104 of 108 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deepest and most profound book I've ever read, January 2, 2011
This review is from: A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume (Hardcover)
This is the deepest and most profound book I've ever read. And I have a ridiculously large collection of books.
ACIM presents spiritual truths so concise and raw, so pure, that one must often spend days or weeks (or more) studying + praying + meditating upon a single passage. Then one may begin to achieve the first insights into the passage, and begin to apply it directly to one's life. With each insight revealed by each passage, you'll suddenly become aware and see the miraculous spiritual world which is true life (all else is a false dream).
This book DOES teach miracles. I will offer you an example.
Of course, in everyday life you cross paths with countless strangers. Many you may only meet for a moment, and never again. For example, you may exchange a few INCONSEQUENTIAL words with a grocery store cashier, who is a total "stranger," as pay for your groceries. And typically we rate such an interaction as "meaningless." We don't even think about it.
Let's now re-imagine our "inconsequential" daily interactions with others in a new, deeply spiritual and profound way, that transforms these interactions into most consequential MIRACLES.
That cashier who is ringing up your groceries, may be quite happy, OR she might be quite depressed and that very moment is thinking about how she'll commit suicide once she gets home that evening. Her soul may be in that much pain. She needs a miracle encounter, and without it she'll be dead later that evening.
First, you understand you can never personally "make" miracles happen. Miracles are never under your command. You can only ready your consciousness through purification, making yourself a willing channel / vehicle through which God performs miracles.
You begin by caring. You open your heart and you hold precious a deep concern for the well-being (and advancement) of other souls. That mindset helps you sense the pain of other souls, even when they hide it under many layers.
Next you read this book. It teaches you how to be a willing channel through which miracles can be worked. This is fundamentally NOT an intellectual exercise of simply reading a concept and thereby "knowing" it and thus becoming a "miracle worker." It doesn't work that way. This is a non-rational, non-intellectual workshop for your soul, a process that only begins when you read each passage in the book. Then comes convulsions of prayer and meditation in which you beg God to reveal the meaning of the passage to your heart. Beyond saying that, the process is intensely profound and simply cannot be put into words.
Let's return to our example involving the cashier.
You see, God KNOWS the precise sentiment and the exact few words you must communicate to that cashier, in order to MIRACULOUSLY lift her soul and prevent her suicide. This will not merely prevent her suicide that evening, but will transform her life in a matter of a few seconds. She will FOREVER think of herself on a higher level, valuing herself much more, and that will change her life. That is the miracle.
So you stand in line at the grocery checkout. Your heart is open, allowing you to sense the pain of another soul, in this case a total stranger ringing out your groceries. You have made yourself ready for this moment through prayer, meditation, and reading ACIM.
You look at the cashier, as one looks at a beautiful sunset, meditatively. You don't see her "depression." Instead you see a perfect, precious spirit; that is, you see some truth about the angelic nature of another, and God can help you let that person see that in your eyes.
Then in that moment of your love, and your deep willingness to help, your mind clears as you wait fearlessly for God to work a miracle through you. And God does.
You hear a few sentences come out of your mouth as you look lovingly at the cashier. You understand those words came from above. Those sentences were SO PERFECTLY MATCHED to meet the needs of the soul of that cashier in that moment, you could not possibly have originated those words in your intellect. Often the words will even reference secret events or feelings in the life of the stranger that you have no prior knowledge of!
The reaction of that person to your words is often most amazing, because the person you spoke to just experienced that you (a total stranger) has just looked into the hidden recesses of their heart and soul, and has seen secrets and pain, and has helped dissipate that pain in a most loving way, in an instant!
Often the total stranger will immediately break down into the happiest of tears of JOY. They may look up at you with tears streaming down their face, but with their face glowing with a huge, happy smile, as if you've just saved their life and they are eternally grateful. However, all the work was by God, acting through you.
You may find yourself spontaneously giving that person (a total "stranger") a warm hug and both sharing tears of joy - all done with countless strangers watching on, perplexed by it.
Then you walk out of the store. The miracle has happened and you know it will work magic in the life of that person blessed by it.
Now it often happens, not always, but sometimes, that you will meet that same person again many years later. It may be 20 years later. You'll be running an errand or whatever, and suddenly a "stranger" walks up to you and looks at you lovingly as if you are a long-lost sibling, and says with heartfelt intensity:
"You saved my life by speaking a few words to me in a grocery store! Thank you! I could NEVER forgot you!"
If you understand that example, and you have started to understand what is inside this most miraculous book!
NOTE: this review is NOT intended to suggest I understand most of what is in ACIM, or have in any sense "completed" the spiritual workshop that the Course is. Very optimistically, maybe I "understand" (intellectually) say 5% of the sentences in this book, and maybe (who knows) I've managed to start applying maybe 1% of the book into my daily life. And that's a lot. And that little is life-transforming. This is the kind of book you work with for multiple lifetimes. I'm not sure the concept of "completing" even applies to this book!
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