Exploring A Course in Miracles

This is a time in which good leaders are desperately needed, and our collective ideas about leadership are changing dramatically. In this heartfelt discussion, Emily Bennington and Robert Perry discuss what ACIM has to say about leadership, and asks how we can be the kind of leaders it is asking us to be - in our lives and in the world. They also invite us to question the influence we have over others, whether or not we consider ourselves to be “leaders” in a formal sense.

If you're a Course student, you've likely approached the Holy Spirit many more times than you have approached a conversation with God. "Ask the Holy Spirit." "Turn it over to the Holy Spirit." These are such common phrases in practice, but we still see a lot of confusion around who and what He (Holy Spirit) is. In this episode of Exploring A Course In Miracles, Robert Perry and Emily Bennington discuss the basic questions to help viewers gain a more complete understanding of the Holy Spirit. How did He come into being? What does He do in our lives? What is His relationship to God and Jesus? We hope you enjoy the episode and strengthen your relationship with both the Holy Spirit and the Course itself.

A Course in Miracles is a very practical path, but its practicality rests on some extremely unconventional views about the nature of reality. Is there evidence for those views? That is what we discuss with philosopher and writer Sharon Hewitt Rawlette. Sharon is a recent prize winner in the Bigelow Institute contest for essays on the evidence for life after death. In this conversation, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington ask Sharon about evidence for the existence of God, life after death, angels, whether there is a prearranged plan for our lives, and much more. Join us for an illuminating discussion on remarkable evidence for a different picture of reality.

Perhaps we remember our parents saying, “Wait till you get out into the real world!” We know that world, where life is a struggle because no one gives you a break. But according to A Course in Miracles, that’s the illusion, and we can look past that illusion “into beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection.” That, says the Course, is the real world. What is it? How can we see it? Join Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington for a discussion on this important Course teaching.

"Shadow figures” is the term A Course in Miracles uses for the images we carry of people from our past who didn’t give us the love we craved. These “ghosts” haunt our present. We project them onto individuals in the present, so that we relate to those present individuals as if they were the ghosts from the past. No wonder our relationships don’t work! Join Circle Teachers Robert Perry and Emily Bennington as they discuss shadow figures, how they guide our search for love, as well as the cost of carrying this burden.

We have witnessed an unprecedented focus on the self for the past few decades. This focus has permeated society, mainstream spirituality, and the ACIM community. Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington call this “the cult of self” and in this podcast episode, they explored what it is, its effects, how we can spot it, and what we can do to resist its lure.

In the old days, it was “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Now, we just worry that it’s unsatisfying. A Course in Miracles teaches that it is neither. The Course says that at the foundation of our being we feel an irresistible attraction to God, which it calls “the pull of God.” Join Robert Perry and Emily Bennington for a lively discussion of this important but little-known teaching.

“God” is a word that appears throughout the pages of A Course in Miracles. But how important is it for us to believe in God? Do we have any real evidence that God exists? Is belief in God necessary for making progress on the spiritual journey? In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington discuss these questions as well as what the Course has to say about the nature of God, how He loves us, why the Course isn't strictly a nondual path, and much more.

The Circle Story Project is a collection of real-life stories that exemplify Course principles, ranging from profound experiences and unusual phenomena to more everyday inner shifts. In this bonus episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington talk with Story Project leader Sue Pearson and editor James Gregory about how the Story Project was formed, how to make a submission, and how stories can be used to share the Course with the world. Sue and James also read one of their favorite stories from the Story Project archives, including a powerful testimony of finding the Course from a traditionally Christian background. You can register to watch these podcast recordings for free on our events page and participate via Zoom. Go to circleofa.org/events for details. #exploringacimpodcast #acim #acourseinmiracles #circleofatonement

What is anger? What causes it? How can we be relieved of it? Is it a force of its own that we can either bottle up or let flow through us? Or is it the result of something we ourselves are freely doing? For answers to these questions and more, you are invited to join Robert Perry and Emily Bennington for an in-depth look at anger as it is discussed in A Course in Miracles.