Overview

TOC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Commentaries on Chapter 5: HEALING AND WHOLENESS

Introduction

I. The Invitation to the Holy Spirit

II. The Voice for God

III. The Guide to Salvation

IV. Teaching and Healing

V. The Ego's Use of Guilt

VI. Time and Eternity

VII. The Decision for God

Commentaries on Chapter 6: THE LESSONS OF LOVE

Introduction

I. The Message of the Crucifixion

II. The Alternative to Projection

III. The Relinquishment of Attack

IV. The Only Answer

V. The Lessons of the Holy Spirit

A. To Have, Give All to All

B. To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom

Commentaries on Chapter 7: THE GIFTS OF THE KINGDOM

I. The Last Step

II. The Law of the Kingdom

III. The Reality of the Kingdom

IV. Healing as the Recognition of Truth

V. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind

VI. From Vigilance to Peace

VII. The Totality of the Kingdom

VIII. The Unbelievable Belief

IX. The Extension of the Kingdom

X. The Confusion of Pain and Joy

XI. The State of Grace

Commentaries on Chapter 8: THE JOURNEY BACK

I. The Direction of the Curriculum

II. The Difference between Imprisonment and Freedom

III. The Holy Encounter

IV. The Gift of Freedom

V. The Undivided Will of the Sonship

VI. The Treasure of God

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication

VIII. The Body as Means or End

IX. Healing as Corrected Perception

Commentaries on Chapter 9: THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATONEMENT

I. The Acceptance of Reality

II. The Answer to Prayer

III. The Correction of Error

IV. The Holy Spirit's Plan of Forgiveness

V. The Unhealed Healer

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother

VII. The Two Evaluations

VIII. Grandeur versus Grandiosity

Introduction

Foreword

The Text is the foundation of A Course in Miracles. Doing the Course is simply a process of learning and internalizing its thought system, and the Text is where that thought system is laid out. It is an unparalleled spiritual tour de force. Careful study of it will change your outlook in ways that perhaps nothing else can.

Many students, however, find the Text to be very hard going. Many do not finish it, and even those who make it through, perhaps repeatedly, wish they had a deeper grasp of what they were reading.

For this reason, in 2006, the Circle of Atonement offered the Text Reading Program. This was a year-long tour through the Text of A Course in Miracles with commentary on each paragraph, written by myself and Greg Mackie, both teachers for the Circle. Before each weekday, we would send out to all the participants via e-mail the reading for that day. This would usually consist of a single section from the Text, accompanied by our commentary as well as practical exercises.

We often supplemented these sections with material from the Urtext, the original typescript of the Course. Our experience was that, especially in the early chapters of the Text, material from the Urtext that was eventually edited out was very helpful and clarifying. So when we felt it was useful, we included this Urtext material in brackets, and let it inform our commentary. We also indicated where a word had been emphasized in the Urtext, as this too often added clarity.

The reason we developed this program has a bit of history to it. In 2000, we offered a local program in Sedona that included a daily Text class, using a schedule that took us through the entire Text in a year of weekday readings. (On the sixth and seventh days, we rested!) Our friend, student, and colleague John Perry attended that program. When it ended, he began guiding people through the Text using the same schedule, only doing so online. He sent out the Text material for a given day and interspersed it with his own clarifying comments. In fall 2005 he felt guided to suggest we do something similar. Our guidance told us to go ahead, and so that's what we did. Without John's suggestion, however, it is safe to say we never would have done this.

2006, the year of the program, was an intense one. I would write commentaries for three weeks. Then I got a breather for a week while Greg wrote the commentaries. And then the schedule started over. Each day we wrote the commentary that needed to go out the next day. In addition, we led a weekly phone class for participants, in which we summarized the previous week's sections. (The recordings are still available to students who sign up for the online version of the Text Reading Program.)

The response to our program far exceeded our expectations. We have included a few edited comments at the front of the book, but if you want to read the unadulterated student reactions, straight from the various horses' mouths, then go to www.circlepublishing.org and click on the link for the Text Reading Program. During the year of the program, and actually ever since, we have had consistent requests that we put this material into published form.

So here it is, presented in book form as a multi-volume set. We hope you find these commentaries illuminating, and that they do indeed deepen your understanding of the spiritual masterpiece, A Course in Miracles.

Robert Perry
September 2009
Sedona, Arizona

Excerpts

Chapter 5

Introduction
Commentary by Robert Perry

1. To heal is to make happy. I have told you to think how many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many you have refused. This is [Ur: exactly] the same as telling you that you have refused to heal yourself. The light that belongs to [Ur: in] you is the light of joy. Radiance is not associated with sorrow. [Ur: Depression is often contagious, but although it may affect those who come in contact with it, they do not yield to its influence wholeheartedly. But] Joy calls forth an integrated willingness to share it, and promotes the mind's natural impulse to respond as one. Those who attempt to heal without being wholly joyous themselves call forth [from those they attempt to heal] different kinds of responses at the same time, and thus deprive others of the joy of responding whole-heartedly.

We may wonder how on earth we heal someone else. Yet healing is very simple-all it amounts to is making someone happy. This implies that sickness is merely unhappiness. It is a depression of our spirits, not a malfunction of our body.

In each and every moment we have an opportunity to accept joy. When we refuse these opportunities (and we refuse so many!), we are also refusing to heal ourselves. We could instead accept the inner light. In doing so, we automatically accept joy, for the inner light is "the light of joy." What else could it be? Radiance and depression do not exactly go together. "Radiance is not associated with sorrow."

Application: Repeat the following words positively and with joy:

The light that belongs in me is the light of joy.
My inner radiance is contagious.
It shines away all sorrow.

What we accept into ourselves also affects everyone we meet. If we refuse joy, our depression will be contagious. If, however, we are filled with the inner light, our joy will be contagious. Then, we will heal. And whereas people will take in our depression begrudgingly, they will take in our joy wholeheartedly, for everything in them wants to feel joy.

2. To be whole-hearted you must be happy. If fear and love cannot coexist, and if it is impossible to be wholly fearful and remain alive, the only possible whole state is that of love. There is no difference between love and joy. Therefore, the only possible whole state is the wholly joyous. To heal or to make joyous is therefore the same as to integrate and to make one. That is why it makes no difference to what part or by what part of the Sonship the healing is offered. Every part benefits, and benefits equally.

The first four sentences are a great example of Course logic. The first and fourth sentences state the conclusion. The intervening sentences are the argument, which go something like this:

Fear and love cannot coexist. A whole state cannot include both, only one.
A state of nothing but fear is impossible. It would kill you.
The only whole state is one of love.
Love and joy are the same thing.
Therefore, the only wholehearted state is one of joy.

Jesus has established that the mind can only be wholehearted about joy. Joy makes all the parts of the mind respond as one. In the exact same way, joy makes all parts of the one Mind respond as one. Thus, when you offer joy-based healing, everything in the other person's mind comes together in saying yes to that healing. And at the same time, everything in the one Mind-the Sonship-comes together in saying yes to that healing. Everyone gains in joy, and does so equally.

3. You are being blessed by every beneficent thought of any of your brothers anywhere. You should want to bless them in return, out of gratitude. You need not know them individually, or they you. The light is so strong that it radiates throughout the Sonship and returns thanks to the Father for radiating His joy upon it. Only God's [Ur: own] holy children are worthy channels of His beautiful joy, because only they are beautiful enough to hold it by sharing it. It is impossible for a child of God to love his neighbor except as himself. That is why the healer's prayer is:

Let me know this brother as I know myself.

The first line is staggering. Think of this happening right now. All over the world, people are having holy instants, holy encounters, and miracles. Wherever this is happening, their joy is radiating throughout the Sonship and reaching you. Waves of joy from all over the world, then, are converging on you, right now. Without those waves, perhaps you wouldn't have had that "aha" this morning, or that miracle yesterday, or that bit of guidance the day before. Take a moment and silently say to all these people, "Thank you."

The line beginning "Only God's holy children" is such a beautiful line-real poetry. I found myself reading it over and over. Why don't you do the same?

The final lines say that you heal someone by loving her. You heal someone by knowing her, in the Course sense of knowing the true essence of her being via direct union with it. Yet you cannot know her without knowing yourself. If you reject yourself, you push away your patient as well.

Application: Choose someone who needs healing and say the healer's prayer, realizing that you are praying to know, via direct union, the true essence of this person's being and your own. Trust that if you contact this knowing, healing will take place.

Related Products

SKU: B131	The Illuminated Text Volume 1 The Illuminated Text is drawn from the Text Reading Program, the Circle's one-year study program of the Text of A Course in Miracles. It provides detailed commentary on this spiritual masterpiece. Volume 1 covers Chapters 1-4. $16.95 Manufacturer: Circle of Atonement
SKU: B134	The Illuminated Text Volume 4 The Illuminated Text Volume 4. Drawn from our online Text Reading Program, it will guide you through each paragraph of chapters 14-17 of the Text. $16.95 Manufacturer: Circle of Atonement
SKU: B133	The Illuminated Text Volume 3 The Illuminated Text Volume 3. Drawn from our online Text Reading Program, it will guide you through each paragraph of the chapters 10-13 of the Text. $16.95 Manufacturer: Circle of Atonement

Reviews

Reviewer: Sylvia and Cap Lyons

12/16/2009 12:00am

Robert Perry and Greg Mackie are experts at making the sometimes challenging Text not just understandable, but rich with meaning and poignancy. This is a priceless gift to anyone who wants to fully understand the awesome teachings of A Course in Miracles. I can think of no better form of support than this!

—Sylvia and Cap Lyons

Reviewer: Connie Porter

12/16/2009 12:00am

A very powerful tool to keep me on track, reading and absorbing just a few pages each day. This process has been an invaluable source of inner peace during this past year.
—Connie Porter

Reviewer: Julia Simpson

12/16/2009 12:00am

Robert Perry and Greg Mackie are experts at making the sometimes challenging Text not just understandable, but rich with meaning and poignancy. This is a priceless gift to anyone who wants to fully understand the awesome teachings of A Course in Miracles. I can think of no better form of support than this!
—Julia Simpson

Reviewer: Dietrun Buchman

12/16/2009 12:00am

The Text commentaries offer insights I could not have had alone, because of the deep understanding Robert and Greg have.
—Dietrun Buchman

Reviewer: Sharon Edwards

12/16/2009 12:00am

An amazing journey into the genius and magnitude of this material. Don't miss this opportunity.
—Sharon Edwards

Reviewer: Loretta M. Siani

12/16/2009 12:00am

Robert and Greg's insights illuminate Text principles like never before.
—Loretta M. Siani, Ph.D

Reviewer: Wendy Finnerty

12/16/2009 12:00am

I have studied the Text and read it through at least once a year for the last 19 years. I thought I knew it pretty well. However this year has been a real eye-opener. Many of those little question marks I made in the margins have been erased. I shall be forever grateful for this year of Text study.
—Wendy Finnerty

Reviewer: Ulla Wallin

12/16/2009 12:00am

After 20 years with the Course, I now understand it on a much different level.
—Ulla Wallin

Reviewer: Amy Ellison

12/16/2009 12:00am

Robert and Greg's intelligence, insight, and wit, create a fun climate of spiritual scholarship that helps make the Text more intelligible and alive. They're extraordinarily gifted.
—Amy Ellison

Reviewer: Nancy Nevitt

12/16/2009 12:00am

The clear and down-to-earth commentary has helped me connect with the Text as never before.
—Nancy Nevitt

Reviewer: Jan Worley

12/16/2009 12:00am

Robert and Greg have a tremendous comprehension of the Course and provide down-to-earth explanations. I know of no better way to learn the message of the Text than this program.
—Jan Worley

Reviewer: Katherine LaTorraca

12/16/2009 12:00am

Translates the beautiful poetry of the Course's Text into everyday common language, making the valuable meaning of each sentence easily understood.
—Katherine LaTorraca

Reviewer: David Colwell

12/16/2009 12:00am

Previously, I had never succeeded in completely reading the Text. Participating was the best thing that I did for myself this year.
—David Colwell

Reviewer: George Porter

12/16/2009 12:00am

There is nothing else in my years of studying the Course that has helped me so much!
—George Porter

Reviewer: Barbara Olson

12/16/2009 12:00am

I can honestly say I'll finally complete the reading of the entire Text-and I've been at this for 20 years!
—Barbara Olson

Reviewer: Jo Chandler

12/16/2009 12:00am

Robert and Greg's insights helped me understand and assimilate the Course's otherwise complex and difficult passages. I will do this again next year, and the next, and the next. This program is amazing.
—Jo Chandler

Reviewer: Don De Lene

12/16/2009 12:00am

Your program has been a revelation.
—Don De Lene

Reviewer: Kathy Chomitz

12/16/2009 12:00am

I would like to say that this year has been too amazing to actually put into words.
—Kathy Chomitz

Reviewer: Mirkalice Gore

12/16/2009 12:00am

Having studied the Course faithfully for 28 years, I never imagined the insights and miracles I would receive from these commentaries on the Text!
—Mirkalice Gore

Reviewer: David Flemming

12/16/2009 12:00am

I can truly say that this program has made an incredible difference to my life. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
—David Flemming

Reviewer: Rev. Jerry Cusimano

12/16/2009 12:00am

Nothing less than totally inspiring.
—Rev. Jerry Cusimano

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