From: milsom@ntb.ch (Paul Milsom)
Subject: A Course In Miracles / Reincarnation
Keywords: A Course In Miracles
Reply-To: milsom@ntb.ch (Paul Milsom)
Organization: Neu-Technikum Buchs 
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 09:39:15 GMT



 

				Tom Gorski and Erik Radmall 
	had some questions about A Course In Miracles and reincarnation,
	and John Winston and Doug Thompson gave some information about Nicaea

So, Erik asks:
		
	>What evidence do you have that reincarnation was accepted before the
	>5th century by Christians? Who edited it? What council decided it?
	>What did the Bible originally say?

It wasn't the Council of Nicaea (as John suggested). That was the one where, 
as Doug puts it, they "invented" the Trinity. It was two Councils of 
Constantinople, (334/348?), which decided to refute the teachings of Origen 
(Origines Adamantius).They also confirmed the decision of the Council of 
Nicaea to refute the teachings of Arianism (and therefore to raise Jesus to 
the status of God). Origen was an early Christian philosopher who I think 
went to Greece, although he was originally from Egypt. He taught the pre-
existence of the soul. That is, the soul existed before you were born. This 
goes along with the Old Testament, where it says in Genesis something like 
"God created man in his own image" (*Past* Tense) When these Councils refuted 
Origen, they automatically struck reincarnation from Christian dogma. 

I read a lot about this when I was still "searching for the TRUTH", and have 
forgotten some of it now, and most of the sources. One very interesting book 
was called "Jesus lived in India", but it was in German (don't know the 
author). There's probably a translation by now. It may not have been this 
book that gave me the quotes, however.

I remember that Jesus said, insisted in fact, that John the Baptist was the 
reincarnation of Isiah. (Matthew 11, 15 confirms this, but I believe there is 
a better quote somewhere.) Also, it is recounted that Jesus healed a man who 
had been blind from birth. (John 9, 1) The disciples asked if the man had 
sinned (to deserve this punishment) or his parents. How can a man sin before 
he is born, unless he has had a life before?

There really is a lot of information about reincarnation around. Of course, 
some of it (maybe a lot of it, as with UFOs) is probably unfounded. But I 
must repeat: Delving into past lives will not help your spiritual 
development, although it may be fun. Some people seem to get hooked on it. 
Future lives may be even more scary, but there are different realities..

Tom says

	> ...the reading I get off of it, is that the only *answer* in the course
	> goes something like "the only answer lies within."

Well, Tom, maybe you were confused by the complexity of the language (this is 
not intended as a snide remark, it *is* complex), or your ego got the better 
of you and said: "Look, let's face it, we don't want to know about this kind 
of thing" as soon as you started. The ego does that, because that's its job. 
I assure you, *all* the answers are there, if you take the trouble to look 
for them. Certainly the answers are "within" too, although I haven't 
uncovered too many there yet either! (But at least some important ones.) 

Now I'll accept your challenge, Tom ..

	> Hmmmm...since you have your copy nearby, maybe you'd be willing to try
	> something for me:

	> Somewhere in the workbook, in the first two-dozen lessons or so, is
	> a lesson which goes something like, "I do not know what anything means."

	> I would be very interested to hear what happens if you pick up and 	
	> momentarily do this lesson while you're reading the text, especially	  
 	> when you're reading those sections which seem to give the exact answers 
	> you have in mind above.

	First: "I do not know what anything means." does not come in any of the 
first 30 lessons, although similar lessons do come. I have the feeling, Tom, 
that you just allowed you ego to simply browse through the first few lessons 
and say: "What a load of rubbish". 
	After every idea there is an extremely clear description and explanation 
of what is to be learned. You are told in the introduction that your ego 
might not accept everything. For example, Lesson 1 starts with "Nothing I see 
in this room (on this street, from this window, in this place) means 
anything". Lesson 2 then continues with "I have given everything I see in 
this room (on this street...) all the meaning that it has for me". JUST LOOK 
AT THAT. It's so true. *WE* are the ones who give meaning to everything in 
this material world. Now I had simply not seen it like that before, but as 
soon as I read it I thought to myself "Hey, that's true!" I had assigned 
meaning to things subconsciously. Presumably we all do.
	It was probably Lesson 25 you were thinking of, Tom: "I do not know what 
anything is for." There follows a very detailed description of the purpose of 
and the reason for this idea.
	I must also say in all fairness, that most of the answers to the kind of 
questions *we* want to ask come in the Text part (the first part) of the 
book. This is where I get "all the answers" from. The second part (the 
Exercises) just help you to develop your mind. (You get to recognise you ego 
too.)

	> ..your posting about heaven and reincarnation, etc., it sounds very 	
	> wonderful, but from where does it come and what does it mean?  

I'm not an expert, but I do have ideas about this. I'll try to be concise, 
and I do not speak for ACIM, just the way I interpret some of it.

Heaven is the original state of everything. Bliss. Being one with God. We 
have somehow altered this state for ourselves (by some *mistake*, not a sin) 
and believe we are separate from God. We will all return to God (to the 
"state" of Heaven) in the end. God has arranged this for us, but only when we 
want, as we have free will. We are all souls. (Greys probably are too!) We 
have decided (because we feel separate) to take up bodies and live lives. We 
(our soul, our spirit) do learn through this procedure. It does help us on 
the way back to God. The more we try, the quicker we get back. 
	(Digression: We do have to try to improve our spirit, our mind. If we can 
recognise our ego (the part of us that wants us to be selfish, to be angry, 
to be afraid) then we are well on the way. Jesus gave us a good idea how to 
get back to God, but unfortunately, until this century at least, not many 
people have tried to follow his ideas. Any kind of punishment, revenge, is 
against what Jesus said.)

I am prepared to answer any further questions on Email. Or here, if they 
warrant it. I am not an expert, however. I do not speak as an authority on 
ACIM. I have not even completed the exercises yet, nor have I read all of the 
text. I will do, however.

A word of comfort to all of you who have struggled as far as this:
	We *all* get to Heaven in the end, because we're all part of God. A 
Course In Miracles says that there are thousands of ways back to God, and 
ACIM is just one of these.

						Love and blessings to you all.      Paul.

Paul Milsom
milsom@ntb.ch
Neu-Technikum Buchs Switzerland
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage