JOIN
MAILING LIST
FREE 

JOIN Mailing LIST

[click phone] 

A Course in Miracles-Original Edition

POCKET

  
www.jcim.net 

Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the Divine Teachings of A Course in Miracles.

 

   

          The book Review this month in our "New Book Section" is not an ACIM book although every word seems to have been written from the perspective of LOVE. The book is called, "Dying to Be Me" written by Anita Moorjani and chronicles Anita's four year fight with cancer, complete organ failure and coma, her near-death experience and the spontaneous remission she experienced on returning to her body and to this material world. The forward is by Wayne Dyer who himself has recently written, "Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting" which will be the subject of our next month's books section . 

         This month we also have the second of a three part series, written by Robert D Sears [Bob], on "The Process of Learning" titled, "The World is Round?"  In the first segment, Bob describes the four parts of learning. In the second segment, Bob continues with a discussion on the "World's" learning style. Next month, in the last section, Bob discusses the eventual "Next Step" of ACIM.

        The ACIM inspired POEM this month is "God's Production" by 

Karen Berg-Rakish.  Karen has studied ACIM for the last 12 years and attends a weekly ACIM group in the Chicago-land area.

         Daniel Tipton's article for his DARE TO BE HAPPY series this month is "Veils of Complexity". In this article, Daniel shares his insights into what inhibits our decision making.  

          The Question and Answer section is hosted this month by Seth Hoerth. Seth is finishing up the 2nd year of the CMC Ministerial program and is one of the founding members of ACIM Miracle Cell Men's Team: Miracle Cell. In this segment, Seth addresses the question, "Do we have to die to be in Heaven?".     

          Guidance from Elder Brother as scribed by Sun~Rose continues this month on the theme "Forgiveness and Healing" with the Article, "On Being a Target Out of Range". This article on our WEB SITE, and eventually it will also be on our BLOG.  Also,  we have a scribing by Sun~Rose of GUIDANCE from Elder Brother on each DAILY LESSON, appearing on our Web Site and mailed each day to Course students who have joined our mailing list.  This year there are two Lesson Lists to choose from depending on which Leap Year schedule you are following. 

[To JOIN a mailing list, please go here].   

 

  Back to Top     

 REVIEW BY REJA JOY GREEN

"It was as though every moment held infinite possibilities, and where I was at that point in time was a culmination of every decision, every choice, and every thought of my entire life. My many fears and my great power had manifested as this disease."

 

When I read this paragraph in Anita Moorjani's book "DYING TO BE ME: MY JOURNEY FROM CANCER, TO NEAR DEATH, TO TRUE HEALING  it reminded me of what my husband and I often say to participants as we begin our  presentations on A Course in Miracles [ACIM]. We express the idea that absolutely every decision they have made in  their lives has culminated in bringing them to this room and to this moment. Likewise, every decision I have ever made in my life has brought me to writing this review in this moment and all of the decisions you have EVER made have brought you to this moment in which you are reading it.

It was the next sentence in that paragraph that stopped my mind for a moment:

"My many fears and my great power had manifested as this disease."

Yes, I have learned and have experienced fear as a power capable of manifesting dis-ease. This is quite understandable. And yet the second part of this sentence was an idea that might even go unnoticed if the reader were looking from their regular, comfortable, point of view. Such a concept may not be understandable and so glossed over. "...my great power had manifested as this disease."  What did Anita mean by this? Why would our POWER manifest as a disease?

To answer this we may want to start with Anita's experience of 'disease'.  A dear friend [Soni] and also her brother in law had contracted cancer and had perished from the disease. When this happened Anita became deathly afraid of getting sick herself and also afraid of the medical treatment when she saw how it had ravaged her friend's body and had not prevented her death.  In her study of cancer, Anita learned that cancer could come from many activities: the polluted air we breathe, the pesticides and preservatives in our food, the chemicals in the water we drink, even the negative thoughts that we think. Her fear only increased.

And then the inevitable happened. In 2002 Anita was diagnosed with cancer. Since conventional, western style medicine had not helped her friend, Anita tried alternative methods:   

"I tried faith healing, praying, meditation, and energy-healing sessions. I read every book I could get my hands on about cancer, learning every possible connotation given to the disease. I worked on forgiveness therapy, and forgave everyone I knew-then forgave them again. I traveled through India and China, meeting Buddhist monks, Indian yogis, and enlightened masters, hoping that they'd help me find answers that would lead to healing. I tried being vegan, meditating on mountaintops, yoga, ayurveda, chakra balancing, Chinese herbal medicine, pranic healing, and Chi Gong. But despite all this, my cancer just kept getting worse." (Kindle Edition, pp. 133-134).

It was at the point of imminent total organ failure, after a four year battle, that Anita's fight was over. She completely surrendered to - what turned out to be - REALITY.

In this amazing book, DYING TO BE ME, Anita chronicles her life before her diagnosis in Part I, when she developed  a limiting and fear-filled thought system based on years of harassment and abuse for being seen as 'different'. She shares how she became completely 'other centered' and continually struggled to fit in and be accepted and yet the result was always a deep sense of unworthiness.

Part II chronicles her journey to death and back. Anita describes the  "Near Death Experience" [NDE] itself, and what happened next. "Being healed of cancer and working to find a new place in the world has been a surprising, challenging, and exhilarating journey!

In this section, Anita describes how she felt after the NDE when she was aware of a connection with everyone in her life, including those at the hospital:

"I felt as though I were connected to them all at a deep level and knew everything they were feeling and thinking, almost as though we shared the same mind." (pp. 83-84)

As a Course in Miracles student, reading this is a wonderful  affirmation of what we are learning in the Course which teaches:  'minds are joined'.  

Part III is an expression of Anita's understanding of "healing, the way the world is today, and how we can live as a reflection of who we really are, allowing our magnificence to shine through."

When the end came, and Anita finally let go completely she took the leap of faith and was buoyed up by the LOVE that she knew herself to BE.  That's when she realized,

"My many fears and my great power had manifested as this disease." (p. 70)

Anita shares more about the Power manifesting as disease in the Question and Answer area at the end of her book:

"I had this understanding: Ooh, I see-it didn't happen to me, because in truth, I'm never a victim. The cancer is just my own unexpressed power and energy! It turned inward against my body, rather than outward. I knew it wasn't a punishment or anything like that. It was just my own life force expressing itself as cancer because I didn't allow it to manifest as the magnificent, powerful force of Anita." (p. 165)

When I read this I recalled a portion of the ACIM TEXT which teaches us:

"The mind chose to divide itself when it willed to create both its own levels and the ability to perceive, but it could not entirely separate itself from the Soul because it is from the Soul that it derives its whole power to create. Even in miscreation will is affirming its Source or it would merely cease to be. This is impossible because it is part of the Soul which God created and which is therefore eternal." ACIM OrEd.Tx.3.45

We derive our power to create from our Soul which is eternal and to which we are eternally connected. There is only one Power and we are given free will to use that Power. When it doesn't have an avenue of expression it will turn within.

CONTINUED IN THE FULL ARTICLE

~*~

Near Death Experience Research Foundation [NDERF] INTERVIEW  with Anita Moorjani Anita Moorjani was born in Singapore and then lived in Sri Lanka until she was 2 years old. An ethnic Sindhi woman from India, her family then moved to Hong Kong where she grew up speaking fluent Sindhi, Cantonese and English, as well as being conversant with a multitude of cultural idioms. She was educated in English schools in Hong Kong and later studied in England before returning to Hong Kong to take up a senior management position for a French fashion company where she traveled all over the world using her multi-cultural, multilingual background in a variety of business and social settings.   Anita Moorjani

  

    

 Back to Top     

 

 

Thank you all so much for consenting

To star in the movie in which I am acting,

Directing, writing, and inventing

******************************

I'm especially grateful to you my "enemies"

Because of you I'm busy reacting and defending

You've played the role of antagonist so well

That I actually forgot we're just pretending

*******************************

To my love interests, family, coworkers and friends

It's as if the parts were written with you in mind

You've really made your characters come alive

If it weren't for you, I would have remained so blind

*********************************

Acquaintances, I'm thankful for you as well

Trust me, bit parts these are not

Even though you may not realize it

You are quite essential to the plot

*********************************

Whenever I tire of wearing all these hats

And I feel as if I'm sliding off track

It's a relief to know I can give up my Director's Chair

And let the Holy Spirit pick up the slack

**********************************

So even though I understand none of my choices were wrong

I still wait for guidance from Him because

I just realized that it's been His production all along

 

 

Karen Berg-Raftakis

ARTICLE

    CONTINUE TO FULL ARTICLE

 *Daniel Tipton resides in Omaha, NE and is a member of the Course in Miracles Society. He is in his second year of the 2 year ACIM Ministerial Program offered by the Community Miracles Center and he is one of the founding members of the new Miracle Cell Men's Team.

Daniel attended the 2011 Annual ACIM Conference in San Francisco and is currently working on a masters degree in Counseling at UNO. He will be assisting at the 2013 ACIM Conference which will be held in Chicago. More Conference Information here