Jack Kornfield – Pam Grout

What if? A Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory

March 16, 2020 62 Comments

“Worry and fear are not spiritual practices.”—Michael Beckwith

When you believe, as I do, that the universe constantly conspires for your good, you can’t help but notice the silver lining. As Jack Kornfield says, “This virus isn’t happening to us. It’s happening for us.”

What if this is the universe insisting we slow down, that we become still and listen for a change—not to what some box or little device is shouting at us—but to what our hearts are saying? What the trees are whispering? What our loved ones on the other side are telling us over all the noise?

What if this is the down time we’ve long professed to want so we can write a song? Or a poem? Or a bedtime story for our four-year-old? Shakespeare, I’ve heard, used a quarantine to write King Lear. Newton discovered calculus.

What if this is our big chance to rewrite everything? Do we want to keep believing we’re imprisoned by the senseless laws of the world? That we’re dependent on stacks of green paper strips and piles of metal discs? Do we want to remain beholden to the marketed idea that we won’t survive without our little pills or our jobs where we do things we don’t particularly want to do for eight hours a day?

Today’s Course in Miracles lesson asks us to dismiss all these foolish beliefs. It asks us to hold our minds in silent readiness to hear the Voice that speaks of Truth. It asks us to declare our freedom from the tyranny of the cultural Kool-aid.

What if this is an inflection point in our history? Our invitation to finally embrace our highest selves?

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).

A most unlikely love affair

March 7, 2018 46 Comments

“Reclaim your land with love.”—Jack Kornfield

asshat So, I started a new relationship today.

And even more noteworthy is that I’ve decided to throw myself into this love affair with complete abandon.

Who is this lucky (or unlucky, depending on your perspective) being?

I’ve decided, as of today, to make a 100 percent commitment, to unconditionally love the asshat in my mind. I’ve mentioned him before. The voice that tells me I’m not good enough, the one that points out my flaws, the one that rolls its eyes and says, “Who are you to talk about the Course in Miracles?”

I’ve tried fighting the voice. I’ve tried resisting it. And now, I’m going all in with the only thing that can ever transform anything. I’m going to love it. I’m going to appreciate that, at one time, this voice was working to protect me. And above all, I’m going to remember one of the first tenets of Buddhism.

Hatred never ceases by hatred.
But by love alone is healed.

ACIM Lesson 66 is My happiness and my function are one. It tells me God only gave me happiness.

And since being happy is my only function and since resistance to the voice and its madness doesn’t make me happy or change anything, I’m–as of today–officially declaring my love for all parts of me, especially the scared little asshat. Who knows? I might even send flowers.

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