Volume One
Chapter Seven — Steps to Authenticity
Thursday, July 21, 2022, 7:30 am
Introduction
1. This is a book within a book. I am the one known as Jesus, and my agenda is the same as it was two thousand years ago. I came to teach and promote peace, love, and understanding. My message was not clearly understood and recorded. Egos did not understand someone who was not coming from a place of ego but of soul. They thought I must have been special to be so unlike them, but my message was that I wasn't special. Each and every human is a soul aspect of the totality of God. That was my message then and it remains so today. Now let's begin.
2. The agenda is a simple one. Humanity is to awaken from the insane illusion and discover what has been hiding in plain sight all along. Love is the answer to all individual and collective problems, but believing in it isn't enough. You have to be it. You have to be love in a place that is hostile to it, a place that only tolerates like for short periods of time. How would someone go about something as radical as this? How would they stop being one thing in order to be something else? This isn't what I'm asking you to do. I am simply asking you to be who you are in truth. I am asking you to be yourself, stripped of pretense, stripped of requirements, stripped of the need to perform, simply bare take-it-or-leave-it for all to see. I am asking you to be a loving soul who goes by your name and has your history and your talents and your peculiarities. I am asking you to leave fear behind once and for all, starting with judgment.
3. It is a miracle if a soul speaks, is heard, and is honored by following its advice. It is a guaranteed change in perception. As with the original A Course in Miracles, there will be exercises offered to help strengthen the soul and weaken the grip the ego has over the character. Formerly known as the Workbook for Students, this chapter will now be known as "Steps to Authenticity." Instead of daily lessons, this chapter will have exercises for reflection. There will be 365 of these, precisely the same number that the original Workbook for Students had. Because the times have changed, the terms teacher and student will be known as mentor and mentee. A mentor is soul-dominant, and a mentee is soul-emergent.
4. This chapter weaves topic content with daily meditative Steps to Authenticity, as a demonstration of unity rather than separation. It is my hope and our hope that this book will be the living testament between the God within and all mortal aspects, who are to grow and reflect the reality of their identity. If the illusion of identity is to be changed permanently, it will take everyone's dedication. Doing so will create heaven on earth, the Kingdom of God, where heaven and earth are one state.
5. Each month offers a thorough discussion of a specific topic, followed by adequate time for daily reflection. The goal being to master the mind as soul instead of the mind mastering the soul. You will be your authentic Self after a year's worth of application, and you will not need to repeat the course. You will be ready to move on to material for mature souls: soul-dominant individuals.
6. Again, the goal is to undo the dominant thinking of the ego in favor of a more soulful and love-based approach.
7. Each month of the year will begin with a description, from the soul's perspective, of the specified topic. The daily reflections will then help the emerging soul to achieve this perspective by whittling away the mind's viewpoints that interfere with it. A mentee may start at the beginning of any month during the calendar year and finish 365 days later.
January: Judgment
1. Our goal here is to move from constant evaluation to just observing what is. Instead of bad/good, positive/negative, hard/easy, ugly/pretty, smart/dumb, the soul uses factual language and pairs this with acceptance. Souls describe things such as yellow dress, spicy sauce, long hair, without stating that something is ugly or horrible. Even using terms like pretty and smart imply that they have an opposite. If the yellow dress is seen by an ego as ugly, cheap, or something that obviously came from a discount or thrift store, then it keeps going. Next it evaluates who would wear an ugly, cheap, yellow dress. This clothing selection must reflect the person who is wearing it. Therefore, the wearer must be poor and have bad taste. Maybe they are someone you wouldn't want to associate with.
2. All evaluative judgment is of the self. Someone may think someone is wrong about something or is stupid, when what they really worry about is their own intelligence or whether they are on the right side of an issue. The ego is all about projection. It takes its judgments about itself and throws them outward. They could land anywhere or on anyone. Everyone collects these and no one knows how to digest them. Some people have large collections of hate-filled comments and behavior that have been directed at them. The choice seems to be to accept and believe that they are true or to turn around and throw them back at the one who tossed them in the first place. And if the person isn't available for whatever reason, the comments can be thrown at any nearby target. Egos relish venom and they especially love to watch it happen to those they think deserve it.
3. Judgment keeps humans glued to the past and to the future. That one thing someone said or did twenty years ago may be alive and well in someone's mind. They could still feel hurt by it, even though the person who said or did it is dead and gone. Feeling ridicule from the past may make someone not get back on the bike, so to speak, to ride another day, for fear of it happening again. Being less judgmental and less inclined to punish others or oneself is a way to reduce stress and start to open up to new avenues that your soul will show you through unconditional love. Here are daily reflections for January.
4. Guidelines:
Pick a time of day that suits you best and read the step that corresponds to the appropriate month and date. This is your starting point. Simply reflect on what the step means to you and ways to put it into practice. Accept whatever feelings come to the surface as you work your way through the steps. These steps are the beginning of a transformation where love replaces fear, which is no easy feat. Be patient with yourself. You are doing what few have ever been able to do. Now you have the means. Just add a little willingness and you will be a more soulful and less ego-driven being in just a year's time. Godspeed.
5. January 1
Pick any object in the room where you currently are and describe it factually, without any added opinions about it.
6. January 2
Pick someone you have interacted with today and describe them factually, without any added opinions about them.
7. January 3
Describe yourself in factual terms (age, height, hair color, occupation), without any added opinions.
8. January 4
Pick one event in your life from the past year and describe it factually, without labeling it as good, bad, or neutral.
9. January 5
Pick one event in your distant past (more than three years ago) that was difficult for you to experience. Now take away all of the negative descriptors and just factually describe the event.
10. January 6
Pick someone who was in your life, but the relationship has since ended. Describe this relationship (including the ending) in factual terms only.
11. January 7
Revisit a time when you became aware of negative comments others made about you. Describe the comments in factual terms only.
12. January 8
Going back to these negative comments, even though they were directed towards you, take yourself out and reframe this incident. See yourself as innocent and not deserving of harm.
13. January 9
Again, going back to these negative comments, reframe the situation and see those who made the comments as innocent, as ones who mistakenly continued a chain of mistreatment that was originally directed towards them.
14. January 10
Bless those involved with this pain-filled situation and see them as whole. See their words and actions as nothing more than mistakes.
15. January 11
Make a mental note of a time when you believed that you were less than and were deserving of mistreatment.
16. January 12
See yourself as whole and complete. You are not your mistakes. You are a whole aspect of God, an ongoing work in progress.
17. January 13
Describe a song that you enjoy listening to. Does the fact that you like the song mean anything in particular about you?
18. January 14
Describe your favorite food. Does liking it have any additional meaning?
19. January 15
Describe your favorite drink. Does liking it have any additional meaning?
20. January 16
Describe a song or type of music that you want to turn off immediately. What is it that bothers you about it? Is the song or music bad? If so, can you reframe it?
21. January 17
Describe a food that you will refuse to eat. What is it that bothers you about it? Is the food bad? If so, can you reframe it?
22. January 18
Describe a drink that you will refuse to drink. What is it that bothers you about it? Is the drink bad? If so, can you reframe it?
23. January 19
Who is it who gives things and events meaning for you?
24. January 20
Can things and events be enjoyable or not be enjoyable, without them being part of your identity and personal history?
25. January 21
Pick someone from today's news cycle. Is this person good or bad based on a given description of their behavior?
26. January 22
Are you your behavior?
27. January 23
Is anyone their behavior?
28. January 24
What similarities do you have with someone the media has described as a notorious criminal?
29. January 25
Think about a time when you were angry and said unkind things in front of others. What did you learn about yourself from this incident?
30. January 26
Think about a time when you were in the presence of an angry person who said unkind things about you in front of others. How did you feel, and do you still carry these feelings?
31. January 27
Think about a time when you were in the presence of a funny person who made unkind comments about you in the form of a joke. How did you feel, and do you still carry these feelings?
32. January 28
Do you laugh at celebrities who are the butt of jokes in the media? What does this say about you?
33. January 29
Were you shamed by family members or adult authority figures as a child? Did you feel that you deserved this treatment?
34. January 30
How do you treat others in your life? Do you treat them the way you want to be treated?
35. January 31
Can you be on the lookout for how judgment manifests in your life, and learn to live without giving it more meaning than it needs to have?
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