Key Concepts and Terms Articles

If you are into spirituality, you probably have turned your back on the concept of blind faith, where you believe all sorts of absurd things just because the church tells you to. I know I have a negative reaction much of the time when I hear the word "faith." Indeed,...

Thursday's class was a second one on how much our minds influence our world. In it, I presented a process in several parts. I'm writing this up for an article for the Circle website, but here's the short version: How did I manifest this challenge in my life? 1. My ego...

We had a lively class yesterday on a topic which all of us seem to wrestle with. If you weren't able to join us live, you may want to go and listen to the recording. My main point was that we need two kinds of realism: 1. Being realistic about the true, ultimate power...

We Course students love the idea of the little willingness. After all, it is hard to muster up an overpowering will to be loving and forgiving. But if, instead, we need just a little willingness, it suddenly sounds like the task might just be doable. I was recently...

In recent months, I have been watching video testimonies of two very different kinds. One kind is of people who have had near-death experiences (NDEs). The other kind is of people who claim to have awakened, become enlightened, basically within the context of the...

We had an enjoyable class yesterday, which I have tried to summarize below. We are all familiar with projection, whereby my self-perception becomes projected outward and becomes my perception of others. The following line captures the concept well: And to accept the...

Our class yesterday was on specialness, an engrossing and challenging topic. At the end of the class (which I think could have carried on for quite a while), I was asked to post the seven points I had shared for how to give up specialness. Here they are: 1. Need to...

I did a class on how the events of our lives are lessons. I have recently come to a new understanding of this important topic and I wanted to share what I had come to. Undoubtedly, this new understanding is partial at best, but it has a right feeling to it, and it's a...

According to the Course, we never sin, we merely make mistakes. This is a hugely important distinction. A sin says that you are guilty and should be punished. A mistake says you’re completely innocent and just need to do it better next time. It’s a very healing...

Guilt is not a topic most of us like to discuss. Yet it's such a crucial part of the Course. One of the Course's many important (and disturbing) teachings about guilt is that we are actually attracted to it. But why would we be attracted to something so painful? What...

We are obsessed with beauty. I once read an anthropologist say that every culture is a cult of beauty. But what is beauty? A definition I found online says, “the qualities that give pleasure to the senses.” Another adds “and is associated with such properties as...

Students have been confused about level confusion ever since the Course was published. I have been, too. In the end, to really understand it, you have to go back to Helen Schucman's original notes, especially her notes on the miracle principles, where it is actually...