Simple, Easy, Fast
When you are a student of A Course In Miracles, you will most like stumble over testimonials and posts of other students of the course, stating that the course is complex, difficult, and that it takes a lot of time to read it and to get the results you want. This is probably all well-meant advice, but it also contradicts completely with what Jesus tells us about the course. Jesus tells us that the course is simple, easy, and fast. Here are His exact words about this subject:
“This is a very simple course.”
(ACIM T-11.VIII.1:1)“Salvation is simple, being of God, and therefore very easy to understand.”
(ACIM T-15.X.9:6)“This course is not beyond immediate learning, unless you believe that what God wills takes time.”
(ACIM T-15.IV.1:1)
How can this happen, that students of the course express exactly the opposite of what the Teacher of the course says? I believe that this can only be explained by the dynamics of the ego versus the dynamics of Spirit, and how those who have a split mind can react to change. Jesus also tells us in the course that people often respond with fear to any type of change, because our first experience of change, the perceived separation, was an experience of fear. Therefore, fear and change have become linked in the mind that needs healing.
Because of this fear, we can choose to listen to the ego while doing the course, and by doing this, we will indeed state that the course is complex, difficult, time-consuming, and so on. That is what the ego would say about the course, because if I simply believe all the course tells me and follow it, everything will be easy, and the ego will shrivel up in the Light of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the ego will offer you its point of view on A Course In Miracles, based upon its instinct for self-preservation, and lack of Love for the Son of God.
What is the solution, then, when you or I experience difficulties with doing the course? The solution is, as always, prayer, turning to Jesus, turning to the Holy Spirit, turning to the Light. “Please help me to see this differently. Please help me with your love, power, and wisdom. I do not want to believe that what God wants can be difficult or complex, or that I have to wait an enormous amount of time for it to complete in my mind. I am willing to let go of these erroneous beliefs, and open up to be shown the way. Thank You. Amen.”
That is the solution. I am asked to resign as my own teacher, and accept the Holy Spirit as my Teacher. I am asked to let the past go, and to be in the “now”, where I can be saved. I am asked to take a leap of faith, and to walk with Jesus to the Promised Land. When I do this, I open up for the Presence of God to receive my full inheritance, by Grace. That is A Course In Miracles. Simple, easy and fast for those who come with open and empty hands. Those who have heard Jesus say, “I come to you from our Father to offer you everything again.” (ACIM T-11.In.4:3)
Love and blessings,
Thijs Hottenhuis