Annotated Syllabus
by Tom Baker
Date: October 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Assignment: Chapter 9, II. The Answer to Prayer
Key phrase: (LOTS OF THEM!): "The Bible emphasizes that all prayer is answered, and this is indeed true. The very fact that the Holy Spirit has been asked for anything will ensure a response." (paragraph 3) & "If you would know your prayers are answered, never doubt a Son of God. Do not question him and do not confound him, for your faith in him is your faith in yourself." (paragraph 4) & "The message your brother gives you is up to you. What does he say to you? What would you have him say? Your decision about him determines the message you receive." (paragraph 5) & "You can no more pray for yourself alone than you can find joy for yourself alone. Prayer is the restatement of inclusion, directed by the Holy Spirit under the laws of God. Salvation is of your brother. The Holy Spirit extends from your mind to his, and answers you." (paragraph 6) & "I love you for the truth in you, as God does. Your deceptions may deceive you, but they cannot deceive me. Knowing what you are, I cannot doubt you. I hear only the Holy Spirit in you, Who speaks to me through you. If you would hear me, hear my brothers in whom God's Voice speaks. The answer to all prayers lies in them. You will be answered as you hear the answer in everyone. Do not listen to anything else or you will not hear truly." (paragraph 7).
Study questions: In a few words, what is your illusion of yourself like? How might God see Himself? What is the one question we should ask of ourselves? What is the nature of the spiritual journey? What are the conditions for the experience of truth?
Study Questions: What is the purpose of the Course as restated in this section? How is prayer related to our trust in our brother [sister]? What does it mean to have faith in your brother [sister]?
Pertinent Lessons: Lesson 106, Let me be still and listen to the truth.
Lesson 108, To give and to receive are one in truth.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Assignment: Chapter 9, III. The Correction of Error
Key phrase: "The alertness of the ego to the errors of other egos is not the kind of vigilance the Holy Spirit would have you maintain." (paragraph 1) & "When a brother behaves insanely, you can heal him only by perceiving the sanity in him. If you perceive his errors and accept them, you are accepting yours." (paragraph 5) "Accept only the function of healing in time, because that is what time is for." (paragraph 8).
Study Questions: Where does the Course stand on "constructive criticism?" What is the basis for relating to one another in love?
Pertinent Lessons: Lesson 78, Let miracles replace all grievances.
Overlook Ahead
By Vesta DenningI pulled off the road to over look a valley glowing gold
And sensed I was there for a message to be toldI looked and saw autumn on hills, road, homes and sky
I felt a wind, like a soft breath blowing byThe breath I felt this beautiful day in fall
Was the breath that is what deeply connects us allAnd I asked, "What am I to hear? What am I to see?
I want to know what it is You want from me."And the breeze took a voice and words began to form
Not a whisper, nor a roar....but for me a quiet storm."Tell them....tell them about the breath....the breath that fills them and you
Tell them it is My breath. That is all I want from you."
Sunday, October 17 & 24, 2010
Assignment: Chapter 9, IV. The Holy Spirit's Plan of Forgiveness
Key phrase: "Atonement is for all, because it is the way to undo the belief that anything is for you alone. To forgive is to overlook. Look, then, beyond error and do not let your perception rest upon it, for you will believe what your perception holds. Accept as true only what your brother is, if you would know yourself. Perceive what he is not and you cannot know what you are, because you see him falsely. Remember always that your identity is shared, and that Its sharing is Its reality." (paragraph 1) & "By reinterpreting the ability to attack into the ability to share, He translates what you have made into what God created." (paragraph 2) & "Miracles are merely the sign of your willingness to follow the Holy Spirit's plan of salvation, recognizing that you do not understand what it is." (paragraph 6) & "The confusion of functions is so typical of the ego that you should be quite familiar with it by now. The ego believes that all functions belong to it, even though it has no idea what they are." (paragraph 7) & "Do not fear the Last Judgment, but welcome it and do not wait, for the ego's time is 'borrowed' from your eternity." (paragraph 9).
Study questions: What does the Course mean by saying that our Identity is shared? What are the implications of a shared Identity? What is the essential difference between the ego's plan of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit's plan of forgiveness? How is the Course's Last Judgment different than its definition in conventional Christianity?
Pertinent Lessons or Passages:: In the Manual For Teachers see 10. How Is Judgment Relinquished? & 15. Is Each One to Be Judged in the End?
Sunday, October 31 & November 7, 2010
Assignment: Chapter 9, V. The Unhealed Healer
Key phrase: "Every healer who searches fantasies for truth must be unhealed, because he does not know where to look for truth, and therefore does not have the answer to the problem of healing." (paragraph 2) & "The only meaningful contribution the healer can make is to present an example of one whose direction has been changed for him, and who no longer believes in nightmares of any kind. The light in his mind will therefore answer the questioner, who must decide with God that there is light because he sees it. That is how perception ultimately is translated into knowledge. The miracle worker begins by perceiving light, and translates his perception into sureness by continually extending it and accepting its acknowledgment. Its effects assure him it is there." (paragraph 7) & "A therapist does not heal; he lets healing be." (paragraph 8).
Study Questions: How does the unhealed healer become healed? What role does faith play in therapy? What role does experience play?
Pertinent Lessons: Lesson 161, Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. In the Manual for Teachers see 5. How is Healing Accomplished?
- The Perceived Purpose of Sickness
- The Shift in Perception
- The Function of the Teacher of God
© Copyright Tom Baker 2010