I need do nothing – Pam Grout

Throw away the to-do list

June 6, 2023 46 Comments

“You will receive a thousand miracles and then a thousand more.”—A Course in Miracles

I have come to the conclusion that the most controversial statement in the entire Course is this: “I need do nothing.”

“But, but…..” we long-time seekers stammer.

What about meditating?

Opening your chakras?

Forgiving your mother?

All of it—every last strategy and goal and worthy intention–is predicated on the notion that something needs to be fixed, that something is broken.

When we create a list of spiritual to-do’s, we obscure our perfection, we miss the life force, the radiant joy that dances wildly though every cell of our bodies.

I used to describe myself as a spiritual seeker. But “to seek” is to remain captivated by issues and beliefs that are not real. Finding and repairing problems is an impossible quest that keeps dangling a carrot just out of reach.

The best we can do is base our little “self-improvement project” on what we’ve been so far taught. But those lessons cover but a tiny, insignificant piece of our totality.

So when I commit to “doing nothing,” I create boundless space way beyond the very limited set of facts I’ve been given. In fact, the energy exerted to hold back this unfathomable life force is far greater than the surrender.

I recently heard an interview on Conscious TV about what many call “waking up.” The host was talking about a guy named John Ray Lewis, who had a spontaneous awakening after nearly dying in Thailand. He was so bamboozled by this “new and unexpected reality” that he set out to interview others who experienced a similar retreat from “consensus reality.” What he found is that 75 percent of those he interviewed were “doing nothing” when it happened. Not one described themselves as a spiritual seeker. In fact, it had never occurred to most of them that such a spacious, gentle reality was even possible.

Not only is it possible, friends, but it’s the truth of who we really are underneath the thoughts and crazy self-improvement projects.

#222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World).

Get on the enlightenment fast track

April 10, 2018 32 Comments

“Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book.”— WALT WHITMAN help-i-need-somebody1

A reader emailed me this morning to regretfully admit that, alas, she was unable to faithfully execute the hourly reminders requested in the Course workbook.

I had to chuckle because a) In 20 years of doing the Course, I have never once successfully completed the task myself and b) the only reason we’re asked to do that is to be reminded–our minds are like pinball machines. And we need help.

My favorite Course lesson is “I need do nothing.” I love this one so much because of my great aptitude at proving to myself over and over again that, despite my best intentions, my own efforts are futile. They simply don’t work.

But there is, as the Course tells us, a better way.

The better way is a four-letter word: HELP!!!

In ACIM Lesson 100, I learn the following:

1. God’s will for me is perfect happiness.

2. My joy is essential to the healing of the world.

3. And Super God itself is incomplete without my joy.

So anytime I don’t feel perfect happiness, I have to stop and realize that I made a decision that differs from my Source.

And since that decision was my best effort (again proof of my futile efforts), I just have to offer that magical four-letter plea: HELP!

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

I need do nothing.

September 19, 2017 23 Comments

“We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain.”—Annie Dillard

jesus-is-scandalous-grace-400x400-400x360 I recently heard an interview with Kenya Barris. He’s the creator of Black-ish, a wildly popular, Emmy-winning TV comedy.

He talked about a spiritual realization that rocked his world. Like most of us, he was led to believe that if you want the goodies—success, acclaim, God’s blessings, etc.—you have to abide by a list of “good people” rules.

And he followed them. And his career kept growing. But finally, the weight of all these beliefs on how to reap God’s favor became too much to bear. He broke the rules. He divorced his wife. He left the conventional path. And guess what?

The blessings kept right on coming. His career took off. Black-ish was nominated for Emmy’s and People Choice and Critic’s Choice and NAACP Image awards. He couldn’t keep up with all the acclaim.

He said it was a stunning realization. Grace comes because grace comes.

He did not have to earn it.

And once the weight of “what he should do” was gone, he was free to do what he wanted to do which was reunite with his wife.

Not because he needed to to earn God’s favor. But because that’s what he wanted.

Despite what the churches preach, despite what our families and our cultures have pounded into our heads, there are no “good people rules.“

That’s why my favorite mantra is this: I need do nothing.

The Course in Miracles says it like this: “It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this (I need do nothing) than to consider what you should do. It is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way at his own time.”

The Course says we can save time by using but this one practice. “I need do nothing,” it says, is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty.”

When we’re not all stressed about earning the goodies, unhappily following arbitrary rules, the riches of the kingdom can’t help but pour in.

Because here’s the thing. We are already good people. We are already given God’s grace.

The only thing that can keep it away is our guilt (because we think we’re not doing it right) or our belief that we have to earn it.

We do not have to earn anything. It’s given to all of us. It’s our natural state.

Once we surrender the “good people rules.”

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.