Why Do Course Groups Seem to Vary in Their Understanding and Spiritual Depth?

By studying A Course in Miracles and embracing pure non-dualism we are attempting to enhance our conscious contact with God until it can be fully realized. We do this by practicing true forgiveness and true prayer. However, there is a step necessary that comes before those practices. We first must surrender our will and our life over to the care of God.

In the Course the experience of the holy instant, a continuing mechanism of self-realization, is obtained by the continual surrender of our conceptual self-identity, the self we made up and now think we are, and the continual replay of that moment when we said to God, “There must be a better way. Help me.” The holy instant can be thought of as the time of surrender and is the purpose of all A Course in Miracles meetings. As we strive to maintain a continuing conscious contact with God by removing the blocks to the awareness of His constant presence, we realize that the block is our acceptance of the made up self-identity as real. This is why the experience of Course groups vary. The level of commitment to the giving up of that made up self-identity will determine the depth of the experience of the holy instant and the group’s miracle readiness.

Your mind is no longer wholly untrained. You are quite ready to learn the form of exercise we will use today, but you may find that you will encounter strong resistance. The reason is very simple. While you practice in this way, you leave behind everything that you now believe, and all the thoughts that you have made up. Properly speaking, this is the release from hell. Yet perceived through the ego’s eyes, it is loss of identity and a descent into hell. (W44.5)

Jesus was our model. He completely relinquished his made up self-identity and became completely identified with the Christ, making him a master. That is our goal. We must insist that the Holy Spirit supports us in relinquishing our made up self-identity and be willing to do whatever He instructs to learn that lesson. Holy Spirit, I know this made up self-identity is not me. Help me use it as an aid to reach the home where God abides. I give it all to you. I want to remember who I am in truth. Tell me what to say and I will say it. Tell me what to do and I will do it. Tell me what to think and I will think it. I surrender.

There is nothing about me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else. (T1.II.3:10)