A Tale of Truth, which is a children’s book based on the teachings of A Course in Miracles (ACIM) has recently been published. The author speaks about her reasons for writing a children’s book.
Question-01 : There are many books on spirituality and personal transformation for adults but not that many for children. Why did you decide to write a book for children?
Answer : I believe we need to teach children about spirituality because a life that focuses only on the material world is a very empty life. We can distract ourselves for a while with all the pleasures of the world, such as all the different things to buy, food to eat and places to visit but, eventually, we begin to realize that there has to be more to life than all these things. That’s when we begin to turn to God or to search for meaning in some way. And at that point we begin to awaken from the illusion of life on earth.
Question-02 : What attracted you to A Course in Miracles?
Answer : Well, I have for many years suspected that there is something wrong with our lives as we live them—something wrong with this world, in fact. I always believed in God and that God is Love. But if one looks around at the world, there seems to be an absence of love. There is so much tragedy, suffering, deprivation, destruction, etc. that I am convinced this world has nothing to do with God. ACIM tells us that God created us as an extension of Himself and we, therefore, share his characteristics of eternal life and love. But there is nothing eternal in this world. Everything is transient and subject to change and, eventually, to decay. We remain as God created us and the separation from God or the fall never actually happened. The separation couldn’t have happened if we are extensions of God because it means we are part of Him. It just appeared to have happened and it only took place in our minds but not in reality. So, all that we are experiencing here on earth is taking place in our minds. That is one of the key teachings of ACIM. It is a radical view that is not shared by many other spiritual teachings but it appeals to both my logical mind and to my intuition. It just feels right to me and I had spent over 30 years studying various scriptures, self-help and New Age books before I came across ACIM and realized then that I no longer had to search any more. As you know, it is a channeled text from Jesus, and I just love his profound wisdom and his message of love and forgiveness.
Question-03 : How were you able to simplify the metaphysics of A Course in Miracles so that children would be able to understand it?
Answer : Well I did my best to present it in a light-hearted and positive manner, and I did not delve too deeply into the metaphysics of ACIM. I focused on positive concepts such as the need to offer love and forgiveness to everyone and the need to recognize the oneness of humanity. ACIM is a completely non-dualistic path; one of its basic premises is that we are all one with each other and one with God. I also spoke about prayer and about the importance of making time so that one can listen to one’s inner guide.
Question-04 : Do you have any plans to write another book?
Answer : Not at the moment. I feel it is time for me to go deeper into ACIM and consolidate what I have learnt. You see, the key thing about ACIM is not just learning the theory but applying it to every aspect of one’s life. To transfer the training given in the Workbook to our everyday lives. That’s the difficult part, and that is what I will be focusing on now. I am planning to do a two-year course called Mystical Mind Training, which helps ACIM students apply what they have learnt.
Question-05 : One last question, could you tell us what you think is one of the key concepts of ACIM?
Answer : It has to be forgiveness; that is the essence of the whole course. But there are several aspects to forgiveness as it is taught in ACIM. Firstly, we forgive others for what they have not done. This is because everything in this world is an illusion, and only exists in our minds. Secondly, we have to forgive ourselves as well for the same reason. Forgiveness also involves allowing all things to take place, and not losing one’s peace of mind when things don’t go according to plan. And finally, forgiveness also involves letting go—letting go of our attachments to things in the world of form and letting go of all the concepts, beliefs and conditioning of this world and everything we think we know. So you can see that there is a lot of work to be done if one is a serious student of A Course in Miracles. It takes a great deal of self-observation and self-discipline to remember to apply all this in our daily lives. It is a matter of doing one’s best to get the ego out of the way, so that one listens only to one’s inner guide, who is our connection with God.
Question-06 :
Answer :
Question-07 :
Answer :
Question-08 :
Answer :
Question-09 :
Answer :
Question-10 :
Answer :