There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course.  And by "good question", I mean a thought provoking one - a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light.

As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I've been making a note of them for the last 15 years. 

“Starting the Workbook on January 1st is always a good idea but do you have any helpful hints for getting through it?”

Aside from the helpful hints that the Workbook, itself, gives us - that our understanding, agreement, etc., do not impede the process - I guess the most helpful things that I could add would be the following: 

 

The first 50 lessons are called "the undoing lessons" for a very good reason.  They challenge us to question every value that we thought was certain, creating the mental space in our minds that is reuired before we will be open to the new and better thoughts the Worbook offers.  In that process of questioning everthing that we always thought before was true, we tend to get very uncomfortable.  Humans like being certain.  Uncertainty feel weak even though what brought us to the Corse in the first place was the realization on some level that it's been our old "certainties" - the ego world's foundational but completely erroneous beliefs - that were actually killing us.

 

And the first instinct of us humans when we're confused is to seek help.  My hint is to seek for that help where it can truly be found, not in other humans (like me) but to the only true teacher that the Course, itself, says is infallible: the Holy Spirit.

 

For while humans who've done the Workbook can, of course, be of service to us, the only Mind that really knows the whole plan for our own "customized curricullum" is not restricted by the limitations that exist on every human mind.

 

Whenever we're confused, we want that feeling to stop.  NOW!  We want to fill the void uncertainty created. And the world has been very successful in teaching us that we should seek our answers OUTSIDE.

 

But the whole point of the ACIM Worbook is to present BETTER ideas than the ego's world has to offer.

 

And so, my single most helpful hint to you - just as with the Text - is to seek your peace of mind in answers from a higher place than any other source.  The Workbook was DESIGNED to open us up.  Let its only true teacher fulfill His function by asking HIM to fill you up.

 

This is not to say that other human teachers aren't useful, too.  But while their higher experience with the process was perfect for them, the Holy Spirit knows what works best for YOU.

 

This is not a "one size fits all" process, dear soul.  To get your perfect fit, ask the Expert.  First.

 

And don't forget that if you could do the Workbook perfectly, you wouldn't need it in the first place.  So please be gentle with yourself.  The temptation to go into guilt goes in the exact opposite direction of the instruction of your perfect path.

 

And just know that EVERY effort you make (even the ones you think are "small" or worse, "imperfect") is blessing not only you, but the entire world.  And millions of your brothers will be joining you...

 

Know that you have my gratitude for this gift you're offering me - forever.  THANK YOU