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A Course in Miracles

Complete & Annotated Edition (CE) Study Guide


Week 10
CourseCompanions.com

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Chapter 4. The Egos Struggle to Preserve Itself

Day 64: Cameo 16: Helens Extra Mile


Day 65: I. The Last Foolish Journey
Day 66: Cameo 17: Bills Class
Day 67: II. The Devoted Teacher (paragraphs 1-13)
Day 68: II. The Devoted Teacher (paragraphs 14-25)
Day 69: III. The Making of the Ego
Day 70: IV. The Egos Need to Confirm Itself

Section overviews and Cameo commentaries are from Robert Perry, editor of the
Complete & Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles

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Day 64: Cameo 16: Helens Extra Mile

This is a brief cameo, so my comments will be brief as well. A few things stood out to
me.
First, Jesus does support going the extra mile for another. How could he not, given
that thats his own saying? But in an age in which theres so much talk of protecting
ones boundaries and avoiding co-dependency, its useful to note that he does. We can
get so focused on avoiding inappropriate devotion to others that we become suspicious
of devotion altogether.
Second, I have long been struck by that dissection of the womans dynamics in relation
to her husband. You look at that and think Well, thats marriage. Of course, its not all
marriages, but this is the sort of thing that goes on in relationships in general and
marriage in particular. On the surface, we are well-intentioned, but beneath that there is
something else going on. There are all kinds of unconscious dynamics splashing out
onto our partners, and staining our clothes as well. In the meantime, we have no idea
why our partners are complaining. Whats wrong with them? we wonder. The real
question is: Whats wrong with us?
Third, there is something about unusual gifts, like Helens, that makes people reluctant
to use them. There are, of course, people who arent reluctant to use them, but
unfortunately, many of them are driven by the desire for personal glory. The people who
arent interested in such unusual gifts as sources of ego-inflation are just the kind of
people who can be trusted with the gifts, and unfortunately just the kind of people who
are likely to shy away from them. The good news is that if youve declined to use an
unusual gift of yours in service of others, you, like Helen, can always change your mind.

Robert Perry

2
Day 65: I. The Last Foolish Journey

Overview:
I. The Last Foolish Journey. Egocentricity makes me feel dispirited and embarrassed.
My ego tries to solve this by heroically tilting at windmills in an effort to puff itself up,
but this just further chains me to the egos tragic cycle. In contrast, true devotion to
others makes me feel inspired, the opposite of dispirited.

Reflection:
This section warns against launching ourselves on the foolish journey of trying to solve
our egos sense of unworthiness by puffing ourselves up. This chains us to the egos
cycle, which always ends in crucifying ourselves. We thus make the pathetic human
error of clinging to the old rugged cross rather than demonstrating that we have
overcome the cross (8:5). In thinking about your own life, what crusades have you
undertaken that, upon reflection, were about trying to make yourself more worthy
through heroic deeds?
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Excerpts:
Your real worth is your divine authorship, and your spirit is its acknowledgement. I
cannot guide your mind except as you associate it with your spirit. (4:2-3)

you are free to crucify yourself as often as you choose. But this was not the gospel I
intended to offer you. We have another journey to undertake, and I hope that, if you will
read these teachings carefully, they will help to prepare you to undertake it. (8:6-8)
Notes:
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3
Day 66: Cameo 17: Bills Class

This cameo reminded me a lot of the previous one, in which Helen was initially reluctant
to fulfill her Scribal function. From these two cameos, you could easily get the
impression that we are often reluctant to step into a genuine calling. The conventional
wisdom is that our calling is our passion, that we should follow our bliss. But apparently
sometimes our calling represents a buried passion that, on the surface, we want no part
of.
I couldnt help but apply the material in this cameo to teaching the Course. Assuming its
fair to do that, what we get if we do so is something like the following:
Certain people have been very carefully chosen to teach A Course in Miracles. They
may be reluctant to fulfill this calling, perhaps because they feel they will be placing their
self-image at the mercy of the images their students will have of them. But they have
been chosen because they are the antidote to the way the Course is generally taught.
Most teachers have an unfortunate tendency to teach the course abnormally, meaning
teach it from the ego. Their teaching therefore has the effect of reinforcing, rather than
lessening, the ego in their students. In contrast, the teachers who have been chosen
are particularly well-suited to teach the Course while standing apart from the ego,
which will help their students shake loose from theirs.
One thing this highlights for me is the importance of the manner in which we teach.
Presumably, both Bill and the teachers Jesus is criticizing were teaching the same basic
material, maybe even using the same textbook. But while teaching that material, they
were also injecting into it their own personal perspectives. While talking about particular
mental illnesses, they were also conveying a larger, implicit message, an overall
framing of those illnesses and their healing. This implicit framing is so important that it
ends up making the difference between lessening and increasing the abnormality in
their students. It ends up, in other words, making all the difference.
Which means that we have to think about what larger attitudes and perspectives we are
injecting as we teach the Course. What is the larger message behind our words,
between the lines? As the Manual says, it is all about the teaching underlying what you
say (M-In.3:6). So what is the teaching underlying what we say? Are we giving the
subtle impression that the ego is all there is, that we are all stuck in a prison from which
there is no escape? Conversely, are we trying to be so affirming and uplifting that we
give the impression that the ego is hardly worth bothering about? In which case, our
students will feel superficially uplifted, and only later realize that the egos iron grip has
merely tightened.
Getting back to the teachers who have been called to teach the Course, it is vital that
they answer the call. This is both for the sake of their students and for the sake of those
who will be influenced by their students. Bill was teaching future teachers and
therapists. Thus, if he gave them the implicit message that mental illness is not an

4
inescapable prison, they would be inspired with hope, hope that real healing is possible.
And they would then go on to infect hundreds and thousands more with this hope.
Surely, something analogous to this is also true of teachers of the Course.
So if you are one of those people who have been very carefully chosen to teach A
Course in Miracles, and if, like Bill, you are reluctant to fulfill this function, you should set
next to your reluctance what Jesus is saying here. You should realize youve been
chosen precisely because you have the ability to teach the Course from a place apart
from the ego, which is crucial, since this is the way out of the ego. You have been
chosen as the antidote to the way the Course is usually taught. Your function, if you
accept it, will inspire rather than dispirit the students who are sent to you, and through
them will inspire hundreds and thousands more. And in the process of engendering
hope, you yourself will also experience hope.
And when you get up to teach, you should know that you will not be left alone. Jesus
himself has promised that he will attend your classes, as a demonstration of his belief in
you. And as he says, You should at least credit me with some dependability in keeping
my promises. I never make them lightly.

Robert Perry

5
Day 67: II. The Devoted Teacher (paragraphs 1-13)

Overview:
II. The Devoted Teacher. I fear teaching because I fear change and because I fear
placing my sense of worth at the mercy of my students. But my worth is not established
by my teaching. It has been forever established by God. Realizing this will free me to be
a devoted teacherdevoted to my students instead of my image.

Reflection:
In this section Jesus says if you are willing to renounce the role of guardian of your
thought system and open it to me, I will correct it very gently and lead you home (8:7).
In what ways are you standing guard over your own ideas (4:2) when it comes to how
you perceive yourself and others, and how can you more willingly and proactively
release these misperceptions and open your thought system to Jesus correction?
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Excerpts:
Teaching and learning are you greatest strengths now, because you must change your
own mind and help others change theirs. (8:1)

Egos can clash in any situation, but souls cannot clash at all. (10:1)

Notes:
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6
Day 68: II. The Devoted Teacher (paragraphs 14-25)

Reflection:
This section states that your worth is not established by your teaching. Your worth was
established by God (14:1). Whether you identify with the role of teacher or not, its
safe to say that we all view some form of external valuation as a measurement of our
value. In what ways has accomplishment been your source of identity, and how can you
more meaningfully ground your identity in spiritual versus worldly foundations?
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Excerpts:
God is not the author of fear. You are. (18:3)

You are not at peace because you are not fulfilling your function. God gave you a very
lofty responsibility which you are not meeting. You know this, and you are afraid. But
you have chosen to be afraid instead of meeting it. (19:1-4)

Of your ego you can do nothing to save yourself or others. But of your spirit you can do
everything for the salvation of both. (22:1-2)

Notes:
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7
Day 69: III. The Making of the Ego

Overview:
III. The Making of the Ego. I shouldnt be surprised that the separation could happen. If
I look at my mind in the present, it clearly has the capacity to throw away truth in favor
of illusions, so that those illusions now become its reality. But my mind doesnt have to
function that way.

Reflection:
Instead of asking the question of how the ego came to be all those years ago, ask
yourself how you are recreating the separation when you choose to misperceive in this
moment.
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Excerpts:
history would not exist if the same errors were not being repeated in the present. (1:3)

Each person makes one ego for himself, although it is subject to enormous variation
because of its instability, and one for everyone he perceives, which is equally variable.
(2:1)

Notes:
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8
Day 70: IV. The Egos Need to Confirm Itself

Overview:
IV. The Egos Need to Confirm Itself. The scarcity principle, the egos sense of being
lacking in reality, is its driving force. It tries to fill this lack of reality through physical
pleasure, through acknowledging the reality of other egos, through comparing itself to
other egos, through giving to get, and even through fulfilling its full potential.

Reflection:
This section states that the ego literally lives by comparisons (3:4). In what ways have
comparisons played a role in your life? Are you constantly evaluating yourself as more
or less worthy, powerful, attractive, etc. than others? What effect have these
comparisons had on your sense of equality with others, on your charity (your
generosity), and on your sense of inner abundance?
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Excerpts:
Self-esteem, in ego terms, means nothing more than that the ego has deluded itself
into accepting its reality and is therefore temporarily less predatory. (3:1)

The ego never gives out of abundance, because it was made as a substitute for it. (3:6)

The ego cannot survive without judgment. (9:4)


Notes:
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