Manual For Teachers

Meeting Dates: Wednesdays, Feb 7 - June 19
Time: 10am - 12pm ET​​

Our Manual for Teachers study will be 10 weeks, with 5 days of reading each week. As you're reading each section, consider
  • How is this section affecting you?
  • What stands out for you? Inspires you? Challenges you?
  • What do you need more clarity on?
I also encourage you to reflect upon the questions below, use the suggested practices, and do any of the application exercises included in the COA commentaries (linked to above). Our discussion time will focus around these reflection questions and our experiences with the application exercises.

Manual for Teachers article resources (COA)

Reflection

(June 19) Last meeting for the summer!
Reflection/Discussion Questions:
  • What changes have you seen in yourself and in your life overall as you've been studying and practicing A Course In Miracles? 
  • How have these past few years of doing a "deep dive" with the Text, Workbook, and Manual (and using the CE version of the Course) affected you?
  • How do you see yourself moving forward from here with your study, practice, and application of the Course? Are there specific aspects, themes, practices, life situations, etc. that you want to strengthen and/or deepen?
  • Thinking back over the past week or so, what stands out to you as a miracle (expression of love) you've received and/or given to another? How about a miracle as a shift in perception that you've experienced?
  • Are there any ACIM related books you want to read, or have read and would recommend to others?
  • What are your plans for the summer - Course related and/or just in general?

Suggestions and resources for staying connected to your study, practice, and application of A Course In Miracles while we pause. I offer these suggestions as options to choose from, if anything specific speaks to you - certainly not to do all of them! Ask for guidance, see what you're drawn to, and enjoy your summer!

​(June 12) C6-Epilogue
C-6: The Ego - the Miracle
  • How has this section affected you and your understanding of the ego?
  • How has it helped you to understand what the ego is and what it is not?
  • What comes up for you in considering that God's Voice asks only one question of everyone: Your questions have no answer, being made to still God’s Voice, Which asks of everyone one question only: “Are you ready yet to help Me save the world?” Ask this instead of what the ego is, and you will see a sudden brightness cover up the world the ego made. [CE C-6.7:3-5]
    • ​Allen Watson shares a couple variations of this questions - Are you ready to accept the miracles He offers and extend them to the world? Are you ready to recognize you are among the ministers of God?
  • Suggestions: 

C-Epilogue
  • Do you (or have you) experience doubt along this path? What does that look and feel like for you? How does it affect you to hear Jesus remind us that the end is certain, that we walk with God and with His Word upon our heart? What does that mean to you?
  • How do you see yourself being deceived by illusions of despair? What helps you to remember and to see that behind them is reality, along with God Himself?
  • Have you (or do you) feel like a stranger here, that you don't belong or fit into the world? If so, how does it feel to hear Jesus affirm this - that we all are strangers here, and that we belong to God?

​(May 29) C3-5
C-3: True Perception - Knowledge​
  • How did this section affect you? What stood out for you?
  • What would you say the key difference is between true perception and knowledge as the Course defines it?
​
C-4: Jesus - Christ
  • What is your relationship with Jesus? How does it affect you to think of Jesus as a brother whom you knew since you were born, a brother you’ve been walking together with, whether you knew it or not?
  • How does it affect you to consider that each of us can (and will and must) attain the level that Jesus did, of becoming identified with Christ, allowing Christ to work through us?
  • What is your relationship to the Christ? How does it affect you to think of the Christ as the true Self that everyone shares? A divine identity that belongs to everyone equally?

​C-5: The Holy Spirit
From Robert's commentary -
  • What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit? Do you see Him as a conscious, living Being? Do you picture Him as genuinely caring about you and your happiness? Are you grateful to Him for taking on a form that allows Him to reach you where you are? Do you see Him as continuous with God so that through Him God communicates with you? 
  • If you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, if you talk to Him, ask for His help, and relate to Him as a living Being, that’s perfect. But if you don’t have much of a relationship with Him, consider changing that. Perhaps you can start by asking yourself, “What kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit would I want?” 

​(May 22) Manual Wrap Up and moving into the Clarification of Terms (C-Intro, 1, 2)
Manual Wrap Up
  • Robert wrote a great summary of the Manual for Teachers (https://community.circleofa.org/posts/manual-more-summary-of-the-manual-for-teachers). I recommend reading it and I'd like to use it to briefly spend some time wrapping up our study of the Manual for Teachers at the beginning of our May 22 meeting.
    • What stands out to you now as you review all the themes we've been studying over the past few months?
    • Overall, how has studying the Manual affected you? 
    • How are you feeling about taking your place among the teachers of God? What does this mean to you?
  • Suggested practices:

Clarification of Terms: Introduction (C-Intro)
  • From Robert's commentary - Looking at your history with the Course, how much do you think you engage (or have engaged) in trying to solve intellectual issues in a way that divorces them from practical concerns? This can take many forms:
    • ​Have you caught yourself arguing with other students about certain Course concepts?
    • Have you had a disproportionate focus on the Course’s metaphysics?
    • Have you focused on other Course concepts without going the next step and thinking about their practical value?
    • Have you wanted straightforward definitions of Course terms without asking yourself what are the practical implications of those definitions for you?
  • Suggested practices:
    • I will step back and let Him lead the way, for I would walk along the road to Him. [CE W-155.14:3]
    • I call upon God’s Name and on my own. [CE W-183:1]

C-1: Mind - Spirit
  • From Robert's commentary - "Can we see ourselves along these lines—in Heaven in a state of pure oneness, beyond all opposition, and on earth in a state of opposites, which we must choose between? We would all love to be more comfortable here and not have to constantly choose between opposites, but the only way to true comfort is to exercise our faculty of choice and increasingly choose only one side. To get beyond choice, we have to choose perfectly."
    • How does this affect you?
    • How do you see this choice between two opposites in the world showing up in a practical way in your life?
  • Suggested practices:
    • Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world. [CE W-97.7:2]
    • Heaven is the decision I must make. [CE W-138:1]
    • The power of decision is my own. This day I will accept myself as what my Father’s will created me to be. [CE W-152.12:1-3]

C-2: Forgiveness - the Face of Christ
  • Jesus says "The face of Christ has to be seen before the memory of God can return." [CE C-2.4:1]  What does it mean to see the Face of Christ? What does the practical application of this look like for you in your life?
  • How are you doing with your understanding of forgiveness from the Course and practicing it specifically in your life? 
  • Suggested practices:
    • ​I thank You, Father, for Your perfect Son, and in his glory will I see my own. [CE T-30.VII.8:8]
    • I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear. Here is the only “sacrifice” You ask of Your beloved Son: You ask him to give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let Your love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain and giving him Your Own eternal joy. [CE [W-323:1]-[W-323.1]]
    • Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you. [CE W-161.13:1-3] - I ask your waking Self to bless and illumine me. I want to open my spiritual eyes and look at you, and see your perfect innocence and holiness, which I recognize as my own as well.

​(May 15) M27-29
M-27: What Is Death?
  • How much do you see death as something to be feared or as a welcome release?
  • How much do you see death of the body as a grim reality that is mitigated by knowing the soul lives on? What is different about the teaching in this section?
  • When Jesus tells us to "Accept no compromise in which death plays a part." (7:1), what does this mean? What are some examples of compromises in which death plays a part? And what is our task when we recognize these in ourselves?
  • Jesus says that the end of death is "the realization that the Son of God is guiltless now and forever." (7:8) What is another word for that realization?
  • Suggested practices: 
    • ​There is no death. The Son of God is free. [CE W-163:1]
    • There is one life, and that I share with God. [CE W-167:1]
      • ​There is no death because what God created shares His life. There is no death because an opposite to God does not exist. There is no death because the Father and the Son are one. [CE W-167.1:5-7]

M-28: What Is Resurrection?
  • How does it affect you to understand that the "resurrection" being talked about here is resurrection of the mind, not the body?
  • This section is also talks about a collective resurrection, not just an individual one. What would that look like in the world, according to what Jesus is teaching here?
  • Can you envision a world like this? What is our part in this, as teachers of God?
  • From Allen's commentary - Take a look back at all the characteristics of Heaven described in this section. Do some of them give you pause? Do you realize as you consider them that "I'm not ready for that - yet"? Try to see the purpose, why you feel that resistance. And realize that your illusion holds no purpose at all.
  • Suggested practices:
    • I am not a body. I am free. [CE W-199:1]
    • Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self. [CE W-WI.5.5:5-8]
    • My sight goes forth to look upon Christ’s face. [CE W-269:1]

M-29: As for the Rest...
  • In building the "habit of asking for help" (5:8), Jesus says
    • "Prepare for this in the morning,
    • remember God when you can throughout the day,
    • ask the Holy Spirit’s help when it is feasible,
    • and thank Him for His guidance at night.
    • And your confidence will be well founded indeed." [CE M-29.5:8-10]​
  • How much do you feel you have built this habit? How confident are you the "wisdom will be given you when you need it"? 
  • What is the advantage of "referring decisions to the Holy Spirit with increasing frequency"? How much do you want this? 
  • What would you like to do to develop (or deepen) this habit?
  • Suggested practices:

​(May 8) M24-26
M-24: Is Reincarnation True?​
From Robert's commentary-
  • What are your beliefs about reincarnation?
  • If you believe it's true, could you be misusing the concept? Do you have an ego investment in having been an important person in the past? Do you feel imprisoned by mistakes you may have made in a past life? Do you feel like a victim of things that may have been done to you in previous lives? Or do you see reincarnation simply as a way to see the eternal nature of life and the fact that life and the body are not the same?
  • Take a few moments to quiet your mind and ask the Holy Spirit: How well am I using the concept of reincarnation? Am I misusing it in some ways? In what ways could I use it better? 
  • How do you see this teaching applying to other ideas and concepts outside of the Course?
  • Suggested practices:
    • Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world. [CE W-97.7:1-2]
    • There is no death. The Son of God is free. [CE W-163:1]
    • I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me. [CE W-Re.6.In.3:3-5]

M-25: Are "Psychic" Powers Desirable?
From Robert's commentary - 
  • Take an ability that you possess to an unusual degree. Then ask yourself the following questions, pausing to make sure you give an honest and considered answer to each one. (If you are not able to think of any specific ability you "possess to an unusual degree", see if you can reflect on these questions in terms of an ability you would like to possess.)
    • Do I see this ability as an end in itself?
    • Do I see its main significance as being what it says about me, how it can reflect back on me?
    • Do I see it—on an emotional level—as an ability that everyone has or as something that I alone (perhaps along with select others) possess?
    • Can I completely hand it over to God and let Him use it however He wants? 
    • Can I dedicate it to serving the healing of my brothers and the uplifting of the world, so that I just don’t care about how much credit I get?
​
M-26: Can God Be Reached Directly?
  • Why should we not consider a direct experience of oneness with God a realistic or important goal?
  • Why are we needed just as we are? How do we function as the intermediaries between the world and the teachers of teachers (those who have returned to their eternal place in the Mind of God)? How does this affect you?
  • How does the idea of the teachers of teachers affect you? That they exist and are aware of you and are sending you their help?
Note: The print versions of the meditations from our May 1 meeting been uploaded to our "Recordings and Resources Archive":

​(May 1) M22-24
M-22: How Are Healing and Atonement Related?
  • What is the connection between Atonement and forgiveness and healing being explained here?
  • What is meant by "the Word of God"? (Atonement is the Word of God. [CE M-22.1:6])
  • The progress of the teacher may be slow or rapid, depending on whether he recognizes the Atonement’s inclusiveness or for a time excludes some problem areas from it. [CE M-22.2:1] - Are you aware of any problem areas in your life that you've been excluding from the Atonement?
  • How does it affect you to hear that in seeing someone as "too sick" to be healed implies they are outside the reach of the Atonement, essentially placing limits on God's power and judging God and His Son? Can you see how in doing this you are perhaps seeing yourself in this way as well?
  • Suggested practices:
    • I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. You are one Self with me, united with our Creator in this Self. I honor you because of what I am, and what He is, Who loves us both as one. [CE W-95]
    • The Word of God is given me to speak. [CE W-276:1] 
    • In quiet I receive God’s Word today. [CE W-125:1]

M-23: Does Jesus Have a Special Place in Healing?
  • What is your relationship with Jesus? Do you see him as literally being present and active in your life? Do you call on him for help?
  • From Robert's commentary, reflect on the 3 reasons Jesus gives for why he is literally with you:
    1. He has promised that he is still with you, and he is one with a God Who keeps His promises. How likely is it Jesus will fail to keep his promises that he's still with you?
    2. By transcending his body, Jesus has transcended limitation and localization, meaning he can be everywhere at once. Is it possible that he is everywhere, with everyone, except with you?
    3. Part of being a good teacher is being available to your students. How likely is it that one of the greatest teachers would be completely absent to his students?
  • How does it affect you to consider that Jesus is consciously present with you right now? What would you like to say to him?What would you like to know from him?
  • Suggested practices:
    • ​The prayer for the miracle is: Jesus, help me see my brother [name] as he really is, and thus release both him and me. [CE T-3.V.10:11-13]
    • When I said, “Behold, I am with you always,” I meant it literally. I am not absent to anyone, nor in any situation. Because I am always with you, you are the way, and the truth, and the life. [CE T-7.II.8:1-3]
    • If you will accept the fact that I am with you, you are denying the world and accepting God. My will is His, and your will to hear me is the decision to hear His Voice and abide in His will. As He sent me to you, so will I send you to others. But I will go to them with you, so we can teach them union and peace. [CE T-8.III.5:3-6]​

​(Apr 24) M19-21
M-19: What Is Justice?
  • What are the qualities of the Holy Spirit's justice? What makes it different from the world's justice? On what belief is each one based?
  • Why are love and justice the same?
  • How do we learn to respond in the world with justice? What are we being asked to do?
  • Can you think of any specific examples in your life where your “prayer” was for justice in the world? How did this make you feel? What do you think God's justice would look like in that situation?
  • Suggested practices:
    • ​My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold. [CE W-351:1]
    • Judgment and love are opposites. From one come all the sorrows of the world. But from the other comes the peace of God Himself. [CE W-352:1]
    • Your question should not be “How can I see my brother without the body?” Ask only, “Do I really wish to see him sinless?” [CE T-20.VII.9:1-2]
    • You may want to consider reviewing T-25: The Holy Spirit's Justice; specifically sections VIII: Justice Returned to Love [CE T-25.VIII:1] and X: The Justice of Miracles [CE T-25.X:1]

M-20: What Is the Peace of God?
  • Based on this section, how would you answer these questions:
    • What is the peace of God?
    • How is the peace of God recognized?
    • How is it found?
    • How is it retained?
  • If God’s peace is what you have always been searching for and the only thing that keeps you from having it is anger, what are your thoughts about giving up that anger?
  • And more specifically, is it worth it to give up your anger towards someone you’ve been holding onto anger toward? What is holding you back from that? What would Jesus in the Course say about that?
  • Suggested practices:
    • Peace to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still. [CE W-221:1]
    • Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God. [CE In.2:2-4]
    • I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace. I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise. I will to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace. I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him. I will to let Him by allowing Him to decide for God for me. [CE T-5.X.9]

M-19: What Is the Role of Words in Healing?
  • According to this section, how are words symbols of symbols?
  • What has been your experience with prayer and how you pray? What do you tend to ask for in your prayers?
  • What has been your experience with learning to listen and allowing your words, in prayer and/or in speaking to another, to be chosen by the Holy Spirit?
  • In his commentary, Allen Watson mentions that “a true prayer of the heart for healing is the desire to use our bodies only for God’s purposes”. (The body cannot heal, because it cannot make itself sick. It needs no healing. Its health or sickness depends entirely on how the mind perceives it, and the purpose that the mind would use it for. [CE T-19.I.3:1-3]) What comes up for you when you hear that?
  • Suggested practices:
    • I will step back and let Him lead the way. [CE W-155:1]
    • Your Voice will tell me what to do and where to go, to whom to speak and what to say to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world. [CE W-275.2:3]​
    • I give my life to God to run today. [CE W-233:1]

​(Apr 17) M15-18
M-15: Is Each One to Be Judged in the End?
  • Most of the time, when Jesus asks us questions in the Course, we're not meant to gloss over them as rhetorical. Take a few moments to honestly reflect upon some of the questions in this section:
    • ​Holy are you, eternal, free, and whole, at peace forever in the heart of God. [CE M-15.1:11] Is this your judgment on yourself, teacher of God? Do you believe that this is wholly true? [CE M-15.2:1-2]
    • What is your judgment on the world, O teacher of God? [CE M-15.2:8-9]
    • Have you yet learned to stand aside and hear the Voice of Judgment in yourself? Or do you still attempt to take His role from Him? [CE M-15.2:9-11]
  • Jesus goes on to say, It is your function to prepare yourself to hear [God's] Judgment and to recognize that it is true. [CE M-15.2:4-5] How does that affect you? What does it mean, or look like, to prepare yourself to hear and accept the truth of His Judgment?
  • Suggested practices:
    • This is God’s Final Judgment: “You are still my holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father, and you are my Son.” [CE W-WI.10.5]
    • I follow in the way appointed me. [CE W-317:1]
    • My Father gives all power unto me. [CE W-320:1]
    • You may want to re-read The Dream of Judgment [CE T-29.X:1] and God’s Higher Court [CE T-5.VIII:1] in the Text

M-16: How Should the Teacher of God Spend His Day?
  • How do you tend to spend your day right now?
  • Consider the ideal day described here (from Robert's commentary):
    • In the morning, spending quiet time with God (morning quiet time)
    • Remembering a thought of joy and peace throughout the day (frequent reminders)
    • Responding to feeling unsafe and the temptation to seek safety in your own way (response to temptation)
    • In the evening, spending quiet time with God (evening quiet time)
    • Overall, turning to God, rather than you own will, for a sense of being safe and problem free
  • How much is this your typical day? Where do your strengths lie? What areas do you find challenging to incorporate into your day? What is one thing you can do to take a step closer to this being your day?
  • Suggested practices:
    • There is no will but God’s. [CE W-74:1]
    • My heart is beating in the peace of God. [CE W-267:1]
    • I give my life to God to run today. [CE W-233:1]
    • There is no substitute for the will of God...it is to this fact that the teacher of God devotes his day...he needs to remember “God is with me. I cannot be deceived.” [CE M-16.10:1-5]

M-17: How Do God's Teachers Deal with Their Pupils' Thoughts of Magic?
  • We will do the application exercise from Robert’s commentary together during our meeting and discuss our experiences, insights, thoughts from it. As a preview: Think of an interaction in your life in which you are (or were) trying to correct someone who was trying to solve a problem of theirs in a false way, and you’ve found yourself in a battle of wills…
    • What was the “magic” - the false way of pursuing solution or safety - that the other person was holding onto?
    • Were you aware of your anger or judgement (or are you aware of it now)? If so, can you put it into words?
    • Do you feel you attacked the magic thought? If so, what form did that take? Did you argue about it? Did you try to overcome this person’s resistance by convincingly showing how wrong he or she was? 
    • Are you able now to recognize your error by its outcome—by the feelings it left in the two of you and between you? How would you describe that negative outcome? 
    • How will you approach this person and situation differently next time you see them

M-18: How Is Correction Made?
  • Does it surprise you to hear that “God’s teachers’ major lesson is to learn how to react to magic thoughts wholly without anger” (2:1)? 
  • Have you ever had an experience of this, where your sense of righteous anger was triggered by someone “stepping off” the spiritual path you saw them walking with you, or believing in some way that their own will can solve their problems and keep them safe?
  • How did you handle that situation? How would you handle it differently based on what this section is teaching us?

​(Apr 10) M12-14
M-12: How Many Teachers go God Are Needed to Save the World?
  • What do you see your body as being for? As you look at your day, to what degree do you see the day as being about your body’s needs (“How can I use my body to get my way in the world, bring me pleasure, and make me look better in the eyes of others?”) and to what degree do you see it as being about letting God’s Voice speak through your body to human ears? (“How can I use this body to pass on God’s messages?”)
  • Can you think of any recent examples from your life that demonstrate either of these uses of the body? What do you recall about those experiences and how you felt before, during, and after? How could you be more intentional about going into situations with another person choosing to use your body to pass on God's messages?
  • ​How does it affect you to think of walking through your life in this world as though it's a lucid dream, knowing all the bodies see before you are dream figures, while your mind remains focused on the reality beyond? 
  • Suggested practices: 

M-13: What is the Real Meaning of Sacrifice?
  • Where do you see yourself on the scale of valuing things of the world/body (power, fame, money, physical pleasure, etc), even if it shows up in the form of denying yourself those things to be "more spiritual", vs placing value only in the gifts of God?  
  • Do you feel (or have you ever felt) that the Course is asking you to sacrifice all that you hold dear? Do you feel this has gotten in the way of your spiritual growth?
  • How do you relate to the idea that sacrifice is not the loss that comes from giving up things of the world. It is the loss that comes from valuing them?
  • Sacrifice means giving up what you want. What is it you really want? What is the association between teaching and learning that Jesus reminds us of here?
  • Suggested practices:
    • ​It is not sacrifice to awake to glory, but it is a sacrifice to accept anything less than glory. [CE T-15.III.9:1-2]
    • I can give up but what was never real. [CE W-322:1]
    • I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear. [CE W-323:1] ​
Here is the only “sacrifice” You ask of Your beloved Son: You ask him to give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let Your love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain and giving him Your Own eternal joy. Such is the “sacrifice” You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the only “cost” of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world. [CE W-323.1]
M-14: How Will the World End?
  • How does it affect you to hear that the world will end in joy and peace and laughter? And that it will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. It will merely cease to seem to be. [CE M-14.2:9-11]?
  • Jesus says To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers, for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. [CE M-14.5:9] And then he tells us to sit down in true humility and realize that all God would have you do, you can do. [CE M-14.5:10] Take a moment to really sit with this - that you will learn the final lesson and bring forgiveness to the world, thus ending it, because it is God's Will. How do you feel about this?
  • We may not be able to grasp this yet, but what does Jesus say we need merely to be able to do? (M-14.4)
  • Suggested practices: 

​(Apr 3) M9-11
M-9: Are Changes Required in the Life Situations of God's Teachers?
  • How do you feel about giving up your own judgments about what you should do in your life or how you should arrange your outer life?
  • In his commentary, RP says "We can see our willingness to say 'I don't know' as a measure of progress, not regression, as a sign of spiritual strength." Where do you feel you are at with the process of learning that you don't know what to do and leaning on the Holy Spirit instead? 
  • Think of a major decision that is facing you. To what degree have you acted like this is something that you alone have to figure out? To what degree have you instead turned to the Holy Spirit and sought His guidance as what will determine your decision?
  • Practice suggestions: 
    • ​I do not know what anything, including this, means. And so I do not know how to respond to it. And I will not use my own past learning as the light to guide me now. By this refusal to attempt to teach yourself what you do not know, the Guide Whom God has given you will speak to you. [CE T-14.XII.8:5-9]
    • I do not perceive my own best interests. [CE W-24:1]
    • I do not know what anything is for. [CE W-25:1]​

M-10: How Is Judgment Relinquished?
  • How are you with making decisions in your life? Is it easy for you? More challenging? What usually goes into your decision making process? 
  • How do you feel about letting the Holy Spirit take the function of judgment and decision-making off your hands? What do you think that would look like? Feel like?
  • ​Why is it that when we do give up judgment, we're actually not giving up anything?
  • What are the main reasons Jesus gives for why we are incapable of exercising sound judgment on our own?
  • Bring to mind a time where you recognize you made a certain decision all on your own, using your own judgments to figure it out. Now bring to mind a time where you placed the decision-making into the hands of the Holy Spirit, letting go of your own judgment, and asking and listening to His guidance. What do you notice about these two situations? How did you feel with each one? What were the results? 
  • Practice suggestions:
    • I give my life to God to run today. [CE W-233:1]
    • I give myself "to Him Whose judgment [I have] chosen now to trust instead of [my] own. [CE M-10.5:9]
    • There is Someone with you Whose judgment is perfect. He does know all the facts; past, present, and to come. He does know all the effects of His judgment on everyone and everything involved in any way. And He is wholly fair to everyone, for there is no distortion in His perception. [CE M-10.4:7-10]

M-11: How Is Peace Possible in This World?
  • Application from Robert's commentary: Being instructed to ask yourself “whether your judgment or the Word of God is more likely to be true” (2:2) is a great tool for changing your mind.
    • Think of some situation in your life where you are aware that your view and God’s are at variance. Maybe you are resisting something you have been guided to do. Perhaps you are holding onto resentment when you know that God is asking you to forgive. Maybe you are dismissing someone whom God considers to be His beloved Son.
    • Now ask yourself: Who is more likely to be right here? Given your track record and given Who God is, do you really think you stand a chance of seeing farther and clearer than Him? Conclude, then, by acknowledging “In this situation, God is right and I am wrong.”
  • How does it affect you to consider that seeing peace in the world is an internal matter, a change of mind that places our interpretation of the world (judgment) into God's hands? - Peace is impossible to those who look on war. Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace...It is not the world that makes peace seem impossible. It is the world you see that is impossible. [CE M-11.4:1-5]
  • Practice suggestions:
Healing in the Manual for Teachers (M5-M8)
​Practice suggestions (ongoing as we move through these sections):
  • Sickness is a defense against the truth. [CE W-136]
  • I am as God created me. [CE W-110] (also, W-94, 162, 176)
  • I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here. [CE W-61.5:3-5]
  • I am responsible for what I see. I chose the feelings I experience, And I decided on the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me I asked for and received as I had asked. [CE T-21.II.2:2-5]​
  • I am affected only by my thoughts. [CE W-338:1]
  • I loose the world from all I thought it was. [CE W-132:1]
  • God is the strength in which I trust. [CE W-47:1]
​Other suggested resources:

(Mar 27) M6-8
M-6: Is Healing Certain?
  • What does it mean that "The teacher of God has seen the correction of his errors in the mind of the patient, recognizing it for what it is." [CE M-6.1:4] ?
  • Why should we not feel disappointed when we've offered the gift of healing and it doesn't seem like it's been received?
  • Think of a time you offered a gift to someone and that person didn't appear to receive it, or didn't receive it or use it in the way you wanted them to...how did that affect you? 
  • What is the real content of any true gift we give?
  • What characteristic of God's teachers is essential to giving? Why? What does this look like in the context of healing?
  • In his commentary, Robert says
    • "This section is a chance to reevaluate our relationship with giving. How much do we trust others to truly receive our gifts? How much do we remain concerned about the outcome of our giving? Do we tend to anxiously hover over our gifts once they have been given? If they don’t appear to be received, do we picture them going securely into the storehouse of treasures, waiting for the day when they are accepted? Do we realize that love is the heart of the gift and that trust is part of love? Do we remember that our gifts are given by God to God?"  
    • Take a moment to personally reflect on these questions. What comes up for you? What do you notice?
​
M-7: Should Healing Work Be Repeated?​
  • What about when symptoms appear to remain? How are we being taught to look at this?
  • How do we need to consider the characteristic of trust in our role as a healer? How, and in what/whom, are we being asked to strengthen our trust? Where are we placing our trust when we are concerned about the outcome of healing?
  • What is really going on in our mind when we doubt healing? How is this corrected?
  • How does this section affect you? What does it bring to your mind in regards to repeating healing work?
​
​M-8: How Can The Perception of Orders of Difficulty in Healing Be Avoided?​​
  • Where do the differences we see in the world come from?
  • ​What is this section saying about how the healer can avoid the perception that some sickness is harder to heal than others?
  • How are you feeling about moving into this new way of interpreting the world?

Healing Wrap-up
  • How have these sections changed the way you think about sickness - your own and others'?
  • How do you see yourself being with someone who is sick now? What do you want to hold in your state of mind? What would it look like on an outer level? Inner level?
  • What is the only thing in the world that reflects Heaven's reality and witnesses to truth? What should we choose to send out body's eyes out to see for in the world?

(Mar 20) ​M-5: How is Healing Accomplished?
I - The Perceived Purpose of Sickness
  • The "perceived purpose of sickness" Jesus is describing here is occurring on a deeply unconscious level. However, I wonder if we can see some form or reflection of this "value in pain" in our conscious awareness. Have you ever noticed in yourself a desire to be sick? Some form of benefit to being sick, suffering, or in pain? A purpose it may have served for you? (As you consider this question, let it come from a gentle, loving, and reflective place - not blame, guilt, or shame. Just noticing.)
  • According to this section, why is sickness seen as strength and healing as something to fear?
  • Can you get a sense of the process Jesus is describing here (again, happening on a deeply unconscious level) of the purpose sickness serves and how it does that?
  • In their commentaries, both RP and AW reference CE T-2.VII (The Miracle as the Means of Healing) and CE T-5.VI (The Ego’s Use of Guilt). Consider going back to the Text and reading these two sections. See how they inform your understanding of this section of the Manual.

II - The Shift in Perception
  • How do you feel about accepting that sickness is a decision of the mind, and has nothing to do with the body?
  • Are you ready to “pay the cost” of recognizing this in order to shift your perception?
  • What does it mean to “place cause and effect in their true sequence” and what will happen when we do?

III - The Function of the Teacher of God
  • When you consider that the role of the teacher of God can have both formal and informal aspects to it, what comes up for you personally? How do you see this role within yourself?
  • What are some specific examples in your life of situations where you were able to simply be present as a reminder to someone of their truth? Or when you were aware of someone doing this for you?
  • What is at the center of what the teacher of God gives to the patient and what does that mean?

​(Mar 13): Wrap-up Manual Sections 1-4
Characteristics Wrap-Up: Given what you’ve learned about these characteristics and their importance, ask yourself,
  • “What do I want to learn and teach, for what I teach I will learn, and I will know myself based on what I demonstrate.
  • How ready am I to demonstrate that I’m “not an ego” (T-4.VII.4:2) and that Jesus lives in me (T-11.VII.8:4)?
Ongoing suggested practice: Ask yourself, as a response to temptation and even in the midst of any encounter or situation, "What am I teaching now by doing/saying this? What do I want to teach?"

M1 - M4 Wrap Up
  • ​What effect have these first four sections had on you?
  • Do you have a sense of calling to teach the Course in some form (whether "openly" or "undercover")?
  • Do you already see yourself at some point in the journey outlined in these first 4 chapters of the Manual?
  • What effect does this have on the way you see your relationships now?

​(Feb 21-Mar 13): 10 Characteristics of God's Teachers
(M-4) Introduction and I. Trust
  • Where do you see yourself in these stages of the development of trust?
  • Can you think of examples in your life when a challenging situation turned out to be helpful in some way, even if you weren't able to recognize this until much later?
  • In his commentary on this section, Allen Watson references Workbook Lessons 133 ("I will not value what is valueless.") and 323 ("I gladly make the sacrifice of fear.") Take some time to review these. What are the criteria for judging what is valueless? What are the only things we are asked to sacrifice?
  • What was your experience of doing the application exercise at the end of Robert's commentary?
  • Suggested practice: "I will step back and let Him lead the way." [CE W-155:1]; "God is the strength in which I trust." [CE W-47:1]; "I place the future in the hands of God." [CE W-194:1]

(M-4) II. Honesty and III. Tolerance
  • Take a look at the Honesty exercise and Tolerance questionnaires at the end of Robert's commentary on these sections. What stands out to you? What insights did you have?
  • In the way Jesus defines Honesty in this section, how much do you want to be more honest and why? How would it impact the people you're trying to help? Do you see you've become more honest over time?
  • How do you see Tolerance (acceptance), or intolerance (judgment), showing up for you in response to people or situations in your life? How does it make you feel about yourself? Is there an area of your life where you'd like to increase your tolerance?
  • Suggested practice: "Let me remember I am one with God, at one with all my brothers and my Self, in everlasting holiness and peace." [CE W-124.11:2]; "Remember the holy presence of the One given you to be the source of judgment. Give it to Him to judge for you, and say: Take this from me and look upon it, judging it for me. Let me not see it as a sign of sin and death, nor use it for destruction. Teach me how not to make of it an obstacle to peace, but let You use it for me, to facilitate its coming." [CE T-19.IV.C.13:2-6]

(M-4) IV. Gentleness and V. Joy
  • How does it affect you to know that Gentleness is strength and harmfulness is weakness? What does this mean according to the Gentleness section? Can you think of any examples in your life or the world we're you've seen this demonstrated?
  • How is Joy the inevitable result of Gentleness? What would it mean to you to experience this kind of Joy?
  • What was your experience of doing the Gentleness and Joy exercises at the end of Robert's commentary?
  • Suggested practice: "There is no cruelty in God and none in me." [CE W-170:1]; "God’s peace and joy are mine." [CE W-105:1]
​​(M-4) VI. Defenselessness and VII. Generosity
  • ​How attached do you feel you are to your image - the image you have made of yourself? How invested do you see yourself in upholding that image? How secure do you feel in the truth of your identity as God created you? 
  • What is the new definition of Generosity we need to understand, according to this section? In what ways do you see yourself as a generous person? In what ways do you see yourself holding back on your generosity for fear of loss?
  • How are these two characteristics connected to Trust?
  • Practice Suggestions: "In my defenselessness my safety lies." [CE W-153:1]; "I am not asked to make a sacrifice to find the mercy and the peace of God." [CE W-343:1]; "To give and to receive are one in truth." [CE W-108:1]

(M-4) VIII. Patience and IX. Faithfulness
  • If you implicitly trusted that the outcome of the situation in front of you would be happy, that the timing of its arrival would be perfect, and that every event along the way would also be in exact right timing, what would you feel while you stood there waiting? 
  • How does the idea of never deviating, of applying the Course to literally everything, of giving all aspects of your life into the hands of the Holy Spirit, feel to you? Does it feel like a sacrifice or like freedom? Where do you see yourself on this spectrum between carefully limiting the problems to which you apply the Course and giving up all problems to one Answer? 
  • How did it affect you to do the Patience exercise at the end of Robert's commentary? What stood out to you as you reflected on the questions about Faithfulness (in Robert's or Allen's commentary)?
  • Practice Suggestions: "A happy outcome to all things is sure." [CE W-292:1]; "All things are lessons God would have me learn." [CE W-193:1]

(M-4) X. Open-Mindedness
  • According to this section, what does it mean to be Open-Minded? 
  • How Open-Minded do you see yourself, based on this section?
  • How does Open-Mindedness relate to forgiveness? 
  • What makes the "heavenly attributes" (the "things which are the Son of God's inheritance") different from the 10 characteristics of God's teachers?
  • Practice Suggestions: "I do not know what anything, including this, means. And so I do not know how to respond to it. And I will not use my own past learning as the light to guide me now." [CE T-14.XII.8:5-8]; "Father, my mind is open to Your thoughts, and closed today to every thought but Yours. I rule my mind, and offer it to You. Accept my gift, for it is Yours to me." [CE W-236.2]

For a helpful review of all of these traits, see Robert's article "10 Character Traits of the Spiritually Advanced": https://circleofa.org/library/10-traits-of-the-spiritually-advanced/

​Feb 7
"What is the Manual for Teachers?​​" commentary by Robert Perry
  • How have you related to the role of teacher in relation to being taught and being the one who teaches?
  • How do you feel about "making friends" with the idea of being a teacher? 

​(M-In) Introduction
  • Based on what we learn about teaching in the Introduction, how are we teaching all the time?
  • Are you willing to be one of God's teachers and to "use your constant demonstration to witness for radiant, hopeful beliefs about what you are and what others are to you?" Are there places in your life where you are already doing this?
  • What was your experience with the application exercise in Robert's commentary?
  • Suggested practice: "Teach only love, for that is what you are." [CE T-6.I.20:2] "Love, which created me, is what I am." [CE W-229:1] Throughout the day, take a pause and ask yourself - What am I teaching in this situation? What do I want to teach?​ ​
(M-1) Who Are God's Teachers?
  • How do we answer God's Call (what is the one qualification of a teacher of God)?
  • What is the content of the "universal curriculum", of which ACIM is one particular form?
  • Can you think of a time in your life where you made a deliberate choice to not see your interests as apart from another's? ​What does this mean to you from a Course perspective? What would it look like?
  • Suggested practice: "I cannot go without you, for you are a part of me." (ACIM, S-1.V.3:9) ​
(M-2) Who Are Their Pupils?
  • How does it affect you to consider that certain pupils have been "assigned" to each of God's teachers? What does this section say about how they will be brought together?
  • Who is really doing the teaching in a teacher-pupil relationship? What is the goal of the teacher-pupil relationship?
  • In their commentaries, Robert appears to draw our attention toward the formal aspect of a teacher-pupil relationship, and Allen seems to place more emphasis the informal aspect. What are your thoughts on this as you read these sections?
  • ​Suggested practice: "To give and to receive are one in truth." [CE W-108:1]

​(M-3) What Are the Levels of Teaching
  • What are the three levels of teaching described here? Can you think of any examples of these in the context of your own life?
  • Jesus says “Each teaching-learning situation is maximal in the sense that each person involved will learn the most that he can from the other person at that time.” [CE M-3.4:1] What comes up for you when you read that?
  • Have you ever considered you were meant to lost touch with the people you've lost touch with?
  • The lifelong level of teaching has a perfect teaching-learning balance, but does not mean this is recognized and there could be hostility for the life of that relationship. What are your thoughts on this and what this might look like?
  • What was your experience with the application exercise in Robert's commentary on this section?
  • Suggested practice:
    • ​"Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you." [CE W-161.13:1-3]  - ​I ask your waking Self to bless and illuminate me. I want to open my spiritual eyes and look at you, and see your perfect sinlessness, which I recognize as my own as well.
    • "When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him, you will see yourself. As you treat him, you will treat yourself. As you think of him, you will think of yourself...Do not leave anyone without giving salvation to him and receiving it yourself." [CE T-8.II.6:1-7]

Post-Workbook Practice

As we move through our Manual study, I also encourage you to continue with your post-Workbook practice:
  • Morning quiet time, as close to awakening as possible
  • Evening quiet time, as close to sleeping as possible
  • Remember God all through the day (hourly, frequent)
  • Turn to the Holy Spirit with all problems
  • Respond to all temptation by reminding yourself of the truth
For more details about post-Workbook practice, I compiled some notes from Robert Perry's and Allen Watson's commentaries on the Final Lessons of the Workbook (W361-365). I've also attached The Christ In You prayer.
Notes on post-Workbook practice
File Size: 49 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
The Christ In You
File Size: 46 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
“Let my life become a continuous act of following along His way, leaning on His guidance, trusting that He speaks for what I really want and need, and feeling secure in His ever-present help, as I walk confidently toward my certain destiny of arriving home in God.” ~Robert Perry
Contributions are appreciated, but are not a requirement for joining the study group. The suggested contribution for participating in these weekly study group meetings is $25 (USD) per month. You are welcome to adjust this amount based on what works for you and your financial situation. No one will be turned away due to inability to pay. 
​As the Course says “One rule should always be observed: No one should be turned away because he cannot pay.
​No one is sent by accident to anyone. Relationships are always purposeful.” (P-3.III.6:1-3)
Christina Manuilow, Be Well Therapeutics, Woodstock, CT 06281