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“Teach only Love for that is what you are.”
– A Course in Miracles
Purpose
I discovered the book about 20 years back. I find it a valuable resource for good living. So, I am introducing it to friends.
Overview
The book, by Gerald G. Jampolsky, M. D., (https://amzn.in/d/hfUCRjT), a distinguished psychiatrist, is based on amazing transformations in his life and the lives of others by following simple lessons of practical spirituality.
The book suggests alternate approaches to our core beliefs via 12 lessons. Practicing these lessons brings more peace and fulfilment in our lives.
Each lesson is from “A Course in Miracles”, a spiritual self-help handbook. After practicing these 12 lessons, one per day, we may repeat the lessons as we see fit. Most lessons are accompanied by clarifications, a picture, and a true story illustrating their value.
Over one million copies of the 150-pages book have been sold.
I find the book a valuable resource to correct my thinking on occasions when I find myself going emotionally downhill.
Lesson 1: All that I Give I Give to Myself
To Give is to Receive is the law of Love. Offering Love is the only way I can accept Love for myself. By giving our Love away, we increase the Love within us, and everyone gains.
Lesson 2: Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness
Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is the vehicle for changing our perceptions and letting go of our fears, condemning judgments and grievances.
Lesson 3: I Am Never Upset for the Reason I Think
What would happen if we believed that what we see is determined by the thoughts in our mind? When our mind is peaceful, the world and the people in it appear to us as peaceful.
Lesson 4: I Am Determined to See Things Differently
I must not act as a robot responding to what other people say or do. I claim my freedom by exercising the power of my decision to see people and events with Love instead of fear.
Lesson 5: I Can Escape from the World I See by Giving Up Attack Thoughts
It may be worthwhile to remind ourselves that attack thoughts do not bring us peace of mind and justifying our anger doesn’t really protect us.
Lesson 6: I Am Not the Victim of the World I See
To be consistent in achieving inner peace, we must perceive a world where everyone is innocent. Selectively choose to see the beauty and the Love in the world, people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.
Lesson 7: Today I Will Judge Nothing that Occurs
Give yourself the opportunity of going through just one day concentrating on totally accepting everyone and making no judgments! (Even partial success with this lesson will demonstrate its value.)
Lesson 8: This Instant is the Only Time There Is
Preoccupation with the past and its projection into the future defeats present peace. The past is over and the future is yet to be. Peace cannot be found in the past or future, but only in this instant.
Lesson 9: The Past Is Over – It Can Touch Me Not
By forgiving and letting go of the past, I free myself of the painful burdens I have carried into the present. Now I can claim the opportunities for freedom in the present without my past distortions.
Lesson 10: I Could See Peace Instead of This
Most of us believe that our happiness or unhappiness is largely determined by the events in our environment, reactions of other people to us or good luck or bad luck. We forget that peace of mind is an internal matter and that it is from a peaceful mind that a peaceful perception of the world is experienced.
Lesson 11: I Can Elect to Change All Thoughts that Hurt
In my mind are thoughts that can hurt me or help me. I am constantly choosing the contents of my mind, since no one else can make this choice for me. I can choose to let go of everything but my Loving thoughts.
Lesson 12: I Am Responsible for What I See
I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me, I ask for, and receive as I have asked.
About the Author
In 1975, Gerald was a heavy drinker and developed chronic, disabling back pain as a means of handling guilt. He then came across the writings of “A Course in Miracles”. His transformation was miraculous!
He founded a non-profit “Center for Attitudinal Healing”
( https://www.ahinternational.org/ ), based on the above principles. The Center is currently active in 22 countries.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.