A friend of mine said, he did not actually awaken through A Course In Miracles, but through the help of Master Teacher. He said that Master Teacher literally changed his brain and mind through his powerful energy. "That was it."
As Joe M. says in the film, some get it through doing the daily lessons, through sudden experiences, some at point of death, rising and coming back to teach the Course, or through a combination of it. While there is no doubt that awakening is individual and personal, and that Master Teacher played a vital part in my awakening, I would like to emphasize another aspect that I think is often overlooked or even denied.
You can hear people say, almost defensively, that A Course In Miracles is a self-study program. That you should not depend on anyone else and better stay away from a group, because, as workbook lesson 70 says, "Salvation comes from me." I have seen the statement of the Course, "The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself.", interpreted in such a way that it would tell us that "God’s teacher must work alone." This reading again would lead to the old idea that one has to remove himself from the world and any association in order to reach enlightenment. This approach, however, has proven itself to be "extremely difficult" and time consuming. One may try to escape the trap of relying on a group or leader while failing to find the truth within, but at what cost? Maybe falling into the trap of thinking that he is really doing something?
I say the idea of autonomous enlightenment is false. One is not alone, therefore one cannot reach enlightenment alone. A Course In Miracles is not concerned with behavior at all, nor with places, nor with associations to which one may belong. But it is explicit in telling what is essential for our learning and laying out the means of how we reach our goal. In the intro to the Manual for Teachers it says, that "To teach is to demonstrate." What is one demonstrating or to demonstrate?
"There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. The question is not whether you will teach, for in that there is no choice. The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you want to learn."
This clearly tells us that what I learn depends only on the thought system I believe to be true. What I believe governs everything I experience and do in time and space. Therefore, change and transformation is only a question of changing my mind and aligning myself with the truth. No one can do it for me, nor can anyone or anything prevent me from doing it. It says however that one learns from the demonstrations of others. Here is the part we play for each other. An older, more mature consciousness and brother can be of great help if one is open to the demonstrations of a mind that no longer is fooled by the illusion of this world, but is in continuous conversion of it. That was and is Master Teacher for me, or anyone who no longer swears to die.
But that is not my main point. My emphasis goes to the importance of being with your brother. What does that mean? The Course talks about "the special means this course is using to save you time."
"One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to 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."
Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. You are not making use of the course if you insist on using means which have served others well, neglecting what was made for you."
-A Course In Miracles, Chapter 18.VI.5, 6
Time has been saved for me, because me and my brother are together. I am saved. It's a miracle. I seem to be a separate thing, apart from my brother, but a holy instant with my brother restores the universe, my whole mind, to both of us. And that is what the lessons of the workbook are aiming at: undoing our belief and investment in the body, so that a new vision can be given us to heal our minds.
You cannot overestimate the value of your brother. Stay together, and love one another.
