?
When I use my ego to do my thinking for me, I see people as their ego. I see them making mistakes and doing things wrong. I see them as guilty, and from the perspective of the ego mind, my judgment seems justified and indisputable. If I believe my judgment, I cannot imagine how the other person could be innocent. And though I can say they are innocent because I have been told we are all innocent, my judgment makes it impossible to believe it.
I Will Not Forsake My Brothers
I don’t want to forsake God, I don’t want to forsake myself. Therefore, I cannot forsake my brothers. I understand now that my judgments are not immutable. In fact, they are not even useful. They are not even true unless they reflect God’s judgment, which is that His children are innocent as they were created. This is the only thing that is true about my brothers. They are innocent.
It may be that the ego, as reflected in them, has made many errors. They may have been hurtful through their ego, but my brothers remain unaffected by the ego stories they seem to live. When I judge them, I am giving them to the ego. I see them imprisoned in ego, deciding they are too far gone to be anything else. In doing so, I am condemning myself to that fate as well. Where my brothers go, I go.
There is only one place I want my brothers to abide, and that is in God. They may be very confused about what will save them. They may think that pain and suffering is their salvation. Or they may think that hurting others is what it takes to be safe. But no matter what they believe, their salvation lies in returning to their Creator. They may see themselves as strong in hate, buried in self-loathing, lost in the world, but I will not join their delusion. I know who they are. As I remember their identity, I remember mine as well. In fact, it is the only way I will remember mine.
My Friend
My friend has temporarily forgotten what she is. Her body is weak and sick and tired, and she thinks that is who she is. I see what is happening to her body, but I will not become confused about her identity. Her reaction to her situation would seem counterproductive, even foolish. But I will not become so confused that I will join in that assessment.
She is confused about her savior, about her will, and her purpose, but confusion is not her nature. It is a temporary ego aberration and is meaningless. If I believe what she believes about herself, I would be giving her to the ego. Instead, I will give God what is God’s as I disregard appearances and disregard my own ego voice that calls for judgment. Hand in hand, we return to God. Hand in hand or not at all.
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