Happy New Year from BILL
─

I love the beginning of a new year when everything feels clean and newly possible.  This year, after spending so much time with the intricacies of Bill’s story, I feel doubly inspired to follow the lessons of his life as he continues to speak to us and am evermore determined to trace his steps from ego bondage to freedom.  He really was the first completely successful student of A Course In Miracles and his astounding presence is still right here guiding and reassuring each of us whenever we ask.  We are called to our transformation and assured the promise of success.

With the circumstances of our world, our collective mirror, in such a fractious and divided state, it certainly seems essential that we dedicate ourselves anew to the practice of forgiveness, continually  asking for help with keeping our focus on the desire for peace above all else.  Bill often asked for help when he felt he was going off-course.   He acknowledged that he prayed a single word, “Help,”  without specifying the subject or the object of his prayer.  As he grew in his own wisdom, his deepest desire was to forgive everyone and everything.  Jack and Layle Luckett, with whom he shared a home in his later days in La Jolla, could sometimes hear him earnestly praying his longer version, “Help me do this!” through the walls of the less-than-soundproof condo.  The Course speaks in many ways of the help that is always offered us; the following quotes appear in Never Forget To Laugh and are timeless in their relevance.

    

“In her book, You Are That, the American teacher Gangaji describes what we set in motion with the simple prayer, “Help”: 

Help is here.  You are never separate from help.  Anytime you ask for help, help presents itself.  It is beautifully humbling to ask for help.  It is good to give up your idea of independence.  Just say “Please help,” and you will see instantly that every enlightened being in every realm, known and unknown, from all the dimensions, charted and uncharted, is immediately supporting, helping, reminding, pushing, pulling, embracing, holding, shaking or doing whatever is needed.  Your plea for help cuts through all past arrogance.  You are helped immediately because you are calling to the truth of yourself.

A Course In Miracles echoes this:

Everyone here has entered darkness, yet no one has entered it alone. . . .   For he has come with Heaven’s Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any time.  The time he chooses can be any time, for help is there, awaiting but his choice.  And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, then will he see each situation that he thought before was means to justify his anger turned to an event which justifies his love.  He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace.

Asking for help turns out to be the best insurance policy around!”

I felt very reassured of Bill’s helpfulness during the long process of writing Never Forget To Laugh.  For example, in October of 2008, I was traveling to a nearby town to help a friend, whose husband was in his final hours, plan the memorial service.  I often “communicated” with Bill in my awareness and on this afternoon, he seemed to be conveying the message that I did not have to be concerned with remembering everything necessary to the book myself, because he would help me with that.  That led to feeling particularly uplifted as I continued my journey.  Within no more than thirty seconds of being aware of his reassurance, I glanced into the lane of traffic to my right and my attention was drawn to the car just ahead and over from mine that sported an out-of-state license plate bearing the letters “WNT” (William Newton Thetford) – 65xx.  I was so startled on seeing the first five letters and digits, and because I was driving on a highway at a fast clip, I didn’t see the last two numbers.  But these were enough.  Beside his initials, which I had never randomly encountered before, Bill was 65 when he passed on and the Course began in 1965.  Even I, who am not unfamiliar with the paranormal, was taken aback and felt deeply blessed. 

I believe it is not a coincidence that Bill’s book has come together at this time and not before or after. As secretive as he was in his earthly life, it would seem he now wants the world to know of his struggles as well as his assets for the helpful example they set.  Bill’s journey is every person’s journey; his willingness to change his mind in the face of what appeared to be daunting challenges, not his fame or brilliance, cleared the fog from his mind and allowed him to awaken.  He brings a transforming message, serving as a roadmap, making it abundantly clear that this is the path that everyone - one way or the other - inevitably follows.

Another way Bill was helpful was in his almost unsurpassed ability to be present with people and really listen.  People always felt very safe around Bill and it is that deep, underlying sense of security we all seek.  The comfort that comes from being unconditionally accepted is one of the most powerful feelings anyone can experience.   And we can pass it on; we can follow his lead and ask for his help.  If we want the world to be different, then each of us must become those places of safety ourselves, moving from self-doubt to an experience of  certainty.  Practicing the lessons of the  Course is a way to do that.  My son Greg and I were discussing this book when still in its early stages and he mentioned:

When people are quite literally energetically on the same wave length, there is that opportunity for tuning in or union.  You want to write this book not as a history book about what he had for breakfast, not merely to disseminate information, but as a way to transfer the fundamentals of who he was and why these things transpired in his life.  Properly represented, it will uplift people to heights closer to that level of tranquility where he operates.  It’s the same as someone going to an art museum, looking at a work and being absolutely inspired.  The person who painted it and the person who looks at it, even though not at the same time, are  functioning on the same wave length.  The observer is not  simply connecting with the work itself, but with the person who produced it. That’s what draws people to read books, to watch movies, attend cultural events.  They want to walk away with more than information, but with a newfound sense of renewal.

Bill’s presence is so intimately connected with the energy of the Course that it’s difficult for me to separate them, nor need I do so.  I can only agree with Greg; our goal is our renewal of spirit and being energetically involved with the particulars of Bill’s life can serve as a process to help us get there.  So, more than ever in this new year, I choose a conflict-free life, filled with the prayer of “Help me do this!” and, as we are reminded at the conclusion of Chapter Fifteen:

So will the year begin in joy and freedom.  There is much to do, and we have been long delayed.  Accept the holy instant as this year is born and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening.  Make this year different by making it all the same.  And let all your relationships be made holy for you.  This is our will.  Amen.

─ ─

* Since 1979 Carol Howe has presented highly interactive seminars, workshops, retreats, classes, and lectures on universal spiritual principles and their practical application -- for the general public, health-related and other special interest groups, and corporations - nationally and internationally. Please visit Carol's website to view her Books, CDs and Tapes: http://www.carolhowe.com