Exploring A Course in Miracles

We hope you will join in for a conversation that is more personal than usual to learn practices that will benefit your own relationships. Holy relationships are a bit of a mystery. What makes them work? What throws them off track? In this podcast, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington will share what they are learning within their own holy relationship. In particular, they will describe what they call the “three legs of the stool,” each of which is crucial to a relationship that is both holy and whole.

Wouldn’t we all love to have our material needs effortlessly supplied by God? What does the Course say about this idea? In the second of our 2-part series on “Manifesting and A Course in Miracles,” Robert and Emily discuss places in the Course that address trusting God with the physical journey of our lives which includes our finances, possessions, and circumstances.

One of the most influential spiritual teachings of our time is that our thoughts create our reality and that we can use our thoughts to manifest the things we desire.  We do this by employing “the law of attraction.”  Does A Course in Miracles teach anything like this? Does the Course address it? And, apart from manifesting, does the Course ever say that through our use of spiritual means our material needs can be effortlessly met?  Join Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington for a discussion on “Manifesting and A Course in Miracles.”

We consider being well-adjusted to be the epitome of mental health. But what if we are adjusting to an insane world? Could we be like good cult members who learn to blend right in with the craziness around them? What is the origin of our obsession with adjustment? Listen as Robert and Emily discuss the true results of adjusting to insanity and what A Course in Miracles recommends as our way out.

In this bonus episode, Circle of Atonement executive director Emily Bennington shares how Jesus' original message changed our world and asks, "Are we willing to make our lives, even in their most ordinary details, a witness to our care for others? Can we truly reorient ourselves towards living his love ethic?"

Fear is an emotion that undermines all of us, draining our strength and ruining our peace.  Thank goodness, then, A Course in Miracles contains extensive teaching on fear—on its cause and its solution. We tend to believe that fear is caused directly in us by outside events, and that the only way to dispel it is to master our fear and assert our power.  But there's another way. The Course teaches that our fear is entirely caused from within, by how we choose to think. Listen to Circle of Atonement founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington in this podcast recording, and learn why the Course says complete freedom from fear is within our reach.

The Golden Rule (e.g. "do unto others as you would have them do unto you") is found in all the world’s great religions. The language used may be different, but the wisdom behind it is the same. Accordingly, it's safe to say there is something about The Golden Rule that has commanded humanity’s universal respect. But does it have a place in A Course in Miracles? Indeed, the Course does contain a whole teaching about the Golden Rule. Listen now to this conversation between Robert and Emily, to find out what it is and how to apply it to your life.

We see ourselves, quite naturally, as being on a physical journey in which we are constantly trying to control our external circumstances in order to erect a good life.  But while we are engrossed in that project, we are simultaneously on another journey, a spiritual journey.  In this podcast, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington discuss the relationship between these two journeys, as well as which is the real one of our lives.

There is no more basic and universal response to the Divine than prayer.  Yet we all have questions about how to do it.  Whom do we pray to?  What do we pray for?  How can we pray most effectively?  These questions can be especially confusing for students of A Course in Miracles, who often wonder if we should pray at all. Yet there is no mystery about any of these questions in the Course itself.  The Course contains extensive instruction on prayer, roughly 200 references to prayer, and over 150 actual prayers. Out of all this arises a groundbreaking and truly beautiful approach to prayer.  It is this approach that Robert and Emily discuss in this episode.

Author's Note: "This is an edited version of a very long email I sent to the Circle board on January 30, 2002. I had recently discovered the guidance Helen received on December 31, 1975, in which Jesus spoke of the Course growing 'from infancy into a helper of the world.' This guidance electrified me because it so closely mirrored long-time guidance and thoughts of my own about the Course’s purpose in the world. And since my guidance and thoughts were also about the Circle’s role, I felt this guidance indirectly supported my sense about the Circle’s part in the Course’s destiny." We hope you enjoy this episode!