living acim3 wk 3 - gary renard · gary renard with jennifer hadley thursday, may 31, 2012...

Living Living A Course in A Course in MiraclesMiracles Week 3 Class

Hearing The Holy Spirit Gary Renard With Jennifer Hadley

Hearing The Holy Spirit...............................................................................................5

Opening Prayer..............................................................................................................5

Voice of The Holy Spirit ..................................................................................................5

Secrets Of The Immortal ...................................................................................................7

Need Do Nothing ......................................................................................................... 10

When Affirmations Work............................................................................................ 13

Song Of Prayer.............................................................................................................. 15

Choosing The Approach.............................................................................................. 16

Peeling Back From Ego Temptation ............................................................................ 19

Spirituality................................................................................................................... 21

Undoing Idea Of Separation ........................................................................................ 23

Tracing Upset Back...................................................................................................... 25

Contacting Gary .......................................................................................................... 27

Closing Prayer ............................................................................................................ 27

Gary Renard With Jennifer Hadley 5

Week 3

Hearing The Holy SpiritHearing The Holy Spirit Gary Renard With Jennifer Hadley Thursday, May 31, 2012

Opening Prayer Jennifer I’m going to invite everyone to take a deep breath with us and to place

your hand on your heart. Take another deep breath and let us invoke the Holy Spirit into our awareness. We’re partnering up with the Holy Spirit, invoking divine grace into our heart and mind.

And we’re saying, yes, yes, to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, hearing clearly, knowing clearly, feeling clearly, seeing clearly, being profoundly interested in awakening to the clarity of love, which is our true destiny, our true purpose.

We are grateful and we are thankful that we’re one with each other, with all of life and that our healing, our awakening benefits everyone. In grace and gratitude, we let it be and so it is. Amen. Amen, Amen.

Voice of The Holy Spirit Our topic in our class this evening is Hearing The Voice of The Holy Spirit, Hearing Clearly. You know, Gary, I find that in my life experience, one of the biggest challenges I have ever had is this paradox of I pray for guidance. I pray for insight. I pray for clarity, and then I hear that still, small voice giving me guidance and direction and I still feel like I want to reject it. I want to do my own thing.

I’m more interested in the ego identification and denying that voice of the Holy Spirit. It’s a constant, still everyday working with that. And

Living A Course in Miracles

6 Living A Course in Miracles

I’m wondering if you have guidance? How do you deal with those pressure moments when we can hear the still, small voice and we know it and we want to run?

Gary Yeah, well, you know that’s a rather brilliant question because everybody has the same question. How do I know if I’m really hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit?

I think it’s the quality of the message that matters. It’s not so much how clearly you hear it. It’s really the quality of the message. So, if the message is speaking of love and forgiveness and those kinds of things, that’s the Holy Spirit.

And if it’s not, then it’s not the Holy Spirit. So, that’s the first clue. That’s the first thing you watch out for. It’s a message of love. Then, on top of that, you have to do a few things.

You have to undo the ego. If you don’t undo the ego, you’re not going to be able to hear the Holy Spirit that clearly because the Holy Spirit is speaking about those things of love and forgiveness, but then you hear it and you say, “Oh, no. That’s not it. That’s not true. That’s not something that I can believe.”

You have to get into a position where you are undoing the ego. A Course In Miracles says, “Salvation is undoing.” You undo the ego. The ego is interfering with your ability to hear the message of the Holy Spirit.

You can’t hear the Holy Spirit when the ego is interfering. That’s why the course says, “Only very few can hear God’s voice at all.” Why is that true?

It’s because the ego is interfering with that message. What we want to do as course students is we want to undo the ego. And as we undo it, then we will be able to hear inspiration.


Inspiration, where does the word inspire come from? It comes from the word in spirit. If you’re in spirit, then you will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, but if you’re not, what does the word disaster mean?

Disaster means astral. If you’re not connected with the astral, if you’re not connected with something that’s bigger than you and above you, that leads to dis-aster.

It’s like you have to understand that there’s a difference. There’s a difference between hearing something that is above you, that is connected to spirit, inspired, or there is something that is connected that is like you. It’s like you’re doing it on your own.

If you’re doing it on your own, you’re just propagating separation. But if you’re connected to something that is above you, now you’re doing something.

That’s kind of like the basis of my work. That’s kind of like the basis of what I try to get people to do. I want people to be connected to spirit instead of being not connected. If I can do that, then I’m doing what I feel guided to do.

Secrets Of The Immortal Jennifer I know you offer that meditation in that audio program you have which

I just absolutely love. I’ve listened to it many, many times. I believe it’s the one called Secrets Of The Immortal?

Gary Yeah, that’s an interesting story in itself, if you don’t mind me taking a minute or two to talk about that.

Jennifer No, please.

Gary It’s like I went into that studio. They have a studio called Sounds True, near Boulder, Colorado. And I went in there and I started talking. I was just doing a sound check.

And I could see the producer, Randy, she was kind of like looking at me and said, “Keep going. Keep going.” I spoke for seven hours. I think seven hours and 15 minutes I just kept talking.



Jennifer Wow! Without a break?

Gary There was no break and it was never edited. And they threw in some music later.

Jennifer It’s so good.

Gary It’s like that was just the Holy Spirit. It’s not me. I really don’t think that I’m responsible for my teachings. In fact at one point Arden and Pursah said, “You’re not responsible for the teachings. It’s that you can choose the jokes.” [laughter]. So, I get to choose the jokes. They’re in my [unintelligible].

But they said the Holy Spirit is responsible. And you know, it’s really kind of an absolution in the sense that you don’t have to feel like you’re the one who’s doing it.

It’s because you and I have seen how great teachers who it’s not them. They’re not the ones who are really doing the teachings. You get to do the teachings but it’s the Holy Spirit who’s really doing the teaching.

Jennifer Yeah, you know, and if a person is really willing and they’re available and they really have done the work of forgiving everything that’s in front of them to the best of their ability, then they’re open to hearing that voice pretty clearly.

I know, for me when I first started teaching many, many years ago, I would plan everything because I felt insecure. I was trying to control and manage everything.

And then the more clear I became in my mind, the more loving I became in my heart, then I didn’t have to plan everything anymore. I could really fly on the wings of the Holy Spirit, really just let go and trust that there would be a holy encounter.

Gary Yeah, well that’s my experience with you. It’s that you pretty much are guided by the Holy Spirit. That’s one the things that I really love about you.


Jennifer, I really wanted to bring something up if you don’t mind. It’s from the course.

Jennifer Oh, great.

Gary And the reason I bring this up is because I think that some people miss the point of the course because they don’t really get the big picture. They don’t get the whole thing.

The first thing I would like to bring up is from the section called I need do nothing. It says, “Your way will be different, not in purpose but in means. The holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you.”

Of course it’s talking about forgiveness which is the whole point of the course. It says, “You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now really to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation…”

And by the way, this is when you have to realize that a lot of themes come together in the course. When it uses that word temptation, you have to go back to the final section of the text.

It starts off, “Choose once again.” It says, “Temptation has one lesson it would teach in all its forms wherever it occurs. It would persuade the holy son of God he’s a body, born in what must die, unable to escape its frailty and bound by what it orders him to feel.”

So now, you’re basically getting the course’s definition of temptation. And here in this same section that I’m reading from, you get the same idea.

But when it says temptation, you have to know what the course means when it comes to temptation because it shows up over and over and over.

And it’s like one of these big themes that show up again and again and again in the course that you have to get a grasp of. If you don’t get a grasp of it then you don’t know what the course means.



I Need Do Nothing But if you get a grasp of it then you know what the course means. So,

When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving into sin, when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation, or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization, ‘I need do nothing.’”

Now, that’s a pretty big statement, but most of the people who study the course don’t get it because they never follow through. You have to follow through.

What does the next paragraph say? It says, “To do anything involves the body.” So, to do anything involves the body and the whole point of the course is that you are not a body.

What does it say over and over again? “I am not a body. I am free for I am still as God created me.” Then you start to get how all these ideas come together. They all start to sit together.

And it astonishes me that a lot of people don’t see it. They don’t see how all these ideas come together and how you’re not a body. It would be heresy to the ego to say that it doesn’t matter what you do.

Jennifer People have such a challenge with that. Also, in Lesson 135 it’s talking about giving up your plans, surrendering your plans and realizing that planning is a defense.

Gary Absolutely. And it’s like, oh, my God. Of course it matters what I do. Are you kidding? Of course it matters what I do in the results. The results matter. And people, they just can’t understand it that, wow, of course it matters.

Jennifer So, as long as we’re focused on… instead of the human being we’re focused on the human doing. We’re aligned with the ego and so we’re probably not going to value the voice of the Holy Spirit.


Gary Yes.

Jennifer So we must be willing to move our mind into that place of letting go of thinking that all of our doing is important.

Gary Yeah, wow, that is so true. And getting back on what I was talking about here, it’s like people never seem to notice the next thing that the course says. It’s like you have these quotations that people quote from that are supposed to be important.

But it’s like one of the most famous quotations from the course is, “Teach only love for that is what you are,” okay? So, that’s something that everybody knows if they are a course student. Teach only love for that is what you are,” but they never consider the next quotation.

They never consider the overall picture. So, what it really says is, “Teach only love for that is what you are. If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault rather than as a call for peace for which it was intended.”

That’s a pretty heavy statement because it’s saying this is about the crucifixion. And if you interpret it in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault.

That’s a pretty heavy statement. And that’s what most people have done with the crucifixion throughout history. They have used it as a weapon for assault.

It’s like, oh, my God. When I saw that, I realized this guy isn’t fooling around. When I saw it, it was Jesus at first as far as Jesus speaking through the Holy Spirit and giving the course and all that.

When I saw that I thought, okay, that’s one thing. But when I saw what he was actually saying, it’s my God. This is really a heavy thing. So, I guess that as you go along, you have to realize that we’re being challenged.

We’re not being given candy here. We are being challenged to step it up a notch and to rise up a notch and actually be like Jesus.

Jennifer So it’s not necessarily a feel good teaching. However, when we… In my experience, when I hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit, when I feel,



when I recognize divine guidance and I choose to follow it, I feel a tremendous sense of relief that I’m not creating more distress by following the ego.

I’m now aligning with my true identity, so I begin to feel a tremendous sense of relief, even though sometimes you have to do that, follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit while the ego is screaming, “You’re going to lose everything. You’re going to lose everything.”

Gary [laughter] Yeah. Well, you know I used to really worry about having enough money to retire with, stuff like that. And then I just realized I have a new retirement plan.

I’m never going to retire. That’s my new retirement plan because as you said, you don’t have to worry. And, by the way, I used to think that I didn’t have any money before I started doing the course.

And this is apropos to a lot of people nowadays because a lot of people are coming from a place of scarcity. I talk to people all over the world and everybody is coming from this place of scarcity.

And I remember when I was growing up, my parents, God bless them, they were beautiful, wonderful people, really nice. And they would always say the same thing.

They would say, “I don’t have enough. I don’t have enough money. I can’t do this. We can’t do that.” And they never did and neither did I because it was like I said the same thing as them, “I don’t have enough. I can’t do this.”

And then, after I got on a spiritual path, it started to change a little bit. But when I did the workbook of A Course In Miracles, that changed my life, not just in a hairy fairy way, this is a very practical form of spiritually.

It’s like all of a sudden, when I said, “I don’t have enough money,” I changed. I changed that way of thinking. If I had $3 in my pocket I


would say, “Wow! I have money. How much fun can I have with this? What can I do with this? Maybe not too much, but I like candy bars.”

It was like, wow, I have money. And then it changed even more after I did the workbook and I started doing things. It was like, “I have money,” and I actually meant it.

When Affirmations Work Now, this is why affirmations do not work. It’s because affirmations will

not work if you don’t believe it in your own conscious mind.

Jennifer Yeah.

Gary But, with the Course, I actually did believe it. The course says about scarcity. It says, “A sense of separation from God is the only scarcity you really need correct.”

If you could correct that one scarcity, if you could correct the scarcities from God, you would always feel abundant. You would always feel like you have all of it instead of part of it.

So, I started to feel that. And then, instead of saying, “I don’t have money,” I would say, “I do have money. I have money.” And I’ve been saying that for the last 20 years and I’ve had nothing but money coming to me for the last 20 years.

It’s like, not because I’m trying, not because I have to, but just because I have money. And I actually believe that. And I’m coming from a place of abundance, so I have all this money showing up in my face. And that’s been going on for like 20 years now because I believe that I have money; that I am totally coming from a place of abundance.

At one point, A Course In Miracles says, “Christ needs nothing and wants to join with others out of the mutual awareness of abundance.” So, it’s like I don’t have to get anything from you.

It’s like you and I have been friends for several years now and it’s like I don’t have to get anything from you. It’s like I don’t need anything, so you and I can just join together because of the fact that I want to.



And when you’re coming that place, now you’re coming from a place of abundance.

Jennifer I think you make me think of a really important point, Gary, because many people are interested in hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, that divine intuition in order to make their life easier, or to get some secret, like bet on the World Series or something like that.

And I remember many, many, many years ago I was trying to decide whether or not to give a friend this money to invest in kind of a scheme where I might make a lot of money.

I had a sense of fear and trepidation about it, but I also had a sense of I’m a risk taker. And then I got a fortune cookie that I don’t even remember what it said now, but it said something like, “Money is coming into your future,” or, “You’ll be so abundant.”

So, I thought this is a sign and for me to give him the money to invest. And of course he immediately lost it and it was just a kind of a scam thing.

And what I learned from that is the voice of the Holy Spirit is not going to be in a fortune cookie. It’s not going to be outside. It’s going to be inside.

People are looking for signs and I do think signs appear but it’s not so that we can meet some feeling of greed, or to relieve some fear. Really it’s about guiding us to the most loving choice, the most loving choice.

Gary Yes, and that’s why our focus should be on undoing the ego. Because as you undo the ego, the real you which is spirit, is all that’s left. That’s why the approach of A Course In Miracles is brilliant.

It’s because as you undo the ego, and you’re more in spirit, then guess what happens after that? You’re more inspired. You’re more in touch with the Holy Spirit.


And the Holy Spirit, mostly for most people, the Holy Spirit is going to show up in the form of ideas, ideas that come into your mind, ideas that tell you what you should do, where you should go.

You can be guided through your life. It’s like I’ve been guided not always to the place where I expected to be guided to, but that’s because the Holy Spirit can see what’s best for everybody, so you can be guided to something that will actually work.

Song Of Prayer You have two different levels going on here. The level of spirit is spirit.

But then there’s another level. If you read the Song Of Prayer pamphlet, which is now included in the course in the third edition. The Song Of Prayer is there.

And if you read it, it’s like, oh, my God. It talks about the echoes of God’s love. It’s like originally the Song Of Prayer is the prayer, of course. That’s the prayer. There is nothing else.

But then it goes on to talk about the echoes. The echoes come through to your mind. The echoes come through where you actually receive guidance from the Holy Spirit.

And that is one of the most beautiful things that can ever happen for you in the world, because now you’re being led through your life. You can be guided through your life.

And when that happens, you know what it leads to? It leads to good things, not bad things. It leads to good things. It leads to things that may even include abundance beyond what you would have expected, beyond what you could have ever expected.

I feel I’ve been guided, like I was guided from Maine to California. Now, I didn’t make it all the way to Hawaii yet, but you never know. How do I know that in five years from now I’m not going to be loving in Hawaii?

How do I know I’m not going to have a place both in Hawaii and in California? I don’t know. And that’s something that is kind of liberating because the truth is I don’t know. I really don’t know. And you know



what? I don’t have to know. I don’t have to know everything because what I know is right in front of my face.

And what’s right in my face is something that I may have to forgive. But if I do that, if I actually practice the course and actually practice forgiveness, then maybe all kinds of beautiful things will happen after that.

Jennifer Well, and sometimes it can be really challenging to follow the guidance.

Gary Are you saying that this is challenging? Are you saying that this may be hard? [laughter].

Jennifer Yeah, yeah, so many times I’ve been brought to my knees because I wanted to hold onto my opinion or my judgment, my grudge, hold my grudge.

And that Song Of Prayer and the teaching that’s in Disappearance Of The Universe, I point people to it all the time because what’s there in Disappearance is so clear and sweet and beautiful and it really lets us know that one of the greatest gifts that we can give to God, to our divinity, to the divinity of all life is to willingly let go of the things we think we need, the things we think we want in favor of hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and being guided.

Choosing The Approach Gary Yeah, that’s so true. And I think part of that is that there’s a choice

here. Now, most spiritual systems will try to get you to balance body, mind and spirit. It’s like they’re all the same. You balance them, body, mind and spirit.

That’s not the approach of A Course In Miracles. The approach of A Course In Miracles is that you use the mind to choose between the body and spirit, so it’s different. It’s a different approach.


I know some people don’t want to hear that because they want everything to be the same. Well, the course is not the same. The course is not the same as everything else.

And we want to choose between the body which is the great symbol of separation according to the course, and spirit which is reality. When people ask me, “How do you do that?” Well, I think that the way that you do that is just to think outside of the box.

Think beyond what the ego is presenting to you. The ego is presenting separation to you. Everything that you see from the moment that you’re born to the moment that you die is based on separation, everything.

It all has a beginning and ending. It all has something. It starts something and it finishes. And it seems to be very impressive, yes. But the thing about Jesus and Buddha was they were not taken in by appearances.

They caught on to the fact that eventually it’s all a load of crap. So, it’s like okay. So, now I’m going to kind of think outside of the box. They thought outside of the box.

I’m not saying that you’re not going to see bodies. I’m not saying that you’re not going to see something that appears to be limited. And, hey, if you fall in love with a body, I’m not judging you. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that.

I fell in love with Cindy so I’m not judging somebody else for doing the same thing. I’m just saying that, at some point, you’re going to think beyond the box.

You’re going to think of that person as what they really are and where they really are. And what they really are is the kind of spirit that is not just part of it, but all of it, exactly the same as God.

And if you can think of that person as being exactly the same as God, then the way that the mind works, eventually you are going to experience yourself as being exactly the same as God.



And if you do that, you will be doing something that most people in the history of the world have never done, because most people have never practiced the kind of forgiveness that comes from the place of cause and not effect.

As A Course In Miracles puts it, “This is a course in cause and not effect.” And it also says, “As you see him, you will see yourself.” If you can do that, you will be doing something that is amazing. You will be a pioneer. You will be doing something that is absolutely fantastic.

And I would salute you for that. If you can just do that, you are accepting what the course calls your sole responsibility as a miracle worker.

So, I guess my challenge to anybody who is listening right now, my challenge is, “Can you do that? Can you actually do that?”

Jennifer Are you willing?

Gary Well, you know, early in the course it says, “It takes a little willingness,” but I think Jesus is kind of like a con man because he says later in the course, he says, “It takes abundant willingness.” All of a sudden he switches. You feel bait and switch.

Jennifer Yeah.

Gary It takes a little willingness. Then all of a sudden it takes abundant willingness. But I trust Jesus. I don’t mind him being a con man.

Jennifer Don’t you feel this process, or this experience of undoing is a discovery of how many things we cherish more than God, how many false idols can you possibly have? To me it’s been remarkable like, oh, there’s another one. Oh, there’s another one, things that we cherish and value more than we cherish and value hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Gary Yeah. Do you have any difficult questions to ask me? [laughter].

Jennifer Do you have a tool, or a technique that you use, Gary, when you are noticing you feel an attachment to the body, or you feel that temptation


to identify as a body? Do you have something that you use to like get in there like a crowbar and peel you back from the ego temptation and to choose the Holy Spirit?

Peeling Back From Ego Temptation Gary Absolutely. The first thing is when I get up in the morning, I know

what’s going to happen. I know that the ego is going to tempt me to believe that I am a body, that I am Gary Renard, that I am this person, that I have this individual persona and this individual identity.

And that’s what the ego is going to tempt me to do. Now, what if I wasn’t a body? What if I wasn’t Gary Renard? What if I had nothing to do with this? What if it wasn’t anything that I had to cope with?

If I can think that way, if I can start my day off thinking that way, then nobody can hurt me. And then I can start to remember to think with the Holy Spirit because you can’t do both at the same time.

You can’t think with the ego and think with the Holy Spirit at the same time. So, when something comes up and somebody is trying to destroy me on the Internet which happens everyday, then it’s like, okay, you know what? I’m not Gary Renard. I’m not a body.

As the course says over and over again, “I’m not a body. I am free for I am still as God created me.” So, it’s like okay. Then the course says about forgiveness, “It denies the ability of anything not of God to affect you.”

What if it couldn’t affect me? What if… And I’m just thinking out loud here. What if it was impossible for anything in the world to affect me?

Now you’re coming from a place of power. You’re coming from a place where the only way that somebody could hurt you, or affect you, would be if you gave them the power to do that.

But what if you took that power back? It’s like the course says, “There is no death, but there is the belief in death.” What if you took that power back to yourself and deny the ability of anything not of God to affect you to the point where it really couldn’t affect you?



Jennifer Yes.

Gary Then you would be like Jesus on the cross. It’s like you’re saying, “I am not a body. I cannot be hurt. I cannot be killed and I deny the anybody of anything not of God to affect me.” Then you’re going all the way with this.

I’m not saying that people are going to do that right away because this is a metamorphosis that we are going through. And that metamorphosis is facilitated by forgiveness.

That forgiveness allows us to eventually become what we really are. And what we really are cannot be hurt. And it cannot be killed. And it cannot be affected.

If anybody in the world gives you the power to kind of like feel that or something, it’s because you gave them that power. But you can take that power back. You can take it back to yourself. And you can say, “Okay, I deny the denial of the truth.”

So, what the ego did was deny the truth. What we’re doing as course students is we’re denying that denial. We’re saying, “Okay, we denied the truth. Now we’re taking it back.” We’re taking the whole thing back by picking the Holy Spirit instead of the ego.

Jennifer So, people constantly cherish the idea that they’re feeling upset because of something someone else did, or they’re feeling upset because of their circumstances.

I’m afraid because I lost my job. I’m afraid because I might not be able to pay my mortgage. I’m happy because this person is going to go out with me. I’m happy because I just got a raise.

People are constantly saying that it is the circumstances of their life, the experiences in the body that are determining how they feel. So, what you’re saying is that’s completely not true.


Spirituality Gary Well, let me illustrate the difference between spiritually and phony

spiritually. Phony spiritually is about getting stuff, about making your life work. It’s about making stuff happen.

Jennifer Manifesting.

Gary Yes. I’m not putting down anybody. I’m just saying that there’s no power there. There’s no power in being a victim. But real spiritually will make you happy and peaceful regardless of what happens in the world and that’s real power.

Real power is about being happy and peaceful regardless of what happens in your life. And if you can do that, you’re in a position of power because now it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what happens in your life. And if you can get to that point, you are in a very, very powerful position.

Jennifer Michael Beckwith, I’ve heard him say many times, Gary, “One with God is a majority.”

Gary I like that.

Jennifer Yeah, one with God is a majority. So, when you are aligned with the Holy Spirit, when we are aligned with our divinity, then the circumstances of our life can’t upset us. They can’t.

Gary That is so true. It’s kind of like I was just thinking about this as you were talking about it. 150 years ago, it was considered very spiritual to be poor.

Today, it’s considered very spiritual to be rich. It’s like a fad. It’s like spiritually is a fad. But real spiritually, the way that Jesus was teaching it 2000 years ago was a constant thing because it doesn’t change. Real spiritually doesn’t change.

The things that some other people believe in, well, is it spiritually, or is it what you would call self help? And I don’t have anything against self help. I mean I was into it most of my life.

Jennifer Yeah.



Gary But it’s like if you want the real secret and the real law of attraction, then you could go back and read Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and you would get the whole thing. You know?

Jennifer Yeah.

Gary It’s like, wow, these people actually believe that these are new ideas and that they’re being turned onto something spectacular when it’s all a bunch of bullshit.

And when people say, “Leonardo Da Vinci used The Secret,” or Thomas Edison used The Secret.” There’s something about those guys that they don’t tell you, that The Secret doesn’t tell you, or that anybody doesn’t tell you.

Jennifer What’s that?

Gary The thing about those guys was they worked their asses off. And nobody says that. Nobody points that out, that these guys worked 20 hours a day. So, okay. But I’m just going to think about…

Jennifer They might not have been in tune with what was on Mad Men, or what was happening in The World Of Sports and things like that.

Gary Well, that’s right. I’m not deliberately trying to put anything down. I’m just saying that maybe you have to look a little bit deeper. You have to look at little bit more about what’s going on. You know?

Jennifer In that, you said that everyday, part of your practice, so just in the terms of a practical application, if somebody decides that they’re very intent on hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, and recognizing the difference between the ego thoughts and the thoughts we think with God, your daily practices, when you were first starting out even, what were the critical choices and decisions that you made that helped you to even identify the voice of the Holy Spirit versus the voice of the ego, or the thoughts of the ego?


Undoing Idea Of Separation Gary Yeah. Well, the first thing that I got in touch with was just connecting,

connecting to the Holy Spirit. You put the Holy Spirit in charge. And that may not sounds like a big deal to people, but if you do that you’re undoing the idea of separation.

If you don’t do it and you’re relying on your own talent, and your own ability, then you’re actually reinforcing the idea of separation. It’s a very simple thing. You could do that in 3 seconds.

You could say, “Holy Spirit, you be in charge.” Sometimes I don’t even have the time to do that so I say, “Hey, Holy Spirit, you and me, okay.” It’s over.

It’s like okay. Then, I look to meditate because I used to meditate for ages. I used to meditate for an hour and a half a day in Maine. And now it takes five minutes and I just join with God. I just become one with God.

Now, when you become that way, if you take the time to become in spirit, well, where does the word inspire come from? In spirit. It’s like, okay, now I’m with God. I’m not as afraid of God as I used to be.

And you notice that the last obstacle to peace in A Course In Miracles is the fear of God. Everytime you do this, everytime you join with God, you are undoing the fear of God.

It’s like that’s disappearing. The fear of God is disappearing and you’re becoming one with God. And then there is forgiveness which is the big one because we don’t understand how the mind works.

The mind knows everything and it knows that there’s just one of us, so that every single time that you forgive somebody else, you’re actually forgiving yourself.

It’s like that law of the mind that is in the course. As you see him, you see yourself. So, every single time you forgive somebody else, yeah, it looks like you’re forgiving somebody else. You know what? No.



You’re actually forgiving yourself. And you are the one who will experience it. You will experience forgiveness. You will experience the fact that you are innocent and there’s nothing better than getting in touch with the fact that you are innocent.

You are actually creating the way that you are about to feel about yourself. People wonder why they’re depressed. Imagine if they could change their thoughts. Imagine if they could change the power of their mind and grab a hold of it and shift everything. They would be really, really surprised.

Jennifer You brought up an important point, Gary, because many people have a fear of God. And they think they have a fear of God because they prayed for something that they didn’t get.

And instead they got something horrible. Or, they have a fear of God because they felt like they were innocent but, maybe as a child, they were raped, or attacked, or beaten, or their business was burned to the ground, or their business partner stole all their money, or their spouse ran away with their best friend.

And so they have a fear of God, or even an anger at God. And so they’re absolutely, in a certain way, terrified of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. They don’t trust. What would you say to that person?

Gary The voice of the Holy Spirit is the voice for God and it has taken form. In fact, what the course says about that specifically is, “His is the voice for God. It is therefore taking form. This form is not his reality.”

What the Holy Spirit is is your memory of God that has taken form that will speak to you in a way that you can accept and understand. All those things that you are associating with God have nothing to do with God.

That’s why the course says, “I’m never upset for the reason I think.” The reason that you think that you’re upset can be traced all the way back to the original idea of separation from God.


It was that time when we thought that we separated ourselves from God and we had this tremendous, unconscious guilt that can be traced all the way back to the beginning.

So, it’s like Jesus says in the course, “Help me now to lead you back to where the journey was begun to make another choice with me.” He said the same thing intention he Gospel of Thomas. We went up to him as disciples and we said, “When will the end come?” And he said, “Have you found the beginning? Because what the beginning is that’s where the end shall be.”

It’s like what we’re really upset about has nothing to do with God. It has to do with our separation from God. And if we could undo the idea of separation, there would be no fear of God.

And those things we think we’re upset about, we think our children are going to die. I’m going to die. Somebody’s going to die. All those things that we think that we’re upset about, that’s not what we’re really upset about.

Tracing Upset Back What we’re really upset about is something else. And it can be traced all

the way back to that original idea of separation from God. And the only way that anybody is going to understand that is to undo the ego.

That’s why the approach of A Course In Miracles is so brilliant, because if you undo the ego, then the real you is all that’s left. And in the real you, you have no questions.

There are no questions. There are no dilemmas. In the point of revelation, A Course In Miracles describes it as, “The complete, the temporary suspension of doubt and fear.”

Why? It’s because in that experience of being with God, there are no questions. And then when you come back here, even in that experience, the body appears to kind of like go away for one or two seconds. All that’s left is the answer. There are no questions in that answer.



And then when you come back here, you realize that you were dreaming the questions. It’s like the questions do not exist in that answer.

I think that, ultimately, A Course In Miracles is far more experiential than people realize. I think that people think that it’s very intellectual because it does have a half a million words and it does appear to be very intellectual.

But at the end of the day, all those words and all that stuff is meant to lead you to a place that is beyond all words.

Jennifer Well, that is the perfect place for us to conclude. Oh, my goodness. This hour has gone by so quickly, Gary. And I’m so grateful for your friendship, but for your willingness to do your work and your undoing and your healing and your willingness to value the voice of the Holy Spirit, because I know for me reading Disappearance Of The Universe was absolutely seminal in my life.

And I treasure your appearance in the world at this time and treasure that you bring in terms of your decision to know the truth and to share the benefits of your healing and your awakening with the rest of us.

So, you’re really someone I treasure. And your insight and clarity is deeply healing to me. So, thank you.

Gary Well, thank you. Cindy and I both appreciate your friendship and we love you very much. We really do, so thank you for having me. And maybe some time in the future, if you want to have me again, that would be great.

Jennifer Absolutely. For sure. And I’ll remind everybody, GaryRenard.com is where you can find out his schedule and where he is going to be this year.

And coming up just this weekend, you’re going to be in… Where is it? You’re going to Sweden?


Gary Like I know. I think I’m going to Denmark and Norway.

Jennifer Denmark and Norway, well we’ve got people in the Living A Course In Miracles class who are there, so how wonderful.

Gary I just got back from Ireland. I can’t believe the people who I get to meet. It’s like amazing to me. They are just absolutely extraordinary. I feel so gifted to be able to meet with these right people.

Jennifer Well, that’s it. When you do the work of the day to day spiritual practice of waking up and as I say, smelling the spiritual coffee, and living the love, walking the talk, then everyone you meet is your brother and your sister and it’s a holy encounter, as you know.

Contacting Gary I’ll also just say, thank you, Gary. I know you are super jet lagged and

I’m so grateful for your taking the time to be with all of us. And I am going to say a prayer and close us out. And also I’ll remind everyone that we have the homework class in just 12 hours from now.

12 hours is the homework class. And I’ll be giving some practical application of what Gary has shared with us and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Gary So, Jennifer, let me just tell you one thing.

Jennifer Okay.

Gary I love you.

Jennifer Ah, I love you too, Gary, so much.

Closing Prayer Let’s all put our hands on our hearts and love ourselves, loving God,

loving ourselves. It’s all the same, all one and we’re grateful and we are thankful to open our hearts and minds to the very highest possibility in our life.



We’re opening our hearts and minds to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and knowing our true identity and sharing the benefits of that with everyone because we’re one with them.

In grace and gratitude, we joyfully let it be and so it is. Amen. Amen, Amen.

Thank you again, Gary. God bless everyone.

living acim3 wk 3 - gary renard · gary renard with jennifer hadley thursday, may 31, 2012...

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