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Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan  Steve, I'm curious, how well did the roots align with ACIM teachings / philosophy? |
The ACIM ideas basically involve just 3 of the principles. There are some key principles that ACIM doesn't address, however. ACIM really isn't a principle-centered approach. It's more of a spiritual philosophy, even though it does address high-level topics.
ACIM doesn't really get at the roots of consciousness. It teaches that physical reality is a dream and that you can use forgiveness to awaken from that dream. My response to that was, "So what?" I wanted to identify the aspects of consciousness that would still be true whether life is or isn't a dream, whether you use forgiveness to "awaken" via ACIM or decide to stay put and experience the dreamworld deliberately. What's the common pattern that remains true regards of your spiritual philosophy? What could an atheist and an ACIMer both agree on?
I don't consider traditional approaches to enlightenment as the highest level human beings can attain. I think we should aim for a different direction instead of enlightenment. That direction is defined by the 7th principle in the book. I think when people read it, they'll logically and intuitively recognize that it makes a lot more sense than aiming for enlightenment (an ideal that most people don't pursue anyway).