ACIM | Understanding from the Inside

ACIM Meditation | Healing Our Punishment of the Body

Alison Anton from the ForgiveNest Podcast guides a meditation aimed at healing “attack thoughts” used to punish the body that are linked to physical illness. Alison emphasizes in this meditation that the body can be transformed by the Holy Spirit into an instrument for healing. She briefly describes two Course-based causes of sickness: the body as a device made to obscure God and the Kingdom, and the guilt-driven punishment thoughts projected onto oneself and others. The practice emphasizes that the body is not the self, but invites participants to notice how condemning thoughts affect the body. The meditation concludes by extending healing to someone else, using the affirmation “I allow my body to be an instrument of Your healing”. Timestamps 00:00 Healing Meditation Setup 00:36 Course View of Sickness 02:02 Body Reinterpreted by Spirit 03:10 Settle In and Breathe 04:53 Body as Neutral Instrument 08:06 Spotting Attack Thoughts 10:07 Return to Light and Willingness 13:51 Extend Healing to Another 20:54 Closing Blessing and Return Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com [https://AlisonAnton.substack.com] Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality  ACIM Quotes and Prayers: Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement.  The body was not made by love. But love does not condemn it and can use it lovingly, respecting what the Son of God has made and using it to save him from illusions. Would you not have the instruments of separation reinterpreted as means for salvation and used for purposes of love? [ACIM CE T-18.VI [http://T-18.VI].4:5-7] Health is the natural state of anything whose interpretation is left to the Holy Spirit, Who perceives no attack on anything. Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly. It is the beginning of the proper perspective on life, under the guidance of the one Teacher Who knows what life is, being the Voice for Life Itself. [ACIM CE T-8.VII.13:4-6] Let [the body] have healing as its purpose. Then will it send forth the message it received, and by its health and loveliness proclaim the truth and value that it represents. [ACIM CE T-27.I.11:4-7] Father, I allow my body to be an instrument of Your healing. This is Your way of making unlimited what I have limited. In this sense my body becomes a temple to You, because Your Voice abides in it by directing the use to which I put it. [based on ACIM CE T-8.VI [http://T-8.VI].10:4-7] Remember that the Holy Spirit interprets the body only as a means of communication. … The ego separates through the body. The Holy Spirit reaches through it to others. [ACIM CE T-8.VI [http://T-8.VI].2:1-4] If you use the body for this and only for this, you cannot use it for attack. In the service of uniting, it becomes a beautiful lesson in communion, which has value until communion is. [ACIM CE T-8.VI [http://T-8.VI].3:5-6] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alisonanton.substack.com [https://alisonanton.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

ACIM | Gold-Colored Glasses of Forgiveness

In this episode of the ForgiveNest Podcast Alison Anton explores why ACIM forgiveness doesn’t cross over with conventional forgiveness. Alison presents Course-based forgiveness as wearing “gold-colored glasses” that overlay a new vision onto worldly perception, temporarily representing truth and training the mind toward ultimate reality without denying that errors occur or require correction in local reality. She defines local reality as the perceived world that seems real, and ultimate reality as the truth ACIM points to, where everyone remains as God created them. She discusses the very challenging teaching that Jesus’s crucifixion and bodily attack does not justify anger because what is destructible is not real.  Recommended Podcast: Circle of Atonement Q&A on forgiveness - https://youtu.be/R5UZPzEFxwU?si=JR8txw09nqtUMKct [https://youtu.be/R5UZPzEFxwU?si=JR8txw09nqtUMKct] Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com [https://AlisonAnton.substack.com] Podcast Category: Spirituality and Religion Episode Timestamps: 00:00 Why Forgiveness Confuses 03:36 Local vs Ultimate Reality 05:43 When Laws Clash 08:06 Conventional vs Course Forgiveness 10:03 Dark Glasses vs Gold 11:28 Crucifixion as Lesson 15:36 Daily Temptations to Misperceive 16:36 Next Steps and Closing ACIM Quotes and Prayers: Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement.  Forgiveness must be practiced, for the world cannot perceive its meaning, nor provide a guide to teach you its beneficence. There is no thought in all the world which leads to any understanding of the laws it follows or the thought which it reflects. [ACIM CE W-134.13:1-2] Forgiveness is the means by which the truth is represented temporarily. It lets the Holy Spirit make exchange of pictures possible, until the time when aids are meaningless and learning done. [ACIM CE T-27.IV.5:1-6] There is little doubt that one body can assault another and can even destroy it. But if destruction itself is impossible, then anything that is destructible cannot be real. Therefore, its destruction does not justify anger. [ACIM CE T-6.I.8:2-4] You are not asked to be crucified, because that was part of my own teaching contribution. You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them falsely as justifications for anger. [ACIM CE T-6.I.12:1-2] And as a man, I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge so much as to correct error from the bottom up. Thus, whenever you refuse to misperceive you are indeed behaving as I behaved. [ACIM CE T-3.VI [http://T-3.VI].16:2-5] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alisonanton.substack.com [https://alisonanton.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

ACIM | Wake Up In the Dream, Not From the Dream

Alison Anton of the ForgiveNest Podcast for A Course in Miracles explains that awakening from the dream entirely is not the first goal; instead, an early milestone is recognizing throughout the day, “I’m dreaming this”, similar to lucid dreaming’s in-dream awareness. She describes stages: first realizing life is a dream, then acknowledging “I’m choosing to dream this,” which reveals the mind as the dream’s maker. In aligning with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the purpose of this lucid awareness becomes forgiveness, extending love, and allowing the Holy Spirit’s “happy dreams” to gently lead toward waking. Miracles are framed as healing, helpfulness, and seeing holiness beyond bodies. She concludes with a passage from the Psychotherapy Supplement for A Course in Miracles that likens advanced healers who delay final awakening to Bodhisattvas, staying to help others awaken through “kindly dreams.” Read the full transcript here: https://AlisonAnton.substack.com [https://AlisonAnton.substack.com] Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality  Episode Timestamps: 00:00 ACIM Quote 00:30 Podcast Intro 01:34 First Milestone Recognize Dreaming 02:18 Lucid Dreaming Parallel 05:14 Mind Training Steps 06:51 Choose Forgiveness Goal 07:16 Holy Spirit Happy Dreams 09:32 Miracles, Healing, Service 10:58 Bodhisattva Healers Passage 12:49 Closing Reflections Outro ACIM Quotes and Prayers: Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement.  The happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings are different from the dreaming of the world, where one can merely dream he is awake. The dreams forgiveness lets the mind perceive do not induce another form of sleep so that the dreamer dreams another dream. His happy dreams are heralds of the dawn of truth upon the mind. They lead from sleep to gentle waking, so that dreams are gone. [ACIM CE W-140.3] There are some in this world who have come very close, but they have not accepted the gift entirely in order to stay and let their understanding remain on earth until the closing of time. They could hardly be called professional therapists. They are the Saints of God. They are the Saviors of the world. Their image remains because they have chosen that it be so. They take the place of other images, and help with kindly dreams. (ACIM, P-3.II.7:4-7) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alisonanton.substack.com [https://alisonanton.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

ACIM | Balancing Faith and Medical Treatment in Healing

In this ACIM Short, ForgiveNest Podcast host Alison Anton addresses the question of whether Jesus asks us to abstain from using doctors and medicines. She clarifies that 'A Course in Miracles' does not advocate for foregoing medical treatment, as we are not yet ready to perceive the body as an illusion. Alison also shares her personal healing journey with Lyme disease, noting how Jesus helped guide her to the right treatments. She concludes by discussing the concept of 'special agents' in healing as mentioned by Jesus, encouraging listeners to align with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their healing processes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alisonanton.substack.com [https://alisonanton.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

ACIM | Understanding from the Inside

In this episode of the ForgiveNest Podcast, Alison Anton delves into the distinction between perception and knowledge in A Course in Miracles. Alison explains that the concept of knowledge according to the Course is of God, timeless and certain, contrasted with perception, which is inherently uncertain and variable. Key points include the role of right-perception in understanding our brothers and as the stepping stone to knowledge. The episode also features a practical exercise for seeing our brothers as they truly are, a crucial step in the Atonement process. Watch and read the full transcript here: AlisonAnton.substack.com [http://AlisonAnton.substack.com] Podcast Category: Faith and Spirituality  Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Perception Versus Knowledge 00:19 Understanding Perception and Knowledge 01:12 Exercises for Correct Perception 02:28 Degrees of Perception 03:30 True Perception and Knowledge 05:58 Miracles and Right Perception 08:17 Recognizing Our Brothers 10:32 Practical Application and Conclusion ACIM Quotes & Prayers: Note: Alison Anton uses the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles. This edition is based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman, scribe of A Course in Miracles. Publisher: Circle of Atonement.  …you must get your perceptions straightened out before you can know anything. [ACIM CE T-3.V.1:4] Misperception produces fear, and true perception induces love. Neither produces certainty because all perception varies. That is why it is not knowledge. [ACIM CE T-3.V.2:6-8] True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the affirmation of truth. [ACIM CE T-3.V.2:6-9] The miracle is a way of perceiving, not a way of knowing. It is the right answer to a question, but you do not ask questions at all when you know. Questioning delusions is the first step in undoing them. The miracle, or the right answer, corrects them. [ACIM CE T-3.V.3-4] You know when you have ceased to ask questions. [ACIM CE T-3.V.4:7] Visions are the natural perception of the spiritual eye, but they are still corrections. The spiritual eye is symbolic, and therefore not a device for knowing. It is, however, a means of right perception, which brings it into the proper domain of the miracle but not of revelation. [ACIM CE T-3.V.6:1-3] So the spiritual eye is what we use for true perception, and true perception is what we use (ultimately) for revelation — in other words knowledge. If our faculties of clairvoyance are heightened or if we tend toward deep-level visions, we might confuse these with revelation. We might think this is knowledge. But again, we have to recognize that if we perceive anything at all — even if it’s something we see with our inner eye versus our physical eye — if we see at all it’s not knowledge. The last part of this section is truly important for us as well. Jesus brings it back around to that in order to know God, we have to know God’s Sons, who are our brothers. Through our fear-based mis-perception we’ve forgotten who each other is, and have made us into strangers. It is because you have made him into a stranger that you are afraid of him. What is he to you? He is your brother. What else do you need to know? But do know that. This is not a matter of perception but a fact. Perceive him correctly, so that you can know him. [ACIM CE T-3.V.10:5-11] Jesus, help me see my brother [name] as he really is, and thus release both him and me. [ACIM CE T-3.V.10:13] There are no strangers in God’s creation. [CE T-3.V.12:1] [https://acimce.app/:T-3.V.12:1] He recognizes them perfectly. [CE T-3.V.12:5] When they do not recognize each other, they do not recognize Him. [CE T-3.V.12:6] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit alisonanton.substack.com [https://alisonanton.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]