Course: Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) of ULC Seminary / Lesson: 1 – Revelation

Hello Loretta and all brothers and sisters of ULC Seminary,

please find attached my thoughts, comments and impressions concerning the first lesson of the Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) course with ULC Seminary. Thank you very much for the opportunity to study with you and for the time you invest into me and my spiritual growth. The course was a deep blessing to me and a crucial point within my spiritual life. Why? Because for the first time in my spiritual life, and after doing a lot of studies relating to this topic, this course has revealed the true essence of spirituality to me - this in a way if one would use a magnifying glass in order to illuminate this very important topic especially to me. With this impression please find below a description of some main reflections, emotions and thoughts of what happened during my coursework and my prayer visualization. For the first time in my life I fully have recognized, experienced and emotionally understood that God´s true love is the one, true essence of my existence. More over, I understood that this love always was the original intention of God when He created His whole creation (including me) in His likeness. 

During my coursework and my prayer visualization, I experienced a very deep and overwhelming, joyful feeling of God´s love within me, which makes me fully aware of some selfish, worldly-programmed and therefore unnatural leftovers which have been manifested in my current life as a child of God. In my experience, this artificial system of unnatural, artificial programming is designed to remove God´s true love completely. Instead of God´s love it then always implements an unnatural, opposite state and different layers of consciousness into God´s creation which are all cause „fear", e.g.

 

- rejection of God´s truth and other people instead of openness to all creation

- separation or overemphasized individualism instead of oneness and connection to God and His creation

- conflict and chaos instead of peace 

- selfish goal-setting instead of real purpose

- multiple bondages and conformity instead of liberty and freedom of lchoice

- coerced action and artificial functioning instead of voluntariness and inner motivation to act in harmony with natural laws

- utilitarian thinking instead of wisdom

- deception of the mind and soul as well as of others instead of truth and righteousness

- happiness based on circumstances and satisfaction of lusts and desires instead of inner joy

- growth of money and possessions instead of spiritual growth

- status instead of dignity

- death instead of life

As a result, these negative patterns and subconsciously programmed, wrong thought and emotional figures listed above, are some of the main obstacles that prevent me and others from time to time to recognize the full presence of God´s true love within me. 

On the basis of this reflection and perspective I am able to understand and explain better how the concept that "nothing real can be threatened" and "nothing unreal exists" determines what I ask for in prayer. Regarding to these concepts I have adjusted my structure and my focus in prayer. That means that I now pray with stronger emphasis for cleansing and purity from all unreal, unnatural, programmed and therefore imagined/worldly/selfish patterns of my consciousness as well as of this concerning other people. With particular respect to the concept that "nothing unreal exists" I now explicitly ask for a removal of all fears, threats and other defects, because these are the causes of an unnatural state of consciousness and a subsequent false way of life based on this state. In addition to that I pray and ask that nothing would prevent me from giving and receiving true love, unity, peace and harmony from and to all creation. In this context I ask and pray for strength, guidance, wisdom and openness in order to identify, avoid and remove selfish, worldly or even satanic thoughts, temptations and desires which would bring back harmful patterns and fear in my life and the life of others. Furthermore I always ask and pray for unlimited joy, true liberty, true righteousness and lifelong spiritual growth as a result of choosing God´s way, truth and life, this by exercising free will.

What has remained always the same in my prayers is - as a disciple of Jesus Christ - that I ask and pray always with thanks and humbleness to my beloved Father („Abba") in the name of Jesus Christ. This I do so because He is my mediator, my lord, my king, my priest, my light, my savior, my redeemer, my liberator, my judge, my shepherd, my way, my truth and my life. More over in prayer I never ask God for selfish purposes or personal advantages.

Best regards from your brother in Christ

Stefan

 

 

Missing Lesson 9 & 10

I sent an email to the "homework" email address and I haven't heard back yet.  I am missing lesson 9 & 10.  I do have lesson 8 and 11.

Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!

Blessings,

Minister Eileen Scherf 

Lesson One - Master of Spiritual Awareness

I wanted to share my thoughts with others after I took lesson one in the "Master of Spiritual Awareness course."  

I had attached this on a pdf, which was submitted.

"Creating Your Special Place"

The view is the beach

The smell is ocean air

I can hear birds

I see clouds in the sky and the sun is so bright

I hear birds as they fly around near me.  Some are even sitting near me.  I watch them and notice their beautiful colors.  The sand is so beautiful and so serene.

This beautiful and special place I can call my own.  A place where I can feel calm, relaxed and peaceful.  A place where I can release all the stresses of the day.  A place I can call my other home.

This is my very first seminary course.  This course interested me from the very beginning after reading about it and I so much look forward to sharing my journey with all of you.

When I was visualizing my sacred and special place, I visualized myself at the beach looking at the ocean and up in the sky, listening to the birds and feeling the warm sun on my face.  Then, I realized that I can not only visualize myself there in my mind, but I can be there "virtually."  In my virtual world, I was sitting there on the sand looking out at the ocean, then I closed my eyes and listened to the birds taking everything in for a few minutes, then opened my eyes again to the most beautiful place that I can call my own and a place that I can escape to at the end of my day.

I've been an ordained minister since 2016, but "caregiving" has been my ministry for the past eight years, which is only the beginning of my new and amazing journey.

Blessings,

Eileen M. Scherf 

If anyone is interested in trying this out if you have Oculus Quest, just look for "Nature Treks VR."  You will have several scenes to choose from.

Master of Spiritual Awareness

I am loving this course!  This is my first course since I've been ordained back in 2016.  I just recently started Lesson One and found it to be very interesting.  

I attached a pdf that I had submitted after my first lesson.

Blessings,

Eileen Scherf 

Forgiveness - Lesson 4

1. Explain how you agree or disagree with the Course's view of true forgiveness. Give examples that support your thoughts.

I agree with the course point of view on forgiveness, that true forgiveness has been a gift of the highest degree ordained to us by God and that true forgiveness is something that is done for us as individuals, but by the mercy of God. Forgiveness is done through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. It has been misunderstood by people what forgiveness truly is and there are approaches that people take towards forgiveness which truly is more of an expression of arrogance or as said in the study "Self condemnation" being that it is "no different than condemnation of another ''. True forgiveness changes us, not the person in focus as true forgiveness is always self forgiveness. For example, a divorce occurs due to serious reasons such as abuse. Forgiving the abuser does not mean we take away from the act of harm or the danger of the person. It means we forgive the past actions taken so that we are no longer bonded by trauma, held by fear or in a vicious cycle of self-hatred which frequently occurs in such circumstances. 

2. Re-write one of your own prayers for forgiveness in light of the true forgiveness taught by the Course. Show the before and after examples here:
Dear Lord, Please help me feel peace in my heart. 

Allow me to see from a higher perspective my challenges.
Please heal my perception of the moment

Please let me feel I have found myself again.

Holy Spirit please speak to me, direct me, let me feel your guidance.

Help me to recalibrate from my consequences of the wrong decisions.

Dear Lord, please help me feel peace in my heart.

Allow me to see from a high perspective my challenge with Luke.

Please heal my perception of our argument.

Please let me feel I have found myself again as our fights have hurt me.

Holy Spirit, please speak to me, direct me, let me know what I should do.

Help me to recalibrate from our situation, the consequences of his hurtful words.

Dr. of Spirituality - Miracle of Prayer - Lesson 2

Prayer Exercise:

Dear God, creator of life and the essence of love. I pray for the restoration of My Mother's body to how you allowed her physical presentation in form to be created. With your healing love and ability to create, I thank you for resorting her body to health in form, with your love.

Dear God, beyond my physical senses I pray you have already started working on my comprehension of your love. This comprehension is now my comfort allowing me to know you more, to express my gratefulness and to extend the love that you have in me and for me. My world will change with this comprehension as all my perceptions will be opened with full view. No longer will my vision be of tunnel vision but an open view to illuminate what is dark. Your love through my eyes will be like a light beaming out. I will see what I couldn't see before, and with any shadows I will be able to cast light on that was an illusion of darkness. I pray to feel your work of love within me beginning now. I know it has already begun. Thank you God for hearing my prayer.

Dr. of Spirituality - Miracle of Prayer - Lesson 1

Prayer Exercise:

1. Describe the obstacles that are preventing you from recognizing Love's presence within you. 
2. Write an essay explaining how the concept that nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists might change what you ask for in prayer?
   
   - Open your eyes and write a one page description of what happened to you during this visualization. 
   
   
   

I personally find the obstacles to be words, tone of voice or actions in events that at times prevent me from seeing the love presence within me, not so much my expression of love to others but their expression of love towards me. That in turn often will influence my mood, perspective and frame of mind. For example, when and if I am bullied by a family member who will in action or other events show 'love' in a duty material form, is also hard to comprehend when you are insulted by words or behavior of the same person. Then this is my obstacle, as just one simple yet complex example of how obstacles may prevent me from recognizing the love presence within me. I do strongly believe that as we exist in form, we are challenged by what we do not see and also influenced by the immediate of what we do see, hear or feel. These types of influences can be extreme on either side of the spectrum of what is love or an obstacle towards recognizing it.

Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists in the context of prayer, requires perspective. In our physical perception and spiritual knowing, we learn by some form of exposure. This exposure can come from the physical world or the spiritual. They are both real, in their existence and both are real because both have been experienced. They make their way into our perception and therefore we can take this a step further to perceive second hand experiences as reported by others. These continue the chain of perception to what is existing and real. What is real cannot be threatened as threat is fear and based on fear a threat is used to dominate and control. What is real cannot  be controlled for it simply exists and therefore the attempt to control through fear is the opposite of love, the opposite of God, the opposite of existence. Take this perspective into account, if something is unreal, it doesn't exist. That is not to say that being negative

 doesn't exist for it is the opposite of positive, which is seen as love vs. fear. Contrary it is a tool of manipulation used in the spiritual world and the skilled minds of the physical to, again, attempt to control, through fear, which is often mentioned to be seen as 'false evidence appearing real'. When we think about that, fear is unreal, and what is unreal cannot exist. We cannot pray for fear, we pray AGAINST fear. When we pray, we pray for something that is seen as love. 

During the visualization and taking myself to a place of past fear I could see clearly the guidance I did listen to as for removing me from danger. Was the danger real, yes, for it does exist. How can I see this form of love, perhaps, it is the love of a selfish nature of one being who can pose a danger towards the obsessive love or needs of another. Is love the correct word to describe this negative trait? No, it is not the correct word as the manifestation of this was is a twisted way. However, the clean and pure Godsent love was there, guiding me out of an escalating dangerous situation. What I saw when returning to this vision was the guidance, and that I knew how to listen and respond in my physical body at the time even though it was not in a physical word format. The love of God, my guardians and the love that surrounds me was protecting me. I listened and acted thow the sense of knowing. The love is always around me. This visualization provided evidence, we are never alone. Even when physically alone in this form. We are always with the love of God and spirit. Prayer strengthens how we communicate with god and spirt, though not the only way, it is an open door for directing a focused message and receiving one back.