Loving/Loved Leaving The Desert Part Deux

(Photo by Maryanne Mesplé. A Course in Miracles)

Now? Now, I can stop putting things off and write. The photo above is of my original copy of A Course in Miracles and you can see how much I love the book by the front cover. The front cover of my first volume is ready to fall off and the gold lettering is almost gone from my finger tips gripping around the edges of the books pages. I read Leaving The Desert pretty much the same way I read (x 14) A Course in Miracles. Turning pages I would stop and go back a few pages because my right mind would whisper that my wrong mind had drifted off several paragraphs ago. Right mindedness being our mind where we are in line with our spiritual truths/heritage and wrong mind being in line with the bratty ego. If you treat yourself and read Leaving The Desert you will have a clear understanding of the two minds and how we always have a choice. Much like my book(s) ACIM (I have several) Pauline Edward's book did not escape my pen nor my bad habit of writing all over the margins of the pages. The underlining, the notes to self, the stars, the exclamation points, the question marks all for present mulling over and for future reference when I re-read the page, the chapter, and often the entire book. I am sure I will be turning the pages in Leaving The Desert several times a year.

(Photo by Maryanne Mesplé, ACIM well read)

There are many people who write books about ACIM. In fact, it was Marianne Williamson's book, A Return to Love, that really pushed me into taking A Course in Miracles seriously and apply the lessons to my life versus intellectualizing the text as a novelty in the New Age Genre. There are other authors out there also who have been successful with their books about ACIM and if you look around you will see many.  Because I am a student I try not to miss an opportunity to read about another student's journey ... always looking for that connection ... that sense of the oneness ... always looking for the aha! within the pages of well thought out sharing. Pauline Edward authored a beautiful sharing of her journey through the desert that exceeded my expectations. I am so grateful. I now have another book that I can love the writing off the cover. Another book that I can wear the pages out and write all over. I now am a lover of Pauline Edward as an author and admire her determination as a "happy student" of the course, and I find myself even more devoted to my own studies.
Five thumbs up! or is that stars? :-)

(Photo by Maryanne Mesplé, Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffin)

And yes I really did stop blogging to tend to my batch of muffins that I just had to make. As Pauline pointed out in her amazing book, and I paraphrase here, we can be very resistant to certain lessons we face within the text and workbook of ACIM. Our ego runs interference and our minds wander off and become distracted so we lose our focus, our intention and stay deeply entrenched in our experience of separateness. This resistance shows up like my muffins :-) I am reading and then the next moment I am wandering off outside in the rain gathering dandelion flower heads. Then I weed and you know the drill, one thing leads to the next to the next and soon we become lost in our resistance and or distractions .. whatever you would choose to call avoidance. I was afraid to write about Leaving The Desert. I was afraid I would not say the right thing or use the right references and the list goes on. I fell into the judgement process that we all do and that the Course teaches about. I scared myself into making muffins and adding dandelion petals and fresh lemon zest and juice and crushed pineapple and vanilla yogurt. A very yummy distraction in deed!

Hugs,
Maryanne