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Bob Bennet uses a synthesizing approach to teaching an
integrated understanding of the Course, and seeks to stimulate
class participation through using the Socratic methods. He also
uses of outside channeled materials from Edgar Cayce with whom
Jesus claims to have worked, the Jeshua Books as received
through Judith Coates, Archangel Michael through Ronna Herman,
and others to make a point or clarify one.
He is currently writing a book on "Cycles of Time in the
Bible,” and from time to time correlates Bible passages with the
Course. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of
Notre Dame, and a master’s degree from the University of
Chicago, as well as additional courses toward a PhD.
Christine L. Dixon-Bubick
Christine was born in a suburb of Lille, France and lived
there during World War II. She is a war orphan whose father died
for France at the beginning of the war when she was two. She has
vivid memories of the war and France’s liberation. At seven she
immigrated to the United States with her brother and mother and
she still recalls the shock of losing her culture, family, and
language.
Raised Catholic, Christine clung to the Catholic Church as
her only lifeline when she arrived in the U.S., hardly
questioning its teachings until she married and became a mother.
She then began to question the validity of the Christian god who
was both loving and vengeful. This god demanded illogical
obedience from his children and punished them for their
ignorance and weaknesses–weaknesses he supposedly gave them to
“test” them. She eventually fell away from the church and began
her spiritual quest.
In 1986, after much research and study, pain and misery, she
stumbled onto A Course in Miracles. It resonated with her
immediately. By that time, she was struggling to keep her second
marriage together. She knew she had found her road to truth
though for years she would be unable to explain what she was
reading and studying to others. She studied the Text and worked
through the Workbook three times before venturing into published
interpretations, particularly Kenneth Wapnick’s work. She led
groups in her home. Still, it was many more years before she
understood she was trying to make the Course fit into the
dualistic learning she had accumulated. Studying Ken Wapnick’s
material helped her begin to comprehend the metaphysics of the
Course as non-dualistic, just as the God of the Course is
non-dualistic. Changing her concept of God made all the
difference.
Christine leads a group at the Rocky Mountain Miracle Center
on Friday afternoons. She
leads on Sundays on a rotation basis, has served on the Board of
Trustees, and is currently involved in developing The School Of
Reason to benefit teachers and aspiring teachers of A Course
in Miracles.
Lyn Corona
A friend hand-delivered A Course in Miracles to Lyn
Corona in 1975. She had been a seeker since her early teens when
Buddhism captured her interest. Now she became a finder. For the
next 10 years she was never separated from the 3-volume set of
blue books. She did not know of any Course groups in the
mountains where she lived but was content with self- study and
developing her relationship with Jesus. In 1986 she began
presenting weekend retreats on the Course and it’s message of
forgiveness.
Lyn recognizes two different levels of teaching. One is a
skill and an art, something one does to help others understand
or accomplish something. The other is an attitude—a way of being
in relationship. Teaching has been a proclivity since she
attended a one-room schoolhouse in New Hampshire where her
teacher entrusted her with tutoring other kids in reading. It
gave her a taste of helping others understand what seemed
complicated and she felt joy when a classmate “got it.” She
doesn’t view teaching the Course as something special.
The other level of teaching involves practicing forgiveness in
her life including the relationships that develop in the
classroom. At this level “to teach is to demonstrate” which
teacher she is following and which thought system she
believes—that of the ego (separation and private interests) or
the Holy Spirit’s (which recognizes shared interests and the
desire for unity). Understanding both thought systems is
essential to being able to choose between them and live
accordingly, she believes.
In teaching the Course material Lyn defers to Dr. Kenneth
Wapnick as the clearest authority. Before discovering Dr.
Wapnick’s understanding of the material she made a lot of
mistakes in making her own interpretations. She skipped
essential steps and took detours that wasted time. She is
grateful for Dr. Wapnick’s dedication and professionalism in
presenting the Course.
The Course seems complicated but it is actually quite simple
in what it teaches, Lyn believes. We find applying it in our
lives challenging because we find it very threatening. In
teaching the Course material Lyn wants to articulate what it
says as simply and clearly as possible so that students can
begin to receive the benefits as quickly as possible.
Lyn teaches a regular class, Return to God, on the second and
fourth Wednesdays of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. She also
teaches workshops on the Course in and around the Denver area.
She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rocky Mountain
Miracle Center and one of the founders of The School of Reason
for teachers and aspiring teachers of A Course in Miracles.
Virginia Crouse
<Intro coming soon> |
Ed Duhaime.jpg)
Ed’s spiritual path includes exposure to Catholicism, J.
Krishnamurti, Bernadette Roberts, Presbyterianism, Vedanta
Hinduism, Sufism, Islam, Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Bahai Faith,
Ken Wilbur, Adi Da Samraj, Dava, Eckard Tolle, and (of course!)
special relationships. He has been a student of ACIM since 1984
and his Course understanding is most in agreement with Ken
Wapnick.
His philosophy of ACIM? The Course is not about any kind of
self-fulfillment or self-continuance, be it physical, emotional,
mental, or spiritual. Nor is the Course about the avoidance of
self-fulfillment and self-continuance, which would be just
another form of self-fulfillment and self-continuance. The
Course leads to the end of self (ego) through the non-avoidance,
non-judgment, and full acceptance of all things within the
framework of our ordinary relationships. Forgiveness is the
means. Seeing the face of Christ in all things, and thereby
coming to remember God, is the end.
Ed also believes the best way to teach ACIM is by example
rather than trying to change anyone. You need to relinquish any
need to be a “teacher,” he believes, and remember to laugh.
Anna Fink-Kujawa
<Intro coming soon>
Ken Freeman
David Morrissey
David was born and raised in Dodge City, Kansas and educated
K-12, and then 4 years of college at St Mary’s of the Plains,
under the careful tutelage of the Sisters of St. Joseph. He
moved his fast growing family to Colorado in the early 70’s and
spent the next decade climbing the financial ladder. Then one
day his heart was broken when he realized all that he had chased
and acquired just wasn’t going to make him happy. His spiritual
journey began.
David studied and was ordained a Divine Science Minister in
1988. A Course in Miracles was dangled in front of him
twice before he bit. It offered him the mind training and
discipline he had been seeking. Before he finished the first 365
lessons he knew he had to teach, for he truly believed in the
equality of the teacher and the student. Every Thursday for the
next 13 years his class met at the Divine Science Church reborn
as the Rocky Mountain Miracle Center.
David continues to talk and live the Course. “The law of
perception means we are always seeing our state of mind rather
than what is there to be seen,” he says. “We are as God created
us and there isn’t anything we can do to alter that–thank God.”
Merry Lynn Noble
Merry Lynn had countless mystical experiences since age two
and first became acquainted with A Course in Miracles in
1969 when the author appeared to her and said: "Young lady, do
not ever forget what I’m about to tell you --since you seem so
deeply earnest in your quest for absolute truth--one day you
must and will study A Course in Miracles!
From 1975 to 1978, Mary had a unique internship with Dr.
Kenneth Thane Walker, a student of Dr. Freud, the Sufi
Master/Mystic Gurdjieff, and a contemporary of Ernest Holmes,
and, along with him, one of the original students of Emma Curtis
Hopkins in her teaching of the Twelve Steps to Higher
Mysticism.
On January 1, 1982, the Course author once again announced
Himself to Merry Lynn. “All right, enough time has gone by . . .
NOW is the time for you to begin studying A Course in
Miracles,” he said. Ever since, Merry Lynn has been both an avid
student and eventually instructor of the Course. She has
taught numerous one- and two-year study groups over the past 20
years using materials she later developed with direction from
the Course’s author. Her materials include the Course and her
own A Course in Miracles Study Guide. The latter,
originally completed in 1994, was officially published in
February 2007 following a change in ACIM copyright laws. Over
the years, Merry Lynn also received three psychology degrees
including a doctorate in transpersonal (spiritual/mystical)
psychology in1989.
Although Dr. Noble facilitates a yearlong study of the
Course, she welcomes anyone with a sincere desire to
participate in her Saturday classes. She especially encourages
anyone with a sincere desire to “resign now as your own
teacher.” (Workbook, page 407) Because of the circular nature of
Truth, those who join any class, even in the midst of a yearlong
study group, can and will benefit enormously because the
principles of absolute truth are presented repeatedly, in
different forms. Any significant attention paid to the Course
will begin to bring us back to the ultimate life expression and
truth of Who and What we are.” Your newborn purpose (salvation;
enlightenment), is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy
Spirit, and protected by God Himself.” (Text, page 419)
Joy Schultz
<Intro coming soon>
Tracy Small
Tracy Small facilitates an ACIM discussion group at 7:00
p.m., Thursdays, at The Rocky Mountain Miracle Center. The group
reads a section or two or sometimes only a sentence and then
discusses what they read. Tracy encourages all to participate--
nothing is required except a little willingness. He believes he
can learn something from anyone. The Course says the best way to
learn something is to teach it and all attendees are both
teachers and pupils.
The first time Tracy finished reading the second edition of
ACIM he realized that he didn’t understand any of it. At the
same time, he knew no mortal being could have spoken these
words. The author knew too much for any body to comprehend. The
only thing Tracy knew for sure was the message came from a
Higher Power. Since then, he has accepted the idea that
understanding is really impossible. The goal is to experience
these ideas.
On page 499 of the second edition, Jesus says, “ Forget not
that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the
keeping of the state of peace.” That is Tracy’s goal. He
believes the teachings are designed to teach us that the state
of Oneness is our only natural state. The world would be a much
better place if we accepted this idea. He wants to hang on to
his illusions for a while yet, but suspects we will be at
Heaven’s gate when we realize that we are indeed The One Holy
Son of God.
Jeanne Thomason
After my brother died unexpectedly, I was ready for A
Course in Miracles.
Learning from many teachers, I deepened my understanding of
A Course in Miracles by reading books and listening to
tapes by Ken Wapnick. That is the reason at 7 pm on Thursdays I
feature Ken Wapnick’s video of the text.
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