pupil

 

pupil

Conventional: A student who is learning under the close supervision of a teacher. Different from “student” in that one can be a student of a book, but can be a pupil only of a teacher.

ACIM: One who is being guided along a “way” by a teacher, whether that way is a spiritual path or a just way of living. The Course speaks of pupils of a generic teacher—one who teaches any one of the thousands of forms of the universal curriculum (see M-2, P-2.II). It also speaks of pupils of a teacher of A Course in Miracles (see M-17, 18, 23, 24, 29). These are newer students of the Course who are being guided along its path by a more experienced student who is in the role of mentor. In all of the above cases, a teacher is meant to pass on his particular “way” to his pupil. He does this perhaps through formal teaching, but he mostly does this through example and through the relationship itself. In this relationship, the pupil must remember that “only time divides teacher and pupil” (M-29.1:4), and that time is an illusion. This means 1) that teacher and pupil are equal in their eternal nature, 2) that the pupil has much to learn from his teacher in the particular area in which they have joined, and 3) that the pupil is there to gain equality with his teacher in that area, to become a teacher himself. See teaching-learning situation.