This thread is for discussion, links or questions related to the Teachers Guide section of the course.. 

WHO ARE GOD'S TEACHERS?

      "A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one.  His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's.  Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure.  A light has entered the darkness.  It may be a single light, but that is enough.  He has entered an agreement with God even if he does not yet believe in Him.  He has become a bringer of salvation.  He has become a teacher of God.

       They come from all over the world.  They come from all religions and from no religion.  They are the ones who have answered.  The Call is universal.  It goes on all the time everywhere.  It calls for teachers to speak for It and redeem the world.  Many hear It, but few will answer.  Yet it is all a matter of time.  

Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can be a long, long way off.  It is because of this that the plan of the teachers was established.  Their function is to save time.  Each one begins as a single light, but with the Call at its center it is a light that cannot be limited.  And each one saves a thousand years of time as the world judges it.  To the Call Itself time has no meaning.

       There is a course for every teacher of God.  The form of the course varies greatly.  So do the particular teaching aids involved.  But the content of the course never changes. Its central theme is always, "God's Son is guiltless, and in his innocence is his salvation."  It can be taught by actions or thoughts; in words or soundlessly; in any language or in no language; in any place or time or manner.  It does not matter who the teacher was before he heard the Call.  He has become a savior by his answering.  He has seen someone else as himself.  He has therefore found his own salvation and the salvation of the world.  In his rebirth is the world reborn.

       This is a manual for a special curriculum, intended for teachers of a special form of the universal course.  There are many thousands of other forms, all with the same outcome.  They merely save time.  Yet it is time alone that winds on wearily, and the world is very tired now.  It is old and worn and without hope.  There was never a question of outcome, for what can change the Will of God?  But time, with its illusions of change and death, wears out the world and all things in it.  Yet time has an ending, and it is this that the teachers of God are appointed to bring about.  For time is in their hands.  Such was their choice, and it is given them."

Source; page 3, Teachers Manual

WHO ARE THEIR PUPILS?

       "Certain pupils have been assigned to each of God's teachers, and they will begin to look for him as soon as he has answered the Call.  They were chosen for him because the form of the universal curriculum that he will teach is best for them in view of their level of understanding.  His pupils have been waiting for him, for his coming is certain.  Again, it is only a matter of time.  Once he has chosen to fulfill his role, they are ready to fulfill theirs.  Time waits on his choice, but not on whom he will serve.  When he is ready to learn, the opportunities to teach will be provided for him.

       In order to understand the teaching-learning plan of salvation, it is necessary to grasp the concept of time that the course sets forth.  Atonement corrects illusions, not truth. Therefore, it corrects what never was.  Further, the plan for this correction was established and completed simultaneously, for the Will of God is entirely apart from time.  So is all reality, being of Him.  The instant the idea of separation entered the mind of God's Son, in that same instant was God's Answer given.  In time this happened very long ago.  In reality it never happened at all.

       The world of time is the world of illusion.  What happened long ago seems to be happening now.  Choices made long since appear to be open; yet to be made.  What has been learned and understood and long ago passed by is looked upon as a new thought, a fresh idea, a different approach.  Because your will is free you can accept what has already happened at any time you choose, and only then will you realize that it was always there.  As the course emphasizes, you are not free to choose the curriculum, or even the form in which you will learn it.  You are free, however, to decide when you want to learn it.  And as you accept it, it is already learned.

       Time really, then, goes backward to an instant so ancient that it is beyond all memory, and past even the possibility of remembering.  Yet because it is an instant that is relived again and again and still again, it seems to be now.  And thus it is that pupil and teacher seem to come together in the present, finding each other as if they had not met before.  The pupil comes at the right time to the right place.  This is inevitable, because he made the right choice in that ancient instant which he now relives.  So has the teacher, too, made an inevitable choice out of an ancient past.  God's Will in everything but seems to take time in the working-out.  What could delay the power of eternity?

       When pupil and teacher come together, a teaching-learning situation begins.  For the teacher is not really the one who does the teaching.  God's Teacher speaks to any two who join together for learning purposes.  The relationship is holy because of that purpose, and God has promised to send His Spirit into any holy relationship.  In the teaching-learning situation, each one learns that giving and receiving are the same.  The demarcations they have drawn between their roles, their minds, their bodies, their needs, their interests, and all the differences they thought separated them from one another, fade and grow dim and disappear.  Those who would learn the same course share one interest and one goal.  And thus he who was the learner becomes a teacher of God himself, for he has made the one decision that gave his teacher to him.  He has seen in another person the same interests as his own."

Source; CIM, Teachers Manual, page 4

I had the illusionary thought that one had to be perfect to be a teacher... How many perfect people do you know, including spiritual teachers? 

"Sometimes a teacher of God may have a brief expeirence of direct union with God. In this world, it is almost impossible that this endure. It can perhaps, be won after much devotion and dedication and then be maintained for much of the time on Earth. But this is so rare that it cannot be considered a realistic goal. If it happens, so be it. If it does not happen, so be it as well. ALl worldly states must be illusory. If God were reached directly in sustained contact, and awareness, the body would not be long maintained. THose who laid the body down merely to extend their helpfulness to those remaining behind are few indeed. And they need helpers who are still in bondage and still asleep, so that by their awakening can God's Voice be heard."

Teachers Guide, pg. 61

In other words, it is an illusion of ego that one has to be perfect to be a teacher. Waiting for that time is like waiting for Godot. It is not going to happen. If you are called to be a teacher, start where you are, NOW, or as soon as you possibly can. 

Speaking from my own experience, I have been called and resisted the call. I delayed, using all kinds of excuses. None of that helped me, and none of that helped anyone else. That procrastination process just delayed everyone, including myself. A teacher is not asked to be perfect or even to be free of blemishes or imperfections/weaknesses. 

I just watched a program about Mother Teresa, who is considered a saint. She had doubts about God and Heaven, and wrote secret letters now public that she thought neither existed. Doubting is common even among saints.. so how can you NOT have doubts. Doubts are normal for teachers... They are part of the process.

"Do not despair then because of limitations. It is your function to escape from them, but not be be without them. If you would be heard by those who suffer, you must speak their language. If you would be a savior, you must understand (and experience) what needs to be escaped. Salvation is not theoretical. Behold the problem, ask for the answer and then accept it when it comes. Nor will its coming be long delayed. ALl the help you can accept will be provided and not one need you have will not be met. Let us not then, be too concerned with goals for which you are not ready. God takes you where you are and welcomes you. What more could you desire, when this is all you need?" 

Manual For Teachers pg. 61-62. 

Revealed here is the essence of being a teacher. First, do you have the interest? If yes, jump in and start. If you need it, ask for help. You will receive it, right where you are. Accept the help. Just start teaching. If you do not know how, ask here in this group and have a conversation about it. 

You do not have to set any goals, in order to get ready. You are ready now. God will use you where and how you are now. What else is needed? If Mother Teresa started being a teacher in the slums of India, helping dying people by just being compassionate and nothing else, how can you not be ready right where you are? She acted and started moving and doing, despite having doubts that God even existed. She did not believe Heaven even existed, yet she still acted and moved, and taught others as a teacher. 

So if someone like Mother Teresa (who did not believe in God or Heaven) could be a teacher, how can you, even with your doubts and unbelief, fail to be successful as a teacher? All it takes is a willingness to step ONE foot in front of the other. Take your free will and act.

Free will is what makes a teacher. If you will it, then it will happen, as God will take the next step, and the next step for you and with you.. using your free will as a companion.

No one can violate your free will, if you say no. Even God will not move if you say no. God will never FORCE you to be a teacher. God attracts someone like you to be a teacher. God invites someone like you to be a teacher. God nudges and asks in different ways, such as with this thread.

But in the end, if you use your free will to say NO, then nothing can ever happen. The whole of Creation will wait for a yes answer, forever if necessary.

Your free will is what separates you from either being a teacher or not being one. Decide you are a teacher, and guess what happens? All of Creation moves to you in order to fulfill that free will decision. God will make it happen, one step at a time, one day at a time, one miracle at a time, starting from that free will decision, which is using the POWER of God, FREE WILL.  

Just as a suggestion.. if you have an interest in being a teacher, read the Manual For Teachers, from one end to the other. It will not take long. If you cannot make a decision now, make one at the end of that manual. You can decide to be a teacher at the end of that book. You can make a decision to be a teacher with a condition even. 

The condition can be that if you do not get guidance and help at each step of the way, starting from where you are now, you will quit. Guess what? God will provide the help and guidance and support every step of the way. God is not looking for perfect teachers, just individuals who are WILLING to be teachers, imperfectly perfect. 

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done, then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."

- Francis H. Burnett

"There is no one from whom a teacher of God cannot learn, so there is no one whom he cannot teach. However from a practical point of view, he cannot meet everyone, nor can everyone find him. Therefore, the plan includes very specific contacts to be made for each teacher of God. There are no accidents in salvation. Those who are to meet will meet, because together they have the potential for a holy relationship. They are ready for each other. 

The simplest level of teaching appears to be quite superficial. It consists of what seem to be very casual encounters; a 'chance' meeting of two apparent strangers in an elevator, a child who is not looking where he is going running into an adult 'by chance', two students 'happening' to walk home together. These are NOT chance encounters. Each of them has the potential for becoming a teaching-learning situation. Perhaps the seeming strangers in the elevator will smile at each other; perhaps the adult will not scold the child for bumping into him; perhaps the students will become friends. Even at the level of the most casual encounter, it is possible for two people to lose sight of separate interests, if only for a moment or two. That moment is enough. Salvation has come." 

Manual For Teachers pg. 6

Some people like to call themselves rabbi, priest, CEO, professor, president or have degree sybols behind their name. Bottom line, God does not care about any of that...

Teaching and sharing the essence of what is true is what really matters. Salvation is in the moment, not in a boring, meaningless drone of a required class in school.

That 'salvation' situation where miracles happen occur anywhere, anytime, between any two people, no matter where or what the situation may be. A beggar can teach a president. A child can even teach an adult. A poor person can teach a rich person, or vice versa.

Teachable moments happen throughout all of life, constantly, and miraculously. Life is about learning and teaching. We need each other to both learn and teach...

What would life be like without other people in it?

What would life be like without 'holy' relationships where salvation is? 

As the first sentence states; "There is no one from whom a teacher of God cannot learn, so there is no one whom he cannot teach." 

In my view, EVERYONE is a teacher and everyone is a student, whether they call themselves one or the other... The labels of teacher/student are somewhat arbitrary because someone can be a great teacher and never step foot in a classroom.. the same goes for being a great student. No one has to go to a university to be a great student.. (I am not minimizing the value of a degree in this world, mind you). 

I find that when anyone posts just about anything in a group or to another person, that this person very often is acting as a teacher. Words of encouragement, gratitude, love, joy, peace, etc... are all things that teachers do, without even thinking about it... 

"There can be no order of difficulty in healing merely because all sickness is illusion. Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger hallucination as opposed to a smaller one? 

Will he agree more quickly to the unreality of a louder voice he hears than to that of a softer one? Will he dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout? 

And do the number of pitchforks the devils he sees carrying affect their credibility in his perception? His/her mind has categorized them all as real, and SO THEY ARE REAL to him/her. When he/she realizes that they are all illusions, they will disappear. And so it is with healing. The properties of illusions which seem to make them different are really irrelevant, for their properties are as illusory as they are. ....... 

The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The one answer to any illusion is truth."

ACIM Teachers Guide; pg. 23-24

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 INTRODUCTION

    "The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world.  The reversal is characteristic.  It seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself.  Further, the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity, in which one engages only a relatively small proportion of one's time.  The course, on the other hand, emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same.  It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant process; it goes on every moment of the day, and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.

       To teach is 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.  You cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself, and this you learn through teaching.  Teaching is but a call to witnesses to attest to what you believe.  It is a method of conversion.  This is not done by words alone.  Any situation must be to you a chance to teach others what you are, and what they are to you.  No more than that, but also never less.

      The curriculum you set up is therefore determined exclusively by what you think you are, and what you believe the relationship of others is to you.  In the formal teaching situation, these questions may be totally unrelated to what you think you are teaching.  Yet it is impossible not to use the content of any situation on behalf of what you really teach, and therefore really learn.  To this the verbal content of your teaching is quite irrelevant.  It may coincide with it, or it may not.  It is the teaching underlying what you say that teaches you.  Teaching but reinforces what you believe about yourself.  Its fundamental purpose is to diminish self-doubt.  This does not mean that the self you are trying to protect is real.  But it does mean that the self you think is real is what you teach.

       This is inevitable.  There is no escape from it.  How could it be otherwise?  Everyone who follows the world's curriculum, and everyone here does follow it until he changes his mind, teaches solely to convince himself that he is what he is not.  Herein is the purpose of the world.  What else, then, would its curriculum be?  Into this hopeless and closed learning situation, which teaches nothing but despair and death, God sends His teachers.  And as they teach His lessons of joy and hope, their learning finally becomes complete.

       Except for God's teachers there would be little hope of salvation, for the world of sin would seem forever real.  The self-deceiving must deceive, for they must teach deception.  And what else is hell?  This is a manual for the teachers of God.  They are not perfect, or they would not be here.  Yet it is their mission to become perfect here, and so they teach perfection over and over...."