“No BUT’s about it.” Bringing into Application the Principles of A Course in Miracles: Ray and Christine

At Endeavor Academy we have daily morning Sessions, and in the afternoons we have classes where students have an opportunity in smaller, interactive groups to bring into application the principles of A Course in Miracles.

Yesterday, in our class we decided to share our personal mission statements that we had prepared in advance, each of us taking turns standing in front of the class to make our declarations. We listened in hushed silence, marveling at each deeply-felt expressions, each so individual, so powerful. What came to mind is a prism, the single light coming through and manifesting in so many individual, brilliant colors. We are, indeed, bright rays of God's light.

Here is my statement, and then my wife, Christine’s.

“No BUT’s about it.”


My mission, moment-to-moment, is to remember this:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me. Lesson 199

The key here is in the word still; in my stillness of mind I am in the experience of being as God created me. This stillness is marked by the absence of mind-chatter, thoughts that have no source in Reality, thoughts that make up a world that is not Real.

In the book Embraced by the Light, Betty Edie “died” on the operating table, and she said later: My first impression was that I was free. My sense of freedom was limitless, and it seemed as if I had been like this forever.
Yes, we are as God created us before we came into this life, while we are here, and when we return Home.

For me, it is always a matter of forgetting and remembering. When I forget that I am God’s son, I say things like this to my self:

Perception is a mirror, not a fact. Lesson 304

I am in the world, and not of the world.

“It is not what you do, but the state of mind in which you do it,” Brother Laurence.

“No matter where you go, there you are,” Buckaroo Banzai
No matter where you go in time and space, you are home in eternity.

It makes a difference,
But it doesn’t matter.
That which appears to happen seems to make a difference in time and space, and it does not matter in eternity.

I am affected only by my thoughts. Lesson 358


Now, the thing is to be vigilant.

I watch myself very carefully so that when something “bad” happens, I don’t say, “That happened, BUT.” If I say to myself BUT, then I will continue entertaining it in my mind. However, if I say “That happened AND, I will be heading to a state of mind where the negative experience will melt into the peace of God. I am in the world, AND not of the world. I want to say this just happened AND this drama unfolding is not so. Help!

Simply do this. Be still. Lesson 189

And in this stillness I am receptive.
God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day. Lesson 49
In this stillness I am open to hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I particularly like this phrase, “Wear the world like a loose garment.”

From the book, Twenty-Four Hours a Day.

I must live in the world and yet live apart with God. I can go forth from my secret times of communion with God to the work of the world. To get the spiritual strength I need, my inner life must be lived apart from the world. I must wear the world as a loose garment. Nothing in the world should seriously upset me, as long as my inner life is lived with God. All successful living arises from this inner life. March 29

And now I want to look at a brother and say, “Namaste,” the Christ in me greets the Christ in you and be in the experience of it.

My latest practice is to see my “worst enemy” as the Christ because if I see him or her any less, I am not experiencing the Christ in myself, and I am projecting my fears onto him or her, and I am depriving my self of the peace of God, and now I am asking for help to experience this peace, experience the Christ, because I know that in reality:

My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me. Lesson 199

* * *

Here is Christine's.

My Mission Statement


Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

My mission is to immerse myself in God. I Rest in God. In applying this to my being will bring me to quiet, peace and a state of grace. By remaining vigilant and constant moment to moment, I can extend my serenity and peace, remaining in a state of grace. It will be my privilege to give of myself in whatever manner is required.

And as I Rest in God I am renewed. And as I recognize the truth in me, I give myself away in pure extension. By recognizing the Christ in me, I can then see the Christ in everyone I encounter. When greeting a brother, I vow to consciously acknowledge the Christ by saying “Namaste”, the Christ in me greets the Christ in you. This creates a clean slate in my mind to be receptive, activating a channel to receive the Voice of the Holy Spirit. Now I am truly open. It will be my privilege to give to my brother. I will be a light that reflects love and peace and pure extension. I will come to know that, feel that, and understand that everything I see, feel, touch is a emanation of my mind, and when I love my extensions, I can truly love myself. I will rejoice in life because of who I am. I am as God created me. His Son can suffer nothing. And I am His Son.

I am the Son of God. Nobody can contain my spirit, nor impose on me a limitation God created not.

And I remind myself that God wants for me only happiness.

Let me remember love is happiness, and nothing else brings joy. And so I choose to entertain no substitutes for love.