“There is room in the universe, dear brothers and sisters, for everyone’s choice. I call you to a new choice, but not intolerance of those who are not ready to make it. (The Treatises of A Course of Love: ‘A Treatise on the New,’ 6.6)”
1 – Tolerance
We are to be tolerant of our brothers and sisters who have not walked the full pathway. Not all are ready to accept the words of Jesus as scribed in A Course of Love. We are not to look down upon them. Perhaps a smile is all that they can handle. We are not called upon to be proselytizers of the way that we have found.
2 – New Choice
We are called to a “new choice,” but not intolerance of those who are not ready. This is a bit of a strong warning of the misstep that we might make. And our arrogance would be ego-inspired, taking us down rather than up. Surely we do not want to walk the path of the ego all over again. And Neale Donald Walsch in his Conversations with God series, says that evolution is not a “straight line.” So it would behoove us to walk carefully down our pathway.
3 – The Universe
The universe(s) is a very large place, metaphorically as well as actually, physically. It can accommodate the many pathways that people find in their way back to God. ACIM says that there are many courses, all with the same purpose. In ACIM and ACOL, though, we have found one united pathway that many believe came from Jesus. We should not, as ACIM notes, follow pathways that are meant for others, but to adopt that which we see as our own, our best way back to God. ACIM and ACOL work together to embody that pathway for many people.
4 – Self-Righteous?
All too often people who are trying to follow God’s way become self-righteousness, without ever meaning to so become. We think that because we are trying to do right, we are somehow better than those who are not interested in religion.
5 – Secular Humanism
God is God of the secular humanist as well as the believer. He leaves no one out, and we must not either.
6 – Reverence for God and Love
There is a reason that reverence for God is likely to bring us to an Awakening, a new choice in our lives. If we did not need reverence, with the propensity to love that it brings, we might not be drawn so precisely toward God. We crave the love that He gives. This craving is what takes us Home to Him. And so we may have a need for love that is greater than any possibility of getting love for ourselves.
7 – The “Handicapped” Child?
We may be the “handicapped” child, the one who blossoms with love because we are closer to God out of need. Others are more independent-minded, and wander farther from the Way. This is OK. All will eventually see the benefit of following truth to the Home that we have never really left, though we think that we have. Ruth Montgomery, in books written, channeled in automatic writing by “Guides,” says that in the beginning we were spun out from God to make our way through reality, experiencing, but always finding our way back to Him and to Home again. We can understand that this was God Himself who so differentiated Himself into parts for the experiencing. We are a part of God, as ACIM and ACOL make clear. Let us remember that our real finding of love is possible only when we return to the fold, to the Home that He has prepared for us. And this does not have to be after death. This Heaven on earth can be right here and now.
8 – Preparation
Let us do the little that we need to do to prepare today.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
May I be and remain tolerant of others and their different pathways. May I especially be tolerant when they do not subscribe to my pathway, as seen in A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love. May I be understanding even if they denounce me.
May I follow the way that is mine. This involves my holy relationships to my brothers and sisters. This does not necessarily involve tedious hours spent in contemplation. Jesus himself has said this, and may I take it to heart.
May today allow glimpses of Awakening that lead to a sustaining of this great blessing. May I remember to slow down, to be mindful, and to invite enlightenment by my demeanor and my willingness to let You lead the way. May I never think that I can control You. You make the decisions; I follow.
And well that it is so. Thank You.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 
Jesus also said the He is the way, the truth, and the life and no one gets to the father but through Him.
How do you feel this fits in with everyone making their own way?
I am off two minds about this. I can see where, if one believes in reincarnation, that everyone would eventually be born Christian and follow Jesus as the Way, as the Bible says, and as A Course of Love also echoes. But not everyone is Christian in our world today, and other pathways are there for them. God would not, as the Manual of A Course in Miracles says, leave anybody without a way to Him.
Those of us who follow traditional Christianity, as seen in the Bible, and the new books A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love, have chosen Jesus as our leader, our way. And so we are asked to accept him. (He particularly says this in A Course of Love.)
I think we need, in our world of diversity, to be tolerant of individuals who follow other religions than our own. That is the most that I can say of it.
Thank you for asking this question. Other readers have had the same question, and here I have given a fuller explanation of how I view this question than in any other place. But keep in mind that I am giving a personal interpretation. The Bible is adamant. A Course in Miracles is more ambivalent about this question. And A Course of Love seems to revert to the thinking of the Bible, at least to a limited extent, and maybe more.
Most cordially, Celia
Celia,
Thaks for the reply. What I don’t understand is the tolerance aspect of the New Age Movement.
I get that we should tolerate and respect the sincerely held befiefs of others, treat them kindly, and with love.
But, teaching that their are multiple paths to God is both unbiblical and illogical.
Perhaps this will make my point more clear.
http://thei535project.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/why-is-christianity-so-intolerant-of-other-beliefs/
James
I understand you mean well but I urge you to read the Bible. The real God is found there. Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life…..because he is the way and the truth and the life! No he gets to the father except through him. Jesus also said “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
If there are many ways to the father then Jesus would not have had to come and die for our sins. There was already occult practices happening back then with false idols and false gods. God stated in the Bible to stay away from such practices. He definitely didn’t say go and join seances and try to contact the dead…no he spoke directly against. “I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitue themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.” Leviticus 20:6 The new age movement is nothing but repackaged occult practices to look like light and love when they are really dark and demonic. I read The Search for Truth by Ruth Montgomery and those spirit guides are demonic. Where is Jesus ever brought up but just as a man who was a prophet or just a man who achieved “Christ consciousness ” I’m sorry but it’s all lies. Lies and more lies and unbelievably it is the same lie that Satan told Eve all the way back in the garden….’go ahead’ he says to eve ‘you surely will not die’ ‘God just didn’t want you to know that you could be like him’ “godlike” (paraphrasing) It was a lie then and it’s a lie now. We are humans and we were created by one God, the same God who sent his only son to take our punishment for us. So that anyone who believes in him and in his name will be saved.
Pray, repent and ask God to remove the blinders…but it works only when you first believe that Jesus is the truth. He rose again on the third day….he conquered death and Satan. Not Ruth Montgomery or Edgar Cayce. When I was done reading the book by Ruth Montgomery I knew something was very wrong….the grave mistake was that “spirit guides” were relied upon instead of Jesus and Gods word.
I realize this is 2 years late for responding to this but the truth needs to be shared. What father and mother are you praying to? When they asked Jesus how to pray, he said pray like this ” Our father ”
Even Satan himself will masquerade as an angel of light. Look into the history of these teachings and what is behind them.
God Bless and may the Lord help open your eyes to deception.